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Smartphone profiler system and method

1. Repository 106 CSR GUI Device Profile Data Store FIG 1 Patent Application Publication Jul 7 2005 Sheet 2 of 9 US 2005 0148329 A1 202 Authentication correct Profiler Request Gather device information Send profiler data by SMS FIG 2 Patent Application Publication Jul 7 2005 Sheet 3 of 9 US 2005 0148329 A1 g o SWS Bulwooy 301 Device Listener 302 Device Profiler Setting Results Device Data 303 Device Transmitter O a Q 5 g FIG 3 SHd9 buio no Patent Application Publication Jul 7 2005 Sheet 4 of 9 US 2005 0148329 A1 Device Listener 400 03 4 401 404 KO y Check Header gt g a A 16 Sap FIG 4 Patent Application Publication Jul 7 2005 Sheet 5 of 9 US 2005 0148329 A1 CSR Console Get Device Profile Request Short timer ver nese e wait for the device profile Activate profiler i 1am aliv Long timer Device profite FIG 5 Patent Application Publication Jul 7 2005 Sheet 6 of 9 US 2005 0148329 A1 600 601 HTTP S SMS Gateway Internet Gateway Incoming Profile Data 602 sil 603 User Agent 604 Logger XML 607 Content Type Content Type Parser Parser Unknown Found Matching MDB End Tag Found ProfieReceive JMS Topic Temporary ProfileReceive TABLE FIG 6 Patent Application P
2. A rare inter section of technological change has become apparent in the mobile industry Mobile data networks have been deployed around the world These networks provide fast reliable packet data to subscriber s mobile devices At the same time intelligent mobile devices smartphones have emerged as capable computing platforms with considerable processing power onboard storage and memory 0005 Smartphones are devices running feature rich oper ating systems such as Symbian PalmOS Microsoft WinCE BREW Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless and Java MIDP compliant devices Due to the complex nature and multitude of new features these smartphone devices are difficult to configure compounded with limited keyboards entering information such as personal details and configu ration settings is not only difficult but also highly prone to human errors A combination of feature complexity and configuration requirements provides the opportunity to exponentially improve upon the support solutions for wire less network operators Intelligent client based Operational Support Systems OSS have now become possible 0006 With the wide availability of downloadable ser vices and applications available for smartphone users and the increasing costs of customer care ensuring efficient and less cumbersome support when problems arise is an increas ing necessity In contrast to traditional customer service applications that are available in con
3. munication with the Smartphone Profiler server side com ponents during the device data download process 0044 FIG 6 shows a flow diagram of the Profile Lis tener a software component on the on the application server which listens for incoming profile data 0045 FIG 7A shows the method for extracting data from the smartphone device profile using key value pairs to make the profile suitable for GUI presentation and storage in the database 0046 FIG 7B shows a diagram illustrating the parsing of nested elements to classify nested XML elements 0047 FIG 8 shows a flow diagram of the keep alive request process between the CSR GUI console and the device agent while the data download is in process 0048 FIG 9 shows a screen diagram of a sample CSR GUI according to the preferred embodiment DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 0049 The Smartphone Profiler System is composed of two types of components the device side and the server side components The server side components can invoke the device side components which then probe the device gather the relevant information and then send it to the server side components using any of a number of transport methods Some examples of currently existing transports include SMS GPRS WAP and 1XRTT but adaptation for other transports is possible and would be within the skill of persons knowledgeable in the art 0050 Once the server side component has receiv
4. a secondary method such as SMS 0093 The Profile Listener resides on the application server 105 FIG 6 shows the process flow for an incoming profile detected by the Profile Listener The Profile Listener receives incoming profile data 602 from both SMS 600 and TCP IP Internet 601 connections The Profile Listener then uses the User Agent 603 and Content Type 605 to determine which parser to use in this case either ASCII 606 or XML 607 The Profile Listener creates a message for processing by the Input Processors and uses the appropriate parser to create a hash table 611 of the name value pairs sent from the device agent Jul 7 2005 0094 If the user agent is determined to be an unknown agent at the decision block 603 then at a next block 604 the message is logged using a logger Subsequently at a next block 609 an attempt is made to determine an associated message driven bean MDB associated with a JMS service Typically a MDB is composed of at least 3 parts a Message Driven Bean implementation class an MDB definition in the EJB ejb jar xml deployment descriptor and an MDB defi nition in the vendor specific deployment descriptor here jboss xml 0095 If an associated MDB can be determined at 609 then the received message logged by the logger of an unknown user agent type is forwarded to the ProfileReceive JMS topic 610 Again during the parsing of the received message such as during an XML parsing an end tag
