The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.

The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.

Date of Patent:
Dec. 01, 2009

Filed:

Jul. 10, 2003
Applicants:

Daniel Charles Birkestrand, Rochester, MN (US);

Randall Lane Grimm, Rochester, MN (US);

David Otto Lewis, Rochester, MN (US);

Terry Lyle Schardt, Oronoco, MN (US);

Inventors:

Daniel Charles Birkestrand, Rochester, MN (US);

Randall Lane Grimm, Rochester, MN (US);

David Otto Lewis, Rochester, MN (US);

Terry Lyle Schardt, Oronoco, MN (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G07F 19/00 (2006.01); G06F 15/167 (2006.01); G06F 15/173 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract

An apparatus and method provides the capability of metering temporary capacity on demand in a computer system. A resource-time is specified, such as processor-days. The actual usage of the resource is monitored, and the customer is charged for only the actual usage of the resource. In this manner a customer may purchase a specified resource-time, and is only charged for the time that the resource is actually used. The preferred embodiments extend to metering temporary capacity on demand in a logically partitioned computer system. If a resource is shared, the actual usage of the resource is monitored, and the customer is only billed for actual usage that exceeds a predetermined non-zero threshold.


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