Interaction manager

• US 20030220901A1
• Filed: 03/27/2003
• Published: 11/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Co. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Gentilozzi, Harry V., Har, Tudor I., Carr, Steven R., Muthuswamy, Venkatakrishnan
• Application Number:
  US10/402,283
• Publication Number:
  US 20030220901A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/217 Database tuning G06F16/2282 takes precedence; database performance monitoring G06F11/3409
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2465 Query processing support for facilitating data mining operations in structured databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

An interaction manager (IM) is provided which is designed for gathering information associated with customer interactions, loading customer-related data at the beginning of each session, enriching the customer interactions with offers from a rules service, and performing data caching for more efficient customer interaction data retrieval and processing, including caching a session context with the gathered information and customer-related data after each interaction and restoring the session context at the beginning of each interaction. Offers to the customers are based on a comprehensive real-time view of the customer-related data and are augmented by rules and/or data mining, wherein the rules include enterprise rules and/or policies. The data caching includes saving data in denormalized form. The denormalized form is fashioned by taking the data in the normalized form and caching it lined up flatly and serially, end-to-end, in a long record so that it can be quickly retrieved in subsequent interactions and forwarded to the rules service. The long record with the data in denormalized form is cached along with a session identification key for easy association of the data in the denormalized form with a particular session.

Claims

7. A system for providing interaction management, comprising:

means for gathering information associated with customer interactions;

means for loading customer-related data at the beginning of each session;

means for enriching the customer interactions with offers from a rules service; and

means for data caching, including means for caching a session context with the gathered information and customer-related data after each interaction and means for restoring the session context at the beginning of each interaction.

8. A system for providing the interaction management as in claim 7, wherein the offers are based on a comprehensive real-time view of the customer-related data and are augmented by rules and data mining.

9. A system for providing interaction management as in claim 8, wherein the rules include enterprise rules and policies.

10. A system for providing interaction management as in claim 7, wherein the means for data caching includes

means for caching the data in denormalized form by taking the data in the normalized form and caching it lined up flatly and serially, end-to-end, in a long record so that it can be quickly retrieved in subsequent interactions and forwarded to the rules service.

11. A system for providing interaction management as in claim 10, wherein the long record is divided into portions, and wherein the data in denormalized form within each portion of the long record is cached along with a session identification key for easy association of the data in the denormalized form with a particular session.

12. A system for providing interaction management as in claim 7, wherein the system is configured with a zero latency enterprise (ZLE) framework for enterprise-wide integration of enterprise processes, applications including an IM for the interaction management, data and services to allow real-time recognition of events and synchronization and routing of information related to such events across an enterprise.

13. A system for providing interaction management as in claim 12, wherein the system includes an operational data store (ODS) through which the IM interacts with other applications.

14. A method for management of interactions with an interaction manager (IM), comprising:

creating a session record for a session initiated by an interaction with a customer;

loading customer data from a corresponding table in an operational data store (ODS) if an identity of the customer is available for the interaction, the session record being fashioned as an anonymous session record if the customer identity is not available and instead a cookie identifies an anonymous customer;

passing to a rules service data related to the current and any former interaction associated with the customer when an offer is commensurate with the interaction;

inserting data related to the customer, interaction, and any offer from the rules service to each corresponding table in the ODS;

caching in the ODS the data related to the customer, interaction, and any offer;

providing to the customer the offer(s) if commensurate with the interaction; and

on any subsequent interaction of that session retrieving the cached data and any offers from the ODS, thereby avoiding the need to load data from the corresponding tables in the ODS.

15. A method as in claim 14, wherein if on any subsequent interaction of an anonymous session the customer provides the customer identity the method further comprises:

associating the cookie with the customer;

loading customer data from a corresponding table in the ODS, if the customer data is available;

passing to a rules service data related to the current and any former interaction associated with the customer when an offer is commensurate with the interaction;

inserting data related to the customer, interaction, and any offer from the rules service to each corresponding table in the ODS;

caching in the ODS the data related to the customer, interaction, and any offer; and

providing to the customer the offer(s) if commensurate with the interaction.

16. A method as in claim 14, wherein the data in each of the corresponding tables is in normalized form, and wherein the cached data is in denormalized form fashioned as a long record that is cached along with a session key for easier association of the data in the denormalized form with the session.

