System and method for unified registration information collection

• US 7,424,540 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2005
• Issued: 09/09/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Autumn F.G. Neault, Carl L. Gulledge, David A. Feinleib, Kenneth D. Moss
• Inventors: Feinleib, David A., Moss, Kenneth D., Neault, Autumn F. G., Gulledge, Carl L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Thu Ha T
• Application Number:
  US11/068,003
• Publication Number:
  US 20050193122A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,289 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 709/220, 709/227, 709/223, 709/224, 709/228, 370/254
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/208 Input by product or record sensing, e.g. weighing or scanner processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation

Abstract

A client computer collects registration information and uploads the collected information to one or more remote registration databases. The collection and/or uploading of registration information for multiple manufacturers is performed in a unified manner, improving the user-friendliness of the computer. According to one aspect of the invention, a single user interface is used to collect the registration information for all of the manufacturers, preventing the same question from being asked multiple times. According to another aspect of the invention, a multiple posting method is used to upload the registration information to the registration databases. In the multiple posting method, a single network communication link is established between the client computer and a network that the registration databases are coupled to, via which multiple client computer to registration database connections are established.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more processors and means executable via the one or more processors including;

means for collecting, using one or more registration wizards at a client computer, registration information corresponding to a plurality of components of the client computer, wherein;

each of the plurality of components corresponds to one of a plurality of manufacturers that manufacture hardware and software products included with the client computer;

the one or more registration wizards are configured with registration requests from the plurality of manufacturers that specify for each said component particular registration information to be collected on behalf of a corresponding said manufacturer of the component; and

the one or more registration wizards collect the registration information on behalf of the plurality of manufacturers by combining the registration requests from the plurality of manufacturers into a common set of queries that eliminates duplicate collection of registration information specified by the registration requests;

means for establishing a communication link between the client computer and a network;

means for establishing a first connection, via the communication link, to a first registration server of a plurality of registration servers;

means for communicating at least a first portion of the registration information to the first registration server via the first connection;

means for establishing a second connection, via the communication link, to a second registration server of the plurality of registration servers; and

means for communicating at least a second portion of the registration information to the second registration server via the second connection.

2. A system as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

means for establishing additional connections to additional registration servers of the plurality of registration servers via the communication link; and

means for communicating additional portions of the registration information to the additional registration servers.

3. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the first portion and the second portion share at least some common information.

4. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the first portion and the second portion are identical.

5. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the registration information includes one or more of user demographic information and client computer information.

6. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more registration wizards correspond to one or more software applications or hardware components.

7. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the means for establishing the first connection comprises means for establishing a first hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) connection, and wherein the means for establishing the second connection comprises means for establishing a second hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) connection.

8. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the components comprise software components.

9. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the components comprise hardware components.

10. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the components comprise both one or more hardware components and one or more software components.

11. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the first registration server corresponds to a manufacturer of an operating system executing on the client computer, and wherein the second registration server corresponds to a manufacturer of the client computer.

12. A system as recited in claim 1, wherein the means for collecting comprises means for accessing a plurality of registration documents to identify which registration information to collect.

13. A system comprising:

one or more processors and means executable via the one or more processors including;

means for collecting, using a registration wizard at a client computer, registration information corresponding to a plurality of components of the client computer, wherein;

each of the plurality of components corresponds to one of a plurality of manufacturers that manufacture hardware and software products included with the client computer;

the registration wizard is configured with registration requests from the plurality of manufacturers that specify for each said component particular registration information to be collected on behalf of a corresponding said manufacturer of the component; and

the registration wizard collects the registration information on behalf of the plurality of manufacturers by combining the registration requests from the plurality of manufacturers into a common set of queries that eliminates duplicate collection of registration information specified by the registration requests;

means for establishing a communication link between the client computer and a network;

means for establishing a plurality of connections, via the communication link, between the client computer and a plurality of registration databases; and

means for communicating, for each of the plurality of connections, at least a portion of the registration information to one of the plurality of registration databases.

14. A system as recited in claim 13, wherein the means for communicating comprises means for communicating, for each of the plurality of connections, a different portion of the registration information to the one of the plurality of registration databases.

15. A system as recited in claim 14, wherein the different portions share at least some common information.

16. A system as recited in claim 13, wherein the registration information includes one or more of user demographic information and client computer information.

17. A system as recited in claim 13, wherein the means for collecting comprises means for collecting the registration information for a plurality of software applications and hardware components.

18. A system as recited in claim 13, wherein the components comprise both one or more hardware components and one or more software components.

19. A system as recited in claim 13, wherein one of the plurality of registration databases corresponds to a manufacturer of an operating system executing on the client computer, and wherein another of the plurality of registration databases corresponds to a manufacturer of the client computer.

20. One or more computer-readable storage media having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform functions including:

collecting, at a client computer, registration information for a plurality of registering components using a single registration wizard, wherein;

the plurality of registering components each corresponds to one of a plurality of manufacturers that manufacture hardware and software products included with the client computer;

the registration information comprises demographic data regarding a user of the client computer and product data regarding the hardware and software products included with the client computer;

the single registration wizard is configured with registration requests from the plurality of manufacturers that specify for each said registering component particular registration information to be collected on behalf of a corresponding said manufacturer of the registering component;

the plurality of manufacturers includes a manufacturer of the operating system of the client computer and a manufacturer of the client computer; and

the single registration wizard collects the registration information on behalf of the plurality of manufacturers by combining the registration requests from the plurality of manufacturers into a common set of queries that eliminates duplicate collection of registration information specified by the registration requests;

establishing a plurality of connections between the client computer and a plurality of registration databases each associated with one of the plurality of manufacturers corresponding to the plurality of registering components, wherein the establishing a plurality of connections comprises;

establishing, using a first dial-up number, a first communication link to a first of the plurality of registration databases, and

upon terminating the first communication link, establishing, using a second dial-up number, a second communication link to a second of the plurality of registration databases; and

transferring at least a portion of the registration information to each of the plurality of registration databases via the plurality of connections, wherein the portion of the registration information transferred to each of the plurality registration databases is specified by the registration requests from the plurality of manufacturers.