Apparatus for supervising an automatic call distribution telephone system

• US 5,465,286 A
• Filed: 05/24/1994
• Issued: 11/07/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Inter-Tel (Delaware) Incorporated (Mitel Networks Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Executone Information Systems, Inc. (eLOT, Inc.)
• Inventors: Clare, William K., Sundby, Donn P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin, Stephen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shankar, Vijay
• Application Number:
  US08/248,260
• Time in Patent Office: 532 Days
• Field of Search: 379/34, 379/35, 379/92, 379/216, 379/265, 379/266, 379/309
• US Class Current: 379/32.04
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/38 Displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/10 Providing fault- or trouble-signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/36 Statistical metering, e.g. recording occasions when traffic exceeds capacity of trunks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42102 Making use of the called party identifier
• 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 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5175 Call or contact centers supervision arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/523 with call distribution or queueing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5238 with waiting time or load prediction arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13072 Sequence circuits for call signaling, ACD systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13166 Fault prevention
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13175 Graphical user interface [GUI], WWW interface, visual indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13349 Network management

Abstract

An agent supervising system is used in a telephone call management and distribution system having a plurality of telephone stations assigned to a plurality of agents. The agent supervising system displays agent activities using distinctive color highlighting and text or icon depictions corresponding to agent identification, location and status information on a map representation and in a directory listing graphically represented on a display at the supervisor'"'"'s station. The agent supervising system also interacts with an agent locating system for locating agents and displaying the agents on the map representation on the supervisor'"'"'s display. The prediction of pending abandonment of queued calls and color alarms indicating such pending loss of calls are also provided and the potential financial impact of pending loss of calls are determined and displayed.

Claims

1. An agent supervising apparatus for supervising an automatic call distribution (ACD) telephone system having a plurality of telephone stations assigned to a plurality of agents for handling a plurality of telephone calls, the ACD being coupled to a locating network for determining the locations of said agents, the agent supervising apparatus comprising:

an agent supervising station including a processing unit, a display and an input device for monitoring a plurality of agent call handling status;

said locating network including;

a plurality of remote badge units, each being associated with a respective one of said plurality of agents for transmitting corresponding identification information;

a plurality of transceivers, each adapted for detecting said identification information from said remote badge units and for forwarding said identification information to a locating processor; and

said locating processor being responsive to said identification information for generating location information corresponding to the locations of said plurality of agents; and

said processing unit of said agent supervising station including associated memory and stored programs, responsive to said location information and to commands from said input device, for displaying on said display a graphic indicating said call handling status including locations of said plurality of agents.

2. The agent supervising apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said display displays said agent call handling status.

3. The agent supervising apparatus as set forth in claim 2 wherein said agent call handling status includes the number of calls waiting to be answered and the number of agents available to answer calls.

4. The agent supervising apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein each of said plurality of agents is assigned to one of a plurality of agent groups and said graphic includes a listing of the number of available agents, the number of calls waiting to be answered, and the longest time a caller has been waiting in each of said agent groups.

5. The agent supervising apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said associated memory of said supervising station stores bit map graphic data including a positional representation of an ACD facility housing said ACD system, and said graphic is generated from said bit map graphic data and includes a map representation of said ACD facility.

6. The agent supervising apparatus as set forth in claim 5 wherein:

said telephone stations and corresponding assigned agents are displayed on said map in one mode; and

said map representation depicts in a second mode, the locations of said agents as determined by said locating network.

7. An automatic call distribution (ACD) telephone system having a plurality of telephone stations distributed throughout an area in a facility, each of said telephone stations being assigned to a respective one of a plurality of agents for handling a plurality of telephone calls, said ACD telephone system comprising:

an agent supervising station including a processor, a display and an input device for monitoring agent call handling status;

a locating network connected to said agent supervising station for determining the locations of said agents, including;

a plurality of remote badge units each respectively assigned to each of said plurality of agents for transmitting corresponding identification information;

a plurality of remote transceivers positioned at predetermined locations throughout said area for detecting said identification information and for forwarding said identification information to a locating processor; and

said locating processor being responsive to said identification information for generating location information corresponding to the locations of each of said plurality of agents; and

said processor of said agent supervising station including associated memory and stored programs, responsive to said location information and to commands from said input device, for displaying on said display a graphic indicating each agent at the location determined by said locating network.

