Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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ELECTRONIC TECHNI AL SUPPORT MARKETPLACE
SYSTEM AND METHOD
Background of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a system and method for matching a user
with an appropriate user support provider and in particular to a system and
method for
automatically matching a user's technical support needs based on user
information
gathered by the system to the appropriate one or more on-line user support
providers
for various technical questions with software applications, system software or
hardware.
The growth of the Internet and the wide use of personal computers has lead to
more users relying on various software applications to perform various tasks.
For
example, few people use a typewriter to type a letter and many people use the
computer to send electronic messages to other people. Thus, people rely
heavily on
computers and the software applications being executed by the computer to
accomplish
many tasks. When a software application is released to the public, the
developer must
provide user support when different technical questions, such as problems with
the
software application or how-to questions (e.g., "How do I print in landscape
mode on a
particular printer) about the software are raised by the user. Similarly, for
system
software and computer hardware (including main computer hardware such as the
memory or the disk drive and computer peripheral hardware such as a printer, a
mouse,
a keyboard or a scanner), the developer of that system software or computer
hardware
must also provide user support to answer the user's technical questions.
The user support of a software application, system software or hardware,
however, is very costly and time consuming. For a typical company, the user
support
of a software application may be a group of "experts" who listen to the user's
technical
questions and complaints and attempt to solve the user's technical questions
by
following a script of potential solutions. The cost of maintaining this group
of user
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support people is enormous. In addition, support people can not possibly know
the
answer to every technical question that a user asks and therefore often end up
with low
satisfaction ratings. The process may be frustrating to both the user and the
support
personnel. In addition, support people cannot possible remember all of the
prior
S solutions to the technical questions they see infrequently, and often get
bored with
repeatedly answering common technical questions. For a user that has a
technical
question, the user often does not know who to call to resolve the technical
question,
waits on hold a long time to get the technical question answered and, even
after
waiting on hold, receives poor or inaccurate advice. Thus, there is a need for
a system
that reduces the user's and the support provider's frustration with the
current user
support systems.
The technical questions generated by a user using a software application,
system software or computer hardware fall into two distinct categories: how-to
type
questions, and technical problems. To solve these kinds of technical
questions, a
support person typically engages in a rather lengthy live question and answer
game
with the user to determine the machine configuration, the software environment
as well
as recent actions and events that have taken place on the system (such as
error
messages that were displayed or menu actions that were invoked). This is often
a
difficult conversation since in most cases there is a non-technical end user
attempting
to interpret what the machine is doing, and then providing that information
over the
telephone to the user support person. Finally, once the support person has the
necessary information he must search manuals, knowledge bases, news groups,
and/or
other sources of information to solve the technical question and to walk the
user
through the solution to the technical question.
There are a number of conventional user support systems that attempt to
provide the user with a user support person to solve the user's technical
questions.
These conventional systems, however, have limitations. For example, the
conventional
systems do not automatically gather user and system information from the
user's
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computer when a technical question occurs so that it is still necessary for
the user and
support provider to carry on a dialog to determine the user's particular
technical
question and to determine the appropriate user support person. The
conventional
systems also do not permit the user support provider to remotely control the
user's
computer in the course of solving the technical question. These problems limit
the
ability of these conventional systems to adequately address and resolve a
user's
technical questions rapidly and efficiently.
This manual support process is extremely expensive - the yearly labor costs
are
estimated to be in excess of $30 billion per year alone. Thus, it is desirable
to provide
a marketplace where users may express their technical questions and support
providers
may select technical questions to solve and wherein either the user or support
provider
may set the price of the support advice. In addition, it is also desirable to
provide a
user support marketplace which reduces the frustration experienced by the
support
providers and the users. Thus, it is desirable to provide an electronic
technical support
marketplace system and method for supporting software applications, system
software
or computer hardware and it is to this end that the present invention is
directed.
ummary of the Invention
In accordance with the invention, an electronic user support marketplace is
provided that overcomes the above identified problems and limitations with the
conventional systems. In particular, the system may include a client based
software
application, known as a collector or detector, that automatically gathers user
and
system information from the user's computer so that, when the user has a
technical
question, the system automatically directs the user to the proper user support
provider
using the information gathered at the user's computer. For example, if a user
needs
help printing in Word, the system automatically gather information from the
client
computer indicating that the user is in Word and routes the user to the user
support
providers which expertise in Word. The system may also provide the user with a
Web
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page tailored with resources particular to the user's technical question. The
system
may also include a remote control tool that permits a user support provider to
effect
changes on the user's machine to resolve the technical question. The remote
control
tool in accordance with the invention may also be limited, using the
automatically
gathered information, so that the user support provider may only change
information
related to the technical question. For example, if the user has a Word
technical
question, then the remote control tool may only affect the Word software
application
and not other applications on the user's system. In summary, based on the
automatically gathered information about the user's computer, with a single
click of the
submit button of the user interface, the user is directed to a web page which
contains
solutions to the user's support request.
In more detail, the electronic user support marketplace in accordance with the
invention may include automatically matching a user's technical question in a
particular technical area, based on the automatically gathered information, to
one or
more support providers that have expertise in the particular technical area.
Thus, the
system may bring together a user with a technical question and a support
provider who
has the expertise to quickly answer the technical question. The information
provided
by the user may be manually entered into a Web page or may be from an
automatically
generated black box. The black box is the information gathered by the
collector in
accordance with the invention about the user's system and one or more
signatures may
be contained in the black box. The signature may be a unique index generated
based
on the black box. For example, the black box may contain information about the
operating system version, the application name, the last action of the user
and the
amount of memory. The system may then generate a signature from the black box
that
is a hash of the application name and the user action. There may be another
signature
that is the application name and the operating system version. The signatures
permit
the system to generate high level information from the black box that may
contain
hundreds of pieces of data.
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The system may store profiles for one or more support providers wherein each
profile may indicate the expertise of the support provider. Based on the user
information and the profiles, the system may match the user information to one
or
more profiles and generate a list of matching support providers who can solve
the
user's support request. In one embodiment, the list of matching support
providers may
be provided to the user along with other information about the support
providers (cost,
current availability, current rating) so that the user may select a support
provider. In
another embodiment, the user information is provided to the list of
recommended
support providers and the support providers may bid to determine which support
provider may respond to the support request. In another embodiment, the user
describes a technical question and posts a dollar amount offered for help and
the
support provider picks the user based on the user's reputation for paying
bills and the
like. In yet another embodiment, user describes a technical question and posts
a dollar
amount offered for help, the providers decide if they can help the user and
the user
picks a provider from a list of providers that decided that they can help (in
this
situation, both the user's and provider's reputation is relevant). In still
another
embodiment, the user describes a technical question, the providers post an
amount to
solve the technical question and the user picks a provider. In another
embodiment, the
user describes a technical question and is shown a list of providers with
expertise in
that area and then choose a provider as described above.
Once the support provider has been selected, the system may automatically
establish a communications session between the support provider and the user
so that
the user may have his/her support request handled. In accordance with the
invention,
the communications session may be a bulletin board session, a voice over IP
session, a
live chat session, a remote control session or the like. In accordance with
the
invention, the system permits a user to rapidly locate a support provider with
the
needed expertise to solve the user's support request quickly. The system may
also
permit various information about the user's support request to be
automatically
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gathered so that the user does not need to remember, for example, the exact
steps taken
prior to the technical question occurnng.
In accordance with the invention, a system for automatically matching user
support in response to a support request is provided wherein the system
comprises
means for receiving a support request containing information from a client
computer at
the time when a support request occurs at the client computer wherein the
support
request identifying the source of the support request. The system further
comprises
means for storing profiles of one or more support providers, each profile
indicating the
areas of user support expertise of the support provider, means for matching
the support
request, based on the information in the support request, to one or more
stored profiles
of the support providers to determine support providers who have the expertise
to
respond to the particular support request, means for selecting a support
provider, and
means for establishing a communications session between the selected support
provider and the user.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a system for automatically
recommending user support in response to a support request is provided wherein
the
system comprises a receiver that receives a support request containing
information
from a client computer at the time when a support request occurs at the client
computer
wherein the support request identifies the source of the support request. The
system
further comprises a database that stores a profile of one or more support
providers
wherein each profile indicating the areas of user support expertise of the
support
provider, a matcher that matches the support request, based on the information
in the
support request, to one or more stored profiles of the support providers to
determine
support providers who have the expertise to respond to the particular support
request, a
selecter that selects a support provider, and a communication link for
establishing a
communications session between the selected support provider and the user.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a method for automatically
recommending user support in response to a support request is provided wherein
the
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method comprises receiving a support request containing information from a
client
computer at the time when a support request occurs at the client computer
wherein the
support request identifying the source of the support request. The method
further
comprises storing profiles of one or more support providers wherein each
profile
indicating the areas of user support expertise of the support provider,
matching the
support request, based on the information in the support request, to one or
more stored
profiles of the support providers to determine support providers who have the
expertise
to respond to the particular support request, selecting a support provider,
and
establishing a communications session between the selected support provider
and the
user.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, an apparatus for
receiving an automatically recommended user support provider in response to a
support request is provided wherein the apparatus comprises means for
generating a
support request containing information from the apparatus at the time when a
support
1 S request occurs and the support request identifies the source of the
support request. The
apparatus further comprises means for communications the support request to a
user
support recommendation system, means for receiving a recommendation of one or
more support providers from the user support recommendation system that
matches the
support request to one or more stored profiles of the support providers based
on a
database of support provider profiles to determine support providers who have
the
expertise to respond to the particular support request, and means for
receiving a
communications session with the selected support provider.
