Integrated customer premises equipment troubleshooting assistance
Contents
1. chasing the newer model of the television As yet another example a rating for the television e g a Consumer Report that rates the television and similar types of televi sions is also displayed for the customer 0040 In FIG 5 is an exemplary process flow diagram for providing value added services to the customer premises equipment In step S500 the customer powers on the cus tomer premises equipment device e g a television that is to be used with for example a cable service During step 500 the customer may observe for example problems with the clarity of the screen display The process proceeds to step 5502 in which the customer navigates to perform a keyword or phrase search of locally stored user manual information or guided tutorials for fixing the clarity of the screen display using for example an attendant remote control as an input device Alternatively a data enabled cellular phone with a television remote application or add on unit is usable as a remote control 0041 As yet another alternative the customer navigates via the television cellular phone or a computer to the service provider s website to search for the same information insofar as the user manual and customer information is also stored in a customer record in the service provider database Upon customer logon device information for the television is pro vided including the user manual Accordingly the user can search for resolutions to2. service provider database by the service provider In another non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure the user manual information is stored such that it is searchable by keywords phrases and other logical constructs 0037 In step S406 the customer reports an issue that requires troubleshooting In step S408 the service provider s service assurance applications obtain home network infor mation in addition to customer premises equipment informa tion If it is determined that the issue is solely related to the customer premises equipment a service provider diagnostic function fetches in step 5410 the user manual for the cus tomer premises equipment If the customer premises equip ment is a television set a copy of the user manual is down loaded from the service provider database to a local storage or a digital video recorder that is attached to or inside a set top box for the customer premises equipment In one non limit ing embodiment of the present disclosure the user manual is indexed and searchable In another non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure a micro expert software that enables keyword and phrase searching is also downloaded 0038 In step 5412 the customer continues to implement self service diagnostics to address the issue requiring the troubleshooting based on the downloaded or locally stored user manual information In step S414 at a configurable period e g weekly monthly or year
3. 0150632 A1 Antenna 218 i Wired Network Local Interface Storage Wireless Network Interface Universal Serial Cellular Phone Infrared Receiver External Digital Video Recorder 212 FIGURE 2 US 2012 0150632 1 Jun 14 2012 Sheet 3 of 6 Patent Application Publication ozz UOREIS AON zz i ve FYNSIS OMEN AGON gee SIIGOW ONAN 81 92 OMEN 55 0 zez J n uoyeoddy qaM US 2012 0150632 1 Jun 14 2012 Sheet 4 of 6 Patent Application Publication Se ge 3 vee JONES quewasiveapy LEZ do yas 214 922 YONAN pueqpeoig 222 8 0 cee Janes uoyeonddy qan 5 1955 5 1855 aM J SN 3 CCO Patent Application Publication The Customer Premises Equipment Attem
4. bundled products may be implemented on non standard customer pre mises equipment that a customer purchases from a source different from the service provider Customers may expect to plug a customer premises equipment into home network and begin consuming the bundled services However trouble shooting issues arise when the customer premises equipment is not compatible with the bundled services or is not func tioning properly 0020 For example if a solution to a troubleshooting issue is to purchase additional accessories for the customer pre mises equipment e g a television the customer must inde pendently obtain information regarding compatible customer premise equipment that uses the service provider s services Alternatively the customer must independently obtain a rec ommendation for a customer premise equipment repair facil ity Further if there is a recall from a customer premises equipment manufacturer and if the customer is not registered to receive this information the manufacturer may not be able to locate the customer in order to send necessary recall infor mation 0021 According to another non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure content of a paper version of a user manual is incorporated into a customer premises equipment storage area such that guided tutorials are supported for selected setup and troubleshooting procedures That is guided tutorials and a customer premises equipment user manual a
5. issue related to the customer premises equipment device A display screen displays a guided tutorial for imple menting the operating instructions for resolving the issue Assistance information obtained by the service provider is provided to the customer premises equipment device when implementing the operating instructions for resolving the issue does not resolve the issue The User Manual for the Customer Premises Equipment is Fetched from the Service Provider Database and Downloaded to Local Storage or the Digital Video Recorder 410 The Customer Implements Self Service Diagnostics based on the User Manual to Address the Troubleshooting Issue 412 The Service Provider Fetches Alerts as well as Replacement and Updated User Manual Information from the Vendor and the Manufacturer 5414 The Service Provider Pushes _ Selected Alerts as well as Replacement and Updated User Manual Information to the Customer Premises Equipment 416 Patent Application Publication Jun 14 2012 Sheet 1 of 6 FIG 1 Processor 110 Instructions Main Memory 120 Static Memory 130 Network Interface Device 140 108 US 2012 0150632 A1 Video Display 150 Alpha Numeric Input Device 160 EAEE EE E A eee Cursor Control Device 170 Drive Unit 180 Computer Readable Medium 182 Instructions 184 Signal Generation Device 190 Patent Application Publication Jun 14 2012 Sheet 2 of 6 US 2012
