JP2008262316A - Method, system and computer program for generating validation application information of software license - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technology for laborsaving of work when an SW user having purchased a license validates a software product. <P>SOLUTION: When generating license validation application information that is information for applying validation of the license for using the software product in a computer, the computer using the software product reads license peculiar information from a license medium that is a mechanically readable recording medium recording the license peculiar information showing holding of the license of the software product through a reader capable of reading the license medium. The computer generates the license validation application information based on software use environmental information showing use environment of the software product in the computer, and the license peculiar information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a software product, and more particularly to a software product that requires a procedure for validating a license prior to operation.

  In general, commercial software for industry has a complicated license system in order to cope with various device environments used. This type of software product often requires the purchase and validation of a license prior to its use.

  A person who uses this type of software product (hereinafter referred to as a SW user) purchases a license from a person who sells the software product (hereinafter referred to as a SW seller) and then performs a procedure for validating the license. By performing the validation, the SW user can use the software product properly. At this time, in order to confirm that the software product is used within the range of the purchased license number, it is necessary to specify a device that uses the software product.

  A conventional software product will be described with reference to FIG. One software product 601 includes m recording media (hereinafter referred to as software media) 602 that record software products, and a license certificate 603 that is a document that describes license-specific information for n licenses. Here, m and n are both natural numbers.

  The software product 601 is generally validated as follows.

(1) The SW user purchases the software product 601.

(2) The SW user can use the license-specific information described in the license certificate 603 of the purchased software product 601 and information on the usage environment such as the device that uses the software product 601 and the device settings (hereinafter referred to as software usage environment information). To the SW seller.

(3) The SW seller issues an activation key for activating the software product 601 based on the notified license information and usage environment information, and notifies the SW user.

(4) Using the software medium 603, the SW user installs the software product 201 on each device specified by the software usage environment information, and executes a process of enabling the software product 601 on each device. Enter the notified activation key.

  As described above, in the activation of the conventional software product, the stage (2) in which the license specific information and the software usage environment information are notified to the SW seller, and the activation key is input to each of the notified devices. It was necessary to go through both steps (4) of enabling the software product 601 on the device.

  Further, in the conventional activation, prior to the SW seller notifying the SW user of the license specific information, the SW user visually reads the license certificate 603 and reads the license specific information to correspond to each device. It was necessary to input license-specific information using an input device such as a keyboard. Generally, the license certificate 603 is bundled with the software product 601 in a state of being stored in an envelope or the like. For this reason, in particular, when one license certificate is issued for each license, it is necessary to open the envelope for the number of licenses and to read the license-specific information visually.

  Patent Documents 1 and 2 are listed as conventional techniques related to the present invention. These are all related to a method for managing an activated license, and do not refer to labor saving when the license is activated in each device.

JP 2001-331232 A JP-A-2005-174318

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and a problem to be solved by the present invention is a technique for saving labor when a SW user who has purchased a license activates a software product. Is to provide.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a method, a system, and a computer program for generating software license validation application information as follows.

  As one aspect of the present invention, in a method for generating license activation application information, which is information for applying for the activation of a license for using a software product on a computer, the license-specific information indicating the possession of the license A computer using a software product reads out license-specific information from a license medium, which is a machine-readable recording medium on which information is recorded, via a reader capable of reading the license medium, license-specific information, There is provided a method for generating software license validation application information, characterized in that the computer includes a step of generating license validation application information based on software usage environment information indicating a usage environment of a software product in a computer.

  The license medium is, for example, a wireless IC tag such as RFID, or a one-dimensional or two-dimensional barcode. When the license medium is a wireless IC tag, the reader is a wireless IC tag reader. When the license medium is a barcode, the reader is a barcode reader.

  The reading step may further include a step of reading the encrypted license specific information from the license medium, and decrypting the encrypted license specific information between the reading step and the generation step. In this way, by storing the license-specific information in the license medium in an encrypted state, a third party can read the license-specific information from the license medium during the distribution process of the software product and illegally validate the license. It is possible to prevent generation of conversion application information.

