Platform for providing life-cycle product support services

Abstract

A support center receives a first request from a mobile device requesting a support service and establishing a communications session between the user of the mobile device and a support agent to allow the support agent to provide the support service to the product. The support center receives a message associated with the product from a vendor providing the product, the message identifying at least one of a promotion, a reward, a suggestion of an accessory, and a recall of the product. The support center accesses a set of rules associated with the product to determine whether the message associated with the product should be routed to the user, where the rules have been previously configured by the user and stored in the database, and transmits the message to the mobile device if the rules permit.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:
 receiving, at a data processing system representing a support center, a first request from a mobile device requesting a support service, the first request identifying a product that has been acquired by a user of the mobile device and previously registered with the support center, wherein the support center provides support services concerning a plurality of products on behalf of a plurality of product providers;   establishing a communications session between the user of the mobile device and a support agent using a communications channel that is preferred by the user and is available to the support agent to allow the support agent to provide the support service to the product, wherein the communications channel is one of a plurality of communications channels that have been previously registered with the support center by the user and stored in a database;   receiving, at a support center, a message associated with the product from a vendor providing the product, the message identifying at least one of a promotion, a reward, a suggestion of an accessory, and a recall of the product;   accessing a set of one or more rules associated with the product to determine whether the message associated with the product should be routed to the user, wherein the one or more rules have been previously configured by the user and stored in the database; and   transmitting the message to the mobile device if the one or more rules are configured to allow the message to be routed to the user.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, at the support center, a second request from the mobile device for selling the product, the second request identifying a server that hosts a sales platform;   retrieving from the database credentials associated with the server, wherein the credentials have been previously provided to the support center by the user when the user registered the sales platform with the support center, including a network address of the server; and   transmitting a sales request to the server based on the network address for selling the product, together with the credentials to allow the server to authenticate the user, without having to prompt the user for the credentials.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the product was registered by receiving a machine-readable code from the mobile device, the machine-readable code uniquely identifying the product, wherein the machine-readable code was obtained by scanning the product using a scanner of the mobile device, and wherein based on the machine-readable code, the support center is configured to compile detailed information of the product without requiring a user of the mobile device to provide the detailed information. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein accessing a set of one or more rules associated with the product comprises:
 determining a delivery method that is associated with the product, which has been previously selected from a plurality of delivery methods by the user when registering the product with the support center; and   transmitting the message to the mobile device using the determined delivery method.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving at, the support center, a second message from a second vendor that provides a second product that is not a registered product by the user, the second message containing information promoting the second product;   determining whether the second product is likely interesting to the user based on prior user interactions with the support center; and   transmitting the second message to the mobile device if it is determined that the user is likely interested in the second product based on the prior user interactions.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein determining whether the second product is likely interesting to the user comprises determining whether the second product is similar or related to a registered product of the user. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the one or more rules further specify whether a message associated with a product similar or related to a registered product should be delivered to the user. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein if the message is related to a recall of the product, the message is delivered to the mobile device regardless the one or more rules configured by the user. 
     
     
         9 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method, the method comprising:
 receiving, at a support center, a first request from a mobile device requesting a support service, the first request identifying a product that has been acquired by a user of the mobile device and previously registered with the support center, wherein the support center provides support services concerning a plurality of products on behalf of a plurality of product providers;   establishing a communications session between the user of the mobile device and a support agent using a communications channel that is preferred by the user and is available to the support agent to allow the support agent to provide the support service to the product, wherein the communications channel is one of a plurality of communications channels that have been previously registered with the support center by the user and stored in a database;   receiving, at a support center, a message associated with the product from a vendor providing the product, the message identifying at least one of a promotion, a reward, a suggestion of an accessory, and a recall of the product;   accessing a set of one or more rules associated with the product to determine whether the message associated with the product should be routed to the user, wherein the one or more rules have been previously configured by the user and stored in the database; and   transmitting the message to the mobile device if the one or more rules are configured to allow the message to be routed to the user.   
     
