Method for intelligent and automated transmission of local context in converged signaling

• US 8,473,604 B2
• Filed: 06/23/2008
• Issued: 06/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Maplebear Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Misra, Archan, Stern, Edith Helen
• Primary Examiner(s): Shin, Kyung H
• Application Number:
  US12/144,552
• Publication Number:
  US 20080285738A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,828 Days
• Field of Search: 709/227, 379/265.09, 379/266.01, 725/37
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for associating contextual data with communication sessions, in particular in technical help desk scenarios. A context logger service running on a central server or on an individual computing device is used to create a log of application specific, often ephemeral, contextual data for a plurality of applications running one or more systems that are in communication with the context logger service across one or more networks. When a communication session between an initiating entity and a receiving entity to request assistance regarding a subject application running on one of the systems is initiated, and if the communication session is deemed to be a candidate for the automatic association of such context data, at least a portion of the application specific contextual data contained in the log is associated with the communication session and delivered to the receiving entity. The receiving entity uses the associated application specific contextual data to provide the requested assistance, or otherwise improve the operations at the receiving entity.

Claims

1. A method for associating contextual data with a communication session, the method comprising:

creating a log of application specific contextual data for a computer software application executing on a computing platform, the application specific contextual data comprising a historical record of actions taken by the computer software application when executing on the computing platform, the historical record required to diagnose and solve technical problems associated with execution of the computer software application;

initiating a communication session between an initiating entity and a receiving entity to request assistance in solving one of the technical problems associated with the execution of the computer application by sending a communication session request to the receiving entity, the receiving entity comprising a plurality agents;

associating at least a portion of the application specific contextual data contained in the log and related to the computer application with the communication session request;

transmitting the associated contextual data to the receiving entity automatically and concurrently with a time when the communication session is initiated; and

using the transmitted application specific contextual data to route the communication session to a given agent based upon expertise and to diagnose and solve the technical problem.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of creating a log comprises at least one of creating an application log, creating a common log, creating a local log, creating a remote log, creating a distributed log, creating a log on portable storage media and combinations thereof.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of creating a log comprises creating a log in a memory location contained in the computing platform running the computer application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of creating a log comprises creating a log in at least one common database in communication with the computer application across one or more networks.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of creating the log further comprises creating a log of application specific contextual data from a plurality of computer applications running on the computing platform.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of creating a log of application specific contextual data further comprises creating a log comprising at least one of a list of executed tasks, a list of executed macros, a list of accessed files, a list of application states, a sequence of application states, an identification of the last initiated action, an identification of the last file opened, an identification of the last file closed, an identification of the last file modified, an identification of the last user-initiated action that failed, a list of memory exceptions, an identification of all data accessed, a list of dynamically linked libraries invoked, an identification of web services invoked, an identification of communications with web services, an identification of data received, an identification of data transmitted, an identification of buffer overruns and combinations thereof.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of creating a log of application specific contextual data further comprises creating the log in accordance with at least one pre-defined creation parameter.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining the application specific contextual data in the log in accordance with at least one pre-defined maintenance parameter.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the pre-defined maintenance parameter comprises at least one of the amount of storage space available, the occurrence of a specified event, the expiration of a specified period of time and combinations thereof.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a system registry log comprising system configuration data for the computing platform running the computer application;

associating at least a portion of the system configuration data contained in the system registry log with the communication session;

transmitting the associated system configuration data to the receiving entity; and

using the transmitted system configuration data to improve assistance provided by the receiving entity.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of creating a log of application specific contextual data comprises using a common application program interface to write the application specific contextual data to the log.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of creating the log comprises creating the log in extensible markup language, compressed machine-specific format, an application specific format or combinations thereof.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of initiating a communication session further comprises using an integrated computing device that is capable of establishing and conducting the communication session between the initiating entity and the receiving entity to initiate the communication session.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the integrated computing device comprises the computing platform running the computer application for which assistance is requested.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of initiating a communication session comprises initiating a session initiation protocol based communication session, a voice over internet protocol based communication session, a synchronous communication session, an asynchronous communication session or combinations thereof.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of associating at least a portion of the application specific contextual data further comprises:

identifying that the initiated communication session is to request assistance regarding the computer application;

determining relevant contextual data contained within the log to be associated with the communication session;

retrieving the relevant contextual data from the log; and

associating the retrieved relevant contextual with the communication session.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of identifying the initiation communication session further comprises:

identifying a destination for the communication session; and

using the destination to identify that the communication session is to request assistance regarding the computer application.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of identifying the initiation communication session further comprises:

identifying at least one attribute associated with the communication session; and

using the identified attribute to identify that the communication session is to request assistance regarding the computer application.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the communication session is a session initiation protocol based communication session and the step of associating the portion of the application specific contextual data further comprises appending a session initiation protocol message from the initiating entity to the receiving entity to include the portion of the application specific contextual data.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of using the associated application specific contextual data comprises displaying information responsive to the associated application specific data at the receiving entity in a user-readable format.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of using the associated application specific contextual data comprises creating a historical log of application specific contextual data received at the receiving entity, analyzing the historical log for patterns in the application specific contextual data received at the receiving entity over time and using identified patterns in the application specific contextual data to improve assistance provided by the receiving entity.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending an acknowledgement message from the receiving entity to the initiating entity indicating that the associated application specific data were received.