6. single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure This disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodi ments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim Rather as the following claims reflect inventive sub ject matter may be directed to less than all of the features of any of the disclosed embodiments Thus the following claims are incorporated into the Detailed Description with each claim standing on its own as defining separately claimed subject matter 0056 The above disclosed subject matter is to be consid ered illustrative and not restrictive and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications enhancements and other embodiments which fall within the true spirit and scope of the present disclosure Thus to the maximum extent allowed by law the scope of the present disclosure is to be determined by the broadest permissible interpretation of the following claims and their equivalents and shall not be restricted or limited by the foregoing detailed description What is claimed is 1 A method for providing troubleshooting information at a customer premises equipment device to be used witha service provided by a service provider comprising storing operating instructions on a local storage of the customer premises equipment device receiving a search request from a user of the customer premises equipment device for operating instruct
7. the specified problem using the device information and or the user manual information pro vided by the service priority 0042 During the troubleshooting process the customer may add notes to descriptions of issues that are stored with the customer s record in the service provider s database Accord ingly the customer can track their troubleshooting resolution history In another non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure the customers collaboratively share their trouble shooting experiences e g stored notes via a service pro vider blog or a community services website 0043 In one non limiting embodiment a service provider optionally determines which type of customer premises equipment are most popular in step 5504 and develops a partnership i e establishes a communication channel with the manufacturer or the vendor of the customer premises equipment to implement joint troubleshooting assistance The manufacturer provides for example information regard ing technical support contact information and local technical repair facility information to the service provider In step 5506 the service provider incorporates advertisements for the latest television models of the manufacturer in the user manual so that when user accesses the user manual adver tisements for the latest television models are presented on the US 2012 0150632 Al user s television screen In one non limiting embodiment the service provider
8. US 20120150632A1 a2 Patent Application Publication Pub No US 2012 0150632 1 as United States FAN et al 43 Pub Date Jun 14 2012 54 INTEGRATED CUSTOMER PREMISES EQUIPMENT TROUBLESHOOTING ASSISTANCE 75 Inventors James FAN San Ramon CA US Thomas BARRETT San Ramon CA US Jennifer K LAM Fremont CA US 73 Assignee AT amp T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY I L P Reno NV US 21 Appl No 12 963 000 22 Filed Dec 8 2010 The Customer Premises Equipment Attempts to Connect to a Service Provider Network 400 Metadata is Automatically Discovered or Manually Collected 402 The Customer Accesses a Provisioning Website to Obtain Vendor and Manufacturer Manuals for Storage by the Service Provider 404 The Customer Reports an Issue Requiring Troubleshooting 5406 The Service Provider Obtains Network Information and Customer Premises Equipment Information 408 Publication Classification 51 Int Cl G06Q 10 00 2006 01 G060 30 00 2006 01 Gada 705 14 49 705 304 57 ABSTRACT Providing troubleshooting information at a customer pre mises equipment device to be used with a service provided by a service provider includes storing operating instructions ona local storage of the customer premises equipment device A search request is received from a user of the customer pre mises equipment device for operating instructions for resolv ing an
9. bring out one or more of the advantages as specifically noted below 0012 FIG 1 is an illustrative embodiment of a general computer system on which a method to provide integrated customer premises service equipment troubleshooting assis tance can be implemented which is shown and is designated 100 The computer system 100 can include a set of instruc tions that can be executed to cause the computer system 100 to perform any one or more of the methods or computer based functions disclosed herein The computer system 100 may Jun 14 2012 operate as a standalone device or may be connected for example using a network 101 to other computer systems or peripheral devices 0013 In a networked deployment the computer system may operate in the capacity of a server or as a client user computer in a server client user network environment or as a peer computer system in a peer to peer or distributed net work environment The computer system 100 can also be implemented as or incorporated into various devices such as a personal computer PC a tablet PC a set top box STB personal digital assistant PDA a mobile device a global positioning satellite GPS device a palmtop computer a laptop computer a desktop computer a communications device a wireless telephone a land line telephone a control system a camera a scanner a facsimile machine a printer a pager a personal trusted device a web appliance a network router
