Error analysis fed from a knowledge base

• US 20040078667A1
• Filed: 07/11/2002
• Published: 04/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Salem, Hany A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,007,200 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0706 the processing taking place on a specific hardware platform or in a specific software environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0778 Dumping, i.e. gathering error/state information after a fault for later diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0781 Error filtering or prioritizing based on a policy defined by the user or on a policy defined by a hardware/software module, e.g. according to a severity level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• 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 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect

Abstract

An example of a solution provided here comprises analyzing an incident, responding to said incident, and customizing the response, based on the result of the analysis. Another example of a solution comprises accessing a knowledge base, comparing a current incident to known incidents in said knowledge base, and if a match is found, retrieving information from said knowledge base, said information being relevant to the current incident. Methods for handling errors, systems for executing such methods, and instructions on a computer-usable medium, for executing such methods, are provided.

Claims

1. A method for handling errors, said method comprising:

accessing a knowledge base;

comparing a current incident to known incidents in said knowledge base; and

if a match is found, retrieving information from said knowledge base, said information being relevant to said current incident.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said accessing a knowledge base further comprises

accessing data elements chosen from:

symptoms;

directives;

solutions;

work-arounds; and

explanations.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said retrieving information further comprises

retrieving at least one item chosen from:

directives;

solutions;

work-arounds; and

explanations.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said retrieving information further comprises:

retrieving at least one message associated with said current incident, chosen from;

a message suggesting how to solve a problem;

a message suggesting how to work around a problem; and

a message about a cause of said current incident.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

making said knowledge base available to a plurality of software components.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

making said knowledge base available to a plurality of users.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically keeping said knowledge base up to date.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

utilizing said information from said knowledge base to dynamically tune a response to said current incident in at least one software component;

whereby said response may be changed without changing code in said at least one software component.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

taking corrective action in response to said current incident.

10. A method for handling errors, said method comprising:

analyzing an incident;

responding to said incident; and

customizing said responding, based on a result obtained by said analyzing.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said analyzing further comprises:

comparing a current incident to known incidents.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein said responding further comprises at least one response chosen from:

taking corrective action;

providing a message; and

capturing data.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein said responding further comprises:

providing at least one message associated with said incident, chosen from;

a message suggesting how to solve a problem;

a message suggesting how to work around a problem; and

a message about a cause of said incident.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein said responding further comprises:

performing an action in addition to an action set as a default action.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

storing customization information; and

retrieving said customization information.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

automatically keeping said customization information up to date.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

storing data elements chosen from;

symptoms;

directives;

solutions;

work-arounds; and

explanations.

18. A method for handling errors, said method comprising:

providing a knowledge base; and

providing information from said knowledge base, said information being relevant to an incident;

wherein said knowledge base includes elements chosen from;

symptoms;

directives;

solutions;

work-arounds; and

explanations.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

making said knowledge base available to a plurality of software components.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

making said knowledge base available to a plurality of users.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein said providing information further comprises:

providing information that is useful for dynamically tuning a response to said incident.

22. A system for handling errors, said system comprising:

means for analyzing an incident;

means for responding to said incident; and

means for customizing said means for responding, based on a result obtained by said means for analyzing.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein said means for analyzing further comprises:

means for comparing a current incident to known incidents.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein said means for responding further comprises

means for at least one response chosen from:

taking corrective action;

providing a message; and

capturing data.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein said means for responding further comprises:

means for providing at least one message associated with current incident, chosen from;

a message suggesting how to solve a problem;

a message suggesting how to work around a problem; and

a message about a cause of said incident.

26. The system of claim 22, wherein said means for responding further comprises:

means for performing an action in addition to an action set as a default action.

27. The system of claim 22, further comprising:

means for storing customization information; and

means for retrieving said customization information.

28. The system of claim 27, further comprising:

means for automatically keeping said customization information up to date.

29. The system of claim 22, further comprising:

means for storing data elements chosen from;

symptoms;

directives;

solutions;

work-arounds; and

explanations.

30. A computer-usable medium having computer-executable instructions for handling errors, said computer-executable instructions comprising:

means for analyzing an incident;

means for responding to said incident; and

means for customizing said means for responding, based on a result obtained by said means for analyzing.

31. The computer-usable medium of claim 30, wherein said means for analyzing further comprises:

means for comparing a current incident to known incidents.

32. The computer-usable medium of claim 30, wherein said means for responding further comprises means for at least one response chosen from:

taking corrective action;

providing a message; and

capturing data.

33. The computer-usable medium of claim 30, wherein said means for responding further comprises:

means for providing at least one message associated with current incident, chosen from;

a message suggesting how to solve a problem;

a message suggesting how to work around a problem; and

a message about a cause of said incident.

34. The computer-usable medium of claim 30, wherein said means for responding further comprises:

means for performing an action in addition to an action set as a default action.

35. The computer-usable medium of claim 30, further comprising:

means for storing customization information; and

means for retrieving said customization information.

36. The computer-usable medium of claim 35, further comprising:

means for automatically keeping said customization information up to date.

37. The computer-usable medium of claim 30, further comprising:

means for storing data elements chosen from;

symptoms;

directives;

solutions;

work-arounds; and

explanations.