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Alternate procedures assisting computer users in solving problems

1. Destination Folder Access Denied You need to confirm this www microsoft com 1 2 3 4 More results U S Patent Feb 4 2014 Sheet 6 of 14 US 8 645 760 B2 Is Message of interest info error or warning 500 Get Base Language if Multinational Message 501 Does Message have bars ribbons Yes Remove variable text items filenames etc 504 Does Message text match known items of interest Yes 506 No Does Message text match known items not of interes Yes 508 No Does Message text Include keywords or buttons of interes Yes 510 No Does Message showan icon of interest No 512 Yes Message of interest display with solution button Not a Message of interest display normally Figure 5 514 519 U S Patent Feb 4 2014 Sheet 7 of 14 US 8 645 760 B2 Destination Folder Access Denied You need permission to perform this action keylog exe Date created 2 12 2008 4 51 PM Size 16 0 KB 600 Figure 6 U S Patent 700 702 704 706 708 710 Feb 4 2014 Sheet 8 of 14 US 8 645 760 B2 To support M yC ompany com Fron JohnDoe M yCompany com Subject Help wth Destination Folder Access Denied The following issue appeared Can you explain what it means and what I can do to fix it information from dialog Destination F
2. 140 140 140 20 30 This is made up of the company name set to lower case and removing all characters other than A Z and 0 9 Suffixes such as Corporation Inc Ltd LEC Corp SA NV Company Co GmbH are removed Full name Alternative company name in KeyID format Status of item Specify who is currently editing the entry to prevent two users from editing same entry Value of company to software messages When companies change name this field links to the current company for address and other details Why linked Non published internal notes First street address Optional Second Line City State or Provence Zip or Postal code Country Main phone number Main toll free number Special notes about number Fax Support Special notes about number Support Alternate Special notes about number Separate Support Fax Tech support email Normal hours Sales email Main company web page Main usa web page if different from WebMain Support web page Download web page Forum or community web page Link to sales Link to companies press news Page where address and phone numbers reside FW use only not shown to users Symbol required by Yahoo to look up data Stock symbol that appears in output 4 Year since started Company s annual revenue in millions Example vcommunications V Communications Inc veom Hidden deleted
3. False 255 20 11 11 10 10 30 11 True False 100 60 10 Description Text on button 3 Description by FaultWire staff 0 default 1 Vista wide Horiz position Vert position Text on button 4 Description by FaultWire staff 0 default 1 Vista wide Horiz position Vert position Text on button 5 Description by FaultWire staff 0 default 1 Vista wide Horiz position Vert position Which button is default zero if no default Close button in title bar Maximize button in title bar Minimize button in title bar Help button in title bar Problem Event Name Name of the application Filename of the application Path of the application True if link to filenames database is available File time of application modified File date of application modified Description of application Version string Name of the fault module if present Path of the fault module File time of fault module modified File date of fault module modified True if link to filenames database is available Description of fault module Version string Exception code Where Exception occurs A digit from error message Hex value Currently unused Language type If LocaleID is an English one Description written in html by FaultWire team can include html and images no scripts Text for solution written in html by FaultWire team can include html and image refrences no scripts Html link for accessing
4. wide vista with multi line text Horizontal position Vertical position Text on button 0 xp 1 vista 2 wide vista with multi line text Horizontal position Vertical position Text on button 0 xp 1 vista 2 wide vista with multi line text Horizontal position Vertical position Text on button 0 xp 1 vista 2 wide vista with multi line text Horizontal position Vertical position Text on button 0 xp 1 vista 2 wide vista with multi line text Horizontal position Vertical position Default button 1 5 0 no default Title bar has a close button Title bar has a Maximize button US 8 645 760 B2 27 TABLE 3 3 continued 28 post values Stages Name Examples Required Notes Dialog Button Min alse 2 3 Title bar has a Minimize button Dialog Button_Help alse 23 Title bar has a Help button Problem_Event_Name APP CRASH 2 3 App__Filename Explorer exe 2 3 Application filename App_ Path C windows 2 3 App_ Time 8 57 00 2 3 Use 24 hour format App_ Date 2008 12 31 253 Use YYYY MM DD format App__Description This is a description 2 3 App__Version 20 2345 2 3 Module_Name Explorer dll 2 3 Module_ Path c windows 2 3 Module_ Time 4 44 00 23 Use 24 hour format Module_ Date 2008 12 31 2 3 Use YYYY MM DD format Module_ Description Handles network access for explorer 2 3 Module_ Version 20 2345 2 3 Text string any format ok Exception__Offset 3793289784 2 3 Send as decimal HangType 0 2 3 Decimal
5. error or warning saving said included display message content and related information to data storage incrementing a frequency of occurrence counter displaying said message with an additional solution button on said computational device if said solution button is selected by a user then displaying said saved information sending said parametric information to a database via a network checking said database for more information based on said parametric information and if said more information is available then sending said more information via net work to said computational device and displaying description solutions on said computational device 4 The method for displaying information related to an display message as recited in claim 3 further comprising the step of emailing alert other users to a specific problem or assist a corporate help desk
6. 645 760 B2 FIG 8D U S Patent Feb 4 2014 Sheet 14 of 14 US 8 645 760 B2 Windows XP ISSUES Windows Vista FIG 9 Applications FREE DOWNLOAD Web Error Codes PURCHASE Online Answers Getting Help FORUM Useful Links SUPPORT Registration COMPANY Contact Us News and Press SEARCH Privacy DATA Legal US 8 645 760 B2 1 ALTERNATE PROCEDURES ASSISTING COMPUTER USERS IN SOLVING PROBLEMS RELATED TO ERROR AND INFORMATIONAL MESSAGES REFERENCE TO PRIORITY DOCUMENTS This Application claims priority under 35 USC 119 e to Provisional Application Ser No 61 084 590 entitled Method and System for Assisting Computer Users in Understanding Messages and Solving Problems filed in the USPTO on Jul 29 2008 which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION U S Pat No 7 191 364 2007 shows a method for creat ing dumps of data from a crash or hang and sending such data to a server for possible solutions However it clearly does not deal with important system crashes or hangs where the sys tem is often non functional or unstable but covers situations where the operating system or running applications issue an informational warning or problem type message USS Pat No 7 149 928 2006 shows a means to monitor an application program for a fault or crash and send such infor mation to a server However has no means to provide any informat
7. B2 9 that at a later time when the internet is active all flagged history log items are sent in a similar way If the client setting Send anonymous error information when error occurs is off then the information is only sent when they click on the FaultWire icon Previously logged data is not sent in this state When the Fault Wire icon appears the user can take several actions within the dialog They can ignore it and select any options presented by the dialog They can click on the Fault Wire icon This opens a dummy progress dialog that indi cates Processing error information and linking to the Fault Wire server This will have a 45 second graphic progress indicator without showing the actual time It will also open the browser to the FaultWire web page specific for the error Once the browser opens our progress indicator can be can celed It s just a dialog to placate the user when the browser application access is slow There is usually ifnot always a target page since we have sent the error information used to create the web page in advance of displaying the page or will have sent the data before making the browser request Note that double clicking does not create two instances of the browser Also the infor mation is never sent twice to our server during the on screen life of the dialog When the user hovers over the solution icon the tooltip appears with the message FaultWire helps you
8. HangSignature A33f 2 3 Hex Locale_ID 033 2 3 Language code 1033 is English Copyright 2008 XYZ Inc 2 3 Text string any format ok 23 Additional Images for Stage 3 No errors will occur if any or all of the images are missing These images are passed along with the POST data above by using the name upim ages as an array The POST value holds the filename and must be exactly as shown in the table below all lowercase Use of any other filenames will be ignored and not saved The server code will validate the file and save it under a new filename TABLE 3 4 Image values Stages Name Value Required Notes upimages imagel jpg 3 This image is that appears in the title bar typically 16 x 16 Many dialogs do not have this image upimages image2 jpg 3 This image is that appears within the body Many dialogs do not have a body image upimages image3 jpg 3 This is a second image is that may appear within the body Most dialogs do not have this image Name Examples Upload 1 Value Reg2 Solution URL Message 0 Query problem 30 35 40 45 50 http www faultwire com solutions Windows__Vista_solution php keyid 1001 Ok Unable to connect to database TABLE 3 4 continued Image values Stages Name Value Required Notes upimages screen jpg 3 The screen shot made by the client program Size is not important as the server will resize if necessary Th
