WO2013121435A1

WO2013121435A1 - Remote mobile diagnostics

Info

Publication number: WO2013121435A1
Application number: PCT/IN2012/000514
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tarun Jain
Original assignee: Kochar Infotech (P) Ltd.
Priority date: 2012-02-16
Filing date: 2012-07-23
Publication date: 2013-08-22

Abstract

A system is provided that includes a remotely located entity. The remotely located entity is configured to send a request to remotely manage a portable electronic device. The remotely located entity operates to receive information about the portable electronic device to identify one or more faults associated with the portable electronic device. The remotely located entity is also configured to address the one or more faults associated with the portable electronic device via a short message service of a telecommunication network.

Description

REMOTE MOBILE DIAGNOSTICS

BACKGROUND Field:

[0001] This invention generally relates to remote mobile diagnostics systems and methods. Particularly, but not by way of limitation, this pertains to remote mobile device diagnostics for remotely communicating with a user mobile device and addressing faults.

[0002] A user of portable electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets, and the like may face issues in operating these devices. In such situations, the user reaches out to customer care services provided by a telecommunication system. The service allows the user to connect with a Customer Care Agent (CCA)/IT Support team through a voice call and communicate the nature of the issue(s) so that the user can receive instructions or solutions accordingly. The CCA/IT Support team addresses the issues raised by the user. The solution may involve debugging, configuring, and managing the portable electronic device, which may be a difficult, error prone, and lengthy process; especially, if the user is not familiar with the functions of the portable electronic device. This process of resolving device issues (with the user calling the CCAs) may prove expensive as the cost of voice-enabled customer care services increase with the increase in talk time over call and hence, may adversely impact the average revenue generated per-user by increasing the support cost.

[0003] A challenge for increasing mobile data services' revenue is device enablement. Presently, the CCA//IT Support team provides solutions for the portable electronic device management by instructing users to manually explore or examine the portable electronic device for configuration settings or any other technical issues, which is generally a complex and time-consuming task for users as they call from the same device on which support is required. Another mechanism by which the CCAs//IT Support team may provide solutions is by remotely detecting and resolving technical issues associated with the portable electronic device in a network. The mechanism allows employing diagnostics management objects in the portable electronic device such that the network is able to remotely determine an appropriate solution based on the diagnostics information returned by the electronic device. The mechanisms use device management protocols such as Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) Device Management (DM) to remotely communicate with the portable electronic device. Further, any such mechanisms make use of the Internet to communicate and address one or more faults associated with the portable electronic device, thereby rendering them ineffective for callers with poor or no Internet connectivity.

[0004] Thus, there exists a need for a system and method for providing an option to remotely manage the users' portable electronic devices for checking actual configuration errors, settings, or issues, and managing them without user intervention and internet connectivity. Therefore, this may aid in reducing CCA /support costs and network traffic, increasing revenue from advanced data services by remotely managing device control and security

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] The embodiments disclosed herein provide a system or a method with remote mobile diagnosing and troubleshooting capabilities. The system or the method provide an option to a remotely located entity to remotely diagnose a portable electronic device such that the remotely located entity may view data and configuration settings of the portable electronic device and identify one or more faults associated with the portable electronic device. The remotely located entity addresses the one or more faults associated with the portable electronic device via a short message service, bypassing the user's interaction with the portable electronic device.

[0006] In an embodiment, a system for remotely diagnosing and troubleshooting a portable electronic device is disclosed. The system enables a remotely located entity to establish a connection with a portable electronic device. The portable electronic device may be configured to receive a request for remotely managing the portable electronic device. The remotely located entity may be configured to use a web- based interface and a unique identifier to send the request and establish a session with the portable electronic device. The remotely located entity may also be configured to use an application configured on the portable electronic device to establish the session and remotely access the portable electronic device. In an embodiment, the application may be configured to allow the portable electronic device to establish the session with the remotely located entity. In an embodiment, the session allows the remotely located entity to remotely manage the portable electronic device via the application.

[0007] After establishing the session, the remotely located entity may receive information about the portable electronic device. The remotely located entity may use the information about the portable electronic device to identify one or more faults associated with the portable electronic device. One or more servers may be configured to allow the remotely located entity to send a message to the portable electronic device using the short message service (SMS) of a telecommunications network. The message may be configured to address the one or more faults associated with the portable electronic device.

[0008] In an embodiment, the system or method for remotely diagnosing and troubleshooting such as one or more faults associated with the portable electronic device is disclosed. The system may include the portable electronic device for sending a message using the short message service over a telecommunications network. The system may also include one or more servers, which may communicate with the portable electronic device to receive the message sent by the portable electronic device. The system may allow the one or more servers to parse the one or more contents of the message and send a request to the portable electronic device for receiving data related to the portable electronic device. The one or more servers may use the information about the portable electronic device to identify the one or more faults associated with the portable electronic device. The one or more servers may send a message using the short message service to address the one or more faults associated with the portable electronic device.

[0009] In an embodiment, the system may allow the portable electronic device to include an application configured to provide the information about the portable electronic device in response to the request received from the one or more servers. In an embodiment, the portable electronic device may be configured to receive the request after sending the message to the one or more servers.

[0010] In an embodiment, the system may configure the application to allow the portable electronic device to establish a session with the one or more servers.

[0011] In an embodiment, the system may configure the one or more servers to dynamically establish the session with the portable electronic via a unique identifier. In an embodiment, the unique identifier is associated with the portable electronic device.

