Help center and filtering applications

• US 7,290,247 B2
• Filed: 04/30/2002
• Issued: 10/30/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL LLC (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Haddock, Gail, Moran, James R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wood; William H.
• Application Number:
  US10/134,678
• Publication Number:
  US 20030080988A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,009 Days
• Field of Search: 717/168, 717/120, 717/121, 717/124, 705/14, 705 26- 28, 709/245, 710/36
• US Class Current: 717/136
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0253 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions

Abstract

Various disclosed help center features provide help to a user without a staffed help center, provide help to a user before the user recognizes the need, or create targeted commerce opportunities for a provider of goods or services. One help center feature provides a user with help that is specifically related to a component in the user'"'"'s computer system and that is supplied to the help center feature by the component manufacturer. Another help center feature detects a condition that degrades performance, and hence user satisfaction, and alerts the user. Another help center feature detects an attempt by a computer system to inform the user of degraded performance and offers the user a solution. Another help center feature provides a user with a commerce opportunity specifically related to a component in the user'"'"'s computer system and/or to the user'"'"'s geographic location.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

accessing a component support item, the component support item including content that is associated with a service provider and that includes a generic advertisement, the generic advertisement including message content displayable to a user of a target computer system to inform the user of available support for multiple supported components;

accessing a component identification item identifying a component of the target computer system as an identified component;

determining that at least one of the multiple supported components includes the identified component of the target system;

modifying the generic advertisement as a result of, at least, the determination that the multiple supported components include the identified component; and

communicating the modified generic advertisement to a user of the target computer system.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein modifying the generic advertisement comprises modifying the message content of the generic advertisement to relate specifically to the identified component.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein modifying the generic advertisement comprises tailoring the message content of the generic advertisement to the identified component.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein modifying the generic advertisement comprises modifying the message content of the generic advertisement.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein modifying the message content of the generic advertisement comprises adding text to the message content of the generic advertisement.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein modifying the message content of the generic advertisement comprises modifying the message content to refer to the identified component.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the component support item further includes a geographic location of the service provider associated with the message content of the generic advertisement.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the service provider comprises a sales center, and the geographic location comprises a zip code of the sales center.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the target computer system performs:

accessing the component support item,

accessing the component identification item,

determining that the multiple supported components include the identified component of the target system,

modifying the generic advertisement, and

communicating the modified generic advertisement to a user of the target computer system.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that at least one of the multiple supported components includes the identified component includes parsing the message content of the generic advertisement to determine that at least one of the multiple supported components includes the identified component.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein parsing the message content of the generic advertisement includes parsing text of the generic advertisement to identify text indicating that at least one of the multiple supported components includes the identified component.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessing the component support item includes accessing generic advertisement that includes message content displayable to a user of a target computer system to inform the user that the service provider is available to provide support for the multiple supported components.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein modifying the generic advertisement comprises modifying the message content of the generic advertisement to inform the user that the service provider is available to provide support specifically for the identified component.

14. A method comprising:

accessing a component support item including (i) a generic advertisement including message content displayable to a user of a target computer system to inform the user that a service provider is available to provide support for multiple supported components;

(ii) a first component identification item that identifies at least one of these multiple supported components, and (iii) a support location indicator that identifies a geographic location for the service provider;

accessing a second component identification item that identifies a component of the target computer system as an identified component;

determining a geographic location associated with the identified component;

comparing the geographic location of the service provider with the geographic location associated with the identified component;

modifying the generic advertisement to relate specifically to the identified component; and

determining whether to communicate the modified generic advertisement to the user of the target computer system based on results of the comparison of the geographic locations.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein:

the identified component comprises at least one of software, hardware, or peripheral equipment for the target computer system,

the component support item further comprises a help screen, and

determining whether to communicate comprises determining to perform at least one of selecting or blocking the component support item.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein accessing the component support item comprises accessing the component support item at the target computer system.

17. The method of claim 14 further comprising communicating the modified generic advertisement to the user by displaying the modified generic advertisement on a screen of the target computer system.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein:

accessing the component support item comprises accessing a generic advertisement for an available upgrade to a software product, and

the identified component is the software product.

19. The method of claim 14 wherein accessing the second component identification item comprises scanning electronically a portion of the target computer system.

