Digital multimedia contact center
First Claim
1. A digital multimedia contact center comprising:
- a workflow engine operable for executing a workflow for a contact that specifies processing of the contact;
a set of media routers coupled to the workflow engine, each media router operable for sending a contact associated with a particular media type to the workflow engine and operable for routing the contact to an agent if an agent is allocated to the contact;
a dynamic automatic contact distributor coupled to the workflow engine and operable for allocating an agent to the contact when requested by the workflow and for returning an identifier for the allocated agent to the workflow engine;
an agent desktop coupled to the workflow engine and operable for receiving a contact routed by a media router and presenting the contact to the allocated agent for processing; and
a database coupled to the workflow engine for recording the processing of the contact by the allocated agent.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A tiered service model for a digital multimedia contact center assigns an entering contact to an initial service tier based on routing criteria for the contact and may escalate or de-escalate the contact to a different service tier if the routing criteria changes. The routing criteria is initially determined based on a media type associated with the contact. The digital multimedia contact center contains a set of media routers, each of which passes a contact of a particular media type to a workflow engine which executes workflows to direct the processing of contacts at service tiers that require agent activity. Agents are allocated to contacts by a dynamic automate contact distributor and the appropriate media router is used to route the contact to an agent. The workflow engine also executes workflows for agents to control the allocation of agents to contacts.
223 Citations
60 Claims
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1. A digital multimedia contact center comprising:
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a workflow engine operable for executing a workflow for a contact that specifies processing of the contact;
a set of media routers coupled to the workflow engine, each media router operable for sending a contact associated with a particular media type to the workflow engine and operable for routing the contact to an agent if an agent is allocated to the contact;
a dynamic automatic contact distributor coupled to the workflow engine and operable for allocating an agent to the contact when requested by the workflow and for returning an identifier for the allocated agent to the workflow engine;
an agent desktop coupled to the workflow engine and operable for receiving a contact routed by a media router and presenting the contact to the allocated agent for processing; and
a database coupled to the workflow engine for recording the processing of the contact by the allocated agent. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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18. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable modules comprising:
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a workflow engine to execute a workflow for a contact that specifies processing of the contact;
a plurality of media routers for coupling to the workflow engine to send a contact associated with a particular media type to the workflow engine and to route the contact to an agent if an agent is allocated to the contact; and
a dynamic automatic contact distributor for coupling to the workflow engine to allocate an agent to the contact when requested by the workflow and return an identifier for the allocated agent to the workflow engine.
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32. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable modules comprising:
an agent desktop for coupling to a workflow engine to receive a contact routed by a media router and to present the contact to an agent logged into the agent desktop for processing.
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33. A computerized method for determining a service tier for a contact in a digital multimedia contact center comprising:
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determining an initial service tier for the contact based on routing criteria for the contact;
de-escalating the contact to a lower service tier if a change in the routing criteria does not satisfy pre-defined criteria for the initial service tier; and
escalating the contract to a higher service tier if a change in the routing criteria satisfies pre-defined criteria for the higher service tier. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40)
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37. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions comprising:
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determining an initial service tier for a contact in a digital multimedia contact center based on routing criteria for the contact;
de-escalating the contact to a lower service tier if a change in the routing criteria does not satisfy pre-defined criteria for the initial service tier; and
escalating the contract to a higher service tier if a change in the routing criteria satisfies pre-defined criteria for the higher service tier.
