Patent ID: 8595553

Claim:
A system for managing the servicing of a geographically separated installed base of equipment, the system comprising: an interface configured to receive, over a wide area network, one or more error reports from the geographically separated installed base of equipment; a processor geographically remote from the geographically separated installed base of equipment, the processor configured to store the one or more error reports as a data base on a non-volatile medium; and a data miner configured to process the data base containing the one or more error reports and to formulate an error pattern rule indicating a failure to be the subject of a service event, wherein formulation of the error pattern rule comprises a variant of pattern generation selected from the group consisting of a metric pattern variation and an error pattern variation; wherein the geographically remote processor is configured to compare a currently received error report with the error pattern rule and output a notification of the service event when a match between the currently received error report and the error pattern rule occurs, and wherein the service event notification output includes a location of equipment of the geographically separated installed base of equipment to be serviced and a hardware module to be replaced, an adjustment to be performed, a diagnostic procedure to be performed at the location of the equipment to be serviced, or a combination thereof.