Patent ID: 9577952
Date: 2017-02-21
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A computer for managing a service, the computer comprising: a bus; a processor unit connected to the bus; and a computer readable storage device connected to the bus, wherein the computer readable storage device stores program instructions that are executable by the processor unit to: meter usage and performance of a set of resources by the service; receive a request to verify information in a user-selected portion of a bill referencing a portion of a period of time during the usage of the set of resources by the service; generate a description of the usage and performance of the set of resources by the service referenced by the user-selected portion of the bill based on metering the usage and performance in response to receiving the request to verify the information in the user-selected portion of the bill referencing the portion of the period of time during the usage of the set of resources by the service; create a response to the request using the generated description of the usage and performance of the set of resources by the service referenced by the user-selected portion of the bill, comprising, for the user-selected portion of the bill for the portion of the period of time referenced, a timeline graph as a human readable graph depicting a timeline of the usage of the set of resources by the service for only each defined period of respective resource use, bounded by a set of associated signed information identifying a particular use of a respective resource in the set of resources by the service; and send at least the timeline graph and the response to a client providing visual proof of validity of the information in the user-selected portion of the bill for display to a user, wherein collected information about the set of resources used by the service comprises metering data that is generated by the service and a set of time stamps identifying each particular use, by the service, of each resource in the set of resources, and wherein the set of time stamps comprising a start time and a stop time indicate when the particular use of the respective resource in the set of resources by the service occurred, and wherein the computer stores the collected information about the set of resources used by the service in a usage graph, and wherein the computer digitally signs the usage graph storing the collected information about the set of resources used by the service, and wherein the computer generates and verifies a description of the usage of the set of resources by the service using the collected information in the digitally signed usage graph.