System and method for unified registration information collection

• US 7,487,249 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2004
• Issued: 02/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Moss, Kenneth D., Neault, Autumn F.G., Gulledge, Carl L., Feinleib, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Thu Ha T
• Application Number:
  US10/940,377
• Publication Number:
  US 20050033729A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,603 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/206, 709217-227, 709/229, 710/5, 710/36, 707 1- 10, 705 4- 27
• 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. One or more computer-readable media having stored thereon a computer program 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 components of the client computer using one or more registration wizards on behalf of one or more manufacturers;

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

establishing multiple connections, via the communication link, to respective multiple registration servers of a plurality of registration servers;

communicating at least a first portion of the registration information to at least a first registration server of the plurality of registration servers to register a first one of the plurality of components; and

communicating at least a second portion of the registration information to a second registration server of the plurality of registration servers to register a second one of the plurality of components.

2. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the program further causes the one or more processors to perform functions including:

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

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

3. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the first portion and the second portion share at least some common information.

4. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the first portion and the second portion are identical.

5. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the registration information includes one or more of user demographic information and client computer information.

6. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more registration wizards correspond to one or more software applications or hardware components.

7. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the establishing the multiple connections comprises establishing a first hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) connection, and a second hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) connection.

8. One or more computer-readable memories containing a computer program that is executable by one or more processors to perform acts of:

collecting, at a client computer, registration information for a plurality of components of the client computer using a registration wizard to enable registering of the plurality of components with respective manufacturers;

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

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

9. One or more computer-readable memories as recited in claim 8, wherein the communicating comprises communicating, for each of the plurality of connections, a different portion of the registration information to the one of the plurality of registration databases.

10. One or more computer-readable memories as recited in claim 9, wherein the different portions share at least some common information.

11. One or more computer-readable memories as recited in claim 8, wherein the registration information includes one or more of user demographic information and client computer information.

12. One or more computer-readable memories as recited in claim 8, wherein collecting comprises collecting the registration information for a plurality of software applications and hardware components.

13. One or more computer-readable media containing a computer program that is executable by one or more processors to perform acts of:

obtaining registration information collected for a plurality of components of a client computer using a single registration wizard;

establishing a plurality of connections between the client computer and a plurality of registration databases corresponding to the plurality of registering components; and

transferring at least a portion of the registration information collected for the plurality of registering components via the single registration wizard to each of the plurality of registration databases via the plurality of connections to register the plurality of registering components.

14. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 13, wherein the plurality of registering components includes at least a software component and a hardware component.

15. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 14, wherein the hardware component comprises the client computer.

16. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 13, wherein the plurality of registering components correspond on a one to one basis with the plurality of registration databases.

17. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 13, wherein establishing a plurality of connections comprises:

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

subsequently establishing connections between the client computer and each of the plurality of registration databases via the communication link.

18. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 13, wherein 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.

19. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 13, wherein transferring comprises transferring different portions of the registration information to different ones of the plurality of registration databases.

20. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 13, wherein the registration information includes one or more of user demographic information and client computer information.

21. A system comprising:

a processor;

one or more posting modules, coupled to a registration wizard configured to collect registration information corresponding to a plurality of components of a client computer on behalf of a plurality of manufacturers;

the one or more posting modules being executable via the processor to;

establish a plurality of connections between the client computer and a plurality of registration databases corresponding to the plurality of manufacturers, and

transfer at least a portion of the registration information to each of the plurality of registration databases via the plurality of connections to register each of the plurality of components with a respective one of the plurality of manufacturers.

22. A system as recited in claim 21, wherein the registration information includes one or more of user demographic information and client computer information.

23. A system as recited in claim 21, wherein the plurality of manufacturers include one or more of software application designers, hardware component manufacturers, and the system manufacturer.

24. A system as recited in claim 21, wherein the plurality of manufacturers correspond on a one to one basis with the plurality of registration databases.

25. A system as recited in claim 21, wherein the one or more posting modules are further to transfer different portions of the registration information to different ones of the plurality of registration databases.

26. An apparatus comprising:

a bus;

a processor coupled to the bus;

a network connection device coupled to the bus; and

a memory, coupled to the bus, to store a plurality of instructions that are executed by the processor, wherein the plurality of instructions, when executed, cause the processor to,

initiate, using the network connection device, a communication link to a network,

establish, via the communication link, a plurality of connections between the apparatus and a plurality of registration databases, each registration database corresponding to one or more of a plurality of registering components of the apparatus, and

communicate, for each of the plurality of connections, at least a portion of previously-collected registration information for at least one of said plurality of registering components to a corresponding one of the plurality of registration databases to register the at least one of said plurality of registering components with a corresponding manufacturer.

27. An apparatus as recited in claim 26, wherein the portion of previously-collected registration information includes one or more of user demographic information and client computer information.

28. One or more computer-readable memories containing a computer program that is executable by one or more processors to perform acts of:

establishing a plurality of connections between a client computer and a plurality of registration databases corresponding to a plurality of registering components of the client computer; and

transferring at least a portion of registration information collected at the client computer via a single registration wizard to each of the plurality of registration databases via the plurality of connections to register a corresponding one of the plurality of registering components on behalf of a corresponding manufacturer, wherein 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.