FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a device and method for remote assistance, particularly for technical assistance in machinery repairs.

BACKGROUND OF THE ART

One of the main problems that companies producing machinery have to face, especially when it comes to complex and expensive equipment, is technical assistance after the sale (post-sale).

In particular, normally there is a need for the intervention of one or more operators who must reach the location (workshop, factory, laboratory...) where the machinery operates and intervene on the spot, with high costs for the manufacturer, if the warranty is still active, or for the customer, if the warranty has expired.

In addition, these interventions involve long downtimes, due to the distance that the technicians must cover to move from the manufacturer to the place of intervention, with all the resulting problems.

DESCRIPTION

The object of the invention is to eliminate the drawbacks noted above in known types of device for remote assistance, particularly for technical assistance in machinery repairs which allows to intervene on the machinery to be repaired without moving the workers and the technicians, therefore limiting the intervention times.

In the context of the above-described task, an object of the invention is to provide a device for remote assistance, particularly for technical assistance in machinery repair which is simple to use and economically competitive and a correlated method of remote assistance that is fast and efficient. Another object of the invention is to allow the reduction of repair costs both for those machines under warranty, and for equipment outside the warranty.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device for remote assistance, particularly for technical assistance in machinery repairs, with easy to find means and commonly used materials, so that the device is economically competitive.

This aim, and these and other objects that will become clearer hereinafter, are achieved by a device for remote assistance, particularly for technical assistance in machinery repairs, according to the invention, comprising at least one portable data processor, allocated in a peripheral station where a unit being serviced is present, and means for transmitting and receiving audio and video files, said at least one portable data processor being connected with a storage unit and being suitable to be interconnected, by means of a computer program, to a remote station where a technical support is present, suitable to transmit and receive said audio and video files transmitted from said peripheral station.

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the disclosure of a preferred, but not exclusive, embodiment of the method of remote assistance, particularly for technical assistance in machinery repairs.

With reference to said figures, a fundamental characteristic of the device for remote assistance, particularly for technical assistance in machinery repairs, according to the invention is to comprise at least one portable data processor, allocated in a peripheral station where there is a unit being serviced, which can be anything: from a machine to a tool, from a vine to an apparatus. The device also provides means for transmitting and receiving audio and video files. The portable data processor is connected to the storage unit and is suitable to be interconnected by means of a computer program to a remote station where a technical assistance operator is present. This remote station is suitable to transmit and receive said audio and video files transmitted from the peripheral station, that is to say that it can transmit audio and video files from the peripheral station and receive those coming from it.

Obviously, the portable data processor must be provided with a screen (display) in such a way that the user of the unit being serviced can see the technical support.

Preferably, the computer program must present the following functions:

- Registration of the user in the device;

- Configuration panel settings;

- Technical assistance reservation function;

- Function and notification section of the state of progression of the request (request number, current position in the queue, estimated time

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necessary for being contacted by the technical support);

- Request cancellation function;

- Video Streaming;

- Display of the previous requests of assistance.

Advantageously, the means of transmission and reception of the video and audio files comprise first peripheral means for transmitting and receiving connected to the peripheral station and second central means for transmitting and receiving connected to the remote station: the first peripheral means for transmitting and receiving comprise at least one camera, a pair of headphones and a microphone connected to the portable data processing unit, which can be a PDA or a tablet, for example.

The video camera is wearable together with headphones, since it is associated thereto. Moreover, said camera is preferably arranged substantially near to the eyes of the user wearing the headphones, in such a way that the staff (operators and specialists) that operate as technical support has substantially the same vision of the person wearing the headphones and, above all, does not become an obstacle during the remote assistance.

Preferably, the remote station provides a second data processor, which can be a computer, a PDA or a laptop, which however is able to transmit and receive audio and video files to and from the peripheral station. In this way, the user of the unit being serviced wearing headphones and camera working at the data processor at the peripheral station, transmits video and audio content to the technical support personnel, which is in a remote station, so that the operators, the technicians and the technical support specialists can "see" the same things that the user "sees", communicate with him, and above all have the hands free to work on the unit to be repaired.

