Patent Application
20070294260
Before detailing various embodiments of the invention, it may be helpful to present one illustrative environment in which the invention may be employed. Since an aspect of the present invention is directed to help centers that provide customer support for hardware devices and platforms on which various application software products operate, an understanding may be helpful of how some such help centers are currently arranged. It should be noted that the terms help center, call center, and support center, as well as other terms involving these words, are used interchangeably throughout this disclosure. The hardware devices and platforms referred to herein include general purpose computers as well as other electronic devices on which application software resides, such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants, servers, peripherals, digital cameras, and the like. The application software products referred to herein include operating systems (for example, DOS, Windows™, Windows™ 95, Windows™ 98, Windows™ 2000, Windows™ NT, Windows™ Millennium Edition, Windows™ XP, OS/2, or Linux), authoring applications (for example, word processing programs, database programs, spreadsheet programs, presentation programs, or graphics programs) capable of generating documents or other electronic content; client applications (for example, AOL user, CompuServe user, AIM user, AOL TV user, or ISP user) capable of communicating with other computer users, accessing various computer resources, and viewing, creating, or otherwise manipulating electronic content; and browser applications (for example, Netscape's Navigator or Microsoft's Internet Explorer) capable of rendering standard Internet content.
As previously noted, the help centers 110 shown in
As previously mentioned, to keep up with product updates new hardware and software releases are often physically delivered to the help centers so that personnel can familiarize themselves with the products. Constantly allocating and delivering new hardware and software products to the call centers 120 is a time-consuming and costly process. Moreover, the individual call agents must share the limited number of products that are provided for their familization, limiting the efficiency and effectiveness of the call agents.
To overcome the aforementioned problems and limitations, one aspect of the present invention is to create an agent tutorial file for many or all of the application software products that are pre-loaded onto or otherwise made available to consumers with the hardware device they received from the hardware provider. That is, for any given application software product, the present invention provides a separate agent tutorial file for each and every version (e.g., series and model) of the hardware product on which the given software product may reside. The different agent tutorial files for any particular software product will assist the agents in providing customer support that is tailored to the particular hardware device used by the consumer. This will allow the agents to assist consumers with problems that may arise with application software operating on different versions of a hardware device.
The agent tutorial files will generally include an assembly of captured screenshots that represent a given application software product operating on a particular hardware device. The screenshots can be obtained using a program that captures the screenshots as a user proceeds though execution of the application in a methodical and generally sequential order to ensure that most or all of the screens available in the application have been opened so that they can be captured. Such screen capturing software is commercially available and is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Appl. Serial No. 2006/0073462. In addition to capturing screen shots, any additionally available information may also be optionally recorded such as curser positions and keystrokes, for example. The user may also annotate the screen shots with notes that may be helpful to the call agents when assisting a customer. The annotations allow for the addition of many types of aids that can further enhance the usefulness of the tutorial files. The annotations may be added so that they are displayed in conjunction with or over the screenshots. Alternatively, the annotations may be in the form of compressed audio segments that are associated with the screenshots. In general, the annotations may include additional information (or links thereto) about the displayed screen shot such as known problems, hidden option, trigger points and the like. In addition, as shown in
The agent tutorial files may be cataloged in an Structured Query Language (SQL) database. The use of an SQL database allows the name, vendor and version of the application software products to be readily tracked. With this information, a unique identification number can be associated with each application software product.
Once the agent tutorial files are prepared they can be loaded onto a server (e.g., an SQL server) located at the CISC 130. The CISC 130, in turn, can then upload the files to each help center, either to the local document server 120 or directly to the individual computer systems associated with the help agent stations. While less preferred because of the delays imposed, the agent tutorial files alternatively may be stored on an electronic or optical medium (e.g., hard drive, CD) and physically distributed to each of the help centers.
In some embodiments of the invention various portions of the agent tutorial files may be distributed among different locations and/or servers for access by the call agents. For example, images (e.g., the screenshots) may locally reside at each of the call centers while any additional information or other data associated with the screenshots may be maintained at the CISC. Agents at the call centers can access this additional information as needed.
At the help centers, the help agents use a front end interface program located on their computer stations to access and use the agent tutorial files.
As described above, the present invention offers a standardized customer support architecture for creating tutorials that can assistant call agents and their customers in addressing hardware and software problems. In addition, the support architecture can be easily distributed to help centers wherever they may be located. Since various portions of the tutorials may be locally or remotely available, the invention is readily adaptable to the different bandwidths that may available at the various call centers. Moreover, the present invention leverages the GUIs incorporated in the applications residing on the hardware devices to create simulations of the applications that can be used for tutorial and troubleshooting purposes.
In addition to the previously described results achieved by the present invention, the present invention also achieves a number of benefits and advantages which accrue from these results. For example, the amount of hardware and software that needs to be available and physically transported among the call centers is greatly reduced. Call center personnel do not have to spend time setting up equipment and physical space does not have to be allocated for the storage of the hardware products. Also, significant cost reductions can be achieved because the call agents have quick and easy access to system setups, troubleshooting information, and software applications. The call agents' enhanced access to this information can reduce the time between when a customer places a call and the time when the problem is resolved, thereby improving customer satisfaction. The tutorials can even be integrated into knowledge base solutions that are often available to agents and customers alike. Moreover, the same tutorials that are created and delivered to call agents can be provided to the customer's along with the hardware at the time of purchase or at a later time, thereby reducing the demand placed on the call centers. The tutorials can also better assist customers in discovering and using features of installed software that were unaware of or did not know how to effectively use.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/814,218, filed Jun. 16, 2006, entitled “Tutorials Emulation System,” the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60814218 | Jun 2006 | US |
