Method for managing appliances

• US 20070129812A1
• Filed: 12/01/2005
• Published: 06/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SanDisk Technologies LLC (Western Digital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: SanDisk Corporation (Western Digital Corporation)
• Inventors: Ferchau, Joerg
• Granted Patent: US 7,353,073 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0428 Safety, monitoring G05B19/0423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/23311 Load new program together with test program
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/24001 Maintenance, repair

Abstract

A method for maintaining and/or repairing an appliance is provided. The appliance includes collecting data from the appliance, wherein a flash device collects information from the appliance; launching an application from the flash device after the flash device interfaces with a computing system, wherein the application provides a user interface with selectable options for maintaining and/or repairing the appliance; contacting a server, wherein the computing system has access to a network connection and connects to the server; and transmitting the collected information from the flash device to the server.

Claims

1. A method for maintaining and/or repairing a appliance, comprising:

Collecting data from the appliance, wherein a flash device collects information from the appliance;

Launching an application from the flash device after the flash device interfaces with a computing system, wherein the application provides a user interface with selectable options for maintaining and/or repairing the appliance;

Contacting a server, wherein the computing system has access to a network connection and connects to the server; and

Transmitting the collected information from the flash device to the server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface provides an option to the user to schedule an appointment with a resource associated with the appliance.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the resource associated with the appliance is an appliance dealership, repair facility and/or a technician.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein based on the collected information, the user is provided a form and the form is automatically filled, completely or partially, and information from the form is sent to the server;

wherein the form is provided by the server or the computing system after the collected information is received from the flash device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface provides the user with a website and the website address is based on the collected information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the flash device assists in connecting to the network based on the collected information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the appliance is an automobile, a digital camera, industrial equipment and/or an appliance.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein based on the collected information the server sends updates to the flash device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the updates include appliance firmware updates, user instructions, reset codes and/or appliance system updates.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the flash device transfers updates received from the server to the appliance.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein after the collected information is received by the computing system or the server, a form is displayed by the computing system and the flash device assists the user in automatically filling all or part of the form.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the flash device automatically selects options for the user based on the collected information, or user selectable options are presented via a network system to the user on the computing system.