Abstract:
Computer-implemented methods for providing performance recommendations during data migration comprising collecting user data and a plurality of running parameters from a user computer, analyzing the plurality of running parameters of the user computer; and suggesting performance recommendations on the basis of the analyzed parameters.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    Commonly assigned and related U.S. patent application Attorney Docket No. SCA2356, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Providing Data Migration Services”, filed simultaneously herewith, is hereby incorporated in its entirety herein. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to computer backup and restoration techniques, and more specifically to methods and apparatus for providing value added services during data migration. 
         [0004]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0005]    In general, when a personal computer (PC) or notebook computer becomes outdated, its user often wishes to upgrade to a new computer. There are various challenges a user may face for performing back up and restoration operations on the new computer. 
         [0006]    Some of the conventional techniques perform data migration by offering technical support for configuring a new computer; however, these processes usually occur when the new computer reaches the user. Further, the conventional techniques which perform data migration are unable to offer value added services to the user. As a result, a user may not have the best user experience due to poorly configured system settings, hardware incompatibility or the like. 
         [0007]    Therefore, there exists a need of a method and apparatus for providing value added services, for example suggesting hardware improvement(s), software/license upgrade(s) and/or other performance related fixes during data migration, so as to help ensure the best user experience when the user upgrades to a new computer. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    Embodiments of the present disclosure generally include computer-implemented methods for providing performance recommendations during data migration comprising collecting user data and a plurality of running parameters from a user computer, analyzing the plurality of running parameters of the user computer; and suggesting performance recommendations on the basis of the analyzed parameters. In some embodiments a new computer is imaged based on the collected user data and suggested performance recommendations that were accepted by the user. 
         [0009]    Embodiments of the present disclosure generally include apparatuses for providing value added services during data migration comprising a migration module for analyzing user data and a plurality of running parameters of the user computer, and suggesting performance recommendations on the basis of the analyzed parameters. In some embodiments a new computer is imaged based on the collected user data and suggested performance recommendations that were accepted by the user. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]    So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present invention can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments. 
           [0011]      FIG. 1  illustrates a functional block diagram of a system for providing value added services during data migration in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention; and 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  illustrates a flow diagram of a method for providing value added services during data migration in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0013]    As explained further below, various embodiments of the invention disclose methods and apparatus for providing performance suggestions during data migration. The embodiments of the invention download a software application (such as an Applet or ActiveX control) to the user computer, as disclosed in related co-pending U.S. patent application Attorney Docket No. SCA2356 and incorporated by reference herein, and then collects one or more of personal settings, hardware/software/performance related parameters, as well as machine settings (collectively referred to hereinafter as “user data” for data that is merely collected by the downloaded software application and “analysis data” for data that is developed from analysis of the user data), and offer suggestions for one or more of replacing the computer, modifying the computer&#39;s hardware components, upgrading and/or installing new software and modifying system settings, so as to increase the performance from the computer as a result of more efficient use of its hardware/software/settings and configurations (hereinafter collectively referred to as “performance recommendations”). 
         [0014]    Further, the applet and/or ActiveX (or any suitable application) can determine the utilization profile of the user computer and suggests an appropriate replacement notebook and hardware suggestions, such as a larger hard disk drive (HDD) or an increased memory. In addition, the user&#39;s data can be analyzed to present a profile indicating, for example, which software is not in use, which is used often and may need an upgrade, and the like. Further, the embodiments can detect any user installed software that may be impeding the computer&#39;s performance and share it with the user. In related co-pending U.S. patent application Attorney Docket No. SCA4204, a manufacturing service retrieves this user data from the server and images the new PC with the data. In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, the new PC is also imaged so as to include those suggested recommended parameters that were accepted by the user. The new PC is then shipped to the customer. Once the customer powers on the new PC, the transition from the old computer will be seamless, since all of the user&#39;s data and settings are preconfigured on the new PC. The user suffers no pains in manual migration and resumes their usage immediately. 
         [0015]      FIG. 1  depicts a functional block diagram of a system  100  for providing performance suggestions during data migration in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention. A client computer  102  interacts with the system  100  through a network  116 . The system  100  comprises a web server  114 , an application server  118  and a migration server  109  operatively coupled to each other. 