9. In gen eral the specialized solution button appears to the left of any other buttons that appear in the title bar The user can click on the icon to go to our specific web page with details about the error and possible solutions Embodiments of the invention use automatic means to find out if the icon should appear or not An executable module then scans the dialog manager list to see if it should override the automatic state and either include or exclude the item This process is discussed in more detail below When FW loads it issues a command to hook messages For example Windows provides an API call SetWindow sHookEx that along with the first parameter WH_GET MESSAGE tells Windows to installs our hook procedure that monitors messages posted to a message queue The spe cific line of code in this particular example is g_hhookSend SetWindowsHookEx WH_GETMES SAGE GetPostMsgProc g_hinstDII dwThreadId The GetPostMsgProc is the hook that gets called when a mes sage appears on the display along with details about the message As a sample more detail on the Window API func tion is included as Appendix A It should be noted that the US 8 645 760 B2 5 specific line of code is used for illustrative purposes only and will vary in different embodiments One way the Message may appear is shown in the example in FIG 3 300 A Message such as this may contain a number of elements but these elements may or may not appea
10. and advertising information The web page is specific to the error message and explains the issue and provides a solution In some cases it may be that FaultWire does not have detailed information In these cases information is provided as to which application generated the message and the search section can help users quickly locate more information with a minimum of additional work The search box already includes key words from the error message and is targeted for the OS or vendor if not an OS related issue Multiple tabs are also included to tightly focus the search The first tab is specific to the error message s vendor The second tab searches the web but excludes known sites that are a waste of time or that require any kind of logon Continuing to FIG 45 412 an optional solution for the issue appears In 412 a link is provided to a forum where users add comments and view what others have said about this specific issue At 416 a summary of vendor information appears Lastly at 418 the error Message text is submitted to a search engine to view additional links about this issue that appear on the Internet The user can easily copy the text from different areas of 400 to communicate the issue with other people without having to type the text again FIG 5 illustrates a 500 explains the process of determining if the Message is of interest or not by expanding the decision shown in FIG 2 206 First some operating systems and pro
11. in the free version to just Settings FaultWire In general the following information is saved into the log and transmitted to the data collection server See FIG 1 when the server requests full information When a field is not available it is set to null While not all of the information will be displayed to a user it is collected to make better choices of combining like data and issues with specific system variants 0 a 5 20 30 35 40 45 55 10 TABLE 1 1 Information within error dialog Title of dialog Text of dialog we may impose a limit of 1024 characters Absolute position of the start of body text Text on each button and which button is the default if any and xy position Button style system default etc Title bar icon extracted as a 16 x 16 gif png jpg Main body icon graphic extracted as a gif png jpg Use format of original graphic item or what is easy to extract with PNG preferred Icon identification if using standard system icon Warning Forbidden etc otherwise indicate Unknown Absolute position of main icon graphic These items will vary on different systems and OSes but is useful to construct a fake dialog on the web site We don t need have a perfect representation Secondary icon graphic if present extracted as a gif png jpg Use format of original graphic item or what is easy to extract with PNG preferred Absolute position of secondary
12. strings can have a wildcard character to signify anything after the asterisk is unimportant These string comparisons should also be made case insensitive The comment field can be ignored and is just to explain what the issue is TABLE B Sample Issues not of Interest Type Title Body Filename Comment Exclude Disabled The option is Explorer exe This is not a warning if read disabled when Expanding on the issue table these will appear in the Dialog Manager screen The issues table is created from two lists the FaultWire provided list and a user list The Fault Wire list may be updated from time to time without affecting the user list When read in the Fault Wire list is read first and the user list read second If changes are made to these lists via the Dialog Manager or an update to the FaultWire list it is desirable to have them take effect immediately but it is US 8 645 760 B2 7 acceptable to require an unload reload or reboot before it s accepted if too complex or other issues arise As an option it is likely the invention should include a special case that does not attach the solution icon to any FaultWire dialog except for the test dialog The concern is the possibility of some endless loop or hang should FaultWire issue a message and then FaultWire attempts to handle it When a Message appears a user may wish to communicate the issue to another person Without this invention it is cum bersome to
13. that were manually created is included in the results to the user The user can perform additional research and the collected infor mation can be emailed to another user or company 4 Claims 14 Drawing Sheets U S Patent Feb 4 2014 Sheet 1 of 14 US 8 645 760 B2 User s Computer 110 100 c Server Operating System and Server Engine Application Programs 112 Intercept Software Issues Database 114 Display Web Pages Browser Figure 1 U S Patent Figure 2 Feb 4 2014 Sheet 2 of 14 US 8 645 760 B2 200 OS or Application sends to display a Message 202 Extract key information from Message content 204 Is Message info error or warning Display Message normally 208 206 Yes For this specific issue save Message content other info and increment a frequency of occurrence counter 210 Display Message wth solution button 212 Does user select the solution buttor No special actions 216 214 Yes Display saved information Check database for more information and if available show description solutions and other help 218 User better understands the issue and or can fix issue 220 U S Patent Feb 4 2014 Sheet 3 of 14 US 8 645 760 B2 302 304 Destination Folder Access Denied You need permission to perform this action 310 k
14. understand and solve issues with this message The last option is to right click on the FaultWire icon A drop down menu appears with a set of functions This is shown in FIG A2 with alternative version of the program When the user clicks on an active function the follow actions occur gt gt Selection A2 1 is Help with this issue This is the same as clicking on the FaultWire icon and will bring up the browser with the information about this error gt gt Selection A2 2 Email my contact This sends an email along with information See section 3 4 4 for details gt gt Selection A2 3 Information summary displays a pop up dialog with selected error information It will be identical to the Information summary screen available from History in section 3 3 3 gt gt Selection A2 4 View history Open the history log viewer showing all errors and warnings recorded The log shows the title application name and the date time the issue occurred See section 3 3 3 for complete details gt gt Selection A2 5 Title to clipboard Copies the dialog title to the clipboard gt gt Selection A2 6 Body to clipboard Copies all the body text to the clipboard gt gt Selection A2 7 Exclude dialog Brings up a second dia log to exclude the dialog or application which is shown in FIG A3 below gt gt Selection A2 8 Settings FaultWire Pro Displays the FaultWire settings dialog The name in the drop down changes
15. 03 and extracts key information from the Message and the Message sender in 204 This can include all the text within the message special graphics such as a warn ing or problem icon and the identification of which applica tion or operating system component sent the message A determination is made if this Message is a warning problem or informational type Message at 206 which is explained in more detail later If the Message is not one of interest then at 208 the Message displays normally and no further actions are taken If the Message is of interest at 210 the information is saved in database 114 on the server 110 if this data has not been saved before In all cases a frequency of occurrence counter for this specific Message is incre mented in database 114 on the server 110 In 212 the Mes sage is displayed and a solution button is made available When any system or application dialog opens the inven tion executes an investigation module that checks to see if it appears to be an error or warning message of interest For those dialogs of interest the invention through the execution of an insertion module inserts a solution icon in the title bar as shown in FIG Al This icon is used to get additional information about the error either locally or by accessing the FaultWire website a sample map of the site is shown in FIG B1 as would be used in a particular embodiment of the invention with a page specific to the issue at hand
