Rendering

• US 20140279581A1
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockethouse, LLC
• Inventors: Devereaux, Sean Patrick, Cipriano, Brian Gregory, Drewes, Brian Frederick
• Granted Patent: US 9,384,517 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/310
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 2220/18 Licensing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/184 Intellectual property management

Abstract

This document describes methods, systems and computer program products related to cloud-based rendering. The subject matter of this document is embodied in a method that includes receiving, at a server, information associated with a job of rendering one or more frames at the server, and using, at the server, an application to perform at least a portion of the rendering. The use of the application to perform the rendering bears a charge according to a usage license associated with the application. The method also includes measuring, at the server, an amount of use of the application in performing the rendering for use in determining the charge.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a server, information associated with a job of rendering one or more frames at the server;

at the server, using an application to perform at least a portion of the rendering, the use of the application to perform the rendering bearing a charge according to a usage license associated with the application; and

at the server measuring an amount of use of the application in performing the rendering for use in determining the charge.

2. The method of claim 1 in which the charge is based on a percentage of revenue generated by the performing of the rendering.

3. The method of claim 1 in which the amount of use is measured as an amount of time.

4. The method of claim 1 in which a customer is charged for the use of the application for rendering the frames in uniform units of use that is different in size from the amount of measured use.

5. The method of claim 4 in which the units of use are regular time periods of no longer than an hour.

6. The method of claim 1 comprising:

determining, at the server, an availability of the application to be used to perform the rendering, based on information representing the usage license associated with the application.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining the availability of the application comprises determining if the application is being used for another rendering job.

8. The method of claim 6, comprising determining whether the usage license permits a concurrent use of the application for at least a second rendering job based on information representing the usage license associated with the application.

9. The method of claim 1 comprising maintaining information about using the application for performing rendering jobs, in accordance with the usage license.

10. The method of claim 1 comprising regulating the use of the application for performing rendering jobs, in accordance with the usage license.

11. The method of claim 6 comprising placing the rendering job in a queue upon determining that the application is unavailable for use at that time.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the measured amount of use is indicative of how long the application is used for performing the job.

13. The method of claim 1 comprising providing the measured amount of use to a supplier of the application.

14. The method of claim 1 comprising receiving the information associated with the rendering job from a client application at a remote computing device.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the remote computing device runs an image-editing application, and the application at the server is selected based on the image-editing application.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the information associated with the job of rendering comprises files and the method comprises storing the files at storage locations local to the server, in accordance with an organization of the files on a remote computing device associated with a remote client application.

17. A method comprising:

receiving, at a server, files related to a job of rendering of a frame;

identifying, based on the received files, a set of resources for executing the job; and

causing the job to be executed on a virtual machine that includes the set of resources identified for the job.

18. The method of claim 17 comprising maintaining a pool of idle virtual machines being available to the server.

19. The method of claim 18 comprising selecting the virtual machine from the pool.

20. The method of claim 18 comprising monitoring available usage times of the idle virtual machines.

21. The method of claim 18 comprising adding the virtual machine to the pool upon completion of the execution of the job if the virtual machine has usage time available.

22. The method of claim 18 comprising installing one or more resources on one or more of the idle virtual machines.

23. The method of claim 17 comprising causing part of the execution of the job to be completed on at least one other virtual machine if a usage time associated with the virtual machine expires.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the other virtual machine is selected from a pool of idle virtual machines available to the server.

25. The method of claim 17 comprising installing on the virtual machine at least one resource that is included in the set of resources.

26. A method comprising

accessing through a network, processing capacity of virtual machines at a remote location,

receiving from users through a network, jobs for rendering frames using applications that have features suitable for rendering frames of the respective jobs,

causing the applications to run on the virtual machines;

and

causing each of the jobs to be run on one of the virtual machines, and when the job is completed, causing another job for which that virtual machine is suitable to be run on that virtual machine.

27. The method of claim 26 in which

the use of each of the applications are paid for on the basis of an amount of time that the applications are used for rendering jobs, and

wherein the users of the application are charged on the basis of standardized units of time that are no longer than one hour each.

28. A method comprising

recording numbers of uniform units of continuous time that have been reserved by respective customers for use in having instances of virtual machines or applications, that are available at a server, render frames of jobs submitted by the customers through a network to the server;

and

causing jobs of a given customer to be performed during one of the uniform units of continuous time that have been reserved by the customer, the jobs of the customer that are performed during the unit of continuous time requiring less actual time than the length of the unit.

