Providing paid access to remote web service in an electronic marketplace

• US 7,729,954 B2
• Filed: 09/09/2008
• Issued: 06/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Frederick, Robert, Agrawal, Ashish, Barr, Jeffrey
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah; Amee A
• Application Number:
  US12/207,367
• Publication Number:
  US 20090099940A1
• Time in Patent Office: 630 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 705/26.4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted

Abstract

A method, system, and computer-readable medium is described for facilitating interactions between computing systems, such as by providing an electronic Web service (“WS”) marketplace via which third-party WS providers make their WSes available to third-party WS consumers who locate and purchase access to those WSes via the electronic marketplace. Some or all available WSes may have associated use prices and or non-price use conditions, and if so access to those WSes may be provided only if a consumer requesting access provides appropriate payment and otherwise satisfies the specified use conditions. In some situations, WS consumers may also purchase subscriptions to provide later access to registered WSes. This abstract is provided to comply with rules requiring it, and is submitted with the intention that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for a computing system to provide paid access to remote Web services, the method comprising:

under control of an electronic marketplace provided by the computing system for selling and purchasing access to Web services,

for each of multiple third-party Web service providers, in response to a registration request from the provider, registering a Web service from the provider that is available via the electronic marketplace, the registration request including an indication of how to invoke the Web service and of one or more use prices for access to the Web service by third -party Web service consumers;

receiving a first group of multiple requests from multiple third-party Web service consumers for information about the registered Web services;

in response to each of the multiple requests of the first group, providing information about a subset of the registered Web services to the consumer that made the request, the provided information including a determined access price for each of the registered Web services of the subset, the access prices being automatically determined by the electronic marketplace for each of at least one of the multiple requests of the first group by automatically determining the access price for each of one or more of the registered Web services of the subset for the request based at least in part on current conditions specific to that registered Web service;

in response to each of multiple later requests of a second group that are received after the providing of the information for the multiple requests of the first group and that are each received from one of the multiple third-party Web service consumers to subscribe to an indicated one of the registered Web services for which information was previously provided to that consumer, creating a subscription to the indicated Web service for later use by the consumer if the consumer provides an indication of payment for the access price of the indicated Web service that was included in the information previously provided to the consumer, the multiple requests of the second group including multiple subscription requests from a first of the consumers for multiple of the registered Web services, the provided indication of payment by the first consumer for the subscriptions to the multiple registered Web services being an indication to make the payment later after a specified period of time ends and based on a determined cumulative payment amount that the first consumer owes over the specified period of time, the determined cumulative payment amount being based at least in part of the access prices for the multiple registered Web services that were included in the information previously provided to the first consumer; and

for each of a third group of multiple requests received from at least some of the third-party Web service consumers to access indicated registered Web services, satisfying the request if it is determined that the consumer from whom the request is received has a valid subscription for the Web service indicated in the request, by;

interacting with the provider that registered the Web service to invoke the Web service and receive response information, the invoking using the information from the provider that indicates how to invoke the Web service; and

providing to the consumer the received response information.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the multiple requests of the third group include an access request from the first consumer to access one of the multiple Web services indicated by the first consumer in the multiple subscription requests, wherein the access request from the first consumer is satisfied by the electronic marketplace automatically interacting with the provider that registered the one Web service so as to invoke the one Web service on behalf of the first consumer and receive response information that is provided to the first consumer, and wherein the method further comprises, after the satisfying of the access request from the first consumer and after the specified period of time ends, obtaining payment from the first consumer for the determined cumulative payment amount.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein, for one of the at least one requests of the first group that is received from one of the Web service consumers, the subset of registered Web services for which information is provided to the one consumer for the one request includes multiple Web services, wherein the automatically determined access price for each of the one or more registered Web services of the subset for the one request is further determined in a manner specific to the one consumer, wherein the automatic determining by the electronic marketplace of the access prices for the multiple Web services of the one request further includes determining the access price for at least one other of the multiple Web services of the subset in a manner that is not based on the current conditions and so as to be one of the use prices indicated by the Web service provider that registered that Web service, the at least one other Web service of the subset for the one request being distinct from the one or more Web services of the subset for the one request, wherein the multiple later requests of the second group include a subscription request from the one consumer to subscribe to one of the one or more registered Web services of the subset for the one request, wherein the multiple requests of the third group include an access request from the one consumer to access the one Web service to which the one consumer subscribed, and wherein the access request from the one consumer is satisfied by the electronic marketplace automatically interacting with the provider that registered the one Web service so as to invoke the one Web service on behalf of the one consumer and receive response information that is provided to the one consumer.