  As another aspect, the present invention provides a system (SW user side subsystem 102) that generates license activation application information that is information for applying for the activation of a license for using a software product on a computer. A reading device (reading device 501) capable of reading a license medium, which is a machine-readable recording medium in which license-specific information indicating possession of the license of the software product is recorded, and a computer using the software product, the reading device A computer (customer terminal 502) that reads license-specific information and generates license activation application information based on the license-specific information and software usage environment information indicating the usage environment of the software product in the computer Software software featuring To provide a sense enable application information generation system.

  Further, according to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer program for causing a computer to execute a process of generating license activation application information, which is information for applying for the activation of a license for using a software product on a computer. A process of reading out license specific information from a license medium, which is a machine-readable recording medium recording license specific information indicating possession of a product license, via a reader capable of reading the license medium; A software license activation application characterized by causing a computer using a software product to execute processing for generating license activation application information based on software usage environment information indicating a usage environment of the software product on the computer To provide a multi-address generating program.

  According to the present invention, an electronically readable medium in which license-specific information is written is attached, and software license-specific information is automatically extracted, thereby making it possible for the SW user to install a software product. Can be significantly reduced.

  A software license validation system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the software license validation system 100 includes a SW seller side subsystem 101 and a SW user side subsystem 102.

  The SW seller sells a software product 301 as shown in FIG. The software product 301 includes a software medium 302 and a license medium 303.

  The software medium 302 is a machine-readable recording medium in which the main software of the software product 301 is recorded, and includes m recording media. m is a natural number. As a recording medium used for the software medium 302, for example, a CD-ROM or a DVD-ROM may be used.

  The license medium 303 is a machine-readable recording medium that records license specific information. The license medium 303 records license specific information of n licenses. n is a natural number. As a recording medium used for the license medium 303, for example, an electronic tag such as an RF tag used in RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification), a one-dimensional or two-dimensional barcode may be used. The license specific information is data having a structure as shown in FIG. 3 and includes the product name, model number, version, product number, and paid license information of the software product 301. Paid license information indicates licenses that are permitted to be used on one device. The license specific information issued to a certain SW user includes paid license information corresponding to the number of licenses issued to that SW user. The license specific information shown in FIG. 3 corresponds to n licenses.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the SW seller side subsystem 101 includes a medium manufacturing unit 110. The medium manufacturing unit 110 is a writing device that writes to the license medium 303 and includes a recording medium that stores software specific information 111 and software purchaser information 112. The software unique information includes the product name, model number, version, and product number of each software product sold by the SW seller. The software purchaser information includes the name, name, address, address, postal code, telephone number, product name of the ordered software product, the number of licenses ordered, etc. of each person who ordered the software product from the SW seller. The writing device is a device according to the type of recording medium of the license medium 303. For example, if the license medium 303 is an RF tag, the writing device is an RF tag writer, and if the license medium 303 is a bar code, the writing device is written. The loading device is a printer. The medium manufacturing unit 110 generates license specific information from the software specific information and the software purchaser information, and writes the license specific information to the license medium 303.

  The SW user side subsystem 102 includes a medium reading unit 120 and an activation application information generation unit 130.

  The medium reading unit 120 is a reading device that reads from the license medium 30. Similar to the writing device of the medium manufacturing unit 110, the reading device is a device corresponding to the type of the recording medium of the license medium 303. For example, if the license medium 303 is an RF tag, the reading device is an RF tag reader. If the medium 303 is a barcode, the writing device is a barcode reader.

  The validation application information generation unit 130 includes a recording device 131 that stores license-specific information and a storage device 132 that stores software usage environment information. The validation application information generation unit 130 generates license validation application information 140 based on the license specific information and the software usage environment information.

  Referring to FIG. 4, the software usage environment information includes a customer ID, a used media number, a company name, an applicant name, a telephone number (Tel), a mail address (E-mail), a country, and host information. The host information includes a host name, model name, machine ID, and OS version. The software use environment information is input in advance by the SW user and stored in the storage device 132.

  Next, the operation of the software license validation system 100 will be described.

  (Step 0) The SW user orders the software product 301 from the SW seller. At this time, the SW user notifies the SW seller of the name of the software product to be ordered, the number of licenses ordered, and the like. At this time or before, the SW user notifies the SW seller of his / her name, name, address, location, postal code, and telephone number.

