Group License Management with Dynamic User Count Adjustment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional license management systems face challenges in adapting to changes in the number of users within a group, leading to unclear expiration times and inefficient license management, as they either fail to adjust to user increases or result in wasted licenses due to fixed issuance or period-based models.
Innovation Solution
A license management system that includes a user information register, a valid period setter, a number of owned rights manager, and a number of users setter, which sets a uniform expiration period based on a unit period, allowing for dynamic adjustment of user rights and valid periods to accommodate changes in the number of users, ensuring fair and efficient license usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the number of license issuances is limited for each content, then the license can be issued to multiple users in a group, but the timing when the license ends becomes unclear and difficult to predict
Solution Approach 1:
The system preliminarily determines the license expiration date at the time of issuance by calculating it based on the issuance date and the licensed period. This preliminary determination ensures that the expiration timing is clear and predictable from the beginning, resolving the contradiction between issuing licenses to multiple users and maintaining clear expiration timing.
2Loss of information
If the license period is set for each license issuance, then the timing when the license ends is clear, but additional license purchase is required when the number of users increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges the license management for multiple users into a single group license. The license is issued to the group as a whole rather than to individual users, allowing the licensed period to be shared across all current and future group members. This eliminates the need for additional license purchases when users are added to the group.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the number of users who can access the licensed content within the group without requiring license reissuance. The license remains valid for the entire group throughout the licensed period, adapting automatically to changes in group composition while maintaining clear expiration timing.
3Ease of operation
If licenses are issued to a specific group of users, then collective license management is desirable, but the number of users in the group is not constant and changes during the license period
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a universal group license that functions for any member of the group during the licensed period. The license is not tied to specific individuals but to the group as a whole, allowing any current group member to access the licensed content. This provides both ease of collective management and adaptability to user replacement.
Data Source
AI summary
A license management system subtracts, a number of rights corresponding to a number of users set by a number of users setter from a number of owned rights for each unit period, and uses a first unit period that is an earliest unit period, in which the number of owned rights is expected to be insufficient with respect to a number of rights in a unit period, as a last unit period, in which content can be used by a plurality of users, to set same expiration of a valid period for all of the plurality of users.