SOLUTION FOR AUTOMATICALLY INCORPORATING DIAGNOSTIC DATA WITHIN SCREEN CAPTURE IMAGES

• US 20090287962A1
• Filed: 05/15/2008
• Published: 11/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: O'DOHERTY, SIMON P., O'DONOVAN, BRIAN, BAKEKOLO, C. PATRICK, MUTAMBWIR, KIOSO, GAMULESCU, ROMEO
• Granted Patent: US 8,060,795 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/38
• 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 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36

Abstract

The present invention can include an automated solution for incorporating diagnostic data within an image of a screen capture image. When a screen capture event is detected, a screen capture image can be generated. The software applications contained within the screen capture image can be identified. Diagnostic data pertaining to the identified software applications can be automatically collected and incorporated into the screen capture image file.

Claims

1. An automated method for incorporating diagnostic data within an image of a screen capture comprising:

detecting a screen capture event;

generating a screen capture image in response to the detecting step, wherein the screen capture image is stored in a screen capture image file;

identifying at least one software application contained in the screen capture image;

automatically collecting diagnostic data for the at least one software application from at least one computing device; and

incorporating the collected diagnostic data into the screen capture image file, wherein the incorporating step utilizes at least of a stenographic application, a graphical alteration application, and a relational companion file generation algorithm, and wherein the diagnostic data comprises at least one of a reference to a diagnostic log, a memory reference, a list of related files, a source code file name, a database name, a database table name, a server name, and a stack trace reference.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein when the screen capture image file containing the incorporated diagnostic data is provided to a technical support agent, said method further comprising:

presenting the screen capture image in a display area of a viewing application; and

visually rendering the incorporated diagnostic data within the presented screen capture image, wherein each item of incorporated diagnostic data is visually rendered with a spatial relationship to a corresponding area of the screen capture image within the display area, whereby providing a contextual meaning between the incorporated diagnostic data and the at least one software application contained in the screen capture image, wherein the rendering step is performed in response to a user-positioning of a pointer mechanism within the display area of the viewing application in real-time for each item of incorporated diagnostic data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the screen capture image with the incorporated plurality of diagnostic data items is rendered by a viewing application utilized by a technical support agent, and wherein the screen capture image is an image of a screen of a user, wherein said user is communicating in real-time with the technical support agent.

4. A computer program product for incorporating diagnostic data within an image of a screen capture comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising;

computer usable program code configured to detect a screen capture event;

generate a screen capture image in response to detecting the screen capture event, wherein the screen capture image is stored in a screen capture image file;

computer usable program code configured to identify at least one software application contained in the screen capture image;

computer usable program code configured to automatically collect diagnostic data for the at least one software application from at least one computing device; and

computer usable program code configured to incorporate the collected diagnostic data into the screen capture image file, wherein the incorporating of the data utilizes at least of a stenographic application, a graphical alteration application, and a relational companion file generation algorithm, and wherein the diagnostic data comprises at least one of a reference to a diagnostic log, a memory reference, a list of related files, a source code file name, a database name, a database table name, a server name, and a stack trace reference.

5. The computer program product of claim 4, said computer program product further comprising:

computer usable program code configured to present the screen capture image in a display area of a viewing application; and

computer usable program code configured to visually render the incorporated diagnostic data within the presented screen capture image, wherein each item of incorporated diagnostic data is visually rendered with a spatial relationship to a corresponding area of the screen capture image within the display area, whereby providing a contextual meaning between the incorporated diagnostic data and the at least one software application contained in the screen capture image, wherein the rendering step is performed in response to a user-positioning of a pointer mechanism within the display area of the viewing application in real-time for each item of incorporated diagnostic data.

6. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein the screen capture image with the incorporated plurality of diagnostic data items is rendered by a viewing application utilized by a technical support agent, and wherein the screen capture image is an image of a screen of a user, wherein said user is communicating in real-time with the technical support agent.