Methods for providing technical support in network

Abstract

The present invention provides a technical solution for enabling direct, person to person assistance over a communications network. The methods provide product and system support tools enabling, for example, a purchaser of a product or service to execute a computer program on a computer to establish an intelligently routed request for assistance to a human having knowledge in the area of the particular product or service. In one method, a human user couples a computer readable media associated with a product to a computer. A computer program on the computer readable media checks for, and if need be, installs needed software. The program can then establish a connection over a network such as the Internet directly to the help assistance organization appropriate for the particular product or service. The computer readable media can include an indication of the particular product or service and / or the assumed preferred language of the purchaser of the product or service. The assistance request can be routed to a human assistant, who may be seated at a computer device. In a preferred method, the human assistant greets the request for assistance and the human user with a live, personal, updated video link carrying the assistant's voice and a video signal carrying the assistant's image to the computer of the help requestor. The assistant may obtain preliminary information from the human user, and begin rapidly to provide assistance in a 'face to face' virtual environment. Where the product involved is a computer related product, the human assistant may optionally view the same computer display as the human user and even manipulate the display to illustrate the performance of a particular software product.

Description

technical field

[0001] The present invention relates generally to computer based support systems. In particular, the present invention relates to a method of receiving a request for information, assistance or training over a computer network and automatically and intelligently routing the request to screened, vetted, qualified human assistants. The present invention includes executable computer programs and kits for providing live, direct, person-to-person technical support via audio and audio-visual links to human assistants, which may include computer screens and applications of sharing. Background technique

[0002] The rise of Internet-based transactions in recent years has opened up a host of new opportunities for selling products and services and obtaining information. In particular, consumers can purchase many products and services on the Internet either directly or through business-to-business (B2B) transactions. Such Internet-based commerce or electronic commerce...

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