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41. A computer system comprising:
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a processing unit;
a memory coupled to the processing unit through a bus; and
a service tiering process executed from the memory to cause the processing unit to determine an initial service tier for a contact in a digital multimedia contact center based on routing criteria for the contact, to de-escalate the contact to a lower service tier if a change in the routing criteria does not satisfy pre-defined criteria for the initial service tier, and to escalate the contract to a higher service tier if a change in the routing criteria satisfies pre-defined criteria for the higher service tier. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 46, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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45. A computer-readable medium having a data structure for a contact detail record comprising:
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a contact ID field containing data representing a contact identifier for a contact associated with the contact detail record;
a media type field containing data representing a media type for the contact identified by the contact ID field;
a contact class ID containing data representing a classification for the contact identified by the contact ID field;
an assigned agent ID containing data representing an agent assigned to handle the contact identified by the contact ID field; and
a plurality of contact state fields, each contact state field comprising;
a contact state field containing data representing a state of the contact identified by the contact ID field at a particular time; and
a timestamp field containing data representing the particular time associated with data in the contact state field.
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47. A computer readable having a data structure for an agent record comprising:
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an agent ID field containing data representing an agent identifier for an agent associated with the agent record;
an agent class ID field containing data representing a classification for the agent identified by the agent ID field;
an assigned contact ID field containing data representing an identifier for a contact assigned to the agent identified by the agent ID field; and
a plurality of agent state fields, each agent state field comprising;
an agent state field containing data representing a state of the agent identified by the agent ID field at a particular time; and
a timestamp field containing data representing the particular time associated with data in the agent state field.
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48. A method of communicating between a media router and a contact workflow subsystem in a digital multimedia contact center comprising:
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issuing, by the media router to the contact workflow subsystem, a startworkflow call including an identifier for the media router and attributes of a contact; and
returning, by the contact workflow subsystem to the media router, an identifier for a workflow for the contact in response to receiving the startworkflow call.
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53. A method of communicating between a media router and an agent workflow subsystem in a digital multimedia contact center comprising:
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issuing, by the media router to the agent workflow subsystem, a startworkflow call including attributes of an agent; and
returning, by the agent workflow subsystem to the media router, an identifier for a workflow for the agent in response to receiving the startworkflow call. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 57, 59)
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56. A method of operating a multimedia contact center comprising:
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receiving, by a media router, a contact of a media type particular to the media router;
sending, by the media router, the contact to a workflow subsystem particular to the media type of the contact;
initiating, by the workflow subsystem, a workflow for the contact;
sending, by the workflow for the contact, a request for an agent to handle the contact to the workflow subsystem;
requesting, by the workflow subsystem, an agent from an automatic contact distributor;
allocating, by the automatic contact distributor, an agent to the contact;
sending, by the automatic contact distributor, an identifier for the agent allocated to the contact to the workflow subsystem;
receiving, by the workflow subsystem, the identifier for the agent;
sending, by the workflow subsystem, the identifier for the agent to the media router; and
routing, by the media router, the contact to the agent allocated to the contact.
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58. A computerized server for a digital multimedia contact center comprising:
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a processing unit;
a memory coupled to the processing unit through a bus;
a network interface coupled to the processing unit through the bus and further operable for coupling to a network;
a media router executed from the memory to cause the processing unit to receive a contact of a media type particular to the media router from the network interface, to send the contact to a workflow subsystem particular to the media type of the contact, and to route the contact to an agent identified by the workflow subsystem through the network interface. the workflow subsystem executed from the memory to cause the processing unit to initiate a contact workflow for the contact received from the media router, to request an agent from an automatic contact distributor, to receive an identifier for an agent from the automatic contact distributor, and to send the identifier for the agent to the media router;
the contact workflow executed from the memory to cause the processing unit to send a request for an agent to handle the contact to the workflow subsystem; and
the automatic contact distributor to cause the processing unit to allocate an agent to the contact and to send the identifier for the agent allocated to the contact to the workflow subsystem.
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60. A computerized client for a multimedia contact center comprising:
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a processing unit;
a memory coupled to the processing unit through a bus;
a network interface coupled to the processing unit through the bus and further operable for coupling to a network; and
an agent desktop executed from the memory to cause the processor to receive a login by an agent, to send agent information to an agent subsystem through the network interface, to receive a contact from the network interface, and to send the contact to an appropriate subsystem for processing.
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Specification