Method and apparatus for extending contact center configuration data for access by third-party applications over a data network

• US 20040083482A1
• Filed: 10/23/2002
• Published: 04/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Genesys Cloud Services Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Incorporated (Genesys Cloud Services Incorporated)
• Inventors: Anisimov, Nikolay, Makagon, Petr, Ryabchun, Andriy
• Granted Patent: US 7,823,167 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/316
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues

Abstract

A system for transforming and transmitting communication-center configuration and service data from a communication-center environment to one or more third-party applications over a data network includes an intermediate service point connected to the network between the communicating parties, a set of application program interfaces for transforming and transmitting communication-center data from the center to the intermediate service point, and a set of application program interfaces for transmitting the communication-center data from the service point to one or more of the third party applications. In a preferred application, the third-party applications can be disparate platforms, and Java-based data is sent to the service point from the center and used for instantiating at least one data model, the model described as an XML document, which is rendered accessible in whole or part to a requesting third-party application or applications according to protocol used by the third-party application or applications.

Claims

1. A system for transforming and transmitting communication-center configuration and service data from a communication-center environment to at least one third-party application over a data network comprising:

an intermediate service point connected to the network between the communication-center environment and the at least one third-party application;

a set of application program interfaces for transforming and transmitting communication-center data from the center to the intermediate service point; and

a set of application program interfaces for transmitting the communication-center data from the service point to one or more of the third party applications;

characterized in that the incoming data into the service point is of the form of a common machine-readable language used by the service point to instantiate at least one data model rendered accessible to the at least one third party application and wherein upon request a whole or portion thereof is transformed into a machine-readable descriptive language and presented to a requesting third-party application or applications according to protocol used by the third-party application or applications.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the data network is the Internet network.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the data network is the Internet network combined with at least one sub-network.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the machine-readable language incoming into the service point from the communication-center is Java-based.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the machine-readable language output from the service point to one or more third-party applications is XML-based.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the service point facilitates access to and manipulation of configuration data, statistical data, queue-service data, and interactive-voice-response service data.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the service point is a Web server hosted on the Internet network and data is accessible to the third-party applications through a set of Web services.

8. The system of claim 5 wherein the XML-based data is transported in SOAP-based messages.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein the set of Web services is described using WDSL and/or UDDI languages.

10. An intermediary service point hosted on a data network for transforming and transmitting communication-center configuration and service data from a communication-center environment to at least one third-party application over the network comprising:

at least one application interface between the service point and the at least one third-party application;

a data processing engine for receiving and processing communication-center data; and

at least one Java-capable server driver for facilitating communication between the service point and one or more data servers hosted in the communication center;

characterized in that the data processing engine receives Java-based communication-center data, instantiates at least one data model from the receive data, the at least one data model described as an XML document and wherein XML messaging is used to transport requested portions or a whole of the at least one data model to requesting third party applications over the host network.

11. The service point of claim 10 wherein the data network is the Internet network.

12. The service point of claim 10 wherein the data network is the Internet network combined with at least one sub-network.

13. The service point of claim 10 wherein the service point facilitates access to and manipulation of configuration data, statistical data, queue-service data, and interactive-voice-response service data.

14. The service point of claim 10 provided as a Web server hosted on the Internet network wherein data is accessible to the third-party applications through a set of Web services.

15. The service point of claim 10 wherein the XML message data is transported in SOAP-based messages.

16. The service point of claim 14 wherein the set of Web services is described using WDSL and/or UDDI languages.

17. The service point of claim 10 wherein the at least one third-party application is a customer-relations-management application.

18. The service point of claim 10 wherein the at least one third-party application is a thin-client application.

19. The service point of claim 10 wherein the at least one data model contains data presentation logic and data transformation logic.

20. The service point of claim 10 wherein a Java configuration library is used in communication between the at least one data server in the communication center and the data processing engine.

21. The service point of claim 10 wherein the at least one data server includes a configuration server, an IVR server, a statistical server, a transaction server, and a plurality of media servers.

22. A method for transforming and transmitting communication-center configuration and service data to at least one third-party application over a data network comprising steps of:

(a) providing an intermediary service point connected to the data network in between the communication center and the at least one third party application;

(b) transforming the communication-center data to a common machine-readable language for input into the service point;

(c) instantiating at least one data model at the service point from received communication-center data;

(d) describing the at least one data model at the service point as an XML document; and

(e) transmitting a portion up for a whole of the at least one data model from the service point to a requesting third-party application using an XML transport mechanism.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein in step (a) the intermediary service point is a Web server connected to the Internet and data is accessible through a set of Web services hosted in the server.

24. The method of claim 22 wherein in step (a) at least one of the third-party applications is a customer-relations-management application.

25. The method of claim 22 wherein in step (b) the common machine-readable language is Java-based.

26. The method of claim 22 wherein in step (c) the at least one data model includes a communication-center configuration data model.

27. The method of claim 22 wherein in step (e) the XML transport mechanism is SOAP-based messaging.

28. The method of claim 23 wherein the set of Web services is described using WSDL and/or UDDI.