5. available or if the transmission at i fails attempting retransmission by a second communi cation protocol 0038 Although a smartphone is used as the preferred embodiment in the present application other types of mobile devices can also be used such as a personal data assistant PDA or any type of wireless networked computer includ ing a computer embedded in an appliance For instance the smartphone could in fact comprise a PDA or advanced PDA a mobile terminal a camera a toy a gaming station a vending machine a vehicle an appliance such as a microwave oven or a coffee maker or practically any kind of device capable of using data transmission means for communication BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 0039 FIG 1 shows a logical diagram of the hardware components of invention according to the preferred embodi ment US 2005 0148329 A1 0040 FIG 2 shows a flow diagram of the method used by the Smartphone Profiler to contact a smartphone device to obtain profile data 0041 FIG 3 shows a logical diagram of the software sub components of the embedded smartphone device agent according to the preferred embodiment 0042 FIG 4 shows a logical diagram of the Device Listener a software sub component of the embedded device agent 0043 FIG 5 shows a flow diagram of the process of requesting a device profile showing the heartbeat mecha nism i e keep alive which is employed to continue com
6. is encountered at 608 then the received data set of tags and associated values is processed at 609 to determine an associated MDB and if found forward the data to the ProfileReceive JMS topic at 610 In general a JMS topic identifies a publish subscribe JMS destination for a JMS server During the configuration of a JMS server one or more topic destinations are configured The ProfileReceive 610 is a JMS topic that receives parsed XML or ASCII messages for further processing 0096 The Parsing Engine is responsible for extracting data from the smartphone device profile and making it suitable for presentation and storage in the Device Profile Data Store 107 The XML Parser 607 parses each XML element and generates key value pairs based on the XML tag and the content The XML Start tag 607 becomes the key while the content between the start 607 and end 608 tags become the value forwarded to a ProfileReceive JMS topic 610 0097 The process for parsing nested XML elements is shown in FIGS 7A and 7B Non nested XML elements are parsed by keying 700 the value between the start and end tags as noted above For nested elements the XML Parser will form the key by concatenating the XML tags until it reaches the innermost element as shown at 800 The data within the innermost element will constitute the value Nested XML elements are used to represent more complex device profile settings such as connection information and software list wher
7. response was sent successfully then processing terminates at the end block Otherwise at a next block 214 the response is sent over SMS and processing terminates at the end block 0073 The Profile Listener which resides on the applica tion server 105 listens for incoming smartphone device profile data and passes received data to the Parsing Engine The Parsing Engine then extracts the device profile data and makes it suitable for viewing in the CSR GUI 106 and for storage in the Device Profile Data Store 107 0074 Preferably as shown in FIG 3 the SDA comprises three components 0075 DeviceListener 301 0076 DeviceProfiler 302 0077 Device Transmitter 303 0078 The DeviceListener 301 listens for requests com ing from the application server 105 The DeviceProfiler 302 gathers the device profile data from the smartphone device 100 Gathered data which includes information such as available memory available storage installed applications battery life connection signal strength connection settings user requests usage statistics and soft reset count is sent to the application server by the Device Transmitter 303 0079 DeviceListener 301 a component of the SDA residing on the smartphone device 100 continuously runs in the background The DeviceListener 301 receives an SMS request from the application server 105 to collect the smart phone device profile The DeviceListener 301 then executes the DeviceProfiler 302
8. which in turn begins to collect this information Once this information is gathered it is sent to the application server 105 preferably either by GPRS IP technology or SMS 0080 Turning to FIG 4 the responsibilities of the DeviceListener 400 are described The DeviceListener 400 module responds to requests sent from the application server 105 During the initialization process analogous to turning on the radio the DeviceListener 400 registers itself to receive SMS messages that contain a specific header 401 When the device receives an SMS it validates it and routes the message to the appropriate location according to the header 401 0081 In order to ensure that only authorized profiles are returned the application server can encrypt the request messages The decryption 402 will use one of several algorithms set by the server The selected algorithm code is contained in the header thus enabling the SDA 300 to recognize the request 0082 After encryption decryption 403 authentication is the secondary security mechanism used by the SDA 300 This authentication code is preferably wireless carrier spe cific and is preferably implemented during deployment Authentication preferably employs one of MD5 RSA SH1 CRC HMAC digital signatures etc 0083 Typically a message type is associated incorpo rated into the message to help the device listener distinguish profiler requests from session related messages such as a K
