Using cloud brokering services for an opportunistic cloud offering

• US 8,396,771 B2
• Filed: 11/09/2010
• Issued: 03/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Greenspan, Steven L., Hadar, Eitan
• Primary Examiner(s): Maguire, Lindsay M.
• Application Number:
  US12/941,566
• Publication Number:
  US 20120116831A1
• Time in Patent Office: 854 Days
• Field of Search: 705/35
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

In accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure, a method comprises publishing descriptions available from a plurality of publishing parties. The descriptions describe a plurality of published services available for a requesting party to request. The method receives requests to broker a transaction from the requesting party, associates a requested service to one of the published services, and facilitates a transaction for the one of the published services.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

facilitating a first transaction for a first party, the first party configured as a consumer of a requested cloud-based computing service with respect to the first transaction, wherein facilitating the first transaction comprises;

publishing descriptions for a plurality of published services, the descriptions available from a plurality of publishing parties;

receiving, by a processor, a request to broker the first transaction from a requesting party, the request indicating the requested cloud-based computing service, the requested cloud-based computing service selected from the plurality of published services; and

associating the requested cloud-based computing service to one of the published services; and

the method further comprising facilitating a second transaction for the first party, the first party configured as a service provider of a custom cloud-based computing service with respect to the second transaction, the custom cloud-based computing service incorporating the requested cloud-based computing service.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first party corresponds to the requesting party with respect to the first transaction.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

calculating an account balance for the requesting party by;

determining whether the first transaction is a consumer transaction or a provider transaction of the requesting party;

if the first transaction is a consumer transaction, deducting the amount owed for the first transaction from the account balance; and

if the first transaction is a provider transaction, crediting the amount earned from the first transaction to the account balance.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising calculating a fee for facilitating the transactions.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the requesting party belongs to a consortium associated with a selected publishing party associated with the one of the published services; and

allowing the first transaction only if the requesting party belongs to the consortium associated with the selected publishing party.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising associating the requested cloud-based computing service to the one of the published services only if the one of the published services meets or exceeds a service level requested by the requesting party.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the plurality of published services comprises active services and dormant services and the requested cloud-based computing service comprises one of the dormant services; and

the facilitating the transaction for the one of the published services further comprises facilitating negotiations to activate the one of the dormant services.

8. A brokering system for cloud-based computing services, the system comprising:

one or more processors operable to;

publish descriptions for a plurality of published services, the descriptions available from a plurality of publishing parties; and

an interface comprising hardware and operable to;

receive a request to broker a first transaction from a requesting party, the request indicating a requested cloud-based computing service, the requested cloud-based computing service selected from the plurality of published services; and

the one or more processors further operable to;

associate the requested cloud-based computing service to one of the published services;

facilitate the first transaction for the one of the published services on behalf of a first party, the first party configured as a consumer of the requested cloud-based computing service with respect to the first transaction; and

facilitate, by the one or more processors, a second transaction for the first party, the first party configured as a service provider of a custom cloud-based computing service with respect to the second transaction, the custom cloud-based computing service incorporating the first-requested cloud-based computing service.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the first party corresponds to one of the publishing parties with respect to the first transaction.

10. The system of claim 8, the one or more processors further operable to:

calculate an account balance for the requesting party by;

determining whether the first transaction is a consumer transaction or a provider transaction of the requesting party;

if the first transaction is a consumer transaction, deducting the amount owed for the first transaction from the account balance;

if the first transaction is a provider transaction, crediting the amount earned from the first transaction to the account balance; and

applying a fee for facilitating the first transaction to the account balance.

11. The system of claim 8, the one or more processors further operable to associate the requested cloud-based computing service to the one of the published services only if the one of the published services meets or exceeds a service level requested by the requesting party.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing logic when executed by a processor configured to:

facilitate a first transaction for a first party, the first party configured as a consumer of a requested cloud-based computing service with respect to the first transaction, wherein to facilitate the first transaction the logic is configured to;

publish descriptions for a plurality of published services, the descriptions available from a plurality of publishing parties;

receive a request to broker the first transaction from a requesting party, the request indicating the requested cloud-based computing service, the requested cloud-based computing service selected from the plurality of published services; and

associate the first-requested cloud-based computing service to one of the published services; and

the logic further configured to facilitate a second transaction for the first party, the first party configured as a service provider of a custom cloud-based computing service with respect to the second transaction, the custom cloud-based computing service incorporating the requested cloud-based computing service.

13. The logic of claim 12, wherein the first party corresponds to the requesting party with respect to the first transaction.

14. The logic of claim 12, further configured to:

calculate an account balance for the first party by;

determining that the first transaction is a consumer transaction and deducting the amount owed for the first transaction from the account balance;

determining that the second transaction is a provider transaction and crediting the amount earned from the second transaction to the account balance; and

applying a fee for facilitating the first transaction to the account balance.

15. The logic of claim 12, further configured to associate the requested cloud-based computing service to the one of the published services only if the one of the published services meets or exceeds a service level requested by the requesting party.