US-20260127252-A1 - METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SOFTWARE ACTIVATION

US20260127252A1US 20260127252 A1US20260127252 A1US 20260127252A1US-20260127252-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

Jen-Ching Wei
Chun-Hui Lin

Assignees

GETAC TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20250714
Priority Date: 20241104

Claims (20)

1 . A software activation method, comprising: obtaining, by an activation server, an installation program created according to a stock keeping unit of an application program in a current order from a customer, and providing, by the activation server, the installation program and an enabling program; and executing, by a user device, the installation program to install or update the application program, and executing, by the user device, the enabling program after completing installation of the installation program, wherein when the user device executes the enabling program and allows network access, the software activation method further comprises: obtaining, by the activation server, a plurality of device serial numbers included in a past purchase order of the customer; verifying, by the activation server, device information of the user device according to the plurality of device serial numbers; and providing, by the activation server, a license key to the user device when verification passes, and wherein execution of the application program on the user device is activated based on the license key.
2 . The software activation method 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, and wherein the device information of the user device comprises at least one of a serial number of the user device, a central processor unit identification or a mainboard identification.
3 . The software activation method of claim 1 , wherein each of the current order and the past purchase order comprises an electronic mail address, and wherein the past purchase order is searched based on an electronic mail domain of the electronic mail address.
4 . The software activation method of claim 3 , wherein the electronic mail domain refers to an organization or a company owning the electronic mail address.
5 . The software activation method of claim 4 , wherein the electronic mail domain comprises information of a city or a region.
6 . The software activation method of claim 1 , wherein the installation program comprises an activation library created based on information of the current order, wherein the activation library is written into the user device when the user device executes the installation program, and wherein the software activation method further comprises: sending, by the user device, the device information and a return value of the activation library to the activation server, when the user device executes the enabling program and allows the network access; and verifying, by the activation server, the return value and the device information of the user device according to the information of the current order and the plurality of device serial numbers.
7 . The software activation method of claim 6 , wherein the return value of the activation library corresponds to the stock keeping unit of the application program.
8 . The software activation method of claim 6 , wherein when the user device executes the enabling program and allows the network access, the software activation method further comprises: verifying, by the activation server, the return value and the device information according to the stock keeping unit and the plurality of device serial numbers.
9 . The software activation method 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 is inactive.
10 . The software activation method of claim 1 , further comprising: obtaining, by the activation server, a product quantity in the current order; and determining, by the activation server, that the current order has been completed, when a number of authorized devices reaches the product quantity.
11 . A software activation system, comprising: an activation server, coupled to a network, configured to obtain an installation program created according to a stock keeping unit of an application program in a current order from a customer, and configured to provide the installation program and an enabling program, wherein the installation program is executed by a user device to install or update the application program, and the user device executes the enabling program after completing installation of the installation program, and wherein when the user device executes the enabling program and allows network access, the activation server is further configured to: obtain a plurality of device serial numbers included in a past purchase order of the customer; verify device information of the user device according to the plurality of device serial numbers; and provide a license key to the user device when verification passes, and wherein execution of the application program on the user device is activated based on the license key.
12 . The software activation system of claim 11 , 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, and wherein the device information of the user device comprises at least one of a serial number of the user device, a central processor unit identification or a mainboard identification.
13 . The software activation system of claim 11 , wherein each of the current order and the past purchase order comprises an electronic mail address, and wherein the past purchase order is searched based on an electronic mail domain of the electronic mail address.
14 . The software activation system of claim 13 , wherein the electronic mail domain refers to an organization or a company owning the electronic mail address.
15 . The software activation system of claim 14 , wherein the electronic mail domain comprises information of a city or a region.
16 . The software activation system of claim 11 , wherein the installation program comprises an activation library created based on information of the current order, wherein the activation library is written into the user device, when the user device executes the installation program; wherein the user device sends the device information and a return value of the activation library to the activation server, when the user device executes the enabling program and allows the network access; and wherein the activation server verifies the return value and the device information of the user device according to the information of the current order and the plurality of device serial numbers.
17 . The software activation system of claim 16 , wherein the return value of the activation library corresponds to the stock keeping unit of the application program.
18 . The software activation system of claim 16 , wherein when the user device executes the enabling program and allows the network access, the activation server is further configured to: verify the return value and the device information according to the stock keeping unit and the plurality of device serial numbers.
19 . The software activation system of claim 11 , wherein: the activation server does not provide the license key, when the verification fails, such that the execution of the application program on the user device is inactive.
20 . The software activation system of claim 11 , wherein the activation server is further configured to: obtain a product quantity in the current order; and determine that the current order has been completed, when a number of authorized devices reaches the product quantity.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application claims priority to China Application Serial Number 202411557770.6, filed Nov. 4, 2024, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. 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 numbers or order numbers of the hardware devices, in order to bind purchase 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. The present disclosure provides a software activation system. The software activation system includes an activation server. The activation server is coupled to a network. The activation server is configured to obtain an installation program created according to a stock keeping unit of an application program in a current order from a customer. The activation server is configured to provide the installation program and an enabling program. The installation program is executed by a user device to install or update the application program. The user device executes the enabling program after completing installation of the installation program. When the user device executes the enabling program and allows network access, the activation server is further configured to perform the following steps. Obtain a plurality of device serial numbers included in a past purchase order of the customer. Verify a device information of the user device according to the plurality of device serial numbers. Provide a license key to the user device, when verification passes, and wherein execution of the application program on the user device is activated based on the license key. In summary, the software activation method and software activation system of the present disclosure verify the device information of the user devices to be activated according to the device serial numbers included in a past order of the same customer. Accordingly, the step of providing the device serial numbers of the user devices to be activated when the customer provides the purchase order can be omitted, which improves the consumer experience and increases customer stickiness. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF