Method and system to decrease measured usage license charges for diagnostic data collection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10783059-B2
Application number	US-201615293898-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 14, 2016
Priority date	Apr 28, 2016
Publication date	Sep 22, 2020
Grant date	Sep 22, 2020

Abstract

Techniques are provided for executing, by one or more first processors, one or more software products associated with a measured usage pricing model. An indication is received, during the execution of the software products, to execute a set of diagnostic machine instructions related to the execution of the software products. Responsive to that received indication, the one or more first processors initiate execution, by one or more distinct second processors, of the set of diagnostic machine instructions. The initiating of the execution by the distinct second processors of that set of diagnostic machine instructions is based at least in part on such execution not being associated with the measured usage pricing model.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer readable program code stored thereon that, when executed, performs a method, the method comprising:
executing, by one or more computing resources, one or more software products associated with a measured usage pricing model;
receiving, by the one or more computing resources and during execution of the one or more software products, an indication to execute one or more sets of diagnostic machine instructions related to execution of the one or more software products;
executing, by the one or more computing resources responsive to receiving the indication, the one or more sets of diagnostic machine instructions, wherein execution of the one or more sets of diagnostic machine instructions includes offloading all diagnostic instructions related to execution of the one or more software products during the execution of the one or more software products to a specialty engine;
calculating monetary usage fees for usage of the one or more computing resources based on the measured usage pricing model, wherein the monetary usage fees comprise usage fees that correspond to a first amount of the one or more computing resources used in performing said executing the one or more software products, and wherein the calculating of the monetary usage fees excludes a second amount of the one or more computing resources used by the specialty engine in performing said executing the one or more sets of diagnostic machine instructions.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein the specified monetary usage fees are associated with an amount of CPU time used for the execution of the one or more software products.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the performed method further comprises continuing to execute the one or more software products by the one or more computing resources during the execution of the one or more sets of diagnostic instructions.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein initiating execution of the one or more sets of diagnostic machine instructions includes initiating execution of the one or more sets of diagnostic machine instructions by the specialty engine.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 4 wherein the performed method further comprises, prior to initiating execution of the one or more sets of diagnostic machine instructions, invoking the specialty engine.

6. A system comprising one or more computing resources, a system memory, and a bus that couples various system components including the system memory to the one or more computing resources, the system configured to perform a method that includes:
executing, by the one or more computing resources, one or more software products associated with a measured usage pricing model;
receiving, by the one or more computing resources during execution of the one or more software products, an indication to execute a set of diagnostic machine instructions related to execution of the one or more software products;
executing, by the one or more computing resources responsive to receiving the indication, the set of diagnostic machine instructions, wherein execution of the set of diagnostic machine instructions includes offloading all diagnostic instructions related to execution of the one or more software products during the execution of the one or more software products to a specialty engine; and
calculating monetary usage fees for usage of the one or more computing resources based on the measured usage pricing model, wherein the monetary usage fees comprise usage fees that correspond to a first amount of the one or more computing resources used in performing said executing the one or more software products, and wherein the calculating of the monetary usage fees excludes a second amount of the one or more computing resources used by the specialty engine in performing said executing the set of diagnostic machine instructions.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the specified monetary usage fees are associated with an amount of CPU time used for the execution of the one or more software products.

8. The system of claim 6 , further comprising continuing to execute the one or more software products by the one or more computing resources during the execution of the one or more sets of diagnostic instructions.

9. The system of claim 6 wherein initiating execution of the set of diagnostic machine instructions includes initiating execution of the set of diagnostic machine instructions by the specialty engine.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Addison Edward A
• Bulfin William J
• Clark Andre C
• Demarrais Suzanne L
• Deval Peggy A
• Mcclure Scott W
• Wright Andrew

Classifications

• G06Q30/0283 Primary

  Price estimation or determination · CPC title

• G06F11/34

  Recording or statistical evaluation of computer activity, e.g. of down time, of input/output operation {; Recording or statistical evaluation of user activity, e.g. usability assessment} · CPC title

• G06F11/302

  where the computing system component is a software system · CPC title

• G06Q50/184

  Intellectual property management · CPC title

• G06F11/366 Primary

  using diagnostics (G06F11/0703 takes precedence) · CPC title