Methods, apparatus, and system for mobile piggybacking

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9436428-B2
Application number	US-201314075582-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 8, 2013
Priority date	Nov 8, 2012
Publication date	Sep 6, 2016
Grant date	Sep 6, 2016

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus for providing assistance to a user of a mobile application are described. A request for assistance from the user is detected and a request is issued to a remote device for establishment of a remote assistance session. Information describing a state of the mobile device is periodically transmitted to the remote device and one or more commands may be received from the remote device. The commands may be executed on the mobile device.

First claim

The claimed invention is:

1. An apparatus for providing assistance to a user of a mobile application executing on a mobile device, the apparatus comprising:
a processor;
memory to store instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
detect a request for assistance from the user;
issue a request to a remote device for a remote assistance session;
periodically transmit information from the mobile device to the remote device, the information indicative of a sequence of states of an execution of the mobile application;
receive one or more commands from the remote device; and
execute the one or more commands on the mobile device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the information describes content of a display of the mobile device.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more commands are executed on behalf of the user.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the information comprises captured screen shots from a display of the mobile device.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the information comprises changes to content displayed on a display of the mobile device.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to establish a voice connection between the remote device and the mobile device.

7. An apparatus for providing assistance to a user of a mobile application executing on a mobile device, the apparatus comprising:
a processor;
memory to store instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
receive a request for a remote assistance session from a client help application;
establish a connection with the client help application;
periodically receive information from the mobile device, the information indicative of a sequence of states of an execution of the mobile application;
emulate the mobile application of the mobile device based on the information received from the mobile device, the emulating including mimicking the sequence of states of the execution of the mobile application;
receive input which specifies one or more commands to be executed on the mobile device; and
send the one or more commands to the client help application for execution on the mobile device.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the input is obtained from a user.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to process the information from the mobile device to derive the input.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the input is derived by an emulator simulating activity on the mobile device based on the information from the mobile device.

11. A method of providing assistance to a user of a mobile application executing on a mobile device, the method comprising:
detecting a request for assistance from the user;
issuing a request to a remote device for a remote assistance session;
periodically transmitting information from the mobile device to the remote device, the information indicative of a sequence of states of an execution of the mobile application;
receiving one or more commands from the remote device; and
executing the one or more commands on the mobile device.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the information describes content of a display of the mobile device.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the one or more commands are executed on behalf of the user.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the information comprises captured screen shots from a display of the mobile device.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the information comprises changes to content displayed on a display of the mobile device.

16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising establishing a voice connection between the remote device and the mobile device.

17. A method of providing assistance to a user of a mobile application executing on a mobile device, the method comprising:
receiving a request for a remote assistance session from a client help application;
establishing a connection with the client help application;
periodically receiving information from the mobile device, the information indicative of a sequence of states of an execution of the mobile application;
emulating the mobile application of the mobile device based on the information received from the mobile device, the emulating including mimicking a sequence of states of the execution of the mobile application;
receiving input which specifies one or more commands to be executed on the mobile device; and
sending the one or more commands to the client help application for execution on the mobile device.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising processing the information from the mobile device to derive the input.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the input is derived by an emulator simulating activity on the mobile device based on the information from the mobile device.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform operations comprising:
detecting a request for assistance from the user;
issuing a request to a remote device for a remote assistance session;
periodically transmitting information from the mobile device to the remote device, the information indicative of a sequence of states of an execution of the mobile application;
receiving one or more commands from the remote device; and
executing the one or more commands on the mobile device.

Assignees

• Ebay Inc

Inventors

• Hamilton Scot Fraser
• Van Tol Ladd
• Shardlow Luke
• Chard Jonathan David
• Olson Matthew

Classifications

• G09G2370/027

  Arrangements and methods specific for the display of internet documents · CPC title

• G06F3/1454 Primary

  involving copying of the display data of a local workstation or window to a remote workstation or window so that an actual copy of the data is displayed simultaneously on two or more displays, e.g. teledisplay · CPC title

• H04W76/10

  Connection setup · CPC title

• H04L67/025

  for remote control or remote monitoring of applications · CPC title

• H04W4/50 Primary

  Service provisioning or reconfiguring · CPC title