10. collects fees from the manufacturer based on anumber of times advertisements are displayed to the user or based on a flat fee arrangement 0044 In step S508 it is determined that the customer is unable to address the issue requiring troubleshooting e g fixing screen clarity without additional assistance from an outside source The service provider contacts local repair facilities and displays relevant information to the user For example the service provider uses the user s location to obtain a nearby location for a television repair facility that is enabled to fix the user s model of television In one non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure the service provider displays hours for the repair facility and average cost of repair along with contact information and geographic information for the repair facility In step 5510 when the user views the user manual e g on the television or online any of the following products but not limited to a newer model of the customer premises equipment and accessories for the customer premises equipment are advertised For example the service provider or other entity may determine that the user needs new accessories such a new screen cover and a new digital antenna In one non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure the customer premises equipment has a problem with the display screen because an antenna for the television is not functioning properly Accordingly when it is d
11. e gateway 227 data flows through the broadband access net work 226 the IP network 246 and the Internet 224 to the service provider As discussed above the user is shown as connecting to the web application server 240 of the service provider but can additionally or alternatively connect to one or both of the database 242 and the advertisement server 244 In this manner the user is able to obtain the customer records an updated user manual troubleshooting information recall information advertisements and Yellow Pages information via an Internet connection 0033 The service provider in turn obtains any of the following but not limited to user manual updates trouble shooting information recall information and advertisements from the customer premises equipment vendor In one non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure the database 234 stores user manual updates recall information trouble shooting information and advertisements for the customer premises equipment vendor In another non limiting embodi ment of the present disclosure the customer premises equip ment vendor is replaced with a manufacturer of the customer premises equipment While web application server 240 is shown as directly connecting to customer premises equip ment vendor database 234 the service provider may alterna tively or additionally connect to the web application server 232 As shown in FIGS 3A and 3B and described herein the user can dir
12. ectly connect to one or more of the service pro vider the manufacturer of the customer premises equipment device and the vendor of the customer premises equipment device Alternatively the user can directly connect to the service provider and indirectly connect to either or both the manufacturer of the customer premises equipment device and the vendor of the customer premises equipment device 0034 In FIG 4 a process flow diagram according an aspect of the present disclosure is shown In step 5400 the customer premises equipment attempts to connect to a service provider network In step 5402 when a network connection is established between the customer premises equipment and the service provider metadata for the customer premises equipment is attempted to be discovered by the servicer pro vider s connecting devices e g via a set top box or a remote server If the metadata is not automatically discoverable the user is prompted to select customer premises information related to any of the following but not limited to a manufac turer model year serial number place of purchase purchase date cost a warranty and remote control information In one non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure the ser vice provider coordinates with the customer premises equip US 2012 0150632 Al ment manufacturer to minimize data input requirements For example a menu driven user interface that needs minimal input may be set to automa
13. etermined that the user needs to buy a new antenna radio buttons and popup advertisements are displayed for the user e g when the user is performing a search of the user manual 0045 As another example when the customer encounters the display screen clarity issue as noted above a number of troubleshooting options may be available For example one solution includes purchasing an additional filter device from the service provider s partner Another solution is includes dealing with a lower quality but tolerable signal strength The targeted advertisement displayed in step S510 explains in one non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure advantages of the first solution for the customer 0046 In view of the above an end to end service model is established for a service provider to serve their customers including troubleshooting issues directly related to a cus tomer premises equipment device This is in contrast to ser vice providers that typically do not provide support services for customer premises equipment i e because customer pre mises equipment is not always purchased from a service provider Enhanced service opportunities and increased cus tomer satisfaction results from eliminating the necessity of contacting a customer premises equipment manufacturer and reducing troubleshooting contacts to tier 1 or tier 2 service agents 0047 Service providers also have additional revenue streams insofar as service funct