9. US 20050148329A1 a Patent Application Publication co Pub No US 2005 0148329 A1 as United States Brunet et al 43 Pub Date Jul 7 2005 54 SMARTPHONE PROFILER SYSTEM AND METHOD 76 Inventors Jeffrey Brunet Toronto CA Ian Collins Markham CA Yousuf Chowdhary Maple CA Stephen Kim Thornhill CA Correspondence Address RENNER KENNER GREIVE BOBAK TAYLOR amp WEBER FIRST NATIONAL TOWER FOURTH FLOOR 106 S MAIN STREET AKRON OH 44308 US 21 Appl No 10 999 606 22 Filed Nov 29 2004 io Related U S Application Data 60 Provisional application No 60 525 794 filed on Dec 1 2003 Publication Classification 61 Int Ann H04Q 7 20 HO4M 1 68 C2 Tan USE amp e Ee ONE ee ten sa 455 432 2 57 ABSTRACT A smartphone profiler system and method is provided for collecting profile data from a mobile device which is then transmitted to a server for analysis and customer care The profile data may be transmitted in one or more data streams The invention provides for more than one possible type of transmission protocol If a transmission fails using a first transmission protocol the invention allows a second trans mission protocol to be used The server is preferably capable of invoking a corrective action on the mobile device based on the profile data received 106 CSR GUI Patent Application Publication Jul 7 2005 Sheet 1 of 9 US 2005 0148329 A1 S101
10. connection 0059 The data store is used to store and classify device data Once the Profile Listener triggers a request for storage the data store 107 inserts subscriber account information and device profile information into its database 0060 Inthe preferred embodiment the application server 105 uploads a SDA to a smartphone device 100 The SDA is used to gather and download diagnostic information from the device 100 for troubleshooting purposes Smartphone devices 100 include GPRS CDMA2000 UMTS cradled smartphones and WiFi enabled smartphones The SDA can be uploaded to the smartphone devices via Over the Air OTA using for example Short Message Service SMS WAP push local methods including PC cable connection or external storage card cradle infra red Bluetooth and other similar mechanisms 0061 The data collected by the SDA can be divided into two categories 0062 1 User specific unique 0063 2 Device specific non unique US 2005 0148329 A1 0064 Any fields concerning the user specific data pref erably is gathered with subscriber privacy consent This information is then encapsulated into XML and provisioned to the application server 105 Secure communication can be established by using HTTPS SSL encryption or public key private key exchange 0065 An overview of the process of receiving profile data from devices 100 is illustrated in FIG 2 0066 FIG 2 is a flow chart of an exemplary prof
11. customer care analysis Jul 7 2005 3 The profiling method of claim 1 wherein step a of the method further comprises splitting the profile data into a plurality of data streams of a pre selected size to facilitate transmission according to the selected first communication protocol 4 The profiling method of claim 1 wherein step c of the method further comprises splitting the profile data into a plurality of data streams of a pre selected size to facilitate transmission according to the selected second communica tion protocol 5 The profiling method of claim 1 wherein the profile data comprises data in XML format 6 The profiling method of claim 1 wherein the profile data comprises data in delimited ASCII format 7 The profiling method of claim 1 wherein the method further comprises encrypting the one or more data streams prior to transmission 8 The profiling method of claim 1 wherein the profile data comprises one or more types of data selected from the group consisting of device manufacturer model revision OEM information processor type and architecture software and hardware platforms OS major version OS minor ver sion OS build number total physical memory available physical memory memory load AC power battery strength signal strength Cell ID SMS service center voice mail number connection settings installed applications state of applications whether running or not user information including user
12. e them 0089 The SDA is designed to include a validation mechanism which ensures the number of packets sent by the SDA match the number of packets received If there is an incorrect match found an error message is presented to the CSR indicating that the profiling process failed A retry mechanism exists on the server side and the mechanism is invoked if it does not receive all the data the server is expecting 0090 As shown in FIG 5 the Profile Request 505 message is one of the message types supported by the device agent 501 This message is sent by the application server 105 when initiated by the CSR 500 to request a device profile Receiving the full profile 507 may take some time so the device agent 501 replies immediately with the SMS message I am alive 506 This allows for the progress information to be shown on the screen for the CSR 500 0091 The verify message activity 502 of the device agent 501 invokes verification of the authenticity and appropri ateness of the message For example it may involve check ing the header of the received message authenticating the message checking the message type to ensure it is a valid one decrypting the contents if necessary etc 0092 Once all required information is gathered by the SDA 501 the SDA 501 sends the data to the Profile Listener preferably by SMS or TCP IP Preferably the SDA tries a more efficient method first such as TCP IP but automatically fails over to