[0012] In an embodiment, a method for remotely managing a portable electronic device is disclosed. The method may include sending a request to remotely manage a portable electronic device. The method may include receiving information about the portable electronic device. The information described herein may be used to identify one or more faults associated with the portable electronic device. Further, the method may include sending a message using a short message service to the portable electronic device, wherein the message is configured to address the one or more faults associated with the portable electronic device.

[0013] In an embodiment, the method may include establishing a connection with a portable electronic device by a remotely located entity to send the request for remotely managing the portable electronic device.

[0014] In an embodiment, the method may include establishing a session with the portable electronic device via a unique identifier, wherein the unique identifier is associated with the portable electronic device.

[0015] In an embodiment, the method may include receiving the information about the portable electronic device by the remotely located entity via an application configured on the portable electronic device.

[0016] In an embodiment, the method may include allowing the portable electronic device to establish the session with the remotely located entity via the application. The session described herein may allow the remotely located entity to remotely manage the portable electronic device via the application.

[0017] In an embodiment, a method for remotely managing, diagnosing, and troubleshooting a portable electronic device is disclosed. The method may include receiving a message using a short message service from a portable electronic device. The method may also include parsing one or more contents of the message and requesting information about the portable electronic device. Further, the method may include identifying one or more faults associated with the portable electronic device based on the information about the portable electronic device and sending a message using the short message service to address the one or more faults associated with the portable electronic device.

[0018] In an embodiment, the method may include configuring an application on the portable electronic device to provide the information about the portable electronic device in response to the request received from one or more servers. The portable electronic device may be configured to receive the request after sending the message to the one or more servers.

[0019] In an embodiment, the method may include allowing the portable electronic device to establish a session with the one or more servers via the application. The session may allow the one or more servers to dynamically manage the portable electronic device via the application.

[0020] In an embodiment, the method may include configuring the one or more servers to dynamically establish the session with the portable electronic device via a unique identifier, wherein the unique identifier is associated with the portable electronic device.

[0021] This summary is an overview of some of the teachings of the present application and is not intended to be an exclusive or exhaustive treatment of the present subject matter. Further, details about the present subject matter are found in the detailed description and appended claims. Other aspects will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the following detailed description and viewing the drawings that form a part thereof, each of which is not to be taken in a limiting sense. The scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0022] In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numerals describe substantially similar components throughout the several views. Like numerals having different letter suffixes represent different instances of substantially similar components. The drawings illustrate generally, by way of example, but not by way of limitation, various embodiments discussed in the present document.

[0023] Fig. 1 is an exemplary system illustrating generally, among other things, an environment in which various embodiments may operate;

[0024] Fig. 2A illustrates generally, but not by the way of limitation, a remote display of information corresponding to a portable electronic device by a remotely located entity, in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure;

[0025] Fig. 2B illustrates generally, but not by the way of limitation, a fault addressing display corresponding to the portable electronic device by the remotely located entity, in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure;

[0026] Fig. 3 illustrates generally, but not by the way of limitation, a sequence diagram depicting an example of a working model for remote mobile diagnostic, in accordance with various embodiments;

[0027] Fig. 4 illustrates generally, by the way of an example, but not by the way of limitation, a flowchart depicting operations of the remotely located entity for remotely managing the portable electronic device;

[0028] Fig. 5 illustrates generally, by the way of an example, but not by the way of limitation, a flowchart depicting a method for remotely addressing one or more faults associated with the portable electronic device, in accordance with an embodiment; [0029] Fig. 6 illustrates generally, but not by the way of limitation, a sequence diagram depicting another example of the working model for remote mobile diagnostics, in accordance with various embodiments; and

[0030] Fig. 7 illustrates generally, by the way of an example, but not by the way of limitation, a flowchart depicting a method for remotely diagnosing and troubleshooting the portable electronic device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and which is shown by way of illustrating specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments, which are also referred to herein as "examples," are described in details to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. And, it is to be understood that the embodiments may be combined, or that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural, logical, and electrical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the disclosed invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the disclosed system and method described herein is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0032] In this document, the terms "a" or "an" are used, as common in patent documents, to include one or more than one. In this document, the term "or" is used to refer to a "nonexclusive or" unless otherwise indicated. Furthermore, all publications, patents, and patent documents referred to in this document are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety as though individually incorporated by reference. In the event of inconsistent usages between this document and those documents so incorporated by reference, the usage in the incorporated reference(s) should be considered supplementary to that of this document; for irreconcilable inconsistencies, the usage in this document controls.

[0033] The embodiments disclosed herein provide a system or a method for remote mobile device diagnostics and troubleshooting. The method allows a remotely located entity (RLE) an option to remotely manage a portable electronic device (PED), such that the RLE may remotely view actual data and configuration settings of the PED and identify one or more faults associated with the PED. The RLE may then address the one or more faults associated with the PED via a short message service of the telecommunications network, bypassing the user interaction with the PED.

[0034] In an embodiment, a system or a method for remotely diagnosing and troubleshooting one or more faults associated with the PED is disclosed. The method allows the one or more servers to receive the information about the PED, such that the one or more servers may automatically identify the one or more faults associated with the PED. The one or more servers may address the one or more faults associated with the PED via a short message service of the telecommunications network, bypassing the user interaction with the PED.

[0035] The flexibility of remotely diagnosing and automatically addressing the one or more faults associated with the PED may reduce the cost of voice-enabled customer care services and increase the productivity of customer care services.

