System and method for active diagnosis and self healing of software systems

• US 20040153823A1
• Filed: 01/17/2003
• Published: 08/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ansari, Zubair
• Granted Patent: US 7,293,201 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/38
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0715 in a system implementing multitasking multitasking per se G06F9/46
• 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

Abstract

An active diagnostic and self healing system involves a support server configured to monitor the state of application and operating system software on a remote client, one or more of whose applications or OS has been registered to the automatic service of the invention. Software drivers or other patches, fixes or updates may be automatically transmitted to the client device via Internet or other connectivity upon the detection of an application or OS crash or other software fault. The user may select criteria according to which fixes and updates may be effected. The fixes and updates may be stored in a knowledge base, vendor databases or other resources, for instance available via Internet or other connections.

Claims

15. A method for actively correcting software conditions, comprising:

receiving a state of a client via a network interface;

comparing the state of the client to diagnostic data, the diagnostic data comprising at least

an application support set, and

a client resource support set; and

identifying at least one solution based on the state of the client and diagnostic data.

1. A system for actively correcting software conditions, comprising:

a network interface to a client, the client having at least one of

at least one application, and

at least one client system resource;

storage, the storage storing diagnostic data comprising at least

an application support set, and

a client resource support set;

a processor, communicating with the network interface and the storage, the processor

receiving a state of the client, and

identifying at least one solution based on the state of the client and the diagnostic data.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the state of the client comprises a software fault.

3. A system according to claim 1, wherein the state of the client comprises at least one of an out of date application or out of date resource.

4. A system according to claim 1, wherein the processor communicates the at least one solution to the client via the network interface.

5. A system according to claim 1, wherein the network interface comprises at least one of a local area network and the Internet.

6. A system according to claim 1, wherein the processor identifies the at least one solution by comparing the state of the client to at least one of

at least one knowledge base, and

at least one vendor base set.

7. A system according to claim 6, wherein the at least one knowledge base comprises at leas one remote knowledge database.

8. A system according to claim 6, wherein the at least one vendor base set comprises at least one remote vendor database.

9. A system according to claim 1, further comprising a diagnostic user interface executing on the client.

10. A system according to claim 9, wherein the diagnostic user interface comprises activation criteria, the at least one solution being generated based upon the activation criteria.

11. A system according to claim 10, wherein the activation criteria comprise at least one of memory error data, error severity data, and error repetition data.

12. A system according to claim 1, wherein the state of the client is generated by an operating system executing on the client.

13. A system according to claim 12, wherein the operating system generates the state of the client only upon detection of a fault.

14. A system according to claim 12, wherein the operating system generates the state of the client based upon a periodic interval.

16. A method according to claim 15, wherein the state of the client comprises a software fault.

17. A method according to claim 15, wherein the state of the client comprises at least one of an out of date application or out of date resource.

18. A method according to claim 15, further comprising a step of communicating the at least one solution to the client via the network interface.

19. A method according to claim 15, wherein the network interface comprises at least one of a local area network and the Internet.

20. A method according to claim 15, wherein the step of identifying comprises a step of comparing the state of the client to at least one of

at least one knowledge base, and

at least one vendor base set.

21. A method according to claim 20, wherein the at least one knowledge base comprises at leas one remote knowledge database.

22. A method according to claim 20, wherein the at least one vendor base set comprises at least one remote vendor database.

23. A method according to claim 15, further comprising a step of executing a diagnostic user interface on the client.

24. A method according to claim 23, wherein the diagnostic user interface comprises activation criteria, further comprising a step of identifying the at least one solution based upon the activation criteria.

25. A method according to claim 24, wherein the activation criteria comprise at least one of memory error data, error severity data, and error repetition data.

26. A method according to claim 15, further comprising a step of generating the state of the client via an operating system executing on the client.

27. A method according to claim 26, wherein the operating system generates the state of the client only upon detection of a fault.

28. A method according to claim 26, wherein the operating system generates the state of the client based upon a periodic interval.

29. A system for actively correcting software conditions, comprising:

network interface means, the network interface means for interfacing to a client, the client having at least one of

at least one application, and

at least one client system resource;

storage means, the storage storing diagnostic data comprising at least

an application support set, and

a client resource support set;

processing means, communicating with the network interface and the storage, the processing means

receiving a state of the client, and

identifying at least one solution based on the state of the client and the diagnostic data.

