JP2010204886A - License management apparatus and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To change the propriety of a license for an information processing apparatus, in accordance with another information processing apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: A license management apparatus 100 of a licenser manages license information about an information processing apparatus 200 of a licensee. The license management apparatus 100 manages validity/invalidity of license information for each of information processing apparatuses 200 of a predetermined number. In the information processing apparatus 200, for executing a function requiring a license, repetitive activation must be performed. For the activation, the information processing apparatus 200 performs communication for requesting use of the function to the license management apparatus 100. The license management apparatus 100, if the request is not acquired under a predetermined condition (the number of days, frequency, etc.) from the information processing apparatus 200 to which the license information is assigned, changes assignment of the license information to another information processing apparatus 200 to which the license information is not assigned. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technology for managing licenses.

  When using software or the like, license management may be performed to prevent unauthorized use. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a technique for restricting use exceeding a predetermined number of licenses. Patent Document 2 describes a technique for periodically authenticating software via the Internet.

JP 2002-49435 A JP 2001-337732 A

However, according to the technique described in Patent Document 1 or 2, use that is not an unauthorized purpose is limited, and convenience for the user may be impaired.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to make it possible to change whether or not a license for a certain information processing apparatus can be changed according to another information processing apparatus.

  The license management device according to the present invention reads out from the storage unit an acquisition unit that acquires a request to use a predetermined function by the information processing device, and license information that describes whether the function can be used for the first information processing device. A reading unit; a determination unit that determines whether or not the function can be used in the information processing apparatus from which the request is acquired by the acquisition unit; and a notification unit that notifies a determination result by the determination unit And when the request is acquired from a second information processing device different from the first information processing device, the determination unit determines whether or not the function can be used in the second information processing device. The information processing apparatus has a configuration for determining according to the acquisition status of the request. According to this configuration, even in the second information processing apparatus not described in the license information, use of a predetermined function may be permitted depending on the request acquisition status by the first information processing apparatus. .

In the license management device according to the present invention, the determination unit cancels permission for the first information processing device when the request for the first information processing device does not satisfy a predetermined condition, The second information processing apparatus may be configured to permit the use of the function. According to this configuration, it is possible to replace the target of permission for a predetermined function from the first information processing apparatus to the second information processing apparatus.
In the license management apparatus according to the present invention, the determination unit uses the function in the second information processing apparatus when the request for the first information processing apparatus satisfies a predetermined condition. May be configured to temporarily permit the above. According to this configuration, the number of information processing apparatuses exceeding the number of licenses determined by the license information can be temporarily permitted to use a predetermined function.
The license management apparatus according to the present invention may include a rewriting unit that rewrites license information stored in the storage unit according to a determination result by the determination unit. According to this configuration, the management target based on the license information can be replaced and the management can be facilitated.

  A program according to the present invention stores, in a computer, an acquisition unit that acquires a request to use a predetermined function by the information processing device, and license information that describes whether the predetermined function can be used for the first information processing device. And a determination unit that determines whether or not the function can be used in the information processing apparatus from which the request is acquired by the acquisition unit, and is different from the first information processing apparatus When the request is acquired from the second information processing apparatus, the availability of the function in the second information processing apparatus is determined according to the acquisition status of the request related to the first information processing apparatus. And a notification unit for notifying the determination result by the determination unit. Such a program has the same effect as the license management apparatus according to the present invention.

Block diagram showing the configuration of the license management system Block diagram showing configurations of license management apparatus and information processing apparatus Functional block diagram showing the functions realized by the license management device Figure illustrating license information Functional block diagram showing functions realized by information processing apparatus Sequence chart showing processing in the license management system Figure illustrating the initial value of the license information Flow chart showing determination processing Flow chart showing situation determination processing Flowchart showing replacement determination processing Flow chart showing determination processing

[Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a license management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The license management system 10 according to the present embodiment includes a license management device 100 and a plurality of information processing devices 200, each of which is communicably connected via networks NW1 and NW2. The network NW1 is, for example, the Internet, and the network NW2 is a LAN (Local Area Network) constructed in units of predetermined organizations (licensees) such as companies.

