Patent ID: 8484136

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving a purchase inquiry for a cloud computing service from each of a first plurality of consumers; grouping a second plurality of consumers from the first plurality of consumers into a consumer block; purchasing a quantity of the cloud computing service, the quantity of the cloud of computing service reserved for use for the second plurality of consumers grouped into the consumer block; tabulating, using a first data processor configured by a usage interface, actual use of the cloud computing service for each consumer in the consumer block using a usage interface; and charging, using a second data processor configured by a charging module, each consumer in the consumer block based on its actual use of the cloud computing service, wherein the charging includes using the second data processor to divide an overhead cost among the consumers in the consumer block based on each consumer in the consumer block's actual use of the cloud computing service, the overhead cost being a value of an unused portion of the purchased quantity of the cloud computing service.