Patents Assigned to Flexera Software LLC
  • Patent number: 11531731
    Abstract: Embodiments include a computer-implemented method for determining an equivalent license unit of an enterprise computer system in accordance with a standardized graph-based framework. The method includes discovering licensable products of an enterprise computer system in accordance with a standardized graph-based framework, and constructing a licensable product star graph (LPSG) for each licensable product in accordance with the standardized graph-based framework to identify any license models that have at least one subgraph associated with the licensable product. The method further includes constructing a licensable product constellation graph (LPCG) in accordance with the standardized graph-based framework by evaluating each LPSG to determine any common target elements of any license model to link the LPSGs, and determining an equivalent license unit metric for the license models based on the LPCG.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2022
    Assignee: Flexera Software LLC
    Inventors: Michael J. Faulhaber, Bradley W. Wong, Nicholas J. Bikos
  • Patent number: 11468437
    Abstract: A method and system for license server synchronization are disclosed. According to one embodiment, a computer-implemented method comprises receiving a first capability request from a licensing server, transmitting a first capability response to the licensing server. The licensing server provides a second capability response to a device, and the second capability response is in response to a second capability request sent by the device to the licensing server. The second capability response includes one or more capabilities included in the first capability response. A server synchronization message is received from the licensing server and a request for payment is transmitted to a service provider, wherein the request for payment is generated based on the server synchronization message.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2022
    Assignee: Flexera Software LLC
    Inventors: Vikram Venkata Koka, Ann Shvarts
  • Patent number: 11327941
    Abstract: Embodiments include a computer-implemented technique for determining a license position of an enterprise computer system represented in a standardized graph-based framework. The technique includes obtaining information indicative of licensable products and enforceable licenses of an enterprise computer system, tabulating that information in a graph database, and construing an enterprise infrastructure graph and a target element relationship pattern graph of the enterprise computer system based on the tabulated information in accordance with the standardized graph-based framework. Querying the standardized graph-based framework can determine an effect of a target element on a license position of the enterprise computer system by matching the target element relationship pattern graph to any subgraphs of the enterprise infrastructure graph.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: Flexera Software LLC
    Inventors: Michael J. Faulhaber, Bradley W. Wong, Nicholas J. Bikos
  • Patent number: 11029961
    Abstract: Various embodiments are described herein that relate to computer programs and computer-implemented techniques for predicting when jobs in the queue of a batch scheduler will be completed. More specifically, various embodiments are described herein that relate to mechanisms for predicting the wait time and/or the estimated time to completion for jobs that are to be executed by a software asset management platform. For example, heuristics and algorithms could be used to discover when execution of a job is likely to begin and/or end. The estimated time to completion for a given job can be estimated by summing the expected execution time of the given job and the expected execution times of any jobs to be executed prior to the given job, while the wait time for a given job can be estimated by summing the expected execution times of any jobs to be executed prior to the given job.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2021
    Assignee: Flexera Software LLC
    Inventor: Rajeesh Chirayath Kuttan
  • Patent number: 10992818
    Abstract: Various of the disclosed embodiments concern computer systems, methods, and programs for brokering logins to software as a service (SaaS) applications and tracking usage of the SaaS applications. First, a user, e.g. employee of an enterprise, logs into a SaaS usage proxy using a first set of credentials. The first set of credentials is known by the user, e.g. preexisting credentials for an enterprise-wide authentication system. Once a SaaS application is selected by the user, the SaaS usage proxy logs into the SaaS application using a second set of credentials. However, the second set of login credentials is encrypted and not known by the user, which causes the SaaS application to be accessible only through the SaaS usage proxy. This allows the SaaS usage proxy to monitor all usage of the SaaS application, even if multiple network-accessible devices are used to log into the SaaS usage proxy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2021
    Assignee: Flexera Software LLC
    Inventors: Paul Hughes, Peter Westhorp, Peter Allfrey, Eddie Sholl
  • Patent number: 10685298
    Abstract: Application compatibility testing for mobile applications enables enterprises to improve the extraction of mobile application suitability features (MASFs) from an App using techniques other than reading the package's manifest. In addition to performing dependency analysis in the open package format context, embodiments of the invention interpret the analysis results in the context of mobile devices where, in addition to binary, i.e. go/no go, OS compatibility, there is compatibility testing for other suitability metrics, such as enterprise policy compliance and device capability and/or compliance. A MASF results dictionary keeps track of the various identified hardware and software interfaces of the App.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2020
    Assignee: Flexera Software LLC
    Inventors: Michael J. Faulhaber, James T. Gibson
  • Patent number: 10642964
