(12) United States Patent (10) Patent N0.: US 6,230,287 B1 Pinard et al. (45) Date of Patent: May 8, 2001

Transcription

1 US B1 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent N0.: US 6,230,287 B1 Pinard et a. (45) Date of Patent: May 8, 2001 (54) WEB BASED HELP DESK 6,119,247 * 9/2000 House et a /38 6,144,670 * 11/2000 Sponauge et a /401 (75) Inventors: Debbie Pinard; Ron Evans, both of 6,145,001 * 11/2000 Scho 6t a1~ /223 Kanata; Serguei Mankovskii, Carp, a 6,151,601 * 11/2000 Papierniak et a /10 of (CA) OTHER PUBLICATIONS (73) Assignee; Mite] Corporation, Ontario (CA) Hitachi Joho systems, Information circuation method in hep dest support system using internet invoves con?rming ( * ) Notice: Subject to any discaimer, the term of this enquiry information and performing amendment entry of patent is extended or adjusted under 35 required repy in database, DerWent Week, Acc. # U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days , 1 1, Sept. 1998* Ri, Koto, Customer support system utiizing internet, JPAB, (21) APPL NO; 09/145,919 Pub. #JP A, 1 1, Dec. 1998* _ Samsung Eectronics co., Questioning/response method of a (22) Fed: Sep- 3: 1998 customer support system using internet and apparatus thereof, DerWent, Acc. # , 1 1, Ju * Reated_ Apphcaton Data Paci?c Teephony Design, Press Reease Response Inter (60) igg éisiona appication No. 60/057,495,?ed on Sep. 4, active, Inc May 15, 1997_ (30) Foreign Appication Priority Data.. cued by exammer * Primary Examiner Nadeem Iqba Sep. 4, 1997 (GB) (74) Attorney) Agent) Or Firm_FenWiCk & West, LLP (51) 7 Int. C G06F 11/00 (57) ABSTRACT (52) US. C /31; 379/265 (58) Fied of Search /31, 39, 41, A Web based hep desk incudes a Web server having 714/46, 47, 4; 379/265, 96, 113, 219; 713/201; memory storing a hep desk Web page. The Web server 707/102, 104, 10, 9 aows remote user computers to access the Web server via an internet or intranet connection thereby to access and (56) References Cited dispay the hep desk Web page. A puraity of computers, U'S' PATENT DOCUMENTS operated by support speciaists, are in communication yvith the Web server to aow support speciaists to communicate 4,949,248 8/1990 Caro /200 With remote users requiring support. The support speciaists 5,077,790 12/1991 D Amico et a /23 are seectabe through the Web page. A support speciaist 5,367,667 11/1994 Wahquist et a1~ /575 status appication monitors the status of the support specia 5J4O4JZ95 4/1995 KatZ ct a1~ 364/41919 ists and remote users requesting support and prompts the /1995 Nguyen ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' " 395/51 Web server to estabish a connection between a support /1996 Conrow et a1 379/91 speciaist and a remote user When a support speciaist 5,539,886 7/1996 Adred et a / ,621,789 * 4/1997 McCamont et a /265 becomes avaabe' Amethod of Provdmg Support to a user * 5/1999 Schwartz et a1_ 379/309 operatmg'a remote computer and a hep desk Web page are 5,924,069 * 7/1999 Kowakowski et a. 704/275 aso provded 6,011,844 * 1/2000 Uppauru et a. 370/220 6,115,040 * 9/2000 Badow et a / Caims, 4 Drawing Sheets * 12\ 58 72\ Expert System J 84 Knowedge Base Customer Daiabase 86

2 U.S. Patent May 8,2001 Sheet 1 0f 4 US 6,230,287 B1 1O 70 \ / 12W 72\ 22 Web Sewer A ication /-88 PP WAN/ 20 Expert System J84 PSTN % Knowedge Base / r86 7. Customer Database r96

3 U.S. Patent May 8,2001 Sheet 2 0f 4 US 6,230,287 B1 110 Web Hep Desk 112 f F Bio's Support Speciaists Expertise Status 0/116 Speciaist #1 A Busy Busy Queue 6/ Speciaist #2 B /116 Speciaist #3 c Free Enter (3/416 Speciaist n {1 Busy Expert System R. Enter 130 FIG.2A 118 Biography / Lma' ; 122 L12o Technica. /