     
         10 . The medium of  claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises:
 receiving, at the support center, a second request from the mobile device for selling the product, the second request identifying a server that hosts a sales platform;   retrieving from the database credentials associated with the server, wherein the credentials have been previously provided to the support center by the user when the user registered the sales platform with the support center, including a network address of the server; and   transmitting a sales request to the server based on the network address for selling the product, together with the credentials to allow the server to authenticate the user, without having to prompt the user for the credentials.   
     
     
         11 . The medium of  claim 9 , wherein the product was registered by receiving a machine-readable code from the mobile device, the machine-readable code uniquely identifying the product, wherein the machine-readable code was obtained by scanning the product using a scanner of the mobile device, and wherein based on the machine-readable code, the support center is configured to compile detailed information of the product without requiring a user of the mobile device to provide the detailed information. 
     
     
         12 . The medium of  claim 9 , wherein accessing a set of one or more rules associated with the product comprises:
 determining a delivery method that is associated with the product, which has been previously selected from a plurality of delivery methods by the user when registering the product with the support center; and   transmitting the message to the mobile device using the determined delivery method.   
     
     
         13 . The medium of  claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises:
 receiving at, the support center, a second message from a second vendor that provides a second product that is not a registered product by the user, the second message containing information promoting the second product;   determining whether the second product is likely interesting to the user based on prior user interactions with the support center; and   transmitting the second message to the mobile device if it is determined that the user is likely interested in the second product based on the prior user interactions.   
     
     
         14 . The medium of  claim 13 , wherein determining whether the second product is likely interesting to the user comprises determining whether the second product is similar or related to a registered product of the user. 
     
     
         15 . The medium of  claim 14 , wherein the one or more rules further specify whether a message associated with a product similar or related to a registered product should be delivered to the user. 
     
     
         16 . The medium of  claim 9 , wherein if the message is related to a recall of the product, the message is delivered to the mobile device regardless the one or more rules configured by the user. 
     
     
         17 . A data processing system, comprising:
 a processor;   a memory coupled to the processor;   an application programming interface (API), executed from the memory by the processor, to receive a first request from a mobile device requesting a support service, the first request identifying a product that has been acquired by a user of the mobile device and previously registered with the support center, wherein the support center provides support services concerning a plurality of products on behalf of a plurality of product providers;   a support service system executed by the processor to establish a communications session between the user of the mobile device and a support agent using a communications channel that is preferred by the user and is available to the support agent to allow the support agent to provide the support service to the product, wherein the communications channel is one of a plurality of communications channels that have been previously registered with the support center by the user and stored in a database; and   a messaging system executed by the processor to receive a message associated with the product from a vendor providing the product, the message identifying at least one of a promotion, a reward, a suggestion of an accessory, and a recall of the product, to access a set of one or more rules associated with the product to determine whether the message associated with the product should be routed to the user, wherein the one or more rules have been previously configured by the user and stored in the database, and transmit the message to the mobile device if the one or more rules are configured to allow the message to be routed to the user.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the messaging system is configured to:
 receive a second request from the mobile device for selling the product, the second request identifying a server that hosts a sales platform,   retrieve from the database credentials associated with the server, wherein the credentials have been previously provided to the support center by the user when the user registered the sales platform with the support center, including a network address of the server, and   transmit a sales request to the server based on the network address for selling the product, together with the credentials to allow the server to authenticate the user, without having to prompt the user for the credentials.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the product was registered by receiving a machine-readable code from the mobile device, the machine-readable code uniquely identifying the product, wherein the machine-readable code was obtained by scanning the product using a scanner of the mobile device, and wherein based on the machine-readable code, the support center is configured to compile detailed information of the product without requiring a user of the mobile device to provide the detailed information. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein accessing a set of one or more rules associated with the product comprises:
 determining a delivery method that is associated with the product, which has been previously selected from a plurality of delivery methods by the user when registering the product with the support center; and   transmitting the message to the mobile device using the determined delivery method.