Dynamic Error Resolution via Community Workaround Pushing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users of software applications often encounter blocking issues due to system, setup, and data synchronization problems, leading to negative user experiences and productivity losses, without a quick solution available without applying a data fix or releasing a patch.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that monitor error recurrence rates, allow users to post and rate workarounds on a community portal, and push well-rated solutions to affected users through an action message framework until a permanent fix is implemented.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a data fix or patch is released to resolve critical issues, then system reliability is improved, but loss of time is increased due to the delay until the fix is developed and deployed
Solution Approach 1:
The system proactively monitors error recurrence rates and automatically triggers community solution collection before a formal fix is developed. By preparing workarounds in advance through the community portal, users can immediately access solutions when errors occur, eliminating the waiting period for official patches while maintaining system reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a community portal as an intermediary between the system error and the user. Instead of directly deploying a formal fix, the system uses the community portal to collect, validate, and distribute peer-generated workarounds. This intermediary mechanism provides immediate relief to users while the long-term fix is being developed, resolving the time delay contradiction.
2Reliability
If a formal patch or new application version is released to fix critical issues, then system reliability is improved, but productivity is reduced during the development and deployment cycle
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables users to self-resolve critical issues by accessing community-contributed workarounds through the portal. Users can independently apply solutions without waiting for official patches, maintaining their productivity levels. The automated monitoring and notification system further supports this by proactively delivering relevant solutions to affected users.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements a feedback loop where user encounters of critical issues are automatically tracked and fed back to the community portal. This continuous feedback mechanism ensures that the most relevant and effective workarounds are identified and distributed quickly, allowing users to maintain productivity while reliability issues are being addressed.
3Loss of time
If community solutions are collected and distributed through a portal, then loss of time is reduced by providing immediate workarounds, but device complexity is increased due to the additional system components
Solution Approach 1:
The community portal is designed to serve multiple functions: collecting error reports, validating solutions, distributing workarounds, and monitoring effectiveness. By consolidating these functions into a single multi-purpose system, the patent minimizes the increase in overall system complexity while maximizing the time-saving benefits of immediate workaround distribution.
Solution Approach 2:
The community portal acts as a lightweight intermediary layer between the error monitoring system and users. Rather than embedding complex solution management directly into the core application, the portal serves as a separate but integrated component that handles solution collection and distribution, thereby limiting the complexity impact on the main system while enabling rapid response to critical issues.
4Productivity
If community solutions are validated and pushed to users automatically, then productivity is maintained by providing immediate solutions, but measurement precision is challenged in validating solution effectiveness
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements automated feedback mechanisms that track whether pushed solutions successfully resolve user issues. By monitoring subsequent user actions and error recurrence, the system validates solution effectiveness in real-time. This continuous measurement and feedback loop enables confident automatic distribution of solutions while maintaining productivity, addressing the measurement precision challenge through empirical validation.
Data Source
AI summary
Error occurrence/recurrence rates from multiple users of a software system are monitored. In one embodiment, log error data and context data associated with a critical issue is provided to a server side repository. When it is detected that a threshold number of users of a software application are facing the same critical issue a community portal is updated with a facility for users to post their solutions, i.e., workarounds, and/or observations, and/or comments, associated with the specific critical issue/error. In one embodiment, the posted solutions are rated and/or monitored, and if the rating for a given solution receives a rating above a threshold rating value, then data suggesting the solution, and/or implementing the solution, is pushed to users who continue to encounter the same critical issue, in one embodiment, using an action message framework, until a permanent fix is applied.