[0036] Fig. 1 is an exemplary system 100 illustrating generally, among other things, without limitation, in which various embodiments may operate. In an embodiment, the system 100 may include a remotely located entity (RLE) 102, which may remotely diagnose and troubleshoot one or more faults associated with a portable electronic device (PED) 104. The RLE 102 may remotely view information such as the actual configurations and status information of the PED 104, such that the RLE 102 may easily debug, configure, and manage the PED 104. The RLE 102 described herein may be any general-purpose computer with sufficient processing power, memory resources, and network throughput capability associated with a customer care agent or representative. The RLE 102 may be communicatively connected to a telecommunications network 106 to interact with the one or more servers 110 (also referred as server) and the PED 104 (that may be connected to the telecommunications network 106) such that the RLE 102 may remotely manage and troubleshoot the one or more faults associated with the PED 104. The RLE 102 may use a web-based interface to remotely manage the PED 104 and receive the actual configurations and status information of the PED 104. Further, the RLE 102 may interact with one or more servers 110 such as to remotely communicate, provide relevant solutions, or address the one or more faults of the PED 104 using the short message service (SMS) of the telecommunications network 106.

[0037] The telecommunications network 106 provides communicative interconnection of a plurality of devices, such as PED 104, RLE 102, and the one or more servers 110. The telecommunications network 106 may include wireless or wire line network, such as for example, but not limited to, Global System for Mobile Telecommunications (GSM) network, Personal Communication System (PCS) network, Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), proprietary local and long distance telecommunications network, or any other telecommunications network. In addition, telecommunications network 106 may include digital data network, such as for example, but not limited to, local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), both LAN and WAN, or any other digital data network. The short message service described herein may be a store and forward service such as the short messages may not be sent directly from sender to recipient, but always via an SMS Center. Each telecommunications network 106 that supports the SMS may include one or more massaging centers to handle and manage the short messages.

[0038] The PED 104 described herein may be a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), tablets, wireless communications device, or any other electronic device. The PED 104 may connect to the telecommunications network 106 to communicate with the RLE 102. The connection to the telecommunications network 106 may be direct or indirect, wired or wireless, or a combination thereof. The remote session with the PED 104 may be implemented using components already incorporated in the PED 104. In an example, the PED 104 may include or may be configured to use an application to remotely communicate with the RLE 102. The application described herein may be a software component that may provide the capability to the RLE 102 or the one or more servers 1 10 to remotely manage the PED 104, such as by remotely diagnosing or troubleshooting the one or more faults associated with the PED 104. The PED 104 may be associated with a unique identifier such as a user mobile number or any other unique identifier, which may be used by the RLE 102 to establish a remote session with the PED 104 over the telecommunications network 106. In an embodiment, the application described herein may be configured to allow the PED 104 to establish the session with the remotely located entity. The session described herein may allow the RLE 102 to remotely manage the PED 104 via the application.

[0039] If a user 108 of the PED 104 faces issues with the data services, device enablement, or any other technical faults associated with the PED 104, the user 108 may connect to the RLE 102 to get relevant solutions for the one or more faults in the telecommunications network 106. The connection with the RLE 102 may be established when the user 108 calls a number provided by the service provider. In an embodiment, the connection may be automatically established by a support team or administrator based on one or more policies. The one or more policies described herein may ensure the PED 104 security and proactively identify the one or more faults associated with the PED 104.

[0040] In an embodiment, the PED 104 may send a message using the short message service of the telecommunications network 106 to a specific number, such as to establish the connection and get the relevant solutions for the one or more faults associated with the PED 104. In an example, the message sent using SMS may be up to 160 characters. These 160 characters may include words, numbers, or an alphanumeric combination. In an example, non-text based short messages (for example, in binary format) are also supported. The PED 104 may send the message to a specific telecommunications service provider number, where the one or more contents of the message may be parsed by the one or more servers 1 10. The specific number described herein may be a number associated with the one or more servers 1 10. The one or more contents of the message may include for example, but not limited, to a keyword identifying the one or more faults associated with the PED 104.

[0041] The one or more servers 1 10 may send a request to the PED 104 to receive information about the PED 104 in accordance with the parsed contents of the message. In an embodiment, the server 1 10 may be configured to dynamically establish a session with the PED 104 via a unique identifier associated with the PED 104. In an embodiment, the server 1 10 may be configured to use the application configured on the PED 104 such as to dynamically establish the session with the PED 104. In an example, the application described herein may be configured to provide the information about the PED 104 in response to the request received from the server 110 such that the server 110 may identify and address the one or more faults associated with the PED 104 via a message using the short message service of the telecommunications network 106.

[0042] The one or more servers 110 described herein may be connected to the short message service of the telecommunications network 106. The one or more servers 110 may allow the RLE 102 to use a web-based service and diagnose the actual configurations and status information of the PED 104. The information described herein may be for example, but not limited to, handset information 112, Internet settings 1 14, email settings 1 16, browser services 118, applications 120, or any other information, The RLE 102 may address the one or more faults via a short message service. Further, the one or more servers 110 may store the correct configuration information and solutions associated with the handset information, Internet settings, email settings, browser services, applications, or any other technical faults, such that the RLE 102 may address the one or more faults associated with the PED 104. The information that is communicated may originate from or may be directed to the application that is running on the PED 104.

