Method and apparatus to save and resume a session associated with a logical structure

• US 20070208858A1
• Filed: 04/08/2002
• Published: 09/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siebel Systems Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Siebel Systems Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Caltabiano, Marc, Ra, Do
• Granted Patent: US 7,584,283 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A flowchart-based tool can be used to build a logical structure. In the context of a customer relationship management (CRM) system, the logical structure can comprise an ordered set of questions and branching logic that are presented to a customer of the business when the customer contacts the business with an inquiry, such as for a sale or service inquiry or other interaction. A session can be conducted with the customer based on the logical structure. Information associated with the session, such as run-time state information, can be saved in the event of an involuntary or voluntary disconnection, or a time-out of the session. The saved run-time state information can be restored or attached into the session to subsequently resume the session.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

saving a run-time state information associated with a session that is conducted based on a logical structure, wherein

the logical structure is a pre-defined script for the session; and

resuming the session by restoring at least a portion of the saved run-time state information into a definition of the logical structure.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the logical structure is usable for a customer relationship management system.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein saving information associated with the session includes:

extracting the run-time state information from a location where the run-time state information is stored while the session is conducted; and

serializing the extracted run-time state information into a file.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising attaching the file to a database table.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising pointing to a location of the file using a database record.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein extracting the run-time state information includes placing the extracted run-time state information into a data structure, and wherein serializing the extracted run-time state information includes converting the run-time state information into a data stream that represents the data structure.

7. The method of claim 3 wherein extracting the run-time state information includes creating a run-time state object that is capable to call functions to extract and serialize the run-time state information.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

including owner information for the session in addition to saving the information associated with the session, wherein

the owner information associates a customer service agent with the session.

9. The method of claim 3 wherein resuming the session by restoring at least some of the saved information in to the definition of the logical structure includes:

loading the definition of the logical structure associated with the session;

separately deserializing the run-time state information from the file; and

attaching the deserialized run-time state information to corresponding locations of the loaded definition.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising creating a run-time state object wherein the run-time state information is deserialized into the run-time state object.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising transferring ownership of the session prior to resumption of the session by changing the owner information that was included along with the saved information associated with the session.

12. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, if executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising saving a run-time state information associated with a session that is conducted based on a logical structure, wherein

the logical structure is a pre-defined script for the session; and

resuming the session by restoring at least a portion of the saved run-time state information into a definition of the logical structure.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 12 wherein the saving the run-time information associated with the session comprises extracting the run-time state information from a location where the run-time state information is stored while the session is conducted;

serializing the extracted run-time state information into a file; and

associating the file to a database.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 12 wherein the resuming the session by restoring at least some of the saved information into the definition of the logical structure comprises

loading the definition of the logical structure associated with the session;

separately deserializing the run-time state information from the file; and

attaching the deserialized run-time state information to corresponding locations of the loaded definition.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 12 wherein the operations further comprise

including ownership information along with saving information associated with the session;

and

if the ownership information is changed prior to resumption of the session, transferring ownership of the session when the session resumes, wherein the owner information associates a customer service agent with the session.

16. An apparatus, comprising:

an execution unit to store a run-time state information associated with a session being conducted based on a logical structure, wherein

the logical structure is a pre-defined script for the session;

a first run-time state object capable to extract the run-time state information from the execution unit during a save process and to serialize the extracted run-time state information into a file;

a storage unit having a table attached to the file, the storage unit to store a definition of the logical structure; and

a second run-time state object to resume the session by deserializing the run-time state information from the file during a resume process and attaching the run-time state information to corresponding locations of the definition loaded from the storage unit during resumption of the session.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein storage unit comprises a database having tables to store the definition or a file system to store the definition in file form.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the first and second run-time state objects comprise a same object.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising a loader to load the definition from the storage unit.

20. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the first and second run-time state objects include function calls to perform the save and resume processes.

21. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the save process and the resume process are to be performed if a communication is terminated with a client terminal that participates in the session.

22. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the save process and the resume process are to be performed if a browser, at a client terminal that participates in the session, is shut down.