         [0016]    The computer  102  comprises a central processing unit (CPU)  104 , supports circuit  106 , and a memory  108 . The computer  102  is a type of computing device (e.g., a laptop, a desktop, a notebook, a gaming device, a handheld device, other electronic device and/or the like) known to one of ordinary skill in the art. The CPU  104  may comprise one or more commercially available microprocessors or microcontrollers that facilitate data processing and storage. The various support circuits  106  facilitate the operation of the CPU  104  and include one or more clock circuits, power supplies, cache, input/output circuits, displays, and the like. The memory  108  comprises at least one of Read Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), disk drive storage, optical storage, removable storage and/or the like, excluding transitory signals. The memory  108  comprises user data  110  and analysis data  112 . 
         [0017]    The system  100  comprises a web server  114 , an application server  118  and a migration server  109 . The migration server  109  comprises a CPU  111 , supports circuit  113 , and a memory  115 . The migration server  109  is a type of computing device known to one of ordinary skill in the art and one such migration server is described in detail in the fore noted co-pending U.S. patent application Attorney Docket No. SCA2356. The CPU  111  may comprise one or more commercially available microprocessors or microcontrollers that facilitate data processing and storage. The various support circuits  113  facilitate the operation of the CPU  111  and include one or more clock circuits, power supplies, cache, input/output circuits, displays, and the like. The memory  115  comprises at least one of Read Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), disk drive storage, optical storage, removable storage and/or the like, excluding transitory signals. The memory  108  comprises a migration module  120 . The migration module  120  further comprises a hardware upgrade module  122 , a software upgrade module  124 , a performance module  126  and a recommendation module  132 . 
         [0018]    The network  116  comprises a communication system that connects computers by wire, cable, fiber optic and/or wireless link facilitated by various types of well-known network elements, such as hubs, switches, routers, access points and the like. The network  116  may employ various well-known protocols to communicate information amongst the network resources. For example, the network  116  may be a part of the Internet or Intranet using various communications infrastructure, such as Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), and the like. 
         [0019]    The web server  114  is a type of computing device (e.g., a desktop, and/or the like) known to one of ordinary skill in the art. According to some embodiments, the web server  114  may be a web server or any other server that may utilize the services from an online store, such as Sony Style®, for providing data migration and restoration services to the user. 
         [0020]    The application server  118  is a type of computing device (e.g., a desktop, and/or the like) known to one of ordinary skill in the art. The application server  118  hosts the analysis software and uses the web server  114  to distribute the software to client computers such as computer  102 . 
         [0021]    According to some embodiments, upon a request to the web server  114 , the application server  118  transmits a software application  130  (such as an applet or ActiveX® control) to the user computer, i.e. the computer  102  through the web server  114 . In some embodiments, the server  114 / 118  distributes the software to a web browser for the web browser to execute the applet on the computer  102 . The applet is a tool that not only accesses settings and files from the existing device (i.e. the computer  102 ), but also assesses information regarding all of the setup components from the existing device that the user would need to have built into a new device. 
         [0022]    According to some embodiments, the software application  130  enables the servers  114 / 118  to collect personal settings, hardware/software related parameters, as well as machine settings. Further, the software application  130  can perform an analysis to determine the utilization profile of the computer  102  and suggests an appropriate replacement notebook and hardware suggestions, such as larger hard disk drive (HDD) or more memory. In addition, the user&#39;s data can be analyzed to present a profile, for example which software is not in use, which is used often and may need an upgrade and the like. Upon performing the above-noted analysis, software application  130  develops the analysis data  112 . Further the embodiments can detect any user installed software that may be impeding the performance of computer  102  and the recommendation module  132  correlates all the collected user data  110  and analysis data  112  and shares performance recommendations with the user. 
         [0023]    The migration server  109  collects the user data, i.e. the data  110  residing on the computer  102 , through the web server  114  and the application server  118 . The applet or ActiveX control is hosted by the web server  114  whose backend is controlled by the application server  188 . The application server  118  transfers data between the application server  118  and the migration server  109 . The user data  110  may include the basic file system of the computer  102  and all data populating the file system to be migrated to the new computer. According to some embodiments, the user data  110  may include MS word files, Adobe PDF files, media (audio/video) files, and/or the like. According to some embodiments, the migration module  120  stores the analysis data  112  of the computer  102  in a hardware upgrade module  122 , software upgrade module  124 , and a performance module  126 . In some embodiments, the analysis data  112  and the user data  110  are encrypted and sent to the application server  118 , where the server  118  then builds and configures a new computer in accordance with the received migration data, in a manner similar to that disclosed in commonly assigned and related co-pending U.S. patent application Attorney Docket No. SCA2356. 