17. A method as in claim 16, wherein fashioning the long record includes taking the data in the normalized form and caching it lined up flatly and serially, end-to-end, so that it can be quickly retrieved in subsequent interactions and forwarded to the rules service.

18. A method as in claim 17, wherein the long record is divided into portions, and wherein the data in denormalized form within each portion of the long record is cached along with a session identification key for easy association of the portions with the session.

19. A method as in claim 14, wherein the ODS is configured as a plurality of storage devices, and wherein the corresponding tables are partitioned by dividing each table into partitions and distributing the partitions of each table among the storage devices, one partition for each storage device.

20. A method as in claim 19, wherein the corresponding tables are partitioned evenly so as to allow load balancing among the storage devices.

21. A method as in claim 19, wherein there is a partition ID associated with each partition identifying the storage device that houses that partition.

22. A method as in claim 21, wherein each created session record has a key with a number of fields, one field contains the partition ID of the partition to the end of which the created session record is appended, a second field contains session date and a third field contains session identification.

23. A method as in claim 22, wherein the session identification is a number assigned to each session in ascending order.

24. A method as in claim 14, wherein there is a corresponding table for anonymous sessions and another corresponding table for identified customer sessions.

25. A method as in claim 14, wherein there is a corresponding table for each type of interactions.

26. A system for providing interaction management, comprising:

an operational data store (ODS);

means for creating a session record for a session initiated by an interaction with a customer;

means for loading customer data from a corresponding table in the ODS if an identity of the customer is available for the interaction, the session record being fashioned as an anonymous session record if the customer identity is not available and instead a cookie identifies an anonymous customer;

means for passing to a rules service data related to the current and any former interaction associated with the customer when an offer is commensurate with the interaction;

means for inserting data related to the customer, interaction, and any offer from the rules service to each corresponding table in the ODS;

means for caching in the ODS the data related to the customer, interaction, and any offer;

means for providing to the customer the offer(s) if commensurate with the interaction; and

means for retrieving on any subsequent interaction the cached data and any offers from the ODS, thereby avoiding the need to load data from the corresponding tables in the ODS.

1. A computer readable medium embodying an interaction manager (IM) program with instructions for causing a computer system to perform steps, comprising:

gathering information associated with customer interactions;

loading customer-related data at the beginning of each session;

enriching the customer interactions with offers from a rules service; and

performing data caching for more efficient customer interaction data retrieval and processing, including caching a session context with the gathered information and customer-related data after each interaction and restoring the session context at the beginning of each interaction.

2. A computer readable medium as in claim 1, wherein the offers are based on a comprehensive real-time view of the customer-related data and are augmented by rules and/or data mining.

3. A computer readable medium as in claim 2, wherein the rules include enterprise rules and policies.

4. A computer readable medium as in claim 1, wherein the IM program instructions for data caching cause the computer system to cache data in denormalized form, and wherein the instructions for creating the denormalized form take the data in the normalized form and cache it lined up flatly and serially, end-to-end, in a long record so that it can be quickly retrieved in subsequent interactions and forwarded to the rules service.

5. A computer readable medium as in claim 4, wherein the long record with the data in denormalized form is cached along with a session identification key for easy association of the data in the denormalized form with a particular session.

6. A computer readable medium as in claim 4, wherein the long record is divided into portions, and wherein the data in denormalized form within each portion of the long record is cached along with a session identification key for easy association of the data in the denormalized form with a particular session.

27. A system for providing interaction management as in claim 26, wherein if on any subsequent interaction of an anonymous session the customer provides the customer identity the system further comprises:

means for associating the cookie with the customer;

means for loading customer data from a corresponding table in the ODS, if the customer data is available;

means for passing to a rules service data related to the current and any former interaction associated with the customer when an offer is commensurate with the interaction;

means for inserting data related to the customer, interaction, and any offer from the rules service to each corresponding table in the ODS;

means for caching in the ODS the data related to the customer, interaction, and any offer; and

means for providing to the customer the offer(s) if commensurate with the interaction.

28. A system for providing interaction management as in claim 26, wherein the data in each of the corresponding tables is in normalized form, and wherein the cached data is in denormalized form fashioned as a long record that is cached along with a session key for easier association of the data in the denormalized form with the session.

29. A system for providing interaction management as in claim 28, wherein the means for caching the data includes means for fashioning the long record by taking the data in the normalized form and caching it lined up flatly and serially, end-to-end, so that it can be quickly retrieved in subsequent interactions and forwarded to the rules service.

