Method and apparatus for simultaneously monitoring computer user screen and telephone activity from a remote location

• US 20060126817A1
• Filed: 06/24/2005
• Published: 06/15/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/1996
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verint Americas Incorporated (Verint Systems Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Credit Suisse International (Credit Suisse)
• Inventors: Beckett, Stephen, House, Donald, Lamberti, Santino, Beckett, Rebecca
• Granted Patent: US 8,861,707 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/265.60
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5175 Call or contact centers supervision arrangements

Abstract

Systems and methods for monitoring computer user screen an telephone activity from a remote location are provided. The method includes the steps of recording data corresponding to two actual sequential screen changes at the monitored workstation and storing the screen change-related data; recording data corresponding to audio telephone conversation occurring at the monitored workstation during the sequential screen changes and storing the audio telephone conversion-related data; subsequent to steps “a” and “b”, playing back, with the use of the screen change-related data and the audio telephone conversation-related data, the audio telephone conversation with the sequential screen changes as they both happened in real time at the monitored workstation, to allow a monitoring workstation to view and hear on-screen and telephone activities as they occurred at the monitored workstation; and, providing training to an agent at the monitored workstation based upon the played back audio and sequential screen changes.

Claims

1. A method of training an agent associated with a monitored workstation having a display screen and a telephone extension, said method comprising:

a) recording data corresponding to two actual sequential screen changes occurring at said monitored workstation and storing said screen change-related data;

b) recording data corresponding to audio telephone conversation occurring at said monitored workstation during said two actual sequential screen changes and storing said audio telephone conversion-related data;

c) subsequent to steps “

a” and

“

b”

, playing back, with the use of said screen change-related data and said audio telephone conversation-related data, said audio telephone conversation in substantial synchronization with said sequential screen changes as they both happened in real time at said monitored workstation, to allow one at a monitoring workstation to simultaneously view and hear on-screen and telephone activities substantially as they occurred at said monitored workstation; and

d) providing training to an agent associated with said monitored workstation based upon the played back audio telephone conversation and sequential screen changes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of providing training comprises providing training which is not disruptive of the agent'"'"'s work activities.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining efficiency of the agent'"'"'s work activities based upon the played back audio telephone conversation and sequential screen changes.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing feedback to the agent based upon the played back audio telephone conversation and sequential screen changes.

5. A method of supervising an agent associated with a monitored workstation having a display screen and a telephone extension, said method comprising:

a) recording data corresponding to two actual sequential screen changes occurring at said monitored workstation and storing said screen change-related data;

b) recording data corresponding to audio telephone conversation occurring at said monitored workstation during said two actual sequential screen changes and storing said audio telephone conversation-related data;

c) subsequent to steps “

a” and

“

b”

, playing back, with the use of said screen change-related data and said audio telephone conversation-related data, said audio telephone conversation in substantial synchronization with said sequential screen changes as they both happened in real time at said monitored workstation, to allow one at a monitoring workstation to simultaneously view and hear on-screen and telephone activities substantially as they occurred at said monitored workstation; and

d) providing feedback to an agent associated with said monitored workstation based upon the played back audio telephone conversation and sequential screen changes.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of providing training to the agent associated with said monitored workstation.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of determining efficiency of the agent'"'"'s work activities based upon the played back audio telephone conversation and sequential screen changes.

8. An apparatus for supervising an agent associated with a monitored workstation having a display screen and a telephone extension, said apparatus comprising:

means for recording data corresponding to two actual sequential screen changes occurring at said monitored workstation and storing said screen change-related data;

means for recording data corresponding to audio telephone conversation occurring at said monitored workstation during said two actual sequential screen changes and storing said audio telephone conversation-related data;

means for playing back, subsequent to recording of the sequential screen changes and the audio telephone conversation, with the use of said screen change-related data and said audio telephone conversation-related data, said audio telephone conversation in substantial synchronization with said sequential screen changes as they both happened in real time at said monitored workstation, to allow one at a monitoring workstation to simultaneously view and hear on-screen and telephone activities substantially as they occurred at said monitored workstation; and

means for providing feedback to an agent associated with said monitored workstation based upon the played back audio telephone conversation and sequential screen changes.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising means for providing training to the agent.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising means for determining efficiency of the agent'"'"'s work activities based upon the played back audio telephone conversation and sequential screen changes.

11. A method of supervising an agent associated with a monitored workstation having a display screen and telephone extension, said method comprising:

a) recording data corresponding to two actual sequential screen changes occurring at said monitored workstation and storing said screen change-related data;

b) recording data corresponding to audio telephone conversation occurring at said monitored workstation during said two actual sequential screen changes and storing said audio telephone conversation-related data;

c) subsequent to steps “

a” and

“

b”

, playing back, with the use of said screen change-related data and said audio telephone conversation-related data, said audio telephone conversation in substantial synchronization with said sequential screen changes as they both happened in real time at said monitored workstation, to allow one at a monitoring workstation to simultaneously view and hear on-screen and telephone activities substantially as they occurred at said monitored workstation; and

d) providing supervision of an agent associated with said monitored workstation based upon the played back audio telephone conversation and sequential screen changes.

