System and method for electronic software delivery and management through channel partners
View Patent ↗A system and method for facilitating delivery of software applications from software manufacturers and channel partners to their aggregated customer base are described. The system enables both direct customers of software manufacturers and customers of channel partners to receive electronic delivery of digital assets and licenses from a single electronic software delivery site. The system enables software manufacturers to uniquely define the use of the electronic software and license delivery service for each of their associated channel partners, including defining whether the channel partner can submit orders directly to the system and to define limits on such orders, to specify which products from the manufacturer's catalog is a channel partner allowed to deliver, and to define which reporting information the manufacturer may access for data submitted by each channel partner.
1. A computer-implemented method of delivering software of a predetermined manufacturer to end users via prescribed channel partners, where said prescribed channel partners include prescribed vendors of said software from said manufacturers to end users, or prescribed distributors of said software from said manufacturers to said vendors, or said vendors and said distributors, and where at least some of the end users are separate from the channel partners, the method comprising operations of:
a first computer-implemented operation comprising: responsive to an end user transmitting a machine-readable order for a given product to a first one of the channel partners, the first channel partner performing substantially simultaneous operations of:
transmitting a machine-readable purchase order to said manufacturer, the purchase order omitting end user shipping information;
forwarding said purchase order to a third party electronic software digital management (ESDM) system, said ESDM system separate from the channel partners and the manufacturer;
a second computer-implemented operation comprising: following receipt of the purchase order from the first channel partner, the ESDM system retrieving information including predetermined content prescribed for the first channel partner;
a third computer-implemented operation comprising: following the second operation, the ESDM system transmitting machine-readable communication including the retrieved content and order access information to the end user either directly or via the first channel partner; and
a fourth computer-implemented operation comprising: responsive to the manufacturer receiving a user request to download the given product via a manufacturer site, the manufacturer performing operations comprising:
using information including said predetermined content prescribed for the first channel partner to present the end user with a prescribed view defined by said first channel partner; and
providing download of the given product to the end user.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
before the second operation, determining whether preestablished settings require manufacturer authorization to release and fulfill the order, and responsive to manufacturer authorization being required, proceeding to said third operation only upon obtaining said authorization from the manufacturer.
3. The method of claim 2 , where the operation of obtaining authorization from the manufacturer is conducted such that the ESDM system provides a limited amount of information from said order to the manufacturer.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
the ESDM system preventing access by the manufacturers to selected information from end user accounts initiated by said channel partners, said selected information including end user name and end user address; and
the ESDM system providing access by the manufacturers to selected order information comprising order number, channel partner identifier, order quantity, order date, software license key.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
from the manufacturer, the ESDM system receiving definition of partner tables specifying actions that each channel partners is allowed to perform while accessing the ESDM system, where said actions include the following types:
accounts permissions defining permissible channel partner addition and modification of accounts;
order permissions defining permissible channel partner processing and modifying or orders;
product management permissions defining permissible channel partner addition and modification of stored product information;
allowing or restricting actions performed by each channel partner according to the partner tables.
6. A computer-implemented system for delivering software, comprising:
a computer-driven manufacturer system operated by a software manufacturer;
multiple computer-driven channel partner systems each operated by a different one of multiple prescribed channel partners, each channel partner including prescribed vendors of said software from said manufacturers to end users, or prescribed distributors of said software from said manufacturers to said vendors, or said vendors and said distributors, where at least some of the end users are separate from the channel partners;
a third party, computer-driven, electronic software digital management (ESDM) system coupled to the manufacturer system and the channel partner system, the ESDM system separate from the channel partner systems and the manufacturer system;
where the manufacturer system, channel partner systems, and ESDM system are programmed to perform operations comprising:
a first computer-implemented operation comprising: responsive to an end user transmitting a machine-readable order for a given product to a first one of the channel partner systems, the first channel partner system performing substantially simultaneous operations of:
transmitting a machine-readable purchase order to said manufacturer system, the purchase order omitting end user shipping information;
forwarding said purchase order to the ESDM system;
a second computer-implemented operation comprising: following receipt of the purchase order from the first channel partner system, the ESDM system retrieving information including predetermined content prescribed for the first channel partner;
a third computer-implemented operation comprising: following the second operation, the ESDM system transmitting machine-readable communication including the retrieved content and order access information to the end user either directly or via the first channel partner system; and
a fourth computer-implemented operation comprising: responsive to the manufacturer system receiving a user request to download the given product via a manufacturer site, the manufacturer performing operations comprising:
using information including said predetermined content prescribed for the first channel partner to present the end user with a prescribed view defined by said first channel partner; and
providing download of the given product to the end user.