4. A computer-implemented method for providing paid access to remote Web services, the method comprising:

under control of one or more computing systems,

in response to registration requests from providers of Web services, registering Web services available from the Web service providers so as to make access to the registered Web services available for purchase by consumers of Web services;

for each of one or more of the registered Web services, automatically determining an access price for access of a first Web service consumer to the Web service, the automatically determined access price for each of at least one of the one or more Web services being based at least in part on current conditions;

providing information about the one or more Web services to the first consumer; and

responding to one or more requests received from the first consumer for an indicated one of the one or more Web services, the responding including automatically creating a subscription for the first consumer for later use of the indicated Web service and including obtaining payment from the first consumer for requested access of the first consumer to the indicated Web service and including providing access to the indicated Web service for the first consumer, the obtained payment being based on the automatically determined access price for the indicated Web service.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the indicated Web service is one of the at least one Web services for which the determined access prices are based at least in part on current conditions, and wherein the current conditions on which the determined access price for the indicated Web service is based include an indicated Quality of Service level associated with the indicated Web service.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the automatic determining of the access price for the indicated Web service is performed in response to at least one of the one or more requests received from the first consumer, and wherein the at least one requests specify the indicated Quality of Service level for the indicated Web service, the indicated Quality of Service level being one of multiple distinct Quality of Service levels available for the indicated Web service.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the indicated Web service has multiple distinct possible Quality of Service levels that include the indicated Quality of Service level, wherein the automatic determining of the access price for the indicated Web service includes determining multiple distinct possible access prices for the indicated Web service that each correspond to one of the multiple distinct Quality of Service levels, and wherein the providing of the information about the one or more Web services to the first consumer includes providing information about the determined multiple possible access prices for the indicated Web service.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein the automatic determining of the access price for the indicated Web service is performed before the access of the first consumer to the indicated Web service occurs and includes automatically determining that the indicated Quality of Service level is currently available to the first consumer for the indicated Web service based at least in part on current conditions at a time of the automatic determining.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein the automatic determining of the access price for the indicated Web service is performed after the access of the first consumer to the indicated Web service occurs and includes automatically determining that the indicated Quality of Service level was actually provided for the access to the indicated Web service by the first consumer.

10. The method of claim 5 wherein the automatic determining of the access price for the indicated Web service is performed before the access of the first consumer to the indicated Web service occurs, and wherein the method further comprises, after the access of the first consumer to the indicated Web service occurs, automatically determining whether the indicated Quality of Service level was actually provided for the access of the first consumer to the indicated Web service, and taking one or more compensatory actions for the first consumer if it is determined that the indicated Quality of Service level was not actually provided for the access of the first consumer to the indicated Web service.

11. The method of claim 5 wherein the indicated Quality of Service level for the indicated Web service is based on at least one of a maximum response time by the indicated Web service to a request from the first consumer and of a minimum level of accuracy of response information provided to the first consumer by the one or more computing systems on behalf of the indicated Web service.

12. The method of claim 4 wherein the indicated Web service is one of the at least one Web services for which the determined access prices are based at least in part on current conditions, and wherein the current conditions on which the determined access price for the indicated Web service is based include an indicated Service Level Agreement associated with the indicated Web service and with the first consumer.

