PRODUCT CUSTOMER SUPPORT IN A VIRTUAL UNIVERSE

• US 20090307023A1
• Filed: 06/05/2008
• Published: 12/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated (Kyndryl Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hamilton, Rick A. II, O'Connell, Brian M., Pickover, Clifford A., Walker, Keith R.
• Granted Patent: US 10,229,420 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/012 Providing warranty services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/016 After-sales
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

The present invention relates to virtual universe product customer support. A method for providing customer service in a virtual universe in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention includes: determining that a real-world product may have a problem; collecting information associated with the product; analyzing the collected information at a support location service in the virtual universe to determine a land location within the virtual universe of a product support center for the product; and providing an avatar with a teleportation invitation to the product support center.

Claims

1. A method for providing customer service in a virtual universe, comprising:

determining that a real-world product has a problem;

collecting information associated with the product;

analyzing the collected information at a support location service in the virtual universe to determine a land location within the virtual universe of a product support center for the product; and

providing an avatar with a teleportation invitation to the product support center.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

teleporting the avatar to the support location service.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accepting the teleportation invitation and teleporting the avatar to the product support center.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

providing automated assistance for the problem at the product support center.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

providing an automated avatar at the product support center; and

using the automated avatar to demonstrate at least one possible solution for the problem.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the automated avatar demonstrates the at least one solution using a virtual rendering of the product.

7. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

providing interactive assistance for the problem with a human support technician at the product support center, wherein the support technician interacts via the virtual universe to demonstrate at least one possible solution for the problem.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the support technician demonstrates the at least one solution using a virtual rendering of the product.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein providing interactive assistance for the problem with a human support technician at the product support center further comprises:

determining if a support technician is available;

in the case that a support technician is not available, sending the avatar a recall teleport when a support technician becomes available.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting information associated with the product further comprises at least one of:

manually inputting the information to the support location service;

reading a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag;

reading a bar code;

self-reporting by the product via a network; and

selecting a virtual rendering of the product from a virtual universe inventory.

11. A system for providing customer service in a virtual universe, comprising:

at least one computer, including;

a system for determining that a real-world product has a problem;

a system for collecting information associated with the product;

a system for analyzing the collected information at a support location service in the virtual universe to determine a land location within the virtual universe of a product support center for the product; and

a system for providing an avatar with a teleportation invitation to the product support center.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a system for teleporting the avatar to the support location service.

13. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a system for accepting the teleportation invitation and teleporting the avatar to the product support center.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

a system for providing automated assistance for the problem at the product support center.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

a system for providing an automated avatar at the product support center; and

a system for using the automated avatar to demonstrate at least one possible solution for the problem.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the automated avatar demonstrates the at least one solution using a virtual rendering of the product.

17. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

a system for providing interactive assistance for the problem with a human support technician at the product support center, wherein the support technician interacts via the virtual universe to demonstrate at least one possible solution for the problem.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the support technician demonstrates the at least one solution using a virtual rendering of the product.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the system for providing interactive assistance for the problem with a human support technician at the product support center further comprises:

a system for determining if a support technician is available; and

a system for sending the avatar a recall teleport when a support technician becomes available, in the case that a support technician is not available.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the system for collecting information associated with the product further comprises at least one of:

a system for manually inputting the information to the support location service;

a system for reading a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag;

a system for reading a bar code;

a system for self-reporting by the product via a network; and

a system for selecting a virtual rendering of the product from a virtual universe inventory.

21. A program product stored on a computer readable medium, which when executed, provides customer service in a virtual universe, the computer readable medium comprising program code for:

determining that a real-world product has a problem;

collecting information associated with the product;

analyzing the collected information at a support location service in the virtual universe to determine a land location within the virtual universe of a product support center for the product; and

providing an avatar with a teleportation invitation to the product support center.

22. A method for deploying an application for providing customer service in a virtual universe, comprising:

providing a computer infrastructure being operable to;

determine that a real-world product has a problem;

collect information associated with the product;

analyze the collected information at a support location service in the virtual universe to determine a land location within the virtual universe of a product support center for the product; and

provide an avatar with a teleportation invitation to the product support center.