Method and apparatus for problem diagnosis and solution

Claim 3

The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of displaying comprises displaying the applicable solution recommendations only when the applicable solution recommendations are less in number than a solution threshold.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1 , wherein determining comprises the steps of identifying consumer product problem keywords in the diagnosis query and matching the keywords against a consumer product problem solution recommendation database.

Claim 5

The method of claim 3 , wherein the step of displaying comprises displaying the applicable solution recommendations when the keywords are less in number than a keyword threshold.

Claim 6

The method of claim 1 , wherein the consumer product is an appliance, and wherein the step of presenting includes displaying a case based question to a user and receiving a case based answer from the user, the cased based question and answer more narrowly defining the scope of the appliance problem in an interactive fashion.

Claim 7

The method of claim 5 , further comprising the steps of assigning a rating based the case based answer and selecting a case based solution recommendation based on the rating.

Claim 8

The method of claim 1 , wherein displaying further comprises displaying the applicable solution recommendations including at least one of a text solution document, audio solution document, video solution document, and slide show solution document to the remote terminal.

Claim 9

The method of claim 1 , wherein displaying further comprises displaying the applicable solution recommendations including an interactive technician chat display.

Claim 10

The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of presenting includes displaying a plurality of case based questions and receiving a like plurality of case based answers.

Claim 11

A consumer product problem solving computer program product comprising: a storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing for execution by the processing circuit: instructions for determining applicable solution recommendations based on a user input consumer product problem diagnosis query; instructions for displaying the applicable solution recommendations for solving the consumer product problem on a screen of a remote terminal; and instructions for determining whether an interactive consumer product problem solving case based reasoning tool is available to answer the diagnosis query by more narrowly defining the scope of the problem, and when the case based reasoning tool is available, presenting the case based reasoning tool on the screen.

Claim 12

A consumer product problem solving computer program product comprising: a storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing for execution by the processing circuit: instructions for determining applicable solution recommendations based on a user input consumer product problem diagnosis query; instructions for displaying the applicable solution recommendations for solving the consumer product problem on a screen of a remote terminal; and instructions for determining whether an interactive consumer product problem solving case based reasoning tool is available to answer the diagnosis query by more narrowly defining the scope of the problem, and when the case based reasoning tool is available, presenting the case based reasoning tool on the screen.

Claim 13

The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the instructions for displaying comprise instructions for displaying the applicable solution recommendations only when the applicable solution recommendations are less in number than a solution threshold.

Claim 14

The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the instructions for determining include instructions for identifying keywords in the diagnosis query and matching the keywords against a solution recommendation database.

Claim 15

The computer program product of claim 12 , wherein the instructions for displaying comprise instructions for displaying the applicable solution recommendations when the keywords are less in number than a keyword threshold.

Claim 16

The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the consumer product is an appliance, and wherein the instructions for displaying further comprise instructions for displaying the applicable appliance problem solution recommendations including at least one of a text solution document, audio solution document, video solution document, and interactive technician chat display, and slide show solution document to the remote terminal.

Claim 17

A network based problem diagnosis tool for diagnosing problems associated with a consumer product at a remote location, the diagnosis tool comprising: a communication interface for receiving a diagnosis query from a remote terminal, the diagnosis query concerning a problem associated with operation of the consumer product; a processing circuit coupled to the communication interface; and a memory coupled to the processing circuit, the memory storing instructions for: identifying keywords in the diagnosis query; matching the keywords against a consumer product solution recommendation database to determine applicable solution recommendations; displaying the applicable solution recommendations on a screen of the remote terminal; and determining whether a case based reasoning tool is available to answer the diagnosis query for the consumer product problem received in the diagnosis query, and when the case based reasoning tool is available, presenting the case based reasoning tool on the screen.

Claim 18

A network based problem diagnosis tool for diagnosing problems associated with a consumer product at a remote location, the diagnosis tool comprising: a communication interface for receiving a diagnosis query from a remote terminal, the diagnosis query concerning a problem associated with operation of the consumer product; a processing circuit coupled to the communication interface; and a memory coupled to the processing circuit, the memory storing instructions for: identifying keywords in the diagnosis query; matching the keywords against a consumer product solution recommendation database to determine applicable solution recommendations; displaying the applicable solution recommendations on a screen of the remote terminal; and determining whether a case based reasoning tool is available to answer the diagnosis query for the consumer product problem received in the diagnosis query, and when the case based reasoning tool is available, presenting the case based reasoning tool on the screen.

Claim 19

The diagnosis tool of claim 15 , wherein the instructions for displaying comprise instructions for displaying the applicable solution recommendations when the applicable solution recommendations are less in number than a solution threshold.

Claim 20

The diagnosis tool of claim 15 , wherein the consumer product problem relates to a problem with an appliance, and wherein instructions for presenting a case based reasoning tool further comprise instructions that interactively present a plurality of case based questions, receive a plurality of case based answers, generate a rating based the case based answers, and select a case based solution recommendation based on the rating to solve the appliance problem.

Claim 21

The diagnosis tool of claim 15 , wherein the solution recommendation database comprises a plurality of text solution documents.

Claim 22

The diagnosis tool of claim 15 , wherein the solution recommendation database comprises solution recommendations selected from the group consisting of audio solution documents, video solution documents, and slide show solution documents.

Claim 23

The diagnosis tool of claim 15 , wherein the applicable solution recommendations include an interactive technician chat display.