Patent Issued for Guided computing device repair systems, methods, and apparatus (USPTO 11900393): Assurant Inc.

2024 FEB 01 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Glyadchenko, Anthony (Westlake, OH, US), Ionescu, Mircea (Westlake, OH, US), McLaughlin, Patrick Scott (Westlake, OH, US), Messier, Cameron (Westlake, OH, US), Turner, Ryan Joseph (Westlake, OH, US), filed on February 8, 2021, was published online on February 13, 2024.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11900393 is Assurant Inc. (New York, New York, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Customers typically communicate with customer service representatives to diagnose or determine problems or issues the customer is having, and customer service representatives typically communicate with customers to serve the customers, often from a remote location and with limited knowledge of the problem or issue the customer wants to resolve. There is not an effective diagnostic system that can connect the customer’s experience to the diagnostic data received from the customer device. Applicant has identified a number of additional deficiencies and problems associated with conventional customer service representative systems. Through applied effort, ingenuity, and innovation, many of these identified problems have been solved by developing solutions that are included in embodiments of the present invention, many examples of which are described in detail herein.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “In general, embodiments of the present disclosure provided herein include methods, systems, apparatus, and computer program products for facilitating diagnosis and repair related to one or more performance states of a computing device, such as a mobile computing device. Embodiments of the present disclosure may include a guided customer service interface to improve the diagnosis and determination of a customer’s problems or issues.

“In general, embodiments of the present invention provided herein include methods, computer readable mediums, apparatus, and systems for providing customer service.

“In some example embodiments, a method is provided including receiving a first data set associated with a first mobile computing device over a first network. The first data set may comprise one or more data values associated with the first mobile computing device. In some embodiments, the method may include determining a plurality of performance states for the first mobile computing device. The plurality of performance states may comprise at least one performance state for one or more of a plurality of operational categories. At least a first performance state may be associated with a first operational category, which may be a first diagnostic indicator associated with the first mobile computing device. In some embodiments, the method may include displaying a first graphical user interface on a screen. The first graphical user interface may comprise visual representations associated with two or more of the plurality of operational categories including the first operational category. The visual representation may be associated with the first operational category comprises a first visual representation of the first diagnostic indicator. The first visual representation of the first diagnostic indicator may cause the visual representation associated with the first operational category to be visually distinct from a visual representation associated with a second operational category.

“In some example embodiments, determining of the first performance state associated with the first operational category includes identifying a threshold associated with the first operational category. In some embodiments, the method may include determining the first performance state based on a comparison of the one or more data values to the threshold.

“In some example embodiments, identifying the threshold associated with the first operational category includes receiving an aggregated data set associated with a plurality of other mobile computing devices. The aggregated data set may include one or more data values associated with the plurality of mobile computing devices from the plurality of operational categories. In some embodiments, the method may include setting the threshold based on a statistical analysis of the aggregated data set for the first operational category.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method comprising: initiating a support session comprising initiating a link between customer service system and a first mobile computing device; receiving, at the customer service system, a first data set associated with the first mobile computing device over a first network, wherein the first data set comprises one or more data values associated with the first mobile computing device; determining, by the customer service system, a plurality of performance states for the first mobile computing device, the plurality of performance states comprising at least one performance state for one or more of a plurality of operational categories, wherein at least a first performance state associated with a first operational category comprises a first diagnostic indicator associated with the first mobile computing device; displaying, at the customer service system, a first graphical user interface on a screen, the first graphical user interface comprising visual representations associated with two or more of the plurality of operational categories including the first operational category, wherein the visual representation associated with the first operational category comprises a first visual representation of the first diagnostic indicator, wherein the first visual representation of the first diagnostic indicator causes the visual representation associated with the first operational category to be visually distinct from a visual representation associated with a second operational category, and wherein the first visual representation of the first diagnostic indicator indicates a problem associated with the first operational category; and displaying, at the customer service system and in response to receiving a selection of the first operational category or the first diagnostic indicator, a visual representation associated with a plurality of operational sub-categories associated with the first operational category including a visual representation associated with a first operational sub-category, wherein the visual representation associated with the first operational sub-category comprises a second visual representation of a second diagnostic indicator associated with the first operational sub-category, wherein the second visual representation of the second diagnostic indicator indicates a problem associated with the first operational sub-category; determining, by the customer service system, one or more diagnostic messages associated with the problem associated with the first operational category or the problem associated with the first operational sub-category; displaying, at the customer service system, one or more performance prompts at the first graphical user interface on the screen, the one or more performance prompts comprising the one or more of the diagnostic messages comprising first guidance to resolve the problem associated with the first operational category or the problem associated with the first operational sub-category; displaying, at the customer service system and for each performance prompt, an unsuccessful feedback icon rendered at or adjacent to each of the performance prompts at the first graphical user interface on the screen, wherein each unsuccessful feedback icon defining a selectable icon comprising a visual representation of an unsuccessful performance prompt, wherein selection of the unsuccessful feedback icon is configured to trigger an indication that the first guidance to resolve the problem associated with the first operational category or the problem associated with the first operational sub-category were unsuccessful; determining, by the customer service system and automatically and in response to receiving a selection of one of the feedback icons comprising the indication that the first guidance to resolve the problem associated with the first operational category or the problem associated with the first operational sub-category were unsuccessful, one or more additional diagnostic messages comprising additional guidance to resolve the problem associated with the first operational category or the problem associated with the first operational sub-category; updating, automatically and in response to receiving a selection from one of the feedback icons, the screen to display the one or more of the additional diagnostic messages; and terminating, in response to receiving an indication that the additional guidance to resolve the problem of one of the one or more additional diagnostic messages was successful, the support session.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the first performance state associated with the first operational category further comprises: identifying a threshold associated with the first operational category; and determining the first performance state based on a comparison of the one or more data values to the threshold.

