248 results about "Customer support" patented technology

Apparatus with accompanying subsystems and methods for developing conversational computer applications. As a user interface, the apparatus allows for a user to initiate the conversation. The apparatus also answers simple and complex questions, understands complex requests, pursues the user for further information when the request is incomplete, and in general provides customer support with a human like conversation while, at the same time, it is capable to interact with a company's proprietary database. As a development tool, the apparatus allows a software developer to implement a conversational system much faster than takes, with current commercial systems to implement basic dialog flows. The apparatus contains three major subsystems: a state transition inference engine, a heuristic answer engine and a parser generator with semantic augmentations. A main process broker controls the flow and the interaction between the different subsystems. The state transition inference engine handles requests that require processing a transaction or retrieving exact information. The heuristic answer engine answers questions that do not require exact answers but enough information to fulfill the user's request. The parser generator processes the user's natural language request, that is, it processes the syntactical structure of the natural language requests and it builds a conceptual structure of the request. After the parser generator processes the user's request, a main process broker feeds the conceptual structure to either the heuristic answer engine or to the state transition inference engine. The interaction between the main process broker and the subsystems creates a conversational environment between the user and the apparatus, while the apparatus uses information from proprietary databases to provide information, or process information, during the course of the conversation. The apparatus is equipped with a programming interface that allows implementers to declare and specify transactions based requests and answers to a multiplicity of questions. The apparatus may be used with a speech recognition interface, in which case, the apparatus improves the recognition results through the context implicitly created by the apparatus.

The rich media communication system of the present invention provides a user with a three-dimensional communication space or theater having rich media functions. The user may be represented in the theater as a segmented video image or as an avatar. The user is also able to communicate by presenting images, videos, audio files, or text within the theater. The system may include tools for allowing lowered cost of animation, improved collaboration between users, presentation of episodic content, web casts, newscasts, infotainment, advertising, music clips, video conferencing, customer support, distance learning, advertising, social spaces, and interactive game shows and content.

The present invention describes a system for automatically monitoring and managing Service Level Agreements on behalf of Service Providers (such as Application Service providers). The system is based on a specialized SLA language that can translate complex or simple Service Level Agreements into measurable and controllable criterion. The system enables Application Service providers to set up customized Service Level Agreements with customers, and monitor, modify and control all aspects of these agreements, including billing, sales, Customer Relation Management, customer support and Quality of Service. The technology on which the present invention is based is a formula driven language that translates Service Level Agreement details into commands. As such these details can be tracked and processed to produce detailed reports and summaries.

A method, system and computer program product for evaluating a performance of an object customer support resource in providing a customer support service is disclosed. A peer group of customer support resources that are expected to behave comparably as the object customer support resource is established to determine a normal behavior that the object customer support resource is supposed to act consistent with in providing the customer support service. A behavior of the object customer support resource is compared to the normal behavior to evaluate a performance of the object customer support resource in providing the customer support service. Real time assignment of the customer support service is performed based on a result of the evaluation.

A computer system using open source software and operating systems is enabled over a global computer network to provide universal, selected applications. The applications can be accessed from a local personal computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), remote dedicated computer terminal, or like devices. Selected applications may include word processing, calendar, address book, picture viewing, music playing, games, email, Internet access, and the like. Personal data, such as pictures, music, games, “favorite places”, email addresses, and application settings are saved to the local client device and to a centralized customer support server. An included software manager ensures that the most current version of each application is used, and, if not available on the client, it can be uploaded, if necessary.

A system and method provides customer support to a user. In one embodiment, it includes providing the user access to a knowledge database for the user to query the knowledge database regarding a support issue. It also provides, in response to the user querying the knowledge database, an interface to the user for the user to enter a service request. Further, it establishes, in response to the user entering the service request, an instant messaging session between the user and a customer support representative.

A method and apparatus for network-based sales force automation are provided that meet objectives of increasing sales and marketing efficiency and efficiency of technical and customer support by providing multi-dimensional displays of transactional information to users. Transactional information of deals, contacts, accounts, and leads is provided over the Internet using a Web browser. The information of related transactions is electronically linked, and the transactional information is electronically searchable using custom profiles. The transactional information is accessed and shared among host organization members according to a hierarchy and predefined territories. A Radar Screen Opportunity Display (RSOD) may be selected on which deal objects are displayed that represent the stages in a sales pipeline of corresponding deals. New business information may be selected, wherein automatic notification is provided of new information and changed information relating to transactions, wherein the new business information comprises information on at least one monitored customer Web site. A communication capability is provided that comprises electronic mail, facsimile, telephones, and paging devices, wherein communication is automatically established using transactional information.

