Interactive multi-level failsafe enablement

• US 10,642,682 B2
• Filed: 05/24/2018
• Issued: 05/05/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Franks, Jon K., Smith, Maria E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Schell, Joseph O
• Application Number:
  US15/988,178
• Publication Number:
  US 20180267849A1
• Time in Patent Office: 712 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0706 the processing taking place on a specific hardware platform or in a specific software environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/076 by exceeding a count or rate limit, e.g. word- or bit count limit
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0796 Safety measures, i.e. ensuring safe condition in the event of error, e.g. for controlling element
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/366 using diagnostics G06F11/0703 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3664 Environments for testing or debugging software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/629 to features or functions of an application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/30189 according to execution mode, e.g. mode flag
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4406 Loading of operating system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/445 Program loading or initiating bootstrapping G06F9/4401; security arrangements for program loading or initiating G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44536 Selecting among different versions

Abstract

Embodiments include method, systems and computer program products for an interactive, multi-level failsafe capability. In some embodiments, a failed count indicative of a number of failed attempts to launch an application may be received. A failsafe mode level corresponding to the failed count may be determined. The failsafe mode level may be initialized in response to determining the failsafe mode level corresponding to the failed count. The failsafe mode level may determine the functionality that may be enabled. Users may perform interactive debugging by editing configuration settings and manually enabling functionality.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for enabling a multi-level failsafe capability of an electronic device, comprising:

determining a failed count indicative of a number of failed attempts to launch an application executing on the electronic device;

selecting a failsafe mode level corresponding to the failed count;

initializing the application at the failsafe mode level, wherein initializing the application at the failsafe mode level comprises launching the application with a portion of functionality of the application disabled, and

setting the failed count to zero based on a determination that a predetermined time period has elapsed without the application failing.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the application has failed within a predetermined time period;

incrementing the failed count; and

re-launching the application.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein selecting the failsafe mode level corresponding to the failed count comprises:

determining that the failed count lies within a particular predetermined threshold range of failed attempts among a plurality of predetermined threshold ranges, wherein the plurality of predetermined threshold ranges correspond to a plurality of different failsafe mode levels, respectively;

determining that a failsafe mode level corresponds to the particular predetermined threshold range; and

selecting the failsafe mode level among the plurality of failsafe mode levels based at least in part on determining that the failsafe mode level corresponds to the particular predetermined threshold range.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising during a live-debugging of the application:

receiving a user request to enable a portion of the disabled functionality; and

enabling the portion of the disabled functionality.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the user request is a first user request, the method further comprising:

determining that the application has failed after the portion of the disabled functionality is enabled;

receiving a second user request to modify configuration settings associated with the portion of the disabled functionality;

modifying the configuration settings based at least in part on receiving the second user request; and

re-initializing the application at the failsafe mode level.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the failed count is a first failed count, the failsafe mode level is a first failsafe mode level, and the portion of functionality is a first portion of functionality, the method further comprising:

determining a second failed count indicative of an updated number of failed attempts to launch the application;

selecting a second failsafe mode level corresponding to the second failed count, wherein a second portion of functionality of the application is disabled at the second failsafe mode level, the second portion being greater than the first portion; and

initializing the application at the second failsafe mode level, wherein initializing the application at the second failsafe mode level comprises launching the application with the second portion of the functionality of the application disabled.

7. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method to enable a multi-level failsafe capability of an electronic device a failsafe mode for an electronic device, the method comprising:

determining a failed count indicative of a number of failed attempts to launch an application executing on the electronic device;

selecting a failsafe mode level corresponding to the failed count;

initializing the application at the failsafe mode level, wherein initializing the application at the failsafe mode level comprises launching the application with a portion of functionality of the application disabled, and

setting the failed count to zero based on a determination that a predetermined time period has elapsed without the application failing.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein selecting the failsafe mode level corresponding to the failed count comprises:

determining that the failed count lies within a particular predetermined threshold range of failed attempts among a plurality of predetermined threshold ranges, wherein the plurality of predetermined threshold ranges correspond to a plurality of different failsafe mode levels, respectively;

determining that a failsafe mode level corresponds to the particular predetermined threshold range; and

selecting the failsafe mode level among the plurality of failsafe mode levels based at least in part on determining that the failsafe mode level corresponds to the particular predetermined threshold range.

9. The computer program product of claim 7, the method further comprising during a live-debugging of the application:

receiving a user request to enable a portion of the disabled functionality; and

enabling the portion of the disabled functionality.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the user request is a first user request, the method further comprising:

determining that the application has failed after the portion of the disabled functionality is enabled;

receiving a second user request to modify configuration settings associated with the portion of the disabled functionality;

modifying the configuration settings based at least in part on receiving the second user request; and

re-initializing the application at the failsafe mode level.

11. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the failed count is a first failed count, the failsafe mode level is a first failsafe mode level, and the portion of functionality is a first portion of functionality, the method further comprising:

determining a second failed count indicative of an updated number of failed attempts to launch the application;

selecting a second failsafe mode level corresponding to the second failed count, wherein a second portion of functionality of the application is disabled at the second failsafe mode level, the second portion being greater than the first portion; and

initializing the application at the second failsafe mode level, wherein initializing the application at the second failsafe mode level comprises launching the application with the second portion of the functionality of the application disabled.

12. An electronic device having a multi-level failsafe capability, the electronic device comprising:

a processing unit in communication with one or more types of memory, the processing unit configured to;

determine a failed count indicative of a number of failed attempts to launch an application executing on the electronic device;

select a failsafe mode level corresponding to the failed count;

initialize the application at the failsafe mode level, wherein initializing the application at the failsafe mode level comprises launching the application with a portion of functionality of the application disabled, and

set the failed count to zero based on a determination that a predetermined time period has elapsed without the application failing.

13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

determine that the application has failed within a predetermined time period;

increment the failed count; and

re-launch the application.

14. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the processing unit is configured to select the failsafe mode level corresponding to the failed count by:

determining that the failed count lies within a particular predetermined threshold range of failed attempts among a plurality of predetermined threshold ranges, wherein the plurality of predetermined threshold ranges correspond to a plurality of different failsafe mode levels, respectively;

determining that a failsafe mode level corresponds to the particular predetermined threshold range; and

selecting the failsafe mode level among the plurality of failsafe mode levels based at least in part on determining that the failsafe mode level corresponds to the particular predetermined threshold range.

15. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the processing unit is further configured to during a live-debugging of the application:

receive a user request to enable a portion of the disabled functionality; and

enable the portion of the disabled functionality.

16. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the user request is a first user request, and wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

determine that the application has failed after the portion of the disabled functionality is enabled;

receive a second user request to modify configuration settings associated with the portion of the disabled functionality;

modify the configuration settings based at least in part on receiving the second user request; and

re-initialize the application at the failsafe mode level.

17. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the failed count is a first failed count, the failsafe mode level is a first failsafe mode level, and the portion of functionality is a first portion of functionality, and wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

determine a second failed count indicative of an updated number of failed attempts to launch the application;

select a second failsafe mode level corresponding to the second failed count, wherein a second portion of functionality of the application is disabled at the second failsafe mode level, the second portion being greater than the first portion; and

initialize the application at the second failsafe mode level, wherein initializing the application at the second failsafe mode level comprises launching the application with the second portion of the functionality of the application disabled.