14. ion is located prior to or concurrently with establishing either antenna or cable television connec tions In another non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure the customer premises equipment 200 includes a wired network interface 204 and a wireless network interface 206 that enable the customer premises equipment to connect to either or both a wired data network and wireless data network Ifa wireless or wired connection is established user manual information stored in the local storage 202 is auto matically updated to ensure that user manual information stored in the local storage 202 shipped with the customer premises equipment does not become outdated The local storage 202 of the customer premises equipment 200 stores device metadata as well as preloaded diagnostic tools the user manual and graphical guided user tutorials 0025 In another non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure the customer premises equipment 200 does not access the wired or wireless data network and does not have user manual information stored in the local storage 202 A physical slot for a cellular phone 208 and a mobile network e g Bluetooth interface 210 in the customer premises equipment 200 establish mobile telecommunications net work connectivity For example a MiFi enabled cellular phone acts as a gateway to allow a wireless enabled customer premises equipment to establish a tethering connection such that Internet connectivity i
15. ions for resolving an issue related to the customer premises equipment device displaying on a display screen of the customer premises equipment device a guided tutorial for implementing the operating instructions for resolving the issue wherein assistance information obtained by the service provider is provided to the customer premises equip ment device when implementing the operating instruc tions for resolving the issue does not resolve the issue 2 The method according to claim 1 further comprising establishing a network connection between the customer premises equipment device and the service provider Jun 14 2012 3 The method according to claim 2 wherein the network connection is distinct from a network connection established over a service network main tained by the service provider 4 The method according to claim 2 wherein the network connection is a data network connec tion established over a data network 5 The method according to claim 2 wherein the network connection is a telecommunications network connection established over a telecommunica tions network 6 The method according to claim 1 further comprising obtaining by the service provider metadata for the cus tomer premise equipment device 7 The method according to claim 1 wherein the assistance information includes updated oper ating instructions obtained from a manufacturer of the customer premises equipment device 8 The
16. ions are integrated with rel evant product information Specifically a service provider can charge additional fees for providing troubleshooting sup port for various customer premises equipment similar to an inside wire fee Further additional revenue streams are realized by enabling access to for example Yellow Pages and providing targeted advertisements 0048 Accordingly the present invention enables a user to store operating instructions on a local storage of a customer premises equipment device receiving a search request from a user of the customer premises equipment device for oper ating instructions for resolving an issue related to the cus Jun 14 2012 tomer premises equipment device and display on a display screen of the customer premises equipment device a guided tutorial for implementing the operating instructions for resolving the issue Assistance information obtained by the service provider is provided to the customer premises equip ment device when implementing the operating instructions for resolving the issue does not resolve the issue 0049 Although the invention has been described with ref erence to several exemplary embodiments it is understood that the words that have been used are words of description and illustration rather than words of limitation Changes may be made within the purview of the appended claims as pres ently stated and as amended without departing from the scope and spi
17. is determined to originate from the television the customer sometimes has to call the television manufacturer to troubleshoot the issue BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 0005 FIG 1 shows an exemplary general computer sys tem that includes a set of instructions for implementing inte grated customer premises equipment troubleshooting assis tance 0006 FIG 2 illustrates a system diagram of an integrated customer premise equipment according to an aspect of the present disclosure 0007 FIG 3A illustrates a system diagram including an integrated customer premises equipment connected to the Internet according to an aspect of the present disclosure 0008 FIG 3B illustrates a system diagram that indicates contact among a customer premises equipment vendor a service provider and an integrated customer premises equip ment according to an aspect of the present disclosure 0009 FIG 4 illustrates an process flow diagram for estab lishing and using a troubleshooting assistance service chan nel according to an aspect of the present disclosure and 0010 FIG 5 illustrates an exemplary process flow dia gram for providing value added services to the customer pre mises equipment according to an aspect of the present dis closure DETAILED DESCRIPTION 0011 In view of the foregoing the present disclosure through one or more of its various aspects embodiments and or specific features or sub components is thus intended to
