Providing a potential solution

• US 9,170,874 B2
• Filed: 07/17/2012
• Issued: 10/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: DeRoos, Stephen M, Landry, John A
• Primary Examiner(s): Riad, Amine
• Application Number:
  US13/550,878
• Publication Number:
  US 20140025992A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,197 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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: G06F 11/327 Alarm or error message display

Abstract

An example provides potential solutions for UEFI devices. The example includes scanning an information code generated by the UEFI device while the UEFI is operating according to a UEFI environment. The example further includes requesting a potential solution from a decision device. The request specifies an information code comprising resource information and one or more parameters for a current state of the UEFI environment. The example also includes presenting a representation of the potential solution.

Claims

1. A method to access a solution identification service for a Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) device, the method comprising:

scanning an information code generated by the UEFI device while operating according to a UEFI environment, the information code being generated in response to an error and encoding an information resource and parameters for a current state of the UEFI environment, the parameters comprising an event code and additionally a parameter describing the UEFI device;

requesting the solution identification service, wherein the request specifies to a decision device the information resource and the parameters for the current state of the UEFI environment; and

presenting a representation of a response of the solution identification service.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising decoding the information code to determine the resource information and the parameters for the current state of the UEFI environment, wherein the information resource is a uniform resource locator (URL) that does not access a specific solution page.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the response of the solution identification service is based at least in part on the parameters for the current state of the UEFI environment, wherein the information resource is a uniform resource locator (URL) that accesses the solution identification service to communicate the parameters to the solution identification service.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the representation of the response of the solution identification service comprises at least one of:

providing instructions describing the potential solution, playing a video of a solution, initiating an online chat with a service representative, initiating a telephone call with a service representative, providing instructions to return at least one part of the UEFI device, providing instructions to order a part for the UEFI device, or providing a message describing the solution.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the response of the solution identification service comprises instructions for ordering a part for the UEFI device, wherein the part is user-replaceable, and wherein the part is to be delivered to an address associated with the UEFI device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein scanning the information code comprises a reader device scanning and decoding the information code, and wherein requesting the solution identification service comprises the reader device requesting the solution identification service.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the reader device receives the response from the decision device, wherein the decision device comprises a server having an analysis module to determine the response, and wherein presenting the representation of the response comprises the reader device presenting the representation.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the information code comprises a two dimensional barcode, the information resource comprises a Web address, the event code comprises an error code, and the parameter describing the UEFI device comprises product data related to the UEFI device.

9. A Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) device comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory device comprising instructions that when executed cause the at least one processor to;

operate the device in a UEFI environment; and

generate and display a scanable information code in response to an event in the UEFI environment, the information code comprising a URL and parameters for a current state of the UEFI environment, wherein the URL to send the parameters to a solution identification service for analysis by a decision device.

10. The UEFI device of claim 9, wherein the information code is a matrix code encoding the URL and the parameters, and wherein the matrix code is to be scanned and decoded to determine the URL and the parameters.

11. The UEFI device of claim 10, wherein a response of the solution identification service is based at least in part on the parameters, and wherein the URL is not a solution page URL.

12. The UEFI device of claim 9, wherein the parameters comprise an event code and a product parameter that describes the UEFI device.

13. The UEFI device of claim 9, wherein the parameters comprise a first parameter comprising an error code and a second parameter comprising a product parameter comprising data related to the UEFI device, and wherein the decision device of the solution identification service determines a response at least by searching information related to the parameters.

14. The UEFI device of claim 9, wherein the event comprises an error in the UEFI environment or an output of a diagnostic tool in the UEFI environment, or a combination thereof.

15. The UEFI device of claim 9, wherein the UEFI device comprises a personal computer, a household appliance, or an automobile, or any combination thereof.

16. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising processor-executable instructions that when executed cause a processor to:

scan a two-dimensional (2D) barcode that is generated by a UEFI device while the UEFI device operates according to a UEFI environment, wherein the 2D barcode comprises a uniform resource locator (URL), an error code, and one or more parameters representing a current state of the UEFI device, the 2D barcode being generated in response to an error;

decode the 2D barcode to identify the URL, the error code, and the one or more parameters;

request via the URL a solution from a solution identification service, wherein the request specifies the error code and the one or more parameters for the UEFI environment, wherein the solution identification service comprises a decision device to search information related to the error code and product parameter and to determine dynamically the solution based on at least the error code and the one or more parameters; and

receive a representation of the solution.

17. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the URL accesses the solution identification service to communicate to the solution identification service the error code and the one or more parameters for the UEFI environment.

18. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the URL is not a URL to a specific solution page.

19. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising processor-executable instructions to order a part to be delivered, wherein the part is user-replaceable, and wherein the part is to be delivered to an address associated with the UEFI device.

20. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 19, further comprising processor-executable instructions to present how to replace the part.