UNIVERSAL STATE-AWARE COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20120117224A1
• Filed: 09/29/2011
• Published: 05/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Teletech Customer Care Management Incorporated (TTEC Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Teletech Customer Care Management Incorporated (TTEC Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Andrews, Wayne, Gechter, Jerry
• Granted Patent: US 8,886,722 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0805 by checking availability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42093 Notifying the calling party of information on the called or connected party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42365 Presence services providing information on the willingness to communicate or the ability to communicate in terms of media capability or network connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5232 Call distribution algorithms

Abstract

A communications system for general business environments that exploits knowledge of user state to provide advantages of efficiency and control for individual users and for the business. The communications system also provides particular advantages in environments where users have multiple communication devices and for communications of a business with external parties. In other aspects, the communication system provides features of application flexibility and system fault-tolerance with broad applicability to communication systems. The communication system includes a controller that receives requests for establishing communications when a user is in an appropriate state to receive communications and communicates state of the user to other users. The controller receives a user request for establishing a communication when the user is not in the appropriate state for communication, receives a user request for a state change to the appropriate state to receive the communication, and initiates the communication without changing state of the user.

Claims

1. A system for establishing communications among users, the system comprising:

a controller configured to

monitor states of a plurality of users,

receive a communication request for establishing a communication session between at least two users, and

establish the requested communication session among the at least two users when the at least two users are each in an appropriate state for participating in the communication session, including

maintaining waiting communication data associated with a plurality of communication requests representing a plurality of waiting communication sessions pending to be established,

transmitting a waiting communication notification with information about a modification to one of the waiting communication sessions or the waiting communication data to one of the at least two users that did not request the modification,

responding to a waiting communication management request from a recipient of the waiting communication notification by modifying the waiting communication data, and

responding to a change of state for a user by selecting, based on the waiting communication data, at least one of the waiting communication sessions that can be established because corresponding users are each in an appropriate state for participating in the selected communication session.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to receive or poll state change messages from the at least two users indicating a change of state of the at least two users.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the request for establishing a communication session includes information specifying an appropriate state or condition of a user required to participate in the communication session.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the waiting communication notification includes information indicating a length of time in which a communication request associated with the waiting communication notification has been pending.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein modifying the waiting communication data includes one of deleting a pending communication request, changing a pending communication request, changing a user involved in a pending communication request, changing a state of a user involved in a pending communication request, changing a media to be used in a pending communication request, and changing a priority order of a pending communication request.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to provide historical information on handling of communication requests, including a duration of waiting time before a communication session is established.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication session is established via a communication media including at least one of voice, video, email, instant messaging (IM), text, and a public switched telephone network (PSTN).

8. A computer implemented method for establishing communications among users, the method comprising:

monitoring states of a plurality of users;

receiving a communication request for establishing a communication session between at least two users; and

establishing the requested communication session among the at least two users when the at least two users are each in an appropriate state for participating in the communication session, including

maintaining waiting communication data associated with a plurality of communication requests representing a plurality of waiting communication sessions pending to be established,

transmitting a waiting communication notification with information about a modification to one of the waiting communication sessions or the waiting communication data to one of the at least two users that did not request the modification,

responding to a waiting communication management request from a recipient of the waiting communication notification by modifying the waiting communication data, and

responding to a change of state for a user by selecting, based on the waiting communication data, at least one of the waiting communication sessions that can be established because corresponding users are each in an appropriate state for participating in the selected communication session.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the controller is configured to receive or poll state change messages from the at least two users indicating a change of state of the at least two users.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the request for establishing a communication session includes information specifying an appropriate state or condition of a user required to participate in the communication session.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the waiting communication notification includes information indicating a length of time in which a communication request associated with the waiting communication notification has been pending.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein modifying the waiting communication data includes one of deleting a pending communication request, changing a pending communication request, changing a user involved in a pending communication request, changing a state of a user involved in a pending communication request, changing a media to be used in a pending communication request, and changing a priority order of a pending communication request.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the controller is configured to provide historical information on handling of communication requests, including a duration of waiting time before a communication session is established.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the communication session is established via a communication media including at least one of voice, video, email, instant messaging (IM), text, and a public switched telephone network (PSTN).

15. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform a method for establishing communications among users, the method comprising:

monitoring states of a plurality of users;

receiving a communication request for establishing a communication session between at least two users; and

establishing the requested communication session among the at least two users when the at least two users are each in an appropriate state for participating in the communication session, including

maintaining waiting communication data associated with a plurality of communication requests representing a plurality of waiting communication sessions pending to be established,

transmitting a waiting communication notification with information about a modification to one of the waiting communication sessions or the waiting communication data to one of the at least two users that did not request the modification,

responding to a waiting communication management request from a recipient of the waiting communication notification by modifying the waiting communication data, and

responding to a change of state for a user by selecting, based on the waiting communication data, at least one of the waiting communication sessions that can be established because corresponding users are each in an appropriate state for participating in the selected communication session.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the controller is configured to receive or poll state change messages from the at least two users indicating a change of state of the at least two users.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the request for establishing a communication session includes information specifying an appropriate state or condition of a user required to participate in the communication session.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the waiting communication notification includes information indicating a length of time in which a communication request associated with the waiting communication notification has been pending.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein modifying the waiting communication data includes one of deleting a pending communication request, changing a pending communication request, changing a user involved in a pending communication request, changing a state of a user involved in a pending communication request, changing a media to be used in a pending communication request, and changing a priority order of a pending communication request.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the controller is configured to provide historical information on handling of communication requests, including a duration of waiting time before a communication session is established.

21. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the communication session is established via a communication media including at least one of voice, video, email, instant messaging (IM), text, and a public switched telephone network (PSTN).