Generating new composite network services based on user selection of other constituent network services

• US 7,912,764 B1
• Filed: 02/11/2010
• Issued: 03/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: McCann, James R. III, Kakulapati, Gunavardhan, Frederick, Robert, Agrawal, Ashish
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah; Amee A
• Application Number:
  US12/704,438
• Time in Patent Office: 404 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27, 706/62
• US Class Current: 705/27.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/462 Lookup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/465 Distributed object oriented systems remote method invocation [RMI] G06F9/548
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0621 Item configuration or customization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

Techniques are described for assisting users in dynamically creating and using composite services that are based on other constituent services. In some situations, each constituent service is a Web service (“WS”), and each composite service is a new WS whose execution involves dynamically invoking multiple specified constituent WSes in a specified manner. Such techniques may be used, for example, in conjunction with an electronic 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, such as to allow a user to dynamically create a new composite WS that is based on one or more WSes available from other WS providers and that reflects any constraints of the WS marketplace, with the composite WS available for use by other WS consumers. This abstract is not intended for use in interpreting or limiting the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A computing device configured to assist users in generating new composite network services based on other constituent network services, comprising:

one or more processors;

a first component that is configured to, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, interact with a user to create a composite network service, the interacting including;

providing information to the user regarding a plurality of constituent network services that are available for use by the composite network service, the provided information including use conditions for the plurality of constituent network services, use prices for use of the plurality of constituent network services, input parameters for accessing the plurality of constituent network services, and indications of defined representation types that are associated with input and output parameters of the plurality of constituent network services;

receiving information from the user for use with the composite network service, the received information including one or more of the plurality of constituent network services that are identified to be used by the composite network service; and

creating the composite network service based at least in part on the provided information and on the received information, the creating of the composite network service including determining information for use with the composite network service, the determined information including one or more determined use conditions for the composite network service, one or more determined use prices for use of the composite network service, and one or more determined input parameters for use in accessing the composite network service, at least one of the determined input parameters being distinct from the input parameters for accessing the identified constituent network services used by the composite network service; and

a second component that is configured to, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, register the composite network service to be available for use by others, the use of the registered composite network service by the others being based on the identified constituent network services and on the determined information.

2. The computing device of claim 1 wherein the determined information for use with the composite network service includes one or more determined inter-relationships between multiple of the plurality of constituent network services for use with the composite network service that are based at least in part on the defined representation types associated with the input and output parameters of the multiple constituent network services.

3. The computing device of claim 1 wherein the first component and the second component include software instructions for execution using memory of the computing device.

4. The computing device of claim 1 wherein the second component consists of a means for registering a composite network service so as to be available for use by others based on determined information, and wherein the first component consists of a means for interacting with a user to create the composite network service.

5. The computing device of claim 1 wherein the computing device further comprises a memory configured to store at least portions of the first and second components.

6. The computing device of claim 2 wherein the first and second components are associated with an electronic marketplace, wherein the multiple constituent network services are each registered with the electronic marketplace and available for use by others, and wherein the defined representation types associated with the input and output parameters of each of the constituent network services are specified by a provider of that constituent network service as part of registering that constituent network service with the electronic marketplace.

7. The computing device of claim 6 wherein, for each of the multiple constituent network services, the provider of the constituent network service is unaffiliated with the user, and the registering of the constituent network service includes receiving an indication from the provider that a parameter of the constituent network service has values that represent a new type of information distinct from types of information to which existing defined representation types correspond, includes defining a new representation type that corresponds to the new type of information, and includes associating the new defined representation type with the parameter.

8. The computing device of claim 6 wherein the multiple constituent network services and the composite network service are each a Web service, and wherein the defined representation types associated with the input and output parameters of each of the constituent network services are specified using a received interface description for the constituent network service, the interface description being a Web Services Description Language (“

WSDL”

) document.

9. The computing device of claim 1 wherein the first and second components are associated with an electronic marketplace, wherein the identified constituent network services are each registered with the electronic marketplace and available for use by others, and wherein, for each of the identified constituent network services, registering of that constituent network service includes receiving information from a provider of that constituent network service that includes one or more use prices for use of that constituent network service and that includes one or more use conditions for that constituent network service and that includes one or more input parameters for use in accessing that constituent network service.