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.

An exemplary computer-implemented television service system detects, while a media content processing device is presenting a user interface view associated with a television service within a display screen in communication with the media content processing device, an input command provided by a user of the media content processing device and representative of a request for customer support. In response, the system identifies a context within which the input command is provided by the user, selects, based on the identified context, customer support content provided by the television service and associated with the user interface view being presented within the display screen, and directs the media content processing device to present the customer support content within the user interface view. Corresponding systems and methods are also described.

The present invention provides a system, architecture and process to support new interaction paradigms in customer support. Specifically, the approach of the present invention will unify through a new process and innovative system architecture the two basic methods of in house support and online support. To accomplish this unification, the present invention enables customers to work together as peers in problem resolution by exploiting the customer expertise (they work with the products on a daily basis and often have deep understanding what works/does not work). Among other things, the present invention provides: incentives for customers to participate in this new support; a rating infrastructure in which multiple good ratings helps to become “THE EXPERT” by increasing the score; incentives upon receipt of good ratings and or certain score levels; a problem routing mechanism; Master Data Management (MDM) for insights in customers and products.

A method and system method of controlling a first device by a second device. The method includes receiving, by the second device, a first message transmitted by the first device; determining, by the second device, a type of the first device; determining, by the second device, a communication protocol utilized by the first device based on the type of the first device and by looking up an identifier contained within the first message; extracting, by the second device, formatted data from the first message based on the communication protocol utilized by the first device; determining whether a customer support device should to be contacted based on the extracted formatted data; contacting the customer support device if the preceding determining step determines that the customer support device should to be contacted; constructing, by the second device, a second message containing an instruction for controlling the first device based on results of the preceding determining and contacting steps; transmitting the second message from the second device to the first device; receiving, by the first device, the second message transmitted by the second device; and performing, by the first device, an operation in response to the second message transmitted by the second device.

The present solution is directed to a hybrid customer support model for providing remote online support service in conjunction with local onsite support service. A local technician provides on site support service for a device at a premise for a predetermined amount of time. The onsite support by the local technician may be limited to a subset of the tasks for resolving an issue with the device or otherwise be limited to applying a subset or scope of skills to resolving the issue. In one embodiment, the local technician has a first type of skill from a plurality of skills. The local technician identifies an issue with the device and sends the issue to a centralized service. The centralized service receives an identification of the issue—the resolution of which may include a plurality of tasks. In one embodiment, each of the plurality of tasks is performed by one or more remote technicians having a skill type corresponding to the task. A resource pool is managed via the centralized service to support information flow in the hybrid model. The centralized service tracks service information and results.

A method is described in which an automatic metering reading (AMR) method is implemented in the utility distribution system. The AMR method comprises a mesh network in which selected customers of the utility company support the network by providing collocated internet access points via the customer's existing internet connections; thus providing AMR data “backhaul”, thereby minimizing the need for the utility to build and deploy all the access points needed to populate the mesh infrastructure network. This customer access point for which the customer is remunerated, in whole or in part by the utility, allows the utility to develop and implement all the network elements to meet the utility AMR needs at a much lower cost. The customer-supported method can allow the utility to efficiently and effectively service its metering needs via the global communications network without a major investment in hardware, software and personnel.

The present invention provides a system and method whereby a user having the proper permissions to access a supply chain may check the availability of an item within the supply chain network. There are three different types of availability that can be checked: (1) current inventory availability, (2) available to promise inventory (projected+current inventory), and (3) capable to promise inventory (current inventory+projected inventory+capacity for manufacturing, labor, materials, and transportation). Preferably, the system is accessible over a distributed network such as the Internet, thereby facilitating remote access by allowing remote customers to receive a reliable commitment of delivery. The system further allows businesses to offer improved customer support in multiple commercial channels.

