Dynamic requeing to avoid latency in call-routing systems
First Claim
1. A telephone call routing system queuing and routing incoming calls to individual agents at remote telephone stations, comprising:
- a first telephone line adapted for receiving incoming calls; and
a routing system including a processor system coupled to the first telephone line and to the remote telephone stations, the processor system adapted to receive and use information about availability of agents at the remote telephone stations in routing incoming calls, queing and routing said calls to selected ones of the remote agents based on stored information that said remote agents are available and not busy, and setting semaphores at the time of routing for a pre-programmed period of time indicating that the selected remote agents are busy, thereby preventing further calls being routed while the semaphores are set;
wherein the processor system, upon routing a selected call to a selected one of the agents at the remote telephone stations, in the event a confirmation of completion of the call is not made within a pre-programmed time, cancels and reques the routed call, and sets a busy semaphore to free.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for rerouting calls in a call-routing system having a routing processor storing information about the status of remote telephone stations involves setting a semaphore for station busy at the time a call is routed to the station, and timing the semaphore for a pre-programmed period of time known to be the latency period for returning a real-time signal that the routed call was actually completed. If the signal for call completion is not received in the pre-programmed time, the call is canceled and re-routed by reinserting the call in a routing queue. When the call is canceled the semaphore is reset to indicate the station is not busy. In a preferred embodiment the call is rerouted to the same destination as originally routed.
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Citations
8 Claims
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1. A telephone call routing system queuing and routing incoming calls to individual agents at remote telephone stations, comprising:
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a first telephone line adapted for receiving incoming calls; and a routing system including a processor system coupled to the first telephone line and to the remote telephone stations, the processor system adapted to receive and use information about availability of agents at the remote telephone stations in routing incoming calls, queing and routing said calls to selected ones of the remote agents based on stored information that said remote agents are available and not busy, and setting semaphores at the time of routing for a pre-programmed period of time indicating that the selected remote agents are busy, thereby preventing further calls being routed while the semaphores are set; wherein the processor system, upon routing a selected call to a selected one of the agents at the remote telephone stations, in the event a confirmation of completion of the call is not made within a pre-programmed time, cancels and reques the routed call, and sets a busy semaphore to free. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. In a call-routing system having a routing processor storing information about the status of individual agents at remote telephone stations, a method for routing and queuing calls to individual agents at remote telephone stations, comprising steps of:
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(a) receiving an incoming call; (b) routing the incoming call to a selected agent at one of the remote telephone stations, based on stored information that the agent at the selected remote telephone station is available and not busy; (c) setting a semaphore for a pre-programmed period of time in the routing processor that the agent at the remote station is busy at the time the incoming call is routed, thereby preventing further calls being routed to the selected agent at the remote telephone stations while the semaphore is set; (d) canceling and requeing the call in the absence of a confirmation of call completion in the pre-programmed period of time; and (e) setting the semaphore to free. - View Dependent Claims (8)
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Specification