4 U.S. Patent May 8,2001 Sheet 3 0f 4 US 6,230,287 B1 80b Web Server Appication Q :1 I c: :2:

5 I U.S. Patent May 8,2001 Sheet 4 0f 4 US 6,230,287 B1 r.- I Expert System Web Server SSSQ Appication - ~ \ 1 L88 \\ u-i u ES Appet VC Appet ES Appet L - A SSSQ Appet

6 1 WEB BASED HELP DESK This Appn caims bene?t of Provisiona No. 60/057,495?ed Sep. 4, FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention reates to computer support and in particuar to a hep desk accessibe through a home page on the Word Wide Web ( Web ). BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is common practice for software suppiers to set up hep desks so that users of the software can seek hep to diagnose and sove computer software and hardware probems. In most instances, these hep desks are accessibe ony by teephone over a pubic switched teephone network (PSTN). In order to gain access to the hep desks, users With computer probems dia specia to free numbers to connect to the hep desk and then convey information concerning the computer probems to the hep desk either by voice or by DTMF diaing signas. This has imited the effectiveness of these hep desks. For exampe, US. Pat. No. 5,367,667 discoses a system for performing remote computer system diagnostic tests. A user requiring assistance cas a hep desk representative via a teephone. The representative in turn creates a case?e on a hep desk computer. The case?e incudes the modem number to the user s computer, ca and computer identi? cation information. The representative aso seects diagnos tic tests to be run on the user s computer based on the verba information given to the representative by the user. The representative then creates a batch job Which causes the hep desk computer to connect to the user s computer and instruct the user s computer to run the diagnostic tests. The tee phone and computer connections between the user and the representative are then broken. When the diagnostic tests have been competed by the user s computer, the user s computer reconnects With the hep desk computer and reports the resuts of the diagnostic tests. The representative after reviewing the resuts of the diagnostic tests, teephones the user and provides recommendations to sove the user s computer probems. Hep desk software has aso been deveoped for use on oca area networks (LANs) to aow a technician to diag nose and sove probems on a remote computer. For exampe NETmanager avaiabe from BrightWork SoftWare aows a computer on a LAN to access the screen and contro the keyboard of another computer on the LAN Where a user of the computer is experiencing probems. This aows the technician to hep remotey the user in an attempt to sove the user s computer probems. Athough hep desks exist to diagnose and sove computer probems, the design of conventiona hep desks has imited the extent to Which hep can be provided to a user. Accordingy, improved hep desks are desired. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a nove Web based hep desk, a nove hep desk Web page and a nove method of providing support to a user computer at a remote ocation. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a Web based hep desk comprising: a Web server having memory for storing a hep desk Web page, said Web server aowing remote user computers US 6,230,287 B to access said Web server via an Internet or Intranet connection and to access and dispay said Web page; a puraity of support speciaists operating computers in communication With said Web server to aow said support speciaists to communicate With user comput ers requiring support, said support speciaists being seectabe by said user computers via said Web page; and a support speciaist status appication monitoring the status of said support speciaists and user computers requesting support and prompting said Web server to estabish a connection between a support speciaist computer and a user computer When a support specia ist becomes avaiabe. Preferaby, the Web based hep desk further incudes an Expert System incuding a knowedge base to diagnose computer probems based on probem information gathered from user computers, the Expert System being seectabe by user computers via the Web page. In a preferred embodiment, the Web page incudes an appet presenting status information concerning the support speciaists and the number of users in a queue seeking access to the support speciaists. The appet is updated by the support speciaist status appication to provide current sup port speciaist status and queue information. The Web page aso presents information concerning the area of expertise of each of the support speciaists. The appet aows a user to seect a speci?c support speciaist to Whom the user Wishes to be connected. The Web page further incudes inks to persona Web pages of the support speciaists. The persona Web pages present detaied biographica information con cerning the support speciaists. According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a hep desk Web page comprising: support speciaist information areas presenting expertise information concerning said support speciaists; a?rst appet presenting support speciaist status and queue information, said appet being updated to pro vide current support speciaist status and queue infor mation and seectabe by a user to aow said user to seect a support speciaist and/or enter said queue; and a seectabe Expert System appet, said Expert System appet gathering user computer probem information When seected by said user. According to sti yet another aspect of the present inven tion there is provided a method of providing support to a user computer at a remote ocation over the Internet or Intranet comprising the steps of: providing a Web server having memory for storing a hep desk Web page, said Web server aowing remote user computers to access said Web page by Way of an Internet or Intranet connection; providing a puraity of support speciaists operating computers in communication With said Web server to communicate With user computers requiring support, said support speciaists being seectabe by Way of said Web page; monitoring the status of said support speciaists and user computers requesting support via said Web page and estabishing a socket connection between a support speciaist and a user computer via said Web server When a support speciaist becomes avaiabe; and providing an Expert System incuding a knowedge base to diagnose computer probems based on gathered computer probem information, said Expert System being accessibe by user computers over said Internet or Intranet connection via said Web page.

