Intelectual property (IP) brokering system and method

An intellectual property (IP) brokering system comprising:

• (a) knowledge database means;
• (b) requirements database means;
• (c) technology database means;
• (d) architecture database means;
• (e) optimization engine means;
• and
• (f) expert system means;
• wherein
• said knowledge database means incorporates a customer preferences profile;
• said requirements database means incorporates particular customer design requirements;
• said technology database means incorporates available IP agents;
• said architecture database means incorporates known design architectures;
• and
• said expert system means reads said knowledge database means and said requirements database means and optimizes the use of said technology database means and architecture database means using said optimization engine to generate an optimized IP vector projection of IP agent means for customer product realization via brokered IP agent means.

An intellectual property (IP) brokering method comprising:

• (1) entering and/or refining customer requirements;
• (2) generating a customer(s) requirements state space;
• (3) fracturing said customer(s) requirements state space into a series of customer requirements vectors;
• (4) identifying available IP agent means and their associated IP agent state space vectors;
• (5) mapping said fractured customer(s) requirements vectors to a set of said available IP agent state space vectors;
• (6) projecting said fractured customer(s) requirements to said mapped set of IP agent state space vectors;
• (7) determining if an optimal customer(s) utility function has been achieved, and if not, proceeding to one of said steps (1)-(6);
• (8) reporting calculated optimal IP agent vector projections and permitting said optimal IP agent vector projections to be further refined by proceeding to said step (1);
• and
• (9) optionally determining if the customer(s) is satisfied and if not, proceeding to said step (1).
• wherein
• said fractured customer requirements are delivered as brokered IP requests to IP agent means;
• said IP agent vector projections are transported to said customer(s) via a communication means.

A computer usable medium having computer-readable program code means providing intellectual property (IP) brokering functionality, said computer-readable program means comprising:

• (1) computer program code means for entering and/or refining customer requirements;
• (2) computer program code means for generating a customer(s) requirements state space;
• (3) computer program code means for fracturing said customer(s) requirements state space into a series of customer requirements vectors;
• (4) computer program code means for identifying available IP agent means and their associated IP agent state space vectors;
• (5) computer program code means for mapping said fractured customer(s) requirements vectors to a set of said available IP agent state space vectors;
• (6) computer program code means for projecting said fractured customer(s) requirements to said mapped set of IP agent state space vectors;
• (7) computer program code means for determining if an optimal customer(s) utility function has been achieved, and if not, proceeding to one of said steps (1)-(6);
• (8) computer program code means for reporting calculated optimal IP agent vector projections and permitting said optimal IP agent vector projections to be further refined by proceeding to said step (1);
• and
• (9) computer program code means for optionally determining if the customer(s) is satisfied and if not, proceeding to said step (1).
• wherein
• said fractured customer requirements are delivered as brokered IP requests to IP agent means;
• said IP agent vector projections are transported to said customer(s) via a communication means.

An intellectual property (IP) brokering encoded propagated signal data stream constructed using

• (1) knowledge database means;
• (2) requirements database means;
• (3) technology database means;
• (4) architecture database means;
• wherein
• said knowledge database means incorporates a customer preferences profile;
• said requirements database means incorporates particular customer design requirements;
• said technology database means incorporates available IP agents;
• said architecture database means incorporates known design architectures;
• and
• an expert system means reads said knowledge database means and said requirements database means and optimizes the use of said technology database means and architecture database means using said optimization engine to generate an optimized IP vector projection of IP agent means for customer product realization via brokered IP agent means;
• and
• said encoded signal communicates between two nodes in a distributed network over the Internet.

A hospital care management system comprising:

• (a) IP brokering system means;
• (b) Hospital personnel means;
• (c) Hospital equipment means;
• (d) Hospital resource means;
• (e) Communication means;
• and
• (f) Spatially diverse resources means;
• wherein
• said IP brokering system means accepts needs and constraints from an admitted patient and coordinates said hospital personnel means, said hospital equipment means, said hospital resources means, and said spatially diverse resources means to generate resource groups queued for analysis, treatment, and billing of said patient;
• said spatially diverse resource means is controlled by said IP brokering means via a communications means;
• and
• said hospital personnel means includes doctors and/or nurses.

A hospital care management method comprising:

• (1) admitting a patient;
• (2) entering said patient's needs, status, and constraints into a care management system (CMS);
• (3) mapping said patient elements onto said care management system resource state space;
• (4) optimizing said patient's utility function over said care management system resource state space based on temporal, spatial, capability, and cost attributes of each hospital resource;
• and
• (5) queuing the optimized result of said care management system analysis as resource groups for analysis, treatment, and billing of said patient.
• wherein
• said care management system implements an IP brokering system;
• said care management system manages spatially diverse hospital resources via a communications medium.

A peer-to-peer compute resource brokering system comprising:

• (a) IP brokering system means;
• (b) Consumer means;
• (c) Communications medium means;
• (d) Software provider means;
• (e) Compute/storage provider means;
• and
• (f) Billing/payment means;
• wherein
• said IP brokering system means accepts software application requests from said consumer means and “equivalent system” compute requests from said consumer means and optimizes the selection of software resources, data storage providers, and CPU time across said consumer constraints;
• said IP brokering system means coordinates the execution of said software application from said software provider means on said compute/storage provider means via said communications means
• said billing/payment means bills said consumer based on performance, resource, time, and thruput utilized in executing said software application and distributes the payment proceeds of said billing to said compute/storage providers.

A peer-to-peer compute resource brokering method comprising:

• (1) processing a consumer request for use of a selected software application using a compute resource brokering system;
• (2) requesting X licenses for Y reference system hours of “equivalent system” hours of compute time from a compute resource brokering system;
• (3) optimizing selection of software resources, data storage providers, and CPU time across said consumer constraints;
• (4) initiating execution of said software application;
• (5) distributing software code and optionally licensing said software on a per-use basis;
• (6) performing the requested computation (6060);
• (7) collecting the results from said requested computation and optionally post-processing said results;
• (8) billing said consumer and distributing said billing proceeds to compute/storage servers.
• wherein
• said compute resource brokering system implements an IP brokering system;
• said compute resource brokering system manages spatially diverse compute resources via a communications medium.

A SOC definition method comprising:

• (1) defining a system functional specification;
• (2) defining system interface signals;
• (3) defining package signals;
• (4) selecting appropriate technology;
• (5) selecting appropriate IP blocks to implement said functional specification in a design;
• (6) updating package signals to correspond to current IP block selections;
• (7) calculating die size/cost using an estimator metric;
• (8) selecting an appropriate package based on die size and assigning package pins;
• (9) determining if said design is optimal and if not proceeding to step (1);
• (10) optionally generating simulation profiles to simulate said design;
• (11) determining if a redesign is necessary and if so proceeding to step (1).
• wherein
• said definitions and selections are enabled via an IP brokering system;
• said IP brokering system manages spatially diverse resource agents via a communications medium.

An X-Drive configuration method comprising:

• (1) connecting an X-Drive to a configuration host;
• (2) defining MAC/IP identification on said X-Drive;
• (3) Determining and loading a GPS locale from a GPS receiver and/or the Internet on said X-Drive;
• (4) Testing and/or formatting and/or initializing said X-Drive mechanics;
• (5) Associating said X-Drive onto a storage network;
• (6) Processing network file requests on said X-Drive.