JP2002083036A - On-line personal computer maintenance system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a personal computer maintenance system which enables the staff to solve basic trouble by oneself and fulfils speedy and accurate maintenance service in case of trouble shooting requiring expertise knowledge. SOLUTION: A reception office 3 is equipped with a storage means which stores member information on members having made maintenance service contracts, area store information on the dealing shops which provide maintenance services complying with demands from the members 1, and maintenance service instances information by using a computer network such as the Internet; and the reception office 3 enables the members 1 to browse maintenance service instances, retrieve and inquire a registered area dealing shop 2 when a member 1 applies for a maintenance service to provide the maintenance service through the dealing shop 2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a member-based maintenance service system for a computer such as a personal computer, its peripheral devices, and software using a computer network such as the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the development of information-related technology, computers and their peripheral devices have become indispensable for business in companies. Nevertheless, on the corporate side, maintenance of the equipment itself relies solely on compensation from the manufacturer, and in many cases, it takes a hurry after a trouble actually occurs. However, since most manufacturers perform the repair service of the equipment in one place, it takes a long time to complete the repair, which hinders the daily work during that time. Recently, in addition to the manufacturer's compensation, dealers are increasingly adding some kind of compensation,
There were still many problems to be solved, such as differences in the level of maintenance technology among dealers.

Further, software troubles caused by erroneous operation of devices such as loss of important stored data and external damages, and network troubles caused by external viruses and unauthorized intrusions are increasing. As the operation and management of the entire enterprise computer system is becoming increasingly sophisticated and difficult, the importance of maintenance services has been recognized not only from a hardware perspective but also from a software perspective.

However, surprisingly, many of the reported computer troubles are very rudimentary. For example, the power supply is disconnected, the connection cable between the peripheral devices is disconnected, or the peripheral device is not correctly selected by software. Even for such elementary troubles, as a maintenance service provider, we have to respond to the application, but since the trouble content is elementary and can be resolved immediately, it is worth the labor required to recover and resolve the problem Service fees are difficult to collect. In addition, just responding to these troubles by telephone requires a considerable amount of labor, which has hindered the operation of the maintenance service provider.

[0005]

Therefore, in the present invention,
The purpose is to provide a personal computer maintenance system that can provide quick and accurate maintenance services for troubles requiring specialized knowledge while providing solutions for beginner troubles by members themselves. .

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present inventor has developed a membership-based personal computer maintenance system in which a maintenance service contract has been concluded in advance using a computer network such as the Internet. Specifically, the receiving secretariat will store the member information that has concluded the maintenance service contract, the local dealer information that performs the maintenance service according to the request from the member, and the storage unit that stores each information of the trouble case information. At the reception office, the maintenance service case can be freely browsed through the network for the member, and when the member applies for the maintenance service, the registered regional dealer is registered. Search /
This is an online personal computer maintenance system that inquires and provides maintenance service through the local dealer.

As described above, the maintenance system according to the present invention widely recruits persons, such as companies and individuals, who wish to provide maintenance services for hardware or software owned or controlled by the user, mainly through the Internet. After a maintenance service contract is concluded in advance, the member is registered as a member in the reception office. Similarly, local dealers who actually perform maintenance services such as repairs are widely recruited mainly via the Internet, and after concluding a maintenance service execution contract, they are registered in the reception office. Registered members are allowed to access the database where trouble cases are stored in the reception office, so search for trouble spots in the database from the personal computer via the Internet and derive a solution to the trouble. By doing so, it is possible to try to solve it yourself. Then, by solving the elementary troubles by the members themselves, it becomes possible to reduce costs by reducing the number of maintenance service applications such as repairs at the regional dealers who actually provide maintenance services.

[0008] Such a troubleshooting method is clearly distinguished from the conventional maintenance service (on-site support) which is actually carried out by dispatching a support technician to a member. In this document, a maintenance service provided by providing trouble case information via a computer network is referred to as "e-support", and a conventional maintenance service dispatched by a support technician is referred to as "trip support".

[0009] Therefore, if the trouble is not solved by e-support, for example, the trouble content is not listed in the trouble case in the database, the member sends the information on the trouble to the reception office by e-mail or telephone.・ Contact using a facsimile, etc., and ask for on-site support such as repair. The reception office searches for and inquires the registered regional dealers, and provides travel support to the members via the regional dealers. In addition, the member may report the trouble information to the local dealer instead of the reception office, and may directly receive negotiations to receive business trip support and the like.