[0043] In an embodiment, the one or more servers 1 10 may transmit a request to receive the information about the PED 104. The request may be directed to the application running on the PED 104 using the short message service of the telecommunications network 106. The one or more servers 1 10 may use the information about the PED 104 to identify the one or more faults associated with the PED 104. The one or more servers 110 may transmit a message using the short message service of the telecommunications network 106 to address the one or more faults associated with the PED 104. The message may be configured to automatically execute on the PED 104 to address the one or more faults associated with the PED 104. In an example, the message may enable or disable remote session with the PED 104 with the one or more servers 110, enable or disable, install or uninstall applications that may run on the PED 104, erase all or part of the PED 104 contents, such as programs and data, transmit new data or parameters to the PED 104, query the current state information of the PED 104, transmit data to the one or more servers 1 10 from the PED 104, or the like.

[0044] Fig. 2A illustrates an example of the information received from the PED 104, being displayed on the display 200, of the RLE 102 via the telecommunications network 106. Fig. 2A will be described in conjunction with elements described in Fig. 1. The display 200 may include a set of controls (not shown) for controlling display settings such as brightness, contrast, etc., and a web-based interface 202 for displaying the information received from the PED 104. In the example shown in Fig. 2 A, the PED 104 is a mobile phone. Alternatively, the PED 104 may be any portable electronic device such as a personal data assistant (PDA), tablet, etc.

[0045] The web-based interface 202 is used by the RLE 102 to remotely view, diagnose, and troubleshoot the one or more faults associated with the PED 104 in the telecommunications network 106. The web-based interface 202 displays tabs of the information received from the PED 104. The information described herein may be for example, but not limited to, the handset information 112, the Internet settings 1 14, the email settings 1 16, the browser services 1 18, and the applications 120. The handset information 1 12 described herein may include for example, but not limited to, mobile phone brand, mobile phone model number, mobile phone IMEI number, mobile phone number, operator, roaming status, battery strength, memory status, signal strength, and any other handset information. The Internet settings 1 14 described herein may include for example, but not limited to, WAP settings, Internet 3G/GPRS settings, MMS settings, Internet profile information, or any other Internet settings. The email settings 116 described herein may include for example, but not limited to, email account setup, email profiles, or any other information. The browser services 1 18 described herein may include for example, but not limited to, browser details, bookmarks setting, cache information, or any other browser related services. The applications 120 described herein may include for example, but not limited to, Java version, browsers installed, third-party applications, or any other applications installed or configured on the mobile device. The web-based interface 202 allows the RLE 102 to remotely view, edit, create, and delete any information associated with the PED 104. The web-based interface 202 may also display a queue tab 210 to provide a list of solutions to the PED 104. The interface related to the queue tab 210 is described in Fig. 2B. The elements and components on the web-based interface 202 described herein are merely for illustrating purposes. Further, it is possible to include different elements and components to be used in different embodiments.

[0046] Alternatively, Fig. 2B illustrates depicting an example of the RLE 102 for remotely addressing a fault associated with the PED 104 in the telecommunications network 106. Fig. 2B is described in conjunction with elements described in Figs. 1 and 2 A. The server 1 10 may implement one or more rules on the web-based interface 202 to automatically identify and highlight the fault associated with the PED 104. The fault described herein may be for example, but not limited to, handset fault, email settings fault, Internet settings fault, applications fault, browser services fault, or any other fault.

[0047] In an embodiment, the RLE 102 may also manually identify the fault by remotely viewing the information about the PED 104. The RLE 102 may then use the web-based interface 202 to configure a message addressing the fault of the PED 104. The web-based interface 202 may allow the RLE 102 to use customized graphical menus displayed on the web-based interface 202. The graphical menus described herein may be for example, but not limited to, a type menu 212, an action menu 214, and a command menu 216. The type menu 212 is used to select the type of fault associated with the PED 104 such as for example, but not limited to, fault in the Internet settings 114, the email settings 116, the browser services 118, or the applications 120. The action menu 214 includes the list of actions that is to be executed to address the one or more faults associated with the PED 104. The actions described in the action menu may include for example, but not limited to, create, clear cache, delete, install, uninstall, or any other actions. The command menu 216 described herein illustrates the components such as book marks of a browser, an application, or any other command, on which the actions need to be executed in the PED 104. The RLE 102 uses the graphical menus to configure a message to address the fault and send the message via a short message service to the PED 104 to address the associated fault.

[0048] In another example, if the RLE 102 identifies a fault with the email settings 116 of the PED 104, the RLE 102 uses the graphical menu to configure a message to address the fault associated with the PED 104. The RLE 102 defines the type of fault as email settings in the type menu 212, the action to be executed as created in the action menu 214, and the command as for example Yahoo! in the command menu 216. The RLE 102 then sends the message configured to address the email faults of the PED 104 in the telecommunications network 106. The message may then be automatically executed on the PED 104, thereby addressing the email settings fault on the PED 104, bypassing any interaction from the user 108. In an example, if the RLE 102 identifies more than one fault associated with the PED 104, then the solutions for the faults may be queued in a single message and sent to the PED 104 for automatically addressing the faults on the PED 104. In example, the faults may be addressed sequentially while bypassing the user interaction with the PED 104.

