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License modes in call processing

1. 65 12 ing system 100 step 500 ADD LICENSE command is invoked In step 504 the license manager decrypts the new license file In step 508 the license manager performs a series of checks to determine if the license file is valid The license manager confirms that the serial number contained in the license file matches the serial number of the active processor that the license has not expired that the version contained in the license file matches the software version loaded onto the switching system 100 that the offer category contained in the license file matches the offer category contained in the trans lation files of the system 100 data integrity using a checksum or other suitable approach and that the license file length and format are correct Ifone or more of the preceding queries is not confirmed the license manager proceeds to step 524 and displays a suitable error message to the user and terminates operation in step 528 If each of the queries is confirmed the new license file is stored in translation in step 512 The new license file over writes the license file already in memory The license manager then processes the new license file in step 516 The license manager activates and deactivates fea tures and sets new limits in accordance with the new license file Next in step 520 the license manager invokes the mode setting agent to set the license mode If the mode was LICENSE NORMAL the new lic
2. Jason SAMS Publishing 1998 ISBN 0 672 31249 2 A Menezes P van Oorschot and S Vanstone Handbook of Applied Cryptography cr8523 O1 1 pdf Chapter 1 48 pages A Menezes P van Oorschot and S Vanstone Handbook of Applied Cryptography cr8523 10 pdf Chapter 10 40 pages A Menezes P van Oorschot and S Vanstone Handbook of Applied Cryptography cr8523 12 1 pdf Chapter 12 53 pages FLEXIm End Users Guide Version 9 2 Jul 2003 Published by Macrovision 166 pages cited by examiner U S Patent Apr 13 2010 Sheet 1 of 5 US 7 698 225 B2 BR 101 t c iuc ee 112 LICENSE LICENSE TELECOMMUNICATION 11 4145 FILE MANAGER NONVOLATILE TELECOMMUNICATION 114 MEMORY au m MODE ETC 124n ee ee et 1 125 111 1 ee TELECOM MUNICATION Mes t SWITCHING SYSTEM 100 NETWORK 710 a ee 1 CONTROL K PROCESSOR 1020 SWITCHING NETWORK l l l l 120 1 CONTROL PROCESSOR LT i i I REMOTE FEATURE ACTIVATION 104 SYSTEM FIG 1 U S Patent FILE HEADER 200 APPLICATION DEFINITION 224 232 END APPLICATION Apr 13 2010 Sheet2of5 US 7 698 225 B2 wmm FOR TYPE FEATURES FOR TYPE II FEAT
3. mode the telecommunication application is permitted to run for a predetermined period of time or grace period License error timer 126 FIG 1 is used to monitor the grace period Each timer 126a n is maintained by a corresponding telecom munication application in memory In order to preserve the timer value across reboots timer values 125a n each of which corresponds to a timer 126a n are saved once every hour in nonvolatile memory The application 114 reads the timer values 125a n from memory on bootup and uses them to set the correct timer value of the corresponding timer 126a n in the application s memory In one configuration all call processing functions of the telecommunication application are permitted to run during the LICENSE ERROR MODE Thus the customer will real ize the same level of service in both the LICENSE NORMAL and LICENSE ERROR modes In the NO LICENSE mode the license manager has found that i the corresponding license error timer 126a n is expired and one or more of the following there is no valid license installed on the system the feature usage exceeds limits the license file contains a serial number that does not match the serial number of the processor simplex configu ration or a plurality of serial numbers that do not match the serial numbers of a similar plurality of processors multiple processor configuration e g duplex configuration the license is expired and the processor is a WSP SRP or
4. passed and iv a valid license file is not present license error timer does not have a selected value and the computational component is not currently in the no license mode 18 The medium of claim 14 wherein the set of features comprise a plurality of call processing functions selected from the group call vectoring voice mail restrict call forward off net Digital Communication System or DCS internet working enhanced conferencing IP trunks maximum num ber of ports holiday vectoring and automatic call distribu tion 19 The medium of claim 14 wherein the computational component enters the license error licensing mode only when a license error timer does not have the selected value 20 The medium of claim 14 wherein when an event in the first set of events applies the computational component enters the no license licensing mode independent of the value of the license error timer 21 The medium of claim 14 wherein the license file com prises first second and third types of features the first type of 0 5 25 30 40 45 50 55 65 18 feature relating to features having on off state the second type of feature relating to features having a numeric value and the third type of features having a product value a release number and a numeric value 22 The medium of claim 14 wherein the license file com prises the following sets of fields a serial number field indi cating a seria
5. 6 816 842 B1 11 2004 Singh et al 2003 0163428 Al 8 2003 Schneck et al 6 826 606 B2 11 2004 Freeman et al 709 223 2003 0191936 A1 10 2003 Kawatsura et al 6 850 958 B2 2 2005 Wakabayashi 2003 0208449 Al 11 2003 Diao 6 854 010 B1 2 2005 Christian et al 2003 0233547 Al 12 2003 Gaston et al 6 868 403 B1 3 2005 Wiser et al 2004 0073517 4 2004 Zunkeetal 705 59 6 876 984 B2 4 2005 Tadayon et al 2004 0078339 Al 4 2004 Goringe etal 705 59 6 883 095 B2 4 2005 Sandhu et al 2004 0088541 Al 5 2004 Messerges et al 6 889 212 Bl 5 2005 Wang et al 2004 0103011 5 2004 Hatano et al 6 904 523 B2 6 2005 Bialick et al 2004 0103324 Al 5 2004 Band 6 920 567 B1 7 2005 Doherty etal 726 22 2004 0127196 Al 7 2004 Dabbish et al 6 928 166 B2 8 2005 Yoshizawa 2004 0128395 Al 7 2004 Miyazaki 6 928 558 BL 8 2005 Allahwerdi et al 2004 0128551 7 2004 Walkeretal 713 201 US 7 698 225 B2 Page 3 2004 0133794 Al 2004 0162998 Al 2004 0166878 Al 2004 0172367 Al 7 2004 Kocher et al 8 2004 Tuomi et al 8 2004 Erskine etal 455 456 1 9 2004 705 59 2004 0181695 9 2004 Walker 2004 0181696 Al 9 2004 Walker 713 202 2004 0199760 Al 10 2004 Mazza 713 150 2004 0249763 Al 2004 0260589 Al 2004 0268120 Al 2005 0005098 Al 2005 0038753 Al 2005 0076204 Al 2005 0086174 Al 2
6. FEATURE ACTI VATOR FEATURE EXTRACTION to Walker et at Ser No 10 231 999 entitled FLEXIBLE LICENSE FILE FEA TURE CONTROLS to Walker et al Ser No 10 232 507 entitled LICENSE FILE SERIAL NUMBER TRACKING to Serkowski et al Ser No 10 231 957 entitled LICENS ING DUPLICATED SYSTEMS to Serkowski et al and Ser No 10 232 647 entitled SOFTWARE LICENSING FOR SPARE PROCESSORS to Walker et al each of which is filed concurrently herewith and is incorporated herein by reference The above described embodiments and configurations are neither complete nor exhaustive As will be appreciated other embodiments of the invention are possible utilizing alone or in combination one or more of the features set forth above or described in detail below BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 depicts a telecommunication switching system according to an embodiment of the present invention US 7 698 225 B2 5 FIG 2 depicts a license file according to another embodi ment of the present invention FIG 3 is a flow chart depicting an algorithm of the tele communication application according to yet another embodi ment of the present invention FIGS 4A and 4B are flow charts depicting an algorithm of the license manager according to a further embodiment of the present invention and FIG 5 is a flowchart depicting an algorithm of the license manager according to yet a further embodiment of the present inventi
7. Field of Classification Search 705 1 EM 380 231 370 372 717 177 The present invention is directed to a system comprising a See application file for complete search history license manager 113 operable to identify the occurrence of a 56 References Cited predetermined licensing event and a mode setting agent 124 U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 4 288 659 A 9 1981 Atalla 178 22 08 4 405 829 9 1983 Rivest et al 4 780 821 A 10 1988 Crossley 4 811 393 A 3 1989 Hazard 380 21 4 888 800 A 12 1989 Marshall et al 380 21 4 937 863 6 1990 Robert et al 5 157 663 A 10 1992 Major et al 5 179 591 A 1 1993 Hardy et al 380 21 operable to change in response to the occurrence of the predetermined licensing event e g an absence of a valid license from a first licensing mode e g a license normal mode to a second licensing mode e g a license error mode The second licensing mode is different from the first licensing mode In each of the first and second licensing modes a common set of features performed by the telecommunication application e g call processing functions are operational 42 Claims 5 Drawing Sheets ACTIVATION SYSTEM US 7 698 225 B2 Page 2 U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 6 934 463 B2 8 2005 Ishiguro et al 6 934 848 8 2005 King et al 5 671 412 9 1997 Christiano 6 957 344 B1 10 2005 Goldshlag
8. al 5 978 565 A 11 1999 Ohran et al 7 313 828 B2 12 2007 Holopainen 5 982 873 A 11 1999 Flockhart et al 7 318 236 B2 1 2008 DeMello et al 5 995 625 A 11 1999 Sudia et al 7 356 602 B2 4 2008 Bialick et al 6 009 401 A 12 1999 Horstmann 7 382 881 B2 6 2008 Uusitalo et al 6 011 973 A 1 2000 Valentine et al 455 456 6 7 383 205 B1 6 2008 Peinado et al 6 023 763 A 2 2000 Grumstrup et al 7 545 931 B2 6 2009 Dillaway 6 023 766 A 2 2000 Yamamura 2001 0001268 Al 5 2001 Menon et al 6 047 242 A 4 2000 Benson 2001 0013024 Al 8 2001 Takahashi 6 067 621 A 5 2000 Yu et al 2001 0034846 Al 10 2001 Beery 6 108 703 8 2000 Leighton et al 709 226 2002 0001302 1 1 2002 Pickett 370 352 6 128 389 A 10 2000 Chan et al 2002 0013722 Al 1 2002 Kanaga 6 134 660 10 2000 Boneh et al 2002 0017977 Al 2 2002 340 5 28 6 148 415 11 2000 Kobayashi et al 2002 0038422 Al 3 2002 Suwamoto et al 6 163 607 A 12 2000 Bogart et al 2002 0052939 Al 5 2002 Lee 6 173 053 1 2001 Bogart et al 2002 0083003 1 6 2002 Halliday etal 705 52 6 178 511 B1 1 2001 Cohen et al 2002 0087892 Al 7 2002 Imazu 6 189 146 B1 2 2001 Misraetal 717 177 2002 0104006 1 8 2002 Boate et al 6 192 122 Bl 2 2001 Flockhart et al 2002 0107809 A1 8 2002 Biddle et al 6 212 635 BL 4 2001 Reardon 2002 0112186 8 2002 Ford et al 6 219 652 B1 4 2001 Carter et al 2002 0116340 Al