Obviously, it is possible that also technical support can be provided of the same accessories of the user of the unit being serviced, i.e. camera, headphones and microphone connected to the second data processing unit, which can also be mobile.

In the present embodiment, the unit being serviced comprises a quick response code (also called "QR Code"), known per se, operable by the user of the unit being serviced by scanning the QR Code itself by means of the camera, so as to interconnect the portable data processor and the second data processor.

The activation of the QR code can preferably provide a series of data contained in the storage unit, such as for example the technical information of the unit being serviced (for example, if it is a machinery, also the spare parts) or those on the user supplied during the registration step, in such a way as to reduce the intervention times to the minimum.

It is advantageously possible to customize the QR code applied to each individual unit being serviced, so as to initiate certain actions suitable to the different requirements or needs.

Advantageously, the portable data processor and the second data processor are interconnected by cloud computing (also known as only "cloud"), which is per se known. Obviously, the cloud computing can act as a storage drive.

The method of remote assistance comprises a series of steps that consist in interconnecting at least one portable data processor, allocated in a peripheral station where a unit being serviced is present or a unit to be repaired, to a remote station where a technical support is present, receiving the request for intervention sent by a user of the unit being serviced or the unit to be repaired, coming from the portable data processor, by the technical support operator, and in transmitting audio and video files from the remote station to the peripheral station and vice versa, by means of a computer program, in such a way that the technical support assists the user in repairing the unit being serviced.

Necessarily, the user of the unit being serviced, by means of the portable processor data, requires the intervention of technical support by inserting a registration key in a storage unit that can also be a cloud computing. This registration key is associated to the unit being serviced, in such a way as to register all the requests of intervention on the unit being serviced itself. Advantageously, the computer program is adapted to request the intervention of the technical support via the activation of a control that is subjected to the classification of a quick response code (or QR Code) associated to the unit being serviced. As previously said, the quick response code comprises, among others, all technical data of the unit being serviced. The computer program is suitable to request the intervention of said technical support also by the touch of a button on the portable data processor; this can occur when, for any cause, the request received via QR code is not successful or has not come to completion in one session. The computer program is suitable to connect at least one computer at a time to the remote station. Other users are placed in a queue and called in succession following a chronological order of the intervention request.

MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The user of the unit being serviced prior to registration, by scanning the QR code with the camera, activate a call from the peripheral station toward the remote station, via the cloud computing.

By registration, in fact, the user associates the portable data processor, and therefore all the requests departing from it, its own unique identifier corresponding to the registration key, so as to allow the support technician to know in advance who made the reservation for the supporting service. Also the activation of the device is strictly linked to the input of the registration key and occurs once this will be verified and approved by the online validity check.

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The user can request the technical support intervention also by means of a clearly visible button on the screen generated by the computer program. This key will be the mean to perform the reservation and, once pressed, will lead to a new screen wherein it will be possible to input these (optional) information: defective machinery; failure found; date and time preferred to be contacted for the video-assistance; phone number on which be contacted for further clarification; service centre to contact, selectable from a list.

Whether the details of the request being input or not, the support technician will be able to proceed with the actual delivery of the reservation through an appropriate key and then to its storage in the storage unit.

The outcome of the operation is immediately communicated via the video terminal and then made available in detail in the section of the notification provided by the computer program.

The computer program also provides for a notification section, clearly visible in a limited area of the main screen of the display of the portable data processor, which will aim to provide a clear and comprehensive representation of the state of the active requests.

These data will be periodically synchronized with the storage unit and any variation will be readily reproposed in the video terminal. The information listed for each request will be: number of request, unique identificator of the reservation; current position in the queue (i.e. how many other users precede the user request); estimated waiting time to be put in contact with technical support (calculated on the basis of requests that precede that of the user, multiplied by the average time estimated for each remote assistance); any failed attempt made by the technical support to contact the user; status of the procedure.

