Approach for determining an amount to bill a customer for the use of resources

• US 7,370,013 B1
• Filed: 07/23/2001
• Issued: 05/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Conway, Christopher J., Markson, Thomas, Tickle, Patrick A, Aziz, Ashar, Patterson, Martin, Gray, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Weisberger; Richard C
• Application Number:
  US09/911,925
• Time in Patent Office: 2,479 Days
• Field of Search: 705/5, 705/40
• US Class Current: 705/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• 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 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4679 Arrangements for the registration or de-registration of VLAN attribute values, e.g. VLAN identifiers, port VLAN membership
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/205 Quality of Service based
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/351 for local area network [LAN], e.g. Ethernet switches
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/354 for supporting virtual local area networks [VLAN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/357 Fibre channel switches
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1029 using data related to the state of servers by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1031 Controlling of the operation of servers by a load balancer, e.g. adding or removing servers that serve requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

A novel approach for determining an amount to be billed to a customer for the use of resources is based upon usage data and value data. The usage data indicates usage, by the customer, of a set of one or more resources during a specified period of time. The set of one or more resources may be dynamically selected and de-selected from a plurality of resources at any time. For example, the set of one or more resources may comprise a VSF as described herein. The value data indicates generally value provided by each resource from the set of one or more resources used during the specified period of time. The value provided by each resource may be expressed in service units per unit time and a charge may be applied for each service unit consumed during a specified period of time. Example billing schemes to which the approach is applicable include, without limitation, basic billing, flex billing, event flex billing and open flex billing.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for determining an amount to be billed to a customer for using and reserving computing resources, the method comprising:

determining usage data that indicates usage, by the customer during a specified period of time, of a set of one or more computing resources assigned exclusively to the customer, wherein over time, computing resources may be de-allocated from the set of one or more computing resources assigned exclusively to the customer and additional computing resources may be allocated to the set of one or more computing resources assigned exclusively to the customer from a plurality of computing resources; and

in a computer system determining the amount to be billed to the customer based upon the usage data, value data that specifies a number of service units that each computing resource from the set of one or more computing resources is capable of providing per unit time, and a reservation fee for reserving for the customer other computing resources from the plurality of computing resources that are not included in the set of one or more computing resources assigned exclusively to the customer.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein:

the usage data indicates usage, during the specified period of time, of each computing resource from the set of one or more computing resources, and

the step of determining the amount to be billed to the customer based upon the usage data and value data includes determining the amount to be billed to the customer based upon the usage of each computing resource from the set of one or more computing resources during the specified period of time and the value data.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein:

the usage data specifies, for each computing resource from the set of one or more computing resources, an amount of time that each computing resource was used during the specified period of time, and

the step of determining the amount to be billed to the customer based upon the usage data and value data includes determining the amount to be billed to the customer based the amount of time that each computing resource was used during the specified period of time.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein the step of determining the amount to be billed to the customer based upon the number of service units that each computing resource is capable of providing per unit time and the amount of time that each computing resource was used during the specified period of time includes determining the amount to be billed to the customer based upon the number of service units that each computing resource is capable of providing per unit time, the amount of time that each computing resource was used during the specified period of time and an amount to be charged per service unit.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein:

the method further comprises determining additional usage data that indicates usage, by the customer during the specified period of time, of one or more additional computing resources from the plurality of computing resources, and

the step of determining the amount to be billed to the customer based upon the usage data and value data includes determining the amount to be billed to the customer based upon the usage data, the value data, the additional usage data and additional value data wherein the value data specifies a number of service units that each of the one or more additional computing resources is capable of providing per unit time.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the set of one or more computing resources comprise an initial computing resource configuration.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the set of one or more computing resources comprise a virtual server farm.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of computing resources includes one or more storage resources.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein one or more computing resources includes one or more processors.

10. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the one or more storage resources include one or more volatile storage devices.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the one or more storage resources include one or more non-volatile storage resources.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, where in the one or more non-volatile storage resources include one or more disks.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of computing resources includes one or more computer software resources.

14. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of computing resources includes one or more communications link resources.

15. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein the one or more communications link resources includes one or more Internet connections.

16. A computer-readable medium carrying instructions for determining an amount to bill a customer for using and reserving computing resources, the instructions-including instructions which, when executed by one or more processors in a computer system, cause:

determining usage data that indicates usage, by the customer during a specified period of time, of a set of one or more computing resources assigned exclusively to the customer, wherein over time, computing resources may be de-allocated from the set of one or more computing resources assigned exclusively to the customer and additional computing resources may be allocated to the set of one or more computing resources assigned exclusively to the customer from a plurality of computing resources; and

determining the amount to be billed to the customer based upon the usage data, value data that specifies a number of service units that each computing resource from the set of one or more computing resources is capable of providing per unit time, and a reservation fee for reserving for the customer other computing resources from the plurality of computing resources that are not included in the set of one or more computing resources assigned exclusively to the customer.

17. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 16, wherein:

the usage data indicates usage, during the specified period of time, of each computing resource from the set of one or more computing resources, and

the step of determining the amount to be billed to the customer based upon the usage data and value data includes determining the amount to be billed to the customer based upon the usage of each computing resource from the set of one or more computing resources during the specified period of time and the value data.

18. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 16, wherein:

the usage data specifies, for each computing resource from the set of one or more computing resources, an amount of time that each computing resource was used during the specified period of time, and

the step of determining the amount to be billed to the customer based upon the usage data and value data includes determining the amount to be billed to the customer based upon the amount of time that each computing resource was used during the specified period of time.

19. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 18, wherein the step of determining the amount to be billed to the customer based upon the number of service units that each computing resource is capable of providing per unit time and the amount of time that each computing resource was used during the specified period of time includes determining the amount to be billed to the customer based upon the number of service units that each computing resource is capable of providing per unit time, the amount of time that each computing resource was used during the specified period of time and an amount to be charged per service unit.

20. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 16, wherein:

the computer-readable medium includes one or more additional instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the step of determining additional usage data that indicates usage, by the customer during the specified period of time, of one or more additional computing resources from the plurality of computing resources, and

the step of determining the amount to be billed to the customer based upon the usage data and value data includes determining the amount to be billed to the customer based upon the usage data, the value data, the additional usage data and additional value data wherein the value data specifies a number of service units that each of the one or more additional computing resources is capable of providing per unit time.

21. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 16, wherein the set of one or more computing resources comprise an initial computing resource configuration.

22. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 16, wherein the set of one or more computing resources comprise a virtual server farm.

23. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 16, wherein one or more computing resources includes one or more processors.

24. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 16, wherein the plurality of computing resources includes one or more storage resources.

25. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 24, wherein the one or more storage resources include one or more volatile storage devices.

26. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 25, wherein the one or more storage resources include one or more non-volatile storage resources.

27. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 26, where in the one or more non-volatile storage resources include one or more disks.

28. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 16, wherein the plurality of computing resources includes one or more computer software resources.

29. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 16, wherein the plurality of computing resources includes one or more communications link resources.

30. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 29, wherein the one or more communications link resources includes one or more Internet connections.

31. A billing apparatus for determining an amount to bill a customer comprising:

a memory configured to store usage data and value data, wherein the usage data indicates usage, by the customer during a specified period of time, of a set of one or more computing resources assigned exclusively to the customer, wherein over time, computing resources may be de-allocated from the set of one or more computing resources assigned exclusively to the customer and additional computing resources may be allocated to the set of one or more computing resources assigned exclusively to the customer from a plurality of computing resources and wherein the value data specifies a number of service units that each computing resource from the set of one or more computing resources is capable of providing per unit time; and

a billing mechanism communicatively coupled to the memory and configured to determine the amount to bill to the customer based upon both the usage data, value data and a reservation fee for reserving for the customer other computing resources from the plurality of computing resources that are not included in the set of one or more computing resources assigned exclusively to the customer.