License auditing of software usage by associating software activations with device identifiers

Abstract

The provided software application includes a module that determines a machine fingerprint of a client device at an appropriate time, such as during initial software load on the client. The fingerprint may comprise various machine-determinable measures of system configuration for the client. Each application copy may be associated with a serial number. A license host may collect serial number, fingerprint and/or IP address information from clients on which the application is installed. The host may generate a map of application installations, including geographic locations of installations and number of unique serial numbers per client in specified regions.

1 . A system for auditing software usage on multiple network devices, comprising:
 a communication module;   an audit database accessible by the communication module, the audit database storing audit numbers for the multiple network devices, each audit number derived from a software identifier identifying the software and from a device identifier, each software dentifier representing a particular licensing instance of the software and number of seats licensed for the instance, each device identifier being generated from a combination of user-configurable and non-user-configurable machine parameters and identifying a particular one of the multiple network devices, each audit number representing an activation of the software;   a display module;   at least one processor in operative communication with the communication module and the display module; and   a memory in operative communication with the at least one processor and comprising executable code for the at least one processor to:   instruct the communication module to access the database;   read the audit numbers;   sort the audit numbers according to at least one of activated license seats and unactivated license seats;   read a number of seats licensed for each software identifier; and   instruct the display module to display licensed seats versus activations according to the sorted audit numbers.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor selects a display scheme for displaying licensed seats versus activations in response to a user choice entered on a user input module in operative communication with the at least one processor. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the display of licensed seats versus activations indicates a number of authorized software copies and a number of pirated software copies. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein each audit number further includes geographic data and wherein the at least one processor further sorts the audit numbers according to the geographic data regarding the software. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the at least one processor identifies a trend with respect to the geographic data and a number of activations of the software. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor identifies a trend with respect to at least one of a number of activations of the software and the number of seats licensed. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor identifies a trend with respect to at least one of authorized software copies and pirated software copies. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the display of licensed seats versus activations includes a piracy heat map. 
     
     
         9 . A computer readable memory programmed to execute a process for auditing software usage on multiple network devices, the process when executed by a processor comprising the following steps:
 receiving audit numbers via a communication module, each audit number derived from a software identifier and from a device identifier, each software identifier representing a particular licensing instance of the software and number of seats licensed for the instance, each device identifier being generated from a combination of user-configurable and non-user-configurable machine parameters and identifying a particular one of the multiple network devices, each audit number representing an activation of the software on the particular device;   storing the audit numbers in an audit database;   sorting the audit numbers according to at least one of activated license seats and unactivated license seats;   reading a number of seats licensed for each software identifier; and   instructing a display module to display licensed seats versus activations according to the sorted audit numbers.   
     
     
         10 . The medium of  claim 9 , wherein the steps further comprise selecting a display scheme for displaying licensed seats versus activations in response to a user choice entered on a user input module in operative communication with the processor. 
     
     
         11 . The medium of  claim 9 , wherein the display of licensed seats versus activations indicates a number of authorized software copies and a number of pirated software copies. 
     
     
         12 . The medium of  claim 9 , wherein each audit number further includes geographic data and wherein the steps further comprise sorting the audit numbers according to the geographic data. 
     
     
         13 . The medium of  claim 12 , wherein the steps further comprise identifying a trend with respect to the geographic data and a number of activations of the software. 
     
     
         14 . The medium of  claim 9 , wherein the steps further comprise identifying a trend with respect to at least one of a number of activations of the software and the number of seats licensed. 
     
     
         15 . The medium of  claim 9 , wherein the steps further comprise identifying a trend with respect to at least one of authorized software copies and pirated software copies. 
     
     
         16 . The medium of  claim 9  wherein the display of licensed seats versus activations includes a piracy heat map.