Technical support agent and technical support service delivery platform

• US 9,842,295 B2
• Filed: 08/24/2012
• Issued: 12/12/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Troppus Software Corporation
• Original Assignee: Troppus Software Corporation
• Inventors: Fisher, Jr., John W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Benjamin
• Application Number:
  US13/593,702
• Publication Number:
  US 20120321071A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,936 Days
• 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: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063112 Skill-based matching of a person or a group to a task
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

An embodiment of a method for providing technical support service includes generating a plurality of problem resolutions that are determined to resolve an identified technical problem; attributing weights to each of said plurality of problem resolutions according to frequency of use; and in response to a request to resolve said identified problem, selecting a problem resolution from among said plurality of problem resolutions based at least in part on said attributed weights.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a device platform that includes at least one processor-readable storage device coupled to at least one processor;

an operating system stored in the at least one processor-readable storage device and executable by the at least one processor; and

a client application operable to facilitate technical support services independent of the operating system, wherein the client application is configured to;

generate a current configuration file including current system-specific parameters of a current configuration of the device platform;

transmit to a remote technical support server the current configuration file including the current system-specific parameters;

receive from the remote technical support server configuration difference information;

generate, using the configuration difference information received from the remote technical support server, a prior configuration file including prior system-specific parameters of a prior system configuration of the device platform;

present to a user the current configuration of the device platform and the prior system configuration of the device platform in a window pane that is positioned next to a chat window pane in an integrated graphical user interface window;

receive from the remote technical support server a plurality of selectable hyperlinks to a plurality of web pages that include a plurality of solutions to solve a plurality of problems with the device platform;

navigate to the one of the plurality of web pages in response to receiving an indication of a user selection of one of the plurality of hyperlinks;

store the one of the plurality of hyperlinks in a first file; and

store each of the plurality of hyperlinks, other than the one of the plurality of hyperlinks, in a second file.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the client application is functionally at least semi-autonomous from the operating system.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the client application includes an embedded browser functionally autonomous from any browser application installed on the apparatus.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the embedded browser enables Internet browsing if a technical problem prevents browsing via another browser application.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the embedded browser is configured to navigate to one or more technical problem resolution pages accessible via the Internet.

6. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the client application further comprises a chat module.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the chat module enables online chat between an end user and a technical support agent.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein a chat user interface is integrated with an apparatus inventory interface.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein a chat user interface is integrated with a user region configured to present a user interface selectable from a plurality of user interfaces.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the plurality of user interfaces comprise two or more of an inventory user interface, an embedded browser user interface, and a resolutions user interface.

11. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the client application comprises a virtual machine.

12. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the client application includes a network adapter interface independent from the operating system to enable network communications if the operating system network adapter interface is not fully operational.

13. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the client application includes a process manager independent from the operating system to enable process management if the operating system process manager is not fully operational.

14. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the client application includes a memory manager independent from the operating system to enable memory management if the operating system memory manager is not fully operational.

15. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the client application includes structured file system support independent from the operating system to enable file system support if the operating system file system support is not fully operational.

16. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the client application includes security functionality independent from the operating system to enable security if the operating system security functionality is not fully operational.

17. A method comprising:

providing a device platform;

providing an operating system on the device platform;

loading a client application on the device platform, the client application being operable to facilitate technical support services independent of the operating system;

generating, by the client application, a current configuration file including current system-specific parameters of a current configuration of the device platform;

transmitting, by the client application, to a remote technical support server the current configuration file including the current system-specific parameters;

receiving, by the client application, from the remote technical support server configuration difference information;

generating, by the client application using the configuration difference information, a prior configuration file including prior system-specific parameters of a prior system configuration of the device platform;

presenting, by the client application, to a user the current configuration of the device platform and the prior system configuration of the device platform in a window pane that is positioned next to a chat window pane in an integrated graphical user interface window;

receiving, by the client application, from the remote technical support server a plurality of selectable hyperlinks to a plurality of web pages that include a plurality of solutions to solve a plurality of problems with the device platform;

navigating, by the client application, to the one of the plurality of web pages in response to receiving an indication of a user selection of one of the plurality of hyperlinks;

storing, by the client application, the one of the plurality of hyperlinks in a first file; and

storing, by the client application, each of the plurality of hyperlinks, other than the one of the plurality of hyperlinks, in a second file.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the client application is functionally at least semi-autonomous from the operating system.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the client application can establish network communications, despite improper functioning of a network communications function of the operating system.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising providing an embedded browser as part of the client application.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the embedded browser is autonomous from any browsers installed on the device platform.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the embedded browser enables network resource browsing, despite malfunction of the operating system or malfunction of other browser applications provided on the computer.

23. The method of claim 17, further comprising providing a chat module as part of the client application.

24. The method of claim 17, further comprising providing a user interface comprising a chat interface region and a user interface region, wherein the chat interface region presents a user interface for chatting and wherein the user interface region presents a user interface associated with another module.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the user interface associated with another module is user selectable from a plurality of user interfaces.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the plurality of user interfaces comprises a computer inventory user interface, a problem resolutions interface, and an embedded browser interface.

27. The method of claim 17, wherein the device platform comprises one of a computer, a handheld computer, a PDA, a set-top box, a cell phone, a router, a game console, or a media console.

28. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having contents that enable a device platform to deliver technical support service, the contents causing the device platform to:

load a client application on the device platform, the client application being operable to facilitate technical support services independent of an operating system provided on the device platform the client application causing the device platform to;

generate a current configuration file including current system-specific parameters of a current configuration of the device platform;

transmit to a remote technical support server the current configuration file including the current system-specific parameters;

receive from the technical support server configuration difference information;

generate, using the configuration difference information, a prior configuration file including prior system-specific parameters of a prior system configuration of the device platform;

present to a user the current configuration of the device platform and the prior system configuration of the device platform in a window pane that is positioned next to a chat window pane in an integrated graphical user interface window;

receive from the remote technical support server a plurality of selectable hyperlinks to a plurality of web pages that include a plurality of solutions to solve a plurality of problems with the device platform;

navigate to the one of the plurality of web pages in response to receiving an indication of a user selection of one of the plurality of hyperlinks;

store the one of the plurality of hyperlinks in a first file; and

store each of the plurality of hyperlinks, other than the one of the plurality of hyperlinks, in a second file.

29. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 28, wherein the chat window pane presents a user interface for chatting and wherein the integrated graphical user interface window presents a user interface associated with another module.

30. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 29, wherein the integrated graphical user interface window includes a computer inventory user interface, a problem resolutions interface, and an embedded browser interface.