    Abstract: Various embodiments include a resource control system. The resource control system can receive consumption demand requests to access one or more electronic resources. The resource control system can assign license entitlements, each with varying quantity, to consumption demand requests to enable access to the electronic resources. An ambiguity resolution engine can make license entitlement assignments to consumption demand requests when a set of license entitlements can cover a target electronic resource specified by the consumption demand requests. The ambiguity resolution engine can rank license entitlements based on ratios of their resource costs and the consumption demand requests based on their electronic resource usage efficiency. The ambiguity resolution engine can assign the license entitlements by comparing the rankings of the license entitlements and the rankings of the consumption demand requests.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: Flexera Software LLC
    Inventors: Matthew Marnell, Vincent Brasseur, Paul Gerard Hughes
  • Patent number: 10534896
    Abstract: A method of authorising use of a computer program only able to be used when an authorised message is received from an authorising system includes providing an authorisation system, making a request to use a computer program, signalling the request to the authorisation system, the authorisation system recording the use of the computer program and providing the authorisation message to the computer program upon receipt of the authorisation message the computer program may be used.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2020
    Assignee: FLEXERA SOFTWARE LLC
    Inventor: Leo Joseph Mullins
  • Patent number: 10521569
    Abstract: A license update engine is run as part of a license entitlement automation system. The license update engine is minimally executed daily and identifies, for example, content updates to be applied and licenses that have drifted from their definition. The license update engine then generates proposals for operators to consider. Accepted proposals update the license configuration. Thus, the license update engine identifies licenses and the definitions that are connected to them, including definitions that the licenses from which the were created and definitions that are linked to SKUs of entitlement purchases. Analyses relates three categories of proposal, including license types, applications linked to licenses, and usage rights on licenses. Proposals are stored in a database and operators can accept or ignore them. The database maintains a history of license changes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: Flexera Software LLC
    Inventors: Peter Allfrey, Matt Marnell, David Swann
  • Patent number: 10387809
    Abstract: Application compatibility testing for mobile applications enables enterprises to improve the extraction of mobile application suitability features (MASFs) from an App using techniques other than reading the package's manifest. In addition to performing dependency analysis in the open package format context, embodiments of the invention interpret the analysis results in the context of mobile devices where, in addition to binary, i.e. go/no go, OS compatibility, there is compatibility testing for other suitability metrics, such as enterprise policy compliance and device capability and/or compliance. A MASF results dictionary keeps track of the various identified hardware and software interfaces of the App.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2019
    Assignee: Flexera Software LLC
    Inventors: Michael J. Faulhaber, James T. Gibson
  • Patent number: 10372885
    Abstract: The disclosure is directed to an access permission system that manages provisioning of access to an electronic resource through various types of access permissions. The access permission system provisions access by provisioning a license entitlement of a specified type. A provisioning optimization technique determines a combination of different types of license entitlements to be provisioned according to an optimization criterion associated with an attribute of a license entitlement. For example, the optimization criterion can based on a “unit cost” associated with a license entitlement, and the provisioning optimization technique can determine various types of license entitlements to be obtained (and therefore to be provisioned) in order to minimize a total cost of the license incurred in satisfying the consumption demand requests.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2019
    Assignee: Flexera Software LLC
    Inventor: Timothy M. Adam
  • Patent number: 10365908
    Abstract: In programmable equipment where it is either undesirable or impractical to construct the program code with embedded licensing decision points, the program is constructed by hard-coding the license rights into the program code at program build time. License permissions are obtained from a sales order system and used to produce a code image, or select a pre-existing, pre-validated code image which contains only those features, facilities, or capabilities allowed by the applicable license rights for that particular sales order and on that particular programmable unit. Functionality of the device is updated as appropriate by use of a bootloader on the device for installation of a firmware image. In this way, the invention overcomes the technical limitations inherent in such devices by reprogramming the device to alter device functionality in keeping with rights and privileges added or deleted therefrom with regard to software installed thereon.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2019
    Assignee: Flexera Software LLC
    Inventor: Michael Gerrard Shepherd
  • Patent number: 10216840
    Abstract: Various of the disclosed embodiments concern computer systems, methods, and programs for extracting information from an asset tag that can be used to monitor the corresponding asset. An operator, e.g., employee of an enterprise, logs into an application executed by a mobile device that includes a camera. A tag template can then be manually selected by the operator or automatically selected by the application. The tag template is used during scanning to locate and identify machine-readable elements, human-readable elements, structural elements, or some combination thereof. Once the application registers a successful scan of the asset tag, the operator can review and confirm the information was extracted correctly. Generally, the extracted information is transmitted to an asset management system, which creates a database entry that allows the asset to be continually monitored by the enterprise, e.g., each time the asset tag is subsequently scanned.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2019