7 3 The present invention provides advantages in that a user at a remote ocation contacting the hep desk With a probem using their computer is presented With a signi?cant amount of information as soon as the hep desk is accessed. Speci?cay, When a user accesses the hep desk, the user has access to on-ine documentation, an Expert System and a variety of support speciaists. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS An embodiment of the present invention Wi now be described more fuy With reference to the accompanying drawings in Which: FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communications system incuding a Web based hep desk in accordance With the present invention; FIG. 2a is a main Web page of the Web based hep desk accessibe via the Internet or Intranet; FIG. 2b is a persona Web page of a support speciaist; FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing inks between a Web server and a support speciaist persona computer; and FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing inks between the Web server, the support speciaist persona computer and a user persona computer. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to FIG. 1, a communications system is shown and is generay indicated to by reference numera 10. Communications system 10 incudes a hep desk 12 to provide software and hardware support to remote user computers. Hep desk 12 is connected to a Wide area network (WAN)/pubic switched teephone network (PSTN) 14 via Internet and trunk connections 16 and 18 respectivey. A puraity of remote user ocations 20 and 22 (ony two of Which are shown for iustrative purposes) are aso con nected to the WAN/PSTN 14. Users at the user ocations 20 and 22 can estabish a connection to the hep desk 12 over the Internet or Intranet shoud the users require hep to diagnose and sove software and hardware computer prob ems. User ocation 20 incudes a persona computer 30 having a monitor 32, a keyboard 34 and a mouse pointer 36 operating in a We known manner. A teephone 38 is connected to the computer by Way of a universa seria bus (USB) 40. USB 40 incudes a 12 Mbit/s seria interface running over a 4 Wire bus With an associated software stack supporting periphera connectivity to the persona computer 30. The persona computer 30 is connected to the WAN/ PSTN 14 via an Internet connection 42. User ocation 22 aso incudes a persona computer 50 having a monitor 52, a keyboard 54 and a mouse pointer 56. Unike user ocation 20, user ocation 22 incudes a stand aone teephone 58 connected directy to the WAN/PSTN 14 via an anaog ine connection 60. The hep desk 12 is impemented on a oca area network (LAN) 70 and incudes a server 72 and a puraity of support speciaist persona computers 74 (ony one of Which is shown for iustrative purposes). Each support speciaist persona computer 74 incudes a monitor 90, a keyboard 92 and a mouse pointer 94 and is operated by a support speciaist having a speci?c area of expertise. Ateephone 96 is connected to the persona computer 74 by Way of a universa seria bus (USB) 98. The server 72 is connected to the WAN/PSTN 14 via the Internet and trunk connections 16 and 18 respectivey. US 6,230,287 B Resident on the server 72 are a Web server 80, an Expert System 82 and its associated knowedge base 84, a customer database 86 and a support speciaist status and queue (SSSQ) appication 88. The customer database 86 stores information concerning customers using software supported by the hep desk 12 such as teephone numbers, modem numbers, computer equipment as We as prior computer probem histories. The Expert System 82 is designed to gather computer probem information input by users at the user ocations 20, 22 as We as from the customer database 86. Once the Expert System 82 gathers computer probem information, the Expert System accesses the knowedge base 84 to asses the compexity and severity of the computer probem and to diagnose the computer probem. The quaity of matches between the diagnosed computer probem and known prob ems stored in the knowedge base 84 is aso determined. The Expert System 82 may be impemented using existing Expert System software such as for exampe OPS5 avaiabe from Carnegie Meon University or CLIPS avaiabe from NASA. Aternativey, the Expert System can be deveoped using an Expert System she such as for exampe VP-Expert avaiabe from Word Tech Systems Inc. The SSSQ appication 88 uses a conventiona ACD/hep desk queuing agorithm for managing connections between support speciaist persona computers 74 and user computers 30, 50 seeking hep from the hep desk 12. The Web server 80 is a standard Internet or Intranet computing machine and dispays hep desk Web pages of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) format. HTML is a markup system used to create Hypertext documents that are portabe from patform to patform. An Internet Hypertext Transfer Protoco (HTTP) aows information to be trans ferred between the Web server 80 and the persona comput ers 30, 50. The Web server 80 supports a Common GateWay Interface (CGI) capabe of running CGI programs to mediate transactions between the Web server 80 and the persona computers 30, 50. The hep desk Web pages are stored in memory of the Web server 80 and are made accessibe to the persona computers 30, 50 at the user ocations 20, 22. Users of the persona computers 30, 50 can use a standard Web browser such as for exampe Netscape avaiabe from Netscape Communica tions Corporation or Microsoft Internet Exporer avaiabe from Microsoft Corporation to ocate and access the hep desk Web pages. As is We known, these Web browsers read HTML coded Web pages so that the Web pages in the memory of the Web server 80 can be dispayed on the monitors 32, 52 of the persona computers 30, 50. Referring now to FIG. 2a, the main hep desk Web page 110 as dispayed on the monitor of a user persona computer is iustrated. As can be seen, the Web page 110 incudes a support speciaist information area 112 presenting a ist of the support speciaists operating persona computers 74 and their areas of expertise as We as a SSSQ Java appet 114 Which presents the status of the support speciaists and the number of peope in the queue Waiting to be connected to a support speciaist. The SSSQ Java appet 114 can be invoked by cicking on the appet using a mouse pointer. When the SSSQ Java appet is invoked, the user can request to be paced in the queue and if desired, to seect a particuar support speciaist to Whom the user Wishes to be connected. The Web page 110 aso incudes inks 116 to the persona Web pages 118 of each of the support speciaists. These persona Web pages (one of Which is shown in FIG. 2b) incude pictures 120 of the support speciaists together With

