Configurable Service Usage Facility for Web Service Billing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing mechanisms for enabling fee-based Web services within applications are difficult and costly to implement, as they require complex mechanisms for collecting payments from end users and managing third-party service usage, with developers often bearing liability for unpaid fees.
Innovation Solution
The Configurable Service Usage Facility (CSUF) system allows application developers to configure pricing models for third-party invocable services, enabling automated tracking and billing of end users, while mitigating liability for unpaid fees by separating payment responsibilities between application creators and service providers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If automated payment collection and distribution mechanisms are implemented, then ease of operation is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a configurable service usage facility (CSUF) system that acts as an intermediary between applications, end users, and third-party service providers. The CSUF system handles payment collection from end users, tracks service usage, and distributes payments to service providers, thereby eliminating the need for applications to implement complex payment mechanisms themselves. This intermediary approach resolves the contradiction by improving ease of operation while containing device complexity within the CSUF infrastructure rather than分散 across multiple applications.
2Measurement precision
If comprehensive usage tracking and billing mechanisms are implemented, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the usage tracking and billing functionality from individual applications and consolidates it into a dedicated CSUF system. The CSUF system independently handles service usage monitoring, fee calculation, and billing operations, providing precise measurement without requiring each application to implement its own complex tracking mechanisms. This extraction resolves the contradiction by achieving high measurement precision while centralizing complexity in a specialized infrastructure component.
Solution Approach 2:
The CSUF system serves as an intermediary that sits between applications and service providers, accurately tracking service usage and managing billing. It receives service invocation requests, monitors usage metrics, calculates fees based on configured pricing models, and handles payment processing. This intermediary approach enables precise usage measurement without requiring complex tracking logic within each application, thereby resolving the contradiction between measurement precision and device complexity.
3Reliability
If developers bear liability for unpaid fees, then reliability is improved, but ease of manufacture worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The CSUF system acts as a financial intermediary that guarantees payment to service providers regardless of whether end users pay. The system collects fees from end users and assumes liability for paying service providers, thereby ensuring reliable payment while removing the financial risk from application developers. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining reliability of payment while improving ease of manufacture, as developers no longer need to worry about unpaid fees.
Solution Approach 2:
The CSUF system provides self-service functionality by automatically tracking service usage, calculating fees, collecting payments from end users, and distributing payments to service providers without requiring manual intervention from developers. The system configures pricing models, monitors usage metrics, and handles billing operations autonomously, thereby ensuring reliable payment processing while simplifying the implementation process for developers and improving ease of manufacture.
Data Source
AI summary
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 developers of the applications, including to allow the application developers to configure pricing terms that will be used to determine fees that end users of the applications will be charged for use of the invocable services via the applications. 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.