Patent ID: 9152771
Filing Date: 2015-10-06
Classification: G06F,G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method of operating an apparatus that is configured to manage a licensable item, comprising: accessing, by a processor coupled to a memory, a licensing policy related to whether an action is permitted to be taken with the licensable item, wherein the licensing policy corresponds to a client version of a license for the licensable item that is maintained on the apparatus and is configured to be synchronized with a server version of the license for the licensable item that is maintained on a server; determining, by the processor coupled to the memory, that a synchronization rule associated with the licensing policy calls for communicating with the server by accessing a time stamp for a most recent synchronization of the licensing policy and determining that an elapsed time since the time stamp exceeds a threshold that is specified by the synchronization rule; attempting to communicate, by a network interface circuit of the apparatus, with the server in order to synchronize the client and server versions of the license before acting to enforce the licensing policy for the action, wherein synchronization of the client and server versions of the license produces a synchronized client version of the license by updating the client version of the license to include one or more changes made to one or more licensing policies in the server version of the license that occurred after a previous synchronization of the client version of the license with the server version of the license; and enforcing, the processor coupled to the memory, the licensing policy for the action by permitting or blocking the action based on the synchronized client version of the license if the attempt to communicate by the apparatus with the server is successful and by permitting or blocking the action based on a non-synchronized version of the license if the attempt to communicate by the apparatus with the server is unsuccessful.