Patent ID: 7117113

Claim:
A method of automated data collection and analysis, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a request with information about a device, wherein the device is a network element configured for receiving packets and transmitting the packets in a packet-switched network; constructing a command set, wherein the command set is a set of executable commands that indicate collection of data from the device and zero or more other devices; sending a link referencing the command set to a computer associated with the device; wherein at the computer associated with the device: the command set that is referenced in the link is downloaded based on following the link; a command runner module executes the downloaded command set; a set of results is received from the device; and a modified result set is created by removing one or more confidential data elements from the set of results; receiving the modified result set; providing the modified result set to a provider server that comprises an analysis engine; receiving analysis results from the analysis engine, wherein the analysis results are based at least in part on the modified result set; and determining a set of solutions based on the analysis results.