CSP Application Broker for Cross-Cloud API Translation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Cloud service providers face challenges in efficiently managing and optimizing application programming interface (API) calls across multiple cloud service providers, leading to suboptimal resource utilization and increased costs due to lack of seamless protocol translation and metric-based decision-making.
Innovation Solution
A CSP application broker that obtains API requests, performs target CSP analysis, modifies API calls to match the target CSP's protocol, sends the modified calls, receives responses, and translates them back to the original protocol, while storing metrics for future optimizations, enabling efficient service selection and cost management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If cloud service providers directly manage API calls across multiple CSPs without a broker, then device complexity is reduced, but adaptability and resource utilization efficiency deteriorate due to inability to perform protocol translation and metric-based decision-making
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a CSP application broker as an intermediary component that sits between applications and multiple cloud service providers. The broker performs protocol translation, metrics collection, and intelligent routing decisions, enabling applications to access services from any CSP without direct integration complexity. This mediator approach resolves the contradiction by centralizing adaptability functions while keeping individual application-CSP connections simple.
Solution Approach 2:
The CSP application broker is designed as a universal interface that can translate between multiple different CSP protocols and manage connections to various cloud providers through a single unified system. This multi-functional broker handles authentication, protocol conversion, metrics collection, and routing for diverse CSPs, improving adaptability without requiring separate integration mechanisms for each provider.
2Productivity
If cloud service providers implement comprehensive protocol translation and metric collection across all CSPs, then resource utilization efficiency improves, but device complexity and operational overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The broker serves as a centralized intermediary that consolidates all protocol translation and metric collection operations in a single location rather than distributing these complex functions across multiple systems. This centralization improves resource utilization through intelligent routing while containing complexity within the broker's standardized interfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The broker dynamically changes operational parameters such as routing decisions, protocol selection, and resource allocation based on collected metrics and current system state. This parameter-based control enables efficient resource utilization through real-time optimization while maintaining a consistent system architecture, avoiding the need for complex hard-coded logic for each scenario.
3Productivity
If cloud service providers implement real-time metric collection and analysis for API call routing, then service selection optimization improves, but processing time and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The broker performs preliminary actions by pre-collecting and caching metrics data, maintaining connection pools, and pre-translating common protocol patterns before actual API calls require routing decisions. This preliminary preparation reduces the processing time needed for real-time routing optimization while maintaining service selection quality through pre-computed information.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous feedback loops where metrics from API calls are collected, analyzed, and used to dynamically adjust routing decisions and protocol translation parameters. This feedback mechanism enables real-time optimization of service selection based on actual performance data while maintaining efficient processing through iterative improvement rather than exhaustive analysis for each decision.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for managing cloud service providers (CSPs) includes obtaining, by a CSP application broker, an application programming interface (API) request from an application, performing a target CSP analysis to identify a target CSP to service the API call, performing an API call modification based on the target CSP to obtain a CSP API call, sending the CSP API call to the target CSP, obtain a target API response from the target CSP, perform a CSP API response modification to obtaining a modified API response, and sending the translated API response to the application, wherein the application and the CSP application broker operate in the CSP.