9. all of the above licensing methodologies is that the computational system is either completely enabled or completely disabled depending upon whether or not a speci fied licensing protocol is satisfied There are situations in which it is desirable for the system to be operational even if the licensing protocol 15 not satisfied During system mainte nance and or hardware replacement the customer could potentially be out of service until a new license is generated and installed Alternatively the licensing algorithm and or system configuration can malfunction causing system shut down In many applications such as telecommunication applications such outages can not only place great demands on maintenance personnel but also create customer dissatis faction and cause lost sales revenue Moreover even when a customer fails to obtain a valid license for a telecommunica tion application or feature thereof it is often desirable for the system to remain operational to permit customers to make US 7 698 225 B2 3 emergency e g 911 telephone calls and or maintenance calls for licensing enablement SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION These and other needs are addressed by the various embodiments and configurations of the present invention To control unlicensed uses of the computational component the present invention provides a method and system that uses a plurality of differing licensing modes and or differing degrees of enablement of the computat
10. to step 448 and determines whether the serial number of the standby processor 1025 matches either ofthe serial numbers in the license file When the system is a duplex system and one or both serial numbers ofthe processors do not match either ofthe serial numbers in the license file the manager 113 in step 452 records the proper error code for an unmatched duplicated processor serial num ber In the event that the duplication flag is off or after either of steps 448 or 452 the manager 113 determines in step 456 whether or not the license is expired When the expiration date in the license file is earlier than the current date and time the license is considered to be expired When the license is expired the manager 113 in step 460 records the proper error code for an expired license In step 464 the manager 113 decides whether the license 15 to be denied or granted The license is denied when one or more error codes is recorded during the preceding steps The license is granted when no error codes are recorded When the license is granted the manager 113 generates a license granted response in step 468 The response includes an indication that the license is granted and the feature mask ofthe license file The message is encrypted and forwarded to the mode setting agent 124 0 5 20 35 40 45 50 10 When the license is denied the manager 113 generates a license denied response in step 472 The response inclu
11. 005 0144437 Al 2005 0154877 Al 2005 0185792 Al 2005 0198510 Al 12 2004 Vardi 12 2004 Varadarajan et al 12 2004 Mirtal et al 1 2005 Michaelis et al 2 2005 Yen et al 4 2005 Thornton et al 4 2005 Eng 6 2005 Ransom et al 7 2005 Trench 8 2005 Tokutani et al 9 2005 Robert et al 2005 0202830 Al 9 2005 Sudit 455 456 1 2005 0229004 Al 10 2005 Callaghan 2005 0246098 Al 11 2005 Bergstrom et al 701 213 2005 0289072 Al 2006 0036554 Al 2006 0036894 Al 2006 0089912 Al 2006 0178953 Al 2007 0033419 Al 2007 0107067 Al 2008 0082449 Al 2008 0141242 Al 12 2005 Sabharwal 2 2006 Schrock et al 2 2006 Bauer et al 4 2006 Spagna et al 8 2006 Aggarwal et al 2 2007 Kocher et al 5 2007 Fountian 4 2008 Wilkinson et al 6 2008 Shapiro OTHER PUBLICATIONS U S Appl No 10 231 957 filed Aug 30 2002 Serkowski et al U S Appl No 10 232 507 filed Aug 30 2002 Serkowski et al U S Appl No 10 231 999 filed Aug 30 2002 Walker et al U S Appl No 10 232 906 filed Aug 30 2002 Walker et al U S Appl No 10 232 647 filed Aug 30 2002 Walker et al U S Appl No 10 811 412 filed Mar 25 2004 Walker U S Appl No 10 947 418 filed Sep 21 2004 Gilman et al U S Appl No 10 775 498 filed Feb 9 2004 Gilman et al ADTech Engineering IP Phone SI 160 User Manual SCCP releases Version 1 2 2002 pp 1 20 Articsoft Limited Public Key Infrastructure PKI FAQs F
12. 1025 Control processors 102a and 5 each are assigned a unique electroni cally readable serial number that is set during board manu facture If one or both ofthe processors 102 fails to respond to the serial number request after a predetermined time period and or after a predetermined number of requests manager 113 assumes that the processor 102 is unavailable It is typi cally desired to resend serial number requests in the event that no response is received as the processor may be resetting e g after a firmware update at the time of the initial serial number request In step 428 the manager 113 determines whether each of the processors 102a and 1026 has responded and is therefore present If not the manager 113 in step 432 records the proper error code for the corresponding unavailable processor In step 436 the manager 113 determines if the serial num ber of the active processor matches either of the two serial numbers in the license file If not the manager 113 in step 440 records the proper error code for an unmatched serial number Instep 444 the manager 113 determines whether the dupli cation flag is on or set The duplication flag may be configured in any suitable manner such as a bit having two values 0 and 1 each of which indicates a different predetermined duplica tion state For example a 0 value indicates no duplication and a 1 value duplication When the duplication flag is on the manager 113 proceeds
13. 8 2002 Hellberg et al 6 223 291 BI 4 2001 Puhl etal 2002 0125886 Al 9 2002 Bates etal 324 307 6 246 871 B1 6 2001 Ala Laurila 2002 0138441 Al 9 2002 Lopatic 6 314 565 B1 11 2001 Kenner et al 2002 0154777 Al 10 2002 4 1 380 258 6 360 320 BL 3 2002 Ishiguro et al 2002 0164025 Al 11 2002 Raizetal 380 231 6 463 534 10 2002 Geiger et al 2002 0174356 1 11 2002 Padole et al 713 200 6 502 079 B1 12 2002 705 59 2002 0176404 1 11 2002 Girard 370 352 6 513 117 B2 1 2003 Tarpenning et al 2002 0188656 Al 12 2002 Patton et al 6 557 105 B1 4 2003 Tardo et al 2002 0188704 Al 12 2002 Gold et al 6 574 012 B1 6 2003 Baratti et al 2002 0194473 Al 12 2002 Pope et al 6 584 454 B1 6 2003 Hummel et al 2003 0005427 Al 1 2008 Herrero 717 178 6 640 305 B2 10 2003 Kocher et al 2003 0013411 Al 1 2003 Uchiyama 6 675 208 B1 1 2004 Rai et al 2003 0023564 Al 1 2003 Padhye et al 6 697 945 B2 2 2004 Ishiguro et al 2003 0055749 Al 3 2003 Carmody et al 6 760 324 B1 7 2004 Scott et al 2003 0095542 Al 5 2003 Chang et al 6 765 492 B2 7 2004 Harris 340 686 6 2003 0144959 Al 7 2003 Makita 6 769 063 BI 7 2004 Kanda et al 2003 0149670 Al 8 2003 Cronce 6 775 782 B1 8 2004 Buros et al 2003 0149874 Al 8 2003 Balfanz et al 6 778 820 B2 8 2004 Tendler 455 414 2 2003 0156719 Al 8 2003 Cronce
14. Corporation Smart Card Authentication Aug 2002 available at http msdn microsoft com library en us security secu rity smart card authentication asp pp 1 2 Microsoft Corporation Smart Card Interfaces Aug 2002 avail able at http msdn microsoft com library en us security security smart card interfaces asp p 1 Microsoft Corporation Smart Card Resource Manager Aug 2002 available at http msdn microsoft com library en us secu rity security smart card resource manager asp p 1 Microsoft Corporation Smart Card User Interface Aug 2002 available at http msdn microsoft com library en us security secu rity smart card user interface asp p 1 Microsoft Corporation Smart Card Service Providers Aug 2002 available at http msdn microsoft com library en us security secu rity smart card service providers asp 1 Microsoft Corporation Vendor Wrapper Service Provider Aug 2002 available at http msdn microsoft com library en us secu rity security vendor wrapper service provider asp pp 1 2 MIT Laboratory for Computer Science The Cricket Indoor Loca tion System An NMS Project printed Jul 31 2002 available at http nms lcs mit edu projects cricket 5 pages Motorola Press Release Motorola Alliance Receives Award for Smart Card Jun 6 2000 available at http www motorola com LMPS pressreleases page888 htm 3 pages NEC Infrontia Corporation Press R
15. LSP that is active ii the name and or version of the telecommu nication application does not match the name and or version in the license file and or iii the offer category in the feature mask does not match translation In the NO LICENSE mode all new call originations except alarm calls e g 911 calls and calls to an administered emergency number are denied and all incoming calls except calls to an administered num ber are denied This mode is cleared by correcting the error that caused entry into the mode or by installing a valid license that is consistent with the configuration of the switch The operation of the license manager 113 and mode setting agent 124 will now be discussed with reference to FIGS 3 and 4A and 4B The process begins in step 300 of FIG 3 when the mode setting agent 124 sends such as at initialization of the application periodically during execution of the application or when a new license is installed an encrypted message to the license manager 113 via operating system 111 The encrypted message includes a request for permission to run a request for a list of permitted features the name and version number for the telecommunication application 114 making the request and the date and time of the request The request may also include a request for the value of the timer 124 The request is received by the license manager 113 in step 400 of FIG 4A The license manager 113 decrypts the request and in r
16. OR mode the license manager has found one or more of the following no valid license is prop erly installed the license file contains a serial number that does not match the serial number of the processor simplex configuration or a plurality of serial numbers that do not match the serial numbers of a similar plurality of processors multiple processor configuration e g duplex configura tion the license has expired the feature usage exceeds limits e g there are more ports translated than permitted by the port limit in the license file which can occur when trans lations are copied from another switch or when a new license file is installed that has lower limits than the previous license ifie and the processor is a WSP SRP or LSP that is active As 0 5 20 40 45 50 55 8 discussed in copending U S patent application Ser No 10 231 999 entitled Flexible License File Feature Con trols to Walker et al filed concurrently herewith and incor porated herein by this reference if there is a mismatch between the existing translation and the license file for a locked first type of entry the feature on off state is simply updated to match the license and does not cause entry into LICENSE ERROR mode The LICENSE ERROR mode is cleared by correcting the error that caused entry into the mode or by installing a valid license that is consistent with the configuration of the system 100 In the LICENSE ERROR
17. URES 559 244 FEATURE KEYWORDS CEN je 2 U S Patent Apr 13 2010 Sheet 3 of 5 US 7 698 225 B2 APPLICATION SENDS 300 LICENSE REQUEST MESSAGE APPLICATION RECEIVES 304 LICENSE RESPONSE MESSAGE 312 308 VALID LICENSE PRESENT ie Y APPLICATION AND VERSION MATCHES Y OFFER CATEGORY MATCHES Y 332 LICENSE TIMER gt 0 Y 340 SERIAL NO MATCH ACTIVE WSP LSP AND OR SRP 370 U S Patent Apr 13 2010 Sheet 4 of 5 US 7 698 225 B2 FIG 4A ncm 5 RECEIVE REQUEST OPEN AND READ LICENSE FILE 404 VALID N RECORD PROPER 412 LICENSE PRESENT ERROR CODE 408 416 NAME AND VERSION RECORD PROPER 420 NUMBER MATCH ERROR CODE Y REQUEST HARDWARE SERIAL NOS 428 READ SERIAL NOS 444 Y DUPLICATION FLAG ON 492 N RECORD PROPER d ERROR CODE Y RECORD PROPER LICENSE EXPIRED ERROR CODE 456 N 460 U S Patent Apr 13 2010 Sheet 5 of 5 US 7 698 225 B2 TRANSMIT LICENSE GRANTED RESPONSE TRANSMIT LICENSE DENIED RESPONSE WITH PERTINENT ERROR CODES 468 472 500 504 524 DISPLAY ERROR MESSAGE 508 512 216 US 7 698 225 B2 1 LICENSE MODES IN CALL PROCESSING FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to the licensing of computational components and specifically to the licensing of computational components in te