8 5 detaied biographies incuding persona and technica infor mation 122 reating to the support speciaists. The Web page 110 aso incudes an ES Java appet 130 seectabe by cicking on it using a mouse pointer to access the Expert System 82. The ES Java appet once invoked aows a user to input information reating to the user s computer probern(s). The ES Java appet 130 gathers the computer probem information and conveys it to the Expert System 82. The Expert System 82 in turn accesses customer database 86 and the knowedge base 84 to try to diagnose the computer probem. The resuts of the Expert System s diagnosis can either be presented to the user or to a support speciaist as Wi be described. The ES Java appet 130 aso provides a ink (not shown) to on-ine soution documenta tion stored in the knowedge base 84. The on-ine soution documentation provides soutions to a variety of known computer probems. If a user at user ocation 20 requires support to diagnose and sove a computer software or hardware probem, the user through their persona computer 30 accesses the hep desk Web page 110 via an Internet connection over the WAN/PSTN 14 in a conventiona manner. The Web server 80 downoads the Web page 110 from the Web server memory to the persona computer 30 aowing the Web page to be dispayed on the monitor 34. After the Web page is downoaded to the persona computer 30, the user is prompted to enter customer data Which is conveyed to the Web server 80 and stored in the customer database 86. This customer data is made avaiabe to the support speciaist if the user and the support speciaist are connected. The time at Which the Web page is accessed is aso used to determine the user s priority in the queue if the user eects to be connected to a support speciaist by invoking the SSSQ Java appet. Aternativey, the user can be prompted to enter the customer data after the user invokes the SSSQ Java appet 114 and eects to be paced in the queue. Once the Web page 110 is dispayed on the monitor of persona computer 30, the user has a number of options. The user can review the support speciaist and expertise ist presented in information area 112 to determine Which sup port speciaist appears to be best suited to diagnose and sove the user s computer probems. If desired, the user can access the persona Web pages 118 of one or more of the support speciaists by cicking on the appropriate inks 11 6, to famiiarize themseves With the support speciaists. If the user decides to be connected to a support speciaist, the user cicks on the SSSQ Java appet 114 using the mouse pointer 36. When the SSSQ Java appet is invoked, the user is prompted to seect a particuar support speciaist if desired. If no speci?c support speciaist is entered, the SSSQ Java appet 114 conveys the entered information to the SSSQ appication 88 by Way of the Web server 80. If the speci?c support speciaist seected by the user is avaiabe or if no speci?c support speciaist Was seected and a support speciaist is avaiabe and no other users are Waiting in the queue, the SSSQ appication 88 prompts the Web server 80 to open a socket connection between the avaiabe support speciaist s persona computer 74 and the user computer 30. HoWever, if no support speciaist is avaiabe or if a queue exists, the SSSQ appication 88 paces the user in the queue so that the user Wi be connected to the next avaiabe support speciaist When they reach the top of the queue. If a speci?c support speciaist is entered, the user is paced in the queue for that speci?c support speciaist. Once a connection between a support speciaist persona computer 74 and a user computer is terminated, the SSSQ US 6,230,287 B appication 88 Waits for a