Valuation of and Marketplace for Inter-Network Links Between a High-Altitude Network and Terrestrial Network

A computing system comprising:

• a non-transitory computer readable medium;
• program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by at least one processor to cause the client device to:
• determine a demand for inter-network bandwidth between a high-altitude aerial network and a terrestrial data network;
• determine one or more offers corresponding to one or more client devices, wherein each offer is an offer to provide an inter-network link between the high-altitude aerial network and the terrestrial data network via the corresponding client device, wherein each inter-network link that is established provides inter-network bandwidth between the high-altitude aerial network and the terrestrial data network;
• compare (a) the demand for inter-network bandwidth and (b) the one or more offers;
• select one or more of the offers based at least in part on the comparison of:
• (a) the demand for inter-network bandwidth and (b) the one or more offers;
• and
• initiate a process to establish an inter-network link between the high-altitude aerial network and the terrestrial data network at each client device that corresponds to one of the one or more selected offers.

A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein instructions executable by a client computing device to cause the client computing device to perform functions comprising:

• determining a demand for inter-network bandwidth between a high-altitude aerial network and a terrestrial data network;
• comparing (a) the demand for inter-network bandwidth and (b) the one or more offers to provide an inter-network link;
• determining one or more offers corresponding to one or more client devices, wherein each offer is an offer to provide an inter-network link between the high-altitude aerial network and the terrestrial data network via the corresponding client device, wherein each inter-network link that is established provides inter-network bandwidth between the high-altitude aerial network and the terrestrial data network;
• selecting one or more of the offers based at least in part on the comparison of:
• (a) the demand for inter-network bandwidth and (b) the one or more offers;
• and
• initiating a process to establish an inter-network link between the high-altitude aerial network and the terrestrial data network at each client device that corresponds to one of the one or more selected offers.

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• determining, based at least in part on a measure of bandwidth utilization by a client device, an amount of available bandwidth that the client device can provide for an inter-network link between a high-altitude aerial network and a terrestrial data network;
• determining offer pricing information for the available bandwidth;
• sending an offer message that indicates an offer to provide an inter-network link between the high-altitude aerial network and the terrestrial data network via the client device, wherein the offer message comprises:
• (a) an indication of the amount of available bandwidth and (b) the pricing information for the available bandwidth;
• receiving a message indicating that the offer is selected, wherein selection of the offer is based at least in part on a comparison of:
• (a) demand for inter-network bandwidth between the high-altitude aerial network and the terrestrial data network and (b) the offer and zero or more other offers to provide an inter-network link, where each of the other offers is associated with a corresponding other client device;
• and
• initiating a process to establish the inter-network link between the high-altitude aerial network and the terrestrial data network via the client device.

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• determining, by a computing device, a demand for inter-network bandwidth between a high-altitude aerial network and a terrestrial data network;
• based at least in part on the demand for inter-network bandwidth, generating at least one request for an inter-network link, wherein the inter-network link provides inter-network bandwidth between the high-altitude aerial network and the terrestrial data network;
• and
• initiating a process to make the inter-network link available to one or more client devices, wherein the process makes the inter-network link available via an inter-network marketplace, and wherein the process comprises:
• comparing (a) the demand for inter-network bandwidth and (b) one or more offers corresponding to one or more client devices, wherein each offer is an offer to provide an inter-network link between the high-altitude aerial network and the terrestrial data network via the corresponding client device, wherein each inter-network link that is established provides inter-network bandwidth between the high-altitude aerial network and the terrestrial data network;
• selecting one or more of the offers to provide an inter-network link based at least in part on the comparison of:
• (a) the demand for inter-network bandwidth and (b) the one or more offers to provide an inter-network link;
• and
• initiating a process to establish an inter-network link between the high-altitude aerial network and the terrestrial data network at each client device that corresponds to one of the one or more selected offers.