Informing troubleshooting sessions with device data

A method for troubleshooting a problem with a device, comprising:

• with a computing device, acquiring device data for the device, including device configuration data,
• receiving a user's query concerning a device in a natural language;
• presenting possible refinements to at least a portion of the user's query for defining a problem statement;
• presenting candidate solutions that are associated with the defined problem statement in a knowledge base, at least one of the presentation of possible refinements and the presentation of candidate solutions being informed by acquired device data that is linked through a diagnostic model of the device to at least one of the problem statements and candidate solutions, the device configuration data being used to modify, with a computing device, a ranking of at least one of the presented refinements and solutions linked to the device configuration data by the diagnostic model where, from the configuration data, a component which is not in use on the device is identified.

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium encoding instructions, which when executed on a computer causes the computer to perform a method comprising:

• acquiring device data for a device including device configuration data;
• receiving a user's query concerning a device in a natural language;
• presenting possible refinements to at least a portion of the user's query for defining a problem statement;
• and
• presenting candidate solutions that are associated with the defined problem statement in a knowledge base, at least one of the presentation of possible refinements and the presentation of candidate solutions being informed by device configuration data that is linked through a diagnostic model of the device to at least one of the problem statements and candidate solutions, the device configuration data being used to modify the ranking of at least one of the presented refinements and solutions linked to the device configuration data by the diagnostic model where, from the configuration data, it is inferred that a component is not in use in the device.

A system for troubleshooting a problem with a device, comprising:

• a computing device comprising:
• a device data acquisition module which acquires device data for the device including device configuration data;
• a text searching module which receives a user's query concerning a device in a natural language, generates possible refinements to at least a portion of the user's query for defining a problem statement, and retrieves candidate solutions that are associated with the defined problem statement in an associated knowledge base;
• and
• an integration module which integrates device data including device configuration data which is linked in a model of the device with at least one of the possible refinements and candidate solutions for informing the presentation of the possible refinements and presented candidate solution, wherein the acquired device configuration data is used to modify a ranking of at least one of the presented refinements and solutions linked to the device configuration data by the diagnostic model when, from the acquired configuration data, it is inferred that a component to which a refinement or candidate solution relates is not in use on the device.