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.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 06, 2011
Filed:
Jan. 31, 2005
Daniel Charles Birkestrand, Rochester, MN (US);
Daniel Charles Birkestrand, Rochester, MN (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A method, apparatus, system, and signal-bearing medium that, in an embodiment, determine whether an amount of usage of a resource, which is used under a temporary usage plan, exceeds a threshold. If that determination is true, a quantity of the resource is calculated and that quantity is converted from the temporary usage plan to a permanent usage plan, without further charge to the customer. In another embodiment, a different resource may be converted to the permanent usage plan than the resource that was temporarily used. In various embodiments, the calculation of the quantity is made based on an attribute of the computer that uses the resource or based on an activation code received from the provider of the resource. In various embodiments, the amount of the usage is either a time amount of use or a monetary amount charged for the resource under the temporary usage plan. In various embodiments, the quantity of the resource converted is based on a ratio of a number of permanent resources in use to a total number of resources, based on an attribute of the computer, based on the cost of the computer, based on the age of the computer, based on a speed of the resource, or based on the amount of resources in the computer.