System and method for providing customer support using a location-aware portable device
View Patent ↗A portable technical support device includes a location-determining element configured to allow the portable technical support device to be location-aware, and a communicating element configured to allow the portable technical support device to access a network management system, the network management system having information relating to a communication device, wherein the portable technical support device obtains from the management system the information relating to the communication device by making the network management system aware of the location of the communication device using the portable technical support device as a location-determining element.
1. A method for providing technical support, comprising:
determining a location of a portable technical support device;
forwarding the location to a network management system;
requesting from the network management system a configuration of a communication device without direct communication between the portable technical support device and the communication device;
receiving in the portable technical support device from the network management system a representation of a configuration of the communication device;
saving in the portable technical support device the representation of the configuration of the communication device;
modifying in the portable technical support device with the representation of the configuration of the communication device and saving a modified representation of the configuration of the communication device in the portable technical support device;
forwarding from the portable technical support device the modified representation of the configuration of the communication device to the network management system; and
applying the modified representation of the configuration to the communication device using the network management system.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network management system acts as a communication interface between the portable technical support device and the communication device.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising using a global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location of the portable technical support device.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising using cellular triangulation to determine a location of the portable technical support device.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising using Wi-Fi to determine a location of the portable technical support device.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the portable technical support device is located at a location at which the communication device is located.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the portable technical support device is located at a location that is different than the location at which the communication device is located.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of communication devices are located at a single location and the portable technical support device is used to select one of the plurality of communication devices for which to obtain from the management system information relating to the selected one of the plurality of communication devices.
9. A method for using a portable technical support device, comprising:
determining a location of a portable technical support device;
forwarding the location to a management system;
requesting from the management system a configuration of a communication device without direct communicating between the portable technical support device and the communication device;
receiving in the portable technical support device from the management system an indication that the configuration is not available;
using the portable technical support device to establish a location of the communication device;
receiving in the portable technical support device from the management system a representation of a configuration of the communication device;
saving in the portable technical support device the representation of the configuration of the communication device;
modifying in the portable technical support device with the representation of the configuration of the communication device and saving a modified representation of the configuration of the communication device in the portable technical support device;
forwarding from the portable technical support device the modified representation of the configuration of the communication device to the management system; and
applying the modified representation of the configuration to the communication device using the management system.
10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising identifying the communication device using one of serial number, name, and MAC (media access control) address.