16. 114 and web pages 116 within the user s computer 100 so no outside communication is neces sary This has the advantage of not requiring a server or active communications link A second alternative method uses both a local and remote server databases where the local database is used when no outside communication is available and once such outside communication is available the two databases are synchronized The invention is contemplated in various implementations and does not have to have a server back end The system could be built as a totally local application along with a table of solutions and other content that would be provided to the user This might have to be updated periodically whereas the server solution has any updated solutions and content imme diately available The server design embodiment helps collect the content for problem evaluation and trend analysis and makes it easier to create solutions to common problems Other Operations The FaultWire client also retains a set of default list of exclusions and inclusions that function as if they are part of the Dialog manager included in table below but they do not normally appear in the dialog manager screen Pressing an activation combination AIt F9 in this instance acts as an undocumented toggle to switch the view to the default list When switched to the default list the text string appears just below the list box Defaults shown use Alt F9 to revert to user
17. 50 Links to related keys in 13 234 1922 driver_vendors The KeyID must be unique Ifnecessary add a digit to make the name unique This database will be mostly automatically generated The client program sends data and if needed it is recorded in the database See below for details on the process and field names There are different types of tables Windows XP OS issue Windows Vista OS issues Windows 7 OS issues future Windows 8 OS issues future Application issues i e not part of OS Crash and Hang Exception issues 35 Ideally applications that are included as part of the OS will remain in the related OS table but this may prove difficult and is acceptable if some or all of these end up in the application table For each issue table there is a corresponding raw table used to store the incoming client data The raw tables allow for saving multiple sets of data from a client on any issue We may elect to stop collecting data once some threshold has been met such as 20 occurrences of the specific issue This data can be useful in finding a solution and or seeing if there is some specific set of facts that the issue occurs For example an issue occurs only in Windows XP SP1 TABLE 2 2 Issue Data Table generic Field Field name Type IssueKey Int Issue Code Varchar Status Enum LockedBy Varchar PrivateNotes Text OSMash Varchar OSNamePrimary Varchar OSNameType Varchar Size Description 11 Unique s
18. L to be used that links the desired page For all data sent to the server if a value is unknown the client has the option of either not sending the item so that the server will assign a default value or you can assign a default value of NULL for strings and zero for values The server code fully validates all data sent to it and will not generate an error if any optional field is missing In the stage 1 step the client has detected an issue warn ing error or informational and needs to find out if the server needs a full drop of data and to get what URL to call when a user elects to press the purple FaultWire button on the issue dialog The following set of data is sent to the server using the Post variables indicated to the URL TABLE 3 1 Data sent to server Stages Name Examples Required Notes Stage 1 Al Stage 1 has limited info as shown below Stage 2 or 3 used to send additional information LicenseKey ABCDE 12345 ABCDE 12345 ABCDE Al will be blank for trial version FWversion 1 01 Al Version of FaultWire Debug 0 42 43 optional See section 5 3 3 iFlag 4C2504E02F89D1D33A0C1305E823322 Al GUID created when FW installed strip any dashes 16 bytes 32 hex characters Regl 59812 1 Random Value 0 65534 28237 Category Vista XP App Al If not from OS category is App Application US 8 645 760 B2 23 24 TABLE 3 1 continued Data sent to server Stages Name Examples Required Notes OSs Vista X
19. P All VendorRaw Microsoft Avanquest Publishing Symantec All Category Vista XP always uses Corp Adobe Microsoft Application Explorer Notepad Firefox Fix It Utilities All Can be the filename without extension if there is no application name Exception 301999192 All Exception code comes from Application crashes decimal Ignore or set to zero if no exception Title Destination Folder Access Denied All Full title Body You need permission to perform this action All Full body include line breaks C keylooger exe style n Date created 2 12 2008 4 51 PM Size 16 0 KB TestData Company Name Foo Corporation None Used for testing of filtering function www mysite com index html only in debug mode It is never sent from client nor saved The server checks if the issue has been saved or required additional raw entries or not and returns the 3 items imme diately following the keyword FaultWire comma sepa rated For example SITENAME 1 http Awww faultwire com solutions Windows_Vista_solution php keyid 1001 25 staff with solutions It is also used for crashes and hangs since collecting a screen shot is problematic UploadValue 3 Send all the data as stage 3 and include all images that are available screen shot icons etc In this case we ve detected this as a new issue we haven t seen Ok before and we need to save all the data TABLE 3 2 three results are explained Name Examples Upload Va
20. Shot5 DialogScreenS hot6 DialogScreenS hot7 DialogScreenShot amp DialogType DialogButton1 DialogButton1Explain DialogButton1Style DialogButtonl Hpos DialogButtonl Vpos DialogButton2 DialogButton2Explain DialogButton2Style DialogButton2Hpos DialogButton2Vpos Field Type Varchar In In In In In In In In In In In In In In In Date Int Int Int Int Varchar Varchar Varchar Text In In In In Varchar Varchar Ini Varchar Ini Ini Varchar Varchar Varchar Varchar Varchar Text Text Text Text B Size Description 0 Version followed by the 4 digit build number Service pack number 32 or 64 bit OS variant Count of occurrences of dialog user may not have viewed html Occurrences this month Occurrences in month 1 Occurrences in month 2 Occurrences in month 3 Occurrences in month 4 Occurrences in month 5 Occurrences in month 6 Occurrences in month 7 Occurrences in month 8 Occurrences in month 9 Occurrences in month 10 Occurrences in month 11 Holds the current date for occurrences counters When actual month changes counts for months over 1 year are discarded 11 Count of html page views from FaultWire client does not include manual and robot views 11 Count of all html page views Handled by server 11 Number of users who rated it solved 11 Number of users who rated it as not working 100 Link to company database key 100 Name
21. US008645760B2 az United States Patent 10 Patent No US 8 645 760 B2 van Gilluwe 45 Date of Patent Feb 4 2014 54 ALTERNATE PROCEDURES ASSISTING 6 012 152 A 1 2000 Douik etal oo 714 26 COMPUTER USERS IN SOLVING PROBLEMS ee is ice sae verse z m 334 UZSAKL oereniiisesreseesspis RELATED TO ERROR AND 6 529 954 B1 3 2003 Cookmeyer et al 709 224 INFORMATIONAL MESSAGES 6 742 141 BL 5 2004 Miller sss 714 26 7 007 200 B2 2 2006 Salem osc 714 26 75 Inventor Frank van Gilluwe Mountain View CA 7 016 954 B2 3 2006 McKenzie etal 709 224 US 7 191 364 B2 3 2007 Hudson etal we 714 38 11 7 293 201 B2 11 2007 Ansari we 714 38 14 oes 7 360 125 B2 4 2008 Krebs o siscssessseensessene 714 48 73 Assignee FAQware Menlo Park CA US 7 475 286 B2 1 2009 Altaf etal wees 714 27 i f HEI i 7 757 126 B2 7 2010 Vidiyala 714 38 14 Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this 2003 0028825 A1 2 2003 Himes s s 714 37 patent is extended or adjusted under 35 2004 0024840 Al 2 2004 Levine etal lt 709 217 U S C 154 b by 89 days 2007 0127455 Al 6 2007 Fujioka 370 356 2007 0277061 A1 11 2007 Ashe ossssscececcess 714 57 21 Appl No 12 461 023 cited by examiner 22 Filed Jul 29 2009 Primary Examiner Yolanda L Wilson 74 Attorney Agent or Firm David B Dort Dort Patent 65 Prior Publication Data PC US 2010 0115348 Al May 6 2010 57 ABSTRACT Rela
22. as a description solution button explanations and or an improved screen shot image Once a field is filled in it will not be overwritten This allows modifications without future client errors changing this data The frequency of occurrence data will also be used to focus efficiency on the most frequently occurring items The process for tracking and packaging the data for display is automatic Only one class of solutions has an automatic solution exceptions and BSoD Blue Screen of Death issues Both of these errors include a specific code number in the error When the this type of errors occur we do a lookup to see if we already have this code along with solutions If so we can then include those solutions on the created web page These solutions were created manually and include most known Windows codes about 1600 exceptions and maybe 300 fatal stop codes The exception codes allow for a third party vendor to create their own codes which never overlap Microsoft s codes in which case it would be unlikely we would have a solution although it could be added Third party codes are quite rare For other errors and issues the solution has to be manually generated Once a solution is created then future users who encounter the problem will get the benefit of this solution automatically Items shaded in light green in table 2 2 are typically auto matically created or manually created after the issue data was saved Depending on the e
23. ault Wire although Faultwire includes many of the embodi ments of the invention the invention is not limited to those embodiments as they are for illustrative purposes only an 5 20 30 35 40 45 55 60 65 4 Now referring to FIG 1 auser s computer 100 contains an operating system and application programs 102 along with the invention s intercept software 104 a display 106 and a communications path 118 between the user s computer and the server 110 The server 110 has a server engine 112 that saves Message information from the intercept software 104 over the communications path 118 The database 114 is used to store new Message information if the information has not been previously recorded as well as recording frequency of occurrence of each Message Should the software 104 request a solution page for the Message the Server Engine 112 will build a web page 116 containing the information from the database for this specific issue and the web page 116 is passed via the communications link to the computer s browser 108 This method has the advantage of helping multiple users In addition having multiple users contribute to the database will expand the collection of information that is available to all the users FIG 2 shows the process staring at step 200 An operating system or application program 202 sends to the display a Message Before the Message appears the invention inter cepts the process 2