30. A system according to claim 28, wherein the state of the client comprises at least one of an out of date application or out of date resource.

31. A system according to claim 28, further comprising diagnostic user interface means, the diagnostic user interface means executing on the client to manage the active correction performed on the client.

32. A system according to claim 31, wherein the diagnostic user interface means comprise activation criteria, the at least one solution being generated based upon the activation criteria.

33. A system according to claim 28, wherein the state of the client is generated by operating system means executing on the client.

34. A system according to claim 33, wherein the operating system means generate the state of the client only upon detection of a fault.

35. A system according to claim 33, wherein the operating system means generate the state of the client based upon a periodic interval.

29-1. A system according to claim 28, wherein the state of the client comprises a software fault.

36. A computer readable medium, the computer readable medium being readable to execute a method for actively correcting software conditions, the method comprising:

receiving a state of a client via a network interface;

comparing the state of the client to diagnostic data, the diagnostic data comprising at least

an application support set, and

a client resource support set; and

identifying at least one solution based on the state of the client and diagnostic data.

37. A computer readable medium according to claim 36, wherein the state of the client comprises a software fault.

38. A computer readable medium according to claim 36, wherein the state of the client comprises at least one of an out of date application or out of date resource.

39. A computer readable medium according to claim 36, the computer readable medium being programmed to execute a further step of executing a diagnostic user interface on the client to manage the active correction performed on the client.

40. A computer readable medium according to claim 39, wherein the diagnostic user interface means comprise activation criteria, the at least one solution being generated based upon the activation criteria.

41. A computer readable medium according to claim 36, wherein the state of the client is generated by an operating system executing on the client.

42. A computer readable medium according to claim 41, wherein the operating system generates the state of the client only upon detection of a fault.

43. A system according to claim 41, wherein the operating system generates the state of the client based upon a periodic interval.

44. A system for actively correcting software conditions, comprising:

a first user interface executing on a client system;

a second interface to an operating system executing on the client system;

a third interface to a network; and

a processor, communicating with the first user interface, the second interface and the third interface, the processor trapping a state of the client system based upon at least one software condition detected via the operating system to communicate to a support server via the second interface.

45. The system according to claim 44, wherein the first user interface comprises selectable activation criteria.

46. The system according to claim 44, wherein the at least one condition comprises a software fault.

47. The system according to claim 44, wherein the at least one condition comprises a periodic interval.

48. The system according to claim 44, wherein the third interface comprises at least one of a local area network and the Internet.

49. The system according to claim 44, wherein the processor receives a solution from the support server via the third interface.

50. A method for actively correcting software conditions, comprising:

executing a first user interface on a client system;

detecting at least one software condition on the client system via an operating system executing on the client system;

trapping a state of the client system based upon the at least one software condition detected via the operating system; and

communicating the state of the client system to a support server.

51. The method according to claim 50, wherein the first user interface comprises selectable activation criteria.

52. The method according to claim 50, wherein the at least one condition comprises a software fault.

53. The method according to claim 50, wherein the at least one condition comprises a periodic interval.

54. The method according to claim 50, wherein the communicating comprises a step of communicating via at least one of a local area network and the Internet.

55. The method according to claim 50, further comprising a step of receiving a solution from a support server.

56. A computer readable medium, the computer readable medium being readable to execute a method for actively correcting software conditions, the method comprising:

executing a first user interface on a client system;

detecting at least one software condition on the client system via an operating system executing on the client system;

trapping a state of the client system based upon the at least one software condition detected via the operating system; and

communicating the state of the client system to a support server.

57. The computer readable medium according to claim 56, wherein the first user interface comprises selectable activation criteria.

58. The computer readable medium according to claim 56, wherein the at least one condition comprises a software fault.

59. The computer readable medium according to claim 56, wherein the at least one condition comprises a periodic interval.

60. The computer readable medium according to claim 56, wherein the communicating comprises a step of communicating via at least one of a local area network and the Internet.

61. The computer readable medium according to claim 56, further comprising a step of receiving a solution from a support server.