18. ly the service provider fetches information from the vendor s or the manufacturer s website or other accessible storage to obtain a latest version of the user manual updated alerts and part replacement infor mation and compares the fetched data to the information stored in the service provider database In one non limiting embodiment if there is a recall alert the service provider sends relevant information to the service provider s service department such that installation network operation and other agents are aware of the defective customer premises Jun 14 2012 equipment In step 5416 the recall and or alert information is incorporated in a diagnostic system and pushed to the cus tomer premises equipment 0039 In another non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure the customer premise equipment manufacturer or vendor sends alerts e g recall information to relevant users by contacting the service provider to push the alert informa tion to the service provider s website and set top box The service provider is able to access the appropriate set top boxes because the service provider stores user information For example if there is a recall for the model of customer premises equipment that the customer is having issues with the recall information is pushed to the television with targeted advertisements to replace a current model of television with a newer model of the television along with a discount of pur
19. mer premises equipment Accordingly the service pro vider stores an integrated package to support the customer and in another non limiting embodiment of the present dis closure a subset of the integrated package is transmitted or pushed to either the local storage 202 or the digital video recorder 212 i e as a backup in the event that the digital video recorder loses network connectivity 0029 When the customer premises equipment 200 uses the antenna 218 to receive off the air broadcasting the user manual information directs the user to perform the appropri ate setup operations in order to receive the off the air broad casting If the customer premises equipment 200 is not suc cessfully connected to the service provider s network or the connection to the service provider is interrupted due to an issue with the customer premises equipment 200 graphical guided video tutorials stored on the local storage 202 are displayed for the user In one non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure the guided tutorials are interactive video clips 0030 In FIG 3A a system diagram including an inte grated customer premises equipment connected to the Inter net is shown The customer premises equipment 200 connects to Internet 224 via any of the following but not limited to via the mobile network interface 210 and a mobile station 220 that communicates over the mobile network 222 via the wired network interface 204 and a user c
20. method according to claim 1 wherein the service provider obtains the assistance infor mation in real time 9 The method according to claim 1 wherein the assistance information includes repair facility information for repairing the customer premise equip ment device 10 The method according to claim 1 wherein the service provider pushes the assistance infor mation to the local storage 11 The method according to claim 1 wherein the assistance information includes advertisement information for purchasing accessories for the customer premises equipment device 12 The method according to claim 1 wherein the assistance information includes advertisement information for purchasing a newer model of the cus tomer premises equipment device 13 The system according to claim 12 further comprising charging a fee each time the advertisement information is displayed 14 The system according to claim 1 further comprising pushing recall information obtained by the service pro vider to the local storage 15 A non transitory tangible computer readable medium that includes a set of instructions for providing troubleshoot ing information at a customer premises equipment device to be used with a service provided by a service provider the set of instructions directing at least one processor to perform acts of storing operating instructions on a local storage of the customer premises equipment device receiving a sea
21. nsmission medium Accordingly the dis closure is considered to include any computer readable medium or other equivalents and successor media in which data or instructions may be stored 0052 Although the present specification describes com ponents and functions that may be implemented in particular embodiments with reference to particular standards and pro tocols the disclosure is not limited to such standards and protocols For example standards for Internet and other packed switched network transmission as well as voice over Internet protocol represent examples of the state of the art Such standards are periodically superseded by faster or more efficient equivalents having essentially the same functions Accordingly replacement standards and protocols having the same or similar functions are considered equivalents thereof 0053 The illustrations of the embodiments described herein are intended to provide a general understanding of the structure of the various embodiments The illustrations are not intended to serve as a complete description of all of the elements and features of apparatus and systems that utilize the structures or methods described herein Many other embodiments may be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the disclosure Other embodiments may be utilized and derived from the disclosure such that structural and logical substitutions and changes may be made without US 2012 0150632 Al departing from
22. omputer 228 with user computer storage 230 that connects to a home gateway 227 and that communicates over a broadband access network 226 and via not shown the wireless network interface 206 and the user computer 228 that communicates over the broad band access network 226 In one non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure the wired network interface 204 directly connects to the home gateway 227 In the illustrated manner the customer premises equipment 200 connects to a web application server 232 and a database 234 In one non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure the web ap plication server 232 and the database 234 are maintained by the service provider In another non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure the web application server 232 and the database 234 are maintained by a vendor or a manufacturer of the customer premises equipment 200 The infrared receiver 214 receives signals from remote control 236 0031 In FIG 3B communication among the customer premises equipment vendor the service provider and the inte grated customer premises equipment is shown The user can communicate via the customer premises equipment 200 and a Set top Box 237 which is connected to an external digital video recorder 212 In one non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure the digital video recorder is internal to the customer premises equipment 200 When the user connects to the service provider via the Set top Box 237
