Defect symptom repair system and methods

Abstract

The present invention is related to the repair of defective items where the defect symptom does not readily suggest the action to repair the item. Test and repair technicians isolate and repair defects. The defect symptom repair system provides a means for the technicians to pool their experience without extensive effort and to make their experience readily available. The defect symptom repair system is implemented as a web server on the Internet and easily accessible with use of web enabled devices. A defect symptom repair web server provides defect symptoms and associated repair actions. Each repair action has an effectiveness indicator. The defect symptom is match with the observed symptom. A repair action associated with the defect symptom is selected based on the effectiveness indicator. The repair action is applied to the item. The result, success or failure, is entered into the defect symptom repair web server and the effectiveness indicator of the repair action is computed including the most recent result. If the observed symptom does not match a defect symptom from the server, a defect symptom is created in the server. If a new repair action for a defect symptom is attempted, a repair action is added and the effectiveness indicator is calculated based on the result of the repair action attempt.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.