Local Client Database for Remote Support

Abstract

A computerized method and system to communicate information between a supported client computer and a remote support organization have been described. At the supported client computer, status information, generated by one or more client applications when executing on the supported client computer, may be retrieved. The status information may be stored in a client database on the supported client computer. A first client database definition for a client data item may be mapped to a first tag, the first client database definition may be associated with the client database and the client data item may include the status information. A client message document including the first tag may be communicated to a support server of the remote support organization. The status information may be stored in, and retrieved from, the client database via a functional abstraction layer comprising one or more customized application program interfaces (API).

1 - 18 . (canceled) 
     
     
         19 . A method for communicating support status information between a client computer and a remote support server, the support status information stored in a memory of the client computer according to a client definition, the method comprising:
 receiving a client message from the client computer at the support server, the client message sent through a network and having a client data item containing the status information and a first tag corresponding to a client definition for the client data item, the status information relating to operation of the client computer;   parsing the first tag and the client data item from the client message;   mapping the first tag to a support server definition through a functional abstraction layer having an application program interface (API) that relates the first tag to the client definition; and   storing the client data item in a server memory according to the mapping.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19  wherein storing the client data item further comprises storing the client data item via a functional abstraction layer comprising at least one customized application program interface (API). 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 19  further comprising:
 mapping the server definition for a server data item to a second tag; and 
 transmitting a server message having the second tag to the client computer. 
 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21  wherein the first and the second tags are XML tags and the message comprises an XML document. 
     
     
         23 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions which, when executed by a computer, perform the method of  claim 19 . 
     
     
         24 . A support application to facilitate support of a client computer by a remote support server, the support application including a layered message architecture stored in non-transitory memory of the client computer, the support application comprising:
 a database interface layer to provide an application program interface to a client database stored in the non-transitory memory, the database interface layer configured to receive client data generated by at least one client application program when the client application program executes on the client computer and to communicate the client data to the client database;   a mapping layer logically coupled to the database interface layer, the mapping layer configured to exchange data with the database interface layer and to associate database definitions for the exchanged data with document tags including a first document tag corresponding to a first client database definition for the client data item and a second document tag to map to a server database definition for a server data item; and   a document manager logically coupled to the mapping layer, the document manager configured to exchange document tags with the mapping layer, to create a first document from document tags for communication to the remote server through a network, and to extract document tags from a second document received from the remote server through the network, wherein the database interface layer and the mapping layer on the client computer map between the client database a remote support server database using the document tags.   
     
     
         25 . The client application of  claim 24 , wherein the database interface and the mapping layer on the client computer are specific to the client database, the client database different from a server database at the remote support server, the document tags mapping between client database definition and a server database definition. 
     
     
         26 . A support server configured to communicate information through a network with a client computer, the support server comprising:
 a communications module configured to receive a client message document from the client computer through a network, the client message document having a client data item containing status information generated by at least one client application to define status of the client computer and a first tag corresponding to a first client storage definition for the client data item;   a processing module configured to parse the first tag and the client data item from the client message document;   a mapping module configured to map the first tag to a server storage definition for storage of the client data item in a server memory according to the server storage definition.   
     
     
         27 . The support server of  claim 26  further comprising a second tag to map a server storage definition for a server data item to the client storage definition, the communications module configured to transmit a server message document having the second tag to the client computer.