Management of usage costs of a resource

• US 8,560,462 B2
• Filed: 07/20/2005
• Issued: 10/15/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Amir, Arnon, Flickner, Myron Dale, McDavid, Douglas Warren, Spohrer, James Clinton
• Primary Examiner(s): Chen, George
• Application Number:
  US11/185,642
• Publication Number:
  US 20070021968A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,009 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/400
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06313 Resource planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A method for managing a usage cost of an asset. A user component of a business entity may access the asset after the asset has been developed by a development component of the business entity, wherein the user component receives compensation from a compensator in response to the user component having incurred a usage burden from using the asset, and wherein the compensator may have contributed to the usage burden. Alternatively, a user component of a second business entity may access an asset after the asset is developed by a development component of a first business entity, wherein second business entity receives compensation from the first business entity in response to the user component having incurred a usage burden from using the asset. The compensation has a magnitude that is a function of the usage burden. The asset may be a software application.

Claims

1. A method for managing a usage cost of a resource, said method comprising:

accessing, via a processor of a computer system, the resource by a user component of a business entity after an asset has been developed by a development component of the business entity, wherein the resource consists essentially of the asset or both the asset and a service, wherein the service supports usage of the asset and is provided by a service provider, and wherein if the resource consists essentially of the asset and the service then said accessing comprises accessing the service from the service provider; and

receiving compensation by the user component from at least one compensator in response to the user component having incurred a usage burden from using the resource, wherein the usage burden is an expense of using the resource in excess of an expense of using a predetermined reference resource, wherein the compensation has a magnitude that is a function of the usage burden, and wherein the at least one compensator comprises at least one of;

(A) a component of the business entity and (B) the service provider if the resource consists essentially of the asset and the service.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource consists essentially of the asset and the service, and wherein the at least one compensator comprises the service provider.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the service provider is comprised by the business entity.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the service provider is not comprised by the business entity.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein said accessing comprises accessing the asset from the service provider, and wherein the at least one compensator does not comprise the development component.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein said accessing comprises accessing the asset from within the business entity, and wherein the at least one compensator comprises the development component.

7. The method of claim 1,

wherein the method further comprises distributing funds, by a management component of the business entity, to the user component and the development component;

wherein the at least one compensator comprises the development component;

wherein said distributing is for financing a total cost pertaining to the resource;

wherein the total cost comprises a development cost, a maintenance cost, and a usage cost;

wherein the usage cost comprises the usage burden; and

wherein responsive to an analysis of the usage burden by the management component, said distributing comprises increasing or decreasing the development cost to reduce the total cost.

8. The method of claim 7,

wherein said distributing further comprises distributing funds, by the management component, to a beneficiary entity of the business entity;

wherein the beneficiary entity of the business entity has transferred financial value to the development component to develop the asset; and

wherein the at least one compensator comprises the beneficiary component.

9. The method of claim 7,

wherein the resource consists essentially of the asset and the service;

wherein the business entity comprises the service provider;

wherein said distributing further comprises distributing funds, by the management component, to the service provider; and

wherein the at least one compensator comprises the service provider.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the expense of using the resource is an expense function of an amount of time spent in using the resource to accomplish a goal in excess of an amount of time that was spent or would be spent in using the reference resource to accomplish the goal.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the asset is a software application adapted to be executed on a computer system, and wherein a computation of the expense function utilizes data derived from the group consisting of a time monitoring tool within the application, a time monitoring tool within an operating system that executes the application on the computer system, an analysis of logs generated by the application, an analysis of logs generated by the operating system, and combinations thereof.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the business entity further comprises a beneficiary entity that has transferred financial value to the development component to develop the asset, and wherein the at least one compensator comprises the beneficiary component.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource consists essentially of the asset, and wherein the at least one compensator comprises the development component.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein a portion of the compensation paid to the user component by each compensator of the at least one compensator is a function of an extent to which each compensator contributed to the usage burden.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein a portion of the compensation paid to the user component by a first compensator of the at least one compensator is a not function of an extent to which the first compensator caused the usage burden.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the asset is a new asset that replaces a previous asset, and wherein the predetermined reference resource comprises the previous asset.

17. A method for managing a usage cost of a resource, said method comprising:

accessing, via a processor of a computer system, the resource by a user component of a first business entity after the asset has been developed by a development component of a second business entity, wherein the resource consists essentially of the asset or both the asset and a service, wherein the service supports usage of the asset and is provided by a service provider, and wherein if the resource consists essentially of the asset and the service then said accessing comprises accessing the service from the service provider; and

receiving compensation by the first business entity from the second business entity in response to the user component having incurred a usage burden from using the resource, wherein the usage burden is an expense of using the resource in excess of an expense of using a predetermined reference resource, wherein the compensation has a magnitude that is a function of the usage burden, and wherein the expense of using the resource is an expense function of an amount of time spent in using the resource to accomplish a goal in excess of an amount of time that was spent or would be spent in using the reference resource to accomplish the goal.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the resource consists essentially of the asset and the service.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said accessing comprises accessing the asset from the service provider.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the resource consists essentially of the asset.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein said accessing comprises accessing the asset from the second business entity.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the asset is a new asset that replaces a previous asset, and wherein the predetermined reference resource comprises the previous asset.

23. A method for managing a usage cost of a resource, said method comprising:

providing access via a processor of a computer system, by a second business entity, of the resource to a user component of a first business entity after the asset has been developed by a development component of the second business entity, wherein the resource consists essentially of the asset or both the asset and a service, wherein the service supports usage of the asset and is provided by a service provider comprised by the second business entity, and wherein if the resource consists essentially of the asset and the service then said providing access comprises providing access to the service by the service provider; and

providing compensation to the first business entity from the second business entity in response to the user component having incurred a usage burden from using the resource, wherein the usage burden is an expense of using the resource in excess of an expense of using a predetermined reference resource, wherein the compensation has a magnitude that is a function of the usage burden, and wherein the expense of using the resource is an expense function of an amount of time spent in using the resource to accomplish a goal in excess of an amount of time that was spent or would be spent in using the reference resource to accomplish the goal.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the resource consists essentially of the asset.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the resource consists essentially of the asset and the service.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the asset is a new asset that replaces a previous asset, and wherein the predetermined reference resource comprises the previous asset.

27. A method comprising receiving compensation, via a processor of a computer system, by a user of a software application in response to the user having incurred a usage burden from prior use of the software application by the user, said compensation being received from a party that contributed to the usage burden, wherein the software application is a new software application that replaces a previous software application that had been used by the user prior to being replaced by the new software application, wherein the usage burden is an extra cost consisting of the difference between the total cost of using the new software application and the total cost of using the previous software application, and wherein the compensation has a magnitude that is a function of the usage burden.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the party is a developer that developed the software application.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the extra cost is a function of an amount of time spent in using the new software application to accomplish a goal in excess of an amount of time that was spent or would be spent in using the previous software application to accomplish the goal.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the party is a service provider that provided a service supporting usage of the software application by the user.

31. A method comprising providing compensation, via a processor of a computer system, to a user of a software application in response to the user having incurred a usage burden from prior use of the software application by the user, said compensation being provided by a party that contributed to the usage burden, wherein the software application is a new software application that replaces a previous software application that had been used by the user prior to being replaced by the new software application, wherein the usage burden is an extra cost consisting of the difference between the total cost of using the new software application and the total cost of using the previous software application, and wherein the compensation has a magnitude that is a function of the usage burden.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the party is a developer that developed the software application.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the party is a service provider that provided a service supporting usage of the software application by the user.