20. The method of claim 14 wherein accessing the second component identification item comprises accessing a profile for the target computer system.

21. The method of claim 14 wherein the generic advertisement comprises an advertisement selected from a group consisting of an advertisement for e-commerce, an advertisement for local commerce, and a news item.

22. The method of claim 14 wherein determining the geographic location associated with the identified component comprises accessing a user profile.

23. The method of claim 14 wherein determining the geographic location associated with the identified component comprises accessing local point-of-presence information.

24. The method of claim 14 wherein accessing the component support item comprises accessing the component support item from a storage location on the target computer system.

25. The method of claim 14 wherein modifying the generic advertisement comprises modifying the generic advertisement to relate to the geographic location associated with the identified component.

26. The method of claim 14 wherein:

the service provider comprises a shop, and

the support location indicator identifies a zip code for the shop.

27. The method of claim 14 wherein determining whether to communicate the modified generic advertisement comprises:

determining to communicate the modified generic advertisement to a user of the target computer system if (i) the one or more supported components, identified by the first component identification item and supported by the generic advertisement of the component support item, include the identified component of the target system, and (ii) the geographic location of the service provider and the geographic location associated with the identified component are geographically proximate.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein comparing the geographic locations comprises determining that the geographic location of the service provider and the geographic location associated with the identified component are geographically proximate.

29. The method of claim 27 wherein determining that the geographic locations are geographically proximate comprises determining that the geographic locations identify a common city.

30. The method of claim 14 wherein the component support item is made available by a separate computer system, and further comprising restricting from the separate computer system an indicator that the target computer system includes the identified component, the restricting continuing until at least a point in time after determining whether to communicate the modified generic advertisement.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein the separate computer system comprises a provider of the component support item.

32. The method of claim 30 wherein accessing the component support item comprises receiving the component support item from the separate computer system.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein the target computer system receives the component support item from the separate computer system without having provided the separate computer system information indicating whether the target computer system includes one or more of the supported components.

34. The method of claim 14 wherein the target computer system performs:

accessing the component support item,

accessing the second component identification item,

modifying the generic advertisement, and

determining whether to communicate the modified generic advertisement to the user.

35. The method of claim 14 wherein the message content of the modified generic advertisement comprises the support location indicator.

36. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

determining whether the at least one of the multiple supported components, identified by the first component identification item and supported by the generic advertisement of the component support item, include the identified component of the target system, and

wherein determining whether to communicate the modified generic advertisement to the user is also based on whether the one or more supported components include the identified component.

37. A computer program residing on a computer-readable storage medium and comprising instructions for causing a computer to perform at least the following operations:

access a component support item including (i) a generic advertisement including message content displayable to a user of a target computer system to inform the user that a service provider is available to provide support for multiple supported components;

(ii) a first component identification item that identifies at least one of these multiple supported components, and (iii) a support location indicator that identifies a geographic location for the service provider;

access a second component identification item that identifies a component of the target computer system as an identified component;

determine a geographic location associated with the identified component;

compare the geographic location of the service provider with the geographic location associated with the identified component;

modify the generic advertisement to relate specifically to the identified component; and

determine whether to communicate the modified generic advertisement to the user of the target computer system based on results of the comparison of the geographic locations.

38. A system comprising:

a storage device; and

one or more processors, collectively programmed to perform at least the following operations;

access a component support item including (i) a generic advertisement including message content displayable to a user of a target computer system to inform the user that a service provider is available to provide support for multiple supported components;

(ii) a first component identification item that identifies at least one of these multiple supported components, and (iii) a support location indicator that identifies a geographic location for the service provider;

access a second component identification item that identifies a component of the target computer system as an identified component;

determine a geographic location associated with the identified component;

compare the geographic location of the service provider with the geographic location associated with the identified component;

modify the generic advertisement to relate specifically to the identified component; and

determine whether to communicate the modified generic advertisement to the user of the target computer system based on results of the comparison of the geographic locations.

39. The system of claim 38 wherein one processor is programmed to perform at least the operations of:

accessing the component support item,

accessing the second component identification item,

modifying the generic advertisement and

determining whether to communicate the modified generic advertisement to the user.

40. The system of claim 38 wherein the one or more processors are collectively programmed to access the component support item by, at least, accessing a received component support item.