18. US007698225B2 12 United States Patent 10 Patent No US 7 698 225 B2 Rhodes et al 45 Date of Patent Apr 13 2010 54 LICENSE MODES IN CALL PROCESSING 5 204 897 A 4 1993 Wyman 380 4 5 206 903 4 1993 Kohler et al 75 Inventors James E Rhodes Boulder CO US 5 230 020 A 7 1993 Hardy etal 380 21 Robert J Serkowski Broomfield CO 224 E 1 2 i CEDE 307 imazaki et al US William T Walker Evergreen 5 329 570 A 7 1994 Glassmacher et al 379 189 CO US Lawrence John Morgan 5341427 A 8 1904 H 341 ardy 380 21 Broomfield CO US Mohana 5 347 580 A 9 1994 Molva et al Krishnan Gopalakrishna Thornton 5 386 369 A 1 1995 Christiano CO US 5 390 297 2 1995 Barber et al 5 408 649 A 4 1995 Beshears et al 73 Assignee Avaya Inc Basking Ridge NJ US 5 448 639 A 9 1995 Arazi 5 553 143 A 9 1996 Ross et al Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this 5 563 946 A 10 1996 Cooper et al patent is extended or adjusted under 35 Continued U S C 154 b by 885 days FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 21 Appl No 10 232 508 EP 1071253 Al 1 2001 65 Prior Publication Data U S Appl No 09 357 679 filed Jul 20 1999 Serkowski US 2004 0044629 A1 Mar 4 2004 Continued 51 Primary Examiner Evens J Augustin G06F 17 40 2006 01 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Sheridan Ross P C 52 U S 705 59 380 231 726 27 57 ABSTRACT 58
19. as successfully installed no feature limits are exceeded and the system is a simplex system the mode is set to LICENSE NORMAL If the preceding facts are true except that system is a duplex system and if the duplicated processor has the correct serial number the mode is set to the LICENSE NORMAL mode If the mode was NO LICENSE and the new license file was successfully installed but there were feature limits exceeded the feature limits are set in step 416 as set forth in the new license file the errors are logged an error message displayed and the mode remains NO LI CENSE If the mode was NO LICENSE and the new license file was not successfully installed the mode remains NO LICENSE US 7 698 225 B2 13 A number of variations and modifications of the invention can be used It would be possible to provide for some features of the invention without providing others For example in one alternative embodiment the duplicated processors communicate with one another periodically ex change serial numbers in addition to as part of or in lieu of the periodic licensing verification analysis of the license man ager 113 In another alternative embodiment the division of the vari ous functions performed by the license manager and mode setting agent modules are different For example the license manager can perform all or part of the licensing related func tions of the mode setting agent or the mode setting agent can perform all or par
20. certain variations and modifications other variations and modifications are within the scope of the invention e g as may be within the skill and knowledge ofthose in the art after understanding the present disclosure It is intended to obtain rights which include alternative embodiments to the extent permitted including alternate interchangeable and or equivalent structures functions ranges or steps to those claimed whether or not such alternate interchangeable and or equivalent structures functions ranges or steps are dis closed herein and without intending to publicly dedicate any patentable subject matter What is claimed is 1 A computer readable medium encoded with processor executable instructions to perform at least the following steps a receiving by a license manager and from a computa tional component a first message requesting permission to run b in response to receipt of the first message determining by the license manager whether a valid license file is present c in response to determining that a valid license file is present performing by the license manager at least the following sub steps 1 determining whether at least one of a computational component name and version match a corresponding at least one of a name and version in the license file c2 determining whether a license error timer has a selected value c3 determining whether a serial number of the compu tational component
21. comprises a plurality of the following logged in auto mated call distribution or ACD agents maximum currently registered IP stations maximum administered IP trunks offer category maximum number of ports maximum number of administered remote office trunks and maximum number of mobile stations 11 The medium of claim 2 wherein the no license licens ing mode is selected and wherein in the no license licensing mode most new call originations are denied and most incom ing calls are denied 12 The medium of claim 1 further comprising f generating an alarm notification indicating entry into the license error licensing mode 13 The medium of claim 1 wherein the no license licens ing mode is selected and wherein in the no license licensing mode the computational component permits only outgoing and incoming calls involving a predefined set of numbers 14 A computer readable medium storing processor ex ecutable instructions to perform at least the following steps a the license manager receiving from a computational component a first message requesting permission to run wherein the computational component is running in a license normal licensing mode when the message was generated by the computational component b in response the license manager determining whether at least one event of a first set of events applies wherein the at least one event is determined by the license man ager to be applicable c in respo
22. d type of features having a product value a release number and a numeric value 8 The medium of claim 1 wherein the license file com prises the following sets of fields a serial number field indi cating a serial number of a licensed computational compo nent a platform type field indicating at least one of a type name and version of the computational component a release field indicating a release version of the licensed computa tional component an expiration field indicating an expiration date of the license and a feature mask wherein the feature mask comprises identifiers of the first second and third types of features 9 The medium of claim 7 wherein the first type of features comprises a plurality of the following Digital Communica tion System or DCS call coverage audible message waiting vectoring attendant vectoring Asynchronous Transfer Mode or ATM Wide Area Network spare processor ATM dial by name echo cancellation multimedia call handling multiple call handling caller identification multi frequency signal ing Integrated Services Digital Network or ISDN network call redirection centralized attendant remote office enhanced Direct Inward Dialing or DID routing survivable remote processor time of day routing tenant partitioning hospitality announcements Vector Directory Number or VDN of origin announcement wideband switching and wireless 10 The medium of claim 7 wherein the second type of feature
23. des an indication that the license is denied the error code s corre sponding to the reason s for license denial and the feature mask The feature mask is not returned if the error is no valid license present since there is no feature mask to return with out a valid license When the license is denied for more than one reason error codes for all of the reasons for license denial are included in the license denial response The message is encrypted and forwarded to the mode setting agent 124 Referring again to FIG 3 the mode setting agent 124 in step 304 receives the encrypted license response from the manager 113 and decrypts the response As discussed below the mode setting agent 124 parses through the various fields of the license response to set the license mode In step 308 the agent 124 determines whether the manager 113 found a valid license to be present valid license is not present the agent 124 determines in step 312 whether the current license mode of the system 100 is the NO LICENSE mode When the current mode is not the NO LICENSE mode the agent sets the mode to the LICENSE ERROR mode in step 316 When the current mode is the NO LICENSE mode the agent leaves the system in the NO LICENSE mode in step 320 If a valid license is present the agent 124 proceeds to step 324 In step 324 the agent determines whether the manager found that the application name and or version matched the name and or version in the lic
24. e error timer does not have the selected value 34 The component of claim 28 wherein when an event in the first set of events applies the computational component enters the no license license mode independent ofthe value of the license error timer 35 The component of claim 28 wherein the computational component has a valid license file wherein the license nor mal license mode is selected and wherein the license file comprises first second and third types of features the first type of feature relating to features having an on off state the second type of feature relating to features having a numeric value and the third type of features having a product value a release number and a numeric value 36 The component of claim 28 wherein the license file comprises the following sets of fields a serial number field indicating a serial number of a licensed computational com ponent a platform type field indicating at least one of a type 0 5 20 25 40 45 50 65 20 name and version of the computational component a release field indicating a release version of the licensed computa tional component an expiration field indicating an expiration date of the license and a feature mask wherein the feature mask comprises identifiers of the first second and third types of features 37 The component of claim 35 wherein the first type of features comprises a plurality of the following Digital Com mu
25. eb 2 2003 available at http www articsoft com wp faq htm 5 pages ARSYS Public Key Infrastructure Feb 4 2001 available at http www transactiontrust com technicaindex html 4 pages Clarke Roger Centrelink Smart Card Technical Issues Starter Kit Chapter 7 Apr 8 1998 at http www anu edu au people Roger Clarke DV SCTISK html pp 1 3 Datakey Securing a Virtual Private Network with Smart Card Tech nology available at www datakey com pp 1 8 Digital Cinema Key Management Messages Draft 1 Aug 8 2002 pp 1 9 Discerning the Times Digest and Newsbytes Global Control of All Buying and Selling Now Possible vol 1 Iss 1 Jan 2000 available at Mhttp www discerningtoday org members Digest 2000Digest January Global 620Control htm 2 pages Info Merchant Store VeriFone 2000 MS DUKPT STD Pin Pad New printed Feb 17 2007 available at http www merchantamerica com creditcardterminals index php ba product enlarge amp product 9632 1 page Griswold Robert S Get Smart The Coming Revolution of Smart Cards Journal of Property Management May Jun 1997 5 pages Entrust Inc Entrust Authority Security Manager printed Aug 13 2004 available at http www entrust com authority manager in dex htm 23 pages Infosec Engineering Building a Corporate Public Key Infrastruc ture 1999 available at http www infoseceng com corppkl htm 20 pages LockSt