         [0024]      FIG. 2  is a flow diagram of a method  200  for providing value added services during data migration in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention. The method  200  is an exemplary implementation of the migration module  120  stored in memory  115  as executed by the CPU  111 . The method  200  begins at step  202  and proceeds to step  204 . At step  204 , user data  110  is collected by a software application  130  transmitted to the computer  102  by the migration module  120 . According to some embodiments, the web server  114  or any other server  118  downloads the software application  130  to the computer  102 . In some embodiments, the software application  130  executes on a web browser of the computer  102  to collect the user data  110  and the analysis data  112 . According to some embodiments, the user data  110  may include MS word files, Adobe PDF files, media (audio/video) files, and/or the like. The data  110  may further include the basic file system of the computer  102  and all data populating the file system to be migrated to the new computer. 
         [0025]    At step  206 , the hardware upgrade module  124  analyzes hardware of the computer  102 . The analysis may include checking for component incompatibilities, component malfunctions or component driver expiry. In addition, the analysis may check if newer and more efficient components compatible with computer  102  are available for purchase or upgrade. The analysis may also determine if the computer  102  has sufficient memory based on usage patterns. In other embodiments, the analysis may include determining if there is sufficient free disk space on the computer  102 &#39;s hard disk drive and estimating when the hard disk drive will be full according to current use patterns. 
         [0026]    At step  208 , the software on computer  102  is analyzed by the software upgrade module  124 . According to some embodiments, the method  200  analyzes the software or other running applications and licenses thereof of the computer  102 . The software analysis may include indexing the user&#39;s software use patterns, types of software installed and upgrades to that software. If, for example, the user has a trial version of a Sony® application installed, the analysis may store this information for future upgrade offers. The usage patterns of the user will be correlated to the hardware component usage and sufficient hard disk memory or RAM may be noted by the method for future upgrade offers. As an example, the analysis may determine that the user is using Paint Shop® or MSPaint® and make a notation to offer the user an upgrade to a Sony® application for image editing. 
         [0027]    At step  210 , system performance is analyzed by the performance module  126 . According to some embodiments, the method  200  analyzes the system performance of the computer  102 . According to some embodiments, the web server  114 /the application server  118  may run the applets to collect analysis information, i.e. the analysis data  112  of the computer  102 . The system performance analysis may comprise reading CPU usage, memory usage, Windows® “system” calls and the like to establish a baseline in determining whether hardware and software components are efficiently configured. The analysis may also inspect the control panel settings of Microsoft® Windows® to determine if ideal settings for the user&#39;s usage pattern are configured. The analysis may also determine if enough virtual memory is allocated for memory paging in Windows®. The analysis may also determine if installed software is impeding system performance. 
         [0028]    At step  212 , performance recommendations are suggested by the recommendation module  132 . According to some embodiments, the method  200  suggests hardware upgrade recommendations, software upgrade recommendations and system configuration changes as performance recommendations to the user so that the user may have an ideal and enhanced computer migration experience. Alternatively, the recommendation module  132  suggests the user upgrade their Operating System or a particular piece of software, or purchase a license to alternative software with better capabilities according to the user profile. According to yet another embodiment, the method  200  suggests performance recommendations and processes the purchase order to build a new computer that incorporates all of the settings and choices accepted by the user. Finally, according to some embodiments, the new computer is imaged to receive the data/hardware/software and settings as per the user accepted recommendations and is shipped to the user fully preconfigured according to the users instructions as disclosed in related co-pending U.S. patent application Attorney Docket No. SCA2356. However, as disclosed herein, the user instructions are the result of automated suggested recommendations based on analysis of the user&#39;s computer. The method  200  proceeds to step  214 , at which the method  200  ends. 
         [0029]    The embodiments of the present invention offer various advantages. The embodiments provide an end-to-end value added data migration services that provides a seamless customer migration from one computer to a second computer in a short time and in a user friendly manner. The user may browse a website or electronics storefront to initiate and complete the system analysis, purchase and migration process. Further the migration process can be initiated even from a home without having to understand the details of the system information, such content, settings, user preferences, system analysis parameters, such as hardware, software or other performance parameters, etc. Finally, when the new PC is received, the user awakens the new PC from hibernation with data and settings preconfigured to be equivalent to the data and settings uploaded during migration. 
         [0030]    The foregoing description, for purpose of explanation, has been described with reference to specific embodiments. However, the illustrative discussions above are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the present disclosure and its practical applications, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as may be suited to the particular use contemplated. 
         [0031]    While the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the present invention, other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof, and the scope thereof is determined by the claims that follow.