Mobile device diagnosis: apparatus and method

• US 9,058,258 B2
• Filed: 10/25/2012
• Issued: 06/16/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BBY Solutions Incorporated (Best Buy Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: BBY Solutions Incorporated (Best Buy Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Partida, Frank
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TU T
• Application Number:
  US13/660,188
• Publication Number:
  US 20140122688A1
• Time in Patent Office: 964 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0742 in a data processing system embedded in a mobile device, e.g. mobile phones, handheld devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2294 by remote test
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements

Abstract

The present invention relates to diagnosis of issues of individual mobile electronic devices (e.g., cell phones, portable media players, or tablet or other computers). The issues are addressed by logic and data on the device and/or in a mobile device diagnosis center, possibly in collaboration. The center may contain information relating to such devices generally, as well as particular information relating to a device being diagnosed. The general information might include information about product specifications; statistical information based on data gathered about actual usage of such devices; information about service providers and service plans; and information about possible solutions for various kinds of issues. The device-specific information might include a history of the usage, repairs, and other activities and issues pertaining to the particular device. Diagnosis by the center may result in a recommendation to the device, which may automatically take action, possibly after backing itself up to the center.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a) a mobile device interface that communicates with portable mobile electronic devices that are external to the system;

b) an information source interface that communicates with sources of information, which are external to the system;

c) tangible storage containing mobile device information, which includes

(i) data, received through the information source interface, about types of portable mobile devices, including respective hardware and software configurations,

(ii) usage statistics derived from a plurality of individual portable mobile electronic devices, and

(iii) historical information, received through the mobile device interface, about individual portable mobile electronic devices; and

d) a recommendation engine, which upon receiving an indication that an issue exists regarding a first portable mobile electronic device, of a given device type, will formulate a recommendation using the mobile device information, and transmit the recommendation through the mobile device interface, wherein the recommendation engine, in formulating the recommendation, will perform a diagnosis of whether certain factors are relevant and, if so, base the recommendation upon the relevant factors, the analyzed factors including

(i) specifications about components and functionality of the given device type,

(ii) historical changes made to the first mobile portable electronic device, and

(iii) statistical information collected from a plurality of portable mobile electronic devices that pertains to the device type.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein an information source for the specifications is a manufacturer or vendor of portable mobile electronic devices.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein an information source is a portable mobile electronic device service provider and wherein the factors further include

(iv) an assessment of appropriateness for users of a service plan covering the first portable mobile electronic device from the service provider.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the specifications include performance specifications.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the data includes frequency of repair information.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the specifications specify which software was pre-installed on the mobile device by a manufacturer or a service plan provider.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the historical changes include changes to hardware components.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the historical changes include changes to software applications.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the historical changes include repairs.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the historical information includes information about past recommendations.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the factors further include

(iv) a comparison between usage of the first portable mobile electronic device and the usage statistics.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the recommendation is based, at least in part, upon the historical information.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the recommendation recommends a specific type of repair.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the recommendation recommends that a software application be removed or disabled.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device information further includes

(iv) data about mobile device service providers and service plans.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the recommendation is to change to a different service plan.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the recommendation is to change to a different service provider.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device information further includes

(iv) financial information relating to the first mobile device.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the recommendation includes an alert that a credit or debit card expiry is imminent.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device information further includes

(iv) a repository that contains backup data from a plurality of mobile devices.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the recommendation directs the portable mobile electronic device to automatically change its hardware configuration or its software configuration.

22. A portable mobile electronic device, comprising:

a) a user interface;

b) tangible storage;

c) a diagnostic engine that analyzes functionality and performance of components on the device, utilizing

(i) processing hardware, and

(ii) diagnostic software, stored in the tangible storage; and

d) an interface to a communication system that is external to the device, whereby the device

(i) transmits information about an issue identified by the diagnostic engine, and

(ii) receives a recommendation that addresses the issue, wherein the recommendation is based upon a diagnosis of the relevance of certain factors for resolving the issue, the factors including

(A) specifications about components and functionality of the type of the portable mobile electronic device,

(B) historical changes made to the portable mobile electronic device, and

(C) statistical information collected from a plurality of portable mobile electronic devices that pertains to the device type.

23. The portable mobile electronic device of claim 22, the factors further including

(D) a comparison between usage of the first portable mobile electronic device and the usage statistics.

24. The portable mobile electronic device of claim 22, wherein the recommendation is based, at least in part, upon archived historical information about the device.

25. The portable mobile electronic device of claim 22, wherein the recommendation recommends a specific type of repair.

26. The portable mobile electronic device of claim 22, wherein the recommendation recommends that a software application be removed or disabled.

27. The portable mobile electronic device of claim 22, wherein the recommendation identifies imminent expiry of validity of a credit or debit card.

28. The portable mobile electronic device of claim 22, wherein the recommendation is to change a service provider or a service plan.

29. The portable mobile electronic device of claim 22, wherein the device is a phone, a portable music player, or a tablet device.

30. The portable mobile electronic device of claim 22, wherein logic in the device takes action, which affects the configuration of the device, based on the recommendation.

31. The portable mobile electronic device of claim 22, wherein the device automatically transmits backup information through the interface prior to taking the action.

32. The system of claim 22, wherein the recommendation directs the portable mobile electronic device to automatically change its hardware configuration or its software configuration.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the portable mobile electronic device automatically changes its hardware configuration or its software configuration in response to the recommendation.

34. A method, comprising:

a) maintaining a portable mobile electronic device information center that includes

(i) specifications of hardware and software configurations of types of such devices,

(ii) information about wireless service providers and service plans,

(iii) statistical information regarding usage, performance, and repairs of such devices,

(iv) historical archives for particular devices about usage, performance, issues, and repairs;

b) receiving information about a particular portable mobile electronic device through an interface to a communication system that is external to the center;

c) storing the information about the particular portable mobile electronic device in a historical archive corresponding to the particular portable mobile electronic device;

d) receiving a request from the particular device to resolve an issue regarding configuration of the portable mobile electronic device;

e) performing a diagnosis of relevance of the following factors for resolving the issue;

(i) specifications about components and functionality of the given device type,

(ii) historical changes made to the portable mobile electronic device, and

(iii) statistical information collected from a plurality of portable mobile electronic devices that pertains to the device type; and

f) sending a recommendation, based on the diagnosis, for a change to the particular portable mobile electronic device through the communication system.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the recommendation directs the portable mobile electronic device to automatically change its hardware configuration or its software configuration.