Patent ID: 7281040

Claim:
A system comprising: a technical support center; a packet switching network coupled to the technical support center by a first interface line; at least one access server coupled to the packet switching network by a second interface line; where the at least one access server is configured to communicate network information to the technical support center through the packet switching network; where the at least one access server includes at least one hardware subsystem, at least one software subsystem, and embedded software operable to collect and analyze status information from the at least one hardware subsystem and the at least one software subsystem to detect a problem with any one of the at least one hardware and software subsystems or the second interface line; wherein the embedded software comprises: a hardware health status monitor subsystem; a software health status monitor subsystem; and a remote diagnostic embedded process subsystem for communicating with the hardware health status monitor subsystem and the software health status monitor subsystem, for collecting status information provided by the software health status monitor subsystem and the hardware health status monitor subsystem, and for detecting problems encountered by the hardware and software subsystems; where the status information includes error messages from any one of the at least one hardware and software subsystems or the second interface line; where the at least one access server is configured to send, in response to the detection of the problem, a first message to the technical center without interrupting the normal operation of the access server, the first message including the status information; where the least one access server is configured to page a user of the access server responsive to the detection of the problem; where the at least one access server is configured to respond to a second message generated by the technical support center requesting further information regarding the problem.