Sweepstakes Incentive Model and Associated System

• US 20100036723A1
• Filed: 10/15/2009
• Published: 02/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Edward A. Hubbard
• Original Assignee: Edward A. Hubbard
• Inventors: Hubbard, Edward A.
• Application Number:
  US12/580,149
• Publication Number:
  US 20100036723A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.140
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/503 Resource availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/508 Monitor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5044 considering hardware capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0212 Chance discounts or incentives

Abstract

A sweepstakes incentive model and associated system for a distributed processing system are disclosed that identify the capabilities of distributed devices connected together through a wide variety of communication systems and networks and aggregate these distributed device capabilities to accomplish desired distributed workload objectives.

Claims

1. A method of operating a distributed processing system, comprising:

offering a sweepstakes as an incentive for client devices to join the distributed processing system;

determining, at least in part with a computing device, a workload capability of one or more client devices;

assigning a sweepstakes entry value to individual client devices of the one or more client devices based, at least in part, on the workload capability of the one or more client devices; and

determining a winner of the sweepstakes, based at least in part, on sweepstakes entry values of the one or more client devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the workload capability further comprises:

allocating a workload to the one or more client devices;

receiving a workload result based on completion of the workload by the one or more client devices; and

determining the workload capability of the one or more client devices based at least in part on the workload result.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the workload comprises a benchmark workload.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the workload comprises at least one of a network site testing workload, a network site indexing workload, a bioinformatics workload, a pair-wise comparison workload, or a data mining workload.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the sweepstakes entry value increases for increased capabilities of the one or more client devices.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the workload capability of the one or more client devices is based at least in part on a processor capability of the one or more client devices.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the workload capability of the one or more client devices is based at least in part on a storage capability of the one or more client devices.

8. A system, comprising:

a server system configured to be coupled to one or more client devices and configured to;

offer a sweepstakes as an incentive for client devices to join a distributed processing system;

determine a workload capability of one or more client devices;

assign a sweepstakes entry value to individual client devices of the one or more client devices based, at least in part, on the workload capability of the one or more client devices; and

determine a winner of the sweepstakes, based at least in part, on sweepstakes entry values of the one or more client devices.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the server system is further configured to determine the workload capability by:

allocating a workload to the one or more client devices;

receiving a workload result based on completion of the workload by the one or more client devices; and

determining the workload capability of the one or more client devices based at least in part on the workload result.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the workload comprises a benchmark workload.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the workload comprises at least one of a network site testing workload, a network site indexing workload, a bioinformatics workload, a pair-wise comparison workload, or a data mining workload.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the sweepstakes entry value increases for increased capabilities of the one or more client devices.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the workload capability of the one or more client devices is based at least in part on a processor capability of the one or more client devices.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the workload capability of the one or more client devices is based at least in part on a storage capability of the one or more client devices.

15. A distributed processing system comprising:

a server system configured to be coupled to a plurality of client devices, wherein the server system is configured to offer a sweepstakes as an incentive for client devices to join a distributed processing system;

a capability database coupled to the server system and configured to store workload capability factors associated with the plurality of client devices; and

a sweepstakes database coupled to the server system and configured to store sweepstakes entry values associated with the plurality of client devices, the sweepstakes entry values being useable to determine a winner of the sweepstakes.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the server system is further configured to utilize the workload capability factors to determine the sweepstakes entry values.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the server system is configured to determine a sweepstakes entry value for a client device by:

allocating a workload to the client device;

receiving a workload result based on completion of the workload by the client device; and

determining the sweepstakes entry value for the client device based at least in part on workload result.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the workload comprises a benchmark workload.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the workload capability of the client device is based at least in part on a processor capability of the client device.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the workload capability of the client device is based at least in part on a storage capability of the client device.