Point-based license sharing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11238551-B2
Application number	US-201715823671-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 28, 2017
Priority date	Nov 28, 2017
Publication date	Feb 1, 2022
Grant date	Feb 1, 2022

Abstract

Systems, methods and tools directed toward point-based license sharing mechanism that allows resource providers to dynamically control the computing resources each customer consumes by assigning point values to the license agreements between the customers and resource providers. Customers can select the amount of available points in a personalized license agreement and instead of using a “pay as you go” model, the customer upgrades and downgrades resources and services through point transfers which convert points into the resources Using the point-based conversions, customers have greater control over each license without inadvertently spending more money than expected on resources because the resources are limited to the available points in the license agreement, unless the licenses are purposefully upgraded by user. User licenses may offer flexible options to dynamically de-provision unused or unwanted resources back into available points for reallocation of new resources that may currently be more important to the user.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A method for licensing computing resources to customers, said method comprising:
receiving, by a processor, a resource request associated with a license file storing data relating to an existing license for obtaining computing resources from a license management system, wherein the resource request is a request to provision computing resources obtainable through the license to the customers associated with the license file, wherein the license file comprises an amount of available point-based currency that is exchangeable for the computing resources obtainable through the license, types of resources obtainable through the license, maximum amounts of the resources obtainable through the license, an expiration date describing how long the license file is valid for accessing the computing resources, and Internet Protocol (IP) and/or Media Access Control (MAC) addresses of computing systems and client devices capable of accessing the computing resources;
validating, by the processor, the license file;
verifying, by the processor, that the resource request follows a basic policy of the license file and the amount of available point-based currency of the license file is greater than or equal to an amount of point-based currency sufficient for exchanging the computing resources requested by the resource request;
transforming, by the processor, the amount of available point-based currency into an amount of consumed point-based currency in exchange for each requested resource as a function of a transformation rule in the license file;
provisioning, by the processor, the computing resources to the customers associated with the license file;
updating, by the processor, the amount of available point-based currency in real-time as a function of said transforming; and
automatically detecting, by the processor, (i) an increase in a number of virtual machines (VMs) authorized to access services of a cloud computing environment under the license and in response, obtaining, by the processor, access to additional hosts for the increased number of VMs connecting to the cloud provided services in exchange for converting, by the processor, an amount of available points authorized under the license to obtain the access to the additional hosts or (ii) a decrease in the number of VMs authorized to access the services of the cloud computing environment under the license and in response, de-provisioning, by the processor, one or more hosts in exchange for recouping a plurality of points in accordance with the transformation rule.

2. The method of claim 1 , said method further comprising:
receiving, by the processor, a request to generate a new license file;
transmitting, by the processor, the request to generate the new license file to a license generator; and
generating, the new license file comprising the transformation rule and the amount of available point-based currency as a function of a basic policy selected by a user.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the resource request is created via an auto-detector detecting a change in a computing environment necessitating additional computing resources.

4. The method of claim 1 , said method further comprising:
receiving, by the processor, a request to de-provision computing resources;
retrieving, by the processor, a point value for the de-provisioned computing resources as a function of the transformation rules of the license file;
transforming, by the processor, the de-provisioned computing resources into the point value as a function of a depreciation rate defined by the transformation rule in the license file; and
increasing, by the processor, the amount of available point-based currency in the license file, by the point value obtained from the transformation of the de-provisioned computing resources.

5. The method of claim 1 , said method further comprising:
receiving, by the processor, a request to update the basic policy of the license file;
retrieving, by the processor, the basic policy and total amount of point-based currency from the license file;
verifying, by the processor, the request to update the basic policy of the license file comprises a correct input from a requesting user; and
updating, by the processor, the basic policy as a function of the request to update the basic policy of the license file, increasing or decreasing the total amount of point-based currency available to the license file.

6. The method of claim 1 , said method further comprising providing at least one support service for at least one of creating, integrating, hosting, maintaining, and deploying computer-readable program code in a computer system, where the computer-readable program code in combination with the computer system is configured to implement said receiving, validating, verifying, transforming, provisioning and updating.

7. A computer system, comprising:
a processor, a memory device coupled to the processor; and a computer readable storage device coupled to the processor, wherein the storage device contains program code executable by the processor via the memory device to implement a method for licensing computing resources to customers, said method comprising:
receiving, by the processor, a resource request associated with a license file storing data relating to an existing license for obtaining computing resources from a license management system, wherein the resource request is a request to provision computing resources obtainable through the license to the customers associated with the license file, wherein the license file comprises an amount of available point-based currency that is exchangeable for the computing resources obtainable through the license, types of resources obtainable through the license, maximum amounts of the resources obtainable through the license, an expiration date describing how long the license file is valid for accessing the computing resources, and Internet Protocol (IP) and/or Media Access Control (MAC) addresses of computing systems and client devices capable of accessing the computing resources;
validating, by the processor, the license file;
verifying, by the processor, that the resource request follows a basic policy of the license file and the amount of available point-based currency of the license file is greater than or equal to an amount of point-based currency sufficient for exchanging the computing resources requested by the resource request;
transforming, by the processor, the amount of available point-based currency into an amount of consumed point-based currency in exchange for each requested resource as a function of a transformation rule in the license file;
provisioning, by the processor, the computing resources to the customers associated with the license file;
updating, by the processor, the amount of available point-based currency in real-time as a function of said transforming; and
automatically detecting, by the processor, (i) an increase in a number of virtual machines (VMs) authorized to access services of a cloud computing environment under the license and in response, obtaining, by the processor, access to additional hosts for the increased number of VMs connecting to the cloud provided services in exchange for converting, by the processor, an amount of available points authorized under the license to obtain the access to the additional hosts or (ii) a decrease in the number of VMs authorized to access the services of the cloud computing environment under the license and in response, de-provisioning, by the processor, one or more hosts in exchange for recouping a plurality of points in accordance with the transformation rule.

8. The computer system of claim 7 , said method further comprising:
receiving, by the processor, a request to ge

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Zhang Jian
• Cao Mu Dan
• Weilin Wu
• Wang Yi Bin
• Liu Guo Ning

Classifications

• G06Q20/26

  Debit schemes, e.g. "pay now" · CPC title

• G06Q20/123

  Shopping for digital content · CPC title

• G06Q20/1235

  with control of digital rights management [DRM] · CPC title

• G06Q50/184 Primary

  Intellectual property management · CPC title

• H04L47/82

  Miscellaneous aspects · CPC title