NETWORK-BASED PLATFORM FOR PROVIDING CUSTOMER TECHNICAL SUPPORT

• US 20080091454A1
• Filed: 08/01/2007
• Published: 04/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Troppus Software Corporation
• Original Assignee: Peak8 Partners LLC
• Inventors: Fisher, John
• Granted Patent: US 9,929,881 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/301
• 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: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways

Abstract

A technical support system includes a problems data store storing a problem information related to a plurality of problems identified in response to other reported incidents, a problem search module configured to search the problem information based on one or more key words to determine problem information that is relevant to the one or more key words and that is applicable to a general population of computer systems, and a problem filter module configured to filter the determined problem information based on the parameters associated with the end-user'"'"'s computer system configuration to determine problem information that is specific to the end-user'"'"'s computer system. A method for providing technical support to an end user includes receiving system-specific parameters characterizing a hardware and software configuration of the end user'"'"'s computer system, determining one or more possible causes of a problem exhibited by the specified end user'"'"'s computer system by searching a set of problem information related to one or more problems reported in other incidents, and filtering the one or more determined possible causes based on the system-specific parameters to derive one or more targeted possible causes specific to the specified end user'"'"'s computer system configuration.

Claims

1. A technical support system for providing technical support to a computer system end-user in response to a reported incident, wherein the end-user'"'"'s computer system has associated parameters characterizing a configuration of the computer system, the technical support system comprising:

a problems data store storing a problem information related to a plurality of problems identified in response to other reported incidents;

a problem search module configured to search the problem information based on one or more key words to determine problem information that is relevant to the one or more key words and that is applicable to a general population of computer systems; and

a problem filter module configured to filter the determined problem information based on the parameters associated with the end-user'"'"'s computer system configuration to determine problem information that is specific to the end-user'"'"'s computer system.

2. The technical support system as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

a solutions data store storing a plurality of solutions developed during performance of technical support jobs performed in response to other reported incidents; and

a solutions search module configured to search the plurality of solutions developed in response to the other reported incidents to determine one or more possible solutions based on the one or more problems specific to the end-user'"'"'s computer system, such that the one or more determined possible solutions are specific to the end-user'"'"'s computer system.

3. The system as recited in claim 2 wherein each of the plurality of solutions in the solutions data store was developed in response to an associated problem incident and has been validated and approved for use in response to other problem incidents.

4. The system as recited in claim 3 further comprising a pre-disposition solutions data store storing potential solutions.

5. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the problem information includes a problem identifier, a problem description, and one or more causes of the problem.

6. The system as recited in claim 1, further comprising one or more communication utilities enabling one or more associated modes of communication between end users and technical support agents.

7. The system as recited in claim 6, wherein the one or more modes of communication are selected from a group consisting of chat, instant messaging, email, and telephone.

8. The system as recited in claim 6 wherein one of the one or modes of communication is chat between the end user and a technical support agent, and wherein the end user accesses chat through a graphical user interface comprising a window integrating a chat window pane and a technical support information presentation window pane.

9. The system as recited in claim 8 wherein the technical support information presentation window pane selectively presents system-specific parameters, a history of applied solutions, and one or more available solutions, based on end user selection.

10. The system as recited in claim 9 wherein presentation of a solution comprises presenting dynamically created content specific to the end user'"'"'s computer system.

11. A method for providing technical support to a specified end user reporting a specified incident, the method comprising:

receiving system-specific parameters characterizing a hardware and software configuration of the end user'"'"'s computer system;

determining one or more possible causes of a problem exhibited by the specified end user'"'"'s computer system by searching a set of problem information related to one or more problems reported in other incidents; and

filtering the one or more determined possible causes based on the system-specific parameters to derive one or more targeted possible causes specific to the specified end user'"'"'s computer system configuration.

12. The method as recited in claim 11 wherein the one or more problems reported in other incidents were reported by a general population of end user'"'"'s.

13. The method as recited in claim 11 wherein the problem information comprises a problem identifier, a problem description, and one or more possible causes.

14. The method as recited in claim 11 further comprising storing the problem information in a set of dynamic problem information, wherein the problem information is validated.

15. The method as recited in claim 14 further comprising storing the problem information in a set of static problem information after the problem information is validated, wherein the problem information can be accessed to solve problems identified by a general population of end users.

16. The method as recited in claim 11 further comprising determining one or more possible solutions to the reported problem by searching a set of previously developed solutions that are targeted to the specified end user'"'"'s computer system configuration by searching only for solutions to the one or more filtered causes to the reported problem.

17. The method as recited in claim 11 further comprising storing the system-specific parameters in association with a subscription associated with the specified end user.

18. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium having instructions, which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out a process comprising operations of:

receiving an incident report from an end user, the incident report including a description of a problem exhibited by the end user'"'"'s computer system;

receiving system-specific parameters characterizing a configuration of hardware and software associated with an end user'"'"'s computer system;

based on the problem description, determining one or more possible causes based on a set of problem information describing problems reported in other incident reports, wherein the problem information includes possible causes to the problems reported in the other incident reports; and

filtering the one or more determined possible causes with the system-specific parameters to derive one or more possible causes specific to the end user'"'"'s computer system configuration.

19. The computer program product as recited in claim 18 wherein the process further comprises an operation of determining a possible solution to at least one of the one or more possible causes of the problem specific to the end user'"'"'s computer system configuration.

20. The computer program product as recited in claim 18 wherein the process further comprises an operation of storing a plurality of non-validated problem solutions.