Method of distributing telephone calls to ordered agents

• US 6,570,980 B1
• Filed: 08/08/2000
• Issued: 05/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Alcatel SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Baruch, Sauveur
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Harry S.
• Application Number:
  US09/634,985
• Time in Patent Office: 1,022 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265.01, 379/265.02, 379/265.11, 379/265.12, 379/265.13, 379/266.01, 379/266.02, 379/266.04, 379/266.05, 379/309
• US Class Current: 379/265.12
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/523 with call distribution or queueing

Abstract

A method of distributing telephone calls to provide users of extensions and/or terminals of a telecommunications network with access to a service provided by an agent includes the steps of determining agent profiles, determining a call profile, comparing the call profile to the agent profiles to constitute an ordered list of agents qualified to process a call, and distributing a call to agents from the list of agents.

Claims

1. A method of distributing telephone calls to provide users of a telecommunications network with access to a service provided by an agent or operator, said method using a call-director which receives telephone calls which access the service and can use various modes associated with different routing directions that can associate with each call a pseudo-queue, or a waiting room, or a queue, a group of processing operators and a transit unit for calls received via the call-director and awaiting processing by an operator, the method comprising:

determining agent profiles;

determining a call profile;

preparing an ordered list of agents able to process the call by performing a cost calculation that establishes a first cost corresponding to mandatory attributes of said call profile and a second cost corresponding to optional attributes of said call profile;

comparing said call profile to said ordered list of agents; and

distributing the call to at least one agent from said list of agents.

2. The telephone call distribution method claimed in claim 1 wherein said call profiles and said agent profiles comprise particular attributes chosen from a single list of attributes.

3. The telephone call distribution method claimed in claim 1 wherein an attribute of a call profile comprises a character field, a field dedicated to the nature of said attribute of said call profile, and an expertise field.

4. The telephone call distribution method claimed in claim 1 wherein an attribute of an agent profile comprises an expertise field, an activation field and a field dedicated to the nature of said attribute of said agent profile.

5. The telephone call distribution method claimed in claim 1 wherein an expanded list of agents is drawn up at the expiry of a reselection time-delay.

6. The telephone call distribution method claimed in claim 1 wherein a call-director in open mode distributes calls to routing directions associated either with pseudo-queues or with waiting rooms.

7. The telephone call distribution method claimed in claim 1 wherein a call-director in blocked mode distributes calls to routing directions associated either with pseudo-queues or with queues.

8. The telephone call distribution method claimed in claim 1 wherein the routing directions associated with a queue and the routing directions associated with a waiting room can be preferred or back-up routing directions without ever coexisting in the same mode.

9. The telephone call distribution method claimed in claim 1 wherein a waiting room can serve more than one call-director.

10. The telephone call distribution method claimed in claim 1 wherein a waiting room can be served by more than one routing direction.

11. The telephone call distribution method claimed in claim 1 wherein said first cost corresponding to mandatory attributes is calculated by

12. The telephone call distribution method claimed in claim 1 wherein said second cost corresponding to optional attributes is calculated by