13. e there could be multiple settings for the category Preferably no attributes are used 0098 For example the XML Parser might generate the following key value pairs from the parsed XML elements 0099 ESN 35537831545 0100 TOTAL_MEM 163775376 0101 CONNECTION_SETTINGS CONN 1 NAME Wireless Carrierl 0102 CONNECTION_SETTINGS CONN_1 USER NAME namel 0103 CONNECTION_SETTINGS CONN_1 PASS WORD password1 0104 CONNECTION_SETTINGS CONN 2 NAME Wireless Carrier2 0105 CONNECTION_SETTINGS CONN_2 USER NAME name2 0106 CONNECTION_SETTINGS CONN_ 2 PASS WORD password2 US 2005 0148329 A1 0107 In order to reduce the size of the device profile data a compression algorithm may be implemented as part of its parsing engine 0108 To illustrate an XML Profile Document preferably has the following format lt PROFILE gt lt ESN gt 355378315 lt ESN gt lt TOTAL_MEM gt 163775376 lt TOTAL_MEM gt lt CONNECTION_SETTINGS gt lt CONN_1 gt lt NAME gt Wireless Carrierl lt NAME gt lt USERNAME gt namel lt username gt lt PASSWORD gt password1 lt PASSWORD gt lt CONN_1 gt lt CONN_2 gt lt NAME gt Wireless Carrier2 lt NAME gt lt USERNAME gt name 2 lt username gt lt PASSWORD gt password2 lt PASSWORD gt lt CONN_2 gt lt CONNECTION_SETTINGS gt lt PROFILE gt 0109 In summary each XML element under the root element represents a specific type of device profile se
14. ed the subscriber s smartphone device profile data it parses the data for presentation to the CSR GUI 106 Upon presenta tion the device profile is stored in a Device Profile Data Store 107 0051 FIG 1 provides an overview of the Smartphone Profiler and its associated components The Smartphone Profiler includes the following components Smartphone Device Agent SDA resident in the wireless device 100 Profile Listener Parsing Engine both resident on the appli cation server 105 CSR GUI 106 Device Profile Data Store 107 0052 The Smartphone Device Agent is a software agent installed on a mobile device 100 such as a wireless smart phone If a subscriber has a device 100 that does not have an SDA one can be downloaded to the device 100 when the Jul 7 2005 need arises One such device agent is part of the SmartCare suite of customer care utilities offered by Biffone Inc 0053 The Profile Listener is a server based component residing on an application server 105 which receives profile data from both SMS 101 and TCP IP Internet 109 con nections sent by the SDA The Profile Listener uses valida tion mechanisms to determine the parser to use 0054 The Parsing Engine parses the smartphone device profile data gathered by the SDA so that it can be displayed in the CSR GUI 106 and later archived in the Device Profile Data Store 107 The Parsing Engine is also a server based component and resides on an application se
15. eep session alive message For example in one embodi ment a value of 1 assigned to a message type would indicate a message to be of type profiler request while a value of US 2005 0148329 A1 0 would indicate that it is of type keep session alive Other message types are also contemplated 0084 The Device Profiler gathers device information and settings The profile data is divided into two categories 0085 1 Common 0086 2 Device Specific 0087 The Device Transmitter is responsible for sending data to the application server Preferably TCP IP is used as the primary mode of transport In the event that IP technol ogy is interrupted or unavailable for sending the device profile data SDA reverts to a second or fallback technology such as SMS in order to continue with the downloading process The fail over logic is used when either the sub scriber is making a phone call is in progress or if there is a problem establishing the TCP IP connection 0088 To address the present limitations of the SMS technology which restricts packet data to a maximum of 160 characters per packet when using SMS transport mode the Device Transmitter splits the profile into chunks Such chunks are sized to fit within the wireless carrier s SMS character limit usually around 140 to 160 characters Preferably each of these chunks is also assigned a Profiler Event ID which allows the application server to recognize and reassembl
16. entify differences in application or firmware settings and to upload configuration settings required to troubleshoot application issues or bugs 0018 The present invention is intended to simplify the customer care process by automating the data collection required to troubleshoot customer s smartphone profiles Using Over the Air OTA Technologies such as SMS or IP based communications like GPRS 1XRTT the Smart phone Profiler sends a request to the subscriber s device to obtain profile settings The device then gathers this data and sends it back using any one of the mechanisms mentioned above This data is presented to the CSR for diagnostics purposes 0019 Itis an aspect of the invention to provide a profiling method using a device agent within a mobile device in communication with a server for providing customer care to the mobile device The method comprises the following steps 0020 a in response to a request from the server for a profile of the mobile device activating a device profiler within the device agent capable of 0021 i gathering profile data from the mobile device and 0022 ii packaging the profile data into one or more data streams 0023 b attempting to transmit the one or more data streams to the server by a selected first communica tion protocol and 0024 c on detection of a failure in the transmitting step attempting retransmission of the one or more data streams to the server by a
