Service allocation for composite web services based on quality attributes

Web services are software artifacts that can be accessed over the Internet. They can be seen as pay-per-view func-tionalities that are exposed by some service providers. If there are multiple providers for a Web service, then both the quality and price of the service become key factors when de-termining which provider to choose. We consider the prob-lem of service allocation for multiple correlated Web ser-vices that can be serviced by potentially different Web ser-vice providers. We model this problem in a game-theoretic setting and design a reverse auction where optimal service allocation for the service requester is guaranteed. We also present an optimal strategy for the service provider when choosing its quality of service.