System and method to identify, rank, and audit network provided configurables

• US 8,090,766 B2
• Filed: 08/15/2006
• Issued: 01/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: DePue, Adam C., Paron, Dean P., Mazur, Leszek, Daniel, Sean
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Ashok
• Assistant Examiner(s): BECHTEL, KEVIN M
• Application Number:
  US11/464,821
• Publication Number:
  US 20080046569A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,967 Days
• Field of Search: 709/245, 709/203, 709/206, 709/217, 709/219, 705/14.1, 705/14.11, 705/14.4, 705/14.52, 705/14.53
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0208 Trade or exchange of goods or services in exchange for incentives or rewards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information

Abstract

A computerized method for identifying, ranking, and auditing configurable providers is described. The method receives and stores information about plural providers including provider name, provider icon, provider contact information, landing URL, configurables offered, geographical locations, and descriptions of configurables. The method receives a request from a computer that includes a geographic location. The method searches the stored information about providers in order to identify a list of provider servers that auto-configure configurables in the geographic location. The method sends information and the list of provider servers to the computer, and the sent information includes provider names, provider rank, provider landing URL, and descriptions of configurables. The method receives auditing information from the computer including a provider server selected from the list, a transaction for a selected configurable, and an indication that the selected configurable is operational. The method ranks provider servers based upon ranking factors including audit information received from plural computers.

Claims

1. A computerized method for identifying, referring, and auditing providers of configurable computer-related goods and services, the method comprising:

receiving and storing information about plural providers of configurable computer-related goods and services, the information comprising provider names, provider URLs, geographical areas in which providers provide configurables, and descriptions of configurables available from providers;

receiving a request from a computer, the request comprising a geographic location of the computer;

searching the stored information about providers in order to identify a list of providers or provider servers that provide automatic configuring of configurables in the geographic area;

sending the list of providers or provider servers to the computer, the list including provider names, provider URLs, and descriptions of configurables available from the providers or provider servers in the list;

receiving auditing information from the computer comprising an indication of a provider or provider server selected from the list, an indication of a selected configurable, and an indication that the selected configurable has become operational on the computer, and an amount of time from when the selected configurable was selected until when the selected configurable became operational on the computer, wherein the amount of time comprises one or more update periods indicating a length of time between the computer receiving an IP address from the selected provider and updating a server with the IP address; and

based at least in part on the received amount of time, sending to the computer a query message to be displayed at the computer, the query message comprising an explicit offer to change to another configurable from a different provider.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising ranking providers or provider servers based upon ranking factors comprising audit information received from plural computers.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the ranking factors further comprise ranking fees, performance of providers or provider servers, or performance of provider'"'"'s configurables.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the ranking factors further comprise timing metrics for performance of purchase and auto-configuration.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving subsequent auditing information from the computer indicating the selected configurable is inoperable.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the selected configurable is domain name registration and dynamic DNS services, and the selected configurable is operational when a DNS server returns a proper IP address in response to an inquiry using for a registered domain name.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the list further includes for each provider on the list:

TLDs supported, currencies accepted, and languages supported.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the request further comprises a technical requirement of the computer and the descriptions of provider configurables included in the list describe configurables that meet the technical requirements of the computer.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the received and stored information about plural providers further includes at least one of:

provider icon, provider contact information, configurables offered by geographical locations, human languages supported, and prices of configurables.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising testing a provider server in order to determine if offered configurables properly auto-configure.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the stored information comprises a rank for one or more of the plural providers.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the auditing information comprises a time required to navigate a purchase of the selected configurable.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected configurable is a domain name registration and dynamic DNS service and the auditing information comprises one or more update periods indicating a length of time between the computer receiving a different IP address from the selected provider and updating a DNS server with the different IP address.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising excluding the selected provider or provider server from the list based on the performance information.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to the explicit offer, receiving from the computer an affirmative request to change to another configurable from a different provider; and

responsive to the affirmative request, sending to the computer a list of alternative configurables available from alternative providers.

16. A computer-readable storage device having stored thereon computer-executable instructions comprising:

instructions for receiving and storing information about plural providers of configurable computer-related goods and services, the information including provider names, provider icons, provider contact information, landing URLs, configurables offered, geographical areas in which providers provide configurables, and descriptions of configurables;

instructions for receiving a request from a computer, the request comprising a geographic location of the computer and a technical requirement of the computer, wherein the technical requirement was provided by the computer via user input received via a user interface and the geographic area was obtained from memory of the computer;

instructions for searching the stored information about providers, in response to the request, in order to identify a list of providers or provider servers that auto-configure configurables in the geographic location of the computer according to the technical requirement;

instructions for sending information and the list of providers or provider servers to the computer, the information to be sent including provider name, provider rank, provider landing URL, and description of provider configurables;

instructions for receiving auditing information from the computer comprising a provider or provider server selected from the list and a time it took for a selected configurable to go operational after the selected configurable was selected;

instructions for ranking provider servers based upon ranking factors comprising audit information received from plural computers with auto-installed configurables; and

instructions for excluding one or more selected providers or provider servers from the list based on the received time it took for the selected configurable to go operational after being selected, wherein the time it took for the selected configurable to go operational indicates an amount of time from selection of the selected configurable until a server returns a proper IP address in response to an inquiry.

17. The computer readable storage device of claim 16 wherein the selected configurable is domain name registration and dynamic DNS services, and the time it took for the selected configurable to go operational indicates a time from selection of the selected configurable that a DNS server returns a proper IP address in response to an inquiry for a registered domain name.

18. The computer readable storage device of claim 16 wherein the received and stored information about plural providers further includes, configurables offered by geographical locations, written languages supported in geographical location, and prices of configurables by geographical location.

19. A method comprising:

sending information comprising at least one technical requirement of a computer to a referral server;

receiving a list of configurable computer-related goods and services from the referral server, the configurables in the list meeting the at least one technical requirement of the computer;

sending information comprising a configurable selected from the list of configurables to the referral server;

receiving a ranked list of providers or provider servers that provide the selected configurable, the providers ordered according to a rank based at least on provider configuration performance;

sending information comprising a selected provider to the referral server, wherein the selected configurable is a domain name registration and dynamic DNS service;

after the selected configurable has been initially configured or installed on the computer, sending auditing information to the referral server, the auditing information comprising a time elapsed from when the information comprising the selected provider was sent to the referral server until when the selected configurable was initially configured or installed on the computer and further comprising one or more update periods indicating a length of time between the computer receiving a different IP address from the selected provider and updating a DNS server with the different IP address;

based on the time elapsed, receiving from the referral server a query message to be displayed at the computer, the query message comprising an offer to change to a configurable from a different provider;

responsive to the explicit offer, sending to the referral server an affirmative request to change to another configurable from a different provider; and

responsive to the affirmative request, receiving from the referral server a list of alternative configurables available from alternative providers.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the auditing information further comprises a time required to navigate a purchase of the selected configurable.