Brief Description of the Drawings
Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of an automated software
application user support recommendation system in accordance with the
invention;
Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating a preferred embodiment of an automatic user
support recommendation system in accordance with the invention;
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Figure 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for recommending a user support
person in accordance with the invention;
Figure 4 is an example of a preferred automatic user support recommendation
system user interface in accordance with the invention;
Figures Sa and Sb are diagrams illustrating an example of a user support
bulletin board web page in accordance with the invention;
Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a newsgroup/bulletin board
posting in accordance with the invention;
Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a live support center web
page;
and
Figures 8a and 8b are diagrams illustrating an example of the live support web
page.
Detailed Description of a Preferred Embodiment
The invention is particularly applicable to a World Wide Web (WWW) based
client/server system for automatically recommending software application user
support
and it is in this context that the invention will be described. It will be
appreciated,
however, that the system and method in accordance with the invention has
greater
utility since it may be implemented using a different computer system. In
addition, the
system may be used to provide automated user support for system software
failures and
problems, how-to questions, as well as computer hardware (including main
computer
hardware, such as memory or disk drives, and computer peripherals, such as a
mouse, a
trackball, CD drive, video or sound hardware, a keyboard, a printer or a
scanner and
the like).
Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of an automated software
application user support recommendation system 30 in accordance with the
invention.
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The system 30 may include one or more client computers (Client #1, Client #2
and
Client #N) which may include microprocessors (not shown) which execute a
browser
application stored in a memory (not shown) of the client computer in order to
access a
Word Wide Web (WWW) site over a communications medium, such as the Internet.
Each client computer may also include a detector/collector (ED) 32 which
automatically detects a software application problem, such as a software
application
crash or a software application error message, as they occur on the client
computer. It
may also include a menu item or key so that when the user detects a software
problem
or requires user support, the user can initiate the request. When a software
application
support request is initiated, the detector 32 in each client computer may
generate a
black box, based on the context of the software application, which
characterizes the
software application and machine state at the time of the request. The black
boxmay
include information about the application being used, the application version
number, a
history of the user's actions prior to the request and the like. The black box
and the
signatures derived therefrom may permit the software application user support
recommendation system in accordance with the invention to automatically
recommend
a user support person to provide a solution to the support request as will be
described
in more detail below.
In other embodiments of the recommender system, the client computer does not
have a detector 32 to gather the black box information. In these embodiments,
the user
may log into a user support Web site and enter information about the technical
question. In particular, a taxonomy of technical questions, which may include
problems and how-to questions, may be browsed through by the user, as
described
below, to permit the user of focus in on the current support request. Based on
the
information, such as application, type of problem, etc., the system may
automatically
recommend one or more user support people to the user. The user support people
recommended to the user are individuals with expertise in the particular area
in which
the user is having a problem or has a technical question so that the user may
have the
technical question or problem solved quickly. To match the user support person
to the
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technical question or problem, the system, in all embodiments, may maintain a
database of the qualifications/profiles of each user support provider so that
the system
may match the technical questions or problems to the appropriate one or more
user
support providers. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention in
providing
the user with a list of possible user support providers, the system may
provide the user
with various information about each user support provider, such as the current
availability of the provider and a rating of the provider, in order to select
a support
provider. The rating of the provider may be generated based upon various
information,
such as feedback from prior users of the provider. In accordance with another
embodiment of the invention, the user information may be used by the
recommended
support providers to permit the support providers to determine who will
respond to the
user. Thus, in accordance with the invention, the system may recommend an
appropriate user support provider to solve the user's support request. The
system may
then permit the user to 1) engage in a live chat session or voice over IP
session with
the selected provider and an optional remote control session or screen sharing
session;
or 2) carry out a dialog with the provider using a bulletin board. Various
commercially
available tools may be used to provide remote control and shared screen
sessions and
therefore these tools will not be described in more detail here. An example of
a
conventional remote control toll is a product called Timbuktu that is made by
Netopia.
The system may then either broker the data traffic (automatically establish
the session)
between the provider and the user and then remove itself from the session or
pass all of
the data traffic through the system to track the provider's expertise and the
solutions
that the provider suggest to the user (to audit the provider's expertise or
see past
solutions), the user's reputation (i.e., likelihood of payment or rating by
other
providers), check for viruses (i.e., if FTP traffic passes through the server,
the server
may validate the files that are being sent) and the like. In addition, the
system may
also capture the video from a screen sharing session that may be used to
generate an
instructional segment for future users as, for example, a self help tutorial.
