Patent ID: 7703074
Filing Date: 2010-04-20
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method for analyzing a target system, comprising: obtaining a characteristics model; generating a characteristics extractor associated with the characteristics model; obtaining a plurality of characteristics from the target system using the characteristics extractor, wherein the plurality of characteristics is associated with the characteristics model configured to define each of the plurality of characteristics in a particular domain, wherein the particular domain corresponds to a grouping of related characteristics, and wherein the particular domain comprises at least one hardware component and at least one software component, wherein there is a relationship between the at least one hardware and software components; storing each of the plurality of characteristics in a characteristics store using a tracking mechanism configured to track changes to target system characteristics in the particular domain over time; generating a characteristics store application programming interface (API) associated with the characteristics model, wherein the characteristics extractor uses the characteristics store API to store each of the plurality of characteristics in the characteristics store; analyzing the target system in the particular domain by issuing a query to the characteristics store to obtain an analysis result, wherein the query uses tracking information associated with the tracking mechanism; and displaying the analysis result on a display associated with a computing device.