Microsoft patents system to find and fix old, forgotten software bugs
This filing describes a method for software teams to identify bugs that have been sitting in a database without being fixed for a long time. The system checks how long a bug has been ignored and whether the code it affects has changed, then flags it for repair if it is still relevant to the current version of the software.
In the filing’s own words
Provided herein are systems, methods, machine-readable media, and the like, for bug mitigation in a software application. A method includes accessing bug data of a bug of the software application that is not resolved, performing temporal decay analysis (TDS) on the bug that assesses developer activity on and lifecycle of the bug over time to identify that the bug has become stale, responsive to identifying the bug has become stale, flagging the bug as stale, performing (i) evolutionary relevance mapping on the bug to determine the bug is still relevant in a current instance of the software application or (ii) cross-version similarity modeling to identify the bug has recurred in the current instance of the software application, and mitigating the bug responsive to determining the bug is still relevant or has recurred in the current instance of the software application resulting in an updated software application.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A method for bug mitigation in a software application, the method comprising: accessing, by a bug database, bug data of a bug of the software application that is not resolved; performing, by processing circuitry, temporal decay analysis on the bug, the temporal decay analysis assesses developer activity on and lifecycle of the bug over time to identify that the bug has become stale; responsive to identifying the bug has become stale, flagging, by the processing circuitry, the bug as stale in the bug database; responsive to identifying the bug has become stale, performing, by the processing circuitry, at least one of: (i) evolutionary relevance mapping on the bug to determine the bug is still relevant in a current instance of the software application or (ii) cross-version similarity modeling to identify the bug has recurred in the current instance of the software application; and mitigating the bug responsive to determining the bug is still relevant or has recurred in the current instance of the software application resulting in an updated software application.
Facts
- Company
- Microsoft (Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC)
- Official title
- INTELLIGENT STALE BUG DETECTION AND PRIORITIZATION SYSTEM
- Publication number
- US20260310449A1
- Application number
- 19098429
- Filed
- Apr 2, 2025
- Published
- Oct 8, 2026
- Inventors
- 1
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G06F 8/70 Physics & computingMore from Microsoft in AI & software
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.