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In the embodiment shown in Figure 1, the detector 32 may communicate the
black box to a remote software application user support system 34 over a
typical
communications medium, such as the Internet, a corporate Intranet, a local
area
network, a wide area network and the like so that the software application
user support
system may provide the user with a recommendation of an appropriate user
support
person to provide a response to the support request. The black box generated
by the
detector may be used to identify a list of appropriate user support providers
and to
provide information to the selected user support provider about the technical
question
or problem. For example, the user does not need to remember his/her actions,
any
error messages that might have been displayed, or specific details about their
machine
configuration. The user also does not necessarily need to be able to explain
the
technical question or problem coherently since the information in the black
box may
permit the user support provider to resolve the support request without an
explanation
from the user. The detector 32 may be a piece of hardware, but may preferably
be a
software application stored in the memory of the client computer that is
executed by
the microprocessor of the client computer.
When a software application support request occurs at a client computer, the
black box is generated by the detector 32 and communicated to the user support
system
34 over a computer network 36, such as the Internet or the World Wide Web
(WWW).
The user support system may be a server computer that may be accessed over the
Internet or the WWW. The black box generated by each detector in each client
computer may have a variety of information about the software support request,
such
as the name of the software application currently in use, the version of the
application,
the current stack contents when the request was made, the actual error
message, the
DLLs that were in memory at the time of the request, the user's actions and
events that
occurred prior to the request, the operating system and version being used,
the type of
computer being used (i.e., Apple or IBM-compatible) and the amount of memory
in the
client computer. At a minimum, the black box may have the application name and
the
error message generated. This information may be used to help recommend a user
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support provider and help that user support provider diagnose the technical
question
and provide the user with a solution. The details of the automatic gathering
of the
black box information, generating the signatures and communicating it to the
user
support recommendation system is described more fully in co-pending patent
application number 08/994,840, filed December 19, 1997 which is owned by the
same
assignee as the present application and is incorporated herein by reference.
The user support system 34 may receive the black boxes from the one or more
client computers and determine, based on the information in the black boxes,
how to
route the black box information to the appropriate user support provider that
can solve
the technical question. In more detail, based on the information in the black
box, such
as the application name and the generated error message, the system 34 may
select one
or more of a plurality of user support providers 38, 40, 42 that handle the
support
request as indicated by the profiles of the support provider. In yet more
detail, once
the system receives a black box, it creates a trouble ticket to track the
state of the
support request. For example, the trouble ticket may contain information about
the
current status of the support request, which support provider it is assigned
to, when the
support request was initiated and the like. The trouble ticket may be attached
to the
black box data and the trouble ticket with the black box, using the black box
information, may be matched against the support providers.
Each user support provider may use an automatic support system or knowledge
base 46, 48, 50 as described in co-pending U.S. patent application serial
number
09/322,699, filed May 29, 1999 which is owned by the same assignee as this
application and is incorporated herein by reference. Therefore, the black box
received
from the client computers and the profiles of the support providers may be
used to
select one or more user support providers. For example, a black box relating
to a
support request in Word may be matched to a user support provider with a
knowledge
of Word as specified by the user support provider's information (profile)
stored in a
database (See Figure 2) of the user support system. The user support providers
38, 40,
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42 may be located at the same location as the user support system 34 or may be
located
at remote locations and may be connected to the user support system using a
computer
network 44, such as the Internet, the World Wide Web, a local area network or
a wide
area network.
S Based on the information in the black box, the server 34 attempts to
identify a
user support provider who can provide a solution to the particular support
request. In
particular, the server may match a support request (using the automatically
generated
black box information or the manually entered information) to a support
provider's
profile (the profile indicating the support provider's expertise) in order to
choose the
appropriate support person. In another embodiment, the support request may be
matched to the support providers by each support provider generating a filter
that,
based on the information in the black box, filters out support requests that
are of
interest to the support provider so that the support provider is presented to
the user as a
possible support provider. In one embodiment, once the user has submitted the
trouble
ticket (or black box), the support providers who are available and whose
profile match
the profile of the problem can view the trouble ticket and the user's
reputation (for
example, does the user pay) and if they think they can (and want to) help the
user, the
provider can respond by saying they can help. Thus, in response to the request
for
help, the user is presented with a list of support providers who can help. At
this point,
the provider might indicate the approximate time it will take to solve the
problem, and
how much it will cost. The user can then select a provider based on the
provider's
reputation and fees. Once selected, the user and provider together work toward
a
solution to the user's problem.
