Electronic licensing system

Patent 5758069 Issued on May 26, 1998. Estimated Expiration Date:

March 15, 2016. Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.

Abstract Claims Description Full Text

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Inventor

Olsen, James E.

Assignee

Novell, Inc.

Application

No. 620319 filed on 03/15/1996

US Classes:

705/59Licensing

Examiners

Primary: Beausoliel, Robert W. Jr.
Assistant: Hua, Ly V.

Attorney, Agent or Firm

Snell & Wilmer, L.L.P.

Foreign Patent References

A-38209 AU. 04/13/1993
A-48113 AU. 03/13/1994
WO 89/04520 WO. 05/13/1989
WO 92/20021 WO. 11/13/1992

International Class

H04L 009/00

Abstract

A licensing system provides enhanced flexibility for licensing applications in a network. The licensing system includes a license certificate database which stores all license information. The license certificate database is accessed by providing a request to a license service provider associated with a server. The license service provider generates an executable entity based on the request parameters, which searches the database and, if the appropriate units are available, assembles a license. The license and the application are then transmitted to the requesting client. All aspects of the transaction are also stored in a database organized according to a transaction's relation to a particular license.