INITIATING A SUPPORT CHAT SESSION IN RESPONSE TO THE OCCURRENCE OF A SUPPORT EVENT WITH TRANSMISSION OF DETAILED EVENT INFORMATION

• US 20090307612A1
• Filed: 06/05/2008
• Published: 12/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Lafornara, Philip J., Singh, Ram Pratap, Pulsipher, Jon D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,762,862 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/758
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Technologies are described herein for launching an online support chat session in response to an occurrence of a support event on a personal computer and transmitting detailed event information via the chat session for display to support personnel. When an error or other event occurs on a computer, an online support chat session is established using an online support chat client associated with the error or event. The pertinent information about the error or event along with additional data regarding the computer and the user are transmitted via the online support chat session for display to the support personnel.

Claims

1. A method for responding to a support event on a computer by establishing an online support chat session, the method comprising:

detecting the support event on the computer;

upon detecting the support event, receiving event information regarding the support event;

collecting data regarding the computer and a user of the computer;

establishing the online support chat session by executing an online support chat client associated with the support event; and

upon establishing the online support chat session, causing the event information and the data regarding the computer and the user to be transmitted to a support system for display to support personnel via the online support chat client.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

upon detecting the support event, determining whether the user wishes to establish the online support chat session in response to the support event;

establishing the online support chat session in response to determining that the user wishes to establish the online support chat session; and

not establishing the online support chat session in response to determining that the user does not wish to establish the online support chat session.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the data regarding the computer and the user comprises one or more of information identifying a hardware and software configuration of the computer, information identifying the user, and information identifying a support account for the user and the computer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting the data regarding the computer and the user comprises retrieving information regarding the computer and the user previously collected and stored in a non-volatile storage of the computer.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the event information and the data regarding the computer and the user to be transmitted to the support system comprises:

upon establishing the online support chat session, determining whether the user consents to transmission of the data regarding the computer and the user;

causing the event information and the data regarding the computer and the user to be transmitted to the support system via the online support chat client in response to determining that the user consents to transmission of the data regarding the computer and the user; and

causing only the event information to be transmitted to the support system via the online support chat client in response to determining that the user does not consent to transmission of the data regarding the computer and the user.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining whether the user consents to transmission of the data regarding the computer and the user is performed only upon a first occurrence of launching the online support chat client for the user on the computer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the event information comprises an identifier of the online support chat client associated with the support event and alternative content regarding the support event.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein establishing an online support chat session with the support system by executing the online support chat client further comprises:

retrieving a location of an executable file for the online support chat client from the computer based upon the identifier of the online support chat client associated with the support event;

executing the executable file on the computer to launch the online support chat client;

upon launching the online support chat client, determining if the online support chat session was properly established;

if the online support chat session was properly established, causing the event information and the data regarding the computer and the user to be transmitted to the support system via the online support chat client; and

if the online support chat session was not properly established, displaying the alternative content regarding the support event.

9. A computer storage medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

detect a support event on a computer, the support event having an associated online support chat client;

upon detecting the support event, determine if a user using the computer wishes to establish an online support chat session in response to the support event;

if the user wishes to establish the online support chat session, receive event information regarding the support event;

determine a location of the associated online support chat client;

collect data regarding the computer and the user;

launch the associated online support chat client;

determine if the associated online support chat client launched successfully; and

if the associated online support chat client launched successfully, transmit the event information and the data regarding the computer and the user to support personnel via the online support chat client.

10. The computer storage medium of claim 9, wherein the event information comprises alternative content regarding the support event.

11. The computer storage medium of claim 10, having further computer executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to display the alternative content regarding the support event to the user if the associated online support chat client did not launch successfully.

12. The computer storage medium of claim 9, wherein the data regarding the computer and the user comprises one or more of information identifying a hardware and software configuration of the computer, information identifying the user, and information identifying a support account for the user and the computer.

13. The computer storage medium of claim 9, wherein collecting the data regarding the computer and the user comprises retrieving the data regarding the computer and the user previously collected and stored in a non-volatile storage of the computer.

14. The computer storage medium of claim 9, having further computer executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

upon launching the associated online support chat client, prompt the user to determine if the user consents to transmission of the data regarding the computer and the user to support personnel;

if the user consents, transmit the event information and the data regarding the computer and the user to support personnel via the online support chat client; and

if the user does not consent, transmit only the event information to support personnel via the online support chat client.

15. The computer storage medium of claim 14, wherein the user is prompted only upon a first occurrence of launching the associated online support chat client for the user on the computer.

16. A method for launching an online support chat client on a computer, the method comprising:

receiving a request to launch the online support chat client;

receiving event information regarding a support event that triggered the request, the event information comprising a description of the support event and alternative content regarding the support event;

retrieving a file name of the online support chat client to launch;

retrieving data regarding the computer and a user of the computer;

executing the online support chat client, passing the event information and the data regarding the computer and the user to the online support chat client;

determining if the online support chat client launched successfully; and

if the online support chat client did not launch successfully, displaying the alternative content regarding the support event.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the data regarding the computer and the user comprises one or more of information identifying a hardware and software configuration of the computer, information identifying a user of the computer, and information identifying a support account for the user and the computer.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein retrieving the data regarding the computer and the user comprises retrieving information regarding the computer, the user, and the support account previously collected and stored in a non-volatile storage of the computer.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein retrieving the data regarding the computer and the user further comprises:

upon retrieving the data regarding the computer and the user, displaying a prompt asking whether the user consents to the data regarding the computer and the user being transmitted to support personnel;

receiving a response to the prompt; and

upon receiving the response, executing the online support chat client, passing the event information, the data regarding the computer and the user, and an indicator indicating the response to the prompt to the online support chat client.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the prompt is displayed only upon a first occurrence of executing the online support chat client for the user on the computer.