The waiting time will be precisely an estimate and may vary according to a variety of factors which are mainly unpredictable.

Each notification is accessible with a touch, in a way such as to be able to check the detail of the request and the input data in the registration step, and in such a way as to be able to cancel the reservation by appropriate undo function, for example by means of a special key.

Each request, in fact, can be cancelled at any time by the means of the above-mentioned specific key, provided that this has not yet been managed by the technical assistance, the only one who can take care of closing the procedure once started.

The reservations cancelled by the user are then removed from the storage unit and from the notification area, and every trace and information of them.

When the intervention request is received, possibly after waiting in queue, the user of the unit being serviced is contacted and the portable data processor is interconnected with the second data processor, so that they can share audio and video files.

The video terminal of the portable data processor in owned by the user will present a screen in which it is possible to accept or reject the call. In case of acceptance, the videocall will initiate and the display of the device will show the video of the technical support operator. From that moment, the procedure will be set in working state.

In the event of a refused or failed call, this will be indicated in the area of notification and technical support will apply its internal protocol for managing the call-backs.

The transmission of these data takes place via "streaming", i.e. in a continuous stream of audio/video data by using a telematic network (Internet). Streaming allows the reproduction of these data as they arrive to destination and then a sort of direct link between user and technical support is established, which allows to create an audio and video communication of two or more parties and provide a direct vision of the problem to the operator responsible for technical support.

The computer program that allows this feature is designed to allow the use of a particular external camera connected to the device. The computer program also provides for the creation of a web portal that is the instrument made available to the technical support through which the requests of intervention (received and stored in the storage unit) are handled through the following features: user login; request viewing; request detail; video call initiation and procedure opening; change request and procedure closure; request history display.

To access said web portal it is necessary to have a user account, which is valid and enabled in the system, composed of unique username and password. Access to the system will allow the identification of the technical support operator and the user level associated to him necessary to filter the information to which he will have access.

Users of the unit being serviced are managed by the system administrator and only they will be able to create new user accounts and/or authorization levels.

Once accessed the portal ("login"), access to the content area will be permitted. The content is sorted according to their nature and is visible from the viewing area. In this section the technical support operator has a total vision of the active requests awaiting processing or partly processed and can apply filters to narrow down the results according to their specific needs. Reservations of interventions are always intended to technical support and never to the individual user, this means that all operators of technical support having the same level of authorisation will have access to the same information and will take responsibility for any request.

The technical support accesses therefore to a list of requests waiting to be organized and sorted chronologically. For each of these requests the respective information according to input data are visible, based on the indications provided by the customer in the reservation step and consequently to the state of the processing of the intervention. The list will comprise the following information: request identifier; date of submission; name and surname of the user of the unit being serviced; opening date of the procedure; current state of processing.

By clicking on one of the entries in the list access of the comprising detail will be obtained: request identifier; date of submission; data relative to the user of the unit being serviced; information provided by the user during registration of the service request; opening date of the procedure; current state of processing; complete list of the processes to which it was subjected to the full procedure of date, operator and processing status.

In this section there is also the start command of the video call for the remote assistance.

When the intervention request arrives to technical assistance, it is recorded in the storage unit and/or in the cloud computing (date, time, operator) and will become part of the information inherent to the procedure.

In practice, when the user of the unit being serviced and the technical support are interconnected, then the response of technical support to user requests or to the user response when the technical support calls him (or calls him back), the procedure is actually brought into opening state, with correlated registration in the storage unit; from this moment due procedures necessary to the resolution of the problem reported are initiated.

Obviously, in case of failed response from the technical support or the user, operations on the procedure are postponed and technical support will apply its internal protocol for managing the call-backs.

Since every request for intervention may be subject to more technical interventions in order to solve the episode, to keep track of the state of work progress of the procedure it relies on the states of processing.

