# 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:** US 10140638 - **Original title:** Providing information technology resiliency in a cloud-based services marketplace - **Owner:** International Business Machines Corp - **Granted:** 2018 - **Status:** Active - **Times cited:** 1 - **Field:** software, telecommunications, ai_ml ## What it does 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 does NOT 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. ## Real-world examples 1. Enterprise multi-cloud management platforms 2. Automated disaster recovery services 3. Cloud service brokerage software ## 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. ## Frequently asked questions ### What does How Cloud Services Automatically Switch Providers When One Fails cover? 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. ### Who owns patent US 10140638? International Business Machines Corp owns this patent, granted in 2018. ### When does this patent expire? This patent is expected to expire on November 27, 2038, when the invention enters the public domain. ### What is patent US 10140638 cited by? This patent has been cited by 1 later patents that build on its ideas. ### What problem does this patent solve? 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. ### What does this patent NOT cover? Does not cover manual switching of cloud providers by a human administrator. **Full plain-English explainer:** https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/10140638/airbnb-review-system **Original patent:** https://patents.google.com/patent/US10140638 --- _Source: PatentBrief — https://patentbrief.org. Patent facts are from public records; the plain-English explanation is PatentBrief's._ ## Related patents Semantically similar inventions in the PatentBrief corpus: - [How to Safely Shut Down Microservices Without Breaking Apps](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/12217035/vision-pro-spatial-photos-videos) — A method for shutting down parts of a software system one by one by mapping active requests to specific services, ensuring no tasks are interrupted during updates. - [How Cloud Systems Automatically Assign Virtual Machines to Servers](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/9075661/hyper-v-virtualization) — A method for cloud services to automatically choose the best server for a task by filtering out impossible options and then ranking the remaining ones. - [How Software Automatically Checks for Configuration Errors in Complex Systems](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/10853731/core-ml-on-device-machine-learning) — A method for keeping large-scale computer systems consistent by automatically checking if new or removed parts break established configuration rules. - [How Software Automatically Translates Database Queries for Different Storage Systems](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/9535948/facebook-watch) — A system that intercepts database queries written for traditional relational databases and automatically translates them to work with non-relational databases, allowing developers to switch storage systems without rewriting their application code. - [How Computers Automatically Adjust Tasks to Run Faster in Data Centers](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/9405582/aws-elastic-beanstalk) — A method for cloud computers to monitor their own performance while processing massive data tasks and automatically changing their settings or resource levels to stay efficient.