U.S. patents available from 1976 to present.
U.S. patent applications available from 2005 to present.

Icon_funbox Quotables

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."

Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM ; 1943

Newsletter  PatentStorm News

Make the Most of PatentStorm

See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.

Stay on top of the latest patents by subscribing to an RSS feed.

Got questions? Ask a Patent Expert!

Registered users: Manage your profile, comments and alerts.

 

US Patent 7158965 - Method and apparatus for providing help content corresponding to the occurrence of an event within a computer

US Patent Issued on January 2, 2007
Estimated Patent Expiration Date: Icon_subject November 26, 2022Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.
loading...


View Patent Images (PDF)
(Registered users only)

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for displaying help content corresponding to the occurrence of an event occurring within a computer. An alert help data file is periodically downloaded at a client computer. When a program alert occurs within a client computer, the alert help data file is searched to identify help content corresponding to the particular occurrence of the alert. An alert identifier may be uniquely assigned to each alert to assist in locating the corresponding help content. Moreover, an assert tag and a function result value may also be utilized to define and locate particular help content. Once located, the help content may be displayed to a user.

Other References

  • Khosh-Khui, S.A., “Electronic Error Reporting Via Internet In The VAX Environment,” OCLC Systems & Services, 1995, vol. 11, No. 1, p. 27-38.
  • Kerchner, D.J., Overlapping Development: The Continuous Maintenance Phase, Sessions Presented At Northcon/85 Conference Record, Oct. 1985, p. 5/1-1-6.
  • Yamada, S., Osaki, S., “A Reliability model On A Software Error Detection Process,” Transactions of the Information Processing Society of Japan, May 1983, vol. 24, No. 3, p. 376-378.
  • Murthy, S., “How To Collect More Reliable Defect Reports,” Nineteenth Annual Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference, Oct. 2001, p. 279-293.
  • Morin, R., “Distributed Quality Assurance,” UNIX Review, Sep. 1993, vol. 11, No. 9, p. 107-108.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 09/559,123, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Displaying Computer Program Errors As Hypertext,” filed Apr. 26, 2000; Inventor: William R. Softky.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 09/570,664, entitled “Method and System for Categorizing Failures of A Program Module,” filed May 15, 2000; Inventors: Kirk A. Glerum, Matthew J. Ruhlen, Eric A. LeVine, Rob M. Mensching, Charles S. Walker.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 09/570,621, entitled “Method and System for Handling An Unexpected Exception Generated By An Application,” filed May 15, 2000; Inventors: Matthew J. Ruhlen, Michael R. Maracelais, Brian T. Hill.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 09/570,825, entitled “System and Method for Handling A Failure Reporting Conversation,” filed May 15, 2000; Inventors: Matthew J. Ruhlen, Kirk A. Glerum.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 09/571,629, entitled “Method and System for Reporting A Program Failure,” filed May 15, 2000; Inventors: Kirk A. Glerum, Matthew J. Ruhlen, Eric A. LeVine, E. Peter Oosterhof.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 09/596,591, entitled “Method and System for Cyclic Crash Prevention During Application Startup,” filed Jun. 19, 2000; Inventors: Michael R. Maracelais, Brian T. Hill, Eric A. LeVine, Steven Miles Greenberg.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 09/588,165, entitled “Method and System for Recovering Information During A Program Failure,” filed Jun. 5, 2000; Inventors: Kevin Joseph Fischer, Eric A. LeVine, Brian T. Hill, Michael R. Marcaelais, Jeffrey Larsson.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 09/602,284, entitled “Method and System for Reporting Failures of a Program Module In a Corporate Environment,” filed Jun. 23, 2000; Inventors: Kirk A. Glerum, Matthew J. Ruhlen.
  • U.S. Appl. No. 09/602,457, entitled “Method and System for Repairing Corrupt Files and Recovering Data,” filed Jun. 23, 2000; Inventors: Kevin Fisher, Robert Coffen, Eric Snyder, Jeff Larsson.

Inventors

Assignee

Application

No. 10304257 filed on 11/26/2002

US Classes:

707/3, Query processing (i.e., searching)707/104.1, Application of database or data structure (e.g., distributed, multimedia, image)717/125, Having interactive or visual715/705, Help presentation714/26, Artificial intelligence (e.g., diagnostic expert system)714/25, Fault locating (i.e., diagnosis or testing)715/501.1, Hypermedia707/4, Query formulation, input preparation, or translation715/714, Combining diverse help information (e.g., different sources)707/2, Access augmentation or optimizing715/708, Context sensitive709/224, Computer network monitoring709/203Client/server

Field of Search

707/102, Generating database or data structure (e.g., via user interface)707/10, Distributed or remote access707/3, Query processing (i.e., searching)707/104.1Application of database or data structure (e.g., distributed, multimedia, image)

Examiners

Primary: Wong, Don
Assistant: Dang, Khanh

Attorney, Agent or Firm

US Patent References

5740354, Method and system for associating related errors in a computer system
Issued on: 04/14/1998
Inventor: Ben-Natan, et al.
5790779, Method and system for consolidating related error reports in a computer system
Issued on: 08/04/1998
Inventor: Ben-Natan, et al.
5845120, Method and apparatus for linking compiler error messages to relevant information
Issued on: 12/01/1998
Inventor: Reddy, et al.
5877757, Method and system for providing user help information in network applications
Issued on: 03/02/1999
Inventor: Baldwin, et al.
5944839, System and method for automatically maintaining a computer system
Issued on: 08/31/1999
Inventor: Isenberg
5982365, System and methods for interactively generating and testing help systems
Issued on: 11/09/1999
Inventor: Garcia, et al.
5983364, System and method for diagnosing computer faults
Issued on: 11/09/1999
Inventor: Bortcosh, et al.
6026500Method and system for managing computer systems
Issued on: 02/15/2000
Inventor: Topff, et al.

International Classes

G06F 17/30
G06F 17/00

Comments

No comments for this page
 
 
Forgot password?
Register here