Patent ID: 7934091

Claim:
A system for providing usage accountability of a digital asset in a data processing system, comprising: a client device having (i) a sensor located within an operating system kernel of the client device and configured to sense atomic-level events relating to authorized access to the digital asset by an end user of the client device, and (ii) a coalescing aggregator configured to aggregate multiple atomic-level events relating to a single end-user's action into a coalesced atomic-level event, the coalesced atomic-level event being a single atomic-level event selected from the multiple atomic-level events; and a journaling server in communication with the client device and having (i) a high-level aggregator configured to generate a high-level aggregate event by aggregating multiple atomic-level events, including at least one coalesced atomic-level event, based on a predetermined sequence of atomic-level events, and (ii) a reporter configured to generate an audit trail from one or more aggregate events, the audit trail representing usage of the digital asset by the end user.