[0049] In another example, where the RLE 102 identifies more than one fault, such as fault in the email settings 116 and fault in the browser services of the PED 104. The RLE 102 uses the graphical menu to configure a message for automatically addressing the one or more faults. The RLE 102 defines the type of fault as email settings in the type menu 212, the action to be executed as create in the action menu 214, and the command as for example Yahoo! in the command menu 216. The RLE 102 then adds the first fault solution in a queue and then defines a solution for another fault. The RLE 102 defines the type of fault as browser services in the type menu 212, the action to be executed as create in the action menu 214, and the command as bookmark services in the command menu 216. The RLE 102 then adds the second fault solution in the queue. Further, a single message including both the first and second solutions is sent to the PED 104. The message may then be automatically executed on the PED 104 to address the faults one after the other, bypassing any intervention from the user 108 with the PED 104. The graphical elements on the web-based interface 202 described herein are merely for illustrating purposes. Further, it is possible to include different elements and components to be used in different embodiments.

[0050] In an embodiment, the server 1 10 may transmit a request, based on a message received from the PED 104, to receive information about the PED 104. The information about the PED 104 may be provided by the application running on the PED 104. The server 1 10 may use the information about the PED 104 to identify a fault associated with the PED 104. The server 110 may configure a message using the short message service of the telecommunications network 106 to address the fault associated with the PED 104. The server 110 may send the message, including solutions for addressing the fault associated with the PED 104. It should be appreciated that, if the server 110 identifies more than one fault associated with the PED 104, then the solutions for the faults may be queued in a single message and sent to the PED 104 for automatically addressing the faults. In an example, the faults may be addressed sequentially, while bypassing the user interaction with the PED 104.

[0051] Fig. 3 illustrates generally, but not by the way of limitation, a sequence diagram depicting an example of a method 300 for remotely diagnosing and automatically addressing one or more faults associated with the PED 104 by the RLE 102. Fig. 3 is explained in conjunction with the elements described in Fig. 1. In this embodiment, the method 300 allows the user 108 to configure an application on the PED 104 to remotely communicate with the RLE 102. The application may be pre-embedded in the PED 104 or may be a standalone application that may be installed by the user 108 on the PED 104. When the user 108 faces any problem with the PED 104, the user 108 connects with the RLE 102. In an embodiment, the connection may be established by calling the RLE 102 via the PED 104. For example, the user of the PED 104 may use the customer support number provided by the telecommunications service provider such as to establish a call with the RLE 102. The user 108 then communicates the problems associated with the PED 104 to the RLE 102 in the telecommunications network 106. The RLE 102 uses the web-based interface 202 and the unique identifier such as user mobile number or any other unique identifier to send a request to the PED 104 for remotely diagnosing the PED 104. The user 108 allows the RLE 102 to remotely manage the PED 104. Upon receiving a response from the user 108, the RLE 102 sends a request to the one or more servers 1 10 to create a session with the PED 104. In an embodiment, the application may be configured to allow the PED 104 to establish the session with the remotely located entity such that the RLE 102 may remotely manage the PED 104 via the application.

[0052] After the session is established, the method 300 allows the RLE 102 to remotely view, create, delete, edit, install, or uninstall any other information or application in the PED 104 by using the short message service of the telecommunications network 106. The information about the PED 104 may be sent by the application (that is running on the PED 104) to the RLE 102. The RLE 102 receives information such as the handset information 112, the Internet settings 114, the email settings 1 16, the browser services 118, the applications 120, or any other information about the PED 104.

[0053] The one or more servers may implement a set of rules on the web- based interface 202 to automatically identify and highlight the one or more faults associated with the PED 104 to the RLE 102. In an embodiment, the RLE 102 may also manually interact with the actual configurations and status information about the PED 104 to identify one or more faults associated with the PED 104. Alternatively, an alert message or prompt about the one or more faults is displayed on the PED 104 by the RLE 102. The method 300 allows the RLE 102 to configure a message addressing the one or more faults associated with the PED 104. The message includes the one or more solutions in a queue to address the one or more faults. The RLE 102 may send the message using the short message service of the telecommunications network 106, such that the message automatically addresses the one or more faults associated with the PED 104. The message at the PED 104 may then be automatically executed to address the one or more faults one after the other, bypassing the user interaction with the PED 104. The one or more servers 110 may store the information about the one or more addressed faults. The RLE 102 may then send an alert message or prompt about the one or more addressed faults to the PED 104. It should be appreciated that the user 108 will still be on the call (if the connection is established through the call) and may communicate with the RLE 102 at any time during the process described above. [0054] It should be understood that the embodiment described herein with respect to the sequence diagram of Fig. 3 is meant to be illustrative only and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention. For example, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the elements and steps of the illustrated embodiments may be implemented as a software, hardware or combinations thereof. The sequential steps illustrated herein may be modified in arrangement, or some of the steps may be skipped or added, performed sequentially, in parallel, in a different order, or a combination thereof without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0055] Fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating generally, by the way of example, but not by way of limitation, an example of a method 400 depicting the operation of the RLE 102 for remotely managing the PED 104. In the flow charts, various algorithmic steps are summarized in individual "blocks". The flow charts presented herein provide the basis for a control program that may be used or implemented by a microprocessor or a microcontroller or equivalent to effectuate the desired control of the PED 104. Those skilled in the art may readily implement such a control program based on the flow charts and other descriptions presented herein.