24. bad characters etc Filter the Title and Body text for variables such as paths filenames URLs dates times etc Build the IssueCode to uniquely identify the issue Find the company vendor and link it in if found Save the data in the primary and raw tables as appropriate Create and link the forum entry Return the URL of the target page on the FaultWire site Display debug information if so requested Add faults and new vendors to the administration action list The invention claimed is 1 A method for assisting a computer user with problem solving a software error on a computational device compris ing the steps of implementing and executing monitoring instructions on said computational device for detecting a software error in an user launched executable program or operating system executed independently of said monitoring instructions and determining a set of error parameters based on said software error displaying on said computational device an option to access and display a set of assistance instructions if said user chooses said option to access said set of assis tance instructions then accessing said set of assistance instructions based on set of error parameters said set of assistance instructions stored on a networked server and accessed via network by said computational device weighting on a second computational device connected to said network server said set of said assistance instruc tions based on sai
25. changed reviewed frank 0 not important 3 very important i e large software company avanquestpublishingusa V Communications was purchased by Avanquest in 2005 7031 Koll Center Parkway Suite 150 Pleasanton CA 94566 USA 1 925 425 1700 1 800 325 0834 Sales Enter 1 at the voice prompt 1 925 425 1800 1 925 474 1701 Enter 3 at the voice prompt support avanquestusa com M F 8 am to 5 pm PST sales avanquestusa com http www avanquest com http www avanquestusa com http support avanquestusa com AVQ PA AVQ Euronext 1984 74 15 TABLE 2 1 continued US 8 645 760 B2 16 sample data field for use Field Field name Type Size Description Example Employees Int 11 Number of employees 400 Description Text Description of company Avanquest Software specializes in the development and publishing of personal and professional communication utilities security and multimedia software LogoLarge Varchar 50 Image of logo up to logo__avanquest_150 jpg 150 x 150 optimize for 150 wide if not square LogoSmall Varchar 50 Small 16 x 16 logo may logo__avanquest__16 gif not be used ModifiedDate Datetime Date and time of last 20 Oct 2007 11 32 am update auto filled in ModifiedBy Varchar 10 Login name of last Frank person to update auto filled in CountAccess Int 11 Number of times 23 accessed CountlIssues Int 11 Number of issues 3 assigned to this company in issues databases DriverVendor Varchar
26. d height in pixels System language US 8 645 760 B2 11 TABLE 1 4 Version Information Type Free or Pro Version number User s serial number if paid version for subscription validation When collecting information the preferred embodiment is careful that their own operations do not issue additional errors and must be far more tolerant of problems such as low memory disk problems and other items that most applica tions ignore There may be cases where information is not collectible save or transmit the information to the data col lection server In general the invention needs to be tolerant of all these situations without creating new errors It is also likely that dialogs will be encountered that shouldn t be attempted to deal with As these are discovered they can be added them to the exclusion list The exclusion list should also include a log only option that will not even attempt to send it to the internet for example problems related to the internet connection The invention also includes an email feature to alert other users to a specific problem or assist a corporate help desk In settings the Optional email contact is filled in with one or more target email addresses When the user right clicks on the solution icon in the dialog and then clicks on the drop down option Email my contact the user s email client is opened and the message is pre loaded with the following dialog infor mati
27. d set of error parameters displaying a set of assistance instructions on said compu tational device based on said weighting step adding to store of assistance instructions to said software error parameters on said networked server re weighting said assistance instructions based on any user implemented actions following said displaying step and said set of error parameters wherein said dis playing step includes determining the display character istics of said executable program and mimicking said display characteristics in said executable program per forming said displaying option step 2 A method for assisting a computer user with problem solving a software error on a computational device compris ing the steps of implementing and executing monitoring instructions on said computational device for detecting a software error in an user launched executable program or operating system executed independently of said monitoring instructions and determining a set of error parameters based on said software error 0 20 35 40 45 50 30 displaying on said computational device an option to access and display a set of assistance instructions if user chooses said option to access said set of assistance instructions then accessing said set of assistance instructions based on set of error parameters said set of assistance instructions stored on a networked server and accessed via network by said computational de
28. der Access Denied You need permission to perform this action keylooger exe Date created 2 12 2008 4 51 PM Size 16 0 KB Business Professional 6 0 6000 1 32 35 10 warning Try again 1 120 220 Cancel 1 140 220 2 true false Stages Required all all all optional all 2 3 2 3 all all all all all all all NNNN U w WwW WW NNNN wo We Wa We NNN W Wd w Notes Stage 2 or 3 used to send additional information will be blank for trial version Version of FaultWire See section 5 3 3 GUID created when FW installed strip any dashes 16 bytes 32 hex characters Same value as sent in Stage 1 not a new random number Value returned from Stage 1 If not from OS category is App Application Category Vista XP always uses Microsoft Can be the filename without extension if there is no application name Exception code comes from Application crashes decimal Ignore or set to zero if no exception code Full title Full body include line breaks C style n Windows Variant name Full version Service pack number 32 or 64 First text horizontal starting position First text vertical starting position Position of image2 Position of image2 Position of image3 Position of image3 Type of issue in text warning fatal forbidden invalid information selection based off of text in title or body or type of icon Text on button 0 xp 1 vista 2
29. e URL option is intended for corporate help desks that use an http address rather than email Error Identification and Weighting One method to identify errors is to have a list of items the system in the invention looks at and assign weights to each one For example if the word Error or Warning appears in the title or body text it has a high weight If a system warning icon or error icon is shown it also has a high weight Other factors include if only a single Ok button appears it may have a medium weight A Bayesian filter could be used to implement this technique although we d have to deliver a list ofkeywords and weights Alpha 1 may start with a fixed set of simple items to compare as we refine the approach to use When a dialog is identified as a warning or error type the FaultWire icon is added to the dialog At the same time key information is sent to the history log If the internet is avail able we query if the error has been previously recorded for this OS The server responds either that it has the information and no further details are required or that it needs a complete set of data In the event all data is needed the FaultWire client then sends the complete data set to the server where it is recorded In either case the server also counts the request so we collect frequency of occurrence information If the Inter net is not available it is flagged as unsent in the history log so US 8 645 760
30. e following example shows of how a HTML file might send the image data for four images lt form enctype multipart form data id form1 name form1 method post action _comm issue_check php gt lt input name Send type submit id Send value Send Data gt lt input type hidden name MAX__FILE_ SIZE value 500000 gt also limited at the server lt input name upimages type file size 80 maxlength 100 gt one line for each image sent lt input name upimages type file size 80 maxlength 100 gt lt input name upimages type file size 80 maxlength 100 gt lt input name upimages type file size 80 maxlength 100 gt lt form gt TABLE 3 5 Image results are explained Notes 0 Error input database server etc 1 Done Not currently used will be zero Where to go if FaultWire solutions button clicked Usually Ok this is the text status with a short message if there is some problem For now this is internal use only not displayed to the user US 8 645 760 B2 29 When stage 2 or 3 results are returned the database has been updated with the new data and a user should be able to click through using the Solution URL to the specific page Server side actions with Stage 2 include Filter all input for length html
