Fault tolerant electronic licensing system

Patent 5905860 Issued on May 18, 1999. Estimated Expiration Date:

February 24, 2017. 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

Patent References

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Inventors

Assignee

Novell, Inc.

Application

No. 804936 filed on 02/24/1997

US Classes:

705/59, Licensing709/227COMPUTER-TO-COMPUTER SESSION/CONNECTION ESTABLISHING

Examiners

Primary: Hua, Ly V.

Attorney, Agent or Firm

Dinsmore & Shohl LLP

Foreign Patent References

A-38209/93 AU. 04/13/1993
A-48113/93 AU. 03/13/1994
WO 89/04520 WO. 05/13/1989
WO 92/20021 WO. 11/13/1992

International Class

H04L 9/0/0

Abstract

A licensing system provides enhanced flexibility for licensing applications in a network. The licensing system includes a directory services database which stores all license information. The directory services 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.