Patent ID: 7493325

Claim:
A computer implemented method of matching user descriptions of technical problem manifestations with system problem descriptions, comprising: a. receiving from a symptom database at least one system-level symptom for each of a plurality of computer-related problems which maps to a corresponding problem description and a recommended fix for said one of said computer-related problems; b. breaking each of the system-level symptoms into system-level symptom sub-phrases based on a pre-selected breakdown methodology; c. generating a list of association ratios between symptom sub-phrases derived from text extracted from corpora related to computer problem symptoms and the system-level symptom sub-phrases based upon a pre-selected association methodology, each of which derived sub-phrases is linked back to the corresponding problem description, said association ratios being based on a degree of closeness of matching relationship between the symptom sub-phrases derived from text extracted from corpora related to computer problem symptoms and the system-level symptom sub-phrases; d. generating in a prioritized index of symptom association (PISA) database an index of prioritized association ratios between the derived symptom sub-phrases and the system-level symptom sub-phrases based on a pre-selected ranking methodology, said index of prioritized association ratios representing an arrangement of the association ratios in order of the degrees of closeness of matching relationships between respective symptom sub-phrases derived from text extracted from corpora related to computer problem symptoms and the system-level symptom sub-phrases; e. receiving user-entered text related to a symptom of a computer-related problem; f. searching the user-entered text against the prioritized index of symptom associations; g. presenting a list of textual matches between the user-entered text and the derived and system-level symptom sub-phrases in order of prioritization; h. receiving a user's selection of a derived or system-level symptom sub-phrase from the list and running the recommended fix to which the selected symptom sub-phrase is mapped; i. if the computer-related problem is fixed by running the recommended fix, adding the user-entered text to the index of prioritized symptom associations of the PISA database with a corresponding association ratio based on a matching relationship between the user-entered text and the selected system-level symptom sub-phrase; and j. if the computer-related problem is not fixed by running the recommended fix, prompting the user to enter another selection of a derived or system-level symptom sub-phrase from the list.