How Cloud Services Automatically Switch Providers When One Fails
A system that uses conversational AI to understand your reliability needs and automatically switches your cloud service to a backup provider if your current one goes down.
Patent Number
US 10140638
Status
Active
Filing Date
December 6, 2012
Grant Date
November 27, 2018
Expiration
~December 2032 (estimated)
Claims
23
Assignee
International Business Machines Corp
Inventors
Anca Sailer, Rahul P. Akolkar, Tao Tao, Thomas E. Chefalas, Alla Segal, Frank A. Schaffa, Chang-shing Perng, Jim A. Laredo, Ignacio Silva-Lepe
Citations
1 forward · 28 backward
What it covers
This patent describes a system that acts as a smart broker for cloud computing services. When a user describes their needs in plain language (like needing high uptime or specific security), the system translates those requirements into a structured graph that maps business rules to technical IT stacks. It then matches these needs against a database of service providers categorized by an ontology—a formal way of organizing concepts like reliability metrics and failure domains. Crucially, the system continuously monitors the connection and, if it detects a failure, automatically migrates the user to a pre-ranked alternative provider without requiring the user to intervene or re-configure their settings.
What it doesn't cover
- —Does not cover manual switching of cloud providers by a human administrator.
- —Does not cover systems that lack a conversational interface for initial requirement gathering.
- —Does not cover basic load balancing that does not use an ontology-based framework for matching resiliency attributes.
- —Does not cover failure recovery that requires the user to re-input their business requirements.
The clever bit
The system builds a 'third data structure' by combining the user's initial requirements with the actual performance data of the chosen provider, allowing it to refine its future rankings and predictions without ever bothering the user for more input.
Why it matters
As businesses move critical operations to the cloud, the risk of a single provider outage becomes a massive liability. This patent addresses the 'vendor lock-in' problem by automating the transition between different cloud environments, effectively creating a self-healing marketplace for enterprise infrastructure.
Real-world examples
- 1.Enterprise multi-cloud management platforms
- 2.Automated disaster recovery services
- 3.Cloud service brokerage software
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US 10140638 · 2026