  (Step 1) The SW seller prepares a software medium 302 corresponding to the notified software product 301 and, at the same time, obtains license-specific information including the product name, model number, version, product number, and paid license information of the software product. The license medium 303 is manufactured by writing to the license medium 303 with the writing device of the medium manufacturing unit 110, and the software product 301 is manufactured together with the separately manufactured software medium 302. The product name, model number, version, and product number of the software product are read from the storage device 111. The paid license information is generated by the medium manufacturing unit 110 based on the software purchaser information of the SW user and the software specific information regarding the software product with the notified product name.

  (Step 2) The SW seller delivers the software product 301 to the SW user.

  (Step 3) As shown in FIG. 5, the SW user reads the license specific information from the license medium 303 of the delivered software product 301 by using the reading device 501 of the medium reading unit 120, and generates validation application information. To the customer terminal 502 which is the unit 130. The customer terminal 502 is, for example, an information communication terminal such as a personal computer, a workstation, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistance), a mobile phone terminal, or various dedicated terminals.

  (Step 4) The customer terminal 502 generates the license validation application information 140 based on the license specific information and the software use environment information stored in the storage device 132 in advance.

  Specifically, step 3 and step 4 are executed by the installation program of the software product 301. The installation program is a computer program executed by the customer terminal 502 and is stored in the software medium 302. The customer terminal 502 operates as follows according to the installation program.

  When the SW user sets the software medium 302 to the reading device of the customer terminal 502 and starts the installation program, the customer terminal 502 executes installation of the software product from the software medium 302 and the type of the recording medium of the license medium 303 The process of reading out the license specific information from the license medium 302 is executed via the reading device 501 corresponding to.

  Next, the customer terminal 502 generates the license validation application information 140 based on the read license specific information and the software usage environment information stored in the storage device 132 in advance. The software use environment information is registered in the activation application information generation unit by operating the customer terminal directly by the SW user before generating the license activation information at the latest. The software use environment information may be collected from the customer terminal 502 by the installation program immediately before generating the license activation application information 140.

  (Step 5) The customer terminal 502 outputs the license validation application information 140 to the SW seller. The license activation application information 140 may be stored in a recording medium using a writing device (not shown) provided in the customer terminal 502, and the recording medium may be delivered to the SW seller, or the customer terminal 502 may not be shown. The data communication interface may be provided and transmitted to the SW seller side subsystem 101 via a data communication network such as the Internet.

  As described above, in the software license validation system 100, the SW seller stores the license-specific information in a machine-readable recording medium (license medium) and attaches it to the software product when the software license is shipped. The SW user automatically extracts license-specific information by combining the license medium and the reading device, generates license activation application information based on the license-specific information and the software usage environment information, and notifies the SW seller. . Therefore, according to the software license validation system 100, when the license validation application information is generated, it is not necessary for the SW user to visually check the software certificate and input it to the customer terminal as in the prior art. Can significantly reduce the effort involved in licensing when installing software products.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated according to embodiment, it cannot be overemphasized that this invention is not limited to this and can be suitably improved within the range of knowledge of those skilled in the art.

  For example, in the software license validation system 100, the license specific information may be encrypted and written to the license medium 302. In this case, the medium manufacturing unit 110 further includes an encryption processing unit, and the medium reading unit 120 further includes a decryption processing unit. The medium manufacturing unit 110 encrypts the license specific information in the encryption processing unit and writes it to the license medium 303. The medium reading unit 120 decrypts the encrypted license unique information by the decryption processing unit to obtain plain license unique information, and performs the subsequent steps.

  The decryption processing unit may be implemented as a computer program executed on the customer terminal 502. In this case, the SW user obtains the decryption key information from the SW seller in advance. The SW seller notifies the SW user of the decryption key information.

  Alternatively, the decryption processing unit may be provided from the SW seller to the SW user as a reading device that performs decryption processing based on specific decryption key information. In this case, it is desirable that the reading device includes a storage device that is difficult or impossible to read from the outside, and stores the decryption key information in this storage device.

  In any case, in the SW seller side subsystem 101, the SW user, the decryption key information, and the encryption key information corresponding to the decryption key information are associated with each other and stored as a part of the software purchaser information. Store in device 112. Further, the medium manufacturing unit 110 refers to the software purchaser information in the storage device 112, encrypts the license specific information based on the encryption key information corresponding to the SW user who delivers the software product 301, and then the license medium. The encrypted license specific information is written in 303.