12. A method of supervising an agent associated with a monitored workstation, the monitored workstation having a display screen, the method comprising:

receiving a monitor request from a supervisor computer to begin monitoring a monitored workstation associated with an agent;

instructing a host application residing on the monitored workstation to begin capturing screen data associated with the activities of the agent on the monitored workstation;

receiving successive screen changes from the host application residing on the monitored workstation; and

providing the successive screen changes to the supervisor computer.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of displaying the successive screen changes on the supervisor computer in a graphical format, such that the successive changes are operable to be viewed on the supervisor computer.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of capturing the successive screen changes on the monitored workstation using the host application.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the capturing step comprises hooking the successive screen changes by capturing a complete picture of successive screens.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the capturing step comprises scraping the successive screen changes to capture only the changes between successive screens.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the successive screen changes are received from the host application in a primitive graphics format.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a record instruction; and

recording the successive screen changes to a storage system.

receiving a stop recording instruction; and

ending the recording of the successive screen changes to the storage system.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a playback request from the supervisor computer;

retrieving a session associated with the request, the session comprising the successive screen changes recorded in the recording step; and

providing the successive screen changes associated with the playback request to the supervisor computer.

20. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of:

cycling through a plurality of workstations each of which alternate comprising the monitored workstation in the monitor request receiving step, the instructing step and screen change receiving step.

21. The method of claim 12, wherein the providing successive screen changes step further comprises providing each of a plurality of successive screen changes to the supervisor computer at the same time in a plurality of different window representations.

22. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

instructing a telephone system to provide data from a telephone connection associated with the monitored workstation or the agent associated with the monitored workstation;

communicating the telephone data to the supervisor computer, the telephone data being operable to be decoded and listened to by the supervisor on the supervisor computer; and

synchronizing the telephone data with the successive screen changes.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step of evaluating the agent based upon monitoring the telephone data and the successive screen changes.

24. One or more computer readable media having software program code for supervising an agent associated with a monitored workstation having a display screen, the program code comprising:

communication logic operable to communicate with at least one monitored workstation and a supervisor workstation, the communication logic receiving a monitor request from a supervisor to begin monitoring at least one monitored workstation associated with an agent;

controller logic operable to instruct a host application residing on the at least one monitored workstation via the communication logic to begin capturing screen data associated with the activities of the agent on the at least one monitored workstation;

the communication logic being further operable to receive successive screen changes from the host application residing on the at least one monitored workstation, and to provide the successive screen changes to the supervisor via the supervisor workstation.

25. The computer readable media of claim 24, having program code further comprising graphical user interface logic operable to receive the successive screen changes and display the successive screen changes to the supervisor in a graphical format on the supervisor workstation.

26. The computer readable media of claim 24, having program code further comprising screen capture logic operable to capture the successive screen changes on the monitored workstation.

27. The computer readable media of claim 26, wherein the capture logic uses a hooking technique to capture the successive screen changes by capturing the entire screen.

28. The computer readable media of claim 27, wherein the capture logic uses a scraping technique the successive screen changes to capture only the changes between successive screen changes.

29. The computer readable media of claim 24, wherein the successive screen changes are received from the host application in a primitive graphics format.

30. The computer readable media of claim 24, wherein the communication logic is further operable to receive a record request, and the controller logic is further operable to instruct a storage system to save the successive screen changes to memory responsive to the record request.

31. The computer readable media of claim 30, wherein the communication logic is further operable to receive a stop recording request, and the controller logic is further operable to discontinue saving the successive screen changes to memory responsive to the stop recording request;

wherein the communication logic is further operable to receive a playback request from the supervisor, and the controller is further operable to retrieve a session associated with the request, the session comprising the recorded successive screen changes, the controller being further operable to instruct the communication logic to provide the successive screen changes associated with the playback request to the supervisor.

32. The computer readable media of claim 24, further comprising scheduler logic operable to cycle through each of a plurality of monitored workstations instructing the controller logic to use an active member of the plurality of monitored workstations as the at least one monitored workstation.

33. The computer readable media of claim 24, wherein the communication logic further comprises providing a plurality of window representations to the user, each of the plurality of window representations being associated with one of a plurality of monitored workstations, and showing successive screen changes of each of the plurality of monitored workstations.

34. The computer readable media of claim 33, having program code further comprising telephone monitoring logic to provide data from a telephone connection associated with the monitored workstations or the agent associated with the monitored workstation, and the communication logic is further operable to communicate the telephone data to the supervisor, the telephone data being operable to be decoded and listened to by the supervisor on a master computer.

35. The computer readable media of claim 33, having program code further comprising synchronization logic operable to synchronize the telephone data with the successive screen changes, wherein the program code further comprises evaluation logic operable to evaluate the agent responsive to monitoring the telephone data and the successive screen changes.