Systems and methods for software support

• US 20060184928A1
• Filed: 12/19/2005
• Published: 08/17/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TopCoder, Inc. (Wipro Limited)
• Original Assignee: TopCoder, Inc. (Wipro Limited)
• Inventors: Hughes, John M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,776,042 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/168
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

This invention relates to methods and a system for supporting software. In one embodiment, a method for providing an updated version of a software program includes receiving an indication of a fault in a software program, distributing the faulty software program to a distributed community of programmers, receiving updated versions of the faulty software program from a subset of the distributed community of programmers, and determining a preferred updated software program from the received updated versions of the software program. In another embodiment, a system for providing an updated version of a software program includes a communication server for communicating faulty software programs and updates of the programs to and from the distributed community of programmers, a component storage module for storing the faulty software program, and a software testing module for determining a preferred updated version of the faulty software program.

Claims

1. A method for providing an updated version of a software program comprising:

receiving an indication of a fault in a software program;

distributing the faulty software program to a distributed community of programmers;

receiving updated versions of the software program from each of a subset of the community of programmers in response to the distribution of the faulty software program; and

selecting a preferred updated software program from the received updated versions of the software program.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the software program had been previously deployed in a production environment.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the software program had previously been developed during a coding competition.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the software program is one or more selected from the group of a software component, a software application, a combination of software components, or a software module.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a copy of the faulty software program.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising analyzing the faulty program to determine the cause of the fault.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a description of the fault from a user of the faulty software program.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the indication of a fault in a software program is received from a member of the distributed community of programmers.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising distributing the description of the fault with the faulty software program.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a severity level associated with the indication of fault.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising distributing a software specification that was used to design the faulty software program.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising distributing a design document that was used to develop the faulty software program.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving one or more test cases that cause the software program to fail.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the distributed community of programmers includes one or more contestants from an online programming competition.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising limiting the distribution of the indication of the faulty software program to members of the distributed community of programmers having achieved a minimum rating in the online programming competition.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the distributed community of programmers includes a programmer that previously designed the faulty software program.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the distributed community of programmers includes a programmer that previously developed the faulty software program.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein a time limit for submitting updated versions of the software program is imposed on community of programmers.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the determination of a preferred updated software program is based at least in part on the extent to which the preferred updated software program address the indicated fault.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the determination of a preferred updated software program is based at least in part on the order of receiving the updated versions of the software program.

21. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining a list of parties who are using the faulty software program.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising distributing the preferred updated software program to the determined list of parties who are using the faulty software program.

23. The method of claim 1 further comprising compensating a programmer that submitted the preferred updated software program.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the compensation is monetary.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein the compensation is an increased rating.

26. The method of claim 1 further comprising rejecting submissions of updated versions of the faulty software program after a set period of time.

27. The method of claim 1 further comprising rejecting submissions of updated versions of the faulty software program after receiving a predetermined number of submissions.

28. A system for providing updated versions of software programs comprising:

a communications module for;

receiving from one or more users of a software program an indication of a fault in the software program;

distributing the software program to a distributed community of programmers; and

receiving updated versions of the faulty software program from a subset of the distributed community of programmers;

a component storage module for storing the faulty software program; and

a software testing module for determining a preferred updated version of the faulty software program.

29. The system of claim 28 further comprising a rating engine for rating the skills of the distributed community of software programmers in response to the received updated versions of the faulty software program.

30. The system of claim 28 further comprising a reviewing module to allow members of the distributed community to review updated versions of the faulty software program submitted by other members of the distributed community.

31. The system of claim 28 further comprising a repository for storing the received updated versions of the faulty software program.

32. The system of claim 28 further comprising a version control module for maintaining multiple versions of the faulty software program.

33. The system of claim 32 wherein one of the maintained versions is the preferred updated version of the faulty software program.