31. equencal key A hopefully unique hash of the non variable text from the title body application name and exception code if present for this specific OS 32 hex characters Hidden deleted auto changed reviewed 30 Indicates staff person who is currently editing record Staff notes that are never displayed to user 20 Version mash up to identify the OS type comprised of OS name and Variant shortcuts like XPH XP home Version Build Service pack and bits 6 64 3 32 OS MASH is not currently used 20 Typically XP or Vista 20 OS variant name Examples 1001 6C13709COBA708BB7600 29B6ES5FBCA40 Auto Frankvg Joe could you review the solutions VHP606000P26 This means Vista Home Premium v6 0 build 6000 Service Pack 2 64 bit XP Vista Professional as in XP Business as in Vista US 8 645 760 B2 17 TABLE 2 2 continued 18 Issue Data Table generic Field name OSVersion OSServicePack OSBits CountOccursTotal CountMonth1 CountMonth2 CountMonth3 CountMonth4 CountMonth5 CountMonth6 CountMonth7 CountMonth8 CountMonth9 CountMonth10 CountMonth11 CountMonth12 CurrentMonth CountClientHits CountAllPageHits RatingSolved RatingFailed CompanyLink CompanyRough DialogTitle DialogBody DialogWidth DialogHeigh DialogTextHpos DialogTextVpos DialogIcon1 DialogIcon2 Dialoglcon2Hpos DialogIcon2Vpos DialogIcon3 DialogIcon3 Hpos DialogIcon3 Vpos DialogScreen
32. erformance Maximum space for history log Sets the maximum size of the history log The history log is handled as a FIFO such that the oldest entries are removed when space is needed for new entries The minimum space is 1 MB The history log is also used when the internet connection is down Entries are flagged as not sent When the internet connection is re estab lished all pending entries are sent to the Fault Wire server and the sent flag in the log is cleared Browser to use for Microsoft and Windows issues This has two drop down choices IE or Default Since Microsoft issues may eventually direct into a Microsoft site and Microsoft sites often fail to work properly in any browser other than IE this overrides the default browser in this one instance It has no effect if the default browser is IE Optional email contact in particular embodiments sub scription versions When an email entry is provided the drop down control will be enabled to send an email message with critical information to the recipient It can be used by corporate help desks and users who support other family members This entry supports multiple email addresses when separated by a semi colon which are all passed in the same email message No validation is made this entry The field will default to blank If trivial we should also support entry of a URL in this field If the entry starts out as http then a browser is opened at the specified address Th
33. erstand what a message means which program generated the message the publisher of the program and other helpful details See the frequency of occurrence as compared with other users Access specific help on a message with a single click or button selection Makes it easy to research the message using the dialog text without having to hand type in the text of the message Provides a means to include a detailed description and solutions to the user 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 Provides information about the publisher and how to get support from the publisher Requires no modifications to the publisher s Programs Ability to send the message contents and additional details to another person who can assist with the issue The present invention always provides solution informa tion in contrast to the 364 which cannot provide any infor mation unless someone has manually created such informa tion after the collection of data The present invention differs from the 928 patent and improves upon it in that it helps a user by providing information about the issue and covers informational warning and problem type messages from all sources including the operating system and application pro grams The present invention improves on the Microsoft sys tem as it requires no coding by the application program or operating system to create a message that has a solution option In addition the invention a
34. extracted only used if Company Link not built 255 Text within Titlebar Body text supports line breaks and variables are removed see notes after table 11 Width in Pixels of dialog 11 Height in Pixels of dialog 11 Horiz Pixel position of start of text 11 Vertical Pixel position of start of text 100 Titlebar icon 16 x 16 100 Main graphic 11 Horiz position of graphic 2 11 Vert position of graphic 2 80 Secondary graphic 11 Horiz position of graphic 3 11 Vert position of graphic 3 80 Screen shot XP or 1 of 4 80 Screen shot Vista or 2 of 4 80 Screen shot Win7 or 3 of 4 80 Screen shot Win8 or 4 of 4 20 Type of issue in text Minor Warning Fatal Crtical etc Text on first button Description by FaultWire staff 11 0 xp 1 Vista 2 Vista wide mulit line 11 Horiz position 11 Vert position Text on button 2 Description by FaultWire staff 11 O default 1 Vista wide 11 Horiz position 11 Vert position Examples 5 1 2600 XP 6 0 6000 Vista 2 32 163 121 Nocodcdocoooco 007 12 31 96 124 28 1 microsoft Microsoft Corporation Destination Folder Access Denied You need permission to perform this action 450 224 40 24 destination__folder3__title png Warning4 png 10 10 destination__folder3__alt png 40 35 destination__folder3__screen jpg destination__folder22__screen jpg destination__folder61__screen jpg destination__folder97__screen jpg War
35. eylog exe Date created 2 12 2008 4 51 PM Size 16 0 KB 300 Cancel Figure 3 U S Patent Feb 4 2014 Sheet 4 of 14 US 8 645 760 B2 400 402 404 Destination Folder Access Denied You need permission to perform this action 408 Description Typically you tried to delete rename or move a file or folder that you do not have permissions to change perhaps even if you have Administrator Privileges Sample Dialog Destination Folder Access Denied Bolutiod Cx J A You need permission to perform this action keylog exe Date created 2 12 2008 4 51 PM Size 16 0 KB 408 Key Facts Full Tide Destination Folder Access Denied 4to Body Text You need permission to perform this action Type Warning OS Windows Vista Issued By Explorer exe Vendor Mier U S Patent Feb 4 2014 Sheet 5 of 14 US 8 645 760 B2 412 414 416 418 Figure 4b Solutions and Fixes If you want to perform an action on a file or folder you don t have access to you have to change the permissions You can change permissions for one file or enable access to all the files under a folder and any sub folders as well Unfortunately you have to go through a lot of hoops in an unnecessarily complex set of dialogs to do this This is especially annoying if you need to edit a configuration file or delete a malware or virus file Solution 1 of 3 In this example we want to delete the keylog file that resides in the system32 directory As w
36. formation other than to increment the occurrence counters for the issue if it already exists In the chart below names in bold indicate Important fields al though some may remain undefined or blank if not relevant to the issue dialog US 8 645 760 B2 25 TABLE 3 3 26 post values Name Stage LicenseKey FWversion Debug iFlag Regl Reg2 Category Os VendorRaw Application Exception Title Body OS_Name_Type OS_ Version OS_Service_Pack OS_ Bits Dialog _Text_Hpos Dialog _Text__Vpos Dialog Icon__2__Hpos Dialog Icon__2__Vpos Dialog Icon__3__Hpos Dialog Icon__3__Vpos Dialog Type Dialog Button_1 Dialog Button__2 Dialog Button_3 Dialog Button_4 Dialog Button__5 Dialog Button__2__H Dialog Button__2__V Dialog Button_3__H Dialog Button_3__V Dialog Button_4 H Dialog Button_4_V Dialog Button_1_ Style Dialog Button__1__Hpos Dialog Button_1__Vpos Dialog Button__2_ Style pos pos Dialog Button_3_ Style pos pos Dialog Button_4 Style pos pos Dialog Button_5_ Style Dialog Button_5__Hpos Dialog Button_5__Vpos Dialog Button_Default Dialog Button_Close Dialog Button Max Examples 23 ABCDE 12345 ABCDE 12345 ABCDE 1 01 0 42 43 4C2504E02F89D1D33A0C1305E82C3322 59812 38293 Vista XP App Vista XP Microsoft Avanquest Publishing Symantec Corp Adobe Explorer Notepad Firefox Fix It Utilities 301999192 Destination Fol
37. grams offer a base language for example English for a multi national message support In 501 if such a base mes sage text is available it is used in place of the actual message text to simplify later tests An alternative approach would eliminate this step and handle each message in it s original language and use text comparisons that match the language used For the balance of this section we ll assume the mes sage is in English In 502 if the Message contains a menu bar ribbons scroll bars a status bar or specific button text such as Finish Finished Done Next or Back it is not a Message of 0 20 40 45 60 6 interest and the Message is displayed normally at 516 Oth erwise at 504 we examine the text that appears in the Message such as 302 304 and 310 and remove any pathnames file names dates times sizes and other information that will change with each occurrence of the specific Message The resultant text is examined in 506 to see if the Message text or a portion of the text matches a list of known issues If so this is a Message of interest 514 If in 506 no match is made a check 508 is made to see if the resultant text or a portion of the text from 504 matches a list of known non issues If a match is made then this is not a Message of interest 516 If in 508 no match is made 510 checks to see if the resultant text from 504 has a keyword that indicates it is a Me
38. have to type in the message text and gather addi tional information about the issue and details about the com puter where the Message occurred FIG 6 shows a Message 600 where the invention provides a means to send the Mes sage and additional information to another person typically via Email by selecting the button 604 This button could be within the Message box outside the box as a drop down from the Solutions button 602 or other placement or hot key Other alternative communication types include sending a text mes sage to a cell phone converting text to voice for an audio link or phone call or sending the text through an instant messag ing system or creation of a video to a remote user When the communication function is selected via 602 the information collected is communicated to another party The invention creates the message similar to FIG 7 700 The created message includes a default to address 702 The inven tion can remember a default email address such as a compa ny s technical support email address or a technical friend that assists the user The created message also includes a subject field 704 about the issue summary information about the issue 706 a link where to get additional information 708 and details about the user s system 710 The user can add further details if necessary before the message is sent Alternative Embodiments An alternative method places the server components such as the issues database
