Self-care self-tuning wireless communication system

• US 10,111,117 B2
• Filed: 01/31/2017
• Issued: 10/23/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Carrier Iq
• Inventors: Mikkelsen, Frederick Peter, Gutierrez, Jr., Alberto
• Primary Examiner(s): Fang, Keith
• Application Number:
  US15/420,340
• Publication Number:
  US 20170164216A1
• Time in Patent Office: 630 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/01 Customer relationship services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/016 After-sales
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/20 Transfer of user or subscriber data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/205 Transfer to or from user equipment or user record carrier

Abstract

A customer self-service tuning system assists a mobile device user in adjusting his network settings and device configuration. Device, network and performance metrics are stored for a population. Over time all of these suggest changes in the device or network that change measured performance. The potential improvement(s) are presented to the user for selection. Performance measurements are taken and the user can choose to go forward with the new configuration or to revert. Each time a user requests self-care service, a new cohort is extracted from the then current overall population and analyzed for similarity to the user at that point in time. Each time an improvement is selected, the history of device states and network states is augmented. Identified variances are transformed into an action plan specific to a user and implemented on the device or network upon concurrence.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

at a service provider server;

receiving, from a mobile wireless device, a care request that includes a user description of a request for service that identifies a problem experienced by the user concerning operation of the mobile wireless device and/or a wireless communication network;

creating a service ticket based on the care request;

checking any existing service outages and captured wireless communication network analytics;

correlating, based on the network analytics, the problem identified by the user with the experiences of other users in a same geographical area as the user;

identifying a probable cause for the problem based on the correlating process;

creating, and transmitting to the mobile wireless device, a service ticket ID and information identifying the probable cause and a diagnosis;

receiving, from the mobile wireless device, an indication as to whether or not the user accepts the diagnosis; and

wherein when the diagnosis is accepted by the user, the service ticket is discontinued by the service provider server, and when the diagnosis is not accepted by the user, the service provider server receives a notification from the mobile wireless device to continue investigating the problem.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein when the diagnosis is accepted by the user, the service provider server changes, or causes a change to, one or both of a wireless communication network setting and a configuration of the mobile wireless device.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein performance of the method processes prior to receipt of user acceptance or non-acceptance of the diagnosis occurs automatically in response to only a single user input.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the care request includes information specific to the mobile wireless device that generated the care request.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising continuing the investigation and/or beginning a new investigation when the user does not accept the diagnosis.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the care request received from the mobile wireless device includes information concerning the location of the mobile wireless device.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the service provider server and mobile wireless device communicate with each other by way of a wireless communication network.

8. A service provider server that includes a non-transitory storage device having stored therein computer-executable instructions which, when executed by one or more hardware processors of the service provider server, facilitate performance of the following processes:

receiving, from a mobile wireless device, a care request that includes a user description of a request for service that identifies a problem experienced by the user concerning operation of the mobile wireless device and/or a wireless communication network;

creating a service ticket based on the care request;

checking any existing service outages and captured wireless communication network analytics;

correlating, based on the network analytics, the problem identified by the user with the experiences of other users in a same geographical area as the user;

identifying a probable cause for the problem based on the correlating process;

creating, and transmitting to the mobile wireless device, a service ticket ID and information identifying the probable cause and a diagnosis; and

receiving, from the mobile wireless device, an indication as to whether or not the user accepts the diagnosis; and

wherein when the diagnosis is accepted by the user, the service ticket is discontinued by the service provider server, and when the diagnosis is not accepted by the user, the service provider server receives a notification from the mobile wireless device to continue investigating the problem.

9. The service provider server as recited in claim 8, wherein when the diagnosis is accepted by the user, the service provider server changes, or causes a change to, one or both of a wireless communication network setting and a configuration of the mobile wireless device.

10. The service provider server as recited in claim 8, wherein performance of the processes prior to receipt of user acceptance or non-acceptance of the diagnosis occurs automatically in response to only a single user input.

11. The service provider server as recited in claim 8, wherein the care request includes information specific to the mobile wireless device that generated the care request.

12. The service provider server as recited in claim 8, wherein the processes further comprise continuing the investigation and/or beginning a new investigation when the user does not accept the diagnosis.

13. The service provider server as recited in claim 8, wherein the care request received from the mobile wireless device includes information concerning the location of the mobile wireless device.

14. The service provider server as recited in claim 8, wherein the service provider server and mobile wireless device operate together to implement a closed-loop user-initiated self-care system.

15. The service provider server as recited in claim 8, wherein the service provider server and mobile wireless device communicate with each other by way of a wireless communication network.

16. The service provider server as recited in claim 8, further comprising any one or more of:

a store of device states and network account settings for a plurality of wireless mobile devices recorded over time;

a circuit to receive network account settings and device states triggered by a request for self-care from the mobile wireless device;

a circuit to select and retrieve past performance metrics, device states and network account settings for a cohort of wireless mobile devices that are substantially similar to the wireless mobile device;

a circuit to select and retrieve current device states and current network account settings for subset of the cohort which has current performance metrics improved over the current performance metrics of the wireless mobile device;

a circuit to present possible performance improvements by changing the wireless mobile device state and network account setting toward settings deployed by the subset of the cohort;

a circuit to adjust a network account upon permission; and

a circuit to transmit a guide to amend the wireless mobile device settings.