MOBILE DEVICE DIAGNOSIS: APPARATUS AND METHOD

• US 20140122688A1
• Filed: 10/25/2012
• Published: 05/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BBY Solutions Incorporated (Best Buy Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: BBY Solutions Incorporated (Best Buy Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Partida, Frank
• Granted Patent: US 9,058,258 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0742 in a data processing system embedded in a mobile device, e.g. mobile phones, handheld devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• 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: G06F 11/2294 by remote test
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements

Abstract

The present invention relates to diagnosis of issues of individual mobile electronic devices (e.g., cell phones, portable media players, or tablet or other computers). The issues are addressed by logic and data on the device and/or in a mobile device diagnosis center, possibly in collaboration. The center may contain information relating to such devices generally, as well as particular information relating to a device being diagnosed. The general information might include information about product specifications; statistical information based on data gathered about actual usage of such devices; information about service providers and service plans; and information about possible solutions for various kinds of issues. The device-specific information might include a history of the usage, repairs, and other activities and issues pertaining to the particular device. Diagnosis by the center may result in a recommendation to the device, which may automatically take action, possibly after backing itself up to the center.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a) a mobile device interface that communicates with mobile electronic devices that are external to the system;

b) an information source interface that communicates with sources of information, which are external to the system;

c) tangible storage containing mobile device information, which includes

(i) data, received through the information source interface, about types of mobile devices, including respective hardware and software configurations,

(ii) usage statistics derived from a plurality of individual mobile devices, and

(iii) historical information, received through the mobile device interface, about individual mobile devices; and

d) a recommendation engine, which upon receiving an indication that an issue exists regarding a first mobile device, will formulate a recommendation using the mobile device information, and transmit the recommendation through the mobile device interface.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein an information source is a manufacturer or vendor of mobile devices.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein an information source is a mobile device service provider.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the data includes performance specifications.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the data includes frequency of repair information.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the data specifies which software that was pre-installed on the mobile device by a manufacturer or a service plan provider.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the historical information includes information about hardware components.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the historical information includes information about software applications.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the historical information includes information about repairs.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the historical information includes information about past recommendations.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the recommendation is based, at least in part, upon comparison between the first mobile device and the usage statistics.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the recommendation is based, at least in part, upon the historical information.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the recommendation recommends a specific type of repair.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the recommendation recommends that a software application be removed or disabled.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device information further includes

(iv) data about mobile device service providers and service plans.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the recommendation is to change to a different service plan.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the recommendation is to change to a different service provider.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device information further includes

(iv) financial information relating to the first mobile device.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the recommendation includes an alert that a credit or debit card expiry is imminent.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device information further includes

(iv) a repository that contains backup data from a plurality of mobile devices.

21. A mobile electronic device, comprising:

a) a user interface;

b) tangible storage;

c) a diagnostic engine that analyzes functionality and performance of components on the device, utilizing

(i) processing hardware, and

(ii) diagnostic software, stored in the tangible storage; and

d) an interface to a communication system that is external to the device, whereby the device

(i) transmits information about an issue identified by the diagnostic engine, and

(ii) receives a recommendation that addresses the issue.

22. The mobile electronic device of claim 21, wherein the recommendation is based, at least in part, upon comparison between the device and statistics derived from usage of other mobile electronic devices.

23. The mobile electronic device of claim 21, wherein the recommendation is based, at least in part, upon archived historical information about the device.

24. The mobile electronic device of claim 21, wherein the recommendation recommends a specific type of repair.

25. The mobile electronic device of claim 21, wherein the recommendation recommends that a software application be removed or disabled.

26. The mobile electronic device of claim 21, wherein the recommendation identifies imminent expiry of validity of a credit or debit card.

27. The mobile electronic device of claim 21, wherein the recommendation is to change a service provider or a service plan.

28. The mobile electronic device of claim 21, wherein the device is a phone, a portable music player, or a tablet device.

29. The mobile electronic device of claim 21, wherein logic in the device takes action, which affects the configuration of the device, based on the recommendation.

30. The mobile electronic device of claim 21, wherein the device automatically transmits backup information through the interface prior to taking the action.

31. A method, comprising:

a) maintaining a mobile electronic device information center that includes

(i) specifications of hardware and software configurations of types of such devices,

(ii) information about wireless service providers and service plans,

(iii) statistical information regarding usage, performance, and repairs of such devices,

(iv) historical archives for particular devices about usage, performance, issues, and repairs;

b) receiving information about a particular device through an interface to a communication system that is external to the center;

c) storing the information about the particular device in a historical archive corresponding to the particular device; and

d) sending a recommendation for a change to the particular device through the communication system.