predetermined amount of time to eapse before prompting the Web server 80 to connect the support speciaist persona computer 74 to the user at the top of the queue. The SSSQ appication 88 generay continu ousy monitors the status of the support speciaists via socket connections between the SSQ appication 88 and the support speciaist persona computers 74 as We as the queue and generay continuousy updates the SSSQ Java appet 114 so that up-to-date information concerning the queue and sup port speciaists status is presented to users accessing the Web page 110. After a connection between a support speciaist persona computer 74 and user computer is made, a text interface is estabished to aow data to be exchanged between the support speciaist and the user over the Internet. Aso, the Web server 80 downoads a VC Java appet 160 onto both the user computer 30 and the support speciaist persona com puter 74. The VC Java appet 160 When invoked causes the Web server 80 to open a socket connection between the support speciaist persona computer 74 and the user com puter 30 to aow a voice conversation to take pace between the user and the support speciaist using the teephones 38 and 96. In this manner, the support speciaist can tak the user through the computer probem in an attempt to diagnose and sove the probem. If the user Wishes to make use of the Expert System 82 Whie they are in the queue Waiting for a connection to a support speciaist to be made or just Wishes to use the Expert System, the user can cick on the ES Java appet 130. Once invoked, the ES Java appet prompts the user to enter information concerning the computer probem to be diag nosed and soved. The information gathered by the ES Java appet 130 is sent back to the Web server 80 and is conveyed to the Expert System 82. The Expert System then gathers any historica computer probem data in the customer data base 86 for the user and anayses the computer probem information. Using its knowedge base 84, the Expert Sys tem tries to?nd matches between the anayzed computer probem and known computer probems stored in the know edge base. If the quaity of a match is high, the Expert System 82 conditions the Web server 80 to downoad an HTML page stored in the knowedge base 84 to the user. The HTML page incudes suggestions to dea With the computer probem. If the quaity of the matches is not high, the Expert System 82 conditions the Web server to downoad informa tion to the user providing suggestions on Where to ook in the knowedge base on-ine soution documentation for a poten tia soution to the computer probem. If the user connects to a support speciaist after using the Expert System 82, the information gathered by the Expert System and the resuts of the Expert System s diagnosis are provided to the support speciaist by Way of an ESI Java appet 180 so that the information can be viewed by the support speciaist When a connection between the support speciaist and user is made. Matches found by the Expert System are presented to the support speciaist in a ist in order from the most severe diagnosis to the east severe diagnosis. Information conveyed to the user by the support speciaist via the text interface is recorded by the Expert System 82 and stored in the knowedge base 84 for the sake of earning. The information is aso stored in the computer database 86. The Expert System earns new cases based on information input by the users, actions taken by the support speciaists and feedback from the user concerning the resuts of the suggestions made by the Expert System and the support speciaist. If during the hep session, the support speciaist deter mines that another support speciaist is better suited to