10. The computing device of claim 1 wherein the first and second components are associated with an electronic marketplace, wherein the registering of the composite network service includes making the composite network service available to customers of the electronic marketplace, and wherein the computing device further comprises one or more components configured to, after receiving a request from one of the customers for the composite network service,

determine that payment is available for at least one of the determined use prices for the composite network service and that at least one of the determined use conditions for the composite network service has been satisfied;

and

invoke the identified constituent network services for the composite network service by using one or more input values received in the request for one or more of the determined input parameters for the composite network service.

11. The computing device of claim 10 wherein the determined information for use with the composite network service includes indicated processing to be performed to generate response information for the composite network service, and wherein the one or more components are further configured to:

receive response information from the invoking of the identified constituent network services;

perform the indicated processing on the received response information to generate the response information for the composite network service; and

provide the generated response information for the composite network service to the one customer.

12. The computing device of claim 1 wherein the determining of the information for use with the composite network service includes automatically determining one or more suggested use conditions for the composite network service that are based at least in part on use conditions for the identified constituent network services, automatically determining one or more suggested use prices for the composite network service that are based at least in part on use prices for the identified constituent network services, and automatically determining one or more suggested input parameters for the composite network service that are based at least in part on input parameters for use in accessing the identified constituent network services.

13. The computing device of claim 12 wherein the determining of the information for use with the composite network service further includes providing one or more indications to the user of the automatically determined suggested use conditions and of the automatically determined suggested use prices and of the automatically determined suggested input parameters, and further includes receiving one or more indications from the user to use the automatically determined suggested use conditions for the composite network service and to use the automatically determined suggested use prices for the composite network service and to use the automatically determined suggested input parameters for the composite network service.

14. A computer-implemented method for generating new composite network services based on other constituent network services, the method comprising:

interacting with a user to create a composite network service, the interacting being performed by one or more configured computing systems and including;

providing information to the user regarding a plurality of constituent network services that are available for use in performing the composite network service, the provided information including use conditions for the plurality of constituent network services, use prices for use of the plurality of constituent network services, input parameters for accessing the plurality of constituent network services, and indications of defined representation types that are associated with input and output parameters of the plurality of constituent network services;

receiving information from the user for use with the composite network service, the received information including one or more of the plurality of constituent network services that are identified to be used by the composite network service; and

automatically creating the composite network service based at least in part on the provided information and on the received information, the creating of the composite network service including determining information for use in performing the composite network service, the determined information including one or more determined use conditions for the composite network service, one or more determined use prices for use of the composite network service, and one or more determined input parameters for use in accessing the composite network service, at least one of the determined input parameters being distinct from the input parameters for accessing the identified constituent network services used by the composite network service; and

registering the composite network service as being available for performance on behalf of other users, the performance of the registered composite network service being based on performance of the identified constituent network services and on the determined information.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the one or more identified wherein the determined information for use in performing the composite network service includes one or more determined inter-relationships between multiple of the plurality of constituent network services for use during the performing of the composite network service, the determined inter-relationships being based at least in part on the defined representation types associated with the input and output parameters of the multiple constituent network services.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the one or more configured computing systems are part of an electronic marketplace, wherein the identified constituent network services are each registered with the electronic marketplace and available for use by others, and wherein, for each of the identified constituent network services, registering of that constituent network service includes receiving information from a provider of that constituent network service that includes one or more use prices for use of that constituent network service and that includes one or more use conditions for that constituent network service and that includes one or more input parameters for use in accessing that constituent network service.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the registering of the composite network service includes making the composite network service available to customers of the electronic marketplace, and wherein the method further comprises, after receiving a request from one of the customers for performance of the composite network service,

determining that payment is available for at least one of the determined use prices for the composite network service and that at least one of the determined use conditions for the composite network service has been satisfied;

and

invoking the identified constituent network services for the composite network service by using one or more input values received in the request for one or more of the determined input parameters for the composite network service.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the determined information for use in performing the composite network service includes indicated processing to be performed to generate response information for the composite network service, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving response information from the invoking of the identified constituent network services;

performing the indicated processing on the received response information to generate the response information for the composite network service; and

providing the generated response information for the composite network service to the one customer.