30. A system for providing interaction management as in claim 29, wherein the long record is divided into portions, and wherein the data in denormalized form within each portion of the long record is cached along with a session identification key for easy association of the portions with the session.

31. A system for providing interaction management as in claim 26, wherein the ODS is configured as a plurality of storage devices, and wherein the system further comprises means for partitioning the corresponding tables by dividing each table into partitions and distributing the partitions of each table among the storage devices, one partition for each storage device.

32. A system for providing interaction management as in claim 31, wherein the corresponding tables are partitioned evenly so as to allow load balancing among the storage devices.

33. A system for providing interaction management as in claim 32, wherein each created session record has a key with a number of fields, one field contains the partition ID of the partition to the end of which the created session record is appended, a second field contains session date and a third field contains session identification.

34. A system for providing interaction management as in claim 33, wherein the session identification is a number assigned to each session in ascending order.

35. A system for providing interaction management as in claim 26, wherein there is a corresponding table for anonymous sessions and another corresponding table for identified customer sessions.

36. A system for providing interaction management as in claim 26, wherein there is a corresponding table for each type of interactions.

37. A system for providing interaction management as in claim 26, wherein the system is configured with a zero latency enterprise (ZLE) framework for enterprise-wide integration of enterprise processes, applications including an IM for the interaction management, data and services to allow real-time recognition of events and synchronization and routing of information related to such events across an enterprise.

38. A system for providing interaction management as in claim 26, wherein the system includes an operational data store (ODS) through which the IM interacts with other applications.

32-1. A system for providing interaction management as in claim 31, wherein there is a partition ID associated with each partition identifying the storage device that houses that partition.

39. A method for interaction management, comprising:

gathering information associated with customer interactions;

loading customer-related data at the beginning of each session;

5 enriching the customer interactions with offers from a rules service; and

performing data caching for more efficient customer interaction data retrieval and processing, including caching a session context with the gathered information and customer-related data after each interaction and restoring the session context at the beginning of each interaction.

40. A method for interaction management as in claim 39, wherein the offers are based on a comprehensive real-time view of the customer-related data and are augmented by rules and/or data mining.

41. A method for interaction management as in claim 40, wherein the rules include enterprise rules and/or policies.

42. A method for interaction management as in claim 39, wherein the data caching includes saving data in denormalized form, and wherein the denormalized form is fashioned by taking the data in the normalized form and caching it lined up flatly and serially, end-to-end, in a long record so that it can be quickly retrieved in subsequent interactions and forwarded to the rules service.

43. A method for interaction management as in claim 42, wherein the long record with the data in denormalized form is cached along with a session identification key for easy association of the data in the denormalized form with a particular session.

44. A method for interaction management as in claim 42, wherein the long record is divided into portions, and wherein the data in denormalized form within each portion of the long record is cached along with a session identification key for easy association of the data in the denormalized form with a particular session.

45. An interaction manager, comprising:

means for gathering information associated with customer interactions;

means for loading customer-related data at the beginning of each session;

means for enriching the customer interactions with offers from a rules service; and

means for performing data caching for more efficient customer interaction data retrieval and processing, including caching a session context with the gathered information and customer-related data after each interaction and restoring the session context at the beginning of each interaction.

46. An interaction manager as in claim 45 deployed in a zero latency enterprise (ZLE) infrastructure with a rules engine for facilitating the rules service, and wherein the means for enriching the customer interactions includes means for leveraging a rules engine to define rules governing customer interactions throughout the enterprise.

47. An interaction manager as in claim 45 providing for a real-time insertion and tracking of customer interactions as they occur throughout the enterprise, so as to enrich the customer interactions based on real-time information made available anywhere across the enterprise.

48. An interaction manager as in claim 45 deployed in a zero latency enterprise (ZLE) infrastructure with an operational data store (ODS) through which the interaction manager interacts with components of the ZLE infrastructure.

49. An interaction manager as in claim 45 providing for initiating and resumption of sessions which include an interaction or a series of interactions, wherein if anonymous browsing is supported a guest is identified during an interaction via a cookie such that the interaction manager uses the cookie in subsequent interactions for finding a record of that guest'"'"'s prior interactions and/or for mapping the record to an actual identity if the guest provides it.

50. An interaction manager as in claim 45, wherein information related to the customer interactions is cached in the ODS in denormalized form.