METHODS FOR PROVIDING TECHNICAL SUPPORT OVER NETWORKS

摘要

The present invention provides a technical solution for enabling direct, person to person assistance over a communications network. The methods provide product and system support tools enabling, for example, a purchaser of a product or service to execute a computer program on a computer to establish an intelligently routed request for assistance to a human having knowledge in the area of the particular product or service. In one method, a human user couples a computer readable media associated with a product to a computer. A computer program on the computer readable media checks for, and if need be, installs needed software. The program can then establish a connection over a network such as the Internet directly to the help assistance organization appropriate for the particular product or service. The computer readable media can include an indication of the particular product or service and/or the assumed preferred language of the purchaser of the product or service. The assistance request can be routed to a human assistant, who may be seated at a computer device. In a preferred method, the human assistant greets the request for assistance and the human user with a live, personal, updated video link carrying the assistant's voice and a video signal carrying the assistant's image to the computer of the help requestor. The assistant may obtain preliminary information from the human user, and begin rapidly to provide assistance in a "face to face" virtual environment. Where the product involved is a computer related product, the human assistant may optionally view the same computer display as the human user and even manipulate the display to illustrate the performance of a particular software product.