A message receiving, intercepting and processing method and corresponding application and device may provide receiving a message at a message processing server, pre-processing the message to determine a particular contextual classification associated with a word included in the message and assigning the message to a predefined message bucket that has a number of automated responses. The method may also include identifying an automated response to the message that includes contextual information that is based on the parsed word from the message and processing the message to determine whether to generate the automated response and transmit the automated response to an end user device based on a confidence score.

Embodiments described can more effectively complete complicated service transactions in a more efficient manner by having a team of well-trained professionals who are instantly “streamed” into any location as necessary. A two-way communication system can provide instant or quick access to the right expert at the right point in time, thereby converting what might otherwise be a negative customer experience into a positive sales and service opportunity. A computer implemented method for providing customer support comprises receiving, by a touchpoint device, identification information from a user of the touchpoint device; receiving the identification information; providing an electronic document to the user; receiving an input from the user requesting a session with a representative; selecting a representative based at least in part on the electronic document; providing information about the electronic document to the representative; and establishing a connection between the representative and the touchpoint device.

A computer implemented method and an interactive guide management system (IGMS) for creating and managing interactive guides (IGs) for multiple items with feedback collection and customer support are provided. The IGMS creates IGs based on media content specific to the items received from item provider devices and stores the IGs in a guide management database (GMD). The IGMS generates a client application that displays the IGs for each item and interface elements for executing interactive functions based on functional inputs on a customer device. The GMD transmits the IGs to the client application based on item information for display in a stepwise manner. The IGMS receives customer inputs, functional inputs, and feedback information provided by the customer device via multiple communication modes from the client application via a network for providing real time or time shifted support, dynamically updating and managing the IGs, and performing one or more interactive functions.

A system and method related to a new approach to speech recognition that reacts to concepts conveyed through speech. In its fullest implementation, the system and method shifts the balance of power in speech recognition from straight sound recognition and statistical models to a more powerful and complete approach determining and addressing conveyed concepts. This is done by using a probabilistically unbiased multi-phoneme recognition process, followed by a phoneme stream analysis process that builds the list of candidate words derived from recognized phonemes, followed by a permutation analysis process that produces sequences of candidate words with high potential of being syntactically valid, and finally, by processing targeted syntactic sequences in a conceptual analysis process to generate the utterance's conceptual representation that can be used to produce an adequate response. The invention can be employed for a myriad of applications, such as improving accuracy or automatically generating punctuation for transcription and dictation, word or concept spotting in audio streams, concept spotting in electronic text, customer support, call routing and other command/response scenarios.

Techniques for creation, operation, management, and access control of network-based storage services are described. Specific embodiments provide improved efficiency of the service management tasks used for designing, operating and accounting the robust and profitable network services, for example. In representative embodiments, techniques for constructing integrated network and storage services are provided. In a specific embodiment, the service comprises of three major service components: virtual private networks (VPN), applications servers and storage area networks (SAN). Each of these service components has its own customer identification information, such as VPN identifier for VPN services, process identifier for application servers and logical unit number (LUN) for storage devices.

A customer support flow system and method is described. In one example, a method includes, receiving an inquiry from a user, forwarding the inquiry to a public user group. Forwarding the inquiry to a customer support agent, applying the inquiry to previously received comments, receiving a comment to the inquiry from at least one of the public user group, the customer support agent, and the applying of the inquiry, and displaying the received comments to the user on a single display.

A system and method for automatically processing and responding to large volumes of customer complaints regarding Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE) and other service disruptions. The complaints include one or more electronic mail (email) documents, each email document including a header and body portion. The process parses the header and body portions from each email document, normalizes the header and body portion by stripping unwanted characters, and extracts specific information relating to the email document from the source of the complaint. The extracted information can be input to a database that can be accessed by the Customer Support Center (CSC) of the Internet Service Provider (ISP).

Methods, systems, and computer program products are provided for mobile customer support. A customer service request is received at a mobile device from a user associated with the mobile device to access a customer service feature of an application associated with the mobile device. In response to the request, a user context is determined by at least one of saving a state of the application, storing data associated with the application or accessing user activity associated with the application. A communication request comprising the user context is sent to a customer service center (“CSC”) associated with the customer service feature. Communication between the CSC and the user is enabled, wherein the CSC accesses the user context and uses the user context during the communication.