Patent ID: 7496637

Claim:
A computer-implemented syndicator connected to a communications network for establishing subscription agreements between subscribers and network service providers and for distributing information via said network in accordance with said subscription agreements, wherein said syndicator includes a processor and a memory unit, said syndicator comprising, in combination, a registration database coupled to said network for storing a plurality of service descriptions, each of which specifies: a network address to which a request for performance of a specific network service should be directed, the input information which should accompany said request, the output information produced by said performance of said specific network service, and business terms upon which said specific network service is offered to prospective subscribers, a subscription manager for receiving from an individual subscriber an acceptance of said business terms upon which a particular one of said network services is offered to establish a subscription agreement between said individual subscriber and the provider of said particular one of said network services, a message handler for receiving a service request from said individual subscriber seeking output information produced by said performance of said particular one of said network services, transaction validation means for confirming that a subscription agreement has been established between said individual subscriber and said the provider of said particular one of said network services, execution means for invoking said particular one of said network services on behalf of said individual subscriber in accordance with said subscription agreement, and accounting means for recording information describing the delivery of information to said individual describer in accordance with said subscription agreement; where said registration database further includes registration means for accepting at least a portion of the service description for an offered network service from the provider of said offered network service, said portion of the service description being expressed in the Extensible Markup Language; and where said communications network is the Internet, wherein at least some of said network services are standards-based Web services provided by service-providing application programs that can be discovered, accessed and automatically executed over the Internet using standard protocols by a remotely located application program that invokes the execution of said Web services on behalf of said individual subscriber in accordance with said subscription agreement.