Application Exchange Platform Service Function Billing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current application exchange platforms have rigid architectures that hinder the tracking of added features and service costs, leading to complex resource management and revenue loss due to cumbersome interactions and unsatisfactory performance.
Innovation Solution
An online application exchange platform with a user interface allowing developers to select domain events, specify configurations, and use a lightweight wrapper function to measure tool usage metrics, enabling transparent cost distribution and fine-grained permissions, while an authorization server handles external resource authentication and billing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a rigid architecture is used in the application exchange platform, then the system structure is simple and stable, but the platform cannot flexibly track added features and service costs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the platform into distinct functional modules: event sources that generate domain events, service functions that process events, wrapper functions that track usage, and billing tools that calculate costs. This modular segmentation allows each component to independently handle specific tasks, providing flexibility to track features and costs without requiring complete system redesign.
Solution Approach 2:
The wrapper function serves as an intermediary layer between service functions and the billing system. It intercepts service function executions, records usage metrics, and passes this information to billing tools for cost calculation. This intermediary mechanism enables flexible cost tracking without modifying the core service functions or billing infrastructure.
2Loss of information
If comprehensive tracking of service usage and costs is implemented, then revenue tracking improves, but the complexity of managing subscriptions and credentials increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-service through automated event propagation and billing calculation. When service functions are executed, wrapper functions automatically record usage metrics and propagate domain events to billing tools, which automatically calculate and charge appropriate parties. This automation eliminates manual tracking processes while maintaining comprehensive revenue information.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent establishes feedback loops where billing tools receive usage metrics from wrapper functions, calculate costs, and generate charges that are communicated back to stakeholders. This continuous feedback mechanism ensures accurate revenue tracking while the automated nature of the feedback loop reduces manual management complexity.
3Measurement precision
If fine-grained permission control is implemented for end users, then access control precision improves, but the operational complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by assigning specific permissions to individual end users based on their needs and roles. Rather than applying uniform permission sets, the system configures fine-grained permissions locally for each user, allowing precise control over what each user can access while maintaining operational simplicity through automated enforcement by the platform architecture.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for managing an application exchange platform includes receiving, from a developer, a service function, wherein the service function includes configuration details for an application available through an online application exchange. The method includes deploying the service function in the application exchange, identifying a first domain event requesting access to the service function from a user, and calling the service function in the online application exchange, in response to the first domain event. The method also includes recording a metric associate with the service function and a return parameter, emitting a second domain event indicative of a completion of the service function, and charging, with a billing tool, an appropriate party based on a usage metadata for the service function. A system and a non-transitory, computer-readable memory storing instructions to cause the system to perform the above method are also provided.