29. The method of claim 28 in which the uniform units are each shorter than an hour.

30. The method of claim 28 in which the uniform units are each shorter than ten minutes.

31. The method of claim 28 comprising charging each of the customers for the uniform units of continuous time at a full standard price per unit when an actual amount of time used by the customer during each of the units is less than the length of the units.

32. The method of claim 28 comprising

causing an instance that is available at the server to perform jobs of two or more customers during a period of time that corresponds to a length of each unit.

33. The method of claim 32 comprising

paying for use of the instance on the basis of actual amounts of time during which the instance is used for the rendering jobs without regard to the uniform units of continuous time for which the customers are charged.

34. A method comprising

making available to a customer an application or a virtual machine for rendering frames of jobs and permitting the customer to execute two or more instances of the application or virtual machine, respectively;

receiving from the customer an accurate measure of an amount of elapsed time during a given period when instances of the application or virtual machine were being used for rendering jobs; and

recording charges to be paid by the customer based on the measure of the amount of elapsed time, without regard to the number of instances being used or a calendar period over which the instances were being used.

35. The method of claim 34 in which the application or virtual machine is made available electronically.

36. The method of claim 34 in which the accurate measure comprises a measure of the minutes during which instances of the application were executing features associated with the rendering of the jobs.

37. A system comprising:

a storage device; and

a computing device connected to the storage device, the computing device comprising memory and a processor, the computing device configured to;

receive information associated with a job of rendering one or more frames;

use an application to perform at least a portion of the rendering, the use of the application to perform the rendering bearing a charge according to a usage license associated with the application; and

measure an amount of use of the application in performing the rendering for use in determining the charge.

38. The system of claim 37 in which the charge is based on a percentage of revenue generated by the performing of the rendering.

39. The system of claim 37 in which the amount of use is measured as an amount of time.

40. The system of claim 37 in which a customer is charged for the use of the application for rendering the frames in uniform units of use that is different in size from the amount of measured use.

41. The system of claim 40 in which the units of use are regular time periods of no longer than an hour.

42. The system of claim 37 wherein the computing device is configured to:

determine an availability of the application to be used to perform the rendering, based on information representing the usage license associated with the application.

43. The system of claim 37, wherein the computing device is configured to determine whether the usage license permits a concurrent use of the application for at least a second rendering job based on information representing the usage license associated with the application.

44. The system of claim 37 wherein the computing device is configured to maintain information about using the application for performing rendering jobs, in accordance with the usage license.

45. The system of claim 37 wherein the computing device is configured to regulate the use of the application for performing rendering jobs, in accordance with the usage license.

46. The system of claim 42 wherein the computing device is configured to place the rendering job in a queue upon determining that the application is unavailable for use at that time.

47. The system of claim 37 wherein the computing device is configured to provide the measured amount of use to a supplier of the application.

48. The system of claim 37 wherein the computing device is configured to receive the information associated with the rendering job from a client application at a remote computing device.

49. The system of claim 48 wherein the computing device is configured to select the application based on an image-editing application on the remote computing device.

50. The system of claim 37 wherein the information associated with the job of rendering comprises files and the computing device is configured to store the files on the storage device in accordance with an organization of the files on a remote computing device from which the information associated with the job is received.

51. A system comprising:

a storage device; and

a computing device connected to the storage device, the computing device comprising memory and a processor, the computing device configured to;

receive files related to a job of rendering of a frame;

identify based on the received files, a set of resources for executing the job; and

cause the job to be executed on a virtual machine that includes the set of resources identified for the job.

52. The system of claim 51 wherein the computing device is configured to maintain a pool of idle virtual machines being available to a server.

53. The system of claim 52 wherein the computing device is configured to select the virtual machine from the pool.

54. The system of claim 52 wherein the computing device is configured to monitor available usage times of the idle virtual machines.

55. The system of claim 52 wherein the computing device is configured to assign the virtual machine to the pool upon completion of the execution of the job if the virtual machine has usage time available.

56. The system of claim 52 wherein the computing device is configured to install one or more resources on one or more of the idle virtual machines.

57. The system of claim 51 wherein the computing device is configured to cause part of the execution of the job to be completed on at least one other virtual machine if a usage time associated with the virtual machine expires.

58. The system of claim 57, wherein the other virtual machine is selected from a pool of idle virtual machines available to the server.

59. The system of claim 51 wherein the computing device is configured to install on the virtual machine at least one resource that is included in the set of resources.

