Reporting portable device statistics

• US 20070288628A1
• Filed: 06/13/2006
• Published: 12/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Sadovsky, Vladimir, Stokes, Michael D., Rosenbloom, Oren
• Granted Patent: US 7,697,472 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0742 in a data processing system embedded in a mobile device, e.g. mobile phones, handheld devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0784 Routing of error reports, e.g. with a specific transmission path or data flow
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

A system, a method and computer-readable media for collecting device usage information from portable devices. The portable devices are enabled to maintain device operation parameters. This information is communicated from a portable device to a host device. The host device may communicate the received information over a network to a database. The database may consolidate the device operation parameters from multiple portable devices.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for collecting device usage information from a plurality of portable devices, said method comprising:

enabling at least a portion of said plurality of portable devices to maintain stored data containing one or more device operation parameters;

receiving at least a portion of said one or more device operation parameters from at least a portion of said plurality of portable devices; and

communicating at least a portion of said one or more device operation parameters from at least a portion of said plurality of portable devices to a database for consolidation.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising consolidating in said database at least a portion of said one or more device operation parameters.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising communicating at least a portion of the consolidated device operation parameters to an entity associated with at least a portion of said plurality of portable devices.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said entity is a provider of at least a portion of said plurality of portable devices.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising transmitting one or more items of content responsive to the consolidated device operation parameters.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising installing at least a portion of said one or more items of content on at least a portion of said plurality of portable devices.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising presenting at least a portion of said one or more items of content to a user.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said enabling utilizes one or more privacy selections associated with a user to store said one or more device operation parameters in accordance with said one or more privacy selections.

9. A system for reporting device usage information for portable devices, said system comprising:

a portable device having internal memory and configured to maintain a set of metrics describing the operation of said portable device, wherein said set of metrics is stored on said internal memory;

a host device in communication with a network and configured to connect with said portable device to receive at least a portion of said set of metrics from said internal memory, wherein said host device is further configured to select a portion of said set of metrics for transmission via said network; and

a database that stores device operation information from a plurality of portable devices, wherein said database is configured to receive the selected portion of said set of metrics and is further configured to consolidate said selected portion into said device operation information.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein said host device is further configured to store user preferences and to utilize said user preferences to select said portion of said set of metrics for transmission.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein said host device is further configured to install one or more firmware updates received via said network onto said portable device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein at least a portion of said one or more firmware updates is created in response to at least a portion of said device operation information.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein at least a portion of said set of metrics is protected with a rights management routine.

14. One or more computer-readable media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon to perform a method for collecting and communicating information about a portable device, said method comprising:

receiving one or more device operation measures from a data memory element, wherein said one or more device operation measures describe the operation of a portable device;

filtering said one or more device operation measures based on one or more user-defined preferences, wherein said filtering yields a filtered set of said one or more device operation measures; and

communicating at least a portion of the filtered set over a network connection to at least one of one or more remote devices.

15. The media of claim 14, wherein said method further comprises receiving content from at least one of said one or more remote devices via said network.

16. The media of claim 15, wherein said method further comprises presenting at least a portion of said content to a user.

17. The media of claim 14, wherein said method further comprises providing a user interface to permit user selection of said one or more user-defined preferences.

18. The media of claim 14, wherein said method further comprises communicating authentication credentials to said portable device.

19. The media of claim 14, wherein said one or more device operation measures includes usage and failure data.

20. The media of claim 14, wherein at least one of said one or more remote devices is a database that stores device operation information from a plurality of portable devices.