  This embodiment assumes a form in which a licensee having the information processing apparatus 200 and the network NW2 purchases a predetermined number of licenses, and a licensor having the license management apparatus 100 manages the license. Note that the licensor may manage licenses of a plurality of licensees. In this case, the information processing apparatus 200 and the network NW2 corresponding to each licensee are connected to the network NW1, but such illustration is omitted here. Further, the information processing apparatus 200 may be directly connected to the network NW1 without going through the network NW2.

  In the present invention, “license” means permission to use a predetermined function, and further includes various rights relating to the permission. In the present embodiment, the “predetermined function” is realized by the information processing apparatus 200 executing specific software, and is hereinafter referred to as “license required function”. The license is set for each information processing apparatus 200 (or a user thereof). Therefore, for example, if the licensee uses the license required function in the plurality of information processing apparatuses 200, the licensee needs to purchase a plurality of licenses. The information processing apparatus 200 executes a process for enabling the required license function (hereinafter referred to as “activation”) as necessary, and executes the function when the execution of the required license function is permitted. .

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating configurations of the license management apparatus 100 and the information processing apparatus 200. As shown in the figure, the license management apparatus 100 includes a control unit 110, a storage unit 120, a communication unit 130, an operation unit 140, and a display unit 150. The control unit 110 includes an arithmetic processing device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a memory, and controls the operation of the license management device 100 by executing a program stored in advance. The storage unit 120 includes a rewritable nonvolatile memory, and stores license information that is data related to a license. The communication unit 130 is connected to the communication unit 230 of the information processing apparatus 200 via the networks NW1 and NW2, and transmits and receives data. The connection by the communication unit 130 may be either wired or wireless. The operation unit 140 includes an input device such as a keyboard and receives an operation by a user. The operation unit 140 generates operation information representing a user operation and supplies the operation information to the control unit 110. The display unit 150 includes a display device and displays an image according to an instruction from the control unit 110. Note that the operation unit 140 may be configured integrally with the display unit 150 as a touch screen.

  FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram illustrating functions realized by the control unit 110 of the license management apparatus 100. The control unit 110 executes functions corresponding to the reading unit 111, the acquisition unit 112, the determination unit 113, the notification unit 114, and the rewriting unit 115 by executing one or a plurality of programs. The reading unit 111 has a function of reading necessary license information from the storage unit 120. The acquisition unit 112 has a function of acquiring a request transmitted from the information processing apparatus 200 upon activation via the communication unit 130. When the acquisition unit 112 acquires a request, the determination unit 113 has a function of determining whether or not the license-required function is executable in the information processing apparatus 200 that has transmitted the request. The determination unit 113 performs this determination based on the license information read from the storage unit 120. The notification unit 114 has a function of notifying the information processing apparatus 200 of the determination result by the determination unit 113 via the communication unit 130. The rewriting unit 115 has a function of rewriting license information stored in the storage unit 120 as necessary.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing license information. The license information of this embodiment is managed for each licensee as shown in FIG. The license management apparatus 100 stores the expiration date of license information and the number of licenses in association with identification information (licensee ID) for identifying a licensee. Here, the number of licenses being “3” indicates that the use of the license required function is permitted in the three information processing apparatuses 200.

  As shown in FIG. 4B, the license information identifies the usage status of the license, the date and time when the activation related to the license was last executed (final date and time), and the information processing apparatus 200 to which the license is assigned. Identification information (apparatus ID) to be described is associated with identification information (license number) for identifying each license. In the present embodiment, three types of license usage are set: “valid (usable)”, “invalid (unusable)”, and “hold (usable with conditions)”. This usage status is switched according to the activation execution status. The device ID may be a name given to the information processing device 200 or information unique to hardware (CPU or the like) or software included in the information processing device 200, but an ID or password set by the user. It may be.

The information processing apparatus 200 includes a control unit 210, a storage unit 220, a communication unit 230, an operation unit 240, and a display unit 250. The information processing apparatus 200 has the same configuration and functions as the components of the same name that the license management apparatus 100 has, except for the contents of control by the control unit 210 and the data stored in the storage unit 220. Note that the information processing apparatus 200 is represented as “information processing apparatus 200a” or “information processing apparatus 200b” only when it is necessary to distinguish between them.

  FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram illustrating functions realized by the control unit 210 of the information processing apparatus 200. The control unit 210 implements functions corresponding to the execution determination unit 211 and the function execution unit 212 by executing one or more programs. The execution determination unit 211 has a function of determining whether or not the license-required function can be executed. The function execution unit 212 has a function of executing a license required function. The execution determination unit 211 determines whether or not the license-required function can be executed by executing activation at a predetermined timing. Note that the determination by the execution determination unit 211 may be executed according to a preset schedule or may be executed according to a user operation.

