Method and apparatus for providing reference content

• US 9,075,499 B2
• Filed: 08/24/2012
• Issued: 07/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Bowie, Fraser G., Thomas, Nathaniel C., Chakrabarty, Madhavi M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fleurantin, Jean B
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sultana, Nargis
• Application Number:
  US13/594,160
• Publication Number:
  US 20140058840A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,047 Days
• Field of Search: 707/750, 707/957
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/01 Customer relationship services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0281 Customer communication at a business location, e.g. providing product or service information, consulting

Abstract

An interactive grid display presented on a communications device offers a frontline representative of an enterprise or other user at a work site access to information for addressing a client'"'"'s request. Available information is sorted and selected via the interactive grid based on a number of primary categories that are identified along one dimension of the grid and a number of subcategories identified along another dimension of the grid. Information is presented in the interactive grid directly, for example, typically without requiring the user to conduct a search for the information. In response to a user selecting a point on the grid for the category and sub-category that best matches the information desired by the representative, based on grid intersection for appropriate primary and secondary categories, the device interface drills down to obtain more specific information for presentation to the user.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

at a communications device at a work site of an enterprise, obtaining frequently requested information pertaining to products or services offered by the enterprise, from a database that stores the information; and

providing the frequently requested information to a user of the communications device via an interactive multi-dimensional grid display of the communications device, the interactive multi-dimensional grid display including a plurality of panes arranged in columns and rows in multiple dimensions to form the grid display, a selectable pane among the plurality of panes, content tabs, and property tabs, wherein;

the content tabs are positioned in a first of the multiple dimensions of the grid display, and a respective row or column of the plurality of panes extends from each of the content tabs in a second of the multiple dimensions of the grid display, the content tabs identifying primary category topics relating to the products or services,

the property tabs are positioned in the second of the multiple dimensions of the grid display, and a respective column or row of the plurality of panes extends from each of the property tabs in the first of the multiple dimensions of the grid display, the property tabs identifying sub-category topics relating to the products or services,

the frequently requested information is provided to the user in the selectable pane at a location on the multi-dimensional grid display at a row and column intersection corresponding to one of the content tabs and one of the property tabs, and

the frequently requested information includes information relating to the products or services offered at the work site of the enterprise and identified by the category topic of the one content tab and the sub-category topic of the one property tab corresponding to the row and column intersection.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the content tabs are located along a first side in the first dimension of the interactive multi-dimensional grid display, and the property tabs are located on a second side and in the second dimension of the interactive multi-dimensional grid display.

3. The method of claim 1, further including providing the frequently requested information to the user of the communications device in response to receiving, from the user, a selection of the selectable pane of the interactive multi-dimensional grid display, the selected selectable pane belonging to and including frequently requested information relating to one of the primary category topics and one of the secondary category topics.

4. The method of claim 1, further including updating the frequently requested information in response to updates made to the database.

5. The method of claim 4, further including notifying the user of the communications device of the updates made to the database.

6. The method of claim 1, further including receiving information relating to promotions pertaining to the products or services offered at the work from the database and presenting the promotions, to the user of the communications device, in the interactive multi-dimensional grid display.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the user of the communications device with direct access to the frequently requested information includes providing access to the information without requiring the user to search the database.

8. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having computer readable code stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor of a communications device, configures the communications device to:

obtain frequently requested information pertaining to products or services offered by an enterprise from a database that stores the information; and

provide the frequently requested information to a user of the communications device in an interactive multi-dimensional grid display, the interactive multi-dimensional grid display including a plurality of panes arranged in rows and columns in multiple dimensions to form the grid display, a selectable pane among the plurality of panes, a content tabs, and property tabs, wherein;

the content tabs are positioned in a first of the multiple dimensions of the grid display, and a respective row or column of the plurality of panes extends from each of the content tabs in a second of the multiple dimensions of the grid display, the content tabs identifying primary category topics relating to the products or services,

