Tier-based Dynamic Incentive Arbitration in an On-Demand Computing Environment

• US 20080255953A1
• Filed: 06/25/2008
• Published: 10/16/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated (Kyndryl Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Alfredo V. Mendoza, Jagadish Dasari, John Anthony Falkl, Kyusun Chang
• Inventors: Dasari, Jagadish, Mendoza, Alfredo V., Chang, Kyusun, Falkl, John Anthony
• Granted Patent: US 8,249,937 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5015 Service provider selection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/508 Monitor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A system for allocating resources which are anticipated to be available in an on-demand computing at some time in the future, wherein a producer trending agent (PTA) lists resources according to a trend prediction of resource availability in the past, a consumer trending agent (CTA) places bids for listed resources according to previous resource usage trends, and an arbitration system (REAS) matches the bids with the listings to determine if a match exists. If so, a binding contract for consumption of the matched listed resources is established. The PTA also produce tier-based dynamic incentive (TDI) schema which divides potential bidders into tiers, and offers additional resource incentives according to the tiers. Both PTA and CTA dynamically update their available/usage trends, listings and bids, over time.

Claims

1. A system for allocating available resources in an on-demand computing environment comprising:

at least one automated producer trending agent (PTA) configured to list concurrently or in advance available resources from at least one resource producer according to a trend prediction of resource availability in the past;

at least one automated consumer trending agent (CTA) configured to place one or more usage bids for on-demand computing resources on behalf of at least one consumer according to historical usage data of said consumer resource consumption;

a resource entitlement arbitration system (REAS) configured to receive said lists of available resources from said PTAs, to receive said bids from said CTAs, to determine if conditions specified by any said bids match any said lists, and to notify said PTAs and CTAs that said match has been found; and

establishing a contract for consumption of said matched listed resources and said bid.

2. The system as set forth in claim 1 further comprising:

at least one tier-based dynamic incentive (TDI) schema produced by at least one PTA, said TDI containing a plurality of tiers of bidder definitions, and containing an incentive resource to be allocated to a winning bidder; and

a tier-based arbitrator (TA) cooperative with said REAS configured to evaluate said received bids, said listings, and said TDI to determine if a bid matches a listing and associated TDI.

3. The system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said PTA is further adapted to monitor the resource availability from a producer over a period of time, to update a historical trend of available resources according to said monitored period of time, and to produce listings of resources expected to be available in a period of time in the future.

4. The system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said CTA is further adapted to monitor the resource consumption by a consumer over a period of time, to update a historical trend of resource consumption according to said monitored period of time, and to produce bids for resources expected to be needed in a period of time in the future.

5. The system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said REAS is further adapted to notify said CTA of a highest bid placed by all bidding CTA, and wherein said CTA is further adapted to place subsequent bids responsive to said notification until said bid is accepted, or until said bid reaches a predetermined level.

6. The system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said REAS is further adapted to notify said PTA of a highest bid placed by all bidding CTA, and wherein said PTA is further adapted to update listings of available resources responsive to said notification until said a bid accepted, or until said listing reaches a predetermined level.

7. The system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said PTA is further adapted to withdraw listed resources from availability under at least one predetermined condition selected from the group of failure to receive a bid matching a reserve price, failure to receive a matching bid within a period of offering time, failure to receive a matching bid from a qualified consumer.

8. The system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said REAS comprises a plurality of REAS agent systems (AREAS), each of said AREAS being configured to receive said listings and bids, and to communicate said bids, listings, and notifications to other said AREAS.

9. The system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said PTA and said REAS are configured to employ digital certificates to authenticate said listings.

10. The system as set forth in claim 9 wherein said digital certificates are employed to prevent repudiation of said established contract for consumption.

11. The system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said CTA and said REAS are configured to employ digital certificates to authenticate said bids.

12. The system as set forth in claim 11 wherein said digital certificates are employed to prevent repudiation of said established contract for consumption.

13. A method for allocating available resources in an on-demand computing environment, said method comprising the steps of:

listing, concurrently or in advance, available resources from at least one resource producer according to a trend prediction of resource availability in the past by at least one automated producer trending agent (PTA);

placing one or more usage bids for on-demand computing resources on behalf of at least one consumer according to historical usage data of said consumer resource consumption by at least one automated consumer trending agent (CTA);

receiving by a a resource entitlement arbitration system (REAS) said lists of available resources from said PTAs and said bids from said CTAs;

determining by said REAS if conditions specified by any said bids match any said lists;

notifying said PTAs and CTAs that said match has been found thereby establishing a contract for consumption of said matched listed resources and said bid.

14. The method as set forth in claim 13 further comprising the steps of:

producing at least one tier-based dynamic incentive (TDI) schema by at least one PTA, said TDI containing a plurality of tiers of bidder definitions, and containing an incentive resource to be allocated to a winning bidder; and

evaluating, by a tier-based arbitrator (TA) in cooperation with said REAS, said received bids, said listings, and said TDI; and

determining if a bid matches a listing and associated TDI.