  The configuration of the license management system 10 of this embodiment is as described above. Under this configuration, the license management apparatus 100 manages licenses, and the information processing apparatus 200 executes a license required function in accordance with management by the license management apparatus 100. The user can use the function when the information processing apparatus 200 executes the license required function.

Further, the information processing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment needs to execute activation in order to execute the license required function. The activation by the information processing apparatus 200 is a process for connecting to the license management apparatus 100 and receiving a determination as to whether or not the license management apparatus 100 can execute the required license function. is there. Note that the activation of the present embodiment is not necessary to be performed once, but is required a plurality of times. The activation is a process that is requested to be executed at a predetermined frequency. In the present embodiment, the activation is a process that is required once a day.
In addition, the information processing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment can execute the license-required function under certain conditions even when activation fails.

  FIG. 6 is a sequence chart schematically showing the flow of processing in the license management apparatus 100 and the information processing apparatus 200. In the license management apparatus 100, first, processing for setting a license is performed (step S1). The license setting is a process of registering data related to the purchased license by the licensor when the licensee purchases the license. At this time, the control unit 110 accepts an input operation of a license expiration date, the number of licenses, and a device ID corresponding to each license. That is, the information processing apparatus 200 to which the license is first given is determined in advance. In the following description, the code of the information processing apparatus 200 is used as the apparatus ID for convenience.

When the license is set, “valid” is described as an initial value in the usage status of each license information. As a result, the information processing apparatus 200 to which the license has been granted is permitted to use the license required function.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the initial value of the license information. Note that description of “license number” and “last date” is omitted here. The example shown in the figure is a case where a license is granted to the information processing apparatuses 200a, 200b, and 200c. In this case, the information processing apparatus 200d is not licensed. That is, in this example, the information processing devices 200a, 200b, and 200c correspond to the “first information processing device” of the present invention, and the information processing device 200d corresponds to the “second information processing device” of the present invention. .

The information processing apparatus 200 activates at a predetermined timing after setting the license. In this activation, the information processing apparatus 200 transmits a request to use the license required function to the license management apparatus 100 (step S2). This request includes information (device ID) that can identify the information processing device 200. Upon acquiring this request via the communication unit 130, the control unit 110 of the license management apparatus 100 executes a process for determining whether or not the license-required function can be used (hereinafter referred to as “determination process”) (step S3). .

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the determination process. In the determination process, the control unit 110 first reads the license information from the storage unit 120 (step S31), and executes a process for determining the usage status of the license (hereinafter referred to as “situation determination process”) (step S32). . The situation determination process is a process for determining a license usage situation between the same licensees.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the situation determination process. In the situation determination process, the control unit 110 determines whether there is an information processing apparatus 200 that has not been activated for m days among the information processing apparatuses 200 that have been licensed (step S321). Here, the value of m is an arbitrary value determined in advance, but is assumed to be “8” in the present embodiment. The control unit 110 identifies the date and time when activation was last performed by referring to the “last date and time” illustrated in FIG. 4B, and performs the determination in step S321. If there is an information processing apparatus 200 that has not been activated for m days, the control unit 110 changes the “usage status” of the apparatus to “hold” (step S322).

  Further, the control unit 110 determines whether there is an information processing apparatus 200 that has not been activated for n days among the information processing apparatuses 200 to which the license has been granted (step S323). Here, the value of n is a predetermined arbitrary value (however, larger than m), but is assumed to be “10” in the present embodiment. The control unit 110 makes this determination in the same manner as in step S321, and if there is an information processing apparatus 200 that has not been activated for n days, changes the “usage status” of the apparatus to “invalid” (step S324). ).

When finishing the above situation determination process, the control unit 110 returns to the determination process of FIG. 8 and continues the determination process.
As described above, the usage status of the license is determined based on the presence or absence of activation (that is, the presence or absence of the request in step S2). Therefore, it can be said that the situation determination process is a process for determining the acquisition status of a request from the information processing apparatus 200 to which a license has been granted.

  Note that the situation determination process may be executed independently of the determination process of FIG. That is, the control unit 110 may execute the situation determination process at an appropriate timing regardless of whether there is an activation request. The situation determination process is desirably executed periodically, such as once a day or every few hours.

