Method and system for dynamic pricing of web services utilization

• US 8,280,824 B1
• Filed: 02/17/2011
• Issued: 10/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Vermeulen, Allan H., Bezos, Jeffrey P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hayes, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jung, Allen J
• Application Number:
  US13/030,110
• Time in Patent Office: 593 Days
• Field of Search: 705/400, 705/7.35
• US Class Current: 705/400
• 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 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70

Abstract

A method and system for dynamic pricing of web services utilization. According to one embodiment, a method may include dynamically predicting utilization of a web services computing resource that is expected to occur during a given interval of time, and dependent upon the dynamically predicted utilization, setting a price associated with utilization of the web services computing resource occurring during the given interval of time. The method may further include providing the price to a customer.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

performing, by one or more computers;

dynamically predicting an enterprise'"'"'s own utilization of a portion of a computing resource, wherein the portion of the computing resource utilized by the enterprise is not available for utilization by any entity other than the enterprise;

dependent on dynamically predicting the enterprise'"'"'s own utilization, dynamically setting a current price associated with utilization of the computing resource by an entity other than the enterprise;

receiving, from a client, a request to utilize the computing resource, wherein the request specifies a threshold price for performing the request;

determining whether the current price satisfies the threshold price; and

in response to determining that the current price satisfies the threshold price, instructing that the request be performed using the computing resource.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the performing by the one or more computers further includes:

while the request is being performed, determining whether the current price no longer satisfies the threshold price; and

in response to determining that the current price no longer satisfies the threshold price, terminating performance of the request.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the performing by the one or more computers further includes:

in response to determining that the current price does not satisfy the threshold price, maintaining the request in a dormant state that does not utilize the computing resource.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the performing by the one or more computers further includes:

changing the current price associated with utilization of the computing resource; and

subsequent to changing the current price, determining whether the current price satisfies the threshold price.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more computers are one or more enterprise-side computers of an enterprise, and wherein the client is associated with an entity other than the enterprise.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the current price satisfies the threshold price comprises determining whether the current price is less than the threshold price.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing resource comprises one or more of a data storage resource, a processing resource, or a network communication resource.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing resource comprises a virtualized computing resource that is implemented by one or more underlying physical computing resources, wherein the one or more underlying physical computing resources are not visible to the client as resources that can be requested by the client.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the performing by the one or more computers further includes presenting the computing resource to the client via a web services interface.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein instructing that the request be performed using the computing resource comprises the one or more computers performing the request using the computing resource.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the request is a web services request received via a web services interface, and wherein the threshold price of the request specifies a threshold for submitting the request to the computing resource for processing.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold price of the request specifies a threshold for using the computing resource.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores program instructions, wherein the program instructions are executable by one or more computer systems to:

receive, from a client, a request to utilize a computing resource, wherein the request specifies a threshold price for performing the request and a threshold parameter other than price for performing the request;

dynamically set a current price associated with utilization of the computing resource;

dynamically set a current parameter other than price that is associated with utilization of the computing resource;

determine whether the current price satisfies the threshold price;

determine whether the current parameter other than price satisfies the threshold parameter; and

in response to determining that the current price satisfies the threshold price and that the current parameter other than price satisfies the threshold parameter, instruct that the request be performed using the computing resource;

wherein the program instructions are further executable to dynamically predict an enterprise'"'"'s own utilization of a portion of the computing resource, wherein the portion of the computing resource utilized by the enterprise is not available for utilization by any entity other than the enterprise, and wherein the program instructions are further executable to dynamically set the current price dependent upon dynamic prediction of the enterprise'"'"'s own utilization.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the current parameter other than price includes one or more of an amount of utilization of the computing resource, a level of quality of service associated with the computing resource, or a duration of utilization of the computing resource.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the program instructions are further executable to:

in response to determining that the current price does not satisfy the threshold price, maintain the request in a dormant state that does not utilize the computing resource.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein to determine whether the current price satisfies the threshold price, the program instructions are executable to determine whether the current price is less than the threshold price.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the computing resource comprises one or more of a data storage resource, a processing resource, or a network communication resource.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the computing resource comprises a virtualized computing resource that is implemented by one or more underlying physical computing resources, wherein the one or more underlying physical computing resources are not visible to the client as resources that can be requested by the client.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the program instructions are further executable to present the computing resource to the client via a web services interface.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the program instructions are further executable to dynamically generate a prediction of utilization of the computing resource that is expected to occur during a given interval of time, and to dynamically set the current price associated with utilization of the computing resource during the given interval of time dependent upon the prediction.

21. A system, comprising:

one or more physical computing resources configured as a virtualized computing resource that is available to service client requests, wherein the one or more physical computing resources are not visible to clients as resources that can be requested by the clients, and wherein the virtualized computing resource includes one or more of a virtualized storage device or a virtual processor;

a system memory; and

a processor coupled to the system memory and configured to execute program instructions, wherein the program instructions are executable to;

receive, from a client, a request to utilize the virtualized computing resource, wherein the request specifies a threshold price for performing the request;

dynamically set a current price associated with utilization of the virtualized computing resource;

determine whether the current price satisfies the threshold price; and

in response to determining that the current price satisfies the threshold price, instruct that the request be performed using the virtualized computing resource;

wherein the program instructions are further executable to dynamically predict an enterprise'"'"'s own utilization of a portion of the virtualized computing resource, wherein the portion of the virtualized computing resource utilized by the enterprise is not available for utilization by any entity other than the enterprise, and wherein the program instructions are further executable to dynamically set the current price dependent upon dynamic prediction of the enterprise'"'"'s own utilization.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the computing resource comprises one or more of a data storage resource, a processing resource, or a network communication resource.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the program instructions are further executable to present the computing resource to the client via a web services interface.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the program instructions are further executable to dynamically generate a prediction of utilization of the computing resource that is expected to occur during a given interval of time, and to dynamically set the current price associated with utilization of the computing resource during the given interval of time dependent upon the prediction.