39. he figures included in the application FIG 1 is a Block diagram of the components of the User s computer and separate server FIG 2 A flowchart of the overall operation of a first embodiment of the invention FIG 3 An example warning dialog showing the compo nents and solution button FIG 4a illustrates a first sample display screen encoun tered by a user when the solution button is selected FIG 46 illustrates a second sample display screen encoun tered by a user when the solution button is selected FIG 5 illustrates a flowchart of the process to determine if a dialog is one of interest such as a warning problem or informational dialog FIG 6 An example Message with an Email button FIG 7 An example automatically generated Email FIG 8A is the sample of the display notice including the solution button FIG 8B 1 is na example of a menu displayed when a user activates the solution button FIG 8B 2 is another example of the menu displayed when a user activates the solution button FIG 8C is an example of a exclusion dialog screen and FIG 8D is an additional menu and FIG 9 is a site map as used in a primary embodiment of the invention DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE OPERATION While the examples given below generally are shown for Windows operating systems the invention may to any OS In general a specific series of embodiments of invention are given as examples and discussed under the trade name F
40. icon graphic These items will vary on different systems and OSes but is useful to construct a fake dialog on the web site We don t need have a perfect representation Width and Height of error dialog These items will vary on different systems and OSes but is useful to construct a fake dialog on the web site We don t need have a perfect representation List of standard title bar icons shown if any cancel help minimize etc Screen shot of dialog jpg medium quality TABLE 1 2 Back traced Information The application filename The path of the application The application timestamp The application s manufacturer s name The application s text description The application s version The fault module name The fault module path The fault module timestamp The fault module manufacturer s name The fault module s text description The fault module s version Exception Code Exception Offset Hang Type Hang Signature Notes captured Problem Signature details from Windows Crash event Locale ID Selective fields only occur with crashes and hang events TABLE 1 3 System Information collected on startup does not need to be dynamic Current Operating system i e Windows XP SP2 Operation System binary version string includes build number Current Skin style i e XP Silver Olive or Default Custom skins use default Amount of physical memory CPU id Desktop width an
41. ion to the user that originated the problem or assist the user in any way USS Pat No 7 028 056 2006 shows a method to collect information locally following a critical software failure While my invention does collect data it is not related to software failures that prevent the system from continuing to operate but covers situations where the operating system or running applications issue an informational warning or prob lem type message and the operating system continues to run USS Pat No 6 874 125 2005 shows a method to attach a feedback button to every dialog message and top level win dows dialogs Microsoft software OS provides an example of a hand coded error dialog from Windows shown in FIG X This shows a way to check for a solution for one error but it requires a programmer to create the special dialog for each specific error and it does not ensure there is any solution or additional information Avanquest PowerDesk Professional User Manual v7 2008 Page 161 165 first published in 1998 Dialog Helper has a means to attach a function button to Save and Save as dialogs but no others SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a need unrepresented in the prior art discussed above by assisting the user in an effective and efficient search for a potential solution to a software message usually an error message A summary of benefits to the user of this invention includes Helps user to und
42. ith most files in this directory the permissions deny us access to the file so we can t delete it even with administrative privileges To change permissions or a file or folder perfarm the following steps 1 In Explorer right click on the folder name or file name and select Properties Forum Help Check out what others say about this issue and review or add your own comments and solutions Go to Forums on topic Vendor Summary Vendor Microsoft Corporation more info Phone 1 425 882 8080 1 800 642 7676 Web Main USA Assistance Support Downloads Research this Issue Destination Folder Access Denied Windows Vista Microsoft Sites Search Blogs All Web Search Destination Folder Ac nied NF MSDN Forums Software Development for Windows Vista General Windows Vista Development Issues Destination Folder Access Denied forums microsoft com Destinatio Ac ied in Windows Vista ing and Feb 4 2008 Destination Folder Access Denied in Windows Vista Networking and Sharing I have Vista Home Premium 1 am trying to add a Maxtor Shared www microsoft com What Folder Acc ied General Windows Vista Development Issues delete the exe file and I get Destination Folder Access Denied You need permission to perform this action forums microsoft com itled desktop why in Windows Vista General Di ion Dec 11 2007 Icon titled desktap why in Windows Vista General Discussion
43. list When the default list is shown you can add remove and edit just like the user list The format of the internal data structure is not critical but examples are discussed below and witha strong preference to the use two XML files One XML file contains the user s entries and resides in the user s directory A second file has the FaultWire s defaults and resides where FaultWire was an 0 an 5 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 installed This allows us to update the defaults without affect ing the user s overrides The user s entries always override any FaultWire defaults XML also makes it slightly easier to maintain our default file without having to create an addi tional data management program Other features in alternate embodiments include The invention can include an Auto Check for updates which checks daily for updates when started at boot time or when application is started A feature that sends error information when error occurs When any error occurs that we detect and that has not been excluded we send all the error information to our server before any action has occurred This way we get frequency of occurrence information and gather information even if the user doesn t go to the FaultWire site With this option dis abled the error information is only sent when the user clicks on the FaultWire icon Typically a Modem user might disable this feature due to possible affects to system p
44. lue 1 3 Reg2 38293 Solution URL __ http www faultwire com solutions Windows__Vista_solution php keyid 1001 Message Ok Unable to connect to database Query problem Notes Indicates if more data needs to be sent 0 Error database server etc 1 Do not send more data done 2 Send full data set but no images 3 Send full data set with images Validation value to send in Stage 2 or 3 Where to go if button clicked it will be set to generic URL if the item has not been created yet and more data is needed Usually Ok this is the text status with a short message if there is some problem For now this is internal use only not displayed to the user In all cases a Solution URL will be provided The Solution URL may change during later stages For example if the issue has never seen before the Upload value of 3 will be returned indicating a need for a full set of data The Server will provide a temporary URL that ifused will go into a more generic part of the site rather than a specific issue The dura tion between stage 1 and the end of later stage will be designed to be minimal These later stages stages 2 and 3 are used to send data from the client to the server for saving The data will be used in the results page or collected to assist in creating solutions Functionally these stages are similar to stage 1 but additional data is sent All data goes to the same url as described abo
45. lways provides solution information The invention improves over 125 patent in that it selectively attaches a solutions button to specific types of dialogs for an entirely different purpose than the 125 patent Many messages produced by an operating system and other software applications are confusing to the user cryptic or misleading typically offering the option OK without help to solve the issues at hand For example the Windows operating system s does not allow users to capture the mes sage to help search out an answer To use a search engine such as Google users have to retype the message in and wade through many useless forums ads and products hoping to find some clue as to what it means and how can the issue be fixed The present invention provides the first means to get the answers users need with a minimum of effort When an error or warning message appears a specialized icon appears in the title bar In the operation ofa main embodiment of the invention the client program module of the primary embodiment of the invention intercepts all Windows dialogs and looks for items to identify warnings and errors of interest This includes the message type icons used and text within the message There will also be an exclusion list to skip messages that are not of interest but would be incorrectly triggered The error con tents and source will also generate a unique token to identify this message The client program m
