User Survey Service for Unified Communications

• US 20140229236A1
• Filed: 02/11/2014
• Published: 08/14/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Unify Square, Inc. (Unisys Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Unify Square, Inc. (Unisys Corporation)
• Inventors: Aggarwal, Sudhanshu, Raghavan, Arun, Osborne, Robert
• Application Number:
  US14/178,238
• Publication Number:
  US 20140229236A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.32
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5032 Generating service level reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5096 wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/06 Generation of reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0805 by checking availability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/50 Testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/55 Testing of service level quality, e.g. simulating service usage
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1063 Application servers providing network services systems providing special services to telephonic subscribers H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/58 based on statistics of usage or network monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2227 Quality of service monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2236 Quality of speech transmission monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/005 Transmission of information for alerting of incoming communication

Abstract

The present disclosure includes descriptions of various aspects of unified communication (UC) systems, including UC management and analysis systems and related tools and techniques. Described systems, tools, and techniques are adapted for enhanced UC data capture, analysis, and reporting; enhanced UC monitoring services; and a user survey service that can be used for conducting user surveys related to UC services. Embodiments disclosed herein include computer systems and methods for using presence information to survey users. A described UC system includes a survey service server that communicates with devices associated with a customer site. In a described embodiment, after determining if a user is available (e.g., online and involved in a meeting or other activity) based on presence information, a user survey service initiates a survey at that time via a real-time communication mechanism (e.g., instant messaging).

Claims

1. In a computer system comprising a server configured to execute a user survey service, a method comprising, by the user survey service:

establishing a connection with a remote unified communication system;

subscribing to presence information of targeted users;

receiving the presence information; and

processing a user survey based on the presence information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, by the user survey service, requesting a user'"'"'s participation in the user survey.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, by the user survey service:

determining whether a user is available; and

if the user is not available, excluding the user from the user survey.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising, by the user survey service:

determining whether a user is available; and

if the user is available, determining if the user has been available for a period of time.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising, by the user survey service, determining whether a threshold number of attempts to contact a user has been reached.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising, by the user survey service, determining whether a user has been contacted within a period of time.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising, by the user survey service:

determining if a user has been available for a period of time; and

if the user has been available for the period of time, determining whether a threshold number of attempts to contact the user has been reached.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising, by the user survey service:

determining that a threshold number of attempts to contact a user has not been reached;

determining that the user has not been contacted within a period of time; and

contacting the user with a request to take or continue the user survey.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising, by the user survey service, contacting a user with a request to take or continue the user survey via a real-time communication mechanism.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the real-time communication mechanism comprises an instant message.

11. A computer system comprising a server that provides a user survey service, wherein the server is configured to:

establish a connection with a remote unified communication system; and

subscribe to presence information of targeted users;

receive the presence information; and

process a user survey based on the presence information.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the server is further configured to request a user'"'"'s participation in the user survey.

13. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the server is further configured to:

determine whether a user is available; and

if the user is not available, exclude the user from the user survey.

14. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the server is further configured to:

determine whether a user is available; and

if the user is available, determine if the user has been available for a period of time.

15. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the server is further configured to determine whether a threshold number of attempts to contact a user has been reached.

16. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the server is further configured to determine whether a user has been contacted within a period of time.

17. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the server is further configured to:

determine if a user has been available for a period of time; and

if the user has been available for the period of time, determine whether a threshold number of attempts to contact the user has been reached.

18. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the server is further configured to:

determine that a threshold number of attempts to contact the user has not been reached;

determine that the user has not been contacted within a period of time; and

contact the user with a request to take or continue the survey.

19. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the server is further configured to contact a user with a request to take or continue the survey via a real-time communication mechanism.

20. A unified communication system comprising a survey service server, wherein the survey service server is configured to:

communicate with user devices associated with a customer site via a server configured to publish presence information to the survey service server; and

initiate a survey based on user availability as indicated by the presence information.