Telephone customer support utility
First Claim
1. A method for providing diagnostic support of a customer'"'"'s computer using a standard telephone handset to communicate over a telecommunications network with a remote support computer, the method comprising:
- encoding an operational status of the customer'"'"'s computer in a manner capable of producing audible tones indicative of such operational status;
producing the audible tones on an audio speaker of the customer'"'"'s computer in proximity to the telephone handset for communicating the audible tones over the telecommunications network to the remote support computer; and
receiving the audible tones communicated over the telecommunications network by the remote support computer, the remote support computer including a receiver for receiving the audible tones communicated over the telecommunications network and a decoder for decoding the audible tones into data representing the operational status of the customer'"'"'s computer for enabling appropriate diagnostic functions to be determined with the remote support computer;
wherein the receiver comprises a microphone electrically connected to a sound card, wherein the microphone receives the audible tones transmitted by the telephone and the sound card generates at least one file comprising the data representative of the operational status of the customer computer.
12 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A telephonic customer support utility for providing diagnostic support of a customer computer including encoding an operational status of a customer'"'"'s computer to produce audible tones on a speaker corresponding to the encoded status for transmission on a standard telephone line via a standard telephone of the encoded operational status to a remote support computer, the remote support computer having a receiver electrically connected to receive the tones transmitted on the telephone line. The received tones are decoded by a decoder of the remote support computer to determine the operational status of the customer'"'"'s computer, which status is displayed on a display of the remote support computer for analysis by a customer support technicians.
82 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method for providing diagnostic support of a customer'"'"'s computer using a standard telephone handset to communicate over a telecommunications network with a remote support computer, the method comprising:
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encoding an operational status of the customer'"'"'s computer in a manner capable of producing audible tones indicative of such operational status; producing the audible tones on an audio speaker of the customer'"'"'s computer in proximity to the telephone handset for communicating the audible tones over the telecommunications network to the remote support computer; and receiving the audible tones communicated over the telecommunications network by the remote support computer, the remote support computer including a receiver for receiving the audible tones communicated over the telecommunications network and a decoder for decoding the audible tones into data representing the operational status of the customer'"'"'s computer for enabling appropriate diagnostic functions to be determined with the remote support computer; wherein the receiver comprises a microphone electrically connected to a sound card, wherein the microphone receives the audible tones transmitted by the telephone and the sound card generates at least one file comprising the data representative of the operational status of the customer computer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A customer support utility for providing diagnostic support of a customer computer using a standard telephone handset to communicate over a telecommunications network with a remote support computer, the customer support utility comprising:
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an encoder electrically connected to the customer computer for encoding an operational status thereof in a manner capable of producing audible tones indicative of such operational status; a speaker electrically connected to said customer computer for producing the audible tones; a telephone handset proximate to the speaker for communicating the audible tones over the telecommunications network to the remote support computer; a receiver electrically connected to the remote support computer for receiving the audible tones communicated over the telecommunications network; and a decoder electrically connected to the receiver for decoding the received audible tones into data representing the operational status of the customer computer wherein the receiver comprises a microphone electrically connected to a sound card, wherein the microphone receives the audible tones transmitted by the telephone and the sound card generates at least one file comprising the data representative of the operational status of the customer computer. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A customer support utility for providing diagnostic support of an electrical device, which device includes circuitry for recording the operational status of the device, wherein the utility uses a standard telephone handset to communicate over a telecommunications network with a remote support computer, the customer support utility comprising:
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means electrically connected to the electrical device for encoding an operational status thereof in a manner capable of producing audible tones indicative of such operational status; means electrically connected to said electrical device for producing the audible tones; means proximate to the means for producing the audible tones speaker for communicating the audible tones over the telecommunications network to the remote support computer; means electrically connected to the remote support computer for receiving the audible tones communicated over the telecommunications network; and means electrically connected to the means for receiving for decoding the received audible tones into data representing the operational status of the electrical device to enable appropriate diagnostic functions to be determined with the remote support computer wherein the means for receiving comprises a microphone electrically connected to a sound card, wherein the microphone receives the audible tones transmitted by the telephone and the sound card generates at least one file comprising the data representative of the operational status of the electrical device. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification