ADAPTIVE COMMUNICATION APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTERFACE

• US 20080159520A1
• Filed: 12/28/2007
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Anil K. Annadata, Henry D. Jay, Mingtse Chen, Wai H. Pak
• Original Assignee: Anil K. Annadata, Henry D. Jay, Mingtse Chen, Wai H. Pak
• Inventors: Chen, Mingtse, Jay, Henry D., Pak, Wai H., Annadata, Anil K.
• Granted Patent: US 8,045,698 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/266.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5175 Call or contact centers supervision arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/523 with call distribution or queueing

Abstract

An apparatus and method for maintaining data for multi-channel communication queuing associated with different media formats such as telephone, email, and fax. A list of agent data includes information related to types of communication media an agent can access. The data can further include information related to an agent'"'"'s skills, a list of media routes, statistics for communication channels of specified media types, statistics for an agent, and journals for work items. Priority values for the media routes, the maximum number of queued items for the media routes, and times for escalating a work item can also be included.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. A system comprising:

a communication server configured to

provide a media-agnostic interface to a plurality of communication channels, wherein each channel of the plurality of channels is of a unique media type,

provide a connection between a selected communication channel and a selected client of a plurality of clients, and

receive a request for connection to a requested agent associated with a client of the plurality of clients, wherein the requested agent is authorized to communicate using the media type of the channel corresponding to the request;

a queuing system configured to

queue the request in one of a plurality of queues, wherein

each queue is correlated to a media type, and

the request is queued in a queue corresponding to the media type of the channel corresponding to the request; and

a business service, coupled to the communication server and the queuing system, and configured to

provide communication between the queuing system and the communication server by converting information received from the queuing system into a format usable by the communication server.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the queuing system is further configured to:

assign a queued first request to a first agent wherein the first agent is authorized to respond to requests associated with the media type of the channel of the first request,

transmit a first message to the communication server to connect the first request to a first client of the plurality of clients, wherein the first client is associated with the first agent, and

remove the first request from the associated queue.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the first message is communicated to the business service using an application programming interface (API).

5. The system of claim 3 wherein the business service is further configured to place data in the first message into a data structure usable by the communication server.

6. The system of claim 2 wherein the business service is further configured to:

provide communication between the communication server and the queuing system by converting information received from the communication server into a format usable by the queuing system.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the business service is further configured to:

place the information received from the communication server into one or more of data structures, commands, and parameters usable by an API associated with the queuing system.

8. The system of claim 2 wherein the business service is further configured to:

retrieve one or more rules from a data table; and

upload the one or more rules to the queuing system, wherein

the rules are one or more of route rules and escalation rules.

9. The system of claim 2 wherein the business service is further configured to provide communication between one or more clients and the queuing system.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the business service is further configured to:

set a state for a first agent associated with a first client of the one or more clients, wherein

the state defines whether the first agent is ready to receive a queued request.

11. The system of claim 2 wherein the business service is further configured to:

query the queuing system for information related to status of queued requests.

12. The system of claim 3, wherein

the business service is further configured to:

provide an acceptance communication to the queuing system from a client associated with the first agent that the first request is accepted; and

the queuing system is further configured to;

update a state corresponding to the first agent and the first request reflecting the acceptance in response to the acceptance communication.

13. The system of claim 2 wherein the business service is further configured to:

report performance statistics from the communication server and the queuing system.

14. A method comprising:

converting information received from a queuing system into a format usable by a communication server; and

providing communication between a queuing system and a communication server by transmitting the converted information to the communication server, wherein

the communication server provides a media-agnostic interface to a plurality of communication channels each associated with a unique media type,

the communication server receives a request for connection to an agent of a plurality of agents, wherein the requested agent is authorized to communicate using the media type of the channel corresponding to the request,

the queuing system queues the request in one of a plurality of queues, wherein

each queue is correlated to a media type, and

the request is queued in a queue corresponding to the media type of the channel corresponding to the request.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said converting further comprises:

placing the information received from the queuing system into a data structure usable by the communication server.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

providing communication between the communication server and the queuing system by converting information received from the communication server into a format usable by the queuing system.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein said converting information received from the communication server into a format usable by the queuing system comprises:

placing the information received from the communication server into one or more of data structures, commands, and parameters usable by an API associated with the queuing system.

18. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

retrieving one or more rules from a data table; and

uploading the rules to the queuing system, wherein

the one or more rules are one or more of route rules and escalation rules.

19. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

providing communication between one or more clients and the queuing system.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

setting a state for a first agent associated with a first client of the one or more clients, wherein the state defines whether the first agent is ready to receive a queued request.

21. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

querying the queuing system for information related to status of queued requests.