The user may then be able to indicate to the support provider and the server
34
whether the solution was successful. The server may use the success/failure of
the
support request response to change its rating of the particular support
provider as
described below. In addition, as more users have a particular software
application
technical question, the server or the support provider may generate a
knowledge base
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about the solutions to that particular software application technical
question. The
provider may also generate a knowledge base about all of the reported software
application problems or technical questions associated with a particular
software
application.
In accordance with the invention, the support from the support provider may be
provided by several different methods. For example, a live Internet chat
session may
be initiated between the user and the support person in which the support
provider may
optionally initiate a remote control session or a screen sharing session to
permit the
support provider to make changes to the user's system to solve the technical
question.
As another example, a voice over IP session may be initiated. In accordance
with the
invention, any person-to-person interaction system may be used. As another
example,
a bulletin board type arrangement may be used to permit the user to
communicate with
the support person. However, with the bulletin board approach, live real-time
support
is not provided which may be acceptable for a user that, for example, may be
willing to
pay less money for a non-live support response. Thus, the system may provide
different levels of support at different costs.
In this embodiment, any user or a restricted group of users may access the
support system as some level or the system may provide different levels of
support for
different users. For example, all users may be afforded the ability to take
advantage of
a free level of support which may involve posting questions to a bulletin
board wherein
the questions are responded to by other user. A second level of support
(requiring a
minimal cost) may be a bulletin board communication with a real support
provider and
a third, highest level of support (with an associated higher cost) may be a
live chat or
voice of IP session with the support provider. The user may typically be able
to choose
among these choices or the group may be selected based on the black box
information.
In particular, the black box information may include information about the
user's level
entitlement to support and the list of support providers displayed to the user
may be
based on the level of entitlement. For example, if the user is a home user
under
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warranty, the user may be shown a list of providers who are authorized to
perform free
support under warranty while a user who is an employee of a large corporation
may see
a list of support providers authorized to provide support for employees of the
corporation (since the corporation may only certify certain support providers
to provide
help to their employees).
The automated software application user support matching system in
accordance with the invention provides a number of advantages over typical
user
support systems. First, the system can rapidly match a user support person to
solve the
technical question with minimal input from the user about context of the
system and
application in which the user is requesting support. Gathering this data is
often tedious
and error prone. This leads to happier users since they do not have to try and
explain
the technical question to a user support person. In addition, the user support
matching
system, as described below, may provide various support provider information
for each
support provider to the user to permit the user to choose the support
provider. That
information may include the current availability of the particular support
person (how
long it will be before the user may get an initial response from the
particular support
person), a rating of the support provider generated by the system based on
various
factors, the cost of the particular support provider and whether the support
provider can
provide remote control help to the user.
The system may also permit the user to type in "how-to" questions. In these
cases, based on the automatically gathered black box information, the system
may do a
much better job of routing the user to the right place for an answer or
solution because
the system has additional context about what the user was doing to direct the
user to
the appropriate support provider that can provide the solution. For example,
if the
system can see in the event history (the actions of the user automatically
gathered by
the system in accordance with the invention) that the user tried to print from
Microsoft~ Word to an Epson~ Stylus Color Printer and then asks "How do I
print in
color?", the system in accordance with the invention has a lot of critical
information to
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help bring the issue to the proper solution. If the system further knows that
the printer
is currently configured to only print gray-scale (because the configuration of
the printer
may also be automatically gathered by the system), the system can direct the
user to
the support provider that can provide the correct resolution immediately.
S In accordance with the invention, the user support matching system permits
the
user to be connected to the chosen support provider in various different ways,
including voice over IP, live chat session, remote control or shared screen
session, and
bulletin boards as described above. The system also permits the user to
provide
support request information to the support provider or an automatically
generated black
box with information about the user's support request. Once the user has
chosen a
support provider based on the information provided by the system, the system
may
remain involved in the user support process in order to, for example, monitor
the
results that may be used to change the rating of the support provider. In
addition, the
user support matching system may have all of the voice over IP, remote control
session, shared screen session, chat or bulletin board data pass through the
user support
matching server. In a preferred embodiment, the system may permit the user and
support provider to communicate with each other and then have the user and
support
provider provide feedback to the system.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the user support matching
system automatically collects the data on the client machine at the point of
failure (i.e.,
when the software or hardware crash occurs, the error message occurs or the
context of
the system when the user poses a "how-to" question) with a single click and
one or
more appropriate user support providers to solve the technical question may be
presented to the user so that the user may connect to that support person or
provider.
The advantages of the system in accordance with the invention includes the
that fact
that the user doesn't have to know where the support information is located or
who
would be an appropriate user support person to handle the particular support
request
since the system automatically directs the user to the one or more appropriate
support
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providers. Now, a preferred embodiment of a automatic user support matching
system
in accordance with the invention will be described.
Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating a preferred embodiment of an automatic user
support matching system 30 and in particular the user support server 34 in
accordance
with the invention. The user support server 34 may include typical elements of
a
computer system such as a central processing unit, random access memory and a
persistent storage device which are not shown in the drawing for clarity
reasons. The
elements of the system described below may be one or more software
applications
being executed by the CPU of the server or pieces of hardware which perform a
particular function. Thus, the server 34 may include a matcher/scorer module
60, a
watcher module 62 and a database 64. The matcher/scorer receives the client
information about the support request (either from the user by filling out a
form or
clicking on buttons or from the information contained in the black box) and
matches
that information to one or more support provider profiles stored in the
database 64.
For example, the support provider profile may indicate that any Word97
problems or
technical questions are appropriate, but PowerPoint problems and technical
questions
are not appropriate for the particular support provider. In general, each
support
provider may provide a profile which may list programs which the support
provider is
able to handle and those programs which the support provider is not able to
handle
(lack of expertise). For example, one of the matching criteria for a support
provider
may be "If the problem is with Word97 on a Windows-based machine that does not
use
an Epson printer, then this support provider can handle the support request."
The
support provider profile may also include geographic information about where
the
support person is located so that the user support matching system may direct
the user
to support providers in the same geographic area as the user. In accordance
with the
invention, each support provider may view support requests that he is capable
of
handling and then select the ones that he currently is able to answer. The
support
provider information may also include access information indicating that the
provider
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has access to specific information such as the ability to change a password on
the
system.
To generate the support provider profiles, each support provider 38, 40, 42
may
submit its matching/scoring criteria to the server 34 and the profile is
stored in the
database 64. The server 34 may gather the profile information by generating a
form
that the support provider fills out in order to become an authorized support
provider.
Once the matcher/scorer 60 determines which support provider profiles match
the
user's support information, the system returns a list of the
matching/recommended
support providers to the user (in the form a Web page in a preferred
embodiment) as
will be described below with reference to Figure 4. The list of support
providers may
also include support provider information, such as current availability, cost,
rating and
other information. As described above, the user may select the support
provider based
on cost and the different support providers may provide different levels of
the support
for different fees.
In accordance with the invention, there may be three different methods for the
selecting a support provider. In one method, the user is presented with the
list of
matched support providers and the user selects a support provider based on the
additional information about each support provider provided to the user. In
another
method, the user submits a support request and other information and then the
support
providers picks a support request to answer based on various information about
the
user, such as the price the user is willing to pay, the question being asked
and possible
information about the user's reputation (such as the user past payment history
or the
grading that the user received from past support providers). In a third
method, the
previous two methods are combined. In particular, the providers in the match
set (i.e.,
the providers whose profiles match the trouble ticket indicating an expertise
in the
area) that are available see the user's trouble ticket and have the
opportunity to decide
whether they can/would like to help this user. Based on the user's question
and
rating/reputation (payment history) they enter a bid of time and cost to
answer the
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technical question. Based on these bids from the support providers, the user
then sees
zero or more bids from providers and can choose a provider based on price,
reputation,
and other factors. In this method, both the provider and the user have the
opportunity
to factor reputation into their decision criteria, and the provider has a
chance to
preview the user's problem before offering to help. Thus, the system 30 may
support
both a user-driven support provider matching system as well as a support
provider
driven support provider matching system.
Once the user selects one of the suggested support providers, the system 30
and
the server 34 may take on a monitoring role in one embodiment of the invention
in
which the watcher module 62 may act as an intermediary between the user and
the
support provider so that the system may gather information about the support
provider
and the user that may be used to keep an audit trail so that if there is ever
a dispute, the
audit trail can be checked. In addition, if the technical question is not
solved by the
particular support provider, a future support provider may view the audit
trail and see
what previously was attempted. The watcher module may also check transferred
files
for viruses and/or alert an administrator if certain actions are being
performed, such as
things that may cause a security risk like changing network settings. In
another
embodiment of the invention, the communications between the user and the
support
provider are not monitored by the watcher module of the system 30 as an audit
point,
but the user and support provider are requested to provide feedback directly
to the
system. In general, the user and support provider is always requested to
provide
feedback to the system that may be used to determine the reputation of the
support
provider. Thus, the user support matching system may broker the connection
between
the user and support provider (establish the session), but not monitor the
communications, or monitor/watch the data traffic between the user and the
support
provider. The monitoring of the data traffic permits the system 30 to scan the
data
traffic for viruses, to maintain privacy, to generate its own knowledge base
on
problems or technical questions and solutions, and to use the data traffic as
an audit
trail and as part of the certification process for each support provider. The
rating for
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each support provider or user is generated based on user and support provider
feedback. Now, a method for matching user support in accordance with the
invention
will be described.