the property tabs are positioned in the second of the multiple dimensions of the grid display, and a respective column or row of the plurality of panes extends from each of the property tabs in the first of the multiple dimensions of the grid display, the property tabs identifying sub-category topics relating to the products or services, and

the frequently requested information is provided to the user in the selectable pane at a grid location at a row and column intersection corresponding to one of the content tabs and one of the property tabs, and

the frequently requested information includes information relating to the products or services identified by the category topic of the one content tab and the sub-category topic of the one property tab corresponding to the row and column intersection.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein execution of the computer readable code by the processor further configures the communications device to arrange the content tabs on a first side in the first dimension of the interactive multi-dimensional grid display, and arrange a the property tabs on a second side in the second dimension of the interactive multi-dimensional grid display.

10. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein execution of the computer readable code by the processor further configures the communications device to provide the frequently requested information to the user of the communications device in response to receiving, from the user, a selection of the selectable pane included in the interactive multi-dimensional grid display, the selected selectable pane belonging to and including frequently requested information relating to one of the primary category topics and one of the secondary category topics.

11. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein execution of the computer readable code by the processor further configures the communications device to access the database through a communications network that provides the communications device with network connectivity and obtain the frequently requested information from the database.

12. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein execution of the computer readable code by the processor further configures the communications device to update the frequently requested information in response to updates made to the database.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein execution of the computer readable code by the processor further configures the communications device to notify the user of the communications device of the updates made to the database.

14. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein execution of the computer readable code by the processor further configures the communications device to receive information relating to promotions pertaining to the products or services offered at the work site from the database and present the promotions, to the user of the communications device, in the interactive multi-dimensional grid display.

15. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein execution of the computer readable code by the processor further configures the communications device to provide the user of the communications device with direct access to the frequently requested information by providing access to the information without requiring the user to search the database.

16. A communications device, comprising:

a user input element;

a display;

a processor coupled to the at least one user input element and the display;

a memory accessible by the processor; and

an assistance application program stored in the memory, wherein execution of the assistance application by the processor configures the communications device to provide a user interface via the display and responsive to operation of the user input element, the user interface of the assistance application comprising;

a grid display of selectable panes in columns and rows in two dimensions;

content tabs displayed in position in a first of the dimensions of the grid display and identifying primary category topics relating to products or services of a database of assistance information accessible via the interface, a respective row or column of the selectable panes extending from each content tab in the second of the dimensions of the grid display;

property tabs displayed in position in the second of the dimensions of the grid display and identifying sub-category topics related to the products or services, a respective column or row of the selectable panes extending from each property tab in the first of the dimensions of the grid display; and

frequently requested information displayed in at least a respective one of the selectable panes at a grid location at a row and column intersection corresponding to one of the content tabs and to one of the property tabs, the frequently requested information including information relating to the products or services identified by the category topic of the one content tab and the sub-category topic of the one property tab corresponding to the row and column intersection.

17. The communications device of claim 16, wherein:

the user interface further comprises priority tabs,

the information presented in the at least one pane is filtered based on a user selection corresponding to one of the priority tabs, and

the more detailed information is filtered based on the user selection corresponding to the one of the priority tabs.

18. The communications device of claim 16, wherein:

the user interface further comprises feature tabs identifying additional category topics of subject matter of the database, and

the grid further comprises a pane corresponding to each respective one of the feature tabs for selective display of information from the additional category topic corresponding to the respective feature tab.

19. The communications device of claim 16, wherein:

the user interface further comprises screen tabs identifying additional assistance services available through the interface on the communications device, and

a presentation for output via the display regarding an additional service corresponding to each of the screen tabs.

20. The communications device of claim 16, wherein:

the user interface further comprises a screen display of additional more detailed information presented on the screen display in response to user input of a selection of the respective pane from the grid display, and

the more detailed information comprises further information from the category topic identified by the one content tab and corresponding to the one sub-category topic identified by the one property tab.