METHOD, SYSTEM AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR METERING USAGE OF SERVICES IN A SOA ENVIRONMENT

• US 20080059378A1
• Filed: 08/29/2007
• Published: 03/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lanfranchi, Giovanni, D'ALO, SALVATORE, Perrone, Antonio, Donatelli, Alessandro, MacLellan, Scot
• Granted Patent: US 8,086,538 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/59
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/10 Services

Abstract

A solution (200) for metering usage of services—for example, in a SOA framework—is proposed. For this purpose, the submission of any invocation of a provider service (205) by a consumer service (210) is intercepted by a license manager (220); a corresponding request is then submitted to a dedicated licensing service (215), which returns an entitlement code when the consumer service is entitled to submit the service invocation. The service invocation is decorated with this entitlement code and actually submitted to the provider service. The (decorated) service invocation addressed to the provider service is likewise intercepted by another license manager (235); a request is then submitted to the licensing service for verifying the received entitlement code. The running of the provider service is then enabled only if the entitlement code is correct.

Claims

1. A method for metering usage of services in a service-based data processing infrastructure, the method including the steps of:

submitting an application invocation of a provider service by a consumer service,

intercepting the application invocation before being transmitted to the provider service,

submitting a licensing invocation of a licensing service, the licensing invocation including an indication of the intercepted application invocation, and

enabling the transmission of the application invocation by the licensing service according to a predetermined enabling policy.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of enabling the transmission of the application invocation by the licensing service includes:

verifying an entitlement of the consumer service to submit the application invocation, and

enabling the transmission of the application invocation to the provider service in response to a positive verification of the entitlement.

3. The method according to claim 1, further including the steps of:

further intercepting the application invocation before being processed by the provider service,

submitting a further licensing invocation of the licensing service, the further licensing invocation including an indication of the further intercepted application invocation, and

enabling the processing of the application invocation by the licensing service according to a predetermined further enabling policy.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the step of enabling the processing of the application invocation by the licensing service includes:

verifying an enablement of the consumer service to run the provider service, and

enabling the processing of the application invocation by the provider service in response to a positive verification of the enablement.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the step of enabling the transmission of the application invocation by the licensing service further includes:

returning an entitlement code to the consumer service in response to the positive verification of the entitlement, the entitlement code being provided to the provider service in association with the application invocation and being provided to the licensing service in association with the further licensing invocation,

and wherein the step of enabling the processing of the further intercepted application invocation by the licensing service further includes;

verifying the entitlement code.

6. The method according to claim 1, further including the steps of:

logging an indication of the licensing invocation and of the verification of the corresponding entitlement by the licensing service, and/or

logging an indication of the further licensing invocation and of the verification of the corresponding enablement by the licensing service.

7. The method according to claim from 1, further including the steps of:

returning an indication of a result of the processing of the application invocation from the provider service to the consumer service,

intercepting the result before being received by the consumer service,

submitting a logging invocation of the licensing service for logging the intercepted result in association with the corresponding licensing invocation, and/or

further intercepting the result before being sent to the consumer service,

submitting a further logging invocation of the licensing service for logging the further intercepted result in association with the corresponding further licensing invocation.

8. A computer program in a computer readable medium for metering usage of services in a service-based data processing infrastructure, the computer program when executed by a computer system executing a method, the method including the steps of:

submitting an application invocation of a provider service by a consumer service,

intercepting the application invocation before being transmitted to the provider service,

submitting a licensing invocation of a licensing service, the licensing invocation including an indication of the intercepted application invocation, and

enabling the transmission of the application invocation by the licensing service according to a predetermined enabling policy.

11. The product according to claim 8, wherein the step of enabling the transmission of the application invocation by the licensing service includes:

verifying an entitlement of the consumer service to submit the application invocation, and

enabling the transmission of the application invocation to the provider service in response to a positive verification of the entitlement.

12. The product according to claim 8, wherein the method further includes the steps of:

further intercepting the application invocation before being processed by the provider service,

submitting a further licensing invocation of the licensing service, the further licensing invocation including an indication of the further intercepted application invocation, and

enabling the processing of the application invocation by the licensing service according to a predetermined further enabling policy.

13. The product according to claim 12, wherein the step of enabling the processing of the application invocation by the licensing service includes:

verifying an enablement of the consumer service to run the provider service, and

enabling the processing of the application invocation by the provider service in response to a positive verification of the enablement.

14. The product according to claim 13, wherein the step of enabling the transmission of the application invocation by the licensing service further includes:

returning an entitlement code to the consumer service in response to the positive verification of the entitlement, the entitlement code being provided to the provider service in association with the application invocation and being provided to the licensing service in association with the further licensing invocation,

and wherein the step of enabling the processing of the further intercepted application invocation by the licensing service further includes;

verifying the entitlement code.

15. The product according to claim 8, wherein the method further includes the steps of:

logging an indication of the licensing invocation and of the verification of the corresponding entitlement by the licensing service, and/or

logging an indication of the further licensing invocation and of the verification of the corresponding enablement by the licensing service.

9. A system for metering usage of services in a service-based data processing infrastructure, comprising:

means for submitting an application invocation of a provider service by a consumer service,

means for intercepting the application invocation before being transmitted to the provider service,

means for submitting a licensing invocation of a licensing service, the licensing invocation including an indication of the intercepted application invocation, and

means for enabling the transmission of the application invocation by the licensing service according to a predetermined enabling policy.

10. (canceled)