23. ons that are searchable by a user of the customer premises equipment device for operating instructions for resolving an issue related to the customer premises equipment device a display screen of the customer premises equipment device that displays a guided tutorial for implementing the operating instructions for resolving the issue and an interface of the customer premises equipment device that receives assistance information obtained by the service provider when implementing the operating instructions for resolving the issue does not resolve the issue
24. pts to Connect to a Service Provider Network 5400 Metadata is Automatically Discovered or Manually Collected 402 The Customer Accesses a Provisioning Website to Obtain Vendor and Manufacturer Manuals for Storage by the Service Provider 404 The Customer Reports an Issue Requiring Troubleshooting 5406 The Service Provider Obtains Home Network Information and Customer Premises Equipment Information 408 Jun 14 2012 Sheet 5 of 6 US 2012 0150632 1 The User Manual for the Customer Premises Equipment is Fetched from the Service Provider Database and Downloaded to Local Storage or the Digital Video Recorder 410 The Customer Implements Self Service Diagnostics based on the User Manual to Address the Troubleshooting issue 412 The Service Provider Fetches Alerts as well as Replacement and Updated User Manual Information from the Vendor and the Manufacturer 5414 The Service Provider Pushes _ Selected Alerts as well as Replacement and Updated User Manual Information to the Customer Premises Equipment S416 FIGURE 4 Patent Application Publication Jun 14 2012 Sheet 6 of 6 US 2012 0150632 A1 The Service Provider Provides Repair Facility Information to Customer When Issue Requires Additional Troubleshooting Assistance S508 The Customer Premises Equipment is Powered On S500 Perform Search to Obtain Relevant Guided Tutorial or User Man
25. rch request from a user of the customer premises equipment device for operating instructions for resolving an issue related to the customer premises equipment device displaying on a display screen of the customer premises equipment device a guided tutorial for implementing the operating instructions for resolving the issue wherein assistance information obtained by the service provider is provided to the customer premises equip ment device when implementing the operating instruc tions for resolving the issue does not resolve the issue 16 The tangible computer readable medium according to claim 15 wherein the guided tutorials are interactive US 2012 0150632 Al 17 The tangible computer readable medium according to claim 15 wherein the local storage is a digital video recorder 18 The tangible computer readable medium according to claim 15 wherein the service provider stores updated operating instructions and a record corresponding to the customer premises equipment and the user 19 The tangible computer readable medium according to claim 18 wherein the record is annotated with notes for resolving the issue related to the customer premises equipment 20 system for providing troubleshooting information at a customer premises equipment device to be used with a service provided by a service provider comprising Jun 14 2012 a local storage of the customer premises equipment device that stores operating instructi
26. re accessible without a network connection e g before the customer premises equipment is connected to a service provider s network 0022 According to yet another non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure an integrated customer premise equipment troubleshooting assistance and service network troubleshooting assistance supports an assisted and a self service troubleshooting model Jun 14 2012 0023 According to a non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure valued added services are providable by recommending optimal customer premises equipment acces sories and customer premises equipment repair facilities e g via Yellow Pages Accordingly dynamic advertising capabilities are providable 0024 In FIG 2 a system diagram of an integrated cus tomer premises equipment according to the present disclo sure is shown A customer premises equipment 200 includes alocal storage 202 The customer premises equipment 200 is for example a next generation digital television The local storage 202 is for example a resident flash memory that stores user manual information that relates to operating the customer premises equipment A search tool software imple mented on the local storage 202 or any other storage space in the customer premises equipment 200 is used to locate infor mation for a user configuring the customer premises equip ment 200 In one non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure the informat
27. rit of the invention in its aspects Although the invention has been described with reference to particular means materials and embodiments the invention is not intended to be limited to the particulars disclosed rather the invention extends to all functionally equivalent structures methods and uses such as are within the scope of the appended claims 0050 While the computer readable medium is shown to be a single medium the term computer readable medium includes a single medium or multiple media such as a cen tralized or distributed database and or associated caches and servers that store one or more sets of instructions The term computer readable medium shall also include any medium that is capable of storing encoding or carrying a set of instruc tions for execution by a processor or that cause a computer system to perform any one or more of the methods or opera tions disclosed herein 0051 In a particular non limiting exemplary embodi ment the computer readable medium can include a solid state memory such as a memory card or other package that houses one or more non volatile read only memories Fur ther the computer readable medium can be a random access memory or other volatile re writable memory Additionally the computer readable medium can include a magneto opti cal or optical medium such as a disk or tapes or other storage device to capture carrier wave signals such as a signal com municated over a tra
