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Automatically collecting data regarding assets of a business entity

  • US 10,586,209 B2
  • Filed: 05/02/2006
  • Issued: 03/10/2020
  • Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2002
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-readable instructions which, when executed, control a computer to perform a method for gathering attribute data about elements, the method comprising:

  • generating a plurality of element data structures recognizable by a computer system, the plurality of element data structures corresponding to installed software on the computer system;

    generating, based on a plurality of fingerprint files, a plurality of collection instructions associated with each element data structure for retrieving attribute data for the element data structure within the computer system, wherein each collection instruction is referenced in a respective fingerprint file specific to a type associated with the element data structure, the fingerprint file indicating attributes of the element data structure;

    collecting attribute data using the collection instructions generated based on the fingerprint files, wherein the collected attribute data is stored in a single common data store after post-processing to conform the collected attribute data to the element data structure;

    examining the stored attribute data to determine that an element exists within the computer system, wherein the examination includes matching the stored attribute data with attribute definitions of known elements;

    generating entries for each matched element, wherein each matched element comprises collected attribute data that matches with attribute definitions of known elements; and

    characterizing features of the computer system based on the matched elements found on the computer system from the generated entries.

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