Figure 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method 70 for automatically matching a
user support provider in accordance with the invention. To start the matching
process,
the user information about the support request is received in step 72. The
user
information may be received by receiving an automatically generated black box
or by
querying the user. Based on the user information, the system may match the
user
request to the profiles of a plurality of support providers stored in a
database in step 74
as described above. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the system
may
provide the user with a list of matching/recommended support providers and the
user
may select a support provider. In accordance with another aspect of the
invention, the
support providers may choose to respond to a user based on the user
information.
Next, the system may automatically connect the user and the selected support
provider
1 S together in step 76. As described above, the system may monitor the data
traffic or
may simply request feedback from the support provider and the user after the
interaction between the support provider and the user. In either case, the
system does
receive feedback in step 78 so that the system may alter its rating of a
particular user or
support provider. Now, an example of a preferred automatic user support
matcher in
accordance with the invention will be described.
Figure 4 is an example of a preferred automatic user support system web page
80 in accordance with the invention. This example shows the details of a Web
page
implementation of the user support system although the system could also be
implemented using different computer networks and different user interfaces.
The
Web page 80 may include a login portion 82, a problem category portion 84, a
support
provider portion 86 and a help portion 88. The login portion 82 permits a user
viewing
the Web page to log into the user support system or create a new account. The
help
portion 88 permits the user to obtain free help, to search the Web for
solutions to the
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technical question or problem and to post the question to a bulletin board
where other
users of the user support system may post solutions to your technical
question. The
help portion 88 provides the user with a free alternative if that is desirable
to the user.
The problem category portion 84 permits the user to enter various information
about the problem into the system so that the system may recommend one or more
support providers whose technical question expertise matches the user's
technical
question or problem. In this example, the user is entering information about
the
technical question into the Web page as opposed to the system determining the
technical question information from an automatically generated black box in
accordance with another aspect of the invention. The problem category portion
84 may
provide a taxonomy of technical question categories that the user may browse
through
in order to focus in on the user's problem/technical question so that one or
more
support providers may be matched to the technical question. In this example, a
top
level of the Windows support taxonomy is shown with "Internet", "Hardware" and
"Software" problem categories. As the user clicks on one of the categories,
another
more detailed taxonomy is provided. For example, if the user clicks on the
hardware
problem category, the next level of the taxonomy may provide the user with a
more
detailed list of hardware problems, such as printer, mouse, keyboard, hard
drive,
scanner and the like. If the user selects the printer problem category, yet
another level
of more detailed taxonomy is provided, such as "Epson", "HP", "Canon" and the
like.
In this manner, using the multiple level taxonomy, the user is focused into
the actual
problem so that the system can match the user's specific problem to one or
more
appropriate support providers. The user may also enter a technical question
description
that may be parsed by the matcher and then provided to the selected support
provider.
The support provider portion 86 contains a list of the support providers who
matched the user's information entered using the problem category portion 84.
In this
example, the list may contain each provider's name, each provider's cost, each
provider's current status and each providers rating by the system, but may
also include
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other information. To better understand the list, a listing for a support
provider 90 will
be described in more detail. Each listing may include a provider name section
92, cost
section 94, a status section 96 and a rating section 98. The provider name
section may
include a hyperlink to the support provider so that the user simply clicks on
the link to
go directly to the support provider and be automatically connected. The
provider name
section may also include an icon 100, such as the mouse in this example,
indicating
that the particular support provider supports remote control user support in
which the
support provider may remotely log into the user's computer to resolve the
technical
question. The cost section 94 lists the cost of the support provider's
support. In
accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the cost of the support
provider
may only be billed to the user if the user's problems or technical questions
are solved.
As shown, for any technical question, there may be one or more different
matching
support providers that charge different amounts so that the user may make a
selection
based, at least partially, on cost. The status section 96 lists the current
availability of
the particular support provider. For example, for support provider 90, there
is one
other user waiting in line before the current user. As shown, other support
providers in
this example may have longer waits (three), no wait at all ("Available") or
are not on-
line and require the user to call a phone number. The rating section 98 lists
the
system's rating for that support provider based upon prior support request
responses
and user feedback. In this manner, the user may select a support provider
based on a
number of different criteria. Once the user selects a support provider, the
user and the
support provider are automatically connected together via live chat, voice
over IP, a
remote control session, a shared screen session, or a bulletin board depending
on the
level of support chosen. Now, an example of the bulletin board support will be
described.