  As a result, the SW user-side subsystem 102 including a decryption processing unit that performs decryption processing with the corresponding decryption key information can decrypt the license-specific information, while using different decryption key information. The SW user side subsystem 102 that includes a decryption processing unit that decrypts or does not include a decryption processing unit cannot generate the license validation application information 140. Thereby, it is possible to limit the SW users who can validate the license. For this reason, the software product 301 can be read without unpacking, for example, when the license medium 303 is a wireless electronic tag such as RFID or a barcode printed facing the outside of the package. Even if it is a recording medium and a third party can easily read the license medium 303, it is possible to prevent generation of unauthorized license activation application information by the third party.

  Also, if a function that can be used depending on whether the license is activated or a function that restricts whether or not the software product can be installed is added to the installation program of the software product 301 to the software product 301, the license is simply valid. The use of the software product 301 can be directly restricted as well as restricting whether or not to apply for the software.

  As another example, in the software license validation system 100, the software product 301 includes a software medium 302 and a license medium 303. In addition to this, a license certificate as a printed matter is included in the same manner as in the past. The SW user may be notified of the license specific information also in writing.

  The software medium and the license medium do not necessarily have to be delivered to the SW user at the same time. For example, instead of delivering the software medium, the SW user may download the software product via the network. In this case, it is not necessary to deliver the software medium to the SW user.

It is a functional block diagram of the software license validation system 100 which is one embodiment of this invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a software medium 302 and a license medium 303 that are bundled as a software product 301 that is activated by the software license validation system 100. It is a figure for demonstrating the structure of license specific information. It is a figure for demonstrating the structure of software use environment information. 3 is a functional block diagram of a SW user side subsystem 102. FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the conventional software product and its bundling thing.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Software license validation system 101 SW seller side subsystem 102 SW user side subsystem 110 Medium production part 111 Storage device (software specific information)
112 Storage device (software purchaser information)
120 Medium Reading Unit 130 Activation Application Information Generating Unit 131 License Specific Information 132 Storage Device (Software Usage Environment Information)
140 License Activation Application Information 301, 601 Software Product 302, 602 Software Medium 303 License Medium 501 Reading Device 502 Customer Terminal 603 License Certificate

Claims (6)

In a method for generating license activation application information, which is information for applying for a license to use a software product on a computer,
A computer that uses the software product from a license medium, which is a machine-readable recording medium that records license-specific information indicating possession of the license of the software product, via a reader that can read the license medium, Reading out the unique information;
Software license validity comprising: the computer generating the license validation application information based on the license specific information and software usage environment information indicating a usage environment of the software product in the computer Method of generating information on the application. In the method for generating software license validation application information according to claim 1,
The reading step reads the encrypted license specific information from the license medium,
The method for generating software license validation application information, further comprising: decrypting the encrypted license specific information between the reading step and the generating step. In a system for generating license activation application information, which is information for applying for a license to use a software product on a computer,
A reader capable of reading a license medium, which is a machine-readable recording medium in which license specific information indicating possession of a license of a software product is recorded;
A computer that uses the software product, reads the license-specific information via the reader, and based on the license-specific information and software usage environment information that indicates a usage environment of the software product in the computer, A software license validation application information generation system comprising: the computer that generates the license validation application information. In the software license validation application information generation system according to claim 3,
The license medium is a recording medium that records encrypted license-specific information,
A software license validation application information generation system, further comprising a decryption processing device for decrypting the encrypted license specific information. In a computer program for causing a computer to execute processing for generating license activation application information, which is information for applying for license activation for using a software product on a computer,
A process of reading the license-specific information from a license medium, which is a machine-readable recording medium in which license-specific information indicating possession of the license of the software product is recorded, via a reader that can read the license medium;
Causing the computer using the software product to execute processing for generating the license activation application information based on the license specific information and software use environment information indicating a use environment of the software product in the computer. A software license activation application information generation program. In the software license validation application information generation program according to claim 5,
The license medium is a recording medium that records encrypted license-specific information,
A program for generating software license validation application information, further causing the computer to execute decryption processing for decrypting encrypted license-specific information.

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