Method and system for dynamic customized call routing
First Claim
1. A method of selecting a destination automatic call distributor from a plurality of automatic call distributors for a call routed over a telecommunications network, each automatic call distributor associated with a number of agents, said method comprising the telecommunications network implemented steps of:
- receiving said call at an arbitrary time;
transmitting a signal according to information associated with said call to a customer routing point, said customer routing point receiving information related to automatic call distributor status from a data collection point, said data collection point receiving automatic call distributor information from each of said automatic call distributors, said customer routing point selecting said destination automatic call distributor from among said plurality of automatic call distributors based on the customer routing point generating a status prediction for at least one of the automatic call distributors, said status prediction dependent on the information related to automatic call distributor status and on the arbitrary time of the call;
receiving a routing label signal indicating said selected destination automatic call distributor from said customer routing point;
connecting said call to said selected destination automatic call distributor according to said routing label signal.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A cooperative network/premises-based automatic call distributor system and method predicts changes in automatic call distributor status between periodic updates of the measured status obtained by a Telemarketing Operations Performance Management System (TOPMS). A call directed to a telemarketing complex arrives at the network. The caller automatic number identification (ANI) and an identifying tag are forwarded via a data connection to a customer routing point. The Next Available Agent (NAA) application enables 800-service customers to control the routing of calls to multiple customer sites (ACDs) via a Customer Routing Point (CRP). This control is based on periodic updates of the status of each site provided by a Telemarketing Operations Performance Management System (TOPMS) in an Intelligent Call Processing (ICP) environment. A customized routing method is incorporated into a new CRP-based load balancing method for the NAA. The method offers flexibility to address diverse customer needs such as geographic preferences and constraints, least cost preferences, performance thresholds, and performance objectives.
424 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method of selecting a destination automatic call distributor from a plurality of automatic call distributors for a call routed over a telecommunications network, each automatic call distributor associated with a number of agents, said method comprising the telecommunications network implemented steps of:
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receiving said call at an arbitrary time; transmitting a signal according to information associated with said call to a customer routing point, said customer routing point receiving information related to automatic call distributor status from a data collection point, said data collection point receiving automatic call distributor information from each of said automatic call distributors, said customer routing point selecting said destination automatic call distributor from among said plurality of automatic call distributors based on the customer routing point generating a status prediction for at least one of the automatic call distributors, said status prediction dependent on the information related to automatic call distributor status and on the arbitrary time of the call; receiving a routing label signal indicating said selected destination automatic call distributor from said customer routing point; connecting said call to said selected destination automatic call distributor according to said routing label signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of selecting a destination automatic call distributor from a group of automatic call distributors in a system comprising a plurality of switching offices, a customer routing point, a data collection point, first data links linking the offices and the customer routing point, second data links linking each of the automatic call distributors to the data collection point, and a third data link linking the data collection point to the customer routing point, the method comprising the steps of:
- at each automatic call distributor,
accumulating data representative of the automatic call distributor call load status; and repetitively transmitting the accumulated data to the data collection point;
at the data collection point,repetitively transmitting a status signal representative of the accumulated data to the customer routing point; at a switching office, transmitting a query message containing a number identifying the automatic call distributor group to the customer muting point in response to receipt of a call directed to the automatic call distributor group at an arbitrary call time;
at the customer routing point,in response to the query message, generating an automatic call distributor status prediction for the arbitrary call time, said automatic call distributor status prediction based on said status signal and on the arbitrary call time; and transmitting a routing signal identifying the destination automatic call distributor to the switching office according to the automatic call distributor status prediction. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
- at each automatic call distributor,
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15. A method of selecting a destination automatic call distributor from a group of automatic call distributors in a system comprising a plurality of telecommunications switches and a customer routing point, the method comprising the steps of:
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acquiring data at the customer routing point from each of the automatic call distributors representing the automatic call distributor call load status; querying the customer routing point in response to a call received at an arbitrary time at one of the telecommunications switches and directed to the automatic call distributors; generating, at the customer routing point in response to said querying, an automatic call distributor status prediction representing expected automatic call distributor status at said arbitrary time, the automatic call distributor status prediction based on said data and on said arbitrary time; and routing the call to the destination automatic call distributor according to said automatic call distributor status prediction. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. An automatic call distributor system for routing a call directed to a group of automatic call distributors to a preferred one of the automatic call distributors over a telecommunications network, the system comprising:
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means for receiving said call at the telecommunications network; a customer routing point connected to said telecommunications network, wherein the customer routing point receives status information representing measured call load data of the automatic call distributors, and determines the destination automatic call distributor for said call according to predicting changes in automatic call distributor status over a time period elapsed since the measured call load data of the received status information was acquired, thereby providing an automatic call distributor status prediction; and means for routing said call to the destination automatic call distributor in response to a routing signal generated by said customer routing point indicating the destination automatic call distributor. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A system for selecting a destination automatic call distributor from a group of automatic call distributors for a call directed to the automatic call distributors, comprising:
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a plurality of telecommunications switches; a customer routing point; means for acquiring data at the customer routing point from each of the automatic call distributors representing the automatic call distributor call load status; means for querying the customer routing point in response to a call received at an arbitrary time at one of the telecommunications switches; means for generating, at the customer routing point in response to said querying, an automatic call distributor status prediction representing expected automatic call distributor status at said arbitrary time, the automatic call distributor status prediction based on said data and on said arbitrary time; and means for routing the call to the destination automatic call distributor according to said automatic call distributor status prediction. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32)
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Specification