9 7 hande the session, the ESI Java appet 180 is forwarded to the new support speciaist and a connection between the new support speciaist and the user is estabished. If a user at user ocation 22 estabishes a connection With the hep desk 12 a simiar process is performed. HoWever, since the user ocation 22 does not incude a teephone connected to the persona computer 50 via a USB but rather has a stand aone teephone 58, once a connection is made between the support speciaist persona computer 74 and the user computer 50, if a phone connection is to be estabished it is done so over the PSTN 14. In this case, the support speciaist retrieves the teephone number of the user from the customer database 86 and dias the number to estabish a conventiona voice connection With the user. If a teephone connection cannot be estabished, another appet can be oaded onto the support speciaist persona computer 74 and the user s persona computer 50 to aow text to be deivered back and forth between the support speciaist and the user. As Wi be appreciated by those of ski in the art, the Web based hep desk of the present invention provides a remote user With information to sove a computer probem basicay as soon as a computer connection is made to the hep desk. The user can be connected to a seected one or any avaiabe support speciaist and/or access an Expert System. A text interface can be estabished between the support speciaist and the user and/or a voice connection can be estabished to aow data to be exchanged. Athough a particuar embodiment of the present inven tion has been described, those of ski in the art Wi appreciate that variations and modi?cations may be made Without departing from the spirit and scope thereof as de?ned by the appended caims. We caim: 1. A Web based hep desk comprising: a Web server having memory for storing a hep desk Web page, said Web server aowing remote user computers to access said Web server via an Internet or Intranet connection and to access and dispay said Web page; a puraity of support speciaists operating computers in communication With said Web server to aow said support speciaists to communicate With user comput ers requiring support, said support speciaists being seectabe by said user computers via said Web page; and a support speciaist status appication monitoring the status of said support speciaists and user computers requesting support and prompting said Web server to estabish a connection between a support speciaist computer and a user computer When a support specia ist becomes avaiabe. 2. A Web based hep desk as de?ned in caim 1 further incuding an Expert System incuding a knowedge base to diagnose computer probems based on probem information gathered from user computers, said Expert System being seectabe by user computers via said Web page. 3. A Web based hep desk as de?ned in caim 2 Wherein said Web page incudes an appet presenting status informa tion concerning said support speciaists and the number of users in a queue seeking access to said support speciaists, said appet being updated by said support speciaist status appication to provide current support speciaist status and queue information. 4. A Web based hep desk as de?ned in caim 3 Wherein said Web page presents information concerning the area of expertise of each of said support speciaists, said appet aowing a user to seect a speci?c support speciaist. US 6,230,287 B1 1O A Web based hep desk as de?ned in caim 4 Wherein said Web page further incudes inks to persona Web pages of said support speciaists, said persona Web pages present ing detaied biographica information concerning said sup port speciaists. 6. A Web based hep desk as de?ned in caim 5 Wherein each of said persona Web pages presents a picture and detaied persona and technica information of a support speciaist. 7. A Web based hep desk as de?ned in caim 2 Wherein said Web page incudes a second appet seectabe to aow a user computer to access said Expert System, said second appet prompting users to enter computer probem informa tion and forwarding gathered information to said Expert System for processing. 8. A Web based hep desk as de?ned in caim 1 Wherein said support speciaists and users further estabish voice communication connections after said computer connections have been estabished. 9. A Web based hep desk as de?ned in caim 8 Wherein said voice communication connections are estabished over a pubic switched teephone network. 10. AWeb based hep desk as de?ned in caim 8 Wherein said voice communication connections are estabished between said support speciaist computers and said user computers over Internet or Intranet connections, said voice communication connections being initiated by seection of third appets presented to said support speciaists and user computers. 11. AWeb based hep desk as de?ned in caim 7 Wherein said Expert System provides said support speciaist With the information gathered from said user and diagnoses made by said Expert System When a user computer and support speciaist estabish a computer connection. 12. AWeb based hep desk as de?ned in caim 11 Wherein said gathered computer probem information is provided to said support speciaist in the form of a fourth appet. 13. AWeb based hep desk as de?ned in caim 12 Wherein said fourth appet is transferabe between support speciaists. 14. AWeb based hep desk as de?ned in caim 13 Wherein said Expert System transmits diagnosis information to said user When said Expert System has high con?dence that said diagnosis is correct. 15. A hep desk Web page comprising: support speciaist information areas presenting expertise information concerning said support speciaists; a?rst appet presenting support speciaist status and queue information, said appet being updated to pro vide current support speciaist status and queue infor mation and seectabe by a user to aow said user to seect a support speciaist and/or enter said queue; and a seectabe Expert System appet, said Expert System appet gathering user computer probem information When seected by said user. 16. A method of providing support to a user computer at a remote ocation over the Internet or Intranet comprising the steps of: providing a Web server having memory for storing a hep desk Web page, said Web server aowing remote user computers to access said Web page by Way of an Internet or Intranet connection; providing a puraity of support speciaists operating computers in communication With said Web server to

10 9 communicate With user computers requiring support, said support speciaists being seectabe by Way of said Web page; monitoring the status of said support speciaists and user computers requesting support via said Web page and estabishing a socket connection between a support speciaist computer and a user computer via said Web server When a support speciaist becomes avaiabe; and providing an Expert System incuding a knowedge base to diagnose computer probems based on gathered computer probem information, said Expert System being accessibe by user computers over said Internet or Intranet connection via said Web page. US 6,230,287 B The method of caim 16 further comprising the steps of presenting status information concerning said support speciaists and the number of users in a queue seeking access to said support speciaist; and updating said status informa tion generay continuousy. 18. The method of caim 17 further comprising the step of estabishing a voice communication connection between a support speciaist and a user to suppement the connection between the support speciaist persona computer and the user computer.