60. A system comprising:

a storage device; and

a computing device connected to the storage device, the computing device comprising memory and a processor, the computing device configured to;

access through a network, processing capacity of virtual machines at a remote location,

receive from users through a network, jobs for rendering frames using applications that have features suitable for rendering frames of the respective jobs,

cause the applications to run on the virtual machines; and

cause each of the jobs to be run on one of the virtual machines, and

when the job is completed, cause another job for which that virtual machine is suitable to be run on that virtual machine.

61. The system of claim 60 in which the use of the applications is paid for on the basis of an amount of time that the applications are used for rendering jobs, and wherein the users of the application are charged on the basis of standardized units of time that are no longer than one hour each.

62. A system comprising:

a storage device; and

a computing device connected to the storage device, the computing device comprising memory and a processor, the computing device configured to;

record numbers of uniform units of continuous time that have been reserved by respective customers for use in having instances of virtual machines or applications, that are available at a server, render frames of jobs submitted by the customers through a network to the server,

cause jobs of a given customer to be performed during one of the uniform units of continuous time that have been reserved by the customer, the jobs of the customer that are performed during the unit of continuous time requiring less actual time than the length of the unit.

63. The system of claim 62 in which the uniform units are each shorter than an hour.

64. The system of claim 62 in which the uniform units are each shorter than 10 minutes.

65. The system of claim 62 wherein the computing device is configured to charge each of the customers for the uniform units of continuous time at a full standard price per unit when an actual amount of time used by the customer during each of the units is less than the length of the units.

66. The system of claim 62 wherein the computing device is configured to cause an available instance to perform jobs of two or more customers during a period of time that corresponds to the length of each unit.

67. A system comprising:

a storage device; and

a computing device connected to the storage device, the computing device comprising memory and a processor, the computing device configured to;

make available to a customer an application or a virtual machine for rendering frames of jobs and permitting the customer to execute two or more instances of the application or virtual machine, respectively,

receive from the customer an accurate measure of an amount of elapsed time during a given period when instances of the application or virtual machine were being used for rendering jobs, and

record charges to be paid by the customer based on the measure of the amount of elapsed time, without regard to a number of instances being used or a calendar period over which the instances were being used.

68. The system of claim 67 in which the application or virtual machine is made available electronically.

69. The system of claim 67 in which the accurate measure comprises a measure of the minutes during which instances of the application were executing features associated with the rendering of the jobs.

70. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage device encoded with instructions, which upon execution by one or more processors, causes operations comprising:

receiving, at a server, information associated with a job of rendering one or more frames at the server;

at the server, using an application to perform at least a portion of the rendering, the use of the application to perform the rendering bearing a charge according to a usage license associated with the application; and

at the server measuring an amount of use of the application in performing the rendering for use in determining the charge.

71. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage device encoded with instructions, which upon execution by one or more processors, causes operations comprising:

receiving, at a server, files related to a job of rendering of a frame;

identifying, based on the received files, a set of resources for executing the job; and

causing the job to be executed on a virtual machine that includes the set of resources identified for the job.

72. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage device encoded with instructions, which upon execution by one or more processors, causes operations comprising:

accessing through a network, processing capacity of virtual machines at a remote location,

receiving from users through a network, jobs for rendering frames using applications that have features suitable for rendering frames of the respective jobs,

causing the applications to run on the virtual machines; and

causing each of the jobs to be run on one of the virtual machines, and when the job is completed, causing another job for which that virtual machine is suitable to be run on that virtual machine.

73. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage device encoded with instructions, which upon execution by one or more processors, causes operations comprising:

recording numbers of uniform units of continuous time that have been reserved by respective customers for use in having instances of virtual machines or applications that are available at a server render frames of jobs submitted by the customers through a network to the server; and

causing jobs of a given customer to be performed during one of the uniform units of continuous time that have been reserved by the customer, the jobs of the customer that are performed during the unit of continuous time requiring less actual time than the length of the unit.

74. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage device encoded with instructions, which upon execution by one or more processors, causes operations comprising:

making available to a customer an application or a virtual machine for rendering frames of jobs and permitting the customer to execute two or more instances of the application or virtual machine, respectively;

receiving from the customer an accurate measure of an amount of elapsed time during a given period when instances of the application or virtual machine were being used for rendering jobs; and

recording charges to be paid by the customer based on the measure of the amount of elapsed time, without regard to the number of instances being used or the calendar period over which the instances were being used.