US Patent 7,801,821 — Flexible licensing architecture for licensing digital application

Life of the patent

19 dated events

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Abstract

An application includes a plurality of features. A transaction is engaged with a retailer to obtain a product license corresponding to the application. The product license defines at least one feature of the application that may be employed. A base copy of the application is obtained from a distributor and is actuated. A use license corresponding to the product license is acquired from a licensor by way of the actuated application sending the product license to the licensor along with an identification of at least one of a user, the computing device, and a trusted component operating on the computing device, where the use license includes feature policy granting rights to employ each feature defined in the product license.

Claims

24 · 3 independent · depth 3

24 granted claims

›1.independentA computer-implemented method of obtaining a use license for using an application of a publisher on a computing device, the application including a pl…+8

A computer-implemented method of obtaining a use license for using an application of a publisher on a computing device, the application including a plurality of features, the computing device storing the use license on a storage device, the method comprising:nthe computing device obtaining a product license from a retailer by engaging in a transaction with the retailer, the product license corresponding to the application of a publisher, the product license defining at least one feature of the application that has been requested by a user, a distributor from which to obtain a base copy of the application, and a licensor from which to obtain a use license;the computing device obtaining a base copy of the application from the distributor via a network transaction, wherein the base copy of the application includes the plurality of features of the application and wherein at least a portion of the base copy of the application is encrypted with an encryption key of the publisher;the computing device installing the application;nthe computing device actuating the applicationthe computing device acquiring a use license corresponding to the product license obtained from the retailer by way of the actuated application sending the product license to the licensor via a network transaction along with an identification of at least one of a user, the computing device, a public key of the computing device, and a trusted component operating on the computing device, the use license including a decryption key of the publisher for decrypting the portion of the base copy of the application that is encrypted with said encryption key, the decryption key being encrypted with the public key of the computing device, and the use license including a set of publisher specified rules and requirements that establish the user's right to actuate the application and use each requested feature as defined by the product license;nthe computing device receiving a request by the user to use a feature of the plurality of features;the computing device validating the use license using a license evaluator;based on the validation, the computing device determining that the validated use license permits the use of the requested feature based on the publisher specified rules and requirements included in the acquired use license; andbased on the determination that the use of the requested feature is permitted, decrypting the decryption key received in the acquired use license using a private key of the computing device and decrypting at least a portion of the base copy of the application including the requested feature using the decryption key.

›2.↳ 1The method of claim 1 comprising the computing device engaging in a transaction with a retailer to obtain a product license defining at least one feat…d2

›3.↳ 1The method of claim 1 comprising the computing device engaging in a transaction with a retailer to obtain a product license defining at least one feat…d2

›4.↳ 1The method of claim 1 comprising the computing device engaging in a transaction with a retailer to obtain a product license packaged with referral inf…d2

›5.↳ 1The method of claim 1 wherein the computing device includes a hardware ID (HWID) corresponding to the computing device, the method comprising the comp…d2

›6.↳ 1The method of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of each feature of the application is encrypted and decryptable according to a key (KD), the method c…d2+1

›8.↳ 1The method of claim 1 further comprising after having acquired the use license the computing device returning same to reverse the transaction by which…d2

›9.↳ 1The method of claim 1 wherein the acquired use license is tied to the computing device, the method further comprising after having acquired the use li…d2

›10.independentA computing device that processes an application in accordance with a use license for using the application of a publisher, the use license authorized…+8

A computing device that processes an application in accordance with a use license for using the application of a publisher, the use license authorized by a publisher and associated with a corresponding publishing license that includes the set of publisher-specified license rules and additional rules applicable to a licensor regarding issuance of the use license by the licensor, the application having a plurality of features, the computing device storing the use license on a storage device, said computing device comprising:na processor that; anda computer storage storing executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform the steps of:obtaining a product license from a retailer, the product license corresponding to the application of a publisher, the product license defining at least one feature of the application that has been requested by a user, a distributor from which to obtain a base copy of the application, and a licensor from which to obtain a use license;obtaining a base copy of the application from the distributor via a network transaction, wherein the base copy of the application includes all of the plurality of features of the application and wherein at least a portion of the base copy of the application is encrypted with an encryption key of the publisher;acquiring the use license corresponding to the product license obtained from the retailer by way of the actuated application sending the product license to the licensor via a network transaction along with an identification of at least one of a user, the computing device, a public key of the computing device, and a trusted component operating on the computing device, the use license including a decryption key of the publisher for decrypting the portion of the base copy of the application that is encrypted with said encryption key, the decryption key being encrypted with the public key of the computing device, and the use license including a set of publisher specified rules and requirements that establish the user's right to actuate the application and use each requested feature as defined by the product license;installing the application;receiving a request by the user to use a feature of the plurality of features; anda trusted component; andcomputer storage storing executable instructions that when executed by the trusted component, cause the trusted component to perform the steps of:actuating the application;validating the use license using a license evaluator;based on the validation, determining that the validated use license permits the use of the requested feature based on the publisher specified rules and requirements included in the acquired use license; andbased on the determination that the use of the requested feature is permitted, decrypting the decryption key received in the acquired use license using a private key of the computing device and decrypting at least a portion of the base copy of the application including the requested feature using the decryption key.

