Methods and systems for reporting and resolving support incidents
First Claim
1. A method for managing information about a support incident on a computer, comprising:
- gathering information about the support incident;
associating the support incident with a support channel; and
collecting information from the computer relevant to diagnosing and resolving the support incident.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention manages information about support incidents on a computer. The invention gathers information about a support incident, associates the support incident with a support channel, and collects current and historical information from the computer. Implementations of the invention may also package and send the gathered and collected information to a support vendor. The invention comprises methods of performing these tasks, systems that perform them, computer-readable media that contain computer-executable instructions that when executed perform the methods or provide the systems, and data structures stored on computer-readable media having fields that represent software objects useful in performing the methods or providing the systems.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method for managing information about a support incident on a computer, comprising:
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gathering information about the support incident;
associating the support incident with a support channel; and
collecting information from the computer relevant to diagnosing and resolving the support incident. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
packaging the information gathered about the support incident and the information collected from the computer and sending them to a support vendor.
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8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
updating the information gathered about the support incident with information about attempts at resolving the support incident.
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9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:
packaging the updated information gathered about the support incident and sending it to a support vendor.
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10. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.
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11. A system for managing information about a support incident on a computer comprising:
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an incident component that stores information for reporting and tracking the support incident;
a channel component that associates the support incident with a support channel; and
an information collection component for collecting information from the computer. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
a cabinet component that packages and sends support information to a support vendor.
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18. The system of claim 11 further comprising:
a help session component that collects information about attempts at resolving the support incident.
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19. The system of claim 11 wherein control information may be passed to the components by means of eXtensible Markup Language files.
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20. A computer-readable medium containing computer-executable instructions that when executed provide the system of claim 11.
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21. An application programming interface presented by the computer to support applications and comprising the components of the system of claim 11.
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22. The application programming interface of claim 21 in which the components consist essentially of software objects.
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23. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure, comprising:
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a first data field containing data representing an incident software object that stores information for reporting and tracking a support incident;
a second data field containing data representing a channel software object that associates the support incident with a support channel; and
a third data field containing data representing an information collection software object for collecting information from a computer. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
a fourth data field containing data representing a cabinet software object that packages and sends support information to a support vendor.
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25. The computer-readable medium of claim 23 having stored thereon a data structure, further comprising:
a fifth data field containing data representing a help session software object that collects information about attempts at resolving the support incident.
Specification