46. ly manually generated initially but automatic generation is contemplated by various embodiments as well When client information is passed to the server if the company name is not in the database it will be added but at that time no other information will be available US 8 645 760 B2 13 TABLE 2 1 14 sample data field for use Field name KeyID Name AltName Status LockedBy Importance LinkCompnay LinkReason PrivateNotes Address1 Address2 City State Zip Country MainPhone MainTollFree MainTollNote MainFax SupportPhonel SupportNotel SupportPhone2 SupportNote2 SupportFax SupportEmail SupportHours SalesEmail WebMain WebUSA WebSupport WebDownload WebForum WebSales WebNews WebContact StockLookup StockText YearStarted AnnualRevenue Field Type Varchar Vare Vare Vare Vare Vare Vare Vare Text Vare Vare Vare Vare Vare Vare Vare Vare Vare Vare Vare Vare Vare Vare Vare Vare Vare Vare Vare Vare Vare Varc Vare Vare Vare Vare Vare Vare nar nar nar nar har har har har nar nar nar nar nar nar nar nar nar nar nar nar nar nar Vare Int nar Size Description 100 100 40 12 30 10 40 255 60 60 40 20 12 30 30 30 50 30 30 50 30 50 30 100 60 140 140 140 140 140 140
47. ning Try Again This only works if you ve fixed the issue while the dialog was left on screen 0 322 524 Cancel Close the dialog no actions taken 0 389 524 19 US 8 645 760 B2 TABLE 2 2 continued 20 Issue Data Table generic Field name DialogButton3 DialogButton3Style DialogButton3Hpos DialogButton3 Vpos DialogButton4 DialogButton4Style DialogButton4Hpos DialogButton4Vpos DialogButton5 DialogButton5Style DialogButton5Hpos DialogButton5 Vpos DialogButtonDefault DialogButtonClose DialogButtonMax DialogButtonMin DialogButtonHelp blemEventName plication pFilename pPath pLink la a fe Giusy ppTime ppDate ppDescription ppVersion ModuleName gt gt gt SF ModulePath ModuleTime ModuleDate ModuleLink Modu Modu Description Version ExceptionCode ExceptionOffset HangType HangSignature CrashOS LocaleID English e e i i Description Solutions ForumLink SearchAlt Copyright WinStyle UserModifiedDate DialogButton3Explain DialogButton4Explain DialogButton5Explain Num enum enum enum enum Text Varchar Varchar Varchar Enum Time Date Varchar Varchar Varchar Varchar Time Date Enum Varchar Varchar Int Int Varchar Varchar Varchar Int Enum Text Text Varchar Varchar Text Varchar DateTime Size 255 20 100 255 True
48. odule also has a settings page that offers some minor options and control for a user One of the options which may be enabled by default with proper user disclosure is to send all error information to the networked data accumulation server NDAS in an anonymous fashion even if the user doesn t click on the activation icon in an error message This is a preferred embodiment of the invention which can quickly create and build the database of error content located in the networked data accumulation server It also allows the data accumulation process included in many embodiments of the invention whether manual or automatic to identify the most frequent issues and put more attention on these particular problems and to allocate network and data resources appropriately The SQL server component of particular embodiments of the invention collects the error information and is used to create database generated web content Since the database will become large r over time it needs to be scalable and fast but these are mostly phase 2 concerns The server also hosts a Vendor database with generic information about the Vendor Vendors website Support from that vendor logo and other details A management facility will allow the content manager components to add additional information and help optimize US 8 645 760 B2 3 the results They can also include screen shots and blur out areas that change for each user They can also connect u
49. older Access Denied You need permission to perform this action More detailed information can be found at http solution server com solutions php s 1234 My system summary os Windows Vista Ultimate 6 0 Build 6000 User Name John Doe Machine Name Office Vista CPU Intel Pentium Duo Core Physical RAM 3 03 GB System type 32 bit Hard drives 380 GB 750 GB C Drive 380 GB 70 used Auto Updates On Firewall On Windows Figure 7 U S Patent Feb 4 2014 Sheet 9 of 14 US 8 645 760 B2 FaultWire xX Destination Folder Access Denied eo You need permission to perform this action FIG 8A U S Patent Feb 4 2014 Sheet 10 of 14 US 8 645 760 B2 es Email emai my Contact emai my Contact itormation Summary itormation Summary Vewhsoy Vewhsoy Title to clipboard Bodytocipboard Bodytocipboard clipboard exckdedalog Excudediog setngs Faure Pro setngs Faure Pro Pro FIG 8B 1 U S Patent Feb 4 2014 Sheet 11 of 14 US 8 645 760 B2 Fauttwre x T Exclude dialog Settings FaultWire Pro FIG 8B 2 U S Patent Feb 4 2014 Sheet 12 of 14 US 8 645 760 B2 FaultWire X Faultwire Exclude Dialog FauttWire eae Remove the Faultwire icon from this dialog in future occurences O Exclude FaultWire from this specific dialog Exclude FaultWire from this application s dialogs FIG 8C U S Patent Feb 4 2014 Sheet 13 of 14 US 8
50. on and system summary details If the optional email contact field is blank we should still allow generation of the email with a blank to field assuming this is technically allowed Email Sample To Email contact from internal settings entry From This user assumed filled in by the email client program Subject Help Error dialog title text goes here up to 80 characters max The following issue appeared Can you explain what it means and what I can do to fix it Information from dialog Title Title goes here Text Body text goes here More detailed FaultWire information at http www FaultWire com AB123456 com My system summary OSs Windows Vista Ultimate 6 0 Build 6000 User Name Frank Machine Name Office Vista CPU Intel Pentium Duo Core Physical RAM 3327 MB System type 32 bit Hard drives 380 GB 128 GB C Drive 120 GB 70 used Auto Updates On Firewall On Windows This email was generated by FaultWire the integrated problem solver Users closing as inserted by email client Tt will be necessary to hook various error dialogs This means most dialogs need to be monitored and they are mul tiple ways for Windows to display dialogs These may include when an Application crashes Windows system messages and general messages from an application The software must support double byte languages generally 20 25 30 40 45 50 55 60 65 12 The Pro serial will have an encoded flag to enable
51. p like errors or reference other errors as appropriate Content managers will also link to a vendor s FAQ section that talks about the specific issue The web site component of the invention displays the con tent from the database The site will also contain a number of category index pages with links to each content page This is necessary for the search engine robots to locate and index all the content pages The generated content can include a screen shot of the specific error or a fake message that includes the title content buttons and icon of the error mes sage It will be automatically created in a number of styles to match the most common skins and Os es supported For example if the user has XP with chrome style the generated error message will use the same style Lastly the web site component includes a targeted forum section at the bottom of each content page Users can also access the forum from the home page but normal access is through the content page Users can read posts from other users reply to those posts or create new posts We may also moderate some of these forums or allow companies who own the related product to be a moderator for issues with that product The forum system provides the ability to automatically email users at their choice when a selected forum changes The invention also offers the ability to send private messages between forum users BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Referring now to t
52. r depending on the Message Typical elements include a title 302 the body 304 an icon 306 and additional text or graphics 310 Messages of interest normally have one or more buttons 308 This Message example shows one way the solution but ton 312 could be added to the Message by the invention although the solution button could be elsewhere within or outside the Message or a hot key a combination of one or more keyboard keys could be used Continuing the process in FIG 2 at 214 the user may not select the solution button in which case 216 no special action occurs If the user should select the solution button the information collected in 204 is now displayed to the user in 218 Any additional previously saved information about this issue is also displayed such as a detailed description and solutions This information helps the user understand and or solve the issue One way this information is conveyed to the user is shown in FIG 4a 400 The Message title appears at 402 and is followed by the Message body text in 404 In 406 an optional description of the issue appears A screen shot of the Message appears in 408 that is a similar or exact image of the specific issue Message Key facts appear in 410 FIGS 4a and 4b is a preliminary view of the web page content the user sees when they click on the Fault Wire solu tion tab button icon in the error Destination Folder Access Denied Not shown is the navigation header footer
53. recorded the issue or not If we don t have the issue i e it s never been set for this issue we ll then ask that the entire set be sent as a stage 2 or 3 I expect to complete this first phase today data lookup setting occurrence counters etc The server will return status and a URL that you will use if the user clicks on the FaultWire button This page is NOT displayed to the user In all cases including if we ve never recorded the issue I ll provide a good URL It may be replaced in stage 2 as stage 1 may provide a more generic URL if the data doesn t yet exist in the database For example a brand new error occurs You send the sub set data to issue_check php as stage 1 The server will return a code that requires the full set of data and a temporary URL should the user attempt press it before we ve completed all our stage 2 3 operations in the background With the return code of 2 or 3 send more data the client sends all the data it has with stage 2 or 3 to issue_ check php The server saves the data in the database and links a number of items up It will also return a final URL that replaces the URL in the first phase Stages 2 amp 3 are not yet implemented II try and wrap it up this week but it shouldn t slow down implementation of stage 1 on your end if you re ready An SSL connection https may be used to encrypt the data The database used in embodiments of the invention will be most
54. ssage of interest If using English keywords may include words like Error Errors Warning Fatal Failed Problem Problems Denied unexpected confirm incompat ible unable cannot can t or could not Text in all buttons is also examined for keywords such as Try Again Abort Retry Ignore Check online or Hide details If these keywords appear then the Message is con sidered a Message of interest 514 Ifno keywords of interest are found in 510 then 512 checks to see if the Message uses a common icon that signifies a Message of interest Some of the icons could include those signifying a warning problem forbidden information or help If such an icon is not detected then it is not a Message of interest 516 Otherwise it is a Message of interest 514 TABLE A Issue Table of Interest Title Body Filename Comment Type Red Alert The data will Excel not be read due to Include This is always a problem we want to trap If in 506 no match is made a check 508 is made to see if the resultant text or a portion of the text from 504 matches a list of known non issues If a match is made then this is not a Message of interest 516 Non issues are identified as Exclude type and otherwise similar to the prior include entries It contains match strings for the title body and application name These
55. staff features within the client These are features that make it easier to collect accurate information from a group of experts This area has yet to be defined but might provide advanced include exclude features directly from the FaultWire drop down with the ability to send this data to our server to help make our default include exclude lists It may be a v2 feature Settings will be stored in XML format rather than the registry When loaded FaultWire will appear in the SystemTray If double clicked the application will start If right clicked three options appear FaultWire Website Application and Exit The FaultWire Website goes to http www fault wire com Application runs the FaultWire application Exit will unload FaultWire SQL will generally serve as the back end database This may be MySQL or another compatible design The database collects information from the users It needs to identify if the information has already been saved and if so only update various counters indicating the number of occurrences of a specific issue The database design must have the flexibility to support large growth should the project expand as expected Whenever possible the client application will be responsible for calculations and analysis reducing the server run time load The data is sent in one and possibly a second phase With the first phase stage 1 the client sends the server a subset of data to check if we have previously
56. ted U S Application Data The invention monitors display error messages from soft ware programs presented to users and looks for items of 60 Provisional application No 61 084 590 filed on Jul interest When detected the text of the message is collected 29 2008 along with source of the message and other details This data is checked against a database of Messages either locally or 51 Int Cl networked to a remote database If the issue has not been GO6F 11 00 2006 01 previously detected it is added to the database If the message 52 U S Cl had been detected previously counters recording frequency USPC cians 714 38 1 714 48 714 57 of occurrence Then an option to see additional information is 58 Field of Classification Search provided If selected the database returns all the information USPE ccccchscecebossalecsadectbalvereertess 714 48 57 26 38 1 it has on this specific issue Also additionally created content See application file for complete search history that normally does not exist in the message such as which application and vendor issued the message frequency of 56 References Cited occurrence and vendor contact information Additional con U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 5 740 357 A 4 1998 Gardiner et al 0 714 57 5 758 124 A 5 1998 Ogata etal wee 703 27 5 892 898 A 4 1999 Fujiietal wee 714 57 5 944 839 A 8 1999 Isenberg oo eee 714 26 tent such as a detailed description and solutions
57. the forum on this topic Alternative Search string for Google serarch If blank uses dialog title as string Any copyright string which can be helpful to identify some companies Visual style xp basic framed or unframed Date of last update automatically from user Examples 1 True False False False APPCRASH Explorer Explorer exe C Windows True 15 23 00 2007 12 31 File manager 6 0 0 Foobar2 dll C Windows 14 19 2007 12 31 True Validity check 6 0 0 123 0x12000CEF 0xE2190238 0 a24b 1033 True forums showthread php t 215 Copyright 2008 XYZ Inc All rights reserved basic 2007 12 11 09 55 25 US 8 645 760 B2 21 TABLE 2 2 continued 22 Issue Data Table generic Field Field name Type Size Description UserModifiedBy Varchar 40 Install GUID of user who s data was used FWModifiedDate DateTime Date of last update by FaultWire staff FWModifiedBy Varchar 30 Who at FW did the last update Other than counts and forced manual fields other fields are set with the first occurrence and not changed afterwards except by our manual intervention The web page construc tion will use the user s actual values as overrides in some cases such as the DAppPath DAppTime etc See section 5 3 for more about overrides and how the data is used to construct the web page The invention may require manually add additional infor mation to the issues tables such
58. ve Many of these fields are optional and or may not be relevant for a specific error or issue but to the extent possible the data should be collected and sent Stage 1 returns the upload value If it returns a 2 or 3 it indicates we want more data as follows UploadValue 2 Send all the data as stage 2 but images are not necessary screen shot icons etc This is typically used when we have at least 1 set of data and we are only collecting additional data sets to assist the FaultWire 45 50 55 60 65 At the Web server stages 2 and 3 are similar Stage 3 will accept images where in stage 2 they would be ignored If images are present in Stage 3 AND we have not saved them before we ll save them If we have the images and other fields from a prior save and we are only collecting raw data we ll ignore any images sent The primary purpose of stage 2 is to reduce the communication data in some situations It could be possible that we request a stage 3 and the client responds with stage 3 data but may not have any images to send No errors will be generated in this situation Ifa Stage 3 request is made and image data is in the process of being uploaded the user could close the error dialog before the data is completely sent This causes a partial upload and the image is discarded The following chart helps explain the POST values we need Note that the first items are the same as Stage 1 Stage 1 does not save any in
59. vent it is unlikely that every item in white will be available This is expected Items in bold are the most critical items and should hopefully be available on 20 25 30 35 40 45 Examples AB9TAEE85E89C4CC093 AB8362D38C 2008 04 26 16 17 04 Frank every issue Other items are also important but might depend on a number of factors if the items are even available File names for graphics will be created by the server to ensure no overlaps with other messages The Web server portion of the invention will initially reside on the same computer as the database server but may be located in different places for various embodiments of the invention The design is flexible to support splitting the web server from the database server as the site portion of the invention expands The Web server has the responsibility for accessing the database to build each issue page on the fly A template design will complete the generic navigation ads may be displayed and other visual elements The main embodiment of the server is designed using PHP JavaScript and MySQL to be very portable Testing and proper operation is verified on web servers hosted by Windows Server 2008 and Linux The client program communicates with the FaultWire Web server through PHP server code using standard HTML POST protocols A quick summary of actions includes checking if an issue has already been saved or not transferring data ifnot saved and getting a UR
60. vice weighting on a second computational device connected to said network server sad of said assistance instructions based on said set of error parameters displaying a set of assistance instructions on said compu tational device based on said weighting step adding to store of assistance instructions to said software error parameters on said networked server re weighting said assistance instructions based on any user implemented actions following said displaying step and said set of error parameters wherein said dis playing a set of assistance instructions includes screen shots with blurred out areas that change for each user 3 A method for displaying information related to a display message from a first user launched executable software pro gram or operating system on a computational device allowing a user to determine a set of variables to include or exclude from a set of display messages that may appear from said executable software program or operating sys tem on said computational device monitoring said first user launched executable program and or operating system for one of said display mes sages from any of said first user launched software pro gram s and or operating system determining if one of said display messages is included by using said set of user determined variables extracting parametric information from a said included display message determining that said included display message is informa tion

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