Figures Sa and Sb are diagrams illustrating an example of a user support
bulletin board web page 150 in accordance with the invention. In particular,
when the
user submits a support request and requests the bulletin board user support,
the user's
browser application may be directed to a particular location/web page with
solutions to
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the user's particular support request. In this example, the user was directed
to the
uniform resource locator (URL) http://www.supportpost.com as described in more
detail in co-pending application serial number 09/322,699, filed May 29, 1999
which is
owned by the same assignee as this application and is incorporated herein by
reference.
As is typical with most web pages, there may be banner advertisements and
other advertisements which the user may select. This web page 150 may include
a
portion 152 which permits the user to request live support from a user support
person
as will be described below. The web page 1 SO may also include an upper
portion 154
with information which may be of interest to the user. The web page may also
include
a problem identification section 156 which automatically lists the user's
particular
problem based on the black box information. The web page 150 may also include
an
article section 158 which includes a listing of the articles which suggest
solutions to
the support request as well as a link 159 to the web sites) where the articles
were
located. The web page may also include a newsgroup/chat room solution section
160
which includes a listing of the solutions which appear in the newsgroups
maintained by
the system. Thus, the web page 150 permits the user to either select official
support
articles or newsgroup solutions (probably submitted to the user support system
by
other users) and then the user is linked to the appropriate web page. Thus,
with a
single click of the submit button of the user interface, the user is directed
to a web page
which contains solutions to the user's support request. Now, an example of a
newsgroup/bulletin board type posting of a solution to a problem will be
described.
Figure 6 illustrates a web page 176 displayed to the user when the user
selects
the newsgroup/bulletin board solution from the web page shown in Figure Sb. In
this
example, the solution is shown in the newsgroup format, but the solution may
also be
shown in a bulletin board format. The web page 176 may include a header
section 178
and a text section 180. The header section 178 may include information about
the
particular newsgroup posting, such as the author, the date and the name of the
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newsgroup where the solution was located. The text section may include the
text of
the newsgroup posting which includes information about a solution to the
support
request. In this example, the newsgroup posting provides the same solution to
the
support request as the article from the official support site. Returning to
Figure 4, if
the user selects a support provider and then selects live support, a live
support session
is established between the user and the support provider. An example of such a
live
support session will now be described.
Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a live support center web
page
190 of the Microsoft Personal Support center that may include a static, user
input
section 192 and a live chat section 194. The static user input section permits
the user
to interact with the live support center, such as logging into the system. The
chat
section 194 permits the user to have a live chat session with a user support
person from
the support center as will now be described with reference to Figures 8a and
8b.
Figures 8a and 8b are diagrams illustrating an example of the live support web
page 200 that may include an information section 202 and the live chat section
194.
The information section 202 may contain the various information contained in
the
black box information along with other information that is also displayed to
the user
support person, such as overview information, user information, system
information,
application information and custom information. The information may be
generated
based on the black box information as well as the user's interactions with the
user
support system. Using the information in the information section, the user and
the user
support person may engage in a chat session using the chat section 194 so that
the user
support person may be able to provide a solution to the user's support
request. As
described above, after the chat session has been completed, the user may fill
out an
evaluation form for the user support system so that the user support system
may update
the ratings for the live support center as necessary.
In summary, the system in accordance with the invention permits information
about a user's computer to be automatically gathered so that, with a single
click of a
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mouse button, the user is presented with a list of support providers or help
pages which
are specifically focused on the user's technical question. Rather than
browsing through
a web site and entering a bunch of information as with conventional systems,
the
system, using a collector/detector, automatically gathers information so that,
when the
user presses the "help" or "submit" button due to a technical question, the
system may
bring the user to a web page (non-live help) which directly relates to the
user's
technical question. For live help, the system may automatically gather the
information
about the user's computer and about the technical question and then, based on
the
gathered information, present the user with one or more support providers that
have an
expertise with the technical question. In both cases, minimal user effort and
skill is
required in order for the system to direct the user to the appropriate web
page or
support provider that can solve the user's technical question as efficiently
as possible.
The system thus reduces the frustration of both the user and the support
provider
during the user support process. In particular, the support provider may help
users in
1 S areas in which the support providers chooses (using the support provider
profile) and
can choose not to help a particular user while the user obtains an answer to
the
technical question as rapidly as possible with a minimal amount of user
involvement.
While the foregoing has been with reference to a particular embodiment of the
invention, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes in
this
embodiment may be made without departing from the principles and spirit of the
invention, the scope of which is defined by the appended claims.
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