“3. The method of claim 2 wherein identifying the threshold associated with the first operational category further comprises: receiving an aggregated data set associated with a plurality of other mobile computing devices, wherein the aggregated data set comprises one or more data values associated with the plurality of other mobile computing devices from the plurality of operational categories, and setting the threshold based on a statistical analysis of the aggregated data set for the first operational category.

“4. The method of claim 3, the threshold is defined below an average or median value of the aggregated data set for the first operational category.

“5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the first performance state associated with the first operational category further comprises: identifying a range associated with the first operational category; and determining the first performance state based on a comparison of the one or more data values to the range.

“6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the first performance state associated with the first operational category further comprises: receiving an aggregated data set associated with a plurality of other mobile computing devices, wherein the aggregated data set comprises one or more data values associated with the plurality of other mobile computing devices from the plurality of operational categories; training a model based on the aggregated data set to determine the at least one of the plurality of performance states; and determining the first performance state associated with the first operational category by applying the first data set to the model.

“7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a second data set associated with a plurality of second mobile computing devices, wherein the second data set comprises one or more data values associated with the plurality of second mobile computing devices from the plurality of operational categories; aggregating said second data set to produce an aggregated data set; and wherein the determining the first performance state associated with the first operational category comprises comparing one or more data values of the first data set associated with the first operational category with one or more data values of the aggregated data set associated with the first operational category.

“8. The method of claim 7, wherein the comparing one or more data values of the first data set for the first operational category with one or more data values of the aggregated data set for the first operational category further comprises: identifying a threshold for the first operational category based on the aggregated data set; and determining the first performance state based on a comparison of the one or more data values associated with the first mobile computing device to the threshold.

“9. The method of claim 8 wherein identifying the threshold for the first operational category based on the aggregated data set further comprises: determining an average value or a median value for the first operational category based on the aggregated data set.

“10. The method of claim 7, wherein the comparing one or more data values of the first data set associated with the first operational category with one or more data values of the aggregated data set associated with the first operational category further comprises: identifying a range associated with the first operational category based on the aggregated data set; and determining the first performance state based on a comparison of the one or more data values associated with the first mobile computing device to the range.

“11. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of performance states comprise a performance state associated with the first operational sub-category, and wherein the visual representation of the second diagnostic indicator is associated with the performance state associated with the first operational sub-category.

“12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first visual representation of the second diagnostic indicator indicates a problem with first operational sub-category, wherein the problem indicated by the first diagnostic indicator is the same problem indicated by the second diagnostic indicator; and wherein the visual representation of the first diagnostic indicator is visually distinct from the visual representation of the second diagnostic indicator.

“13. The method of claim 1, wherein: the plurality of performance states further comprise a second performance state associated with a second operational sub-category, wherein the second performance state associated with the second operational sub-category comprises a third diagnostic indicator; the visual representation of the plurality of operational sub-categories includes a visual representation of the second operational sub-category comprising a visual representation of the third diagnostic indicator; and the visual representation of the third diagnostic indicator indicates a diagnosis different from the diagnosis indicated by the first diagnostic indicator.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

For additional information on this patent, see: Glyadchenko, Anthony. Guided computing device repair systems, methods, and apparatus. U.S. Patent Number 11900393, filed February 8, 2021, and published online on February 13, 2024. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11900393)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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