Patent ID: 7792952

Claim:
A system for rating web services, the system comprising: a computer including a network interface for electronic communications with a communications network, wherein the computer is configured to process rating information input regarding a web service and use the rating information input, and wherein the computer is also configured to respond to a request for rating information; a plurality of web service identifications for identifying web services; a prediction engine for predicting behavior regarding the performance of the web service based on prediction inputs; web service information that relates to the web services, wherein the web service information was obtained through use of the rating information input, wherein both the web service information and the prediction inputs comprise historical data obtained by the system; a plurality of factors that determine an overall rating of the web services; one or more weights that correspond to the plurality of factors in order to weight the factors according to user input; a web services directory including a list of a plurality of web services and a uniform resource locator (URL) for each of the web services within the plurality of web services; and a new web service, wherein the system does not have past performance data for the new web service, wherein the system uses a web service information database that is preloaded with related past performance data of a related web service, wherein the related web service provides similar services as the new web service, wherein the system uses the related past performance data of the related web service to rate the new web service.