Inventory management of resources
View Patent ↗A method, apparatus, system, and signal-bearing medium that, in an embodiment, receive vendor resource data and vendor logic from vendors, receive customer resource data from a customer, build a page based on the customer resource data and the vendor resource data, send the page to the customer, and invoke the vendor logic in response to a request from the customer via the page. The page may describe both the current inventory of resources at the customer (based on the customer resource data) and resources that are available for purchase from the vendors (based on the vendor resource data). In various embodiments, the vendor logic purchases the resource from the vendor, requests information from the vendor, or registers the customer with the vendor. If a determination is made that a new resource is needed, either by the customer or by analysis of the customer resource data and rules for purchasing new resources, then a purchase request is sent to the vendor for the new resource.
1. A method comprising:
requesting a plurality of vendor logic from a plurality of respective vendors;
receiving the plurality of vendor logic from the plurality of respective vendors, wherein the plurality of vendor logic perform operations;
receiving customer resource data and a rule from a customer computer, wherein the customer resource data describes a first resource installed at the customer computer;
wherein the customer resource data comprises performance statistics regarding performance of the first resource at the customer computer and the rule comprises a performance threshold, and wherein the first resource comprises the hardware installed at the customer computer;
determining whether a second resource is needed by the customer computer based on the customer resource data and the rule, wherein the rule comprises an identification of the second resource;
building a page based on the customer resource data and vendor resource data, wherein the page describes an inventory of the first resource installed at the customer computer and at least the second resource available for purchase from one of the plurality of vendors;
sending the page to the customer computer;
finding an entry in one of the plurality of vendor logic in response to a request from the customer computer via the page; and
invoking the entry in the one of the plurality of vendor logic, wherein the entry in the one of the plurality of vendor logic executes and sends a purchase request for the second resource to the one of the plurality of vendors.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving the vendor resource data from the one of the plurality of vendors.
3. A method for configuring a computer, comprising:
configuring the computer to request a plurality of vendor logic from a plurality of respective vendors, wherein the plurality of vendor logic perform operations;
configuring the computer to receive customer resource data and at least one rule from a customer computer, wherein the customer resource data describes a first resource installed at the customer computer;
wherein the customer resource data comprises performance statistics regarding performance of the first resource at the customer computer and the rule comprises a performance threshold and wherein the customer resource data comprises error statistics regarding errors associated with the first resource at the customer computer and the rule comprises an error threshold;
configuring the computer to receive the plurality of vendor logic from the plurality of respective vendors;
configuring the computer to determine whether a new resource is needed by the customer computer based on the customer resource data and the rule, wherein the rule comprises an identification of the new resource;
configuring the computer to find an entry in one of the plurality of vendor logic; and
configuring the computer to invoke the entry in the one of the plurality of vendor logic, wherein the entry in the one of the plurality of vendor logic executes and purchases the new resource if the new resource is needed.
4. An inventory management service method comprising:
receiving a plurality of customer resource data from a plurality of customer computers, wherein the plurality of customer resource data describe a plurality of first resources installed at the plurality of customer computers;
wherein the plurality of customer resource data comprises performance statistics regarding performance of the plurality of first resources installed at the plurality of customer computers and the plurality of rules comprise performance thresholds and wherein the plurality of customer resource data comprises error statistics regarding errors associated with the plurality of first resources at the plurality of customer computers and the plurality of rules comprise error thresholds;
requesting a plurality of vendor log and vendor resource data from a plurality of respective vendors,
receiving the plurality of vendor logic and vendor resource data from a plurality of vendors, wherein the vendor resource data describes a plurality of new resources available from the plurality of vendors, and wherein the plurality of vendor logic perform operations;
communicating availability of the plurality of new resources to the plurality of customer computers;
receiving a plurality of rules from the plurality of customer computers, wherein the plurality of rules comprise an identification of the plurality of new resources;
finding a plurality of entries in the plurality of vendor logic in response to a plurality of requests from the plurality of customer computers; and
sending a plurality of purchase requests to the plurality of vendors for the plurality of new resources via invoking and executing the plurality of entries in the plurality of vendor logic.
5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
deciding to perform the sending based on the customer resource data.
6. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
deciding to perform the sending based on a plurality of requests from the plurality of customer computers.
7. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
deciding to perform the sending based on the plurality of rules and the plurality of customer resource data.