[0056] At 402, the method 400 may allow the RLE 102 to send a request to the PED 104 to remotely manage the PED 104. After the user 108 allows the RLE 102 to remotely manage the PED 104, the RLE 102 may receive the actual configurations and status information of the PED 104. At 404, the method 400 may allow the RLE 102 to remotely receive information about the PED 104. The information described herein may include for example, but not limited to, the handset information 112, the Internet settings 114, the email settings 116, the browser services 118, the applications 120, or any other information about the PED 104. At 406, the method 400 may allow the RLE 102 to identify one or more faults associated with the PED 104. In an example, the RLE 102 may use the web-based interface 202, which may automatically highlight the one or more faults in accordance with the information about the PED 104 to identify the one or more faults. In an example, the RLE 102 may also manually interact with the information about the PED 104 via the web-based interface 202 to identify the one or more faults associated with the PED 104. At 408, the method 400 includes sending a message using a short message service to the PED 104 to address the one or more faults. The RLE 102 may define one or more solutions for the one or more faults and send a message including the solutions to address the one or more faults at the PED 104 using the short message service over the telecommunications network 106.

[0057] Fig. 5 is a flow chart illustrating generally, but not by way of limitation, an example of a method 500 for remotely addressing the one or more faults associated with the PED 104, in accordance with an embodiment. The method 500 provides the RLE 102 an option to remotely manage the PED 104, such as by remotely diagnosing the actual configurations and status information of the PED 104 in order to automatically address the one or more faults associated with PED 104 through a short message service of the telecommunications network 106, bypassing any user intervention with the PED 104. In an example, whenever the user 108 faces any issues with the PED 104, the user 108 may connect to the RLE 102 by calling the customer support number provided by the telecommunications service provider. At 502, the method 500 may allow the RLE 102 to receive the call from the user 108 of the PED 104. The user 108 then communicates the issues associated with the PED 104 to the RLE 102 via the telecommunications network 106. At 504, the RLE 102 sends a request to the PED 104 such as to remotely manage the portable electronic device. The RLE 102 sends the request to the PED 104 using the web-based interface 202 and the mobile number of the PED 104. The user 108 of the PED 104 allows the RLE 102 to remotely mange the PED 104. At 506, upon receiving a response from the PED 104, the method 500 may allow the RLE 102 to create a session with the PED 104 such as to remotely manage the PED 104. After the session is established, the method 500 may enable the RLE 102 to view, edit, create, delete, install, or uninstall the information or application, or to do any other activity in the PED 104. The RLE 102 may then receive information about the PED 104 such as the handset information 1 12, the Internet settings 1 14, the email settings 1 16, the browser services 118, the applications 120, or any other information about the PED 104. The information about the PED 104 may be provided by the application running on the PED 104. [0058] At 508, the method 500 may allow the RLE 102 to discover faults associated with the PED 104. For example, the RLE 102 may view and remotely use the information about the PED 104 such as to identify the one or more faults associated with the PED 104. The one or more servers 1 10 may also implement the one or more rules on the web-based interface 202 such as to automatically identify and highlight the one or more faults associated with the PED 104. The one or more faults described herein may include for example, but not limited to, handset faults, email settings faults, Internet settings faults, applications faults, browser services faults, or any other faults. Alternatively, at 510, the method 500 may allow the RLE 102 to prompt the user about faults associated with PED 104. For example, the RLE 102 may send an alert message to the PED 104 to prompt the user about the one or more faults associated with it. At 512, the method 500 may allow the RLE 102 to send a message to the PED 104 for addressing the faults. For example, the RLE 102 may define one or more solutions for the one or more faults associated with the PED 104. The one or more solutions may be queued in a message and sent to the PED 104 such as to automatically address the one or more faults using the short message service of the telecommunications network 106. At 514, the method 500 may include automatically executing the message on the PED 104 to fix or address the one or more faults. In an example, the message may be automatically executed on the PED 104 such as to address the one or more faults associated with the PED 104, one after the other, bypassing any user interaction with the PED 104. At 516, the method 500 allows the RLE 102 to determine whether the one or more faults are properly addressed. If not, the method may repeat the steps 508-516. At 518, if the RLE 102 finishes resolving the one or more faults associated with the PED 104, the method 500 may include prompting the user about the resolution of faults associated with the PED 104. In an example, the RLE 102 may send an alert message to the PED 104 such as to prompt the user 108 about the one or more addressed faults.

[0059] Fig. 6 illustrates generally, but not by the way of limitation, a sequence diagram depicting an example of a system or method 600 for remotely diagnosing and automatically addressing the one or more faults associated with the PED 104 by the server 1 10. Fig. 6 is explained in conjunction with the elements described in Fig. 1. In this embodiment, the method 600 may allow the user 108 to configure an application on the PED 104 to remotely communicate with the server 110. The application may be pre- embedded in the PED 104 or may be a standalone application and may be installed by the user 108 on the PED 104. When the user 108 faces any problem with the PED 104, the user 108 may send a message using the short message service of the telecommunications network 106 to a specific number associated with the server 1 10. In an example, the messages sent using SMS may be up to 160 characters of text in length. These 160 characters may include words, numbers, or an alphanumeric combination. The method 600 may allow the server 110 to parse the one or more contents of the message to analyze the faults associated with the PED 104. The one or more contents may include for example, but not limited to, a keyword, or any other data indicating the one or more faults associated with the PED 104.