13. The method of claim 4 wherein the indicated Web service is one of the at least one Web services for which the determined access prices are based at least in part on current conditions, and wherein the current conditions on which the determined access price for the indicated Web service is based include a current usage rate of the indicated Web service.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the one or more computing systems assist in providing an electronic marketplace, wherein the electronic marketplace makes marketplace points available to consumers that are for later use in purchasing access to at least some of the registered Web services, and wherein the automatic determining of the access price for the indicated Web service includes determining a quantity of the marketplace points for access of the first consumer to the indicated Web service.

15. The method of claim 4 wherein the indicated Web service is one of the at least one Web services for which the determined access prices are based at least in part on current conditions, and wherein the current conditions on which the determined access price for the indicated Web service is based include a current time.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the one or more computing systems assist in providing an electronic marketplace, wherein the electronic marketplace makes marketplace points available to consumers that are for later use in purchasing access to at least some of the registered Web services, and wherein the automatic determining of the access price for the indicated Web service includes determining a quantity of the marketplace points for access of the first consumer to the indicated Web service.

17. The method of claim 4 wherein the one or more computing systems assist in providing an electronic marketplace, wherein the electronic marketplace makes marketplace points available to consumers that are not specific to particular registered Web services and that are for later use in purchasing access to at least some of the registered Web services, and wherein the automatic determining of the access price for the indicated Web service includes determining a quantity of the marketplace points for access of the first consumer to the indicated Web service, the quantity of the marketplace points being determined in a manner specific to the indicated Web service.

18. The method of claim 4 wherein the automatic determining of the access price for the indicated Web service is performed at a first time and results in a determined first access price for the indicated Web service based on the current conditions at the first time, and wherein the method further comprises:

at a second time that is distinct from the first time, automatically determining a second access price for a second access to the indicated Web service by the first consumer, the determined second access price being distinct from the determined first access price based on current conditions at the second time that are distinct from the current conditions at the first time; and

after obtaining a second payment from the first consumer for the second access of the first consumer to the indicated Web service, the obtained second payment being based on the automatically determined second access price for the indicated Web service, automatically facilitating the second access of the first consumer to the indicated Web service.

19. The method of claim 4 wherein the automatic determining of the access price for the indicated Web service is performed at a first time and results in a determined first access price for the indicated Web service based in part on the current conditions at the first time, wherein the first access price for the access of the first consumer to the indicated Web service is further determined in a manner specific to the first consumer, and wherein the method further comprises:

automatically determining at the first time a second access price for access of a second consumer to the indicated Web service, the determined second access price being determined in a manner specific to the second consumer and being distinct from the determined first access price based at least in part on the second consumer; and

after obtaining payment from the second consumer for the access of the second consumer to the indicated Web service, the obtained payment from the second consumer being based on the automatically determined second access price for the indicated Web service, automatically facilitating the access of the second consumer to the indicated Web service.

20. The method of claim 4 wherein the one or more registered Web services for which an access price is automatically determined include a plurality of registered Web services, wherein the one or more requests received from the first consumer include multiple access requests for access to multiple of the plurality of registered Web services, and wherein the obtaining of the payment from the first consumer for the access of the first consumer to the indicated Web service includes, at a later time after one or more predefined criteria are satisfied, obtaining payment from the first consumer for an accumulated fee amount that is based on a combination of the multiple determined access prices for the multiple Web services indicated in the multiple access requests.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the one or more predefined criteria include an end of a specified period of time being reached.

22. The method of claim 4 wherein the providing to the first consumer of the information about the one or more Web services includes providing the determined access prices for the one or more Web services to the first consumer.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the automatic determining of the access prices for the one or more Web services and the providing of the information about the one or more Web services are both performed in response to a request from the first consumer for the provided information.

24. The method of claim 4 wherein the automatic determining of the access prices for the one or more Web services is performed after the providing of the information about the one or more Web services and in response to at least one of the one or more requests received from the first consumer.