  Control part 110 judges the use situation of information processor 200 which acquired a demand in Step S2 after situation judgment processing. That is, the control unit 110 determines whether the usage status of the information processing apparatus 200 that has acquired the request is “valid” (step S33), “hold” (step S34), or “invalid” (step S35).

  When the usage status of the information processing apparatus 200 that has acquired the request is “valid” or “hold”, the control unit 110 determines to permit execution of the license required function (step S36). At this time, the control unit 110 rewrites the license information and updates the “last date” to the latest one (step S37). Note that if the usage status is “pending”, the control unit 110 rewrites it to “valid”.

  Further, when the usage status of the information processing apparatus 200 that has acquired the request is “invalid”, the control unit 110 determines that the execution of the license-required function is not permitted (step S38). At this time, the control unit 110 does not rewrite the “last date” (because the device cannot be used in the first place).

  Further, the control unit 110, when the usage status of the information processing apparatus 200 that has acquired the request is not “valid”, “hold”, or “invalid”, that is, from the information processing apparatus 200 in which the usage status is not yet recorded. When the request is acquired, a process for determining the replacement of the license (hereinafter referred to as “replacement determination process”) is performed (step S39). If there is a replaceable license, the licensed function is executed by the device. to approve.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the replacement determination process. In the replacement determination process, the control unit 110 determines whether there is license information whose usage status is “pending” or “invalid” (step S391). If there is license information whose usage status is “pending” or “invalid”, the control unit 110 regards this as “free license” and replaces the device ID of the license information. In other words, in this case, the control unit 110 determines that the information processing apparatus 200 that has acquired the request is permitted to execute the license required function (step S392), and rewrites the license information (step S393). At this time, the control unit 110 rewrites the last date and time of the license information and the device ID, and further changes the usage status to “valid”.

  On the other hand, if any license information is “valid”, the control unit 110 regards that there is no free license and does not replace the license. However, in this case, the control unit 110 determines to temporarily permit (temporarily permit) the execution of the license required function by the information processing apparatus 200 that has acquired the request (step S394). Here, “temporary” means that execution of a licensed function is limited to a predetermined period or a predetermined number of times. The information processing apparatus 200 for which this determination has been made is not written in the license information, but is in a state in which a license is provisionally granted. Hereinafter, this state of the information processing apparatus 200 is referred to as a “provisional license”.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, license replacement occurs when there is license information whose usage status is “pending” or “invalid”. That is, the license replacement occurs when the activation request is not acquired for 8 days or more for any of the information processing apparatuses 200 to which the license is granted. In other words, in this case, the condition for the information processing apparatus 200 to maintain the license is “transmit an activation request at least once every 8 days”. The information processing apparatus 200 is subject to license replacement when this condition is not satisfied.

  When the determination process is finished, the control unit 110 notifies the information processing apparatus 200 of the determination result as shown in FIG. 6 (step S4). At this time, the control unit 110 notifies whether the determination result is “permitted”, “impossible”, or “temporary permission”. If the determination result is “permitted” or “temporary permission”, the control unit 110 is required. Send the license file for executing the license function. The license file is a file that describes the execution mode of the license-required function, and describes the device ID of the information processing apparatus 200 that is permitted to execute the license-required function and its valid period (in this embodiment, 1 day). Has been. The information processing apparatus 200 is configured to execute a license required function according to the contents described in the license file.

Note that the control unit 110 may change the description contents of the license file depending on whether the determination result is “permitted” or “temporary permitted”. For example, when the determination result is “permitted”, the control unit 110 permits the execution of all licensed functions, and when the determination result is “temporarily permitted”, the control unit 110 allows some functions of the licensed functions to be performed. You may restrict.

  When the information processing apparatus 200 receives the notification from the license management apparatus 100, the information processing apparatus 200 executes a process (hereinafter referred to as “determination process”) for determining whether or not the license-required function can be executed based on the notification (step S5). . Note that the determination process of the present embodiment includes a process of executing a license-necessary function when it can be executed.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the determination process. In the determination process, the control unit 210 of the information processing apparatus 200 determines whether the determination result is “permitted” or “impossible” (steps S51 and S53). If it is “impossible”, the execution of the license required function is prohibited (step S54).

