Reliable and accurate usage detection of a software application

A computer-readable medium being distinguishable from a transmission signal and containing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors disposed on an electronic device, implements a software application usage detection service arranged for performing a method comprising the steps of:

• implementing a plurality of usage counters that monitor respective components of applications that are instantiated on the electronic device, the components being described by a usage manifest, the usage manifest including elements for categorized components, the categorization being performed based on at least one of usage pattern of the components or correlation of the components to active usage, the categorization classifying the components into categories that includes primary processes, user interaction with a user interface and auxiliary processes, wherein primary processes run when the application is being actively used, and terminate when the application is not being actively used, user interaction with a user interface interaction enables detection of the software application usage by monitoring interaction patterns with the user interface, and auxiliary processes run without correlation to application usage, the usage counters further generating usage metrics based on a frequency of unique launches of an application or a duration of each unique use of an application responsively to the monitoring;
• and
• implementing a usage manager that is configured for receiving the usage metrics, from one or more of the usage counters, and for computing application usage by comparing the received usage metrics against one or more predetermined thresholds.

A method for measuring usage of a composite software application, the method comprising the steps of:

• identifying components in the application by the components' correlation with active user interaction and further by a mode of interaction of the components in order to derive usage patterns for the components;
• classifying the components by the usage patterns into categories that include primary processes, user interaction with a user interface and auxiliary processes, wherein primary processes run when the application is being actively used, and terminate when the application is not being actively used, user interaction with a user interface interaction enables detection of the software application usage by monitoring interaction patterns with the user interface, and auxiliary processes run without correlation to application usage, the classified components being respectively monitored by a plurality of usage counters for generating usage metrics based on a frequency of unique launches of an application or a duration of each unique use of an application responsively to the monitoring;
• implementing one or more monitoring techniques that are specific to each of the classified components;
• collecting usage metrics from the monitoring for each classification of the components;
• and
• computing a usage for the application based on the usage metrics with the usage counter of the application.

A client device configured for detecting software application usage comprising:

• a user interface;
• a network port configured for data packet exchange with a network that is external to the client device;
• and
• a software detection background service configured for
• categorizing components of applications that are instantiated on the client device, the categorization being performed based on at least one of usage pattern of the components or correlation of the components to active usage, the categorization classifying the components into categories that includes primary processes, user interaction with a user interface and auxiliary processes, wherein primary processes run when the application is being actively used, and terminate when the application is not being actively used, user interaction with a user interface interaction enables detection of the software application usage by monitoring interaction patterns with the user interface, and auxiliary processes run without correlation to application usage,
• providing the categorized components as elements in a usage manifest that is published to the client device, the categorized components being respectively monitored by a plurality of usage counters for generating usage metrics based on a frequency of unique launches of an application or a duration of each unique use of an application responsively to the monitoring, and
• implementing a software usage detection service on the client device, the software usage detection service arranged for monitoring one or more of the components according to the usage manifest to detect usage of the applications based on the categorization of the one or more components.