Patent ID: 8521865

Claim:
A method of populating a software catalog with at least one software product identifier and related use signature indicative of running of a software product on at least one monitored data processing system, the method comprising : taking an initial snapshot of a set of running processes on the at least one monitored data processing system and storing the initial snapshot in a system memory, wherein the initial snapshot is taken prior to starting the software product in the at least one monitored data processing system; an agent starting execution of the software product on the at least one monitored data processing system; taking a final snapshot of a set of running processes on the at least one monitored data processing system and storing the final snapshot in a system memory, wherein the final snapshot is taken after starting the software product in the at least one monitored data processing system; comparing the initial and final snapshots, determining and storing a difference between the initial and final snapshots in the system memory; and creating a use signature for the software product according to the determined difference, wherein the use signature includes information indicative of the execution of the software product, such information being consumable by a software license manager to determine one of (i) installation and (ii) use of the software product on the at least one data processing system.