Systems and methods for software license management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11669599-B2
Application number	US-201816200231-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 26, 2018
Priority date	Nov 26, 2018
Publication date	Jun 6, 2023
Grant date	Jun 6, 2023

Abstract

In accordance with the present approach, an edition-managing software application may be provided to query registries of client devices for edition information associated with a target software package. When retrieved, the edition information may then be stored in a universal storage location from which the edition-managing software application may generate an edition report that provides an accurate representation of actual installations of each edition of the target software package on the client devices. Further, in accordance with the present approach, a usage-tracking software program may be provided to retrieve a last used date of a target software package on client devices. If the last used date is beyond a threshold time period for the client devices, the enterprise may determine that the target software package is underutilized compared to a desired usage. Then, the target software package may be uninstalled from the client devices and installed on other client devices.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
monitoring, by a server device of a network, usage of a target software package installed on a plurality of client devices, wherein a respective installation of the target software package on each client device of the plurality of client devices is associated with a respective edition, wherein the respective edition is distinct from a version of the respective installation of the target software package, and wherein monitoring the usage of the target software package comprises:
querying, by the server device, a publisher-specified location in respective registries of the plurality of client devices in the network to retrieve edition information for the target software package, wherein the edition information is indicative of the respective editions of the respective installations of the target software package on each client device of the plurality of client devices, and wherein querying the publisher-specified location in the respective registries comprises transmitting respective commands to each software manager installed on the plurality of client devices to retrieve the edition information for the target software package from the publisher-specified location in the respective registries;
receiving, by the server device, the edition information for the target software package from each software manager installed on the plurality of client devices, wherein the edition information for the target software package comprises coded edition information;
storing, by the server device, the edition information in a Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) class entry for the target software package;
converting, by the server device, the coded edition information for the target software package from each software manager into respective decoded edition identifiers; and
generating, by the server device, an edition report based on the edition information for the target software package, wherein the edition report comprises the respective decoded edition identifiers;

determining, by the server device, that a first edition of the respective editions of the target software package has one or more unused licenses based on a current set of licenses associated with the network; and
generating, by the server device, an alert indicative of a recommendation to upgrade a second edition of the respective editions of the target software package installed on one or more client devices of the plurality of client devices to the first edition.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein monitoring the usage of the target software package comprises:
determining, by the server device, whether the WMI class entry exists for the target software package; and
in response to determining that the WMI class entry does not exist, generating, by the server device, the WMI class entry for the target software package.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein monitoring the usage of the target software package comprises:
querying, by the server device, a different publisher-specified location in the respective registries of the plurality of client devices to retrieve edition information for a different target software package, wherein querying the different publisher-specified location in the respective registries comprises transmitting respective additional commands to each software manager installed on the plurality of client devices to retrieve the edition information for the different target software package from the different publisher-specified location in the respective registries;
receiving, by the server device, the edition information for the different target software package from each software manager installed on the plurality of client devices; and
storing, by the server device, the edition information for the different target software package in a different Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) class entry for the different target software package; and
wherein the method comprises generating, by the server device, the edition report based on the edition information for the target software package and the edition information for the different target software package.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the edition information for the target software package and the edition information for the different target software package are retrieved each software manager installed on the plurality of client devices in parallel.

5. The method of claim 3 , comprising:
receiving input indicative of user selection of a user-selectable item of the edition report; and
reorganizing or filtering the edition report based on the user selection.

6. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
receiving, from a database by the server device, data indicative of the current set of software licenses associated with the target software package.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein monitoring the usage of the target software package comprises:
querying, by the server device, the respective registries of the plurality of client devices to retrieve version information indicative of the respective versions of the respective installations of the target software package, wherein querying the respective registries comprises transmitting respective additional commands to each software manager installed on the plurality of client devices to retrieve the version information from the respective registries; and
receiving, by the server device, the version information for the target software package from each software manager installed on the plurality of client devices; and
wherein the method comprises generating, by the server device, the edition report based on the edition information and the version information, wherein the edition report is configured to display the respective editions of the respective installations of the target software package and the respective versions of the respective installations of the target software package.

8. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
retrieving, by the server device, a last used date of the target software package from a local server communicatively coupled to the plurality of client devices;
determining whether the last used date is outside a threshold time period; and
in response to determining that the last used date is outside the threshold time period, providing, by the server device, an indication that the target software package is underutilized or not in use.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein querying the publisher-specified location in the respective registries of the plurality of respective client devices comprises implementing a structured query language (SQL) query against the respective registries of the plurality of client devices.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first edition of the target software package comprises one or more features that are not provided by the second edition of the target software package.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coded edition information comprises a combination of alpha numerals indicative of the respective edition of the target software package.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein storing the edition information in the WMI class entry for the target software package comprises:
determining whether a previous WMI class entry for the target software package exists;
overwriting existing edition information in the previous WMI class entry with the edition information in response to determining that the previous WMI class entry for the target software package exists; and
generating a new WMI class entry to store the edition information in response to determining that the previous WMI class entry for the target software package does not exist.

13. The method of

Assignees

• Servicenow Inc

Inventors

• Singri Medha
• Blakeman Colby Andrew

Classifications

• G06F8/62

  Uninstallation · CPC title

• G06F8/71

  Version control (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57); Configuration management · CPC title

• G06F21/35

  communicating wirelessly · CPC title

• G06F21/105 Primary

  Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level · CPC title

• G06F8/65

  Updates (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57) · CPC title