Cloud Account Vending Automation

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

In public cloud multi-account environments, managing and synchronizing cloud accounts, access permissions, and configurations is complex and time-consuming, leading to inconsistencies, misconfigurations, and security vulnerabilities due to the lack of efficient management of applications and their dependencies.

Innovation Solution

An account generation and vending system that automates the process of generating and provisioning cloud accounts, streamlining account creation, reducing manual work, and improving security by enforcing account creation policies and rules, using cloud-based services, APIs, microservices architectures, and leveraging a branch processing module to manage cloud infrastructure deployment.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If manual account creation and management is used, then flexibility and customization are improved, but complexity and time consumption increase significantly

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproveAccount creation processVSAvoidMulti-account management system

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system enables self-service account creation where the account vending machine automatically provisions cloud accounts, applies configurations, and manages permissions without requiring manual intervention. The automated vending process allows users to request accounts through simple interfaces while the system handles the complex underlying infrastructure setup autonomously.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary actions by pre-configuring account templates, pre-establishing dependency relationships between applications, and pre-preparing infrastructure resources before actual account creation is needed. This allows rapid account provisioning by simply instantiating pre-configured templates rather than building accounts from scratch.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Productivity

If automated account generation is implemented, then productivity and speed are improved, but system complexity and configuration management difficulty increase

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproveAccount generation speedVSAvoidApplication dependency management

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments the complex account generation process into independent modular components: application provisioning, infrastructure setup, permission configuration, and dependency resolution. Each component can be managed and executed independently, reducing the overall complexity of coordinating multiple interdependent tasks during automated account creation.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system introduces an intermediary dependency resolution mechanism that acts as a mediator between applications and their infrastructure requirements. This intermediary layer automatically resolves dependency relationships, determines execution orders, and coordinates resource allocation, simplifying the complexity of managing interconnected application-infrastructure dependencies.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Reliability

If comprehensive account management is implemented, then consistency and security are improved, but resource consumption and compute overhead increase

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproveAccount consistency across multi-account environmentsVSAvoidCompute resources for account management

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The system employs periodic synchronization actions rather than continuous monitoring and management. Account consistency is maintained through scheduled synchronization cycles that propagate configuration changes across multi-account environments at appropriate intervals, reducing compute resource consumption compared to real-time continuous management while maintaining reliability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #19Periodic action

Solution Approach 2:

The system replaces complex mechanical coordination mechanisms with declarative configuration models and automated reconciliation processes. Instead of actively managing every account detail through resource-intensive coordination systems, the system uses declarative definitions of desired states that are automatically reconciled, reducing compute overhead while ensuring consistency.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Data Source

PatentUS20250068475A1Account vending

Publication Date: 2025.02.27 TRANS UNION LLC

AI summary

A computing device may determine a first set of applications that facilitate functions for a requested cloud account. A sequential execution order may be determined for a second set of applications to be executed after a respective set of dependencies for each application of the second set of applications and at least one application of the first set of applications have been executed. A parallel execution order may be determined for remaining applications of the first set of applications that are excluded from the sequential execution order. The first and second sets of applications may be executed according to the sequential and parallel execution orders and a notification may be sent to the user device that facilitates access to the cloud account based on an indication that the first and second sets of applications have been successfully executed.