US 6,298,457 B1 · Non-invasive networked-based customer support

Abstract

Customer-service tasks are performed in a noninvasive manner by relying on automatic methods for (a) capturing the state of the operating domain and (b) automatically communicating this state as well as a description of the circumstances that lead to activation of the process to a remote service machine via an electronic network. Network-based customer-service for software support includes an automatic mechanism which initiates the product support process. This automatic mechanism may optionally be augmented by a manual mechanism for initiating the support process. The process captures the operating environment in sufficient detail so as to enable its re-creation in part or in whole on a separate machine. Archived data is transmitted to an off-site storage device, and when this data is received, notification is transmitted to customer-support personnel. The operating environment is re-created, and the customer-support person investigates the problem by executing the software product in the re-created environment.

Claims13

Dependent claims

A computer implemented method for performing customer-service tasks on a software product in a noninvasive manner comprising the steps of:

monitoring operation of the software product on a customer's machine for errors;
automatically initiating a product support process upon detection of an error by transmitting to an off-site storage device operating environment information stored by the error handler related to the detected error, wherein the operating environment information has sufficiently detail to enable re-creation of the operating environment in part or in whole on a separate machine;
detecting at the off-site storage device when information related to a detected error from a customer's machine is received;
notifying customer-support personnel of the receipt of the operating environment information related to a detected error from a customer's machine;
loading the received information related to a detected error from a customer's machine on the separate machine;
and
re-creating the operating environment on the separate machine using the operating environment information so that the customer-support personnel may investigate the problem by simulating the operating environment and executing the software product in the re-created environment in real time.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Non-invasive networked-based customer support

Life of this patent

Non-invasive networked-based customer support

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims13