Peer to peer application processor

• US 20060023868A1
• Filed: 07/29/2004
• Published: 02/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alvaria Cayman
• Original Assignee: Firstpoint Contact Technologies, LLC (Alvaria Incorporated)
• Inventors: Biggam, Sandy, Dezonno, Anthony J., Sumner, Roger A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,961,867 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/265.90
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for processing information within a computing system. The method includes the steps of detecting a contact with a client of an organization that operates and uses the computing system for its own internal business purposes, providing a processing application within the computing system for distributing the detected contact to one of a plurality of human agents of the organization based upon a context of the contact, where said provided processing application has been previously divided into a sequence of separated software modules based upon a predetermined criteria, locating each software module of the sequence of software modules within a set of computers of the computer system where the set of computers are interconnected via a network and sequentially activating the sequence of software modules of the processing application by performing a search over the network to locate and activate each software module to process and distribute the contact to the human agent.

Claims

1. A method of processing transactions within a computing system, such method comprising:

detecting a contact with a client of an organization that operates and uses the computing system for its own internal business purposes;

providing a processing application within the computing system for distributing the detected contact to one of a plurality of human agents of the organization based upon a context of the contact, where said provided processing application has been previously divided into a sequence of separated software modules based upon a predetermined criteria;

locating each software module of the sequence of software modules within a set of computers of the computer system where the set of computers are interconnected via a network; and

sequentially activating the sequence of software modules of the processing application by performing a search over the network to locate and activate each software module to process and distribute the contact to the human agent.

2. The method of processing information as in claim 1 further comprising a first software module of the sequence of software modules saving an interim result produced by the first software module in a database that is different from a computer in which the first software module operates.

3. The method of processing information as in claim 2 further comprising the first software module sending a software module complete message to a monitoring computer.

4. The method of processing information as in claim 2 further comprising the first processing application sending a heartbeat message to a monitoring computer.

5. The method of processing information as in claim 3 further comprising the monitoring computer activating a second software module of the sequence upon receiving the software module complete message.

6. The method of processing information as in claim 3 further comprising the second software module retrieving the interim results from the database.

7. The method of processing information as in claim 2 further comprising the first software module activating a second software module of the sequence when the first software module completes a set of processing steps of the first software module.

8. The method of processing information as in claim 1 further comprising activating a backup copy of a software module of the sequence when the software module does not complete a set of processing steps of the software module within a predetermined time period.

9. The method of processing information as in claim 3 further comprising providing a backup copy of the database.

10. The method of processing information as in claim 1 further comprising defining the processing application as a contact server.

11. The method of processing information as in claim 1 further comprising defining the processing application as a agent server.

12. The method of processing information as in claim 1 further comprising defining the processing application as a contact distributor.

13. An apparatus for processing transactions within a computing system, such apparatus comprising:

means for detecting a contact with a client of an organization that operates the computing system;

a processing application compiled into a sequence of separated software modules based upon a predetermined criteria, said processing application being disposed within the computing system for distributing the detected contact to one of a plurality of human agents of the organization based upon a context of the contact;

means for locating each software module of the sequence of software modules within the computer system where a set of computers of the computing system are interconnected via a network; and

means for sequentially activating the sequence of software modules of the processing application by performing a search over the network to locate and activate each software module to process and distribute the contact to the human agent.

14. The apparatus for processing information as in claim 13 further comprising means within a first software module of the sequence of software modules for saving an interim result produced by the first software module in a database that is different from a computer in which the first software module operates.

15. The apparatus for processing information as in claim 14 further comprising means within the first software module for sending a software module complete message to a monitoring computer.

16. The apparatus for processing information as in claim 14 further comprising means within the first processing application for sending a heartbeat message to a monitoring computer.

17. The apparatus for processing information as in claim 15 further comprising means within the monitoring computer for activating a second software module of the sequence upon receiving the software module complete message.

18. The apparatus for processing information as in claim 15 further comprising means within the second software module for retrieving the interim results from the database.

19. The apparatus for processing information as in claim 14 further comprising means within the first software module for activating a second software module of the sequence when the first software module completes a set of processing steps of the first software module.

20. The apparatus for processing information as in claim 13 further comprising means for activating a backup copy of a software module of the sequence when the software module does not complete a set of processing steps of the software module within a predetermined time period.

21. The apparatus for processing information as in claim 15 further comprising means for providing a backup copy of the database.

22. An apparatus for processing information within a computing system, such method comprising:

an Internet connection that detects contacts with clients of an organization that operates the computing system;

a computer application that distributes the detected contacts to human agents of the organization, said computer application having been compiled into a sequence of separated software modules based upon a predetermined criteria and where the software modules are distributed within the computing system and where the computer system further comprises a set of computers interconnected via a network; and

a call function within at least some software modules of the sequence of software modules that performs a search over the network to locate a subsequent software module of the sequence of software modules and that activates the subsequent software module of the sequence of software modules of the application to process and distribute the contacts to the human agents.

23. The method of processing information as in claim 22 further comprising defining the computing system as being an automatic contact distributor and the processed information as being business information of an organization operating the automatic contact distributor.

24. The method of processing information as in claim 22 further comprising a first software module of the sequence of software modules saving an interim result produced by the first software module in a database that is different from a computer in which the first software module operates.

25. The method of processing information as in claim 24 wherein the call function further comprises a software module complete message that the first software module sends to a monitoring computer.