26. ed on that com puter The remote server also obtains the necessary payment information from the computer user This method does not function well for a telecommunication switching system since it does not provide for the authorization to use different features of the same software application nor is it dependent 10 20 40 45 2 on the version of the software being requested In addition it does not provide the necessary authorization of personnel to make such a request Another method requires the software upon installation or first execution to record serial number information e g medium access control or MAC address regarding predeter mined hardware components of the computer system The software permits the user a specified number of hardware serial number changes before it disables itself This method though effective is unfair to users who over time legiti mately exceed the number of permitted serial number changes through reuse ofthe software on a number of differ ent systems and or periodic replacement of some of the pre determined hardware components in a given system to upgrade or maintain the system The drawbacks of the various licensing methods discussed above are addressed by the licensing method discussed in detail in copending U S patent application entitled Securing Feature Activation ina Telecommunication System Ser No 09 357 679 filed Jul 20 1999 to Serkowski which is incor porated he
27. elease Establishment of SmartCardInfrontia solutions for IC Mar 13 2002 4 pages Novell Certificate Server Public Key Instrastructure White Paper 1999 pp 1 10 SecurityConfig Back Up Your Encrypting File System Private Key in Windows 2000 Download Printed Aug 13 2004 available at http www securityconfig com software alerts back up your encrypting file system private key win dows 2000 html 2 pages Smart Card Alliance Industry News Cubic Introduces New Mobile Ticketing Machine Jul 3 2003 available at http www smartcardalliance org industry news industry news item cfm itemID 852 2 pages Smart Card Alliance Industry News Cubic Corp Introduces New National Security and Homeland Defense Sep 9 2002 available at http www smartcardalliance org industry news industry news item cfm itemID 310 2 pages US 7 698 225 B2 Page 4 SSH Communications Security Corp Enabling Virtual Public Net works with Public Key Infrastructure White Paper Jan 2004 pp 1 9 Streetman Kibbee D et al Public Key Infrastructure Resources Requirements and Recommendations ATI IPT Special Report 00 06 Apr 2000 pp 1 45 Sun Developer Network Smart Card Overview Sun Microsystems Inc 1994 2004 available at http java sun com products javacard smartcards html 2 pages NetLingo Dictionary of Internet Words Smart Card 1995 0004 availab
28. ense file If not the agent proceeds to step 320 in which the mode is set to the NO LICENSE mode If so the agent proceeds to step 328 In step 328 the agent determines whether the manager found that the offer category matches the translation If not the agent proceeds to step 320 in which the mode is set to the NO LICENSE mode If so the agent proceeds to step 332 In step 332 the agent determines whether the value of the license error timer 124 is greater than zero The application 114 maintains the license error timer value in memory When the license timer value is zero the agent proceeds to step 336 discussed below and when the license timer value is greater than zero the agent proceeds to step 340 also discussed below In one configuration the value of the license error timer value is periodically saved in nonvolatile memory of each of the processors so that the timer can be preserved across sys tem resets To make this possible the mode setting agent makes not only a license file request but also a timer save request at predetermined intervals The license timer value passed to the manager 113 for storage is set as follows a if the system 100 is in LICENSE NORMAL mode the license timer value shall be the full grace duration of period 6 days or 144 hours in the case of DEFINITY b if the system 100 is in LICENSE ERROR mode the license timer value saved shall be the time remaining on the corresponding license error
29. ense file was successfully installed no feature limits are exceeded and the system is a simplex system the mode remains LICENSE NORMAL If the preceding facts are true except that the system is a duplex system and if the duplicated processor has the correct serial number the mode remains LICENSE NORMAL If the mode was LICENSE NORMAL and the new license installed successfully but there were feature limits exceeded the feature limits shall be set in step 416 as specified by the new license file and the system shall enter the LICENSE ERROR mode If the mode was LICENSE NORMAL and the new license file was not successfully installed the mode remains unchanged If the mode was LICENSE ERROR the new license installed successfully no feature limits are exceeded and the system is a simplex system the mode is set to the LICENSE NORMAL mode If the preceding facts are true except that system is a duplex system and if the dupli cated processor has the correct serial number the mode is set to the LICENSE NORMAL mode If the mode was LICENSE ERROR and the new license file was successfully installed but there were feature limits exceeded the feature limits are set in step 416 as set forth in the new license file the errors are logged and an error message displayed The license mode remains unchanged If the mode was LICENSE ER ROR and the new license could not be installed the mode is unchanged If the mode was NO LICENSE the new license file w
30. ense is expired the agent proceeds to step 316 When the license is not expired the agent proceeds to step 352 The agent next checks in step 352 the feature mask to see if the processor is a WSP LSP or SRP If it is and the processor is active i e not in the standby mode then the agent sets the license mode to LICENSE ERROR in step 316 If it is not the agent proceeds to step 356 Returning again to step 336 the agent determines whether the manager found one or more unmatched serial numbers If not the agent proceeds to step 320 in which the license mode is set to the NO LICENSE mode If so the agent proceeds to step 360 If in either of steps 360 and 366 the agent determines that the manager found the feature limits to be exceeded or the license to be expired respectively the agent proceeds to step 320 If in both of steps 360 and 366 the agent determines if the manager found that the feature limits are within licensed limits and the license is unexpired respectively the agent proceeds to step 370 In step 370 the agent determines whether the processor is an active WSP LSP or SRP If so the agent proceeds to step 320 If not the agent proceeds to step 356 As shown by steps 336 360 366 and 370 the timer value is relevant only ifthere is a license error If there are no errors the switch goes to LICENSE NORMAL mode even if the license error timer is expired If this were not the case there would be no way to ge
31. erial number of the computational component matches the serial number in the license file and iii the set of feature limits is not exceeded 2 The medium of claim 1 wherein the steps of claim 1 are performed by a computer and wherein the common set of features comprises a plurality of call processing functions selected from the group call vectoring voice mail restrict call forward off net Digital Communication System or DCS internetworking enhanced conferencing IP trunks maxi mum number of ports holiday vectoring and automatic call distribution 3 The medium of claim 1 wherein when a valid license file exists and when the license timer has the selected value performing by the license manager the following additional steps f determining whether the serial number of the computa tional component matches the serial number in the license file g determining whether the set of feature limits is exceeded h determining whether the license is expired i in response to the serial number of computational com ponent matching the serial number in the license file the set of feature limits not being exceeded and the license not being expired selecting the license normal licensing mode and j in response to at least one of the serial number of the computational component not matching the serial num ber in the license file the set of feature limits being exceeded and the license being expired selecting the no licen
32. es are enabled according to the following rules b1 in response to at least one of a first set of events applying directly enter the no license mode without US 7 698 225 B2 19 first providing a user of the computational component with a grace period to correct the at least one of the first set of events and b2 in response to at least one of the second set of events applying enter the license error mode in which a user of the computational component has a grace period in which to correct the at least one of the second set of events 29 The component of claim 28 wherein the license response indicates that a valid license file is present wherein the events in the first set of events comprise a plurality of the following at least one of a computational component name and version failing to match at least one ofa name and version in the license file an offer category of the computational component failing to match an offer category in the license file a valid license not being present and a current license mode of the computational component being a mode other than the no license license mode and a license error timer having a selected value and an event in a third set of events applies 30 The component of claim 29 wherein the events in the third set of events comprise a plurality of a serial number of the computational component fails to match a serial number in the license file a set of feature limits has been exceeded a
33. esponse to the encrypted message attempts to open decrypt and read the license file 112 in step 404 In step 408 the license manager determines whether or not the license file is present and valid This query determines whether there is a license file available whether the license file is readable and whether the license file is in the proper format If any one of US 7 698 225 B2 9 these checks has a negative result the manager 113 concludes that the license file is invalid When the license file is invalid the manager 113 records in step 412 the error code corre sponding to the fact of and or reason for license file invalidity and proceeds to step 472 discussed below In step 416 the manager 113 reads license file 112 to obtain the list of permitted features name and or version number of telecommunication application 114 and the serial number s of control processors 102a and 1022 For security reasons the license file is stored in an encrypted form As will be appre ciated the encryption can be performed using one or more keys The manager 113 then determines whether or not the name and or version number for the telecommunication application 114 matches the name and or version number in the decrypted license file If not the manager 113 in step 420 records the error code corresponding to an unmatched name and or version number In step 424 the manager 113 forwards a serial number request to each of the processors 102a and
