Systems and methods for distributing remote technical support via a centralized service

• US 8,811,595 B2
• Filed: 02/04/2010
• Issued: 08/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: PlumChoice Incorporated (Allstate Corporation)
• Original Assignee: PlumChoice Incorporated (Allstate Corporation)
• Inventors: Werth, Theodore, Surace, Richard T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Khai N
• Application Number:
  US12/699,999
• Publication Number:
  US 20100138270A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,657 Days
• Field of Search: 379/266.01, 379/265.02, 379/265.01, 379/265.03, 379/265.04, 379/265.05, 379/265.06, 379/265.07, 379/265.08, 379/265.09, 379/265.1, 379/265.11, 379/265.12, 379/265.13, 379/265.14, 379/266.02, 379/266.03, 379/266.04, 379/266.05, 379/266.06, 379/266.07, 379/266.08, 379/266.09, 379/266.1, 705/9, 705/7.11, 705/7.12, 705/7.13, 705/7.14, 705/7.33, 705/304, 705/305, 709/224, 709/225
• US Class Current: 379/265.12
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/016 After-sales

Abstract

The solution described herein provides an innovative use of remote services technology integrated with service personnel onsite at the point of service, such as a consumer repair outlet, to provide a pool of technical support resources to service a widely distributed resource need, such as support and repair resource needs of a chain of consumer outlets or an aggregated group of single proprietor consumer outlets. With this solution, qualified technical resources are provided from a central location to service a widely distributed retail environment. This is on-demand online remote support service is called or referred to as “support from a spigot.” The distribution method enables the delivery of higher quality, more reliable and overall lower cost services. Instead of requiring dedicated technical resources at each location, lower skilled labor may be deployed at the location to enable the remote technical support services process.

Claims

1. A method for providing on-demand technical support services, the method comprising:

(a) receiving, via a network by a centralized service operating on one or more servers remote to a location of a consumer, a request for work to be performed on a device at the location of the consumer;

(b) determining, by the centralized service, a type of work for the request, a category of the device and one or more service level attributes to perform the type of work at a predetermined service threshold prior to performing the type of work, the one or more service level attributes comprising a level of skill, the predetermined service threshold comprising a metric for a measurable element of performing the type of work; and

(c) assigning, by the centralized service prior to performing the type of work, the device of the request to a work queue of a technician of a pool of technicians based on the category of the device the one or more service level attributes corresponding to one or more capabilities identified for the technician, the pool of technicians remote to the location of the consumer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) further comprises connecting at a consumer outlet the device received from the consumer to the network.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising,

(d) receiving, by a second device of the technician from the centralized service, a communication to perform work on the device;

and

(e) connecting, by the technician in response to the communication, from a remote location via one or more networks to the device at the location of the consumer.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising matching, by an intelligent switch of the centralized service, the one or more service level attributes of the request with the one or more capabilities of the pool of technicians to determine the technician suited to service the request at a service level identified by the predetermined service threshold.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) further comprises determining, by the centralized service, via a technician database the one or more capabilities of technicians currently available from the pool of technicians.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising matching, by an intelligent switch of the centralized service responsive to a set of rules of a policy engine, a level of skill of the one or more service level attributes to one or more capabilities identified for the technician.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying, by the centralized service one or more sub-attributes of each of the one or more service level attributes and assigning the request to the work queue based on the one or more sub-attributes.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the centralized service, the one or more service level attributes in content of the request.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning, by the centralized service, weights to one or more levels of skill of the one or more service level attributes or the one or more capabilities.

10. A method for providing a combination of onsite and on-demand technical support services to a location of a consumer, the method comprising

(a) assigning, by a centralized service, an onsite technician with a first set of skills a predetermined amount of time to visit a location of a consumer requesting service on a device, the predetermined amount of time comprising a fixed portion of time to at least connect the device via a network to the centralized service for one or more remote technicians to continue performing the requested service;

(b) performing, by the onsite technician within the predetermined amount of time, a portion of the requested service on the device at the location of the consumer;

(c) connecting, by the onsite technician within the predetermined amount of time, the device at the location of the consumer via the network to the centralized service, the onsite technician, upon leaving the premise after the predetermined amount of time, leaving the device connected to the centralized service for remaining portions of the requested service to be performed by one or more remote technicians via the centralized service;

(d) submitting, by the onsite technician, to the centralized service information about the device based on performing the portion of the requested service; and

(e) assigning, by the centralized service prior to a remote technician performing work on the device, the device to a work queue of the remote technician having a second set of skills of a plurality of remote technicians based on the information submitted by the onsite technician from the onsite technician'"'"'s diagnostics performed on the device at the location of the consumer.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein step (a) further comprises assigning to the onsite technician the predetermined amount of time comprising predetermined time increments.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein step (a) further comprises assigning the onsite technician having the first set of skills limited to one of preliminary diagnostics or network connectivity to the centralized service.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein step (b) further comprises performing, by the onsite technician, preliminary diagnostics on the device.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein step (c) further comprises establishing, by the onsite technician, connectivity of the device to the Internet.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising performing by the remote technician a second portion of the requested service.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising completing by the remote technician the requested service to the device without being sent to the location of the consumer.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising transferring, by the centralized service, the device to a second work queue of a second remote technician to perform a remaining portion of the requested service on the device.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein step (e) further comprises assigning, by the centralized service prior to performing the type of work, the device of the request to the work queue of the remote technician based on one or more service level attributes of the request corresponding to one or more capabilities identified for the remote technician.