17. he needs of third gen eration 3G wireless communications systems 0128 GUI Graphical User Interface 0129 XML Extensible Markup Language 0130 JMS Java Message Service 0131 JSP Java Server Pages 0132 ODBC Open Database Connectivity a standard database access method 0133 Invention Specific Acronyms 0134 MCF Mobile Care Framework 0135 SDA Smartphone Device Agent What is claimed is 1 A profiling method using a device agent within a mobile device in communication with a server for providing cus tomer care to the mobile device comprising a in response to a request from the server for a profile of the mobile device activating a device profiler within the device agent capable of i gathering profile data from the mobile device and ii packaging the profile data into one or more data streams b attempting to transmit the one or more data streams to the server by a selected first communication protocol and c on detection of a failure in the transmitting step attempting retransmission of the one or more data streams to the server by a selected second communi cation protocol wherein the server is capable of invoking a corrective action on the mobile device based on the profile data received 2 The profiling method of claim 1 wherein each of the data streams comprises a unique event ID that enables the server to re assemble the data streams received by the server into a coherent profile for
18. ic data memory allocation connection data privacy and security settings Using this data customer problems can be accu rately identified and effectively resolved The data collected or obtained from the subscriber s device is presented to the CSR for validation and troubleshooting purposes This data can also be used to compare current settings versus required settings in a resident database that is updated frequently by the development and service provider community of known bugs problems and upgraded software hardware informa tion Increased customer satisfaction 0016 The typical support experience for technology products forces both end users and customer service repre sentatives to wade through highly technical Web sites US 2005 0148329 A1 complex documentation or long and cryptic question and answer sessions to get the information they need The present invention streamlines this process by simplifying the support experience for subscribers and support technicians alike 0017 The present invention has been designed to solve mobile data problems with a minimum of input from either the subscriber or the CSR Automating the identification of the problem by accurately obtaining device specific infor mation can help service providers achieve maximum effi ciency for timely targeted solutions to subscriber inquiries Additional modules for the Mobile Care Framework can be used to apply analytics such as to id
19. iling activity conducted by a Smartphone Device Agent in a mobile device At a start block 200 an incoming SMS message is received by the device Later at a decision box 200 the SMS header is checked to determine if the received SMS message is a diagnostic message also referred to as an MDI message If it is determined that the received message is not a diagnostic message then at a next block 202 it is routed to a default SMS handler in the device also referred to as the default device messenger 0067 If at the decision box 200 it is determined that the received message is a diagnostic message then at a next block 203 the message is decrypted Then at a next decision box 204 the message is checked for authentication If it is determined that the authentication is improper or inad equate then processing of the received message terminates at an end block Otherwise at a next decision block 205 the message type is checked 0068 If at the decision box 205 it is determined that the message type is session related such as a keep session alive request then at a next block 206 an I am alive response is communicated back to the sender i e the cus tomer care system or other systems that initiated the activity Such a message may be communicated over an SMS bearer After the I am alive message is communicated the pro cessing terminates at the end block 0069 If at the decision box 205 it is determi
20. ion including user name and password This list is not exhaustive of the types of profile data that may be gathered 0029 Preferably the first communication protocol com prises TCP IP Preferably the second communication pro tocol comprises SMS However the first and second com munication protocols may be any communication protocols that are suitable for reliable transmission of profile data in standard data formats such as XML or ASCII The second communication protocol will typically be a less efficient protocol which is effective as a fallback or failover option in the event the first communication protocol fails or is not accessible for whatever reason 0030 It is a second aspect of the invention to provide a device profiler system within a device agent installed on a mobile device in communication with a server for provid ing customer care to the mobile device The system com prises 0031 a a device listener for receiving a request from the server for a profile of the mobile device 0032 b a device profiler activated in response to the device listener capable of 0033 i gathering profile data from the mobile device and 0034 ii packaging the profile data into one or more data streams 0035 c a device transmitter capable of 0036 i attempting transmission of the profile data to the server by a first communication pro tocol and 0037 ii if the first communication protocol is not