34. et al 5 673 315 A 9 1997 Wolf 6 961 858 B2 11 2005 Fransdonk 5 699 431 A 12 1997 Van Oorschot et al 380 30 6 973 444 12 2005 Blinn et al 5 708 700 A 1 1998 Rose 705 59 6 976 164 B1 12 2005 King etal 5 717 604 2 1998 Wiggins 709 229 6 981 222 B2 12 2005 Rush et al 5 724 428 A 3 1998 Rivest 7 032 113 B2 4 2006 Pendlebury 5 742 757 A 4 1998 Hamadani et al 7 065 214 B2 6 2006 Ishiguro et al 5 745 562 4 1998 Moskowitz et al 7 073 063 B2 7 2006 Peinado 5 745 576 A 4 1998 Abraham et al 380 25 7 085 382 B2 8 2006 Terao et al 5 745 879 A 4 1998 Wyman wee 705 1 7 100 044 B2 8 2006 Watanabe et al 5 758 068 A 5 1998 Brandtetal 726 27 7 124 304 B2 10 2006 Bel etal 5 758 069 A 5 1998 Olsen 7 146 340 12 2006 Musson 5 790 074 A 8 1998 Rangedahl et al 342 357 13 7 149 806 B2 12 2006 Perkins et al 5 790 664 A 8 1998 Coley et al 380 4 7 152 245 B2 12 2006 Dublish et al 5 828 747 A 10 1998 Fisher et al 7 171 662 B1 1 2007 Misra et al 5 835 600 11 1998 Rivest 7 185 195 B2 2 2007 Hug etal 5 864 620 A 1 1999 Pettitt 7 206 936 B2 4 2007 Aull etal 5 905 793 5 1999 Flockhart et al 7 225 333 2 5 2007 Peinado et al 5 905 860 A 5 1999 Olsen etal 395 187 01 7 228 426 B2 6 2007 Sinha et al 5 940 504 A 8 1999 Griswold 705 59 7 302 703 B2 11 2007 Burns 5 960 085 A 9 1999 de la Huerga 7 308 717 B2 12 2007 Koved et
35. il to match a correspond ing at least one of a name offer category and version in the license file a license error timer has a selected value a serial US 7 698 225 B2 21 number of the computational component fails to match a serial number in the license file and a set of feature limits is exceeded 42 The system of claim 40 wherein the set of features comprise a plurality of call processing functions selected 5 from the group call vectoring voice mail restrict call forward 22 off net Digital Communication System or DCS internet working enhanced conferencing IP trunks maximum num ber of ports holiday vectoring and automatic call distribu tion
36. ining whether at least one of a second set of events applies e in the event that at least one of the second set of events applies the computational component entering a license error licensing mode in which a user of the com putational component has a grace period in which to correct the at least of the second set of events and when no event in the first and second sets of events applies the computational component enters the license normal licensing mode wherein in each of the license error and license normal licensing modes a common set of fea tures are enabled and performable by the computational component and in the no license licensing mode the common set of features is not enabled and not perform able by the computational component and wherein the license error licensing mode license normal licensing mode and no license licensing mode are concurrently available for enablement 17 The medium of claim 16 wherein the events in the second set of events comprise a plurality of i a valid license file is present a license error timer does not have a selected value and a serial number of the computational component fails to match a serial number in the license file 1 a valid license file is present a license error timer does not have a selected value and a set of feature limits has been exceeded iii a valid license file is present a license error timer does not have a selected value and a license expiration date has
37. ional component In one embodiment a method for protecting actuation of a computational component is provided The method com prises the steps of a providing a computational component operating in a first licensing mode b identifying the occurrence of a predetermined licensing event e g a licensing error is discovered during a periodic licensing file check c in response to the identifying step causing the compu tational component to operate in a second licensing mode the second licensing mode being different from the first licensing mode wherein in each of the first and second licensing modes a common set of features performed by the computational component are enabled The computational components can be any entity capable of performing a task or executing instructions e g a logic containing board or chip such as an application specific inte grated circuit or ASIC a control processor software etc In one configuration the computational component is a license controlled telecommunication application The first licensing mode is typically employed when the computational component has a valid license In one configu ration the first licensing mode is known as the license normal mode In the first licensing mode the computational compo nent is typically fully functionally enabled The predetermined licensing event can be any event the occurrence of which is associated with an unlicensed opera tion For exam
38. l number of a licensed computational compo nent a platform type field indicating at least one of a type name and version of the computational component a release field indicating a release version of the licensed computa tional component an expiration field indicating an expiration date of the license and a feature mask wherein the feature mask comprises identifiers of the first second and third types of features 23 The medium of claim 21 wherein the first type of features comprises a plurality of the following Digital Com munication System or DCS call coverage audible message waiting vectoring attendant vectoring Asynchronous Trans fer Mode or ATM Wide Area Network spare processor ATM dial by name echo cancellation multimedia call handling multiple call handling caller identification multi frequency signaling Integrated Services Digital Network or ISDN net work call redirection centralized attendant remote office enhanced Direct Inward Dialing or DID routing survivable remote processor time of day routing tenant partitioning hospitality announcements Vector Directory Number or VDN of origin announcement wideband switching and wireless 24 The medium of claim 21 wherein the second type of feature comprises a plurality of the following logged in auto mated call distribution or ACD agents maximum currently registered IP stations maximum administered IP trunks offer category maximum number of ports maxi
39. le at http www netlingo com lookup cfm term smart card 2 pages Rankl Wolfgang Smart Card Handbook Jun 13 2004 available at http www wrankl de SCH SCH html 8 pages Russinovich Mark Inside Encrypting File System Part 1 Win dows amp NET Magazine Jun 1999 available at http www winntmag com Articles Index cfm ArticleID 5387 amp Key Inter nals 4 pages Russinovich Mark Inside Encrypting File System Part 2 Win dows amp NET Magazine Jul 1999 available at http winntmag com Articles Index cfm ArticleID 5592 amp Key Internals 5 pages VeriFone Inc VeriFone Payment Solutions Point of Sale PINpads 1997 2004 available at http www verifone com prod ucts printers peripherals html pinpad family html 1 page Whatis com Target Search Jan 13 2004 available at http whatis techtarget com definition 0 289893 sid9 ci214299 00 html 4 pages Datakey Securing a Virtual Private Network with Smart Card Tech nology Jun 1 2002 available at www datakey com pp 1 8 Sun Microsystems Inc Java Cryptography Architecture API Speci fication amp Reference Aug 4 2002 56 pages Java Skyline Java Servlet Server Headline News Oct through Dec 1998 pp 1 3 MATLAB Installation Guide for PC Release 11 The MathWorks Inc 1999 Microsoft Systems Management Server 2 0 Resource Guide Microsoft Press 1999 ISBN 0 7356 0583 1 Windows NT Server4 Garms
40. lecommunication systems BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION To protect software manufacturers copyrights in software sold to the public manufacturer s commonly license software to the purchaser Additionally in many applications the pur chaser has elected to pay only for certain features of software which must be selectively enabled by the manufacturer In particular each release or version of a particular software package for a customer premise telecommunication switch ing system contains a large number of features and most customers elect to pay for only a subset of the total number of features Features in a telecommunications switching system refer to certain specialized operations such as call hold call transfer automatic route selection etc An ongoing problem in the art is to prevent newer versions of software from being pirated and used on unauthorized hardware and or otherwise authorized customers from actuating features for which the customer has not paid A number of methods have been developed to protect against such unauthorized use of software one method passwords that allow only authorized indi viduals to have access to the telecommunication switching system are used to control enablement of features or new software versions This method is inflexible and inconvenient for customers as an authorized technician must be scheduled to enable the features can be circumvented by a person mis appropriating or misusing
41. lephone network 104 Similarly remote feature activation system 109 can establish a communication channel with control processor 102 via public telephone network 104 and modem 108 One skilled in the art can readily envision that modem 108 can be intercon nected to control processor s 102 via LAN 110 Each telecommunication application 114a 7 can include corresponding mode setting agent 124a 7 to set the licensing mode ofthe system 100 The mode setting agent 124 can set one of three operational modes to the system 100 IntheLICENSE NORMAL mode the license manager has found that a valid license is properly installed the license file contains a serial number that matches the serial number ofthe processor simplex configuration ora plurality of serial num bers that match the serial numbers of a similar plurality of processors multiple processor configuration e g duplex configuration the software name and version release of the telecommunication application matches that in the license file the license has not expired the offer category in the feature mask matches the translation the feature usage in translation does not exceed limits in the feature mask e g a feature limit is a capacity value associated with a type 2 or type 3 feature and if the processor is a wide area network WAN spare processor WSP survivable remote spare pro cessor SRP orlocal spare processor LSP the processor is not active In the LICENSE ERR
