Communications network
First Claim
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1. A method of operating a communications network to allocate resources of said network between users, said method comprising:
- storing one or more sets of typical utility data for one or more types of said deliveries over said network;
receiving, from each of a plurality of users, values of one or more utility-influencing parameters for each of one or more data deliveries desired by said user;
generating resource demand data for each of said deliveries in dependence upon said stored typical utility data and said utility-influencing parameters; and
allocating resources of said network between deliveries in dependence on said generated resource demand data.
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Abstract
A method of generating data indicating the price a purchaser is willing to pay for the delivery of a content file to a receiver is disclosed. Conventionally, a purchaser has had to generate data representing his offer for each delivery. In the present invention, the offer data is generated on the basis of stored utility curves and values of utility-influencing parameters provided by the purchaser. This reduces the burden placed on the purchaser merely to the provision of providing utility-influencing parameters rather than the offer data itself.
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13 Claims
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1. A method of operating a communications network to allocate resources of said network between users, said method comprising:
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storing one or more sets of typical utility data for one or more types of said deliveries over said network;
receiving, from each of a plurality of users, values of one or more utility-influencing parameters for each of one or more data deliveries desired by said user;
generating resource demand data for each of said deliveries in dependence upon said stored typical utility data and said utility-influencing parameters; and
allocating resources of said network between deliveries in dependence on said generated resource demand data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A communications network operable to deliver content files from one or more file sources to one or more receivers, said network comprising:
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one or more stores storing content files;
a store storing one or more sets of utility data;
a plurality of user computers, each arranged in operation to provide one or more utility-influencing parameter values associated with a delivery of a content file to one or more receivers; and
means arranged in operation to generate resource demand data from said one or more sets of utility data and said one or more utility-influencing parameters; and
means arranged in operation to allocate resources of said network between deliveries in dependence on said generated resource demand data. - View Dependent Claims (13)
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Specification