  In addition, when the determination result is neither “permitted” nor “impossible”, that is, “temporary permission”, the control unit 210 increases the preset count value (step S55). It is determined whether it is less than the threshold value (step S56). The control unit 210 executes the license required function when the count value is less than the threshold (step S57), and prohibits the execution of the license required function when the count value is equal to or greater than the threshold (step S58).

  The count value is a value indicating a period during which the information processing apparatus 200 is executing a license-necessary function in a state where a temporary license is granted, and in this embodiment, the count value indicates the number of days. In this case, the threshold value of the count value is preferably set appropriately in consideration of the above-described values of m and n, but is set to “10” in the present embodiment. When the threshold value of the count value is “10”, the information processing apparatus 200 can execute the license-required function for “10” days even when the temporary license is granted. If a vacant license is generated within this period and the replacement process is performed, the information processing apparatus 200 is granted a formal license that is not a temporary license, and can execute the required license function without restriction.

The processing shown in FIG. 6 is as described above. The following specific example describes the case where such processing is executed according to the initial values shown in FIG.
For example, when the information processing apparatus 200a transmits a request, the license management apparatus 100 permits execution of the license required function. On the other hand, when the information processing apparatus 200d transmits a request, the license management apparatus 100 does not permit execution of the license required function.

  In addition, after the information processing apparatus 200a executes the license-required function, when the date when the request is not transmitted (that is, the day when the license-required function is not executed) continues for 8 days or more, the license management apparatus 100 determines that the information processing apparatus 200a Rewrite the license information and change the usage status from "valid" to "pending".

  The information processing apparatus 200a can change the usage status to “valid” again if activation is performed within the period in which the usage status is “pending”. Note that when switching from “pending” to “valid” in this way, the license management apparatus 100 also notifies the user of this fact, and warns the user and alerts the user. Good. The information processing apparatus 200a can switch to “valid” for less than two days even after the usage status becomes “pending”. However, if activation is not performed for two days or more while the usage status is “pending”, the information processing apparatus 200a is switched to “invalid” and the license is not granted (the license-required function cannot be executed). State).

On the other hand, the information processing apparatus 200d is in a state where no license is granted in the initial value state illustrated in FIG. However, even in this state, if the information processing apparatus 200d transmits a request to the license management apparatus 100, the information processing apparatus 200d is in a state in which a temporary license is granted and can execute the license required function. The information processing apparatus 200d can maintain the state in which the temporary license is granted for a period corresponding to the above-described threshold, that is, for 10 days.

  When the usage status of the other information processing apparatus 200 is switched to “pending” or “invalid” during the period in which the information processing apparatus 200d is granted a temporary license, the license management apparatus 100 replaces the license information, A formal license is granted to the information processing apparatus 200d. For example, if the usage status of the information processing apparatus 200a is switched to “pending” or “invalid” during the period in which the information processing apparatus 200d is granted a temporary license, the license management apparatus 100 notifies the information processing apparatus 200a. The assigned license information is assigned to the information processing apparatus 200d. At this time, the license management apparatus 100 rewrites the apparatus ID of the license information in which “200a” is described in the apparatus ID to “200d”, and changes the usage status to “valid”. That is, the license management apparatus 100 cancels the license that has been given to the information processing apparatus 200a, and grants a license to the information processing apparatus 200d instead.

  As described above, according to the license management system 10 of the present embodiment, a licensee having a license in advance can obtain a state in which more licenses than the number of licenses are temporarily granted. At this time, the information processing apparatus 200 to which the temporary license is granted can be used even when the user does not perform a special operation when another information processing apparatus 200 whose usage status is “pending” or “invalid” occurs. The license can be transferred from the temporary license to the official one.

  Accordingly, when the user replaces the information processing apparatus 200 with a new one by replacing the information processing apparatus 200, the user can easily perform the replacement. This embodiment has a particularly advantageous effect when, for example, the information processing apparatus 200 is a server apparatus and the license required function is a function that requires continuous operation.

[Modification]
The present invention can be implemented in a form different from the above-described embodiment. The following modifications are examples of modifications applicable to the present invention. The above-described embodiment and the following modification examples may be applied in combination as necessary.

