EP-4738103-A1 - METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SIMULTANEOUS SOFTWARE ACTIVATION OF MULTIPLES SYSTEM BASED ON THEIR SERIAL NUMBERS

EP4738103A1EP 4738103 A1EP4738103 A1EP 4738103A1EP-4738103-A1

Abstract

A software activation method includes the following steps. An installation program created according to a stock keeping unit of an application program in a current order from a customer is obtained by an activation server, and the installation program and an enabling program are provided. The installation program is executed by a user device to install or update the application program, and after completing installation of the installation program, the activation server performs the following steps. A plurality of device serial numbers included in a past purchase order from the customer are obtained. Device information of the user device is verified according to the device serial numbers. When the verification passes, a license key is provided to the user device. The execution for the application program in the user device is activated based on the license key.

Inventors

WEI, Jen-Ching
LIN, CHUN-HUI

Assignees

Getac Technology Corporation

Dates

Publication Date: 20260506
Application Date: 20250825

Claims (15)

A software activation method (300), comprising: obtaining (348), by an activation server (308), an installation program created according to a stock keeping unit of an application program in a current order from a customer, and providing (350), by the activation server (308), the installation program and an enabling program; and executing (354), by a user device (312), the installation program to install or update the application program, and executing (356), by the user device (312), the enabling program after completing installation of the installation program, wherein when the user device (312) executes the enabling program and allows network access, the software activation method (300) further comprises: obtaining, by the activation server (308), a plurality of device serial numbers included in a past purchase order of the customer; verifying (358), by the activation server (308), device information of the user device according to the plurality of device serial numbers; and providing (364), by the activation server (308), a license key to the user device (312) when verification passes (360), and wherein execution of the application program on the user device (312) is activated (362) based on the license key.
The software activation method (300) of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of device serial numbers comprises at least one of a serial number of a device, a central processor unit identification or a mainboard identification.
The software activation method (300) of claim 1 or 2, wherein the device information of the user device (312) comprises at least one of a serial number of the user device (312), a central processor unit identification or a mainboard identification.
The software activation method (300) of claim 1 or 2, wherein each of the current order and the past purchase order comprises an electronic mail address.
The software activation method (300) of claim 4, wherein the past purchase order is searched based on an electronic mail domain of the electronic mail address.
The software activation method (300) of claim 5, wherein the electronic mail domain refers to an organization or a company owning the electronic mail address.
The software activation method (300) of claim 5, wherein the electronic mail domain comprises information of a city or a region.
The software activation method (300) of claim 1, wherein the installation program comprises an activation library created based on information of the current order.
The software activation method (300) of claim 8, wherein the activation library is written into the user device (312) when the user device (312) executes the installation program.
The software activation method (300) of claim 8 or 9, wherein the software activation method (300) further comprises: sending, by the user device (312), the device information and a return value of the activation library to the activation server, when the user device (312) executes the enabling program and allows the network access; and verifying, by the activation server (308), the return value and the device information of the user device (312) according to the information of the current order and the plurality of device serial numbers.
The software activation method (300) of claim 10, wherein the return value of the activation library corresponds to the stock keeping unit of the application program.
The software activation method (300) of claim 10 or 11, wherein when the user device (312) executes the enabling program and allows the network access, the software activation method (300) further comprises: verifying, by the activation server (308), the return value and the device information according to the stock keeping unit and the device serial numbers.
The software activation method (300) of claim 1, wherein: when the verification fails, the license key is not provided, such that the execution of the application program on the user device (312) is inactive.
The software activation method (300) of claim 1, further comprising: obtaining, by the activation server (308), a product quantity in the current order; and determining (364), by the activation server (308), that the current order has been completed, when a number of authorized devices reaches the product quantity.
A software activation system to perform any method according to any of claims 1-14.

Description

BACKGROUND Field of Invention The present invention relates to a method and system for software activation. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for software activation that is applicable for software subscription services. Description of Related Art Nowadays, most hardware devices bundled with software are still sold with outright perpetual licenses. However, with the development of artificial intelligence techniques (e.g., machine learning models, neural network models, etc.), these purchase models lead to little knowledge of how the product is actually being used by users in application scenarios, and to difficulty in future software enhancements, even though these one-time purchase models generate outright sales and single-period revenue. Accordingly, it is not easy to complete the entire customer journey this way and to build stable long-term client relationships. That is, there is no one-size-fits-all solution which is suitable for software. For example, if a single standardized version of an artificial intelligence model cannot satisfy customer's requirements in different application scenarios, then when there is a customized requirement for third party software, timely fine-tuning and technical integration are still needed in order to correspondingly generate individual software installation files. Furthermore, in the past, when there are requirements to order software after hardware devices had been purchased, customers need to provide serial charges and to perform software installation. However, it is inconvenient for terminal device customers or field users to collect entire serial numbers in order to activate the devices, and asking for this deteriorates the consumer experience. Therefore, providing a suitable software activation method to solve the above problems is an important issue in this field. SUMMARY The present disclosure provides a software activation method. The software activation method includes the following steps. An installation program created according to a stock keeping unit of an application program in a current order from a customer is obtained by an activation server, and the installation program and an enabling program are provided by the activation server. The installation program to install or update the application program is executed by a user device, and the program is enabled by the user device after completing installation of the installation program. When the user device executes the enabling program and allows network access, the software activation method further includes the following steps. A plurality of device serial numbers included in a past purchase order of the customer are obtained by the activation server. Device information of the user device is verified according to the plurality of device serial numbers. A license key is provided by the activation server to the user device when verification passes, and the execution of the application program on the user device is activated based on the license key. In one or more embodiments, each of the plurality of device serial numbers includes at least one of a serial number of a device, a central processor unit identification or a mainboard identification, and wherein the device information of the user device includes at least one of a serial number of the user device, a central processor unit identification or a mainboard identification. In one or more embodiments, each of the current order and the past purchase order includes an electronic mail address, and wherein the past purchase order is searched based on an electronic mail domain of the electronic mail address. In one or more embodiments, the electronic mail domain refers to an organization or a company owning the electronic mail address. In one or more embodiments, the electronic mail domain includes information of a city or a region. In one or more embodiments, the installation program includes an activation library created based on information of the current order. The activation library is written into the user device when the user device executes the installation program. The software activation method further includes the following steps. The device information and a return value of the activation library are sent by the user device to the activation server, when the user device executes the enabling program and allows the network access. The return value and the device information of the user device are verified by the activation server according to the information of the current order and the plurality of device serial numbers. In one or more embodiments, the return value of the activation library corresponds to the stock keeping unit of the application program. In one or more embodiments, when the user device executes the enabling program and allows the network access, the software activation method further includes the following steps. The return value and the device information are verified by the activation