System and method for distributed dynamic resource commitment

• US 10,432,794 B2
• Filed: 11/09/2018
• Issued: 10/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Incorporated (Genesys Cloud Services Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Incorporated (Genesys Cloud Services Incorporated)
• Inventors: McGraw, Kevin, Gunter, Derrick, Mytropan, Taras, Albert, David, Ristock, Herbert Willi Artur
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoque, Nafiz E
• Application Number:
  US16/185,755
• Publication Number:
  US 20190082053A1
• Time in Patent Office: 326 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/402 Agent or workforce management
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5141 Details of processing calls and other types of contacts in an unified manner unified messaging in packet-switching networks H04L51/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5233 Operator skill based call distribution

Abstract

A system for managing resource commitment in a contact center includes: a processor; and a memory, wherein the memory stores instructions that cause the processor to: receive over a shared data communications channel a request for contact center resources, wherein the request is for handling activities for the contact center. having an activity type; transmit a signal to initiate a raise round according to the request over the data communications channel to a pool of resources registered to communicate on the data communications channel; receive a plurality of volunteer signals from a plurality of volunteering resources from the pool of resources; select one or more of the plurality of the volunteering resources for fulfilling the request; and transmit a message to the selected volunteering resources for committing the selected volunteering resources to the request, wherein the committed resources are selected for routing an activity having the activity type.

Claims

1. A managed resource device, configured for use in a contact center, the device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

receive a signal corresponding to an initialization of a raise round according to a request over a shared data communications channel to a plurality of non-committed resources registered to communicate on the shared data communications channel,

determine, by hosted logic, whether the managed resource device should volunteer for an activity type during the raise round,

automatically transmit a volunteer signal over the shared data communications channel in response to determining that the managed resource device should volunteer for the type of activity according to the hosted logic indicating selected volunteering resources,

receive a message for committing the selected volunteering resources to the request, wherein the committed resources are selected for routing an activity having the activity type; and

an electronic routing device coupled to the processor for routing the activity having the activity type, to the committed resources, for handling by the committed resources.

2. The managed resource device of claim 1, wherein the signal corresponding to an initialization of a raise round further comprises a signal request for handling activities for the contact center having an activity type.

3. The managed resource device of claim 1, wherein the managed resource device is configured to respond to a request to join a pool of managed resource devices in response to a signal received by the managed resource device from a requestor managed resource device.

4. The managed resource device of claim 1, wherein the managed resource device is configured to communicate on the shared data communications channel with at least one of a plurality of additional managed resource devices,

wherein the at least one of a plurality of additional managed resource devices is configured receive a signal corresponding to the initialization of the raise round according to the request over the shared data communications channel, and

wherein the at least one of a plurality of additional managed resource devices is configured to route committed resources volunteered in response to the raise round via the electronic routing device coupled to the processor for routing the activity having the activity type for handling by the committed resources.

5. The managed resource device of claim 4, wherein the managed resource device is configured to respond to a request to join a pool of managed resource devices,

wherein said pool of managed resource devices comprises the at least one of a plurality of additional managed resource devices.

6. The managed resource device of claim 4, wherein the managed resource device is configured to initiate to a request to join a pool of managed resource devices as a requestor managed resource device,

wherein said pool of managed resource devices comprises the managed resource device and the at least one of a plurality of additional managed resource devices.

7. The managed resource device of claim 4, wherein the managed resource device is configured to designate a lead managed resource device from a pool of managed resource devices,

wherein the pool of managed resource devices comprises the managed resource device and the at least one of a plurality of additional managed resource devices.

8. A method for managing resource commitment of a resource device in a contact center, the method comprising:

receiving, by a processor, a signal corresponding to an initialization of a raise round according to a request over a shared data communications channel to a plurality of non-committed resources registered to communicate on the shared data communications channel;

determining, by logic hosted on the processor, whether the managed resource device should volunteer for an activity type during the raise round;

automatically transmitting, by the processor, a volunteer signal over the shared data communications channel in response to determining that the managed resource device should volunteer for the type of activity according to the logic hosted on the processor indicating selected volunteering resources;

receiving, by the processor, a message for committing the selected volunteering resources to the request, wherein the committed resources are selected for routing an activity having the activity type; and

routing, by an electronic routing device coupled to the processor, the activity having the activity type, to the committed resources, for handling by the committed resources.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the signal corresponding to an initialization of a raise round further comprises a signal request for handling activities for the contact center having an activity type.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the method further comprising responding, by the processor, to a request to join a pool of managed resource devices in response to a signal received by the managed resource device from a requestor managed resource device.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises communicating on the shared data communications channel with at least one of a plurality of additional managed resource devices,

wherein the at least one of a plurality of additional managed resource devices is configured receive a signal corresponding to the initialization of the raise round according to the request over the shared data communications channel, and

wherein the at least one of a plurality of additional managed resource devices is configured to route committed resources volunteered in response to the raise round via the electronic routing device coupled to the processor for routing the activity having the activity type for handling by the committed resources.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the method further comprising responding to a request to join a pool of managed resource devices, and

wherein said pool of managed resource devices comprises the at least one of a plurality of additional managed resource devices.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises initiating a request to join a pool of managed resource devices as a requestor managed resource device,

wherein said pool of managed resource devices comprises the managed resource device and the at least one of a plurality of additional managed resource devices.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises designating a lead managed resource device from a pool of managed resource devices,

wherein the pool of managed resource devices comprises the managed resource device and the at least one of a plurality of additional managed resource devices.

15. A method of adding additional resources to a contact center, the method comprising:

identifying, by a processor, a number of resources available to the contact center a particular time interval categorized by activity type;

determining, by the processor, a deficiency in resources categorized by activity type needed by the contact center at the particular time interval by comparing the number of available resources against a determined number of resources needed by the contact center;

transmitting, by the processor, over a shared data communications channel a request for contact center resources from a pool of non-committed resources, wherein

the request is for handling activities for the contact center having an activity type, and

the request, transmitted by the processor, is configured to be received by a resource device of the pool of non-committed resources, which initiates a raise round according to the request for the pool of non-committed resources to indicate whether the pool of non-committed resources can volunteer resources according to the activity type;

receiving, by the processor, an indicator from the pool of non-committed resources through the shared communications channel that the pool of non-committed resources has volunteered resources available according to the activity type; and

routing, by an electronic device coupled to the processor, the activity having the activity type, to the committed resources, for handling by the committed resources.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the request, transmitted by the processor, is configured as a signal to initiate a raise round according to the request over the shared data communications channel to a pool of non-committed resources registered to communicate on the data communications channel, and wherein each resource in the pool of non-committed resources hosts logic for determining whether the resource should volunteer for the type of activity during the raise round, and in response to determining that the resource should volunteer, the host logic is configured to automatically transmit a volunteer signal over the data communications channel.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the volunteer signals are received by each of the resources in the pool concurrently via the shared data communications channel.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the determining of whether the resource should volunteer is based on a number of resources requested and how many other resources volunteer.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the indicator received from the pool of non-committed resources is request for contact center resources configured to initiate a raise round signal is received by each of the resources in the pool concurrently via the shared data communications channel.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the pool of non-committed resources is associated with a particular skill, and each resource in the pool of non-committed resources has the particular skill.