23. A method for associating contextual data with a communication session, the method comprising:

creating a log of application specific contextual data for a plurality of software applications executing on a plurality of distinct computing platforms, the application specific contextual data comprising a historical record of actions taken by the computer software applications when executing on the computing platforms, the historical record required to diagnose and solve technical problems association with execution of the software applications and the log created in a common database that is in communication with each one of the computing platforms across one or more networks;

using an integrated computing device to initiate a communication session between an initiating entity and a receiving entity to request assistance regarding one of the technical problems associated with one of the plurality of applications running on one of the computing platforms by sending a communication session request to the receiving entity, the receiving entity comprising a plurality of agents;

identifying a portion of the application specific contextual data in the log to be associated with the communication session request;

obtaining the identified portion of the application specific contextual data from the log;

associating the identified portion of the application specific contextual data with the communication session request automatically and concurrently with a time when the communication session is initiated; and

using the transmitted application specific contextual data to route the communication session to a given agent based upon expertise and to diagnose and solve the technical problem and to improve assistance provided by the receiving entity.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the communication session comprises a session initiation protocol based communication session and the step of associating the portion of the application specific contextual data further comprises appending a session initiation protocol message from the initiating entity to the receiving entity to include the identified portion of the application specific contextual data.

25. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing a computer-readable code that when read by a computer causes the computer to perform a method for associating contextual data with a communication session, the method comprising:

creating a log of application specific contextual data for a computer software application executing on a computing platform, the application specific contextual data comprising a historical record of actions taken by the computer software application when executing on the computing platform, the historical record required to diagnose and solve technical problems associated with execution of the computer software application;

initiating a communication session between an initiating entity and a receiving entity to request assistance in solving one of the technical problems associated with the execution of the computer application by sending a communication session request to the receiving entity, the receiving entity comprising a plurality agents;

associating at least a portion of the application specific contextual data contained in the log and related to the computer application with the communication session request;

transmitting the associated contextual data to the receiving entity automatically and concurrently with a time when the communication session is initiated; and

using the transmitted application specific contextual data to route the communication session to a given agent based upon expertise and to diagnose and solve the technical problem.

26. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the step of creating a log comprises creating a log in a memory location contained in the computing platform running the computer application.

27. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the step of creating a log comprises creating a log in at least one common database in communication with the computer application across one or more networks.

28. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the step of creating a log of application specific contextual data comprises using a common application program interface to write the application specific contextual data to the log.

31. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein the step of associating at least a portion of the application specific contextual data further comprises:

identifying that the initiated communication session is to request assistance regarding the computer application;

determining relevant contextual data contained within the log to be associated with the communication session;

retrieving the relevant contextual data from the log; and

associating the retrieved relevant contextual with the communication session.

32. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 31, wherein the step of identifying the initiation communication session further comprises:

identifying a destination for the communication session; and

using the destination to identify that the communication session is to request assistance regarding the computer application.

33. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 31, wherein the step of identifying the initiation communication session further comprises:

identifying at least one attribute associated with the communication session; and

using the identified attribute to identify that the communication session is to request assistance regarding the computer application.

29. The non-transitory computer readable medium of 25, wherein the step of initiating a communication session further comprises using an integrated computing device that is capable of establishing and conducting the communication session between the initiating entity and the receiving entity to initiate the communication session.

30. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 29, wherein the integrated computing device comprises the computing platform running the computer application.

34. A system for associating contextual data with a communication session, the system comprising:

a context logger server comprising a memory for storage of program instructions for running a context logger service in communication with a plurality of software applications running on a computing platform, the context logger service comprising;

at least one log capable of storing application specific contextual data for each one of the plurality of applications, the application specific contextual data comprising a historical record of actions taken by the computer software application when executing on the computing platform, the historical record required to diagnose and solve technical problems associated with the plurality of software applications; and

a common application program interface to facilitate the writing of the contextual data to the log by each one of the plurality of applications; and

a session initiation protocol communication server to monitor session initiation protocol based communication session requests from an initiating entity to a receiving entity comprising a plurality of agents that are used to request assistance regarding one of the technical problems associated with a subject application running on the system, the session initiation protocol communication server in communication with the context logger service and capable of automatically reading contextual data stored in the log and associating the contextual data with the communication session request at a time when the communication session is initiated to facilitate routing the communication session request to a given agent based on the contextual data.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the context logger server further comprises a centrally located common server in communication across one or more networks with the plurality of applications running on the computing platform.