15. The method as set forth in claim 13 further comprising the steps of:

monitoring by said PTA the resource availability from a producer over a period of time;

updating a historical trend of available resources according to said monitored period of time; and

producing listings of resources expected to be available in a period of time in the future.

16. The method as set forth in claim 13 further comprising the steps of:

monitoring by said CTA on-demand resource consumption by a consumer over a period of time;

updating a historical trend of resource consumption according to said monitored period of time; and

producing bids by said CTA for resources expected to be needed in a period of time in the future.

17. The method as set forth in claim 13 further comprising the steps of:

notifying said CTA by said REAS of a highest bid placed by all bidding CTA; and

placing by said CTA one or more subsequent bids responsive to said notification until said bid is accepted, or until said bid reaches a predetermined level.

18. The method as set forth in claim 13 further comprising the steps of:

notifying said PTA by said REAS of a highest bid placed by all bidding CTA; and

updating by said PTA listings of available resources responsive to said notification until said a bid accepted, or until said listing reaches a predetermined level.

19. The method as set forth in claim 13 further comprising the steps of:

withdrawing by said PTA its listed resources from availability under at least one predetermined condition selected from the group of failure to receive a bid matching a reserve price, failure to receive a matching bid within a period of offering time, failure to receive a matching bid from a qualified consumer.

20. The method as set forth in claim 13 further comprising providing a plurality of REAS agent systems (AREAS), each of said AREAS being configured to receive said listings and bids, and to communicate said bids, listings, and notifications to other said AREAS.

21. The method as set forth in claim 13 further comprising employing digital certificates to authenticate said listings between said REAS and said PTA.

22. The method as set forth in claim 21 wherein said digital certificates are employed to prevent repudiation of said established contract for consumption.

23. The method as set forth in claim 13 further comprising employing digital certificates to authenticate said bids between said REAS and said CTA.

24. The method as set forth in claim 23 wherein said digital certificates are employed to prevent repudiation of said established contract for consumption.

25. A computer-readable medium encoded with software for allocating available resources in an on-demand computing environment, said software performing the steps of:

listing, concurrently or in advance, available resources from at least one resource producer according to a trend prediction of resource availability in the past by at least one automated producer trending agent (PTA);

placing one or more usage bids for on-demand computing resources on behalf of at least one consumer according to historical usage data of said consumer resource consumption by at least one automated consumer trending agent (CTA);

receiving by a a resource entitlement arbitration system (REAS) said lists of available resources from said PTAs and said bids from said CTAs;

determining by said REAS if conditions specified by any said bids match any said lists;

notifying said PTAs and CTAs that said match has been found thereby establishing a contract for consumption of said matched listed resources and said bid.

26. The computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 25 further comprising software for performing the steps of:

producing at least one tier-based dynamic incentive (TDI) schema by at least one PTA, said TDI containing a plurality of tiers of bidder definitions, and containing an incentive resource to be allocated to a winning bidder; and

evaluating, by a tier-based arbitrator (TA) in cooperation with said REAS, said received bids, said listings, and said TDI; and

determining if a bid matches a listing and associated TDI.

27. The computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 25 further comprising software for performing the steps of:

monitoring by said PTA the resource availability from a producer over a period of time;

updating a historical trend of available resources according to said monitored period of time; and

producing listings of resources expected to be available in a period of time in the future.

28. The computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 25 further comprising software for performing the steps of:

monitoring by said CTA on-demand resource consumption by a consumer over a period of time;

updating a historical trend of resource consumption according to said monitored period of time; and

producing bids by said CTA for resources expected to be needed in a period of time in the future.

29. The computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 25 further comprising software for performing the steps of:

notifying said CTA by said REAS of a highest bid placed by all bidding CTA; and

placing by said CTA one or more subsequent bids responsive to said notification until said bid is accepted, or until said bid reaches a predetermined level.

30. The computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 25 further comprising software for performing the steps of:

notifying said PTA by said REAS of a highest bid placed by all bidding CTA; and

updating by said PTA listings of available resources responsive to said notification until said a bid accepted, or until said listing reaches a predetermined level.

31. The computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 25 further comprising software for performing the steps of:

withdrawing by said PTA its listed resources from availability under at least one predetermined condition selected from the group of failure to receive a bid matching a reserve price, failure to receive a matching bid within a period of offering time, failure to receive a matching bid from a qualified consumer.

32. The computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 25 further comprising software for a plurality of REAS agent systems (AREAS), each of said AREAS being configured to receive said listings and bids, and to communicate said bids, listings, and notifications to other said AREAS.

33. The computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 25 further comprising software for employing digital certificates to authenticate said listings between said REAS and said PTA.

34. The computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 33 wherein said digital certificates are employed to prevent repudiation of said established contract for consumption.

35. The computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 25 further comprising software for employing digital certificates to authenticate said bids between said REAS and said CTA.

36. The computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 35 wherein said digital certificates are employed to prevent repudiation of said established contract for consumption.