Methods, devices and computer program products for providing customer service call direction based upon remote diagnostics

• US 20080095325A1
• Filed: 10/23/2006
• Published: 04/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chilton, James, Zellner, Samuel, Starr, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 8,111,811 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/1.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5232 Call distribution algorithms

Abstract

Directing customer service calls based upon remote diagnosis of customer premises equipment (CPE). CPE information is received remotely from the CPE. Network status information is received from a communications network indicative of a current operational status for the network. An issue is detected with the CPE based upon the received CPE information. A recommended customer service center is selected from a plurality of customer service centers based upon at least one of the CPE information and the network status information.

Claims

1. A method for directing customer service calls based upon remote diagnosis of customer premises equipment (CPE), the method comprising:

receiving CPE information remotely from the CPE;

receiving network status information from a communications network indicative of a current operational status for the network;

detecting an issue with the CPE based on the received CPE information;

and

selecting a recommended customer service center from a plurality of customer service centers based upon at least one of the CPE information and the network status information.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the CPE information is received over the communications network from a diagnostic application program interface (API) executing at the CPE.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing the CPE information in a database, and retrieving CPE information corresponding to the CPE experiencing the issue from the database.

4. The method of claim 1 further including automatically directing a customer service call to the recommended customer service center.

5. The method of claim 1 further including generating at least one of a display, a printout, or an audible annunciation identifying the recommended customer service center.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the CPE information includes CPE software data including at least one of boot ROM version, OS version, and IPTV client version.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the CPE information includes CPE identification data including at least one of CPE serial number, CPE GUID, phone number associated with CPE user, address of the location of CPE, and CPE user name.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the CPE information includes CPE operational data including at least one of current CPE channel and current CPE menu.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the CPE information includes CPE resource data including at least one of available physical memory, available virtual memory, allocated physical memory, allocated managed memory, hard drive presence, total hard disk space, DHCP lease time remaining, default gateway, MAC address and video type.

10. A computer program product for establishing a trusted network, the computer program product comprising:

a storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for facilitating a method for directing customer service calls based upon remote diagnosis of customer premises equipment (CPE), the method comprising;

receiving CPE information remotely from the CPE;

receiving network status information from a communications network indicative of a current operational status for the network;

detecting an issue with the CPE based on the received CPE information;

and

selecting a recommended customer service center from a plurality of customer service centers based upon at least one of the CPE information and the network status information.

11. The computer program product as recited in claim 10 further including instructions for receiving the CPE information over the communications network from a diagnostic application program interface (API) executing at the CPE.

12. The computer program product as recited in claim 10 further including instructions for storing the CPE information in a database, and retrieving CPE information corresponding to the CPE experiencing the issue from the database.

13. The computer program product as recited in claim 10 further including instructions for automatically directing a customer service call to the recommended customer service center.

14. The computer program product as recited in claim 10 further including instructions for generating at least one of a display, a printout, or an audible annunciation identifying the recommended customer service center.

15. The computer program product as recited in claim 10 wherein the CPE information includes CPE software data including at least one of boot ROM version, OS version, and IPTV client version.

16. The computer program product as recited in claim 10 wherein the CPE information includes CPE identification data including at least one of CPE serial number, CPE GUID, phone number associated with CPE user, address of the location of CPE, and CPE user name.

17. The computer program product as recited in claim 10 wherein the CPE information includes CPE operational data including at least one of current CPE channel and current CPE menu.

18. The computer program product as recited in claim 10 wherein the CPE information includes CPE resource data including at least one of available physical memory, available virtual memory, allocated physical memory, allocated managed memory, hard drive presence, total hard disk space, DHCP lease time remaining, default gateway, MAC address and video type.

19. A device for directing customer service calls based upon remote diagnosis of customer premises equipment (CPE), the device comprising:

a communications mechanism capable of receiving CPE information remotely from the CPE, and also capable of receiving network status information from a communications network indicative of a current operational status for the network;

a computing mechanism, operatively coupled to the communications mechanism, for detecting an issue with the CPE based on the received CPE information, and for formulating a recommendation identifying a recommended customer service center selected from a plurality of customer service centers based upon at least one of the CPE information and the network status information.

20. The device of claim 19 wherein the communications mechanism is capable of receiving the CPE information over the communications network from a diagnostic application program interface (API) executing at the CPE.

21. The device of claim 20 wherein the computing mechanism is programmed to store the CPE information in a database, and to retrieve CPE information corresponding to the CPE experiencing the issue from the database.

22. The device of claim 19 wherein the communications mechanism is capable of transmitting the recommendation to the CPE, thereby causing at least one of (a) a customer call to be directed to the recommended customer service center, or (b) generation of a display, print out, or audible annunciation identifying the recommended customer service center.

23. The device of claim 19 wherein the CPE information includes CPE software data including at least one of boot ROM version, OS version, and IPTV client version.

24. The device of claim 19 wherein the CPE information includes CPE identification data including at least one of CPE serial number, CPE GUID, phone number associated with CPE user, address of the location of CPE, and CPE user name.

25. The device of claim 19 wherein the CPE information includes CPE operational data including at least one of current CPE channel and current CPE menu.

26. The method of claim 19 wherein the CPE information includes CPE resource data including at least one of available physical memory, available virtual memory, allocated physical memory, allocated managed memory, hard drive presence, total hard disk space, DHCP lease time remaining, default gateway, MAC address and video type.