Resolution of incidents which occur during the use of a product

Claim 3

A method as in claim 1 wherein in step (a) leaf nodes within the diagnostic knowledge trees each include a question and at least one response.

Claim 4

A method as in claim 1 additionally comprising the following steps: (d) when diagnostic information provided by the copy of the subset of the diagnostic knowledge trees is not sufficient to solve a problem encountered by the diagnostic program, performing the following substeps: (d.1) forming a trouble ticket that describes the problem encountered; and, (d.2) forwarding the trouble ticket to a technical support system within the vendor environment.

Claim 5

A method as in claim 1 wherein in step (d) the following substeps are additionally performed when diagnostic information provided by the copy of the subset of the diagnostic knowledge trees is not sufficient to solve the problem encountered by the diagnostic program: (d.3) providing, by a vendor, a solution to the problem encountered; and, (d.4) updating the diagnostic knowledge trees database to reflect the solution provided by the vendor.

Claim 6

A method as in claim 1 additionally comprising the following step: (d) refreshing the copy of the subset of the diagnostic knowledge trees, including the following substep: (d.1) downloading from the vendor environment to the client environment changes made to the subset of the diagnostic knowledge trees.

Claim 7

A method as in claim 1 additionally comprising the following step: (d) refreshing the copy of the subset of the diagnostic knowledge trees, including the following substep: (d.1) downloading from the vendor environment to the client environment a new copy of the subset of the diagnostic knowledge trees.

Claim 8

A facility for resolution of incidents that occur during use of products, the facility comprising: a diagnostic knowledge trees database stored within a vendor environment, the diagnostic knowledge trees database storing diagnostic knowledge trees for the products; and, database storage within a client environment, the database storage storing a copy of a subset of the diagnostic knowledge trees, the subset of diagnostic knowledge trees providing diagnostic information for a subset of the products that are supported within the client environment, the database storage also providing, from the copy of the subset of the diagnostic knowledge trees, diagnostic information for incidents that potentially occur when a diagnostic program within the client environment attempts to analyze the subset of the products.

Claim 9

A facility for resolution of incidents that occur during use of products, the facility comprising: a diagnostic knowledge trees database stored within a vendor environment, the diagnostic knowledge trees database storing diagnostic knowledge trees for the products; and, database storage within a client environment, the database storage storing a copy of a subset of the diagnostic knowledge trees, the subset of diagnostic knowledge trees providing diagnostic information for a subset of the products that are supported within the client environment, the database storage also providing, from the copy of the subset of the diagnostic knowledge trees, diagnostic information for incidents that potentially occur when a diagnostic program within the client environment attempts to analyze the subset of the products.

Claim 10

A facility as in claim 7 wherein the diagnostic knowledge trees include leaf nodes, the leaf nodes each including a question and at least one response.

Claim 11

A facility as in claim 7 , wherein the facility additionally comprises: update functionality for forming a trouble ticket that describes a problem encountered by a client and forwards the trouble ticket to a technical support system within the vendor environment, the trouble ticket being formed when diagnostic information provided by the copy of the subset of the diagnostic knowledge trees is not sufficient to solve the problem encountered by the client.

Claim 12

A facility as in claim 7 wherein update functionality is additionally for allowing a vendor to update the diagnostic knowledge trees database to reflect a solution provided by the vendor to the problem.

Claim 13

A facility as in claim 7 , additionally comprising: refreshing means for refreshing the copy of the subset of the diagnostic knowledge trees, the refreshing being done by downloading, from the vendor environment to the client environment, changes made to the subset of the diagnostic knowledge trees.

Claim 14

A facility as in claim 7 , additionally comprising: refreshing means for refreshing the copy of the subset of the diagnostic knowledge trees, the refreshing being done by downloading, from the vendor environment to the client environment, a new copy of the subset of the diagnostic knowledge trees.

Claim 15

A facility within a client environment, for resolution of incidents that occur during use of products, the facility comprising: database storage within a client environment, the database storage storing a copy of a subset of diagnostic knowledge trees stored within a diagnostic knowledge trees database, the diagnostic knowledge trees database existing within a vendor environment, the subset of diagnostic knowledge trees providing diagnostic information for a subset of the products that are supported within the client environment, the database storage also providing, from the copy of the subset of the diagnostic knowledge trees, diagnostic information for incidents that potentially occur when a diagnostic program attempts to analyze the subset of the products; and, refreshing means for refreshing the copy of the subset of the diagnostic knowledge trees, so that the copy of the subset of diagnostic knowledge trees stored in the database storage is updated to reflect changes made to the subset of diagnostic knowledge trees stored in the diagnostic knowledge trees database.

Claim 16

A facility within a client environment, for resolution of incidents that occur during use of products, the facility comprising: database storage within a client environment, the database storage storing a copy of a subset of diagnostic knowledge trees stored within a diagnostic knowledge trees database, the diagnostic knowledge trees database existing within a vendor environment, the subset of diagnostic knowledge trees providing diagnostic information for a subset of the products that are supported within the client environment, the database storage also providing, from the copy of the subset of the diagnostic knowledge trees, diagnostic information for incidents that potentially occur when a diagnostic program attempts to analyze the subset of the products; and, refreshing means for refreshing the copy of the subset of the diagnostic knowledge trees, so that the copy of the subset of diagnostic knowledge trees stored in the database storage is updated to reflect changes made to the subset of diagnostic knowledge trees stored in the diagnostic knowledge trees database.

Claim 17

A facility as in claim 13 wherein the diagnostic knowledge trees include leaf nodes, the leaf nodes each including a question and at least one response.

Claim 18

A facility as in claim 13 , wherein the facility additionally comprises: update functionality for forming a trouble ticket that describes a problem encountered by a client and for forwarding the trouble ticket to a technical support system within the vendor environment, the trouble ticket being formed when diagnostic information provided by the copy of the subset of the diagnostic knowledge trees is not sufficient to solve the problem encountered by the diagnostic program.

Claim 19

A facility as in claim 13 wherein update functionality allows a vendor to update the diagnostic knowledge trees database to reflect a solution provided by the vendor to the problem.

Claim 20

A facility as in claim 13 , wherein the refreshing means refreshes the copy of the subset of the diagnostic knowledge trees by downloading, from the vendor environment to the client environment, changes made to the subset of the diagnostic knowledge trees.

Claim 21

A facility as in claim 13 , wherein the refreshing means refreshes the copy of the subset of the diagnostic knowledge trees by downloading, from the vendor environment to the client environment, a new copy of the subset of the diagnostic knowledge trees.