In operating the maintenance system according to the present invention, it is desirable to use property and casualty insurance for hardware and software. By performing non-life insurance processing,
For the member, the range of compensation becomes clear in advance, so that it is possible to receive compensation including the entire peripheral device and compensation for network interruption trouble, and it is possible to obtain large compensation with a small exemption fee. On the other hand, even in a local dealer, there is obtained an advantage that the maintenance service cost required for trouble recovery such as investigation of cause of occurrence or resetting which requires the most work time can be reliably collected.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of an online personal computer maintenance system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to specific examples. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of an operation procedure of the entire system. As shown in the figure, the maintenance system according to the present invention is operated by a reception office 3 supervising a member 1 who wants to provide a maintenance service and a local dealer 2 who performs the maintenance service. At least the member 1 and the reception office 3 are connected to a network environment such as the Internet. In order to maintain the maintenance service at a high level, the local dealer 2 must be a person who is examined and selected according to the conditions set by the reception office 3 such as having a certain level of support technology. Desirably, in some cases, it is desirable to oblige technical guidance and business guidance by the reception office 3. This regional dealer 2 may be provided with an agency 4 separately at its own risk.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the server S installed in the reception office 3. In the server S, the control means S1 composed of a CPU and the like includes the storage means S2 to S5
Control, etc., data transfer, various calculations, data storage, and the like. The control means S1 further includes an input control means S
6 and the output control means S7 are connected. The input control means S6 controls data inputted from the member terminal or the local dealer terminal connected via the Internet INET, and the output control means S7 controls these terminals. Control the output data.

The storage means S2 stores a main program. The main program is used in the control means S1, and stores, for example, a program for displaying a guidance screen on a member terminal or the like, a program for processing a member application or a maintenance service application transmitted from the member terminal, and the like. ing.

The storage unit S3 stores trouble case information. Trouble examples include, for example, problems related to personal computers,
If data is classified for each object such as Internet-related troubles, software-related troubles, etc. Simplification and simplification are achieved. For example, troubles related to the personal computer itself are divided into four items according to the trouble parts: "troubles that the personal computer does not start,""troubles about the hard disk,""troubles about the expansion PCI board," and "troubles about the CD-RW.""Trouble not starting""No power on""Beep sound and nothing is displayed""A message is displayed with white characters on a black background and it stops as it is"
After dividing into four items due to trouble phenomena such as "power is on, but does not start up", "power failure", "power cable failure", "power cable disconnection", "power supply unit failure" which can be considered as a trouble factor "And memorizing the solution. By displaying the trouble case information divided stepwise and hierarchically also on the member terminal in a stepwise manner, each member can very easily deal with elementary troubles.

[0015] Member information is stored in the storage means S4. The member information includes information specific to the contractor, such as member number, password, postal code, address (business location), company name, representative name, telephone number, facsimile number, e-mail address, and the title and name of the person in charge. First, the contents of the maintenance contract, the maintenance contract period, the dealer in charge of the area, and the like are exemplified.

The remaining storage means S5 stores local dealer information. Local dealer information includes the postal code, address (business location), company name, representative name, telephone number, facsimile number, e-mail address, maintenance service technician name, business hours, emergency contact information of the regional dealer And the like.

Next, the operation procedure of the online personal computer maintenance system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. First, an individual or a company to be a member 1 applies for a maintenance contract to the local dealer 2 (11). The recruitment of members 1 is mainly carried out on the Internet website established by the reception office 3, but direct sales activities by the regional dealers 2 and the distributors 4 contracted with the regional dealers 2 (41)
It is also performed in. For example, sales activity of agency 4 (41)
Are introduced to the local dealer 2 contracted by the agency 4 (42), and membership registration is performed by the regional dealer 2 (13). A commission is paid to the agency 4 from the regional dealer 2 in exchange for recruiting members (43).

At the regional dealer 2 receiving the maintenance contract application (11), an annual maintenance contract is concluded with an individual or the like to become the member 1 (12). Based on this annual maintenance contract, the regional dealer 2 requests the reception secretariat 3 to register as a member (13).

