US 6,920,567 B1
System and embedded license control mechanism for the creation and distribution of digital content files and enforcement of licensed use of the digital content filesGeneral
US 6,920,567 B1
System and embedded license control mechanism for the creation and distribution of digital content files and enforcement of licensed use of the digital content files
Tech Center:
2100 Computer Architecture and Software
Examiner:
Norman M. Wright
Art Unit:
2134 Memory Access and Control
Agent:
Inventors:
Robert J. Doherty; Peter L. Tierney; Marios Arnaoutoglou-Andreou
Assignee:
Priority:
04/07/99
Filed:
04/07/00
Granted:
07/19/05
Expiration:
04/07/20
Abstract
A digital content file including a license control mechanism controlling the licensed use of digital content and a system and method for distributing licensable digital content files and licenses. A digital content file includes a digital content, which may be executable code or data, an embedded file access control mechanism and a dynamic license database associated with the file access mechanism for storing license information used by the file access control mechanism in controlling use of the digital content. The file access control mechanism includes a license monitor and control mechanism communicating with the dynamic license database and controlling use of the digital content and a license control utility providing communications between a user system and an external system to communicate license definition information and includes a graphical user interface. License information may be stored initially in the dynamic license database or provided from an external system. The system allows the distribution of digital content files and the acquisition of licenses with seamless transaction processing through an order processing system generating an order identification and authorization for a license and a product configuration and order database containing license management databases associated with the digital content files and containing license information to be transmitted to a user system upon receipt of an order identifier. The product configuration and order database also generates a license record for each transaction.