25. The method of claim 4 wherein the registering of the indicated Web service includes receiving one or more indicated use prices for the indicated Web service from the provider that registered the indicated Web service, wherein the automatic determining of the access price for the indicated Web service is further based at least in part on at least one of the indicated use prices, wherein the providing of the access to the indicated Web service for the first consumer includes invoking the indicated Web service from the provider of the indicated Web service on behalf of the first consumer and includes providing response information from the invoking to the first consumer, and wherein the method further comprises providing payment to the provider of the indicated Web service based in part on the obtained payment from the first consumer for the access of the first consumer to the indicated Web service.

26. The method of claim 4 wherein the method is performed by an organization unrelated to the consumers and the providers other than as customers and suppliers for the organization, and wherein the method further comprises registering one or more Web services provided by the organization and providing access to consumers to those Web services.

27. The method of claim 4 wherein the subscription provides the first consumer with access to the indicated Web service for a specified number of uses, and wherein the providing of the access to the indicated Web service for the first consumer is one of the specified number of uses.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein the access fee is associated with at least one of the providing of the access for the one use and of the creating of the subscription.

29. The method of claim 27 wherein the specified number of uses for the subscription is an indicated quantity of one or more uses.

30. The method of claim 4 wherein the subscription provides the first consumer with access to the indicated Web service for a specified amount of time, and wherein the providing of the access to the indicated Web service occurs during the specified amount of time.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein the access fee is associated with at least one of the providing of the access to the indicated Web service and of the creating of the subscription.

32. A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a computing system to provide paid access to remote services, by performing a method comprising:

providing information to consumers about multiple remote invocable services that are available from third-party providers for paid access by the consumers; and

after one or more requests from a first consumer for one or more indicated invocable services of the multiple available invocable services, responding to the one or more requests by creating one or more subscriptions for later use to the first consumer for the indicated one or more invocable services and by providing to the first consumer access to the indicated one or more invocable services for one or more access fees associated with the indicated one or more invocable services, the responding to the one or more requests including,

automatically determining at least one of the one or more access fees based at least in part on current conditions specific to at least one of the one or more indicated invocable services; and

automatically invoking on behalf of the first consumer each of at least one of the indicated one or more invocable services from the provider of that invocable service.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 32 wherein the current conditions specific to the at least one indicated invocable services include at least one of a Quality of Service level currently associated with providing one or more of the at least one indicated invocable services, of an indicated Service Level Agreement currently associated with the first consumer and with one or more of the at least one indicated invocable services, of a current usage rate of one or more of the at least one indicated invocable services, and of a current time.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 33 wherein the multiple remote invocable services are Web services, and wherein the providing to the first consumer of the access to the indicated one or more invocable services includes obtaining payment from the first consumer for the one or more access fees associated with the indicated one or more invocable services.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 32 wherein the one or more invocable services indicated by the one or more requests from the first consumer include a plurality of remote invocable services, and wherein the providing to the first consumer of the access to the indicated plurality of invocable services includes, at a later time after an end of a predefined period of time, obtaining payment from the first consumer for a fee amount accumulated during the period of time that includes fees for a plurality of determined access prices for the plurality of invocable services.

36. The computer-readable medium of claim 32 wherein the computer-readable medium is at least one of a memory of a computing system and of a data transmission medium that stores a generated data signal containing the contents, and wherein the contents are instructions that when executed cause the computing system to perform the method.

41. The computer-readable medium of claim 32 wherein the one or more subscriptions include a first subscription that provides the first consumer with access to the indicated one or more invocable services for a specified number of uses, and wherein the providing of the access to the indicated one or more invocable services is one of the specified number of uses.

42. The computer-readable medium of claim 41 wherein the one or more access fees are associated with at least one of the providing of the access for the one use and of the creating of the first subscription.

43. The computer-readable medium of claim 41 wherein the specified number of uses for the first subscription is an indicated quantity of one or more uses.

