ROUTING OF WEB-BASED CONTACTS

• US 20090210524A1
• Filed: 04/02/2009
• Published: 08/20/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited (Nortel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: McCormack, Tony, Hession, Patrick, D'Arcy, Paul
• Granted Patent: US 8,934,477 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/37 E-mail addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/45 Network directories; Name-to-address mapping
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/401 wherein the services involve a main real-time session and one or more additional parallel real-time or time sensitive sessions, e.g. white board sharing or spawning of a subconference
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42

Abstract

A method of providing access to a network of contact centres comprises providing contact links on one or more web pages which when activated initiate contacts to the contact centres. The network addresses associated with the links and to which the contacts are automatically directed are dynamically specified in the web pages and are obtained from a database. The database is dynamically updated in response to statistical updates received periodically or continually from the individual contact centres. In this way the contacts can be directed in advance to the most appropriate destination without having to evaluate each contact as it enters the contact centre network, thereby reducing processing time and delays. Alternatively one or more remote session initiation protocol (SIP) proxy servers can be updated periodically with network addresses from the database, whereby SIP requests are directed by the proxy server to the contact centre or agent most suitable to handle the contact, as determined in advance of the request from the statistical information.

Claims

1. A method of routing contacts in a network of contact centres, comprising the steps of:

a) providing a uniform resource indicator (URI) accessible by users of the contact centre network, said URI identifying, in advance of its activation by a user, a network address of a resource of the network of contact centres, such that when said URI is activated by a user a contact is forwarded to said resource;

b) maintaining a record of said contact centre network address of said resource to which said contact should be forwarded;

c) updating said record in accordance with information received from said contact centres; and

d) dynamically updating said URI to reflect the current state of said record.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said URI is a web-based link.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein said web-based link is provided on a web page.

4. A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein said web page includes a plurality of links, each initiating a contact having individual characteristics to the network of contact centres when activated by a user.

5. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein said URI is a dynamic link which is evaluated when the link is activated to determine the current properties of said record.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the link is activated by a user submitting a web-based form or activating a chat session.

7. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein said link is evaluated using common gateway interface (CGI) scripts, application server pages (ASP) code, or Java™

server pages (JSP) code.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said contact is an e-mail message, and said network address is an email address to which the email is sent.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said contact is a voice over internet protocol (VoIP) call or an internet video call, and said address is an IP address to which the call is initially directed.

10. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said contact is a form, and said network address is an email address to which the contents of the form are sent.

11. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said contact is a web chat request, and said network address is an IP address to which said request is initially directed.

12. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein step c) comprises comparing a performance parameter received from a contact centre with a corresponding parameter currently recorded in said record, and based on this comparison, updating the record according to a predetermined rule.

13. A method as claimed in claim 12, wherein said performance parameter is an expected response time, and wherein said rule dictates updating the record if the expected response time received from the contact centre is lower than a currently recorded response time in the record.

14. A method as claimed in claim 12, wherein said performance parameter is a longest idle time for one or more agents at the contact centre, and wherein said rule dictates updating the record if the longest idle time received from the contact centre is lower than a currently recorded longest idle time in the record.

15. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein step c) comprises receiving statistical information from a plurality of contact centres and updating said record with an address of a contact centre having optimum statistical information according to a predetermined rule.

16. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein step b) comprises maintaining a plurality of records each specifying an address of a contact centre to which one or more of said contact types is to be sent.

17. A method as claimed in claim 16, wherein step c) comprises receiving information from a plurality of contact centres relating to the current status of each contact centre and updating said records with the addresses of the contact centres having the optimum status for receiving the respective contact types according to a predetermined rule.

18. A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein a plurality of web pages is provided each having one or more links with individual characteristics, and wherein step b) comprises maintaining a plurality of records of contact centre addresses each associated with one or more of said links.

19. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said record is maintained in a cache in a proxy server remote from the contact centre and said step of updating said record is achieved by a server associated with the contact centre updating the proxy server.

20. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said URI is a session initiation protocol (SIP) URI.

21. A method as claimed in claim 20, wherein said record is maintained in a cache in a proxy server remote from the contact centre and said step of updating said record is achieved by a server associated with the contact centre updating the proxy server.

22. A web server providing access to a network of contact centres via contact request links provided on a web page hosted by the server, the server comprising a web page store for storing said web page, an address store for storing addresses associated with said links and a processor for dynamically updating the address store in accordance with information received from said contact centres, whereby said links operate to direct contact requests to the dynamically updated current addresses in said address store.

23. A web server as claimed in claim 22, wherein said web page includes said contact request links as dynamic elements which are evaluated when the web page is requested, whereby the addresses associated with said contact request links are retrieved from the address store when the web page is requested.

24. A session initiation protocol (SIP) proxy server providing access to a network of contact centres via a data network, said proxy server including a cache for storing one or more Uniform Resource Indicators (URIs) each identifying, in advance of its activation, a network address of a contact centre resource, and a cache management unit for dynamically updating said cache in accordance with current information made available to the proxy server by a management server of the contact centre network, whereby contact requests received by the proxy server are resolved with reference to said cache for automatic direction to a dynamically updated network address determined in advance by said management server.

25. A contact centre network comprising a plurality of contact centres and a web server communicating with said contact centres via a data network accessible by users of said contact centres, wherein:

each contact centre comprises

a) a plurality of agent stations adapted to receive and respond to contacts received via the data network;

b) a contact centre management unit for managing the distribution of contacts to said agent stations; and

c) a statistics processing unit for determining performance parameters of the contact centre as a whole and/or individual agent stations within the centre and for forwarding information derived from said parameters to said web server; and

said web server comprises;

a) a page server unit for receiving web page requests from users of the contact centres and serving web pages to said users in response to said requests;

b) a web page store for storing said web pages as dynamically evaluated code;

c) a processing unit for dynamically evaluating said code when a web page request is received by the page server unit and returning to the page server unit the results of said evaluation, said evaluation including the determination of at least one network address of a contact centre resource associated with a link on said page, whereby said link identifies, in advance of its activation by a user, said at least one a network address of a contact centre resource;

d) a memory accessible by said processing unit for storing said at least one network address of a contact centre resource; and

e) a memory management unit for maintaining and updating the at least one network address of a contact centre resource in said memory in accordance with the information received from the statistics processing units of said contact centres.

26. A web page code source including at least one link to a network of contact centres, said at least one link being specified as dynamically evaluated code and including a reference to a stored network address to which a contact is initiated when the link is activated, whereby said address is retrieved from storage when the web page is requested and wherein said address can be overwritten in storage to point to a contact centre of the network which is best suited to receive said contact at the time the web page is requested.

27. A computer program product comprising instructions which when executed in a web server are effective to:

a) provide a web-based link accessible by users of the contact centre network, said link identifying, in advance of its activation by a user, a network address of a resource of the network of contact centres, such that when said link is activated by a user a contact is forwarded to said resource;

b) maintain a record of a contact centre network address of said resource to which said contact should be forwarded;

c) update said record in accordance with information received from said contact centres;

d) dynamically update said URI to reflect the current state of said record.