Method and apparatus for automated call assistance for malfunctions in an image production device

An image production device, comprising:

• a communication interface that facilitates transmission and reception of communications to and from the image production device;
• a user interface that receives a signal from a user interface requesting automated call assistance;
• and
• a call assistance module that transmits the call assistance request through the communication interface to an automated call assistance processing unit along with customer and image production device identification information, receives a signal from the automated call assistance processing unit through the communication interface to identify one or more malfunctions in the image production device, identifies one or more malfunctions, sends a prompt to the user at the user interface to confirm the one or more identified malfunctions, determines if a confirmation from the user has been received, wherein if it is determined that a confirmation from the user has been received, transmits the one of more identified malfunctions to the automated call assistance processing unit through the communication interface, receives a signal from the automated call assistance processing unit through the communication interface to perform one or more diagnostic tests on the image production device, performs the one or more diagnostic tests, transmits the results of the one or more diagnostic tests through the communication interface to at least one of the user interface and the automated call assistance processing unit, receives instructions from the automated call assistance processing unit through the communication interface concerning one or more remedies for the one or more malfunctions, and implements the received instructions concerning one or more remedies for the one or more malfunctions.

A method for providing automated call assistance for malfunctions in an image production device, comprising

• receiving a call assistance request from an image production device along with customer and image production device identification information;
• transmitting a request to the image production device to identify one or more malfunctions;
• receiving one of more identified malfunctions from the image production device;
• identifying one or more diagnostic tests based on the received one of more identified malfunctions;
• transmitting a message to the image production device for the user to perform the identified one or more diagnostic tests;
• receiving the results of the one or more diagnostic tests from the image production device;
• identifying one or more remedies for the one or more malfunctions based on the results of the one or more diagnostic tests;
• and
• transmitting instructions concerning the one or more remedies for the one or more malfunctions to the image production device.