Method for estimating telephony system-queue waiting time in an agent level routing environment

• US 6,157,655 A
• Filed: 12/11/1998
• Issued: 12/05/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Incorporated (Genesys Cloud Services Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Incorporated (Genesys Cloud Services Incorporated)
• Inventors: Shtivelman, Yuri
• Primary Examiner(s): Ngo, Ricky
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran, Maikhanh
• Application Number:
  US09/209,306
• Time in Patent Office: 725 Days
• Field of Search: 379/34, 379/265, 379/266, 379/309, 379/268, 379/272, 379/308, 370/412, 370/252
• US Class Current: 370/412
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/50 Telephonic communication in combination with video communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/12 intelligent networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42323 PBX's with CTI arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/48 Arrangements for recalling a calling subscriber when the wanted subscriber ceases to be busy
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5183 Call or contact centers with computer-telephony arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/523 with call distribution or queueing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5231 with call back arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5232 Call distribution algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5235 Dependent on call type or called number [DNIS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5237 Interconnection arrangements between ACD systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5238 with waiting time or load prediction arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5307 for recording messages comprising any combination of audio and non-audio components
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0033 Notification or handling of incoming calls by a computer
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/12 for working between exchanges having different types of switching equipment, e.g. power-driven and step by step or decimal and non-decimal
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/62 for connecting to private branch exchanges

Abstract

A system for estimating call waiting time for a call in a queue takes into account multiple queues wherein agents are shared between queues, abandoned call history, and virtual and priority queues. The system in a preferred embodiment is a computer-telephony integration (CTI) software application adapted to execute on a CTI processor, which may be coupled to switching equipment at network level in a connection-oriented, switched telephony (COST) network or to a switch at call-center level, or both.

Claims

1. A method for estimating, by a processor coupled to a call waiting queue, waiting time for a designated call in the call-waiting queue, wherein a plurality of agents handle calls in multiple queues, comprising steps of:

(a) determining the number of calls ahead of the designated call;

(b) determining the historical average call handling time T(h) for calls in the queue;

(c) for each agent handling calls in the queue determining the portion of the agent'"'"'s time devoted to the queue;

(d) determining an effective number of agents devoted to the queue by summing the time portions over all of the agents; and

(e) multiplying the number of calls ahead from step (a) by the historical call handling time from step (b), and dividing the result by the effective number of agents determined in step (d).

2. The method of claim 1 further adapted to account for abandoned calls by additional steps of (f) determining an abandoned call rate;

(g) determining not-abandoned call rate by subtracting the abandoned call rate from integer 1; and

(h) multiplying the result of step (e) by the result of step (g).

3. A call routing system comprising:

a switching apparatus for switching calls to a plurality of agent stations;

a computer-telephony integration (CTI) processor coupled to the switching apparatus and adapted to maintain multiple routing queues by a plurality of enterprise rules, wherein agents are assigned to multiple queues; and

an estimating application executing on the CTI processor and adapted for determining an estimated waiting time for a selected call in a selected queue;

wherein the estimating application multiplies the number of calls ahead of the selected call in the selected queue by an historical average call handling time for calls in the queue, and divides the result by an effective number of agents devoted to the queue determined by summing, over all agents serving the queue either full or part time, the portions of each agents time devoted to the selected queue.

4. The call routing system of claim 3 wherein the estimating application further accounts for abandoned calls by determining a non-abandoned call rate from an abandoned call rate and multiplying the estimated call waiting time determined in claim 3 by the result.

5. The call routing system of claim 3 wherein one or more of the call waiting queues are virtual queues.

6. The call routing system of claim 3 wherein one or more of the multiple routing queues are priority queues wherein newly arrived calls may be inserted in the queue by priority ahead of calls already in the queue.

7. A computer telephony integration (CTI) software application, comprising:

a counting function for determining the number of calls ahead of a designated call;

a function for determining the historical average call handling time T(h) for calls waiting in the queue;

a calculation function for retrieving the portion of time each agent assigned to the queue spends in tending to calls in the queue;

a summation function for determining an effective number of agents devoted to the queue by summing the time portions over all of the agents; and

a calculation function for determining the estimated waiting time by multiplying the number of calls ahead from the counting function by the historical call handling time, and dividing the result by the effective number of agents from the summation function.

8. The CTI application of claim 7 further comprising a function for accounting for abandoned calls by determining a non-abandoned call rate from an abandoned call rate and multiplying the estimated call waiting time previously determined by the result.