26. The method of processing information as in claim 24 further comprising the first processing application sending a heartbeat message to a monitoring computer.

27. The method of processing information as in claim 25 further comprising a second software module of the sequence that the monitoring computer activates upon receiving the software module complete message.

28. The method of processing information as in claim 22 further comprising a processor that activates a backup copy of a software module of the sequence when the software module does not complete a set of processing steps of the software module within a predetermined time period.

29. The method of processing information as in claim 25 further comprising providing a backup copy of the database.

30. A method of processing transactions within a computing system of an organization, such method comprising:

providing a processing application within the computing system for distributing a detected contact to one of a plurality of human agents of the organization based upon a context of the contact, said processing application having been compiled into a sequence of separated software modules based upon a predetermined criteria;

locating each software module of the sequence of software modules within the computer system where a set of computers of the computing system are interconnected via a network; and

sequentially activating the sequence of software modules of the processing application by performing a search over the network to locate and activate each software module to process and distribute the contact to the human agent.

31. The method of processing information as in claim 30 further comprising defining the computing system as being an automatic contact distributor and the processed information as being business information of an organization operating the automatic contact distributor.

32. The method of processing information as in claim 30 further comprising a first software module of the sequence of software modules saving an interim result produced by the first software module in a database that is different from a computer in which the first software module operates.

33. The method of processing information as in claim 32 further comprising the first software module sending a software module complete message to a monitoring computer.

34. The method of processing information as in claim 32 further comprising the first processing application sending a heartbeat message to a monitoring computer.

35. The method of processing information as in claim 33 further comprising the monitoring computer activating a second software module of the sequence upon receiving the software module complete message.

36. The method of processing information as in claim 33 further comprising the second software module retrieving the interim results from the database.

37. The method of processing information as in claim 32 further comprising the first software module activating a second software module of the sequence when the first software module completes a set of processing steps of the first software module.

38. The method of processing information as in claim 30 further comprising activating a backup copy of a software module of the sequence when the software module does not complete a set of processing steps of the software module within a predetermined time period.

39. The method of processing information as in claim 33 further comprising providing a backup copy of the database.

40. An apparatus for processing information within a computing system, such apparatus comprising:

a processing application that processes the information, said processing application having been compiled into a sequence of separated software modules based upon a predetermined criteria;

means for locating each software module of the sequence of software modules within the computer system where a set of computers of the computing system are interconnected via a network; and

means for sequentially activating the sequence of software modules of the processing application by performing a search over the network to locate and activate each software module to process the information.

41. The apparatus for processing information as in claim 40 further comprising defining the computing system as being an automatic contact distributor and the processed information as being business information of an organization operating the automatic contact distributor.

42. The apparatus for processing information as in claim 40 further comprising means within a first software module of the sequence of software modules for saving an interim result produced by the first software module in a database that is different from a computer in which the first software module operates.

43. The apparatus for processing information as in claim 42 further comprising means within the first software module for sending a software module complete message to a monitoring computer.

44. The apparatus for processing information as in claim 42 further comprising means within the first processing application for sending a heartbeat message to a monitoring computer.

45. The apparatus for processing information as in claim 43 further comprising means within the monitoring computer for activating a second software module of the sequence upon receiving the software module complete message.

46. The apparatus for processing information as in claim 43 further comprising means within the second software module for retrieving the interim results from the database.

47. The apparatus for processing information as in claim 42 further comprising means within the first software module for activating a second software module of the sequence when the first software module completes a set of processing steps of the first software module.

48. The apparatus for processing information as in claim 40 further comprising means for activating a backup copy of a software module of the sequence when the software module does not complete a set of processing steps of the software module within a predetermined time period.

49. The apparatus for processing information as in claim 43 further comprising means for providing a backup copy of the database.

50. An apparatus for processing information within a computing system, such method comprising:

a computer application compiled into a sequence of separated software modules based upon a predetermined criteria;

a plurality of computers of the computer system that are interconnected via a network; and

a call function within each software module of the sequence of software modules that searches the network for a subsequent software module in the sequence of software modules and that activates the subsequent software module of the sequence of software modules of the application to process the information.

51. The method of processing information as in claim 50 further comprising defining the computing system as being an automatic contact distributor and the processed information as being business information of an organization operating the automatic contact distributor.

52. The method of processing information as in claim 50 further comprising a first software module of the sequence of software modules saving an interim result produced by the first software module in a database that is different from a computer in which the first software module operates.

53. The method of processing information as in claim 52 wherein the call function further comprises a software module complete message that the first software module sends to a monitoring computer.

54. The method of processing information as in claim 52 further comprising the first processing application sending a heartbeat message to a monitoring computer.

55. The method of processing information as in claim 53 further comprising a second software module of the sequence that the monitoring computer activates upon receiving the software module complete message.

56. The method of processing information as in claim 50 further comprising a processor that activates a backup copy of a software module of the sequence when the software module does not complete a set of processing steps of the software module within a predetermined time period.

57. The method of processing information as in claim 53 further comprising providing a backup copy of the database.

58. A system for executing computer programs in a transaction system comprising:

a application network;

a data network;

at least one application processing resource;

at least one data processing resource;

means for allocating program execution to the application processing resource;

means for exchanging application processing resource data with said data network;

means for locating program information within the application network; and

means for locating data information within the data network.