CLOUD COMPUTING ACCESS GATEWAY AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING A USER TERMINAL ACCESS TO A CLOUD PROVIDER

• US 20130080509A1
• Filed: 08/01/2012
• Published: 03/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell Co., Ltd. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Wang, Zhi
• Granted Patent: US 9,002,932 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams

Abstract

A cloud computing access gateway includes a cloud management module configured to store a cloud provider and information of a cloud computing service provided by the cloud provider. A user terminal interface module is configured to provide an interface with a user terminal, receive a service request indicating a cloud computing service from the user terminal, and send a result of the cloud computing service to the user terminal. A request analysis module is configured to analyze the received service request to identify the cloud computing service. A cloud selection module is configured to select a best cloud provider based on the cloud computing service. A cloud interface module is configured to provide an interface with the cloud provider, transmit the service request to the best cloud provider, and receive the result of the cloud computing service from the best cloud provider.

Claims

1. A cloud computing access gateway, comprising:

cloud management module that stores a cloud provider and information of a cloud computing service provided by the cloud provider;

user terminal interface module that provides an interface with a user terminal, receives a service request indicating a cloud computing service from the user terminal, and sends a result of the cloud computing service to the user terminal;

request analysis module that analyzes the received service request to identify the cloud computing service;

cloud selection module that selects a best cloud provider based on the cloud computing service; and

cloud interface module that provides an interface with the cloud provider, transmits the service request to the best cloud provider, and receives the result of the cloud computing service from the best cloud provider.

2. The cloud computing access gateway according to claim 1, wherein the information of the cloud computing service comprises:

a unique resource identifier, an interface definition, a service type, quality of service and cost.

3. The cloud computing access gateway according to claim 1, wherein the cloud selection module comprises:

search unit that searches for a cloud provider which can provide the cloud computing service; and

cloud determination unit that determines the best cloud provider based on a configuration of the cloud computing service defined by a user of the user terminal.

4. The cloud computing access gateway according to claim 3, wherein the configuration of the cloud computing service comprises at least one of:

desired quality of service, desired cost and a desired security level.

5. The cloud computing access gateway according to claim 1, wherein the cloud selection module comprises:

search unit that searches for a cloud provider which can provide the cloud computing service;

provision unit that provides the searched cloud provider to the user terminal to allow the user of the user terminal to select the best cloud provider.

6. The cloud computing access gateway according to claim 1, further comprising:

service partition module that partitions the cloud computing service into a plurality of sub-services; and

result handling module that aggregates the results of the plurality of sub-services into an aggregated result of the cloud computing service;

wherein the cloud selection module selects the respective best cloud providers for each of the plurality of sub-services.

7. The cloud computing access gateway according to claim 1, further comprising:

service setup module that allows the user of the user terminal to define the configuration of the cloud computing service.

8. The cloud computing access gateway according to claim 7, wherein the service setup module is further configured to allow the user of the user terminal to define a shortcut key for a cloud computing service.

9. The cloud computing access gateway according to claim 1, further comprising:

interface translation module that translates the received service request into a service request in conformity with an interface definition of the best cloud provider and translates the received result of the cloud computing service into a result of the cloud computing service in conformity with an interface definition of the user terminal, when the user terminal and the best cloud provider adopt different interface definitions.

10. The cloud computing access gateway according to claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring module that monitors availability of the cloud provider, and informs the cloud selection module of selecting another best cloud provider when it is monitored that the best cloud provider is unavailable.

11. A method for providing a user terminal access to a cloud provider, comprising:

receiving a service request from the user terminal, wherein the service request indicates a cloud computing service;

analyzing the service request to identify the cloud computing service;

selecting a best cloud provider based on the cloud computing service;

transmitting the service request to the best cloud provider;

receiving a result of the cloud computing service from the best cloud provider; and

sending the result of the cloud computing service to the user terminal.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the selecting step comprises:

searching for a cloud provider which can provide the cloud computing service; and

determining the best cloud provider based on a configuration of the cloud computing service defined by a user of the user terminal.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein, the selecting step comprises:

searching for a cloud provider which can provide the cloud computing service; and

providing the user terminal with the searched cloud provider to allow the user of the user terminal to select the best provider.

14. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

after the analyzing step, partitioning the cloud computing service into a plurality of sub-services;

performing the selecting step for each of the plurality of sub-services to select the respective best cloud providers; and

upon receiving the results of the plurality of sub-services, aggregating the results of the plurality of sub-services into an aggregated result of the cloud computing service.

15. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

when the user terminal and the best cloud provider adopt different interface definitions,

translating the received service request into a service request in conformity with an interface definition of the best cloud provider; and

translating the received result of the cloud computing service into a result of the cloud computing service in conformity with an interface definition of the user terminal.

16. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

monitoring availability of the best cloud provider; and

performing the selecting step to select another best cloud provider when it is monitored that the best cloud provider is unavailable.