System and Method of Determining Call Treatment of Repeat Calls

• US 20100054449A1
• Filed: 11/11/2009
• Published: 03/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Knott, Benjamin Anthony, Bushey, Robert R., Korth, Sarah
• Granted Patent: US 8,295,469 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/265.20
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/551 Call history recording a computer conference H04L12/1831
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5232 Call distribution algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5235 Dependent on call type or called number [DNIS]

Abstract

A method and system of handling a call received at a call center is disclosed. The method includes determining that the call is a repeat call. The method also includes determining whether the repeat call is to receive a first treatment type. The method further includes servicing the repeat call with the first treatment type when the repeat call is determined to receive the first treatment type. The method includes servicing the repeat call with a second treatment type when the repeat call is determined to not receive the first treatment type. The second treatment type includes providing access to a self-service automated system.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method, comprising:

determining that a call received at a call center is a repeat call;

determining whether the repeat call is to receive a first treatment type;

servicing the repeat call with the first treatment type when the repeat call is determined to receive the first treatment type; and

servicing the repeat call with a second treatment type when the repeat call is determined to not receive the first treatment type, wherein the second treatment type includes providing access to a self-service automated system.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the second treatment type includes a standard treatment.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first treatment type includes a special treatment.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 3, wherein the special treatment includes providing access to a live agent.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the call is determined to be a repeat call in response to data retrieved from a repeat call table.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising determining an action-object pair for the repeat call and determining whether the call is to receive the first treatment type based on the action-object pair.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 6, further comprising comparing the action-object pair for the repeat call to an action-object pair for a prior call.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein an action-object pair associated with the call is retrieved from an action-object table and wherein the action-object pair is used to determine that the call is a repeat call.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 8, further comprising retrieving data from a resolution table based on the action-object pair in connection with determining whether the call is to receive the first treatment type.

10. A system, comprising:

a processor;

a memory accessible to the processor, the memory including operational instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to determine whether a call received at the call center is a repeat call, to determine whether the repeat call is to receive a first treatment type, to service the repeat call with the first treatment type when the repeat call is determined to receive the first treatment type, and to service the repeat call with a second treatment type when the repeat call is determined to not receive the first treatment type, wherein the second treatment type includes providing access to a self-service automated system.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the operational instructions are executable by the processor to retrieve an action-object pair from an action-object table and access an entry of a special treatment resolution table based on the action-object pair before determining whether the repeat call is to receive the first treatment type.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the special treatment resolution table includes a plurality of action-object pair entries.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein a first action-object pair entry of the plurality of action-object pair entries corresponds to the repeat call and a second action-object pair entry of the plurality of action-object pair entries corresponds to a prior call.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein a third action-object pair entry of the plurality of action-object pair entries corresponds to a related action-object pair entry corresponding to the prior call.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the operational instructions are executable by the processor to compare an action-object pair entry retrieved from the action-object table that corresponds to the repeat call to another action-object pair entry that corresponds to the prior call.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the operational instructions are executable by the processor to identify the prior call as initiated by a caller that initiated the repeat call.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the operational instructions are executable by the processor to determine whether the repeat call is associated with an unresolved issue of the caller.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the operational instructions are executable by the processor to provide an automated prompt to a caller that initiated the call and to receive task-identification information from the caller in response to providing the automated prompt.

19. A computer-readable storage medium comprising operational instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

determine that a call received at a call center is a repeat call based on a threshold time period;

determine whether the repeat call is to receive a first treatment type;

service the repeat call with the first treatment type when the repeat call is determined to receive the first treatment type; and

service the repeat call with a second treatment type when the repeat call is determined to not receive the first treatment type, wherein the second treatment type includes providing access to a self-service automated system.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the operational instructions are further executable by the processor to determine that the call received at the call center is the repeat call based on a comparison of the threshold time period to a duration between an occurrence of the prior call and an occurrence of the call.