21. lents For instance the smartphone could in fact comprise a PDA or advanced PDA a mobile terminal a camera a toy a gaming station a vending machine a vehicle an appliance such as a microwave oven or a coffee maker or practically any kind of device capable of using data transmission means for communication 0117 List of Acronyms 0118 Industry Specific Acronyms 0119 ESN Electronic Serial Number It is a 32 bit identifier of a mobile device and used in TDMA CDMA or AMPS networks 0120 IMEI International Mobile Equipment Identity It is a 56 bit identifier used in the GSM networks US 2005 0148329 A1 0121 OTA Over the Air A standard for the transmis sion and reception of application related information in a wireless communications system In addition to short messages and small graphics files can contain instruc tions for subscription activation banking transactions ringtones and Wireless Access Protocol WAP Set tings 0122 WAP Wireless Application Protocol 0123 GSM Global System for Mobile Communica tions 0124 GPRS General Packet Radio Service A GSM based packet data protocol using up to all 8 of the time slots in a GSM Channel 0125 SMS Short Message Service 0126 CDMA Code Division Multiple Access 0127 1XRTT CDMA2000 Radio Transmission Tech nology 1X RTT a wide band spread spectrum radio interface that uses Code Division Multiple Access CDMA technology to meet t
22. name and password 9 The profiling method of claim 1 wherein the first communication protocol comprises TCP IP 10 The profiling method of claim 1 wherein the second communication protocol comprises SMS 11 A device profiler system within a device agent installed on a mobile device in communication with a server for providing customer care to the mobile device the system comprising a a device listener for receiving a request from the server for a profile of the mobile device b a device profiler activated in response to the device listener capable of i gathering profile data from the mobile device and ii packaging the profile data into one or more data streams c a device transmitter capable of i attempting transmission of the profile data to the server by a first communication protocol and ii if the first communication protocol is not available or if the transmission at i fails attempting retrans mission by a second communication protocol wherein the server is capable of invoking a corrective action on the mobile device based on the profile data received 12 The device profiler system of claim 11 wherein each of the data streams comprises a unique event ID that enables the server to re assemble the data streams received by the server into a coherent profile for customer care analysis 13 The device profiler system of claim 11 wherein the system is further capable of splitting the profile data in
23. ned that the message type is profiler request then at a next block 207 an I am alive message is communicated Then at a next block 208 device information is gathered This involves invoking one or more API s some of them provided by an operating system in the device to retrieve information on the various status of the device the operator network provi sioned information configurations and applications running on the device The gathered information is then made ready to be sent as a response comprising a profiler data Then at a next decision block 209 the response type required is determined Response type can be SMS response Internet response and auto one of Internet or SMS 0070 If it is determined that the response type needs to be an SMS type then at a next block 210 the response comprising the profiler data is sent via SMS and processing terminates at the end block 0071 If it is determined that the response type needs to be an Internet type then at a next block 211 the response comprising the profiler data is sent via Internet and process ing terminates at the end block 0072 If it is determined that the response type needs to be auto i e an Internet type or SMS type then at a next block 212 the response comprising the profiler data is sent via Internet At the next block 213 an attempt is made to determine if the response was sent successfully If it is Jul 7 2005 determined that the
24. nge Keyboard GPRS Connestion Settings Internet GPRS Alt WINS Address ONS Address 0 250 255 188 Device Name Cetiular Line Dial up Strin GPRS Domain GPRS Access Point Name internet com IP Address 0 0 0 0 UserName i wapusert WINS Address 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 US 2005 0148329 A1 SMARTPHONE PROFILER SYSTEM AND METHOD RELATED APPLICATIONS 0001 This application claims the benefit of U S Provi sional Application Ser No 60 525 794 filed Dec 1 2003 FIELD OF THE INVENTION 0002 The present invention relates to customer care systems for telecommunications devices and more particu larly to customer care systems and methods for mobile devices BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 0003 For the first time in the history of telecommunica tions networks significant computing power has become available to the end user s device This welcome change has the ability to reshape the architecture of all mobile telecom munications networks Traditionally the Operational Sup port Systems Business Support Systems OSS BSS were large scale extremely complex centralized systems within the network With the proliferation of next generation smart phones and wireless PDAs significant intelligence can be pushed out to the subscriber terminal and thus the ability to greatly simplify OSS BSS has emerged 0004 The telecommunications industry is on the verge of a revolution in support system technologies
