System and method for providing network-based technical support to an end user

• US 10,025,604 B2
• Filed: 08/03/2007
• Issued: 07/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Troppus Software LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Troppus Software LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Fisher, Jr., John W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bahl, Sangeeta
• Application Number:
  US11/833,949
• Publication Number:
  US 20080034060A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,001 Days
• Field of Search: 705 1, 705 11
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

An embodiment of a method for obtaining customer support includes transmitting parameters specific to an end user product to a network-based application operable to dynamically generate a web page instructive of a solution to a problem associated with the end user product based on the parameters; receiving an interactive link to the dynamically generated web page; and browsing the dynamically generated web page by selecting the interactive link. The method may further include implementing the solution by performing steps instructed in the web page. An embodiment of a system is operable to perform operations comprising receiving parameters specific to an end user product; dynamically generating a web page instructive of a solution to a problem associated with the end user product based on the parameters; generating an interactive link to the dynamically generated web page.

Claims

1. A method in a system for obtaining customer support, the method comprising:

gathering, by a t least one computer processor of the system, parameters specific to an end user product in response to an end user using the end user product to log in to a technical support services architecture, the gathering including;

reading, by at least one computer processor of the system, a registry of hardware and software components residing on the end product; and

querying, by at least one computer processor of the system, different hardware and software components of the end user product to obtain details about the components;

storing, by at least one computer processor of the system, the parameters specific to an end user product into a configuration file;

in response to the gathering of the parameters, transmitting, by at least one computer processor of the system, the parameters specific to the end user product to a network-based application, the network-based application operable to dynamically generate a web page instructive of a solution to a problem associated with the end user product based on the parameters;

in response to the transmitting the parameters specific to the end user product, receiving, by at least one computer processor of the system, configuration difference information in a form of a difference file, the received configuration difference information indicating a difference between the transmitted parameters specific to the end user product and a last most recent system configuration of the end user product prior to the transmitting of the parameters specific to the end user product;

in response to receiving the configuration difference information, using the configuration difference information to generate a prior configuration file including hardware and software parameters of a prior system configuration of the end user product;

displaying on a graphical user interface of the end user product, by at least one computer processor of the system, a current system configuration of the end user product and the last most recent system configuration of the end user product based on the received configuration difference information, the current system configuration of the end user product and the last most recent system configuration of the end user product being presented in a window pane that is positioned next to a chat window pane that has an active chat session occurring with a technical support technician in an integrated graphical user interface window;

receiving an interactive link to the dynamically generated web page providing the solution to the problem associated with the end user product;

the solution to the problem associated with the end user product having been identified by the network-based application based on filtering one or more determined possible causes based on the configuration difference information; and

browsing the dynamically generated web page by selecting the interactive link.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising implementing the solution by performing steps instructed in the web page.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein transmitting parameters specific to the end user product comprises transmitting a differential set of parameters relative to a base set of parameters.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein receiving an interactive link comprises receiving a hyperlink from a technical support agent during a chat session between the end user and the technical support agent.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein browsing the dynamically generated web page comprises browsing the web page in a graphical user interface window pane in a window that includes the chat window pane presenting the chat session.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the web page includes content specific to the parameters of the end user'"'"'s product.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the content includes one or more of an image of a component specific to the end user'"'"'s product parameters, audio specifically related to the end user'"'"'s product parameters, media content specifically related to the end user'"'"'s product parameters.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising receiving one or more other interactive links to respective other web pages instructive of the solution.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising storing the one or more other interactive links in a first folder containing links to web pages instructive of solutions that have not been viewed.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

entering key words descriptive of a problem scenario of the end user'"'"'s product;

transmitting the key words to the network-based application operable to determine a one or more targeted possible causes for the described problem,

wherein the one or more targeted possible causes are specific to the parameters of the end user'"'"'s product, and

wherein the one or more targeted possible causes are determined by;

searching a knowledge base of problem scenarios gathered from a plurality of other end user'"'"'s to derive one or more general possible causes; and

filtering the one or more general possible causes with the parameters of the end user'"'"'s product; and

receiving a description of at least one of the one or more targeted possible causes.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions that cause a computer to carry out a process for providing customer support, the process comprising:

receiving parameters specific to an end user product;

dynamically generating a web page instructive of a solution to a problem associated with the end user product based on the parameters;

in response to the receiving the parameters specific to the end user product, generating configuration difference information in a form of a difference file, the generated configuration difference information indicating a difference between the received parameters specific to the end user product and a last most recent system configuration of the end user product prior to the receiving of the parameters specific to the end user product;

in response to the generating the configuration difference information, using the configuration difference information to generate a prior configuration file including hardware and software parameters of a prior system configuration of the end user product;

causing a current system configuration of the end user product and the last most recent system configuration of the end user product to be displayed on a graphical user interface of the end user product based on the generated configuration difference information, wherein the current system configuration of the end user product and the last most recent system configuration of the end user product is caused to be presented in a window pane that is positioned next to a chat window pane that has an active chat session occurring with a technical support technician in an integrated graphical user interface window;

identifying the solution to the problem associated with the end user product based on filtering one or more determined possible causes based on the configuration difference information; and

generating an interactive link to the dynamically generated web page providing the solution to the problem associated with the end user product.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 11, the process further comprising:

identifying a set of possible causes of the problem based on key words descriptive of the problem;

filtering the set of possible problems with the parameters, to derive one or more possible causes that are specific to the end user product.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 12, wherein identifying a set of possible causes comprises searching a knowledge base of problem scenarios identified in a plurality of other end user products to find problem scenarios that relate to the key words.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 11, wherein dynamically generating a web page comprises selecting content for the web page based on the parameters of the end user product.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 11, the process further comprising transmitting the interactive link to the end user.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 15, wherein transmitting the interactive link to the end user comprises transmitting the interactive link when the end user is not online.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 11, the process further comprising dynamically generating a plurality of web pages instructive of possible solutions to the problem.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 17, the process further comprising storing the plurality of web pages remotely from the end user'"'"'s computer system, wherein storing further comprises storing the plurality of web pages in association with a customer support subscription of the end user.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 18, the process further comprising storing web pages of new solutions in a first folder and storing web pages of previously used solutions in a second folder.