Method, system, and apparatus for providing customer product support for a software program based upon states of program execution instability

• US 20060070037A1
• Filed: 09/30/2004
• Published: 03/30/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Coon, Thomas Scott, Erlandson, Aaron Everett, LeVine, Eric, White, Christopher Cameron, Greenberg, Steven Miles, Canning, Benjamin Elliott
• Granted Patent: US 7,681,181 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/127
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/34 Recording or statistical evaluation of computer activity, e.g. of down time, of input/output operation ; Recording or statistical evaluation of user activity, e.g. usability assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/865 Monitoring of software

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for providing custom product support for a computer program based on levels of execution instability. The execution of a software program is monitored over a period of time to determine the execution stability of the program. Based upon the monitoring and upon one or more threshold levels of instability, the execution stability of the program is categorized. Based upon the categorization, custom program support may be provided for a user of the computer system executing the program. For instance, based on the categorization free or reduced fee product support may be provided.

Claims

12. A system for providing custom product support for a software program based on threshold levels of program execution instability, the system comprising:

a client computer operative to receive a remote control file from a server computer containing data identifying one or more thresholds of program execution instability for one or more versions of the software program, to monitor the execution of a software program over a period of time to determine the execution stability of the program, to categorize the execution stability of the program based on the thresholds of program execution instability contained in the remote control file, and to provide custom product support for the software program based upon the categorization.

1. A method for providing custom product support for a software program based on states of program execution instability, the method comprising:

monitoring the execution of the software program over a period of time to determine the execution stability of the program;

categorizing the execution stability of the program based on one or more threshold levels of instability; and

providing custom product support for the software program based upon the categorization.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the execution of the software program over a period of time comprises:

generating a session entry in a log each time the program is executed, the session entry comprising data identifying the program, the length of time the program was executed, and indicating whether the execution of the program was terminated normally or abnormally.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein an abnormal termination comprises either a program crash, a program hang, or an abnormal program termination.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the execution stability of the program comprises analyzing the log to generate one or more statistics that describe the execution stability of the program.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the statistics comprise the number of abnormal terminations per number of program executions.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the statistics further comprise the number of abnormal terminations per number of minutes of program execution.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein categorizing the execution stability of the program based on one or more threshold levels of instability comprises:

periodically receiving a remote control file, the remote control file containing data identifying one or more thresholds of program execution instability; and

comparing each of the statistics to a corresponding threshold to categorize the execution instability of the program into one of a plurality of states of program execution instability.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the remote control file contains data identifying one or more thresholds of program execution instability for one or more versions of the program, and wherein the method further comprises determining whether the remote control file contains thresholds for the version of the program prior to categorizing the execution stability of the program.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein providing custom product support for the software program comprises directing a user of the computer program to an information resource having free or reduced fee product support for the software program based upon the categorization.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein providing custom product support for the software program comprises directing a user of the computer program to an information resource identified based upon the categorization.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein providing custom product support for the software program comprises executing a diagnostic program based upon the categorization.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein monitoring the execution of the software program over a period of time comprises:

generating a session entry in a log stored at the client computer each time the program is executed, the session entry comprising data identifying the program, the length of time the program was executed, and indicating whether the execution of the program was terminated normally or abnormally.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein an abnormal termination comprises either a program crash, a program hang, or an abnormal program termination.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein determining the execution stability of the program comprises analyzing the log at the client computer to generate one or more statistics that describe the execution stability of the program.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the statistics further comprise the number of abnormal terminations per number of minutes of program execution.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein categorizing the execution stability of the program based on one or more threshold levels of instability comprises comparing each of the statistics to a corresponding threshold to categorize the execution instability of the program into one of a plurality of states of program execution instability.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein providing custom product support for the software program comprises directing a user to an information resource providing free or reduced fee product support depending on the level of program execution instability.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein providing custom product support for the software program comprises directing a user of the client computer to an information resource, the information resource determined based on the level of program execution instability.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein providing custom product support for the software program comprises executing a diagnostic program on the client computer to diagnose problems with the program.

15-1. The system of claim 14, wherein the statistics comprise the number of abnormal terminations per number of program executions.

21. A computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

monitor the execution of the software program over a period of time to determine the execution stability of the program;

categorize the execution stability of the program based on one or more threshold levels of instability; and

provide custom product support for the software program based upon the categorization.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, wherein monitoring the execution of the software program over a period of time comprises:

generating a session entry in a log each time the program is executed, the session entry comprising data identifying the program, the length of time the program was executed, and indicating whether the execution of the program was terminated normally or abnormally.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein an abnormal termination comprises either a program crash, a program hang, or an abnormal program termination.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein determining the execution stability of the program comprises analyzing the log to generate one or more statistics that describe the execution stability of the program.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 24, wherein the statistics comprise the number of abnormal terminations per number of program executions.