25. plication problems described above The proliferation of next generation smartphone devices and the level of issues and problem solving needed require a customer care appli cation specifically tailored to meet these emerging business needs SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 0009 The present invention comprises a Smartphone Profiler System and Method The invention is related as a sub system of the invention Mobile Care Framework for which a patent application is presently pending under U S 60 461 886 Filing Date Apr 11 2003 the disclosure of which is incorporated herein The Smartphone Profiler System and Method leverages the power of next generation devices and wireless packet data networks to provide an automated method of obtaining accurate and timely diag nostic data from these devices This will result in faster efficient and more accurate customer support for the rapid resolution of problems The advantages of the present inven tion include the following 0010 Reduced overall resolution times 0011 Reduced average call handling times ACHT 0012 Reduced number of call escalations 0013 Superior method of diagnosis through auto mated device data collection and presentation to the CSR 0014 0015 The Smartphone Profiler System software is designed to gather and download detailed information from a subscriber s device Such data can include a current list of applications configuration settings diagnost
26. rver 105 One such proprietary parsing engine is provided as part of the SmartCare suite offered by Biffone Inc 0055 The Graphical User Interface GUI 106 is used by the Customer Service Representative CSR for viewing and analysis of the smartphone s device profile data The CSR can also invoke the process of requesting a profile of a user s device through the GUI Alternatively the user can use interactive voice response IVR or a self care portal for initiating a device profile 0056 The Device Profile Data Store 107 consists of one or more databases used in the process of gathering classi fying and analyzing smartphone device profile data that has been collected from various devices 100 over a period of time 0057 The Device Profile Data Store 107 contains all customer specific profile information such as number of soft resets recently used applications installed application list where the information is unique to a specific customer and device specific profile information such as processor type flash ROM size firmware version screen resolution 0058 The Data Store 107 may be hosted by any JDBC compliant database system Connectivity to the Data Store 107 preferably is achieved via JDBC Preferably connec tivity from the application server 105 is handled by a connection pool where a set number of connections are established by the application server 105 and distributed to threads that require a database
27. selected second communication protocol 0025 The server is preferably capable of invoking a corrective action on the mobile device based on the profile data received 0026 Where multiple data streams are used each of the data streams preferably comprises a unique event ID that enables the server to re assemble the data streams received by the server into a coherent profile for customer care analysis The data streams may be of a pre selected size to facilitate transmission according to the selected first or second communication protocol The one or more data streams may be encrypted prior to transmission 0027 The profile data may comprise data in XML for mat The profile data may also or in the alternative com prise data in ASCII format which may be delimited for parseability Jul 7 2005 0028 The profile data relates to the settings and charac teristics of the individual mobile device smartphone The data preferably comprises one or more types of data selected from the group consisting of device manufacturer model revision OEM information processor type and architecture software and hardware platforms OS major version OS minor version OS build number total physical memory available physical memory memory load AC power battery strength signal strength Cell ID SMS service center voice mail number connection settings installed applications state of applications whether running or not user informa t
28. tact centers today CSRs Customer Service Representatives must undertake the extensive and time consuming task of asking customer s complex questions pertaining to their wireless devices for problem diagnosis This requires CSRs to be experts on smartphones and their applications and also requires cus tomers to spend an increasing amount of time on the telephone to receive support for their applications The result is increased support costs increased call handling times complex diagnostic processes and overall frustration Jul 7 2005 0007 The current method of gathering and obtaining smartphone information required for diagnostics is manual and therefore complex time consuming and prone to human errors These methods leave both the subscribers and cus tomer support staff frustrated In addition obtaining diag nostic information requires a specialized support staff and contact centers must therefore hire and train specialized staff for specific tasks For the service provider this means increased hiring and operational costs 0008 With the emergence of smartphones and wireless PDAs and their ability to download and install applications the wireless industry is poised to see explosive growth in application usage by subscribers Mobile operator customer care centers are focused on solutions for closed voice centric mobile phones This infrastructure is not suited to efficiently solve the intelligent mobile data device and ap
