Method and system for the routing of requests using an automated classification and profile matching in a networked environment

• US 6,510,431 B1
• Filed: 06/28/1999
• Issued: 01/21/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Krishna, Vikas, Spangler, William Scott, Kreulen, Jeffrey Thomas, Eichstaedt, Matthias, Strong, Hovey Raymond Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Metjahic, Safet
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHEN, TE Y
• Application Number:
  US09/340,380
• Time in Patent Office: 1,303 Days
• Field of Search: 707/4, 707/10, 707/104-106, 707/1, 707/3, 707/104.1, 709/224, 709/201, 705/1, 705/200, 705/400, 345/810, 704/9, 704/235, 704/260, 704/270, 717/345, 700/4, 700/83
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A system and method for routing customer requests to advisors is disclosed. The system and method comprises at least one customer server process for receiving customer requests and classifying the information to produce a classified request, the classified request comprising the original request and at least one attribute. The system further comprises at least one advisor server process for receiving the classified requests, comparing the classified requests by associated profiles from the advisors to find matching attributes with classified request, and creating a connection between the requesting customer and at least one advisor, the at least one advisor having submitted a profile with matching attributes. A routing system in accordance with the present invention reduces response time to a problem and saves advisor time. The system also provides for an automatic response to frequent problems at increased efficiency. Finally, a system and method in accordance with the present invention is widely applicable to online shopping and customer service.

Claims

1. A system for routing customer requests to advisors comprising:

at least one customer server process for receiving customer requests and for classifying the information to produce a classified request, the classified request comprising the original request and at least one attribute, wherein the at least one customer server process comprises;

a networked server process for receiving customer requests;

a classifier for receiving the customer requests from the networked server process and associating the request with a set of attributes; and

a problem pool for string the classified requests; and

at least one advisor server process for receiving the classified requests from the problem pool, for comparing the classified requests with associated profiles from the advisors to find matching attributes with the classified request, and for creating a connection between the requesting customer and the at least one advisor, the at least one advisor having submitted a profile with matching attributes, wherein each of the advisors has a profile document that associates with each attribute of a customer request one of a plurality of priorities ranging in succession from high priority to low priority, and wherein the customer server process notifies a first plurality of advisors whose profile documents indicate a high priority on at least one of the attributes of the classified request and if none of the first plurality of advisors responds after a first predetermined time period, the customer server process notifies a second plurality of advisors whose profile documents indicate one of the two highest priorities on at least one of the attributes of the classified request, and if none of the second plurality of advisors responds after a predetermined time period, the customer server process continues to notify more advisors with lower priority on the attributes of the classified requests based on predetermined time periods until a predetermined condition is met.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the separation of the customer server process and the advisor server process provide for independent multiple instantiations in order to serve arbitrarily large pluralities of customers and advisors.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein a customer being a potential consumer of goods, information or services.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein an advisor is a supplier of goods, information or services.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein an advisor submits a profile document containing at least one attribute to the advisor server process.

6. The system of claim 1 which includes a communications mechanism for arbitrarily interconnecting and routing classified requests between each customer server process and each advisor server process.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one advisor server process comprises:

an advisor server for receiving classified requests from a customer server process;

a storage for receiving and storing advisor profile documents;

a comparator for matching classified requests with attributes in advisor profile documents;

a notification means for noticing advisors when a matching request has been received; and

a mechanism to establish and maintain connections between the at least one advisor server process and at least one customer server process.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one customer server comprises a plurality of customer server processes.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one advisor server comprises a plurality of advisor server processes.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein a customer can create a connection with an advisor, a connection being realized on any form of synchronous or asynchronous communication mechanism including web, email, or phone.

11. The system of claim 1 which includes means for resending the classified requests that have stayed in the problem pool longer than a prespecified time.

12. The system of claim 1 which includes means for establishing a match between an attribute in a classified request and an attribute in an advisor profile document depending on the priority indicated by the profile document and on the time the classified request has resided in the problem pool in order to increase the size of the plurality of advisors notified about the classified request after each of a succession of prespecified time durations.

13. A method for routing customer requests to advisors comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving customer requests;

(b) classifying the information to produce a classified request, the classified request comprising the original request and at least one attribute, wherein the classifying step (b) further comprises the steps of,

(b1) storing a primary copy of the classified requests in a problem pool; and

(b2) sending the classified requests to at least one process;

(c) receiving the classified request;

(d) comparing the classified request by associated profiles from the advisors to find matching attributes with the classified request; and

(e) creating a connection between the requesting customer and at least one advisor, the at least one advisor having submitted a profile with matching attributes;

(f) not g a first plurality of advisors whose profile documents indicate a high priority on at least one of the attributes of the classified request, and if none of the first plurality of advisors responds after a first predetermined time period;

(g) notifying a second plurality of advisors whose profile documents indicate one of the two highest priorities on at least one of the attributes of the classified request, and if none of the second plurality of advisors responds after a second predetermined time period; and

(h) notifying more advisors with lower priority on the attributes of the classified requests based upon the time periods until a predetermined condition is met.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein a customer is a potential consumer of goods, information or services.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein an advisor is a supplier of goods, information or services.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein an advisor submits to a profile document containing at least one attribute to an advisor server process.

17. The method of claim 13 which includes the step of interconnecting and routing classified requests between customers and advisors.

18. The method of claim 13 which further includes the step (f) of creating a connection by a customer with an advisor, a connection being realized on any form of synchronous or a synchronous communication mechanism including web, email, or phone.

19. The method of claim 13 in which comparing step (d) filer comprises the steps of:

(d1) searching advisor profile documents for attributes matching the attributes of the classified requests;

(d2) noting a plurality of advisors whose profile documents contain matching attributes of the existence of classified requests; and

(d3) responding to each request from an advisor to be connected to a customer who has submitted a request, the response being determined by the order the advisor requests for connection to the customer arrive at the problem pool where the primary copy of the customer is stored.

20. The method of claim 13 in which the step (e) further comprises the steps of:

(e1) setting up one or more connections based on responses to advisor requests from The problem pool; and

(e2) removing classified requests for which connections have been made from the problem pool.

21. The method of claim 13 which further comprises the step of resending the classified requests that have stayed in the problem pool longer than a prespecified time.