    Assignee: Flexera Software LLC
    Inventor: Timothy Charles Ferguson
  • Patent number: 10140436
    Abstract: Intermediate representation (IR) code of source code can be generated for compiling the source code into machine code for an executable program. The IR code can be obfuscated by reorganizing the code based on return types of functions of the IR code to change the execution paths, resulting in an executable program that is difficult to reverse engineer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2018
    Assignee: Flexera Software LLC
    Inventor: Ashish Ratnakar Mahamuni
  • Patent number: 10095546
    Abstract: Some embodiments include a method of scheduling batch processing of a batch processing system based on subscriber usage patterns. The method includes steps of recording a last job commencement event for a subscriber when the batch processing system starts processing a batch process for the subscriber; recording a last usage event for the subscriber when the subscriber uses the batch processing system; in an event that a time period elapsed since the last usage event for the subscriber is less than a time period elapsed since the last job commencement event for the subscriber, placing a next batch process of the subscriber into a recently used queue; identifying the next batch process of the subscriber as the oldest batch process from the recently used queue; and start processing the identified batch process for the subscriber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2018
    Assignee: Flexera Software LLC
    Inventor: Robert Lowery
  • Patent number: 10078520
    Abstract: Computer programs and computer-implemented techniques are described here for predicting when jobs in the queue of a batch scheduler will be completed. More specifically, various embodiments are described herein that relate to mechanisms for predicting the wait time and/or the estimated time to completion for jobs that are to be executed by a software asset management platform. For example, heuristics and algorithms could be used to discover when execution of a job is likely to begin and/or end. The estimated time to completion for a given job can be estimated by summing the expected execution time of the given job and the expected execution times of any jobs to be executed prior to the given job, while the wait time for a given job can be estimated by summing the expected execution times of any jobs to be executed prior to the given job.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2018
    Assignee: Flexera Software LLC
    Inventor: Rajeesh Chirayath Kuttan
  • Patent number: 9971881
    Abstract: The disclosure is directed to an access permission system that manages provisioning of access to an electronic resource through various types of access permissions. The access permission system provisions access by provisioning a license entitlement of a specified type. A provisioning optimization technique determines a combination of different types of license entitlements to be provisioned according to an optimization criterion associated with an attribute of a license entitlement. For example, the optimization criterion can based on a “unit cost” associated with a license entitlement, and the provisioning optimization technique can determine various types of license entitlements to be obtained (and therefore to be provisioned) in order to minimize a total cost of the license incurred in satisfying the consumption demand requests.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2018
    Assignee: Flexera Software LLC
    Inventor: Timothy M. Adam
  • Patent number: 9847950
    Abstract: A thread pool of consumers polls existing queues. A thread manager controls the number of active threads. This approach limits the number of threads, but is still able to keep up with the volume of traffic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2017
    Assignee: Flexera Software LLC
    Inventor: Martin Valdis Markevics
  • Patent number: 9826100
    Abstract: Various of the disclosed embodiments concern computer systems, methods, and programs for brokering logins to software as a service (SaaS) applications and tracking usage of the SaaS applications. First, a user, e.g. employee of an enterprise, logs into a SaaS usage proxy using a first set of credentials. The first set of credentials is known by the user, e.g. preexisting credentials for an enterprise-wide authentication system. Once a SaaS application is selected by the user, the SaaS usage proxy logs into the SaaS application using a second set of credentials. However, the second set of login credentials is encrypted and not known by the user, which causes the SaaS application to be accessible only through the SaaS usage proxy. This allows the SaaS usage proxy to monitor all usage of the SaaS application, even if multiple network-accessible devices are used to log into the SaaS usage proxy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Assignee: Flexera Software LLC
    Inventors: Paul Hughes, Peter Westhorp, Peter Allfrey, Eddie Sholl
  • Patent number: 9710809
    Abstract: A method and system for license server synchronization are disclosed. According to one embodiment, a computer-implemented method comprises receiving a first capability request from a licensing server, transmitting a first capability response to the licensing server. The licensing server provides a second capability response to a device, and the second capability response is in response to a second capability request sent by the device to the licensing server. The second capability response includes one or more capabilities included in the first capability response. A server synchronization message is received from the licensing server and a request for payment is transmitted to a service provider, wherein the request for payment is generated based on the server synchronization message.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2017
    Assignee: Flexera Software LLC
    Inventors: Vikram Venkata Koka, Ann Shvarts