28. rmware and hardware implementations 0017 In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure the methods described herein may be implemented by software programs executable by a computer system Further in an exemplary non limited embodiment implementations can include distributed processing compo nent object distributed processing and parallel processing Alternatively virtual computer system processing can be constructed to implement one or more of the methods or functionality as described herein 0018 The present disclosure contemplates a computer readable medium 182 that includes instructions 184 or receives and executes instructions 184 responsive to a propa gated signal so that a device connected to a network 101 can communicate voice video or data over the network 101 Further the instructions 184 may be transmitted or received over the network 101 via the network interface device 140 0019 According to an aspect of the present disclosure service providers may offer bundled services to attract new customers or retain existing customers When product offer ings are bundled the service provider s organization must support numerous troubleshooting inquiries regarding any combination of the bundled services Insofar as the product offerings are bundled by the service providers troubleshoot ing assistance domains associated with each of the products are within the service providers control However
29. s achieved wirelessly 0026 In yet another non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure an external digital video recorder 212 DVR stores a subset of user manuals and diagnostic tools provided by the service provider In one non limiting embodi ment of the present disclosure the customer premises equip ment 200 is pre configured to access a customer premise equipment vendor s website to automatically register the cus tomer and the customer premises equipment as well to receive manual updates to the user manual information For example customer s television may receive an update when it is connected to a service provider s cable television broad casting platform 0027 The customer premises equipment 200 also includes an infrared receiver 214 through which remote con trol signals are received a universal serial bus USB port 216 that accommodates a flash drive and an antenna 218 that receives over the air programming 0028 In one non limiting embodiment of the present dis closure the metadata is stored in both a local digital video recorder as well as ina remote service provider database The US 2012 0150632 Al metadata allows the service provider to determine whether a current version of the customer premises manual information is stored and if not the service provider launches a data retrieval request to fetch customer premises manual informa tion from a website for a vendor or manufacturer of the custo
30. shown as a dashed and dotted line and the home gateway 227 data flows through a broadband access network 226 IP Network 246 and optionally an IPTV service network 238 In another non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure the wired network interface 204 directly connects to the home gateway 227 In FIG 3B the user is shown as connecting to a web application server 240 of the service provider The service provider is shown in FIG 3B as including a database 242 Jun 14 2012 and an advertisement server 244 In another non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure the user connects to either the database 242 or the advertisement server 244 The database 242 stores any of the following but not limited to the customer records an updated user manual recall infor mation troubleshooting information advertisements and Yellow Pages information The web application server 240 provides access to the stored items The advertisement server 244 stores advertisements for one or more of the service provider the customer premises equipment vendor and the manufacturer of the customer premises equipment Accord ingly the user is enabled to access the customer records an updated user manual recall information troubleshooting information advertisements and Yellow Pages information via a television connection 0032 When the user connects to the service provider via the user computer 228 shown as a dashed line and the hom
31. switch or bridge or any other machine capable of executing a set of instructions sequential or otherwise that specify actions to be taken by that machine In a particular embodiment the computer system 100 can be implemented using electronic devices that provide voice video or data communication Further while a single computer system 100 is illustrated the term system shall also be taken to include any collection of systems or sub systems that individually or jointly execute a set or multiple sets of instructions to per form one or more computer functions 0014 As illustrated in FIG 1 the computer system 100 may include a processor 110 for example a central process ing unit CPU a graphics processing unit GPU or both Moreover the computer system 100 can include a main memory 120 and a static memory 130 that can communicate with each other via a bus 108 As shown the computer system 100 may further include a video display unit 150 such as a liquid crystal display LCD an organic light emitting diode OLED a flat panel display a solid state display or a cathode ray tube CRT Additionally the computer system 100 may include an input device 160 such as a keyboard and a cursor control device 170 such as a mouse The computer system 100 can also include a disk drive unit 180 a signal generation device 190 such as a speaker or remote control and a network interface device 140 0015 Ina particular embodimen
