Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide a system for modeling Quality of Service (QoS) including a customer's perceived QoS, and optimizing QoS and perceived QoS. The system improves significantly over previous systems and can conserve resources by optimizing the level of resource allocations to satisfy a Service Level Agreement (SLA), while satisfying the customer's impression of QoS. During operation, the system obtains an SLA between a provider and a customer, specifying a QoS metric and a corresponding range. The system then optimizes the customer's perceived QoS, which further comprises modeling the customer's perceived QoS and the QoS metric, based on an operational allocation of the provider. Optimizing the perceived QoS may further comprise determining an optimized level of the allocations that enhances the customer's modeled perceived QoS, and also corresponds to a modeled QoS metric within the range. The system may then set the provider's allocation to the optimized level.

Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for providing assistance to a user of a product in diagnosing faults in the product. During operation, the system receives, at a help server, data associated with current and/or past operation of the product; performs an optimization to determine a sequence of diagnostic actions that is expected to maximize a net benefit to the user. The sequence of diagnostic actions includes one or more actions that require the user to perform at least one task, and performing the optimization involves accounting for costs to the user for performing the at least one task and savings to the user for correcting the faults. The system then interacts with the user, which involves presenting the sequence of diagnostic actions to the user.

Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for providing assistance to a user of a product in diagnosing faults in the product. During operation, the system receives, at a help server, data associated with current and/or past operation of the product; performs an optimization to determine a sequence of diagnostic actions that is expected to maximize a net benefit to the user. The sequence of diagnostic actions includes one or more actions that require the user to perform at least one task, and performing the optimization involves accounting for costs to the user for performing the at least one task and savings to the user for correcting the faults. The system then interacts with the user, which involves presenting the sequence of diagnostic actions to the user.