Patent ID: 7734515

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for assisting users in generating new invocable composite network services that are based on multiple other invocable constituent network services, the computer-implemented method comprising: providing a group of defined representation types for use in describing input and output parameters of network services, each of the defined representation types indicating a data type and corresponding to a distinct type of information; for each input and output parameter of a plurality of registered network services, associating one of the defined representation types with the parameter so as to indicate that values of that parameter are of the indicated data type for that one defined representation type and represent the type of information to which that one defined representation type corresponds, each of the registered network services being provided by a provider and having been registered as being available for use by others based on information received from a representative of the provider; and for each of multiple new invocable composite network services, creating the new composite network service by, receiving one or more indications from a user of multiple of the registered network services to be used as constituent network services for the new composite network service; automatically determining suggested inter-relationships between multiple of the indicated network services when used as the constituent network services of the new composite network service, the automatic determining being based at least in part on matching the defined representation types associated with input and output parameters of the indicated network services and being performed by one or more programmed computing systems; determining additional information to use in providing the new composite network service to others, the additional information including one or more determined use prices for use of the new composite network service, one or more determined use conditions to restrict use of the new composite network service, and one or more determined interface descriptions that each specify one or more input and output parameters for use in accessing the new composite network service; and registering the new composite network service as being available for use by others based on the determined additional information and the determined suggested inter-relationships, such that providing the new composite network service to another user will be performed in a manner that reflects the determined additional information and that includes automatically invoking the multiple indicated network services in accordance with determined inter-relationships that are based at least in part on the determined suggested inter-relationships.