Targeted rules and action based client support

• US 7,487,181 B2
• Filed: 06/06/2006
• Issued: 02/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kakumani, Vikram, Lakshminarayanan, Karthik
• Primary Examiner(s): Woo; Isaac M
• Application Number:
  US11/422,515
• Publication Number:
  US 20070282852A1
• Time in Patent Office: 973 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 10, 707100-1041, 707200-206
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Targeted rules and action based support techniques are described, in which, operational data collected from a plurality of clients is used to generate support instructions for troubleshooting operational problems of the clients. Clients are provided targeted access to support instructions based upon information included in the support instructions which matches the support instructions to the clients. In an implementation, clients may be placed in one or more groups based on the analysis of the operational data and may receive support instructions corresponding to the group automatically and without user intervention.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

communicating data from a client to a service via a network, wherein the service processes the data to place the client providing the data into at least one group of clients;

receiving a set of support instructions to troubleshoot a particular operational problem reported to the service by a member of the group other than the client, wherein the instructions are sent automatically by the service to the client based upon the grouping;

applying rules, specified by the set of support instructions, to determine if the particular operational problem is present on the client,

when the problem is present, performing actions specified by the set of support instructions to troubleshoot the problem;

providing results to the service indicating whether the performed actions corrected the particular problem; and

when the problem is not corrected, automatically receiving an updated set of support instructions without user intervention to troubleshoot the particular operational problem, wherein the update is based upon results of the actions provided from one or more of the clients in the group.

2. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the instructions are received without the particular operational problem being experienced by the client.

3. A method described in claim 1, wherein the set of support instructions includes rules to determine if the operational problem is present on the client and identifies another corresponding set of support instructions specifying actions performable by the client to troubleshoot the particular operational problem, such that when the problem is present the client obtains the corresponding set of support instructions.

4. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the set of support instructions specify actions to take in response to the particular operational problem and the actions are performed automatically by the client without user input.

5. A method as described in claim 1, wherein clients are included in the group of clients based on common characteristics identified through processing of operational data provided by each client.

6. A computer-implemented method comprising:

communicating operational data corresponding to an operational problem experienced by a client to a service;

obtaining support instructions corresponding to the operational problem, wherein the support instructions include identifying information to target the support instructions to the client; and

performing actions specified by the support instructions to troubleshoot the operational problem wherein;

the identifying information comprises a group identifier corresponding to a group of clients in which the client is included by the service based upon other operational data communicated to the service by the client prior to the client experiencing the operational problem;

the client receives notification of the group identifier from the service; and

the client references the group identifier to obtain the support instructions corresponding to the operational problem.

7. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 6, wherein the identifying information comprises a client identifier corresponding to an identifier provided by the client when communicating the operational data to the service.

8. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 6, wherein the identifying information comprises a group identifier corresponding to a group of clients in which the client is included by the service based upon analysis of the communicated operational data.

9. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 6 further comprising:

providing an anonymous client identifier with the communicated operational data, wherein the client identifier is associated by the service with the operational problem; and

referencing the anonymous identifier to identify the support instructions.

10. A computer-implemented method as described in claim 6, further comprising polling the service to find a message posted by the service, wherein the message matches the client to the operational problem and identifies corresponding support instructions to troubleshoot the operational problem.

11. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 10, wherein the polling is performed at regular intervals to determine if a relevant message is posted.

12. A method as described in claim 6 further comprising:

receiving notification of the identifying information utilized by the service to target the support instructions to the client, wherein the service analyzes operational data collected from a plurality of clients to determine the identifying information and includes the identifying information in the support instructions to target the support instructions to the plurality of clients; and

referencing the identifying information to obtain the targeted support instructions.

13. A method comprising:

collecting data regarding a plurality of operational problems from a plurality of clients;

producing from the collected data a plurality of support instructions each configured to troubleshoot one or more of the plurality of operational problems; and

providing targeted client access to the plurality of support instructions, wherein the support instructions include;

a first set of support instructions providing rules matching the plurality of clients to the plurality of operational problems, and

one or more additional sets of instructions each corresponding to one or more of the plurality of operational problems and providing a set of actions for addressing respective problems, wherein the clients apply the rules to determine which of the one or more additional sets of instructions are applicable.

14. A method as described in claim 13, wherein the targeted client access occurs via targeting information included with the support instructions which identifies one or more of the plurality of clients to which the support instructions are applicable.

15. A method as described in claim 14, wherein the targeting information is selected from the group consisting of:

a group identification;

a client identifier; and

an operational problem identifier.

16. A method as described in claim 13, wherein:

the collected data is analyzed by the service to form a plurality of groups of clients;

the plurality of support instructions are configured to correspond to one or more of the plurality of groups; and

the providing targeted client access comprises communicating to clients in each respective group support instructions corresponding the group.