Patent Issued for System, Method, Apparatus, And Computer Program Product For Providing Mobile Device Support Services (USPTO 10,939,266)
2021 MAR 11 (NewsRx) -- By a
The assignee for this patent, patent number 10,939,266, is
Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: βAs computing technology has continued to advance at a rapid pace, usage of mobile computing devices has become virtually ubiquitous amongst consumers of all socioeconomic classes. Todayβs mobile computing devices, including smartphones, tablet computing devices, and the like, possess power and capabilities previously only available on the most powerful personal computers. In particular, many mobile computing platforms, such as
βAdditionally, as mobile computing devices approach the same processing power and capabilities as personal computers, the phenomenon of taking a factory fresh device that works as advertised and turning it into a device that performs poorly is occurring with increasing frequency. In this regard, users can load too many, badly behaving or malicious applications and turn their previously working device into a device that appears to be failing. As another example, users may install a combination of applications that are not compatible with each other such that device performance may be severely impacted. Consequently there is the emerging tendency for owners of mobile devices to report their devices with hardware failures where there is no failure at all.
βManufacturers, carriers, mobile network operators, retailers, wholesalers, and other industry providers often carry the financial and customer satisfaction burden resulting from the return of mobile devices with βNo Fault Foundβ or NFF. In most cases, the device must be replaced with a new or refurbished device when the customer is still protected by warranty, extended warranty, insurance, or the like, even if there has not been any hardware failure and the problems experienced by the consumer result entirely from an application(s) installed on the device. In
In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventorsβ summary information for this patent: βSystems, methods, apparatuses and computer program products are provided herein for providing mobile device support services. In this regard, some example embodiments reduce the occurrence of NFF returns by diagnosing and providing solutions for non-hardware issues affecting mobile device performance. Some example embodiments additionally facilitate the diagnosis of and provide suggested solutions for hardware issues. The system of some such example embodiments includes a mobile device support apparatus configured to provide for remote monitoring and/or diagnostics for mobile devices. As such, the mobile device support apparatus provided by some example embodiments provides proactive device monitoring to give mobile device users advance notice of and solutions for potential problems identified on their mobile devices. Additionally or alternatively, the mobile device support apparatus of some example embodiments provides a portal which users may access to facilitate diagnosis of problems encountered with their mobile devices.
βSome example embodiments provide a mobile application, which may be implemented on a mobile device. The mobile application of some example embodiments provides a stand-alone application configured to diagnose and provide solutions for issues potentially affecting mobile device performance. Additionally or alternatively, the mobile application of some example embodiments is configured to work in conjunction with a mobile device support apparatus by monitoring mobile device performance and conveying monitored data to the mobile device support apparatus to facilitate remote analysis and diagnosis of any issues potentially affecting mobile device performance.
βSome example embodiments further provide for the identification and elevation of issues that cannot be readily diagnosed and/or that cannot readily be solved without involving a customer service representative and/or that may require physical device repair. In this regard, such example embodiments may facilitate elevation of a support issue to a customer service center such that a human expert that may be more capable of solving a problem may assist a mobile device user. Accordingly, some example embodiments use a combination of remote diagnostic tools, knowledge bases and customer service experts all working in harmony. The system of such example embodiments provides an intelligent engine capable of automatically identifying device performance issues and/or determining the cause of a consumerβs complaint about their deviceβs behavior and performance and, where possible, to automatically repair the device, obviating the need for the consumer to return the perceived faulty device. Where it is not possible to repair the device automatically using self-help tools, the system of some example embodiments will make recommendations to the user to escalate the session to a human expert that is potentially more capable of solving the problem.
βSome example embodiments also provide a backup and restore functionality for mobile devices. In this regard, some example embodiments provide a mobile device support apparatus configured to maintain a record of applications installed on a mobile device and to facilitate restoration of a mobile device to a last known working condition based on the record and/or to use a record of applications installed on a userβs mobile device to configure a new or replacement mobile device acquired by the user. The backup and restore functionality provided by some such example embodiments additionally provides for restoration of modifications made to applications by the user after original application downloads and/or application configuration settings made by the user, and/or device configuration settings made by the user in addition to installing/re-installing the applications.
βSome example embodiments additionally provide a destruction process that may be triggered to lock and/or wipe memory of lost or stolen mobile devices. Accordingly, such example embodiments facilitate protection of personal data from theft or misuse by unauthorized third parties who may acquire lost or stolen devices.
