TECHNICAL SUPPORT AGENT AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT SERVICE DELIVERY PLATFORM

• US 20120321071A1
• Filed: 08/24/2012
• Published: 12/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Troppus Software Corporation
• Original Assignee: Troppus Software Corporation
• Inventors: Fisher, John W. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 9,842,295 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/265.09
• 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: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063112 Skill-based matching of a person or a group to a task
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

An embodiment of a method for providing technical support service includes generating a plurality of problem resolutions that are determined to resolve an identified technical problem; attributing weights to each of said plurality of problem resolutions according to frequency of use; and in response to a request to resolve said identified problem, selecting a problem resolution from among said plurality of problem resolutions based at least in part on said attributed weights.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a device platform;

an operating system executable on the device platform; and

a client application operable to facilitate technical support services independent of the operating system and the device platform.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the client application is functionally at least semi-autonomous from the operating system.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the client application includes an embedded browser functionally autonomous from any browser application installed on the apparatus.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the client application comprises a virtual machine.

5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the client application includes a network adapter interface independent from the operating system to enable network communications if the operating system network adapter interface is not fully operational.

6. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the client application includes a process manager independent from the operating system to enable process management if the operating system process manager is not fully operational.

7. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the client application includes a memory manager independent from the operating system to enable memory management if the operating system memory manager is not fully operational.

8. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the client application includes structured file system support independent from the operating system to enable file system support if the operating system file system support is not fully operational.

9. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the client application includes security functionality independent from the operating system to enable security if the operating system security functionality is not fully operational.

10. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the embedded browser enables Internet browsing if a technical problem prevents browsing via another browser application.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the embedded browser is configured to navigate to one or more technical problem resolution pages accessible via the Internet.

12. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the client application further comprises a chat module.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the chat module enables online chat between an end user and a technical support agent.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein a chat user interface is integrated with an apparatus inventory interface.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein a chat user interface is integrated with a user region configured to present a user interface selectable from a plurality of user interfaces.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the plurality of user interfaces comprise two or more of an inventory user interface, an embedded browser user interface, and a resolutions user interface.

17. A method comprising:

providing a device platform;

providing an operating system on the device platform;

loading a client application on the device platform, the client application being operable to facilitate technical support services independent of the operating system and device platform.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the client application is functionally at least semi-autonomous from the operating system.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the client application can establish network communications, despite improper functioning of a network communications function of the operating system.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising providing an embedded browser as part of the client application.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the embedded browser is autonomous from any browsers installed on the device platform.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the embedded browser enables network resource browsing, despite malfunction of the operating system or malfunction of other browser applications provided on the computer.

23. The method of claim 17, further comprising providing a chat module as part of the client application.

24. The method of claim 17, further comprising providing a user interface comprising a chat interface region and a user interface region, wherein the chat interface region presents a user interface for chatting and wherein the user interface region presents a user interface associated with another module.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the user interface associated with another module is user selectable from a plurality of user interfaces.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the plurality of user interfaces comprises a computer inventory user interface, a problem resolutions interface, and an embedded browser interface.

27. The method of claim 17, wherein the device platform comprises one of a computer, a handheld computer, a PDA, a set-top box, a cell phone, a router, a game console, or a media console.

28. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having contents that enable a device platform to deliver technical support service by performing a method comprising:

providing a device platform;

providing an operating system on the device platform;

loading a client application on the device platform, the client application being operable to facilitate technical support services independent of the operating system and device platform, and being functionally at least semi-autonomous from the operating system.

29. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 28, further comprising providing a user interface comprising a chat interface region and a user interface region, wherein the chat interface region presents a user interface for chatting and wherein the user interface region presents a user interface associated with another module.

30. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 29, wherein the plurality of user interfaces comprises a computer inventory user interface, a problem resolutions interface, and an embedded browser interface.