Managing licensing of distributed applications
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsMarvin J. Rich, William K. Mellors, Soon I. Joe
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A licensed is obtained by an instance of a distributed application, and one or more other instances of the application are managed under the license. Collectively, the instances managed under the license behave as a single application. For instance, there is one point of user interaction, one point of input/output control, and one point of display for the collection of instances. Each of the controls can be the responsibility of one instance or distributed among various instances.
Claims90
A method of managing licensing of applications of a communications environment, said method comprising:
- obtaining a license for an instance of an application;
- and
- managing under the license one or more other instances of the application, wherein one or more capabilities of the one or more other instances of the application are controlled by the instance of the application.
A method of managing licensing of applications, said method comprising:
- obtaining a license for an application;
- and
- managing under the license a plurality of instances of the application, wherein the plurality of instances of the application collectively behave as one application.
A method of dynamically selecting a licensing protocol, said method comprising:
- determining whether an instance of an application includes a chosen licensing option;
- and
- dynamically selecting a licensing protocol for the application in response to the determining.
A system of managing licensing of applications of a communications environment, said system comprising:
- means for obtaining a license for an instance of an application;
- and
- means for managing under the license one or more other instances of the application, wherein one or more capabilities of the one or more other instances of the application are controlled by the instance of the application.
A system of managing licensing of applications, said system comprising:
- means for obtaining a license for an application;
- and
- means for managing under the license a plurality of instances of the application, wherein the plurality of instances of the application collectively behave as one application.
A system of dynamically selecting a licensing protocol, said system comprising:
- means for determining whether an instance of an application includes a chosen licensing option;
- and
- means for dynamically selecting a licensing protocol for the application in response to the determining.
A system of managing licensing of applications of a communications environment, said system comprising:
- a license for an instance of an application;
- and
- one or more other instances of the application managed under the license, wherein one or more capabilities of the one or more other instances of the application are controlled by the instance of the application.
A system of managing licensing of applications, said system comprising:
- a license for an application;
- and
- a plurality of instances of the application managed under the license, wherein the plurality of instances of the application collectively behave as one application.
A system of dynamically selecting a licensing protocol, said system comprising:
- at least one processor to determine whether an instance of an application includes a chosen licensing option;
- and
- at least one processor to dynamically select a licensing protocol for the application in response to the determining.
At least one program storage device readable by a machine tangibly embodying at least one program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method of managing licensing of applications of a communications environment, said method comprising:
- obtaining a license for an instance of an application;
- and
- managing under the license one or more other instances of the application, wherein one or more capabilities of the one or more other instances of the application are controlled by the instance of the application.
At least one program storage device readable by a machine tangibly embodying at least one program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method of managing licensing of applications, said method comprising:
- obtaining a license for an application;
- and
- managing under the license a plurality of instances of the application, wherein the plurality of instances of the application collectively behave as one application.
At least one program storage device readable by a machine tangibly embodying at least one program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method of dynamically selecting a licensing protocol, said method comprising:
- determining whether an instance of an application includes a chosen licensing option;
- and
- dynamically selecting a licensing protocol for the application in response to the determining.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.