[0060] In an embodiment, the method 600 may allow the server 1 10 to dynamically establish a session with the PED 104. In an example, the server may dynamically establish the session such as by using a unique identifier associated with the PED 104. In an embodiment, the method 600 may allow the server 1 10 to communicate with the application running or installed on the PED 104 such as to establish the session with the PED 104. The method 600 may allow the server 1 10 to send a request to receive information about the PED 104, in accordance with the parsed contents of the message over the telecommunications network 106. In an embodiment, the PED 104 may be configured to receive the request after sending the message to the server 1 10. In an embodiment, the method 600 may allow the PED 104 to use the application configured thereon such as to provide the information about the PED 104 in response to the request received from the server 1 10. The server 1 10 may receive the information about the PED 104 such as for example, but not limited to, the handset information 1 12, the Internet settings 1 14, the email settings 116, the browser services 1 18, the applications 120, or any other information about the PED 104.

[0061] The method 600 may allow the server 110 to use the information about the PED 104 such as to automatically identify the one or more faults associated with the PED 104. In an example, the server 1 10 may configure a message to automatically address the one or more faults. The message described herein may include one or more solutions related to the one or more faults in a queue, such that the message may automatically address the one or more faults, one after the other, bypassing the user 108 interaction with the PED 104. The server 1 10 may send the configured message using the short message service of the telecommunications network 106. The message may be configured to be automatically executed on the PED 104 to address the one or more faults, bypassing the user 108 interaction with the PED 104.

[0062] It should be understood that the embodiment described herein with respect to the sequence diagram of Fig. 6 is meant to be illustrative only and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention. For example, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the elements and steps of the illustrated embodiment may be implemented as a software, hardware or combinations thereof. The sequential steps illustrated herein may be modified in arrangement, or some of the steps may be skipped or added, performed sequentially, in parallel, in a different order, or a combination thereof without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0063] Fig. 7 is a flowchart illustrating generally, by way of example, but not by way of limitation, an example of a method 700 depicting the operation of the server 110 for remotely managing the PED 104. At 702, the method 700 may allow the server 110 to receive a message including context related to a fault associated with the PED 104. At 704, the method 700 may allow the server 1 10 to parse the one or more contents of the message such as to analyze the request for the faults associated with the PED 104. At 706, the method 700 may allow the server 1 10 to send a request to the PED 104 such as to receive information about the PED 104, in accordance with the parsed contents of the message over the telecommunications network 106. The PED 104 may use the application configured on it to send the information about the PED 104 to the server 1 10.

[0064] At 708, the method 700 may allow the server 1 10 to use the information about the PED 104 such as to automatically identify the one or more faults associated with the PED 104. The method 700 may allow the server 110 to configure a message to automatically address the one or more faults. The message may include one or more solutions related to the one or more faults in a queue, such that the message may automatically address the one or more faults, one after the other, on the PED 104, bypassing the user 108 interaction with the PED 104. At 710, the method 700 may allow the server 110 to send the configured message using the short message service of the telecommunications network 106. The message may be configured to be automatically executed on the PED 104 such as to address the one or more faults, bypassing the user 108 interaction with the PED 104.

[0065] It is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative and not restrictive. For example, the above-described embodiments may be used in combination with each other. Many other embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reviewing the above description. The information described herein is for illustrative purpose only and in real time there may be different information and names of the components described herein. The scope of the invention should, therefore, be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. In the appended claims, the terms "including" and "in which" are used as the literal English equivalents of the respective terms "comprising" and "wherein." Also, in the following claims, the terms "including" and "comprising" are open-ended, i.e., a system, device, article, or process that includes elements in addition to those listed after such a term in a claim are deemed to fall within the scope of that claim. Moreover, in the following description, the terms "first," and "second," etc., are used merely as labels and are not intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects.

[0066] The methods described herein may be deployed in part or whole through a machine that executes software programs on a server, client, or other such computer and/or networking hardware on a processor. The processor may be part of a server, client, network infrastructure, mobile computing platform, stationary computing platform, or other computing platform. The processor may be any kind of computational or processing device capable of executing program instructions, codes, binary instructions, and the like. The processor may be or may include a signal processor, digital processor, embedded processor, microprocessor or any variant such as a coprocessor (math co-processor, graphic co-processor, communication co-processor, and the like) and the like that may directly or indirectly facilitate execution of program code or program instructions stored thereon.

[0067] The software program may be associated with a server that may include a domain server, Internet server, intranet server, and other variants such as secondary server, host server, distributed server, and the like. The server may include one or more memory, processors, computer readable media, storage media, ports (physical and virtual), communication devices, and interfaces capable of accessing other servers, clients, machines, and devices through a wired or a wireless medium, and the like. The methods, programs or codes as described herein and elsewhere may be executed by the server. In addition, other devices required for execution of methods, as described in this application, may be considered as a part of the infrastructure associated with the server.

[0068] The software program may be associated with a client that may include a domain client, Internet client, intranet client, and other variants such as secondary client, host client, distributed client, and the like. The client may include one or more of memory, processors, computer readable media, storage media, ports (physical and virtual), communication devices, and interfaces capable of accessing other clients, servers, machines, and devices through a wired or a wireless medium, and the like. The methods, programs or codes as described herein and elsewhere may be executed by the client.

[0069] The server may provide an interface to other devices including, without limitation, clients, other servers, printers, database servers, file servers, communication servers, distributed servers, and the like. Additionally, this coupling and/or connection may facilitate remote execution of programs across the network. The networking of some or all these devices may facilitate parallel processing of a program or method at one or more locations without deviating from the scope of the invention.

[0070] The client may provide an interface to other devices including, without limitation, servers, other clients, printers, database servers, print servers, file servers, communication servers, distributed servers, and the like. Additionally, this coupling and/or connection may facilitate remote execution of program across the network. The networking of some or all these devices may facilitate parallel processing of a program or method at one or more locations without deviating from the scope of the invention.

