Patent ID: 7840433

Claim:
A method for fluidly allocating a supply of depleting chips for obtaining desired service level characteristics of a supply of computational resources, the method comprising: allocating each of a plurality of parties a fixed quantity of chips for bidding on a computational resource, using at least one computerized device; receiving a first unscheduled bid for the computational resource from a first party of the plurality of parties, the first unscheduled bid using an amount of the fixed quantity of chips of the first party, using the least one computerized device; receiving a second unscheduled bid for the computational resource from a second party of the plurality of parties, the second unscheduled bid using an amount of the fixed quantity of chips of the second party, using the least one computerized device; selecting a strategy for allocating the computational resource after receiving the first unscheduled bid and the second unscheduled bid, the strategy selected from a group of strategies consisting of: winner take all, ratio of resources, and harvested capacity, the selecting performed using the at least one computerized device; determining, in response to the receiving of the second bid, based on the selected strategy, the first unscheduled bid, and the second unscheduled bid, a winning bid for the computational resource for an unguaranteed period of time, the determining performed using the at least one computerized device; and debiting the quantity of chips of the party corresponding to the winning bid by the amount in response to the party being awarded the computational resource, using the least one computerized device.