›11.↳ 10The computing device of claim 10, wherein the computing device further includes a hardware ID (HWID) identifying the computing device and the use lice…d2

›12.↳ 10The computing device of claim 10 wherein the product license defines at least one feature of the application as offered by a retailer and represents a…d2+2

›17.↳ 12The computing device of claim 12 wherein after having acquired the use license the processor is further programmed to return the use license to revers…d3

›18.↳ 12The computing device of claim 12 wherein the acquired use license is tied to the computing device and wherein after having acquired the use license th…d3

›13.↳ 10The computing device of claim 10 wherein the product license defines at least one feature of the application as selected by a purchaser of such produc…d2

›14.↳ 10The computing device of claim 10 wherein the product license is packaged with referral information including a particular distributor from which a bas…d2

›15.↳ 10The computing device of claim 10 wherein at least a portion of each feature of the application is encrypted and decryptable according to the key (KD),…d2+1

›19.independentA computer readable storage medium containing computer executable instructions that when executed by a processor of a computing device cause the proce…+5

A computer readable storage medium containing computer executable instructions that when executed by a processor of a computing device cause the processor to perform the steps of:nobtaining a product license from a retailer by engaging in a transaction with the retailer, the product license corresponding to the application of a publisher, the product license defining at least one feature of the application that has been requested by a user, a distributor from which to obtain a base copy of the application, and a licensor from which to obtain a use license;obtaining a base copy of the application from the distributor via a network transaction, wherein the base copy of the application includes the plurality of features of the application and wherein at least a portion of the base copy of the application is encrypted with an encryption key of the publisher;acquiring the use license corresponding to the product license obtained from the retailer by way of the actuated application sending the product license to the licensor via a network transaction along with an identification of at least one of a user, the computing device, a public key of the computing device, and a trusted component operating on the computing device, the use license including a decryption key of the publisher for decrypting the portion of the base copy of the application that is encrypted with said encryption key, the decryption key being encrypted with the public key of the computing device, and the use license including a set of publisher specified rules and requirements that establish the user's right to actuate the application and use each requested feature as defined by the product license;installing the application;receiving a request by the user to use a feature of the plurality of features; andcomputer executable instructions that when executed by a trusted component cause the trusted component to perform the steps of:actuating the applicationvalidating the use license using a license evaluator;based on the validation, determining that the validated use license permits the use of the requested feature based on the publisher specified rules and requirements included in the acquired use license; andbased on the determination that the use of the requested feature is permitted, decrypting the decryption key received in the acquired use license using a private key of the computing device and decrypting at least a portion of the base copy of the application including the requested feature using the decryption key.

›20.↳ 19The medium of claim 19, wherein the computing device includes a hardware ID (HWID) identifying the computing device and the use license includes the H…d2

›21.↳ 19The medium of claim 19 wherein at least a portion of each feature of the application is encrypted and decryptable according to the key (KD), wherein t…d2+1

›23.↳ 19The medium of claim 19 wherein after having acquired the use license the instructions further cause the processor to return the use license to reverse…d2

›24.↳ 19The medium of claim 19 wherein the acquired use license is tied to the computing device and wherein after having acquired the use license the instruct…d2

Classifications

2 codes

IPC · International Patent Classification

Section G — Physics

G06F21/00

USPC · US Patent Classification

705/59

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Pendency

5.6 y

2,055 days filing → grant

Office actions

5

non-final + final

Responses

4

3 RCE

Interviews

2

examiner interview summaries

Examiner

James D Nigh

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Citations: 131 back · 0 forward

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Priority chain

1 priority documents

›Priority documents — 1

Type	Document	Date
related publication	US 20060179002 A1	10 Aug 2006

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