Feature licensing framework for third party feature credit management

摘要

A method and apparatus is provided for provisioning devices with upgraded feature licenses that enable specified upgraded features in the devices. The method includes authenticating a first customer as an authenticated user and receiving from a first customer a first request to establish a credit record for a specified number of upgraded feature licenses. The upgraded feature licenses are obtainable from a third party supplier and are associated with components available from the third party supplier. The credit record includes feature credits to be made available to the first customer to obtain the upgraded feature licenses from the third party supplier. A second request is received from the first customer to release the feature credits to a credit pool associated with the first customer so that the feature credits are available to the first customer. The upgraded feature licenses are generated and the credit pool associated with the first customer is debited for the number of credits needed to obtain the upgraded feature licenses.