Testing and error reporting for on-demand software based marketing and sales

• US 8,688,491 B1
• Filed: 07/11/2011
• Issued: 04/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Inventors: Shenoy, Rohit, Mosterman, Pieter J., Teverovsky, Bella G., Fluet, John, Dowley, Craig
• Primary Examiner(s): Jarrett, Scott L
• Application Number:
  US13/179,989
• Time in Patent Office: 995 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7.11, 714/48, 714/46
• US Class Current: 705/7.11
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities

Abstract

Business management methods for on-demand trial based marketing and sales are introduced. Using on-demand trial technology, usage metrics can be automatically generated by tracking the usage of specific products and corresponding duration. Usage metrics and other data are automatically processed to qualify and channel leads to pertinent categories in sales and marketing. The present invention facilitates a more directed effort to investigate leads and makes the information of customers available for follow-up that has higher prospective sales potential. The present invention may also be used to dispatch pre-release reports automatically to a vendor.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing, using a computing device and over a network, access to an on-demand pre-release version of a software product to a user computing device of a user for testing of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product,

the access being provided without installing a copy of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product on the user computing device of the user;

forwarding, using the computing device, a client side control to the user computer device for installation on the user computing device;

receiving, using the computing device, results of the testing via the client side control,

receiving the results including;

tracking, using the client side control, usage of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product by the user,

the usage including two or more of;

 

information identifying an amount of time spent by the user during the testing of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product,

 

information identifying a feature of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product used during the testing of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product, or

 

information identifying one or more other software products tested by the user;

recording, using the computing device, an error, in connection with the usage of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product, among the results received via the client side control,

the error being recorded without a request from the user to record the error,

the error including a segmentation violation or an anomalous behavior;

generating, using the computing device, a report including;

information identifying the usage, and

information identifying the error; and

transmitting, using the computing device, the report from the computing device to a device of another user,

the report being transmitted to the device of the other user for the other user to reproduce the error,

the other user being a software developer or a product analyst associated with the software product,

the other user being different than the user.

2. The method of claim 1, where the error further includes:

an assertion.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

recording the usage of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product,

where the usage further includes at least one of a keystroke, a button pressed, or information identifying the feature used.

4. The method of claim 1, where the usage further includes:

information identifying one or more crashes of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product during the testing, and

information identifying one or more commands or one or more features being used during the one or more crashes.

5. The method of claim 2, where the report is transmitted to the device of the other user for the other user to reproduce the segmentation violation, the assertion, or the anomalous behavior.

6. The method of claim 2, where the error includes the anomalous behavior, and

where the anomalous behavior includes at least one of:

a failure to compile generated code,

information identifying a software application, relating the on-demand pre-release version of the software product, aborting abnormally, or

incompatibility of a version of the software application with a model saved with a previous version of the software application.

7. The method of claim 6, where the anomalous behavior further includes at least one of:

information identifying a repeated usage of one or more elements of a user interface associated with the on-demand pre-release version of the software product, or

information identifying a locking of the user interface.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

a plurality of instructions which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to;

provide, over a network, access to an on-demand pre-release version of a software product to a user computing device of a user for testing of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product,

the access being provided without installing a copy of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product on the user computing device;

forward a client side control to the user computing device for installation on the user computing device;

receive results of the testing via the client side control,

one or more instructions, of the plurality of instructions, to receive the results including;

one or more instructions to track, using the client side control, usage of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product by the user,

 

the usage including two or more of;

 

information identifying an amount of time spent by the user during the testing of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product,

 

information identifying a feature of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product used during the testing of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product, or

 

information identifying one or more other software products tested by the user;

record an error, in connection with the usage of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product, among the results received via the client side control,

the error being recorded without a request from the user to record the error,

the error including an anomalous behavior;

generate a report including information identifying the error; and

transmit the report to a device for another user that is different than the user,

the report being transmitted to the device of the other user for the other user to reproduce the error,

the other user being a software developer or a product analyst associated with the on-demand pre-release version of the software product.

9. The medium of claim 8, where the error further includes:

a segmentation violation, or

an assertion.

10. The medium of claim 8, where the instructions further comprise:

one or more instructions to record the usage of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product,

where the usage further includes at least one of a key stroke, a button pressed, or information identifying the feature used.

11. The medium of claim 9, where the report is transmitted to the device of the other user for the other user to reproduce the segmentation violation, the assertion, or the anomalous behavior.

12. The medium of claim 8,

where the anomalous behavior includes at least one of:

a failure to compile generated code,

information identifying a software application, relating the on-demand pre-release version of the software product, aborting abnormally, or

incompatibility of a version of the software application with a model saved with a previous version of the software application.

13. The medium of claim 12, where the anomalous behavior further includes at least one of:

information identifying a repeated usage of one or more elements of a user interface associated with the on-demand pre-release version of the software product, or

information identifying a malfunction of the user interface.

14. The medium of claim 8, where the usage further includes:

information identifying one or more malfunctions of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product during the testing, and

information identifying one or more commands or one or more features being used during the one or more malfunctions.

15. A system comprising:

a server to;

provide, over a network, access to an on-demand pre-release version of a software product to a user computing device of a user for testing of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product without installing a copy of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product on the user computing device;

forward a client side control, relating to the testing of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product, to the user computing device for installation on the user computing device;

receive results of the testing via the client side control,

when receiving the results of the testing, the server is to;

track, using the client side control, usage of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product by the user,

 

the usage including two or more of;

 

information identifying an amount of time spent by the user during the testing of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product,

 

information identifying a feature of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product used during the testing of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product, or

 

information identifying one or more other software products tested by the user;

record an error, in connection with the usage of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product, among the results received via the client side control,

the error being recorded without a request from the user to record the error,

the error including an anomalous behavior;

generate a report including information identifying the error; and

transmit the report to a device of another user that is different than the user,

the report being transmitted to the device of the other user for the other user to reproduce the error,

the other user being a software developer or a product analyst associated with the on-demand pre-release version of the software product.

16. The system of claim 15,

where the error further includes a segmentation violation or an assertion, and

where the report is transmitted to the device of the other user for the other user to reproduce the segmentation violation, the assertion, or the anomalous behavior.

17. The system of claim 15, where the error includes a plurality of:

a failure to compile generated code,

information identifying a software application, relating the on-demand pre-release version of the software product, aborting abnormally,

incompatibility of a version of the software application with a model saved with a previous version of the software application,

information identifying a repeated usage of one or more elements of a user interface associated with the on-demand pre-release version of the software product, or

information identifying a malfunction of the user interface.

18. The system of claim 15, where the usage further includes:

information identifying one or more crashes of the on-demand pre-release version of the software product during the testing, and

information identifying one or more commands or one or more features being used during the one or more crashed.