Patent ID: 8103804

Claim:
A computer-implemented method, comprising: transmitting a first capability request for a first hardware device to a hardware adapter, wherein the hardware adapter is in communication with an operations database that stores capability fulfillment data for a plurality of hardware devices, wherein the capability fulfillment data comprises licensed functionality enabled by capability responses on each hardware device of the plurality of hardware devices; transmitting a second capability request for a second hardware device to the hardware adapter; receiving a first device capability response for the first hardware device from the hardware adapter, wherein the first device capability response is generated from a first subset of the capability fulfillment data and comprises a first timestamp, a first unique identifier for the first hardware device, and a first functions list to disable on the first hardware device; and receiving a second device capability response for the second hardware device from the hardware adapter, wherein the second device capability response is generated from a second subset of the capability fulfillment data and comprises a second timestamp, a second unique identifier for the second hardware device, and a second functions list including one or more functions from the first hardware device to enable on the second hardware device.