(Modification 1)
The determination process in the information processing apparatus 200 is not limited to the case where a notification is obtained from the license management apparatus 100, and may be executed when a notification is not obtained from the license management apparatus 100. Here, the case where the notification is not obtained corresponds to the case where the response is not reached even if a request is transmitted from the information processing apparatus 200 due to a network failure or an abnormality of the license management apparatus 100, for example. In such a case, since it cannot be determined whether the determination result is “permitted” or “impossible”, the control unit 210 executes the processes of steps S55 to S58 in FIG. In this way, even if the determination result by the license management apparatus 100 is unknown, the license-required function can be used for a certain period.

  In this determination process, it is possible to adopt a mode in which the functions that can be executed are increased or decreased according to the magnitude of the count value. For example, if the count value is less than “3”, all the licensed functions are allowed to be executed, and if the count value is “3” or more, the execution of some of the licensed functions is prohibited. Condition. Moreover, you may employ | adopt the aspect by which a function is restrict | limited, so that a count value is small.

  Note that the count value may not be calculated by the information processing apparatus but may be calculated by the license management apparatus. In this case, the license management apparatus may notify the information processing apparatus of the count value.

(Modification 2)
In the present invention, the period of each state corresponding to the above-mentioned “valid”, “hold” and “invalid” may be appropriately determined. It is also possible to adopt a mode in which the state corresponding to “invalid” is switched to the state corresponding to “invalid” without going through the state corresponding to “hold”.

(Modification 3)
The “predetermined function” in the present invention is not limited to that executed by the information processing apparatus, for example, that executed by another information processing apparatus connected to the information processing apparatus, or such other information processing apparatus It is a concept including what is executed by the collaboration.

(Modification 4)
The storage unit in the present invention may not be included in the license management apparatus. For example, the license management apparatus according to the present invention may be configured to connect to an external database in which license information is stored and read the license information from the database. The license management apparatus according to the present invention may be provided with a reader that reads a removable storage medium such as a so-called memory card, and reads license information from a memory card that stores license information.

(Modification 5)
The present invention can also be provided as a program for causing a computer to realize the functions of the control unit 110 and the control unit 210 described above. Such a program may be provided in a form recorded on a recording medium such as an optical disk or a flash memory, or in a form downloaded to a data search device via a network such as the Internet.
The present invention can also be provided as a license management system including a license management apparatus and an information processing apparatus, and a license management method corresponding to the system.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... License management system, 100 ... License management apparatus, 200, 200a, 200b, 200c, 200d ... Information processing apparatus, 110, 210 ... Control part, 120, 220 ... Storage part, 130, 230 ... Communication part, 140, 240 ... operation unit, 150, 250 ... display unit, 111 ... reading unit, 112 ... acquisition unit, 113 ... determination unit, 114 ... notification unit, 115 ... rewrite unit

Claims (5)

An acquisition unit for acquiring a request to use a predetermined function by the information processing device;
A reading unit that reads out from the storage unit license information describing whether or not the function can be used for the first information processing apparatus;
A determination unit that determines whether or not the function can be used in the information processing apparatus from which the request has been acquired by the acquisition unit, based on the license information;
A notification unit for notifying the determination result by the determination unit,
The determination unit is
When the request is acquired from a second information processing apparatus different from the first information processing apparatus, whether or not the function can be used in the second information processing apparatus depends on the first information processing apparatus. A license management apparatus that makes a determination according to an acquisition status of the request. The determination unit is
When the request related to the first information processing apparatus does not satisfy a predetermined condition, the permission for the first information processing apparatus is revoked, and the use of the function is performed for the second information processing apparatus. The license management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein permission is granted. The determination unit is
The use of the function in the second information processing apparatus is temporarily permitted when the request related to the first information processing apparatus satisfies a predetermined condition. License management device. The license management apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a rewriting unit that rewrites the license information stored in the storage unit in accordance with a determination result by the determination unit. On the computer,
An acquisition unit for acquiring a request to use a predetermined function by the information processing device;
A reading unit that reads out from the storage unit license information that describes whether or not a predetermined function can be used for the first information processing apparatus;
A determination unit that determines, based on the license information, whether or not the function can be used in the information processing apparatus from which the request is acquired by the acquisition unit, and a second information processing apparatus that is different from the first information processing apparatus A determination unit that determines whether or not the function of the second information processing apparatus can be used according to the acquisition status of the request related to the first information processing apparatus when the request is acquired from
A program for realizing a notification unit that notifies a determination result by the determination unit.

Images