19. The method of claim 14 wherein the determining of the information for use in performing the composite network service includes automatically determining one or more suggested use prices for the composite network service that are based at least in part on use prices for the identified constituent network services, automatically determining one or more suggested use conditions for the composite network service that are based at least in part on use conditions for the identified constituent network services, automatically determining one or more suggested input parameters for the composite network service that are based at least in part on input parameters for use in accessing the identified constituent network services, providing one or more indications to the user of the automatically determined suggested use conditions and of the automatically determined suggested use prices and of the automatically determined suggested input parameters, and receiving one or more indications from the user to use the automatically determined suggested use conditions for the composite network service and to use the automatically determined suggested use prices for the composite network service and to use the automatically determined suggested input parameters for the composite network service.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium whose stored contents include instructions that when executed configure a computing system to generate new composite network services based on other constituent network services, by performing a method comprising:

interacting with a user to create a composite network service, the interacting being performed by the configured computing system and including;

providing information to the user regarding a plurality of constituent network services that are available for use in performing the composite network service, the provided information including use conditions for the plurality of constituent network services, use prices for use of the plurality of constituent network services, input parameters for accessing the plurality of constituent network services, and indications of defined representation types that are associated with input and output parameters of the plurality of constituent network services;

receiving information from the user for use with the composite network service, the received information including one or more of the plurality of constituent network services that are identified to be used by the composite network service; and

automatically creating the composite network service based at least in part on the provided information and on the received information, the creating of the composite network service including determining information for use in performing the composite network service, the determined information including one or more determined use conditions for the composite network service, one or more determined use prices for use of the composite network service, and one or more determined input parameters for use in accessing the composite network service, at least one of the determined input parameters being distinct from the input parameters for accessing the identified constituent network services used by the composite network service; and

registering the composite network service to enable performance of the registered composite network service on behalf of other users, the performance of the registered composite network service being based on use of the identified constituent network services and on the determined information.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 20 wherein the determined information for use in performing the composite network service includes one or more determined inter-relationships between multiple of the plurality of constituent network services for use during the performing of the composite service, the determined inter-relationships being based at least in part on the defined representation types associated with the input and output parameters of the multiple constituent network services.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 20 wherein the configured computing system is part of an electronic marketplace, wherein the identified constituent network services are each registered with the electronic marketplace and available for use by others, and wherein, for each of the identified constituent network services, registering of that constituent network service includes receiving information from a provider of that constituent network service that includes one or more use prices for use of that constituent network service and that includes one or more use conditions for that constituent network service and that includes one or more input parameters for use in accessing that constituent network service.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 20 wherein the registering of the composite network service includes making the composite network service available to customers of an electronic marketplace, and wherein the method further comprises, after receiving a request from one of the customers for performance of the composite network service,

determining that payment is available for at least one of the determined use prices for the composite network service and that at least one of the determined use conditions for the composite network service has been satisfied;

and

invoking the identified constituent network services for the composite network service by using one or more input values received in the request for one or more of the determined input parameters for the composite network service.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 23 wherein the determined information for use in performing the composite network service includes indicated processing to be performed to generate response information for the composite network service, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving response information from the invoking of the identified constituent network services;

performing the indicated processing on the received response information to generate the response information for the composite network service; and

providing the generated response information for the composite network service to the one customer.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 20 wherein the determining of the information for use in performing the composite network service includes automatically determining one or more suggested use prices for the composite network service that are based at least in part on use prices for the identified constituent network services, automatically determining one or more suggested use conditions for the composite network service that are based at least in part on use conditions for the identified constituent network services, automatically determining one or more suggested input parameters for the composite network service that are based at least in part on input parameters for use in accessing the identified constituent network services, providing one or more indications to the user of the automatically determined suggested use conditions and of the automatically determined suggested use prices and of the automatically determined suggested input parameters, and receiving one or more indications from the user to use the automatically determined suggested use conditions for the composite network service and to use the automatically determined suggested use prices for the composite network service and to use the automatically determined suggested input parameters for the composite network service.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 20 wherein the computer-readable medium is a memory of the computing device.