Using configured application pricing to determine end user fees for use of invocable services

• US 9,044,504 B1
• Filed: 03/24/2011
• Issued: 06/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sirota, Peter, Johnson, Don, Ghare, Gaurav D., Jain, Tushar, Geller, Alan S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hayles, Ashford S
• Application Number:
  US13/071,368
• Time in Patent Office: 1,531 Days
• Field of Search: 705/34
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61K 48/00 Medicinal preparations containing genetic material which is inserted into cells of the living body to treat genetic diseases; Gene therapy
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/145 Payments according to the detected use or quantity
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing

Abstract

Techniques are described for facilitating use of invocable services by applications in a configurable manner. In at least some situations, the invocable services are Web services or other network-accessible services that are made available by providers of the services for use by others in exchange for fees defined by the service providers. The described techniques facilitate use of such invocable services by applications in a manner configured by the application providers and the service providers, including to track use of third-party invocable services by applications on behalf of end users and to allocate fees that are charged end users between the applications and the services as configured by the providers of the applications and services. In some situations, the configured pricing terms for a service specify fees for end users that differ in one or more ways from the defined fees charged by the provider of that service.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored contents that configure a computing device to track use of invocable services by end users of applications in a configurable manner, by performing a method comprising:

storing, by the configured computing device, information indicating an association of a defined application key with an application and indicating an association of a defined user token with an end user who is using an executing copy of the application;

receiving, by the configured computing device, information indicating a use of an invocable service that has one or more associated pricing terms for use in determining fees for use of the invocable service, wherein the received information includes copies of the defined application key and the defined user token;

determining, by the configured computing device based at least in part on the stored information and on the copies of the defined application key and the defined user token included in the received information, that the use of the invocable service is performed by the executing copy of the application on behalf of the end user;

assessing, by the configured computing device based on the determining that the use of the invocable service is performed by the executing copy of the application on behalf of the end user, multiple fees associated with the use of the invocable service, the assessing including;

obtaining, by the configured computing device, information about a configured usage model for the application that is defined by a provider of the application, wherein the configured usage model specifies one or more configured pricing terms for the application that correspond to use of the invocable service via the application and that are distinct from the one or more associated pricing terms for the invocable service, and wherein the provider of the application is distinct from a provider of the invocable service;

determining, by the configured computing device, a first of the multiple fees that is to be paid by the end user for the use of the invocable service via the application, the first fee being based at least in part on the one or more configured pricing terms for the application;

determining, by the configured computing device, a distinct second of the multiple fees that is to be paid to the provider of the invocable service based on the use of the invocable service via the application, the second fee being based at least in part on the associated pricing terms for the invocable service;

determining, by the configured computing device, a third of the multiple fees that is to be paid to the provider of the application that is based at least in part on a difference between the first and second fees; and

providing one or more indications of the first, second and third fees to enable the first fee to be obtained from the end user and to enable the second fee to be provided to the provider of the invocable service and to enable the third fee to be provided to the provider of the application.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the one or more associated pricing terms for the invocable service include an indicated price for an indicated amount of use of the invocable service with respect to an indicated use dimension.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2 wherein the configured one or more pricing terms for the application include a configured amount of use that differs from the indicated amount of use, or include a configured use dimension that differs from the indicated use dimension for the invocable service.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the method further comprises tracking multiple uses of the invocable service on behalf of the end user by one or more executing copies of one or more applications, and wherein the determining of the first and second fees is performed based on the tracked multiple uses.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the providing of the indications of the first, second and third fees includes obtaining payment from the end user for the first fee.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the method further comprises providing payment of the third fee to the provider of the application in a manner that is based at least in part on obtaining payment for the first fee from the end user.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the providing of the indications of the first, second and third fees includes providing payment of the second fee to the provider of the invocable service in a manner that is based at least in part on obtaining payment for the first fee from the end user.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the determining that the use of the invocable service is performed by the executing copy of the application on behalf of the end user includes identifying the application based at least in part on the copy of the defined application key included in the received information indicating the use of the invocable service.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 wherein the stored contents further configure the computing device to, before the receiving of the information indicating the use of the invocable service, receive a copy of the defined application key from the application as part of a request for access to the invocable service, and wherein the method further comprises using the received copy of the defined application key for the request for access to determine that the requested access to the invocable service is authorized and providing an indication that the requested access to the invocable service is determined to be authorized.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 wherein the use of the invocable service by the application includes providing, from the executing copy of the application to the invocable service, a copy of the defined application key, and wherein the copy of the defined application key included in the received information indicating the use of the invocable service is provided by the invocable service.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 wherein the determining that the use of the invocable service is performed by the executing copy of the application on behalf of the end user includes identifying the end user who is using the executing copy of the application based at least in part on the defined user token included in the received information indicating the use of the invocable service.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the determining of the first fee based at least in part on the configured one or more pricing terms for the application includes determining one or more fees for the end user based on at least one use dimension that is not used by the associated one or more pricing terms for the invocable service.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the invocable service is a Web service accessible by the executing copy of the application over one or more networks.

28. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the stored contents include instructions that, when executed, further configure the computing device to:

before the use of the invocable service by the executing copy of the application on behalf of the end user, receive a request that is to perform the use of the invocable service and that includes copies of the defined application key and the defined user token;

determine, based at least in part on the stored information and on the copies of the defined application key and the defined user token included with the received request, that the requested use of the invocable service is authorized; and

provide an indication that the requested use of the invocable service is determined to be authorized.

29. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 28 wherein the determining that the use of the invocable service is authorized is further based at least in part on a subscription of the end user for the invocable service.

30. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 28 wherein the determining that the use of the invocable service is authorized is further based at least in part on a subscription of the end user for the application.

14. A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining, by one or more configured computing systems, and in response to a request that is from an executing copy of an application for use of an invocable service on behalf of an end user who is using the executing copy, that the use is authorized based at least in part on information specific to the end user;

providing, by the one or more configured computing systems, an indication that the use of the invocable service is authorized;

obtaining, by the one or more configured computing systems, information about a configured usage model for the application that is indicated by a provider of the application, wherein the configured usage model specifies one or more configured pricing terms for the application that correspond to use of the invocable service via the application and that are distinct from one or more pricing terms associated with the invocable service;

determining, by the one or more configured computing systems, a first fee to be paid based on the use of the invocable service via the application, the first fee being based at least in part on the configured one or more pricing terms for the application;

determining, by the one or more configured computing systems, a distinct second fee to be paid to a provider of the invocable service based on the use of the invocable service via the application, the second fee being based at least in part on the associated pricing terms for the invocable service; and

providing one or more indications of the first and second fees.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the providing of the one or more indications of the first and second fees includes initiating obtaining of payment from the end user for the first fee and includes initiating providing of payment of the second fee to the provider of the invocable service.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising determining a third fee to be paid to the provider of the application, the provider of the application being distinct from the provider of the invocable service and the third fee being based at least in part on a difference between the first and second fees, and initiating providing payment of the third fee to the provider of the application.

25. The method of claim 14 further comprising, before the request for use of the invocable service, storing information indicating an association of a defined application key with the application and indicating an association of a defined user token with the end user,

and wherein the request for the use of the invocable service includes copies of the defined application key and of the defined user token;

and

wherein the determining that the use of the invocable service is authorized includes determining that the requested use is on behalf of the application and the end user based at least in part on the stored information and on the copies of the defined application key and of the defined user token included in the request.

26. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

before the use of the invocable service, storing information indicating an association of a defined application key with the application and indicating an association of a defined user token with the end user;

after the use of the invocable service, receiving information indicating that the use of the invocable service has occurred, the received information including copies of the defined application key and of the defined user token; and

determining that the use occurred on behalf of the application and the end user based at least in part on the stored information and on the copies of the defined application key and of the defined user token included in the received information indicating that the use of the invocable service has occurred.

27. The method of claim 14 wherein the information specific to the end user includes a subscription of the end user for the invocable service.

17. A configured computing system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more modules of a configurable service usage facility that, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, configure the at least one processor to;

store information indicating an association of a defined application key with an application and indicating an association of a defined user token with a user;

receive information about a request to use an invocable service that has one or more associated pricing terms for use in determining fees for use of the invocable service, wherein the received information includes copies of the defined application key and the defined user token;

determine, based at least in part on the stored information and on the included copies of the defined application key and the defined user token in the received information, that the requested use of the invocable service occurs via an executing copy of the application on behalf of the user who is using the executing copy of the application, and that the requested use of the invocable service is authorized based at least in part on information specific to the user;

provide an indication that the requested use of the invocable service is authorized;

determine a first fee to be paid based on use of the invocable service via the application, the first fee being based at least in part on configured one or more configured pricing terms for the application for use in determining fees to be paid for use of the invocable service via the application;

determine a second fee to be paid to a provider of the invocable service based on use of the invocable service via the application, the second fee being based at least in part on the associated pricing terms for the invocable service;

determine a third fee to be paid to a provider of the application based at least in part on the first and second fees; and

provide one or more indications of the first, second and third fees.

18. The computing system of claim 17 wherein the providing of the one or more indications of the first, second and third fees includes initiating obtaining of payment from the user for the first fee and includes initiating providing of payment of the second fee to the provider of the invocable service.

19. The computing system of claim 18 wherein the first and second fees are distinct, wherein the providers of application and the invocable service are distinct, and wherein the third fee is based at least in part on a difference between the first and second fees.

20. The computing system of claim 17 wherein the one or more modules includes software instructions for execution by the one or more processors of the computing system.

21. The computing system of claim 17 wherein the one or more modules further configure the at least one processor to obtain information about a configured usage model for the application that is specified by the provider of the application, and wherein the configured usage model specifies the one or more configured pricing terms for use in determining the fees to be paid for the use of the invocable service via the application.

22. The computing system of claim 21 wherein the one or more modules further configure the at least one processor to obtain information about an associated usage model for the invocable service that is specified by the provider of the invocable service, wherein the associated usage model specifies the one or more associated pricing terms for use in determining the fees for the use of the invocable service, and wherein the providers of application and the invocable service are distinct.

23. The computing system of claim 17 wherein the one or more configured pricing terms include a configured amount of use of the invocable service that differs from an amount of use of the invocable service indicated by the one or more associated pricing terms, or include a configured use dimension for the invocable service that differs from a use dimension indicated for the invocable service by the one or more associated pricing terms.

24. The computing system of claim 17 wherein the information specific to the user includes a subscription of the user for the invocable service.