Patent ID: 7373308
Filing Date: 2008-05-13
Classification: G06F,G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method of upgrading the warranty of a computer system including a plurality of components in a configuration, the method comprising: receiving from a requestor a request to upgrade an existing warranty to cover a new configuration of the computer system; detecting, by the computer system, a configuration of the computer system; determining if the configuration of the computer system is different than an original configuration of the computer system; asking, by the computer system, a computer user if a warranty upgrade is desired prior to sending; sending, by the computer system, a warranty upgrade request to a remote warranty processor, the warranty upgrade request including configuration information for field replaceable units (FRUs) in the configuration; determining a price to upgrade the warranty, using factors related to the configuration of the computer system, wherein one or more of the said factors are selected from the group consisting of: field replaceable units in the configuration, warranty time remaining, reliability of components in the configuration, age of components in the configuration and replacement cost of components in the configuration; communicating the price to upgrade the warranty to the requestor; and sending a warranty authorization to the computer system after acceptance of price to upgrade the warranty, wherein the warranty authorization includes a unique identification number of the computer system.