42. matches a serial number in the license file and c4 determining whether a set of feature limits is exceeded d determining by a mode setting agent a current licens ing mode of the computational component e selecting by the mode setting agent at least one of a no license licensing mode a license error licensing mode and a license normal licensing mode wherein in each of the license error and license normal licensing modes acommon set of features performed by the com US 7 698 225 B2 15 putational component is enabled and operational and in the no license licensing mode the common set of fea tures is not enabled and is not operational and wherein the licensing modes are selected by the mode setting agent according to the following rules e1 selecting the no license licensing mode when the at least one of a computational component name and version fails to match the at least one of a name and version in the license file e2 selecting the license error licensing mode when any of the following is true i a valid license file is not present and the current license mode is a license error mode ii a valid license is present and the serial number of the computational component fails to match the serial number in the license file and iii the set of feature limits is exceeded and e3 selecting the license normal licensing mode when all of the following are true i a valid license file is present 1 the s
43. mum number of administered remote office trunks and maximum number of mobile stations 25 The medium of claim 14 wherein in the no license licensing mode most new call originations are denied and most incoming calls are denied 26 The medium of claim 14 further comprising g generating an alarm notification indicating entry into the license error licensing mode 27 The medium of claim 14 wherein in the no license licensing mode the computational component permits only outgoing and incoming calls involving a predefined set of numbers 28 computer readable medium comprising in the form of processor executable instructions a a license manager operable to perform the following operations al receive a first message from a computational com ponent requesting permission to run a2 select a license response and a3 selecting the license response based on whether at least one event of a first set of events applies and at least one event of a second set of events applies b a mode setting agent operable to enable one of a no license license mode a license error license mode anda license normal license mode for the computational com ponent at any time wherein in each of the license error and license normal license modes a common set of features performed by the computational component are operational and in the no license license mode the common set of features is not operational wherein the license mod
44. nd a license expiration date has passed 31 The component of claim 28 wherein in response to no event in the first and second sets of events applying the license normal license mode is entered wherein the events in the second set of events comprise a plurality of i a valid license file is present a license error timer does not have a selected value and a serial number of the computational component fails to match a serial number in the license file ii a valid license file is present a license error timer does not have a selected value and a set of feature limits has been exceeded iii a valid license file is present a license error timer does not have a selected value and a license expiration date has passed and iv a valid license file is not present license error timer does not have a selected value and the computational component is not currently in the no license license mode 32 The component of claim 28 wherein the operations of claim 28 are performed by a computer and wherein the com mon set of features comprise a plurality of call processing functions selected from the group call vectoring voice mail restrict call forward off net Digital Communication System or DCS internetworking enhanced conferencing IP trunks maximum number of ports holiday vectoring and automatic call distribution 33 The component of claim 28 wherein the computational component enters the license error license mode only when a licens
45. ne or more ofthe following call processing functions such as call vectoring voice mail restrict call for ward off net Digital Communication System or DCS inter networking enhanced conferencing IP trunks maximum 0 25 35 40 45 50 55 60 4 number of ports holiday vectoring and automatic call distri bution In one configuration in the first and second licensing modes the same features are enabled The second licensing mode can be in effect only for a predetermined time during which the customer must correct the licensing event If the licensing event is not corrected with the predetermined time the second licensing mode is changed to a third licensing mode which is commonly referred to as the no license mode In this mode the compu tational component is fully or partly disabled such that the features in the common set of features above are at least partly disabled For example the call processing functions can be disabled except for incoming and outgoing calls to a pre defined set of numbers such as calls to an internal or external emergency number such as a 911 call outgoing calls to main tenance personnel and incoming calls to a selected number for system maintenance The method and system of the present invention can have a number of advantages First the present invention can effec tively protect and control actuation of one or more computa tional features one or more applications and any
46. nformation relating to the features to be enabled In some applications the duplication flag field 214 is contained in each application definition 224 and not in the file header 200 In one configuration the feature mask is configured as discussed in detail in copennding U S patent application Ser No 10 231 999 entitled Flexible License File Feature Con trols to Walker et at filed concurrently herewith and incor porated herein by this reference The content of the mask controls what features are enabled or may be enabled on the product There are three types of entries corresponding to fields 248 252 and 256 in the feature mask The first type of entry or Type I feature in field 248 relates to those types of features that have a simple on off state The feature is either enabled or disabled Each of these types of entries has two variables associated with it namely a value and a lock The value variable can be either on or off and the lock variable either locked or unlocked Examples of features falling into this category include in addition to the Type I features identified above in the background Digital commu nication System or DCS call coverage audible message wait ing vectoring attendant vectoring Asynchronous Transfer Mode or ATM WAN spare processor ATM dial by name echo cancellation multimedia call handling multiple call handling caller identification multifrequency signaling Integrated Services Digital Netw
47. nication System or DCS call coverage audible message waiting vectoring attendant vectoring Asynchronous Trans fer Mode or ATM Wide Area Network spare processor ATM dial by name echo cancellation multimedia call handling multiple call handling caller identification multi frequency signaling Integrated Services Digital Network or ISDN net work call redirection centralized attendant remote office enhanced Direct Inward Dialing or DID routing survivable remote processor time of day routing tenant partitioning hospitality announcements Vector Directory Number or VDN of origin announcement wideband switching and wireless 38 The component of claim 35 wherein the second type of feature comprises a plurality of the following logged in auto mated call distribution or ACD agents maximum currently registered IP stations maximum administered IP trunks offer category maximum number of ports maximum number of administered remote office trunks and maximum number of mobile stations 39 The component of claim 28 wherein the no license license mode is selected and wherein in the no license license mode the computational component permits only outgoing and incoming calls involving a predefined set of numbers 40 A licensing system comprising a processor operable to validate a license to a computa tional component the processor in response to receipt from the computational component of a first message requesting permissi
48. nse to step b the computational component entering directly from the license normal licensing mode a no license licensing mode without first provid ing a user of the computational component with a grace US 7 698 225 B2 17 period to correct the at least one of the first set of events wherein in the license normal licensing mode a set of features is enabled and performable by the computa tional component and in the no license licensing mode the set of features is not enabled and not performable by the computational component 15 The medium of claim 14 wherein the license response indicates that a valid license file is present wherein the events in the first set of events comprise a plurality of the following at least one of a computational component name and version failing to match at least one of a name and version in the license file an offer category of the computational compo nent failing to match an offer category in the license file and a license error timer having a selected value and an event in a third set of events applies wherein the events in the third set of events comprise a plurality of a serial number of the com putational component fails to match a serial number in the license file a set of feature limits has been exceeded and a license expiration date has passed 16 The medium of claim 14 wherein the steps of claim 14 are performed by a computer and further comprising d the license manager determ
49. ntrast only some of these features are enabled in the LICENSE ERROR mode In yet another embodiment the present invention is used to enable disable an application executed by a server in addition to or in lieu of a switch This embodiment is particularly useful in monitoring licensing in multi mode contact centers which receive a broad variety of contact types such as tele phone calls electronic mail and contacts via a Web browser The present invention in various embodiments includes components methods processes systems and or apparatus substantially as depicted and described herein including vari ous embodiments subcombinations and subsets thereof Those of skill in the art will understand how to make and use the present invention after understanding the present disclo sure The present invention in various embodiments includes providing devices and processes in the absence of items not depicted and or described herein or in various embodiments hereof including in the absence of such items as may have been used in previous devices or processes e g for improving performance achieving ease and or reducing cost of implementation The foregoing discussion of the invention has been pre sented for purposes of illustration and description The fore going is not intended to limit the invention to the form or forms disclosed herein Although the description ofthe inven tion has included description of one or more embodiments and