The maintenance contract application (11) can also be made on an Internet homepage established by the reception office 3. For example, the number of personal computers, the number of personal computers, and the handling of desired areas, including postal codes, addresses (locations of business offices), company names, representative names, telephone numbers, facsimile numbers, e-mail addresses, job titles and names of persons in charge, etc. By having the presence / absence / name of the store described and transmitting it to the reception office 3, the reception office 3 introduces the local dealer 2 and realizes an annual maintenance contract (12) between them.

After completing the member registration procedure, the reception office 3 issues a membership card to the member 1 (14). Membership card is
Access to the member-only homepage (HP) on the Internet homepage established by the reception office 3 (15)
On this member-only homepage, the trouble case information stored in the storage means S3 of the server S in the reception office 3 is disclosed along with special information for the member 1 and the like. . Therefore,
The member 1 who has encountered the trouble can receive e-support to solve the elementary trouble by himself through the computer network while freely browsing the trouble case information (16).

If the trouble cannot be solved by the e-support, the member 1 can request the reception bureau 3 for a business trip support as a part of the maintenance service (17). When requesting business trip support, if you would like to send a summary of the trouble situation by e-mail,
The reception secretariat 3 can contribute to grasping and recording of the trouble situation, and the regional dealer 2 can contribute to prediction of trouble contents and selection of a response means, which is effective.

At the reception office 3 receiving the request for the business trip support from the member 1, the reception office 3 which is selected and registered in advance for each member 1 and which is most suitable for the request of the member 1 such as the place where the business trip support is provided. Search and inquire about local dealer 2 and outsource maintenance service (18). Outsourced local dealer 2
Then, based on the contents of the e-mail by the member 1 transferred from the reception office 3, the member 1 is directly contacted by telephone or the like as the first stage of the maintenance service. This is because the trouble may be solved by a telephone or facsimile from the local dealer 2. Further, on the basis of the judgment of the local dealer 2, a business trip support to the member 1 is carried out as the second stage of the maintenance service (19).

It should be noted that the member 1 does not receive the e-support or after receiving the e-support,
It is also possible to directly request the local dealer 2 to provide a maintenance service (20).

When non-life insurance is introduced for maintenance services such as business trip support and repairs, the reception office 3 accepts the contents of the maintenance service performed by the local dealer 2 based on the maintenance service report from the regional dealer 2. Assess and file a claim with the non-life insurance company. As a result of the examination by the contract nonlife insurance company, if the insurance payment request from the reception office 3 is accepted, the insurance money will be paid directly to the regional dealer 2 from the contract nonlife insurance company.

[0025]

According to the online personal computer maintenance system of the present invention, members receiving the maintenance service can provide nationwide comprehensive compensation for troubles not only in hardware including personal computers and peripheral devices but also in software. Can be received. For example, even with a trouble with a notebook computer during a business trip, a maintenance service can be received at a local dealer at the business trip destination. In addition, simple troubles can be solved 24 hours a day by accessing the database of the reception office via the Internet and searching / inquiring for maintenance service cases. The solution can be resolved promptly and reliably by receiving advanced maintenance service from a local dealer with a technical level.

The merchant who actually provides the maintenance service has the advantage that it is easy to find new customers through unified publicity and advertising activities by the reception office, such as fixing customers by membership system. Is obtained.
In addition, in the event of an emergency or a remote location, other regional dealers can provide maintenance services on behalf of the local dealer network, providing flexible maintenance services that meet the needs of members. Becomes

Further, by utilizing non-life insurance in the online personal computer maintenance system according to the present invention, a member can receive a maintenance service without paying a large repair cost by paying a small exemption fee. On the other hand, the local dealer has an advantage that it is possible to surely collect the operation cost associated with the maintenance service.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of an operation procedure of an entire personal computer maintenance system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a server installed in a reception office.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Member 2 Regional dealer 3 Reception office 4 Agency S2 to S5 Storage means INET Internet

Claims (1)

[Claims] [Claim 1] Member information that has concluded a maintenance service contract,
The reception office is provided with storage means for accumulating each information of the local dealer information for performing the maintenance service according to the request from the member and the trouble case information. While the trouble cases can be freely browsed through the network, when the member applies for the maintenance service, the registered regional dealer is searched and inquired, and the maintenance service is performed through the regional dealer. An online personal computer maintenance system.