At the end of each video call, or in other special cases defined inside of the technical support switchboard , the operator that is currently managing the request confers an outcome to the conversation with the user and defines the new status of the processing, assigning the appropriate one to identify the new condition. The recording will become part of the history of processes. For purely exemplary purposes, the processing states of the procedure, identified and usable by technical support, are:

- Closed OK (the problem has been solved and no additional work is required);

- Closed KO (the procedure is closed but it is not possible to solve the problem directly from the remote and intervention is required on the spot by a specialized technician);

- Closed (the practice is closed and the closing is not associable to previous cases);

- In processing (intervention from remote has not been successful and new attempt to support is needed);

- Forwarded (the problem cannot be solved by the current operator and it requires the intervention of a more qualified technician).

In addition to the processing states, it is possible to associate a textual note to the intervention to better describe the causes that have led to this state. The last working state entered in chronological order automatically becomes the current status and will be displayed on the screen of the portable data processor owned by the user of the unit being serviced. In the case in which that procedure is in the closed state, that is to say in one of the three conditions of "closed" above mentioned, this will disappear from the area of notification, even if the user will still be able to browse through the special section of the history.

When a request has been modified, technical assistance will identify those Specialized ones to which it must be forwarded and these will gain access to this procedure by their personal input key and depending on their qualifying level.

Finally, procedures processed and closed will not be deleted but stored in the storage unit and may be consulted at any time. It is possible to apply filters to the list of practices in order to simplify the search for practices which meet specific criteria and which can be sorted as needed.

The closed practices cannot be re-opened, but a registration of a new request for intervention will be necessary.

From what has been described above, it can be seen how the invention achieves the intended aim and objects, and in particular it is put into evidence the fact that a method of remote assistance is implemented, particularly for technical assistance in machinery repairs, which provides for the use of a mobile apparatus and a "wearable" accessory that remotely reproduces the eyes, ears and mouth of the user of the unit being serviced, in such a way that the technical support can see or hear the problem and the user can listen to or see the assistant in order to operate and solve the same without the need to move the workers and specialized technicians, limiting the intervention times and containing costs.

In particular, thanks to the special video camera installed on the device, the operator (or operators) of the technical support who has taken care of the request for intervention, is able to view, as if it were directly in the peripheral station, the extent of the damage or the causes that generate it and to guide the user in the operations necessary to solve the problem of the unit being serviced, as if he were himself on the spot to execute them. Another advantage of the invention is the fact that the possibility of interconnecting the peripheral station to the remote station by means of the QR code allows the technical support to intervene immediately, solving the problem quickly or, if necessary, speeding up the repair (for example ordering a spare part immediately), limiting the downtime of the machine, of the equipment or of the unit being serviced.

Furthermore, the realization of the device for remote assistance, according to the invention, which will be supplied to the user together with a registration key, associated to a space in the cloud computing, allows the technical support to access all the units being serviced related to this user, simplifying the intervention procedures. Another advantage of the invention is given by the extreme application ductility of the device and of the method of remote assistance which may be the field of agriculture, industry, electronics or household appliances. Another advantage of the invention is to provide a device of remote assistance, particularly for technical assistance in machinery repairs, which is simple to use and economically competitive, since it is sufficient to wear a pair of headphones with a microphone and an integrated video camera connected to a portable data processor equipped with a display.

Thanks to this extreme ease of use, the method of remote assistance disclosed above is therefore effective and timely.

Another advantage of the invention is to allow the reduction of repair costs both for those machines covered by warranty and for the equipment out of the warranty, since this method eliminates the distances, eliminates travel (and related risks) and significantly reduces costs of assistance.

Not least, the use of readily commercially available means and the use of common materials makes the device competitive in terms of cost.

The so-designed invention is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which fall within the scope of the inventive concept.

Further, all the details will be replaced by other technically equivalent elements. In practice, the materials employed, as well as the dimensions, may be different according to requirements, provided they are consistent with the realization purpose.