This document has moved to
Acquire Remote Assist is a service which enables connections between the customer using the kiosk and a central helpdesk. This is enabled using a central server which keeps track of the kiosks and the helpdesk statuses and connects the calls, similar to a telephone exchange.
Once a call is initiated by the kiosk operator, the server announces the call to all of the operators who are in an “available” state.
The call is connected to the first operator who answers the call and depending upon the configuration when installed, the operator may instantly talk with, view webcam and operate the kiosk remotely. However, when using 4G or similar connectivity, typically just the call is connected and the options on the menu allow for the additional streams to be enabled and disabled by the operator as needed. Similarly, the option to mute the camera and microphone being sent to the kiosk can also be achieved by using the controls.
To initiate the call, the kiosk operator simply presses the ‘assistance’ button, and after clicking through a verification screen (which announces that they will be talking with a member of staff), the kiosk screen will show a window with an announcement that the call is in progress, which is replaced with the webcam view which resides in a floating window on-screen (this can be moved by the kiosk operator or the remote assistant).
The communications to the server happens on a single port and is used to track the current status of the respective endpoints. When a call is connected, the communications occurs on three ports between the kiosk and the remote assistant directly (although a record of the call duration and assistant, and whether it was answered is kept on the server for audit purposes). Thus, ports (four in total) need to be opened to the operator and to the kiosk.
(see below) Settings for the call enable all of the ports to be defined to allow for QoS and firewalling to be performed on the calls, as well as other settings to minimize bandwidth requirements.
These settings usually need to be defined once and used at all kiosk locations (only normally needing to be changed from their defaults if bandwidth is likely to be an issue).
In addition, the Remote Assistant application once installed can be configured to turn on/off any of the feeds by default, thus allowing for example; to allow only the call initially and require the operator to start the other feeds, or turn all feeds to be on by default.