8. The ACD telephone system as set forth in claim 7 wherein said graphic includes agent status in changing colors as call status changes.

9. The ACD telephone system as set forth in claim 7 wherein said associated memory of said supervising station stores bit map graphic data representing the geographic layout of said area, and said graphic including a display of said geographic layout is generated from said bit map graphic data, said graphic further includes an indication of the locations of each of said agents in said area.

10. The ACD telephone system as set forth in claim 7 wherein said associated memory of said supervising station includes stored programs for performing multiple tasks including separating said agents by groups and selectively assigning different agents to different tasks.

11. The ACD telephone system as set forth in claim 10 wherein said agent tasks include handling inbound and outbound calls.

12. An agent supervising apparatus for a telephone system having a plurality of telephone stations assigned to a plurality of agents and call distribution to said telephone stations, the agent supervising apparatus comprising:

an agent supervising station including a processing unit, a display and an input device, said processing unit including associated memory and stored programs for storing map graphic data, agent identification information, and a plurality of telephone station designations, said processing unit being responsive to commands from said input device for displaying on said display a map representation corresponding to said map graphic data and for displaying a portion of said agent identification information positioned on said display corresponding to said plurality of telephone station designations; and

a locating network connected to said agent supervising station, including;

a plurality of remote badge units assigned to a respective plurality of agents for transmitting corresponding agent identification information;

a plurality of remote transceivers for detecting said agent identification information and for forwarding said agent identification information to a locator processor; and

said locator processor being responsive to said agent identification information for generating location information corresponding to the locations of said agents.

13. The agent supervising apparatus as set forth in claim 12 wherein said processing unit of said agent supervising station receives status information relating to a respective state of the distributed calls to the plurality of telephone stations, and displays on said display a portion of said status information corresponding to said telephone station designations.

14. The agent supervising apparatus as set forth in claim 13 wherein said processing unit further includes means for changing color attributes as said status information changes.

15. The agent supervising apparatus as set forth in claim 14 wherein said changing means responds to at least one threshold condition of said status information being attained to change said color attributes.

16. The agent supervising apparatus as set forth in claim 14 wherein said processing unit includes menu means for generating a menu on said display to set said at least one threshold condition.

17. The agent supervising apparatus as set forth in claim 12 wherein said telephone station designations correspond to the location of said telephone stations relative to said plurality of remote transceivers.

18. The agent supervising apparatus as set forth in claim 12 wherein:

said telephone stations and remote transceivers are located in a geographic region; and

said map representation depicts corresponding locations of the geographic region and depicts said telephone stations positioned according to said telephone station designations.

19. The agent supervising apparatus as set forth in claim 12 wherein said locator processor sends said location information to said processing unit through a private branch exchange (PBX).

20. An agent supervising apparatus for a telephone system having a plurality of telephone stations assigned to a plurality of agents and call distribution to said telephone stations, the agent supervising apparatus comprising:

an agent supervising station including a display and an input device; and

a processing unit including;

associated memory and stored programs for storing agent identification, call status information, and a plurality of telephone station designations, said associated memory including a queue of queued inbound calls;

means for predicting potential loss of at least one of said queued inbound calls; and

signalling means, responsive to said means for predicting, for signalling said agent supervising station of said potential loss.

21. The agent supervising apparatus as set forth in claim 20 wherein said means for predicting includes means for analyzing a plurality of parameters including average agent availability time.

22. The agent supervising apparatus as in claim 21 wherein at least one of said parameters is user adjustable.

23. The agent supervising apparatus as set forth in claim 20 wherein said signalling means displays on said display a portion of said status information indicating potential loss of calls having color attributes corresponding to said call status information.

24. The agent supervising apparatus as set forth in claim 23 wherein said processing unit further includes means for displaying potential costs corresponding to said potential loss of calls.

25. The agent supervising apparatus as set forth in claim 24 wherein said processing unit further includes means for changing said color attributes as said call status information changes.

26. The agent supervising apparatus as set forth in claim 25 wherein said changing means responds to at least one threshold condition of said call status information to change said color attributes.