# US 2014/0156557 A1 · Providing a Simulation Service by a Cloud-Based Infrastructure

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- Number: US 2014/0156557 A1
- Document ID: US20140156557A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 14/126,583
- Filed: 2011-10-24
- Published: 2014-06-05
- Earliest claimed: 2011-08-19
- Inventors: Jun Zeng; Jun Li
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140156557A1

## CPC

- G06Q 10/067: Enterprise or organisation modelling
- G06Q 10/0631: Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
- G06Q 10/0637: Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
- G06Q 10/0674: {using process simulation}
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR

## Abstract

A cloud-based infrastructure provides a simulation service accessible by a plurality of different enterprises. The cloud-based infrastructure executes an operation simulation in response to access of the simulation service by a particular one of the plurality of enterprises, wherein the operation simulation is of a business process of the particular enterprise and uses information provided by the particular enterprise.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method comprising:
providing, by a cloud-based infrastructure, a simulation service accessible by a plurality of different enterprises; and
executing, in the cloud-based infrastructure, an operation simulation in response to access of the simulation service by a particular one of the plurality of enterprises, wherein the operation simulation is of a business process of the particular enterprise and uses information provided by the particular enterprise.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein executing the operation simulation comprises executing a what-if scenario simulation of the business process.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein executing the what-if scenario simulation comprises executing the what-if scenario simulation to determine an effect to the enterprise due to a potential change to be made to the business process.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein executing the operation simulation comprises executing the operation simulation of a print manufacturing process.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein executing the operation simulation of the print manufacturing process comprises executing the operation simulation of the print manufacturing process that produces print artifacts.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising dynamically launching different simulation environments in the cloud-based computing environment in response to corresponding accesses of the simulation service by multiple ones of the plurality of enterprises.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The method of claim 6, wherein each of the simulation environments includes a respective set of resources selected from among virtual machines and physical machines.

### Claim 8 (depends on 6)

The method of claim 6, wherein at least two of the simulation environments are isolated from each other.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, in the cloud-based infrastructure, models of different types from which a model is selectable by a given enterprise for adoption as the model to use in a respective simulation of a business process of the given enterprise.

### Claim 10

A system comprising:
a cloud-based infrastructure having resources to provide a simulation service accessible by a plurality of enterprises,
wherein the cloud-based infrastructure includes a simulation engine to execute an operation simulation in response to access of the simulation service by a particular one of the plurality of enterprises, wherein the operation simulation is of a business process of the particular enterprise and uses information provided by the particular enterprise.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The system of claim 10, wherein the information provided by the particular enterprise includes a simulation model defining a what-if scenario for simulation.

### Claim 12 (depends on 10)

The system of claim 10, wherein the resources of the cloud-based infrastructure includes virtual machines or physical machines that are to be dynamically allocated to perform the operation simulation.

### Claim 13 (depends on 10)

The system of claim 10, wherein the resources of the cloud-based infrastructure include multiple tiers of resources the multiple tiers including a web tier, a simulation engine tier, and a database tier.

### Claim 14 (depends on 10)

The system of claim 10, wherein the cloud-based infrastructure is to associate a credential with a requestor of the simulation service to protect simulation artifacts associated with the requestor.

### Claim 15

An article comprising at least one machine-readable storage medium storing instructions that upon execution cause a system to:
provide, by a cloud-based infrastructure in the system, a simulation service accessible by a plurality of different enterprises; and
execute, in the cloud-based infrastructure, an operation simulation in response to access of the simulation service by a particular one of the plurality of enterprises, wherein the operation simulation is of a business process of the particular enterprise and uses information provided by the particular enterprise.