32. t as depicted in FIG 1 the disk drive unit 180 may include a computer readable medium 182 in which one or more sets of instructions 184 e g software can be embedded computer readable medium 182 is a tangible article of manufacture from which sets of instructions 184 can be read Further the instructions 184 may embody one or more of the methods or logic as described herein In a particular embodiment the instructions 184 may reside completely or at least partially within the main memory 120 the static memory 130 and or within the processor 110 during execution by the computer system 100 The main memory 120 and the processor 110 also may include computer readable media 0016 In an alternative embodiment dedicated hardware implementations such as application specific integrated cir cuits programmable logic arrays and other hardware devices can be constructed to implement one or more of the methods described herein Applications that may include the apparatus and systems of various embodiments can broadly include a variety of electronic and computer systems One or more embodiments described herein may implement functions using two or more specific interconnected hardware modules or devices with related control and data signals that can be US 2012 0150632 Al communicated between and through the modules or as por tions of an application specific integrated circuit Accord ingly the present system encompasses software fi
33. the scope of the disclosure Additionally the illustrations are merely representational and may not be drawn to scale Certain proportions within the illustrations may be exaggerated while other proportions may be mini mized Accordingly the disclosure and the figures are to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive 0054 One or more embodiments of the disclosure may be referred to herein individually and or collectively by the term invention merely for convenience and without intend ing to voluntarily limit the scope of this application to any particular invention or inventive concept Moreover although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein it should be appreciated that any subsequent arrange ment designed to achieve the same or similar purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown This disclo sure is intended to cover any and all subsequent adaptations or variations of various embodiments Combinations of the above embodiments and other embodiments not specifically described herein will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the description 0055 The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to com ply with 37 C F R 1 72 b and is submitted with the under standing that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims In addition in the foregoing Detailed Description various features may be grouped together or described in a
34. tically obtain additional associ ated data attributes for the customer premises equipment Alternatively a computer accesses the Internet to provide the service provider with metadata for the customer premises equipment 0035 Accordingly a troubleshooting assistance service channel is automatically established When the customer decides to initiate troubleshooting it is transparent as to whether customer premises equipment manual information is obtained from the local storage e g a digital video recorder or from a service provider database In this manner network diagnostics and local diagnostics are fully integrated 0036 In step S404 the customer optionally accesses a provisioning website e g using a cell phone or a computer that is maintained by the service provider In one non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure the customer is prompted to enter same information described with respect to step 402 Alternatively a technician enters this information for the concurrently with installing the customer premises equipment The provisioning website searches the Internet either in real time or a priori to obtain vendor user manuals manufacturer user manuals remote control and contact infor mation for the customer premises equipment and saves the customer premises equipment information to a record related to the customer In one non limiting embodiment of the present disclosure the user manuals are saved in a shared
35. ual Advertisements for a Replacement Information for Troubleshooting Part are Displayed for the Customer Issue l via the User Manual and the Display 502 Screen 510 Establish Communications Channel s with Manufacturer and Vendor of Customer Premises Equipment 504 The Service Provider Incorporates Advertisements for Other Products from Vendor and Manufacturer in Customer Premises Equipment Display 506 FIGURE 5 US 2012 0150632 Al INTEGRATED CUSTOMER PREMISES EQUIPMENT TROUBLESHOOTING ASSISTANCE BACKGROUND 0001 1 Field of the Disclosure 0002 The present disclosure relates to troubleshooting issues for customer premises equipment More particularly the present disclosure relates to integrated customer premises equipment troubleshooting assistance 0003 2 Background Information 0004 When a consumer electronic product is purchased e g a television a paper version of a user manual may be provided to a purchaser The purchaser may turn on the tele vision and use a menu key to navigate some basic setup options to connect an off the air digital antenna to a service provider network However operating information described in the paper version of the user manual may be inaccessible using aremote control Further when the purchaser reports an issue requiring troubleshooting assistance to a service pro vider agent or self service system implemented by the service provider and the issue
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