Patent ID: 7516081

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for adaptively estimating a gain and a revenue, wherein all steps are performed by a computer, comprising: receiving initial data for at least one subject to be measured, the initial data including a duration of a measurement period, a number of clock cycles representing total number of samples for the at least one subject to be taken during the duration of the measurement period, an initial value of a total cost representing a cost estimate of the at least one subject over the duration of the measurement period, and an initial gain function representing a desired gain of a service provider system; capturing a number of used units of the subject during a current clock cycle, the current clock cycle representing a sampling interval, the used units representing utilization measure of the subject; determining current gain for the current clock cycle using the captured number of used units and the initial gain function; determining current revenue based on the received initial data and the captured number of used units, the current revenue computed as cost of the captured number of used units plus the current gain; receiving a value of a change in cost between the current clock cycle and a previous clock cycle; updating the value of the total cost using the received value of a change in cost at predetermined measurement intervals within the duration of the measurement period; averaging the number of used units; defining a convex upper bound function and a concave lower bound function for the gain function; determining based on the averaged number of used units, the convex upper bound function, and the concave lower bound function a forecast for an upper bound and a lower bound of the gain; forecasting for an upper bound and a lower bound of the revenue based on the updated value of the total cost and the forecast for an upper bound and a lower bound of the gain; performing a sensitivity analysis on the forecast for an upper bound and a lower bound of the gain utilizing the averaged number of used units and the history of the gain function over several clock cycles; determining a gain adjustment based on the result of the sensitivity analysis; cumulating the current revenue and the current gain over the measurement period to obtain an actual revenue and an actual gain; and using the cumulated current revenue and gain in developing pricing policies associated with the subject.