Patent ID: 7664613

Claim:
A method comprising: a customer of a manufacturer using a product provided by a manufacturer in the ordinary course of business of the customer and for the intended purpose of the product through at least a portion of the product's lifetime; selecting at least one type of the used product for evaluation, the selected product having been provided to the customer by the manufacturer and wherein the used product selected for evaluation is not defective or nonperforming; physically removing a plurality of the selected products from respective installed locations of the customer of the manufacturer; collecting the plurality of products at a predetermined location of the manufacturer; the manufacturer physically sending comparable replacement products to the customer to replace the plurality of removed products; establishing a test plan for members of the plurality; conducting tests of the members of the plurality in accordance with the plan; conducting an analysis of the test results, including comparing test results with test results of unused product of the same type provided by the manufacturer; providing a mass storage device; and storing results of the testing and analysis in the storage device.