50. ny ports are licensed and or how many licenses for the product are granted This type of feature allows other controlled appli cations to be executed Like the second type of entry each of these types of entries has two values associated with it namely a lower limit value and an upper limit value The lower limit value is never greater than the upper limit value When duplicated processors are used such as shown in FIG 1 a separate license file can be saved for each processor or common license file for both processors Because dupli cated processors share translation typically only one copy of the license file is installed though the file is saved to two flash cards one for each processor If either of the two processors is replaced the license file must be replaced Referring again to FIG 1 a remote feature activation sys tem 109 generates the license file that is transmitted to the switching system 100 upon installation or provisioning of the system Remote feature activation system 109 is discussed in detail in copending U S application Ser No 10 232 507 entitled License File Serial Number Tracking to Serkowski et at filed concurrently herewith and incorporated herein by this reference Alternatively the license file is installed by authorized personnel via PC 120 Modem 108 is directly connected to control processor 102 so that control processor s 102 can contact remote feature activation system 109 via public te
51. of applications such as telecom munication application 114 and for the intra application com munication of messages The telecommunication application can be any application s and or feature s used in telecom munication systems such as DEFINITYTM by Avaya Inc Personal computer PC 120 is utilized by service person nel to administer telecommunication switching system 100 Switching or server network 103 provides all of the nec essary telecommunication switching and interfacing that is required in telecommunication switching system 100 License manager 113 periodically verifies that the tele communication switching system 100 is being operated in accordance with pertinent licensing rules and disables the system 100 or an operational part of the system 100 when licensing rules are violated or a predetermined licensing event occurs During initialization of the switch software during the restoration of translations and periodically as the switch is running a query is made by the telecommunication application to the license manager 113 The license manager 113 reads license file 112 compares the serial number s in the license file 112 with a serial number in the switch hard ware compares the software name and or version in the license with the name and or version of the telecommunica tion application 114a z or operational part thereof and if a match occurs delivers permission to run the telecommunica tion application 114a n o
52. on DETAILED DESCRIPTION FIG 1 illustrates telecommunications switching system 100 interconnected to public telephone network 104 Tele communications switching system 100 comprises telephone sets 106 The features and operations provided by telecom munication switching system 100 to telephones 106a n and its interactions with public telephone network 104 are well known in the art Illustratively the switching system of FIG 1 be the subscriber premises equipment disclosed in U S Pat Nos 6 192 122 6 173 053 6 163 607 5 982 873 5 905 793 5 828 747 and 5 206 903 all of which are incorporated herein by this reference or Avaya Inc s DEFINITY pri vate branch exchange PBX based ACD system One of the duplex control processors 102 executes tele communication application 114a n each of which comprises a mode setting agent 124 via operating system 111 to per form the telecommunication functions and features Primary and backup control processors 102a and 5 execute instruc tions in memory 101 such as license manager 113 and tele communication applications 114a n and communicate with switching network 103 via network 110 One skilled in the art can readily envision that control processor s 102 can com municate with switching network 103 via a direct connection such as a connection via the processor bus of control proces sor s 102 Operating system 111 is a conventional operating system allowing for the execution
53. on to run selecting for the compu tational component a license mode from at least the following a normal license mode a license error mode and a no license mode wherein the processor selecting the license mode as a function of at least the following factors a current license mode of the computational component whether a valid license file is present whether at least one of a computational compo nent name offer category and version match a corre sponding at least one of a name offer category and version in the license file whether a license error timer has a selected value whether a serial number of the computational component matches a serial number in the license file and whether a set of feature limits is exceeded in each of the license error and license normal modes a common set of features performed by the computational component is enabled and operational and in the no license mode the common set of features is not enabled and is not operational and in response to the processor determining that a current license mode of the computational component is the license normal mode and that a selected factor is at least one or present and absent the processor selects the no license mode without first providing a user of the com putational component with a grace period 41 The system of claim 40 wherein the no license mode is selected when at least one of a computational component name offer category and version fa
54. ork or ISDN network call redirection centralized attendant remote office enhanced Direct Inward Dialing or DID routing survivable remote processor time of day routing tenant partitioning hospitality announcements Vector Directory Number or VDN of origin announcement wideband switching and wireless The second type of entry or Type feature in field 256 relates to those types of features that have a numeric value The value can correspond to a numeric value and or name kind of entry Each of these types of entries has two values associated with it namely a lower limit value and an upper limit value The lower limit value is never greater than the upper limit value Examples of features falling into this cat egory include in addition to the Type II features identified above in the background logged in automated call distribu tion or ACD agents maximum currently registered IP sta tions maximum administered IP trunks offer category maxi mum number of ports maximum number of administered remote office trunks and maximum number of mobile sta tions The third type of entry or Type III feature in field 256 relates to those types of features that have a product value US 7 698 225 B2 7 e g corresponding to a product name or type a release number e g referring to a product release identifier and a numeric value e g indicating an operational parameter asso ciated with the product and or release such as how ma
55. other type or form of computational algorithm while providing an alter native licensing mode in which the computational system is not completely disabled when a specified licensing protocol is unsatisfied During system maintenance and or hardware replacement the customer does not have to be out of service until a new license is generated and installed This feature thus permits maintenance personnel to fix a problem without incurring a loss of service due to the absence of a license and to replace hardware without loss of service when a matching license cannot be obtained immediately Second the licens ing algorithm and or system configuration can malfunction without causing system shutdown This licensing mode thereby substantially lowers demands on maintenance per sonnel and avoids customer dissatisfaction Third in tele communication applications even if a valid license were not obtained by the customer for a telecommunication applica tion or feature thereof and the telecommunication application were to enter into the third licensing mode the system would not be completely disabled but would continue to remain operational to permit customers to make emergency e g 911 telephone calls and or maintenance calls for licensing enablement These and other advantages will be apparent from the disclosure of the invention s contained herein The present application is related to U S patent application Ser No 10 232 906 entitled REMOTE
56. ple the predetermined event can be an attempt by unauthorized personnel to modify copy or alter the com putational component the use of an unauthorized code pass word identifier serial number or key and the use of the computational component in the absence of a valid license In atelecommunication architecture the licensing event is typi cally defined as one or more of a valid license not being properly installed the license file containing a serial number that fails to match the serial number ofthe processor simplex configuration or a plurality of serial numbers that do not match the serial numbers of a similar plurality of processors multiple processor configuration e g duplex configura tion the name and or version number of the telecommuni cation application failing to match the name and or version number in the license file the license being expired the offer category the feature mask failing to match the translation of the switch server feature usage in the translation exceeding limits in the feature mask and a WAN spare processor being in the active state The second licensing mode is associated with one or more ofthe above events In one configuration the second licensing mode is known as the license error mode The set of commonly enabled features in both the first and second licensing modes can include any set of selected opera tions ofan algorithm In telecommunication applications the features include o
57. ponents For example for a license verification to be successful the license manager could require that there be matches for serial num bers not only of a control processor but also of an application specific integrated circuit or another type of hardware com ponent In yet another embodiment unsuccessful license verifica tion causes only the contacting telecommunication applica tion and not other successfully validated telecommunication applications or other parts of the system to be set to a mode other than the LICENSE NORMAL mode In yet another embodiment when in LICENSE NORMAL mode if the mode setting agent does not receive a license response from a license manager within a predetermined time period of issuing a license request the agent automatically enters the LICENSE ERROR mode When in the LICENSE ERROR mode for reason other than failure to receive a license response or at system initialization if the agent does not receive a license response from the license manager within the predetermined period of issuing the license request the system 100 shall enter NO LICENSE mode In yet another embodiment the sets of features enabled disabled in the LICENSE NORMAL and LICENSE ER ROR modes are different The features that can be enabled and disabled in each mode comprise call routing or vectoring to name but a few In the LICENSE NORMAL mode all of 25 35 40 45 50 55 60 14 these features are enabled In co
