Combining data and video communication for customer support of electronic system

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions which, when executed by a processor of a computerized apparatus, cause the computerized apparatus to:

display a representation of a plurality of electronic systems;

receive a user selection of an electronic system of the plurality of electronic systems displayed in the representation;

in response to receiving the user selection, display a context-sensitive menu for performing actions in relation to the electronic system;

receive a second user selection of an item from the context-sensitive menu to launch a chat program that includes a window for conducting a video chat with a customer support device, and a control for gathering diagnostic information;

conduct the video chat with the customer support device in the window of the chat program;

compute a geographical location of the computerized apparatus;

transmit, while the video chat operates over a video channel, the computed geographical location of the computerized apparatus to the customer support device over a data channel to identify the electronic system to the customer support device; and while the video chat is conducted with the customer support device,

gather diagnostic information from the electronic system that is connected to the computerized apparatus over a network, the diagnostic information being gathered over the network, in response to a third user selection of the control in the chat program, and independent of the customer support device, the diagnostic information indicating an improper condition of the electronic system;

transmit the gathered diagnostic information to the customer support device; and thereafter,

receive remedial information from the customer support device that includes firmware, software, or a link to the firmware or the software to address the improper condition of the electronic system, wherein access to the remedial information received from the customer support device is initiated in response to user input within the chat program at the computerized apparatus, subsequent to the remedial information being received by the computerized apparatus and independent of the customer support device.

2. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , further including instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the computerized apparatus to:

transmit the diagnostic information over the data channel while the video chat is simultaneously conducted over the video channel; and

receive the remedial information over the data channel while the video chat is simultaneously conducted over the video channel.

3. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the computerized apparatus is a mobile computing device, and further including instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the mobile computing device to connect to the electronic system over the network.

4. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 ,

wherein the diagnostic information transmitted to the customer support device indicates an improper firmware component of the electronic system,

wherein the remedial information received from the customer support device includes another firmware component or a link to the another firmware component to replace the improper firmware component, and

further including instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the computerized apparatus to install the other firmware component on the electronic system.

5. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 ,

wherein the diagnostic information transmitted to the customer support device further indicates an improper software component of the electronic system,

wherein the remedial information received from the customer support device further includes another software component or a link to the another software component to replace the improper software component, and

further including instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the computerized apparatus to install the other software component on the electronic system.

6. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , further including instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the computerized apparatus to:

read an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag provided with the electronic system to obtain identifying information of a component of the electronic system; and

transmit, while the video chat operates over the video channel, the identifying information obtained from the RFID tag to the customer support device over the data channel.

7. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , further including instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the computerized apparatus to, prior to transmitting the computed geographical location, access a database to obtain identifying information of the selected electronic system based on the geographical location.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , further including instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the computerized apparatus to:

display, on a display of the computerized apparatus, a map that shows the geographical location of the computerized apparatus as well as a geographical location of the electronic system in a vicinity of the computerized apparatus;

receive a user selection of the electronic system displayed on the map; and

transmit, while the video chat operates over the video channel, information about the selected electronic system to the customer support device over the data channel.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the chat program further includes a second control for transmitting the gathered diagnostic information, and the computerized apparatus is caused to transmit the gathered diagnostic information in response to a fourth user selection of the second control in the chat program.

10. A computerized apparatus, comprising:

a processor;

geographical location circuitry constructed and arranged to compute a geographical location of the computerized apparatus; and

memory, coupled to the processor, the memory storing executable instructions, which when executed by the processor cause the computerized apparatus to:

display a representation of a plurality of electronic systems;

receive a user selection of an electronic system of the plurality of electronic systems displayed in the representation;

in response to receiving the user selection, display a context-sensitive menu for performing actions in relation to the electronic system;

receive a second user selection of an item from the context-sensitive menu to launch a chat program that includes a window for conducting a video chat with a customer support device, and control for gathering diagnostic information;

conduct the video chat with the customer support device in the window of the chat program;

transmit, while the video chat is conducted with the customer support device, the computed geographical location of the computerized apparatus to the customer support device over a data channel to identify the electronic system to the customer support device; and while the video chat is conducted with the customer support device,

gather diagnostic information from the electronic system that is connected to the computerized apparatus over a network, the diagnostic information being gathered over the network, in response to a third user selection of the control in the chat program, and independent of the customer support device, the diagnostic information indicating an improper condition of the electronic system;

transmit the gathered diagnostic information to the customer support device; and thereafter,

receive remedial information from the customer support device that includes firmware, software, or a link to the firmware or the software to address the improper condition of the electronic system, wherein access to the remedial information received from the customer support device is initiated in response to user input within the chat program at the computerized apparatus, subsequent to the remedial information being received by the computerized apparatus and independent of the customer support device.

11. The computerized apparatus of claim 10 , the memory storing further executable instructions, which when executed by the processor further cause the computerized apparatus to:

conduct the video chat over a video channel;

transmit the diagnostic information over the data channel while the video chat is simultaneously conducted over the video channel; and

receive the remedial information over the data channel while the video chat is simultaneously conducted over the video channel.

12. The computerized apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the computerized apparatus is a mobile computing device having a wireless network interface constructed and arranged to connect to the electronic system over the network.

13. The computerized apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) reader, the memory storing further executable instructions, which when executed by the processor further cause the computerized apparatus to:

read an RFID tag provided with the electronic system to obtain identifying information of a component of the electronic system.

14. A computer implemented method of obtaining customer support, the method comprising a computerized apparatus:

displaying a representation of a plurality of electronic systems;

receiving a user selection of an electronic system of the plurality of electronic systems displayed in the representation;

in response to receiving the user selection, displaying a context-sensitive menu for performing actions in relation to the electronic system;

receiving a second user selection of an item from the context sensitive menu to launch a chat program that includes a window for conducting a video chat with a customer support device, and a control for gathering diagnostic information;

conducting the video chat with the customer support device in the window of the chat program;

computing a geographical location of the computerized apparatus;

transmitting, while the video chat operates over a video channel, the computed geographical location of the computerized apparatus to the customer support device over a data channel to identify the electronic system to the customer support device;

and while the video chat is conducted with the customer support device, gathering diagnostic information from the electronic system that is connected to the computerized apparatus over a network, the diagnostic information being gathered over the network, in response to the third user selection of the control in the chat program, and independent of the customer support device, the diagnostic information indicating an improper condition of the electronic system;

transmitting the gathered diagnostic information to the customer support device; and thereafter,

receiving remedial information from the customer support device that includes firmware, software, or a link to the firmware or the software to address the improper condition of the electronic system, wherein access to the remedial information received from the customer support device is initiated in response to user input within the chat program at the computerized apparatus, subsequent to the remedial information being received by the computerized apparatus and independent of the customer support device,

wherein at least one step of the method is performed by a processor of the computerized apparatus.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

conducting the video chat over the video channel;

transmitting the diagnostic information over the data channel while the video chat is simultaneously conducted over the video channel; and

receiving the remedial information over the data channel while the video chat is simultaneously conducted over the video channel.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

displaying, on a display of the computerized apparatus, a map that shows the geographical location of the computerized apparatus as well as a geographical location of the electronic system in a vicinity of the computerized apparatus;

receiving a user selection of the electronic system displayed on the map;

accessing a database to obtain identifying information of the selected electronic system; and

transmitting, while the video chat operates over the video channel, the identifying information of the selected electronic system to the customer support device over the data channel.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein displaying the map includes showing geographical locations of multiple electronic systems in the vicinity of the computerized apparatus, and wherein receiving the user selection of the electronic system displayed on the map includes receiving a user selection of one of the multiple electronic systems shown on the displayed map.