PROBLEM RESOLUTION VALIDATION

• US 20150180728A1
• Filed: 12/20/2013
• Published: 06/25/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NCR Corporation
• Original Assignee: NCR Corporation
• Inventors: Forrest, Simon J., Neilan, Michael James
• Granted Patent: US 9,659,465 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 19/209 Monitoring, auditing or diagnose of functioning of ATMs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/046 comprising network management agents or mobile agents therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0883 Semiautomatic configuration, e.g. proposals from system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5074 Handling of user complaints or trouble tickets

Abstract

A method of validating resolution of a problem at a media terminal is described. The method comprises accessing a file including a task; identifying a plurality of specific actions to be taken to perform the task; and ascertaining each event that would be triggered by the media terminal when each identified specific action is performed correctly. The method further comprises: displaying the identified specific actions to a service engineer; and transmitting a validation message to a remote management system when all ascertained events have been triggered in response to the service engineer performing the identified specific actions correctly.

Claims

1. A method of validating resolution of a problem at a media terminal, the method comprising:

accessing a file including a task;

identifying a plurality of specific actions to be taken to perform the task;

ascertaining each event that would be triggered by the media terminal when each identified specific action is performed correctly;

displaying the identified specific actions to a service engineer; and

transmitting a validation message to a remote management system when all ascertained events have been triggered in response to the service engineer performing the identified specific actions.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of accessing a file including a task includes receiving a file from a remote management application.

3. A method according to claim 2 wherein the step of receiving the file includes receiving a file populated with a plurality of specific actions and events that would be triggered when the plurality of specific actions are performed correctly.

4. A method according to claim 3 wherein the step of identifying a plurality of specific actions to be taken to perform the task comprises reading the plurality of specific actions from the file;

and wherein the step of ascertaining each event that would be triggered by the media terminal when each identified specific action is performed correctly comprises reading the events from the file.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises the further steps of:

using an inference engine to ascertain from a task provided in the file a plurality of specific actions and events that would be triggered when the plurality of specific actions are performed correctly.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the file includes a plurality of tasks, each task relating to a device in the media terminal.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of displaying the identified specific actions to a service engineer comprises the sub-steps of:

displaying a first identified specific action to the service engineer;

detecting an event corresponding to an ascertained event associated with the first identified specific action; and

displaying a next identified specific action in response to detecting the event corresponding to the first identified specific action, thereby preventing display of a next specific action until an event associated with a current specific action has been detected.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises the further step, prior to the transmitting step, of detecting an event corresponding to an ascertained event associated with a last identified specific action.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises the further steps of:

detecting absence of an ascertained event or presence of an event that should not be triggered in response to the specific action being performed; and

transmitting a request for an updated task in response to the detecting absence or presence step.

10. A method according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises the further step of providing feedback to a service engineer each time a correct event has been detected in response to the service engineer performing a specific action.

11. A method according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises the further step of receiving a request from the remote management server for additional information to be collected at the media terminal.

12. A method according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises the further step of registering with an agent core in the media terminal to receive events triggered by devices within the media terminal.

13. A media terminal comprising:

a management agent executing on the terminal and being operable to;

(i) receive a task list from a remote management system, (ii) derive from the task list a plurality of specific actions to be performed in sequence, and (iii) identify, for each specific action, an event that would be triggered by the media terminal when that specific action is performed correctly; and

a display operable to;

(i) display each specific action to a service engineer in sequence, with a next specific action only being displayed in response to an event associated with that specific action being detected.

14. A media terminal according to claim 14, wherein the management agent is further operable to transmit a validation message to the remote management system when all ascertained events have been triggered in response to the service engineer performing the specific actions.

15. A management agent for executing on a media terminal and being operable to:

(i) receive a file including a task;

(ii) derive a plurality of specific actions to be taken to perform the task;

(iii) ascertain each event that would be triggered by the media terminal when each specific action is performed correctly;

(iv) provide a presentation client with details of the specific actions;

(vi) detect events triggered by the media terminal; and

(vii) transmit a validation message to the remote management system when all ascertained events have been detected in response to the service engineer performing those specific actions.