Patent ID: 7373307

Claim:
A method of upgrading an existing warranty of a computer system including a plurality of components in a configuration, the method comprising: receiving, by a warranty processor, a warranty upgrade request from the computer system to upgrade the existing warranty, the warranty upgrade request including configuration information for the computer system including type, revision and serial number of each field replaceable unit (FRU) in the configuration; determining, by the warranty processor, a warranty upgrade price dependent on the configuration information in the warranty upgrade request, said configuration information including one or more selected from the group consisting of: 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 warranty upgrade price to the computer system; sending a warranty authorization to the computer system after acceptance of the price to upgrade the warranty, wherein the warranty authorization includes a unique identification number of the computer system; and receiving payment, by the warranty processor, of the warranty upgrade price.