29. to a US 2005 0148329 A1 plurality of data streams of a pre selected size to facilitate transmission according to the selected first communication protocol 14 The device profiler system of claim 11 wherein the profile data comprises data in XML format 15 The device profiler system of claim 11 wherein the profile data comprises data in delimited ASCII format 16 The device profiler system of claim 11 wherein the system is further capable of encrypting the one or more data streams prior to transmission 17 The device profiler system of claim 11 wherein the profile data comprises one or more types of data selected from the group consisting of device manufacturer model revision OEM information processor type and architecture Jul 7 2005 software and hardware platforms OS major version OS minor version OS build number total physical memory available physical memory memory load AC power battery strength signal strength Cell ID SMS service center voice mail number connection settings installed applications state of applications whether running or not user informa tion including user name and password 18 The device profiler system of claim 11 wherein the first communication protocol comprises TCP IP 19 The device profiler system of claim 11 wherein the second communication protocol comprises SMS
30. tting while the content between the start and end tags represent the actual value for that device profile setting 0110 An example of device parameters gathered using the Smartphone Profiler System and Method is shown below Parameter Description Sample Values Manufacturer Phone Manufacture HTC name Model Phone Model Canary Revision Phone H W Revision 124 OEM Info Phone OEM Information ORG_NL Platform Phone H W Platform MS Smartphone Signal Strength Radio Signal Strength 74 Cell ID Radio Cell Id number 12004 SMS Service Center Service Center Number 17057969300 Voicemail Number Voicemail Number 14163581549 AC Power Is it plugged in to external power supply Battery strength in 68 On battery power Battery Strength 0111 Phone configuration Profile profile ex Silent mode Normal Processor CPU Type 5 Architecture Processor Revision CPU revision 2 OS Major Version OS Major Version 3 OS Minor Version OS Minor Version 0 OS Build Number OS Build Number 12312 Memory Load Calculation of memory 47 load Jul 7 2005 continued Phone configuration Profile profile ex Silent mode Normal Avail Physical Physical Memory 6 MB Memory available Total Physical Total amount of physical 12 MB Memory memory Installed Application List of all installed MSN Messenger 4 2 list applications Windows Media Player Image Viewer Pocket Word 0112 Preferably as shown in FIG 8 a Keep Alive Request PING message 904 ma
31. ublication Jul 7 2005 Sheet 7 of 9 US 2005 0148329 A1 FIG 7A lt TAG_A gt VAL1 lt TAG_A gt S700 TAG_A VAL1 lt TAG_ B gt lt TAG_ C gt lt TAG_D gt VAL2 lt TAG_D gt lt TAG C gt lt TAG_B gt Ss 800 TAG_B TAG_C TAG_D VAL2 FIG 7B Patent Application Publication Jul 7 2005 Sheet 8 of 9 US 2005 0148329 A1 900 sont nom Keep alive request ia message am alive 903 FIG 8 Patent Application Publication Jul 7 2005 Customer Mobile Number 1 416 566 4939 Owner Address 250 West Beaver Creek Rd Suite 1 Tel 1 2 416 566 4939 Customer Profile Tel 2 2 905 326 9110 email demo Omobitediagnostix com Profite History Device uT Canary S Configuration Toot Smartphone Profiler Device Infomation oa Personalization CSR Toolbox _ Model Canary 350400000198158 Update Manager Processor Architecture Processor Revision OS Minor Version Avail Physical 6 MB Memory 05 major verson 3 id FIG 9 Sheet 9 of 9 SMS Service Center 17057969300 H Software History Voicemail Number 14163581549 i AC Power On baner sone Battery Streng se id US 2005 0148329 A1 1000 Admin Console Preferences 1 Help Logout Last Profile Dare Wed Oct 9 13 38 17 EST 2003 HTC Canary late Profite User Manual Device Settings Type pesene Software List a Action Register MDI Smartphone Profiler v3 4 0 Ora
32. y be used to verify 902 that the device has an SDA installed and is responding to requests sent by the application server 105 The status is preferably displayed on the CSR GUI 900 0113 The CSR GUI is the user interface and is a web based XML driven dynamic system controlled by the appli cation server 105 he parsing engine thereon to display the mobile subscriber s device profile data A sample layout 1000 of the CSR GUI is shown in FIG 9 0114 Preferably the screens use JSPs Java Server Pages for layout and branding 10 customizations Prefer ably the session management and transactional logic are handled via the application server 105 using EJB technolo gies Session Beans Entity Beans By using EJB or an equivalent future branding and or text changes can be made without customizations to the application logic 0115 The JSPs dynamically generate the screens and the relevant information based on the access level of the Cus tomer Service Support Representative 0116 The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention Further since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact processes components and applications shown and described and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to falling within the scope of the invention and the appended claims and their equiva

Smartphone profiler system and method

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