Flexible application rights management in a pervasive environment

The development and wider use of wireless networks and mobile devices has led to novel pervasive computing environments which pose new problems for software rights management and enforcement on resource-constrained and occasionally connected devices. Software vendors are, however, still applying old usage rights models to a platform where application rights will be specified, managed and distributed in new and different ways. The characteristics of pervasive environments, such as occasional connectivity, require the introduction of more flexible usage rights models, such as audit-based model, that do not assume the availability of network connections. In this paper we describe a pervasive application rights management architecture for both desktop and mobile applications that provides an integrated platform for the specification, generation, delivery, and management of application usage rights based on Web services standards. We also introduce flexible usage rights models required by pervasive environments that can be embedded in target applications using aspect-oriented technology.