βThe above summary is provided merely for purposes of summarizing some example embodiments of the invention so as to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the above described example embodiments are merely examples and should not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the disclosure in any way. It will be appreciated that the scope of the disclosure encompasses many potential embodiments, some of which will be further described below, in addition to those here summarized.β
The claims supplied by the inventors are:
βThat which is claimed:
β1. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least: receive device status data from a mobile device via a communication interface; compare, via the at least one processor, the device status data from the mobile device with one or more fault profiles, wherein the one or more fault profiles are generated based on aggregated device status data from a plurality of other mobile devices, wherein the one or more fault profiles comprise statistical information related to a probability that a particular device configuration or a particular aspect of a device configuration may give rise to one or more particular faults; determine, via the at least one processor, one or more potential faults associated with the mobile device based at least in part on the comparison of the device status data and the aggregated device status data; identify, via the at least one processor, a fault type associated with each of the one or more potential faults based on the comparison, wherein the fault type includes a remotely-repairable fault or a non-remotely-repairable fault; determine, via the at least one processor, a solution to the one or more potential faults based on the fault type and the one or more potential faults; and cause rendering of an interface on a display of the mobile device with information related to the solution and the one or more potential faults.
β2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the solution comprises selecting, via the at least one processor, between either physical repair or replacement of the mobile device or transmitting a remote solution to the mobile device in an instance in which the fault type corresponds to the remotely-repairable fault.
β3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the solution comprises automatically processing physical repair or replacement of the mobile device in an instance in which the fault type is the non-remotely-repairable fault type.
β4. The apparatus of claim 1 further configured to generate the one or more fault profiles based on the aggregated device status data from the plurality of other mobile devices.
β5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the one or more fault profiles further comprise: one or more applications installed on the plurality of other mobile devices; one or more configuration settings for the one or more applications installed on the plurality of other mobile devices; and resource usage of the one or more applications installed on the plurality of other mobile devices.
β6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more potential faults comprise at least one predicted fault.
β7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more potential faults comprise at least one present fault.
β8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more potential faults comprises two or more conflicting applications.
β9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the determining the one or more potential faults comprises determining at least one application profile of the mobile device.
β10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the information related to the solution and the one or more potential faults comprises information regarding applications installed on the mobile device, wherein the information regarding applications installed on the mobile device comprises one or more of: identifications of applications installed on the mobile device, configuration settings for installed applications, processor usage data of installed applications, memory usage data of installed applications, crash logs of installed applications, execution data of installed applications, or usage data of installed applications.
β11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the information related to the solution and the one or more potential faults comprises information regarding applications installed on the mobile device, wherein the information regarding applications installed on the mobile device comprises one or more of: indicia of one or more application characteristics, the one or more application characteristics comprising one or more of: security characteristics, privacy characteristics, or performance characteristics.
β12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one application profile comprises a first application profile determined at a first time, and wherein the apparatus is further directed to determine at least a second application profile determined at a second time, and wherein determining the one or more potential faults comprises comparing the first application profile, second application profile, and the one or more fault profiles.
β13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the information related to the solution and the one or more potential faults comprises information representing a comparison between a performance indication of the mobile device and one or more benchmark performance indications.
β14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the device status data comprises one or more of: hardware usage data, device settings information, system log contents, application log contents, a device ID, installed application information, device application data, or device sensor data.
β15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the aggregated device status data from a plurality of other mobile devices comprises information regarding solution implementation results indicating whether one or more potential solutions resolved the one or more potential faults with the plurality of other mobile devices.
β16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the apparatus is further configured to determine the statistical information based at least in part on the information regarding the solution implementation results, wherein the statistical information comprises a probability of success for at least one of the one or more potential solutions.
β17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the solution is selected from the one or more potential solutions.
β18. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the computer program code is further configured to, in an instance in which the one or more potential faults comprises a hardware fault, cause the apparatus to determine the fault type by causing display of one or more suggested solutions to the hardware fault on the interface on the display of the mobile device, and determining that the fault type comprises a non-remotely-repairable fault in an instance in which the hardware fault is not resolved by the one or more potential solutions.
β19. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the non-remotely-repairable fault comprises a hardware fault, and wherein the remotely-repairable fault comprises a software fault.
β20. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the computer program code is further configured to cause the apparatus to: receive the device status data from the mobile device via a first network; and receive other device status data defining the aggregated device status data from at least one of the plurality of other mobile devices via a second network that is not the first network.
β21. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is further configured to detect failure of the solution and determine an escalated solution based on the failure.
β22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the escalated solution comprises processing physical repair or replacement of the mobile device.
β23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the escalated solution comprises a remote repair solution.
β24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein in an instance in which the fault type is determined to be a remotely-repairable fault, the apparatus is configured to determine whether to transmit a remote repair solution or process a physical repair or replacement of the mobile device.
β25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein determining whether to transmit a remote repair solution or process a physical repair or replacement of the mobile device comprises determining one or more of: a cost of the remote repair solution relative to a cost of the physical repair or replacement; the one or more potential faults; and a probability that a customer service representative can resolve the remotely-repairable fault.