[0071] The methods described herein may be deployed in part or in whole through network infrastructures. The network infrastructure may include elements such as computing devices, servers, routers, hubs, firewalls, clients, personal computers, communication devices, routing devices, and other active and passive devices, modules, and/or components as known in the art. The computing and/or non-computing device(s) associated with the network infrastructure may include, apart from other components, a storage medium such as flash memory, buffer, stack, RAM, ROM, and the like. The processes, methods, program codes, instructions described herein and elsewhere may be executed by one or more elements of the network infrastructure.

[0072] The elements described and depicted herein, including flow charts, sequence diagrams, and other example embodiments throughout the figures, imply logical boundaries between the elements. However, according to software or hardware engineering practices, the depicted elements and the functions thereof may be implemented on machines through computer executable media having a processor capable of executing program instructions stored thereon and all such implementations may be within the scope of the present disclosure. Furthermore, the elements depicted in the flow chart and block diagrams or any other logical component may be implemented on a machine capable of executing program instructions. Thus, while the foregoing drawings and descriptions set forth functional aspects of the disclosed methods, no particular arrangement of software for implementing these functional aspects should be inferred from these descriptions unless explicitly stated or otherwise clear from the context. Similarly, it will be appreciated that the various steps identified and described above may be varied, and that the order of steps may be adapted to particular applications of the techniques disclosed herein. All such variations and modifications are intended to fall within the scope of this disclosure. As such, the depiction and/or description of an order for various steps should not be understood to require a particular order of execution for those steps, unless required by a particular application, or explicitly stated or otherwise clear from the context.

[0073] The methods and/or processes described above, and steps thereof, may be realized in hardware, software or any combination of hardware and software suitable for a particular application. The hardware may include a general purpose computer and/or dedicated computing device or specific computing device or particular aspect or component of a specific computing device.

[0074] While the invention has been disclosed in connection with the preferred embodiments shown and described in detail, various modifications and improvements thereon will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the spirit and scope of the system and method disclosed herein is not to be limited by the foregoing examples, but is to be understood in the broadest sense allowable by law.

Claims

CLAIMS: What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising: a portable electronic device configured to receive a request to remotely manage the portable electronic device; a remotely located entity configured to receive information about the portable electronic device, wherein the remotely located entity is configured to use the information about the portable electronic device to identify one or more faults associated with the portable electronic device; and one or more servers configured to allow the remotely located entity to send a message using a short message service, wherein the message is configured to address the one or more faults associated with the portable electronic device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the portable electronic device is configured to receive the request after establishing a connection with the remotely located entity.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the remotely located entity is configured to establish a session with the portable electronic device via a unique identifier, wherein the unique identifier is associated with the portable electronic device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the portable electronic device comprises an application configured to provide the information about the portable electronic device to the remotely located entity.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the application is configured to allow the portable electronic device to establish the session with the remotely located entity; and wherein the session allows the remotely located entity to remotely manage the portable electronic device via the application.

6. A system comprising: a portable electronic device configured to send a message using a short message service over a telecommunication network; one or more servers in communication with the portable electronic device over the telecommunication network, and configured to: receive the message from the portable electronic device; parse one or more content of the message; request information about the portable electronic device; identify one or more faults associated with the portable electronic device based on the information about the portable electronic device; and send a message using the short message service to address the one or more faults associated with the portable electronic device.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the portable electronic device comprises an application configured to provide the information about the portable electronic device in response to the request received from the one or more servers, wherein the portable electronic device is configured to receive the request after sending the message to the one or more servers.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the application is configured to allow the portable electronic device to establish a session with the one or more servers.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more servers is configured to dynamically establish the session with the portable electronic via a unique identifier, wherein the unique identifier is associated with the portable electronic device.

10. A method comprising: sending a request to remotely manage a portable electronic device; receiving information about the portable electronic device, wherein the information is use to identify one or more faults associated with the portable electronic device; and sending a message using a short message service to the portable electronic device, wherein the message is configured to address the one or more faults associated with the portable electronic device.

1 1. The method of claim 10 comprises establishing a connection with a portable electronic device by a remotely located entity to send the request for remotely managing the portable electronic device.

12. The method of claim 10 comprises establishing a session with the portable electronic device via a unique identifier, wherein the unique identifier is associated with the portable electronic device.

13. The system of claim 10 comprises receiving the information about the portable electronic device by the remotely located entity via an application configured on the portable electronic device.

14. The method of claim 13 comprises allowing the portable electronic device to establish the session with the remotely located entity via the application, wherein the session allows the remotely located entity to remotely manage the portable electronic device via the application.

15. A method comprising: receiving a message using a short message service from a portable electronic device; parsing one or more content of the message; requesting information about the portable electronic device; identifying one or more faults associated with the portable electronic device based on the information about the portable electronic device; and sending a message using the short message service to address the one or more faults associated with the portable electronic device.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the portable electronic device comprises an application configured to provide the information about the portable electronic device in response to the request received from one or more servers, wherein the portable electronic device is configured to receive the request after sending the message to the one or more servers.

17. The method of claim 15 comprises allowing the portable electronic device to establish a session with the one or more servers via the application, wherein the session allows the one or more servers to dynamically manage the portable electronic device via the application.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the one or more servers is configured to dynamically establish the session with the portable electronic device via a unique identifier, wherein the unique identifier is associated with the portable electronic device.