44. The computer-readable medium of claim 32 wherein the one or more subscriptions include a first subscription that provides the first consumer with access to the indicated one or more invocable services for a specified amount of time, and wherein the providing of the access to the indicated one or more invocable services occurs during the specified amount of time.

45. The computer-readable medium of claim 44 wherein the one or more access fees are associated with at least one of the providing of the access to the indicated one or more invocable services and of the creating of the first subscription.

37. A computing device configured to provide paid access to Web services, comprising:

one or more storage devices configured to store information about Web services made available by third-party providers for paid access by third-party consumers of Web services, the stored information including at least one associated use price for each of the registered Web services; and

one or more memories configured with executable instructions to provide to multiple consumers paid access to registered Web services, by;

receiving a plurality of requests that are each from one of the multiple consumers for paid access to an indicated one of the registered Web services, the plurality of requests including multiple requests from a first of the multiple consumers;

for each of the multiple consumers, creating for the consumer a subscription for later use to the one registered Web service indicated by the consumer and providing paid access of the consumer to that indicated one registered Web service in exchange for payment of an access fee based on a use price associated with that indicated one registered Web service; and

at a later time after one or more predefined criteria are satisfied, obtaining the payment for the multiple access fees for the multiple access requests from the first consumer by accumulating the multiple access fees into a single cumulative fee amount, providing an indication to the first consumer of the single cumulative fee amount, and receiving payment from the first consumer for the single cumulative fee amount.

38. The computing device of claim 37 wherein the one or more predefined criteria include an end of a specified period of time being reached, wherein the plurality of requests further includes a second group of multiple access requests from a second of the consumers and a third group of multiple access requests from a third of the consumers, and wherein the providing to the consumers of the paid access to the registered Web services by the one or more memories configured with the executable instructions further includes:

before providing to the second consumer the paid access for the multiple access requests of the second group, obtaining payment from the second consumer for the access fees for the multiple access requests of the second group; and

providing to the third consumer the paid access for the multiple access requests of the third group, the providing of the paid access to the third consumer occurring before obtaining payment from the third consumer for the access fees for the multiple access requests of the third group.

39. The computing device of claim 37 wherein the executable instructions are part of a Web Services Marketplace system for execution in at least one of the one or more memories of the computing device.

40. The computing device of claim 37 wherein the executable instructions are part of one or more means for providing to consumers paid access to registered Web services, by:

receiving a plurality of access requests that are each from one of the consumers for paid access to an indicated one of the registered Web services, the plurality of access requests including multiple access requests from a first of the consumers;

for each of the plurality of access requests, providing to the consumer that made the access request the paid access to the indicated Web service for the access request in exchange for payment of an access fee based on a use price associated with that indicated Web service; and

at a later time after one or more predefined criteria are satisfied, obtaining the payment for the multiple access fees for the multiple access requests from the first consumer by accumulating the multiple access fees into a single cumulative fee amount, providing an indication to the first consumer of the single cumulative fee amount, and receiving payment from the first consumer for the single cumulative fee amount.

46. The computing device of claim 37 wherein, for one of the multiple consumers, the subscription provides the one consumer with access to the indicated one registered Web service for a specified number of uses, and the providing of the paid access of the one consumer to that indicated one registered Web service is one of the specified number of uses.

47. The computing device of claim 46 wherein the payment of the access fee for the one consumer is associated with at least one of the providing of the paid access of the one consumer for the one use and of the creating of the subscription for the one consumer.

48. The computing device of claim 46 wherein the specified number of uses for the subscription for the one consumer is an indicated quantity of multiple uses.

49. The computing device of claim 37 wherein, for one of the multiple consumers, the subscription provides the one consumer with access to the indicated one registered Web service for a specified amount of time, and wherein the providing of the paid access of the one consumer to the indicated one registered Web service occurs during the specified amount of time.

50. The computing device of claim 49 wherein the payment of the access fee for the one consumer is associated with at least one of the providing of the paid access of the one consumer for the one use and of the creating of the subscription for the one consumer.