β26. A method comprising: receiving device status data from a mobile device via a communication interface; comparing, via at least one processor, the device status data from the mobile device with one or more fault profiles, wherein the one or more fault profiles are generated based on aggregated device status data from a plurality of other mobile devices, wherein the one or more fault profiles comprise statistical information related to a probability that a particular device configuration or a particular aspect of a device configuration may give rise to one or more particular faults; determining, via the at least one processor, one or more potential faults associated with the mobile device based at least in part on the comparison of the device status data and the aggregated device status data; identifying, via the at least one processor, a fault type associated with each of the one or more potential faults based on the comparison, wherein the fault type includes a remotely-repairable fault or a non-remotely-repairable fault; determining, via the at least one processor, a solution to the one or more potential faults based on the fault type and the one or more potential faults; and causing rendering of an interface on a display of the mobile device with information related to the solution and the one or more potential faults.
β27. The method of claim 26, wherein the solution comprises selecting, via the at least one processor, between either physical repair or replacement of the mobile device or transmitting a remote solution to the mobile device in an instance in which the fault type corresponds to the remotely-repairable fault.
β28. The method of claim 27, wherein the solution comprises automatically processing physical repair or replacement of the mobile device in an instance in which the fault type is the non-remotely-repairable fault type.
β29. The method of claim 26 further comprising generating the one or more fault profiles based on the aggregated device status data from the plurality of other mobile devices.
β30. The method of claim 29, wherein the one or more fault profiles further comprise: one or more applications installed on the plurality of other mobile devices; one or more configuration settings for the one or more applications installed on the plurality of other mobile devices; and resource usage of the one or more applications installed on the plurality of other mobile devices.
β31. The method of claim 26, wherein the one or more potential faults comprise at least one predicted fault.
β32. The method of claim 26, wherein the one or more potential faults comprise at least one present fault.
β33. The method of claim 26, wherein the one or more potential faults comprises two or more conflicting applications.
β34. The method of claim 26, wherein the determining the one or more potential faults comprises determining at least one application profile of the mobile device.
β35. The method of claim 34, wherein the at least one application profile comprises a first application profile determined at a first time, and wherein the method further comprises determining at least a second application profile determined at a second time, and wherein determining the one or more potential faults comprises comparing the first application profile, second application profile, and the one or more fault profiles.
β36. The method of claim 35, wherein the information related to the solution and the one or more potential faults comprises information representing a comparison between a performance indication of the mobile device and one or more benchmark performance indications.
β37. The method of claim 34, wherein the information related to the solution and the one or more potential faults comprises information regarding applications installed on the mobile device, wherein the information regarding applications installed on the mobile device comprises one or more of: identifications of applications installed on the mobile device, configuration settings for installed applications, processor usage data of installed applications, memory usage data of installed applications, crash logs of installed applications, execution data of installed applications, or usage data of installed applications.
β38. The method of claim 34, wherein the information related to the solution and the one or more potential faults comprises information regarding applications installed on the mobile device, wherein the information regarding applications installed on the mobile device comprises one or more of: indicia of one or more application characteristics, the one or more application characteristics comprising one or more of: security characteristics, privacy characteristics, or performance characteristics.
β39. The method of claim 26, wherein the device status data comprises one or more of: hardware usage data, device settings information, system log contents, application log contents, a device ID, installed application information, device application data, or device sensor data.
β40. The method of claim 26, wherein the aggregated device status data from a plurality of other mobile devices comprises information regarding solution implementation results indicating whether one or more potential solutions resolved the one or more potential faults with the plurality of other mobile devices.
β41. The method of claim 40 further comprising determining the statistical information based at least in part on the information regarding the solution implementation results, wherein the statistical information comprises a probability of success for at least one of the one or more potential solutions.
β42. The method of claim 41, wherein the solution is selected from the one or more potential solutions.
β43. The method of claim 26 further comprising determining, in an instance in which the one or more potential faults comprises a hardware fault, the fault type by causing display of one or more suggested solutions to the hardware fault on the interface on the display of the mobile device, and determining that the fault type comprises a non-remotely-repairable fault in an instance in which the hardware fault is not resolved by the one or more potential solutions.
β44. The method of claim 26, wherein the non-remotely-repairable fault comprises a hardware fault, and wherein the remotely-repairable fault comprises a software fault.
β45. The method of claim 26 further comprising: receiving the device status data from the mobile device via a first network; and receiving other device status data defining the aggregated device status data from at least one of the plurality of other mobile devices via a second network that is not the first network.
β46. The method of claim 26 further comprising detecting failure of the solution and determine an escalated solution based on the failure.
β47. The method of claim 46, wherein the escalated solution comprises processing physical repair or replacement of the mobile device.
β48. The method of claim 46, wherein the escalated solution comprises a remote repair solution.
β49. The method of claim 46, wherein in an instance in which the fault type is determined to be a remotely-repairable fault, the method further comprises determining whether to transmit a remote repair solution or process a physical repair or replacement of the mobile device.
β50. The method of claim 49, wherein determining whether to transmit a remote repair solution or process a physical repair or replacement of the mobile device comprises determining one or more of: a cost of the remote repair solution relative to a cost of the physical repair or replacement; the one or more potential faults; and a probability that a customer service representative can resolve the remotely-repairable fault.β
For more information, see this patent: Hurst,
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