Software Configuration Case Base for Reducing Complexity
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Solution Overview
Problem
In large software systems, extensive configuration requirements lead to complexity in development and testing, and existing systems lack efficient sharing of configuration knowledge between customers, often resulting in unsuccessful configurations and increased human involvement and maintenance costs.
Innovation Solution
A method where a recipient computer system receives and stores configurations from sender systems, identifies unsuccessful configurations that were successfully replaced, and provides recommendations or new configurations based on similarities, reducing human intervention and maintenance costs by creating a configuration case base for software administrators.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If extensive configuration capacity is provided to meet different customer needs, then software adaptability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a configuration case base that stores and reuses successful configuration solutions from different customers. Instead of developing configurations from scratch for each customer, the system copies and adapts proven configurations from the case base, reducing development complexity while maintaining adaptability to different customer needs.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary configuration work by pre-storing successful configurations in a case base before they are needed. When a new configuration is required, the system retrieves and adapts pre-validated configurations rather than starting from scratch, reducing the complexity of real-time configuration development.
2Adaptability or versatility
If more configuration options are provided for different customer needs, then software adaptability is improved, but manufacturing precision decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system copies proven successful configurations from the case base to new implementations. By reusing configurations that have already been validated in production environments, the system maintains high configuration quality without needing to re-test every possible configuration combination, thus preserving manufacturing precision while providing adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where configuration success and failure information is collected and stored in the case base. This feedback loop allows the system to learn from past configurations and improve future configuration quality, maintaining manufacturing precision even as configuration flexibility increases.
3Ease of operation
If configuration knowledge is not shared between customers, then individual problem-solving is possible, but loss of information increases
Solution Approach 1:
The configuration case base serves multiple customers and multiple purposes simultaneously. It stores configuration knowledge that can be reused across different customers and different software configurations, preventing information loss while enabling independent problem-solving through self-service configuration retrieval.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables customers to independently solve their own configuration problems by providing self-service access to the case base. Customers can retrieve and adapt proven configurations without requiring external assistance, maintaining ease of operation while preserving configuration knowledge in the shared case base.
4Reliability
If manual configuration maintenance is performed, then configuration accuracy is maintained, but productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs automatic configuration maintenance by retrieving, adapting, and applying configurations from the case base without manual intervention. This self-service approach maintains configuration accuracy through proven solutions while dramatically increasing productivity by eliminating manual maintenance tasks.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from configuration outcomes to automatically update and improve the case base. Successful configurations are automatically stored and refined based on real-world performance data, maintaining accuracy while reducing the need for manual configuration maintenance and increasing overall productivity.
Data Source
AI summary
A method relating to configuration of software includes receiving a request sent from a sender computer system to a recipient computer system. The sender computer system including software that has an unsuccessful configuration. The sender computer system is requesting the recipient computer system to provide a new configuration for the software. In the recipient computer system and upon receiving the request, there is identified a previously recorded unsuccessful configuration that was successfully replaced by a successful configuration. The previously recorded unsuccessful configuration is identified using the unsuccessful configuration. The successful configuration is provided from the recipient computer system to the sender computer system. Another method includes receiving several configurations from several sender computer systems. The configurations are stored in the recipient computer system. The stored configurations may be used as a configuration case base for making recommendations.