58. r operational part thereof with the feature mask in the license file The feature mask controls revenue associated options 5 0 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 Referring to FIGS 1 and 2 the license 112 includes file header 200 which includes header beginning and ending fields 204 and 208 respectively serial number fields 212 and b each containing a serial number associated with one of control processors 102a and 1025 duplication flag field 214 containing an indicator of whether there is a duplicated con trol processor or two serial numbers in the system 100 e g a simplex or duplex configuration a platform type field 216 containing first platform information such as the product type and name and or version of product that the license is for and a product identifier or PID field 220 containing second platform information different from the first platform information such as a product identifier used at the platform level for accessing Access Security Gateway or ASG keys and one or more controlled application definitions 224 each of which includes controlled application beginning which names the application e g DEFINITY TM by Avaya Inc and ending fields 228 and 232 respectively a software release field 236 identifying software release version for which the license is granted an expiration field 240 expira tion date of the license and a feature mask 244 providing i
59. ream Corporation Catalyst DRM Service Platform Archi tecture Vers 1 0 Nov 2003 pp 1 28 LockStream Corporation Catalyst DRM Service Platform printed Aug 13 2004 available at http www lockstream com products spcm php 1 page LockStream Corporation Lockstream KeyDRM printed Aug 13 2004 available at http www lockstream com products 1gm php 2 pages LockStream Corporation Lockstream OMA 1 0 DRM Client printed Aug 13 2004 available at http www lockstream com products sprm php 2 pages Microsoft Corporation Accessing a Smart Card Aug 2002 available at http msdn microsoft com library en us security secu rity accessing a smart card asp p 1 Microsoft Corporation Base Service Providers Aug 2002 avail able at http msdn microsoft com library en us security security base service providers asp p 1 Microsoft Corporation Building an ISO7816 4 APDU Command Aug 2002 available at http msdn microsoft com library en us security security building an iso7816 4 apdu command asp pp 1 2 Microsoft Corporation Introducing Smart Cards to the System Aug 2002 available at http msdn microsoft com library en us security security introducing smart cards to the system asp p 1 Microsoft Corporation Primary Service Provider Aug 2002 available at http msdn microsoft com library en us security secu rity primary service p 1 Microsoft
60. rein by this reference In this method a valid license file is required to run a computational component The license file contains a serial number that must be present on the hardware that is to execute the licensed software for the license to be valid and the software to be executable In telecommunication applications for example the serial num ber of the control processor must be in the license file for the control processor to run the licensed software The license file also contains a name and or version of the licensed telecommunication application and licensed fea tures The data structures corresponding to the features are of two types In a type 1 feature the data structures reflected enablement or disablement of the corresponding feature using a simple on off state Examples of features falling into this category include abbreviated dialing enhanced list audible message waiting vectoring answer supervision by call classifier ATM trunking agent states dial by name DCS call coverage echo cancellation multifrequency signaling and wideband switching In a type 2 feature the data struc tures include a single numeric value and or a name kind of entry Examples of features falling into this category include logged in agents offer category maximum numbers of con currently registered IP stations administered IP trunks ports and concurrently administered remote office stations trunks and call center release A drawback of
61. se licensing mode 4 The medium of claim 1 wherein step c comprises the further sub step c5 determining whether an offer category in the license file matches an offer category of the computational com ponent and further comprising f when a valid license file is present when the license error timer does not have the selected value and when the offer category fails to match the offer category of the computational component selecting the license error licensing mode wherein the license manager deter mines that a valid license file is present the license error timer does not have the selected value and the offer category fails to match the offer category of the compu tational component and therefore selects the license error licensing mode 5 The medium of claim 1 wherein the mode setting agent selects the license error licensing mode only when the license error timer does not have the selected value 5 25 40 45 55 16 6 The medium of claim 1 wherein in step e1 the mode setting agent selects the no license licensing mode indepen dent of the value of the license error timer 7 The medium of claim 1 wherein the computational component has a valid license file and wherein the license file comprises first second and third types of features the first type of feature relating to features having an on off state the second type of feature relating to features having a numeric value and the thir
62. t of the licensing related functions of the license manager In another alternative embodiment the mode setting agent 124 is not a part of the telecommunication application 114 In another alternative embodiment the NO LICENSE mode is entered in a stepwise fashion First no administrative changes would be permitted then after a couple of days displays would stop working and then after a couple of more days outbound calls would be blocked This behavior would give the customer a better warning regarding the impending loss of service In yet another alternative embodiment the license manager and or mode setting agent 124 are implemented as software and or hardware such as a logic circuit e g an application specific integrated circuit In yet another alternative embodiment any other applica tions running on the telecommunication switching system 100 can utilize the same mechanism as the mode setting agent 124 to determine if they are to be allowed to execute and what options they execute In yet a further alternative embodiment the above tech niques are applied with other telecommunication and or non telecommunication computational architectures having duplicated computational components The computational components can be hardware software or a combination of the two In yet a further alternative embodiment the license file can include fields for any number of unique identifiers for the same or differing types of hardware com
63. t out of the NO LICENSE mode once the timer had expired Whenever the system 100 enters the LICENSE NORMAL mode the agent clears any LICENSE ERROR or NO LI CENSE alarms stops the license error timer if running and resets the timer to the full duration of the grace period and makes a timer save request of this duration to the license manager Whenever the system 100 enters the LICENSE ERROR mode the agent generates a major license error alarm logs the error into the system security log and initiates the license error countdown timer Whenever the system 100 enters NO LICENSE mode the agent generates a major no license alarm that is different from the alarm generated by the agent on entry into the LICENSE ERROR mode logs the error into the system security log and provides a timer save request of zero hours to the license manager When the system 100 is operating in the NO LICENSE or LICENSE ERROR mode the alarm is presented to the user in a suitable mode or modes For example a suitable error message can be displayed on the initial login screen for the system and or a key or other indicator can be illuminated on one or more telephone sets and or on another part of the system hardware The agent can also provide an alarm noti fication to outside service personnel FIG 5 depicts the operation ofthe license manager when a new license file is received by the telecommunication switch 5 20 35 40 45 50 55
64. the password and does not provide for periodic license verification during system operation In another method a key is required to enable the software program This solution does not solve the copying problem because the key is normally printed on the packaging of the software and anyone can install the software as many times as they wish however illegal it may be In yet another method a special piece of hardware or dongle is used The dongle is a special piece of hardware that connects to the serial or parallel port of the computer The software running on the computer sends a random number to the dongle The dongle performs a secret computation and returns a result The software makes a like computation if the two computations match the software continues to run To work satisfactorily the response must include feature and version information The use of the dongle is cumbersome when it fails In the event that the dongle fails the system is down until a new dongle can be physically obtained on site Also once made the dongle is fixed If it was used for feature activation a new dongle is required for each additional fea ture that is purchased A further method is to freely distribute CD ROM disks When the CD ROM is inserted into a computer the computer automatically connects to a remote server via the Internet or a dial up connection to receive a machine specific key The key unlocks the software so that it can be utiliz
65. timer 126a n and c if the system 100 is in NO LICENSE mode the corresponding license timer value saved is zero At initialization or any other time that the value is not available in memory the agent issues a timer request to the license manager 113 To generate a timer response the man ager 113 queries each of the processors for the stored timer value The lowest of these values the value closest to expi ration is passed back to the agent in the timer response message If any of the timer values from the processors are corrupted or if no processor responds with a timer value the value in the timer response message to the agent is zero indicating that the timer is expired The agent uses the timer value in the response to set the timer value in memory US 7 698 225 B2 11 Returning to FIG 3 the agent in step 340 determines whether or not the manager 113 found that the serial num ber s match When the serial number s do not match the agent proceeds to step 316 in which the license mode is set to the LICENSE ERROR mode When the serial number s match the agent proceeds to step 344 The agent in step 344 next determines if the manager found that the feature limits were being exceeded When the limits are being exceeded the agent proceeds to step 316 When the limits are not being exceeded the agent proceeds to step 348 In step 348 the agent determines whether the manager found that the license is expired When the lic

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