System and method for self-supporting applications

• US 8,098,809 B2
• Filed: 02/09/2004
• Issued: 01/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lamm, Jacob, Waschke, Marvin, Shapiro, Yaakov
• Primary Examiner(s): Kuntz, Curtis
• Assistant Examiner(s): ZENATI, AMAL S
• Application Number:
  US10/775,260
• Publication Number:
  US 20060136869A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,899 Days
• Field of Search: 37922103-22115, 717/109, 714/26, 714/48
• US Class Current: 379/221.04
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method and system self-supportable devices and applications are provided. The method and system in one embodiment allows devices and applications to automatically communicate and service themselves, for example, by checking knowledgebase services and other services for instructions on how to handle an exception. In another embodiment, the devices and applications automatically initiate actions needed to handle the exception.

Claims

1. A method of providing self-supporting computer systems, comprising:

detecting, with a computer system, a fault that has occurred in the computer system;

automatically consulting, using the computer system, a service policy comprising one or more service policy rules associated with the computer system to request a solution for the detected fault that occurred in the computer system;

automatically determining, based on the service policy, one or more actions to be taken to respond to the request, the one or more actions related to providing the solution to the detected fault, wherein the actions to be taken comprise;

determining, based on the service policy, a service level agreement associated with a user of the computer system;

determining, based on the service policy, whether a trouble ticket should be opened; and

determining whether a password associated with the computer system should be reset;

automatically initiating one or more of the actions;

automatically invoking one or more service provider tools to perform one or more of the actions in response to the request; and

communicating one or more service events that occurred as a result of the automatically initiating one or more of the actions and the automatically invoking one or more service provider tools wherein the communicating includes logging the one or more service events.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the actions to be taken further comprise determining, based on the service policy, whether a vendor associated with computer system can provide a solution to the detected fault.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the actions to be taken further comprise determining, based on the service policy, whether a knowledge base contains information related to the detected fault.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the actions to be taken further comprise determining, based on the service policy, whether software associated with the computer system should be updated.

5. A method of providing self-supporting computer systems, comprising:

detecting, with a computer system, a fault that has occurred in the computer system;

automatically consulting, using the computer system, a service policy comprising one or more service policy rules associated with the computer system to request a solution for the detected fault that occurred in the computer system;

automatically determining, based on the service policy, one or more actions to be taken to respond to the request, the one or more actions related to providing the solution to the detected fault, wherein the actions to be taken comprise;

determining, based on the service policy, a service level agreement associated with a user of the computer system;

determining, based on the service policy, whether a trouble ticket should be opened; and

determining whether a password associated with the computer system should be reset;

automatically initiating one or of the more actions to be taken; and

automatically invoking one or more service provider tools to perform one or more of the actions to be taken in response to the request.

6. The method of claim 5, further including:

communicating one or more service events that occurred as a result of the automatically initiating one or more actions and the automatically invoking one or more service provider tools.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the service policy rules are specific to the computer system.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the software applications include over-the-counter applications, custom applications, or combinations thereof.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the one or more service provider tools include knowledgebase, trouble ticketing tool, escalation tool, workflow tool, software delivery tool, or combinations thereof.

10. The method of claim 5, further including allowing the service policy to be modified based on the automatic initiating and the automatic invoking steps.

24. The method of claim 5, wherein the one or more actions provide the solution to the fault.

11. A self-supporting computer system, comprising:

a memory configured to house a service policy comprising one or more service policy rules associated with a computer system;

a processor configured to;

detect a fault that has occurred in a computer system;

automatically consult the service policy to request a solution for the detected fault that occurred in the computer system;

automatically determining, based on the service policy, one or more actions to be taken to respond to the request, the one or more actions related to providing the solution to the detected fault, wherein the actions to be taken comprise;

determining, based on the service policy, a service level agreement associated with a user of the computer system;

determining, based on the service policy, whether a trouble ticket should be opened; and

determining whether a password associated with the computer system should be reset;

automatically initiate one or more of the actions to be taken; and

automatically invoke one or more service provider tools to perform one or more of the actions to be taken in response to the request.

12. The system of claim 11, further including:

an interface operable to communicate through a web service with the computer system over the world wide web via a web-enabled application programming interface residing in the computer system.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer system includes one of a hardware device, a software application, or a combination thereof.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the service includes handling an exception that occurred in the computer system.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more service provider tools include knowledgebase, trouble ticketing tool, escalation tool, workflow tool, software delivery tool, or combinations thereof.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more actions comprise servicing the computer system in response to the computer system'"'"'s request, and further including:

an analysis tool operable to receive events occurring as a result of servicing the computer system, the analysis tool further operable to modify the service policy based on received events.

17. A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps of providing a self- supporting computer system, the method comprising:

automatically consulting, using the computer system, a service policy comprising one or more service policy rules associated with the computer system to request service;

automatically determining from the service policy, one or more actions to be taken to respond to the request for service, the one or more actions related to servicing the computer system, wherein the actions to be taken comprise;

determining, based on the service policy, a service level agreement associated with a user of the computer system;

determining, based on the service policy, whether a trouble ticket should be opened; and

determining whether a password associated with the computer system should be reset;

automatically initiating one or more of the actions to be taken; and

automatically invoking one or more service provider tools to perform one or more of the actions to be taken in response to the request for service, wherein;

automatically consulting, using the computer system, the service policy comprises;

receiving the request for service from the computer system independent of a user-initiated request for service; and

comparing the request for service with the service policy.

18. The program device of claim 17, wherein:

the computer system is a processor-controlled device that requires servicing.

19. The program device of claim 18, wherein:

the policy includes instructions for servicing the computer system; and

the one or more actions comprise servicing the computer system in accordance with the instructions; and

servicing the computer system comprises repairing a fault in the computer system.

20. The program device of claim 17, wherein:

the computer system is a processor-controlled device that requires servicing;

the steps of allowing, automatically determining, automatically initiating, and automatically invoking occur at a service provider;

servicing the computer system comprises repairing a fault in the computer system; and

further comprising;

when it is determined that the computer system needs servicing, automatically linking the computer system to the service provider to enable the service provider to service the computer system.

21. The program device of claim 17, further comprising determining from the policy whether the computer system is covered by a warranty covering the request for service.

22. The program device of claim 17, further comprising modifying the one or more service policy rules in response to one or more service events that occurred as a result of the one or more actions.

23. The program device of claim 20, wherein the computer system and the service provider are separate entities.