Customer service call routing
View Patent ↗Customer service calls to media service providers are addressed by remotely monitoring and diagnosing the customer's installed equipment. Such remote diagnosis decreases the need for assistance from customer service representatives and on-site repair technicians. In a method of operating a customer service routing system for a media service provider, subscriber equipment is first identified and then data specific to the subscriber equipment is collected. Relevant data can be maintained as an equipment health history in a database that is updated periodically by automatic monitoring. The database can be located within a remote server. Equipment data can be extracted automatically and relayed directly to the subscriber, thereby bypassing interaction with a customer service representative.
1. A customer service routing system, comprising:
a plurality of subscriber equipment for a subscriber, including a content receiver in communication with at least one other subscriber equipment and a display, the content receiver configured to receive video media content for presentation on the display;
an interactive response system that selects a plurality of interactive queries for the subscriber in response to a communication from the subscriber, the plurality of interactive queries are selected based on an equipment-of-interest of the plurality of subscriber equipment that has a potential problem; and
a health server in communication with the content receiver and the interactive response system, the health server including:
a microprocessor; and
a processor-readable non-transitory medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that cause the microprocessor to:
receive health status information for the plurality of subscriber equipment from the content receiver, wherein the health status information includes information regarding interruptions in television signals provided to the content receiver and a signal strength of television signals received by the content receiver;
determine the equipment-of-interest from the plurality of subscriber equipment based on the health status information;
generate an informational response to correct the potential problem of the equipment-of-interest based on the equipment status information; and
provide the informational response to the interactive response system for communicating to the subscriber.
2. The customer service routing system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of subscriber equipment further includes a satellite receiving antenna in communication with the content receiver to transmit the video media content to the content receiver.
3. The customer service routing system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of subscriber equipment further includes a remote control unit configured for wireless communication with the content receiver.
4. The customer service routing system of claim 1 wherein the content receiver includes one or more of
a radio receiver;
a set top box configured to provide media content to a media playback device; and
a networked device configured to stream media content via the Internet to the media playback device.
5. The customer service routing system of claim 4 wherein the media playback device includes one or more of a television, an audio system, or a recorder configured to store the media content for delayed playback.
6. The customer service routing system of claim 1 wherein the health status information includes one or more of remote control battery voltage levels, timer conflicts, unauthorized security access attempts, parts order status, hardware failure, and alert messages.
7. A computer-implemented method of operating a customer service routing system, the method comprising:
receiving an inquiry from a subscriber via a network interface;
identifying, using a microprocessor, a plurality of equipment logically associated with the subscriber;
storing subscriber equipment status information for the plurality of equipment, the status information including health history data of a content receiver configured to receive video media content for presentation on a display, the health history data including a history of signal interruptions to, and a signal strength of, the content receiver;
determining at least one equipment of the plurality of equipment from the plurality of equipment that has a potential problem based on the status information for the plurality of equipment;
generating an informational response to correct the potential problem of the at least one equipment based on the status information for the at least one equipment; and
communicating the informational response to the subscriber via an interactive response system.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the inquiry is a telephone call, the network interface is a telephone network interface and the interactive response system is an interactive voice response system.
9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the inquiry is an electronic message, the network interface is a data network interface and the interactive response system communicates visual queries to the subscriber on a mobile display.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the one or more electronic status messages include one or more alert messages to the subscriber, the alert messages containing instructions for resolving the potential problem with the at least one equipment indicated by the status information.
11. The method of claim 7 , further comprising searching external databases for metadata relating to a reported failure mode.
12. An interactive response system, comprising:
a network interface configured to receive one or more inquiries from a customer and transfer the inquiries for processing according to an interactive response script; and
an equipment health server that includes:
a microprocessor;
an equipment health server database that stores equipment status information including health history data of a plurality of subscriber equipment in communication with a content receiver that is configured to receive video media content for presentation on a display, the health history data including signal interruptions to, and a signal strength received by, the content receiver; and
a non-transitory database memory in communication with the microprocessor, the database memory having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that cause the microprocessor to:
obtain the equipment status information for the plurality of subscriber equipment;
determine an equipment-of-interest from the plurality of subscriber equipment based on the equipment status information stored in the equipment health server database, wherein the equipment-of-interest has a potential problem;
generate an informational response to correct the potential problem of the equipment-of-interest based on the equipment status information; and
communicate the informational response to the customer via the interactive response script.
13. The interactive system of claim 12 , wherein the network interface is a telephone network interface, the inquiries are telephone calls, and the interactive response script is an interactive voice response script that communicates with the customer by telephone using audible prompts.
14. The interactive system of claim 12 , wherein the network interface is a data network interface, and inquiries are electronic messages, and the interactive response script is an interactive message response script that communicates with the customer via a display using visual prompts.
15. The interactive system of claim 14 wherein the display is a remote control interface.
16. The interactive system of claim 12 wherein the network interface includes a telephone network interface and a data network interface, and the interactive response script is an interactive message response script that communicates with the customer via telephone using audible prompts and via a display using visual prompts.
17. The interactive system of claim 12 wherein the plurality of subscriber equipment includes the content receiver.
18. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of subscriber equipment includes media service subscriber equipment provided by a media service provider.
19. The system of claim 1 wherein the health history data further includes a signal strength received by a satellite antenna.
20. The system of claim 3 wherein the health history data further includes a condition of the remote control unit.
21. The system of claim 3 wherein the health history data further includes a battery strength of the remote control unit.