System for routing electronic mails
DCFirst Claim
1. A system for routing an electronic mail (e-mail), from an incoming queue, to one of a plurality of support persons in a processing center, each of said support persons having a specific skill set from a variety of possible skill sets, the system comprising:
- an e-mail server adapted to receive said e-mail from a sender;
an information extractor for extracting information from said e-mail;
a router for placing incoming emails from the server in a queue; and
a database accessible to the router and storing skill sets of said support persons;
wherein said router selects said one of a plurality of support persons by matching stored information about said specific skill sets with portions of extracted information from said queued e-mail and routes said queued e-mail to one of the plurality of said support persons.
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Abstract
A system for routing electronic mails to one of a plurality of support persons in a processing center is disclosed. Each person has a skill set that is suitable for responding to a certain type of e-mails. The system comprises an e-mail server for receiving the e-mail from a sender, an information extractor for extracting relevant information from the e-mail, and a router for routing the e-mail. The system contains a database for storing information related to all persons who can answer e-mails. The system also contains a server for storing the history of all activities in the system. The router can make routing decisions and perform load-balancing and alert functions based on the information stored in the database and the server.
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Citations
48 Claims
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1. A system for routing an electronic mail (e-mail), from an incoming queue, to one of a plurality of support persons in a processing center, each of said support persons having a specific skill set from a variety of possible skill sets, the system comprising:
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an e-mail server adapted to receive said e-mail from a sender;
an information extractor for extracting information from said e-mail;
a router for placing incoming emails from the server in a queue; and
a database accessible to the router and storing skill sets of said support persons;
wherein said router selects said one of a plurality of support persons by matching stored information about said specific skill sets with portions of extracted information from said queued e-mail and routes said queued e-mail to one of the plurality of said support persons. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for routing electronic mails (e-mails) in a processing center having a plurality of support persons, comprising steps of:
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(a) receiving e-mails at an e-mail server in the processing center;
(b) placing said e-mails in a queue;
(c) extracting information from the e-mails;
(d) matching extracted information with skill sets of support persons;
(e) selecting specific support persons to receive said e-mails based on results of the matching step (c); and
(f) sending said e-mails to said selected support persons.
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11. A system for routing and re-routing an electronic mail (e-mail) to a selected one of support persons from a queue in a processing center, comprising:
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an e-mail server adapted to receive said e-mail from a sender; and
a router adapted to place emails in a queue, select the one of said support persons to receive said e-mail, said router imposing a predetermined time for response to the e-mail by the selected support person;
wherein said router sends said e-mail from the queue to a selected support person, and, in the event a response is not made in the predetermined time, sends the same e-mail to a different one of the support persons. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method for routing electronic mails (e-mails) from an incoming queue in a processing center, having a plurality of support persons, comprising steps of:
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(a) receiving e-mails at an e-mail server in the processing center;
(b) placing emails in a queue;
(c) selecting specific support persons by a router to receive said e-mails in the queue;
(d) monitoring time for response to said e-mails by said selected support persons against a preset time-for-response limit; and
(e) sending an e-mail for which a response is not made in the time-for-response limit to a different support person.
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21. A system for routing electronic mails (e-mails) from an incoming queue to individual ones of a plurality of support persons in a processing center, comprising:
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an e-mail server adapted to receive said e-mail from a sender;
a router for placing received emails in a queue and routing said email; and
a database accessible to the router;
wherein said database stores statistical information about the activities of the processing center, including numbers of e-mails routed to each support person from the queue in the processing center, and said router adjusts numbers of e-mails sent from the queue to said support persons according to a load-balancing algorithm. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A method for routing electronic mails (e-mails) from an incoming queue in a processing center, having a plurality of support persons, comprising steps of:
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(a) receiving e-mails at an e-mail server in the processing center;
(b) placing emails in a queue;
(c) selecting support persons to receive said e-mails from the queue;
(d) storing statistical information regarding numbers of e-mails routed to each support person; and
(e) using the statistical information in a balancing algorithm to adjust the number of e-mails sent to each support person.
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29. A system for routing a electronic mails (e-mails) from an incoming queue to support persons in a processing center, comprising:
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an e-mail server adapted to receive said e-mail from a sender; and
a router adapted to queue the emails and select support persons to receive e-mails;
wherein the system notifies senders of a possible delay in processing e-mails if a preset load threshold is exceeded for the selected support persons. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A method for routing electronic mails (e-mails) in a processing center having a plurality of support persons, comprising steps of:
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(a) receiving e-mails at an e-mail server in said processing center;
(b) placing the received emails in a queue;
(c) routing e-mails from the queue to selected ones of said support persons;
(d) tracking numbers of e-mails received and routed; and
(e) notifying senders of possible delays if preset load thresholds are exceeded.
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39. A system for routing an electronic mail (e-mail) from an incoming queue to one of a plurality of support persons in a processing center, the system comprising:
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an e-mail server adapted to receive said e-mail from a sender;
a queue;
a router; and
a database accessible to the router and storing data regarding availability of said support persons;
wherein said router queues incoming email, selects said one of said plurality of support persons by consulting the database for availability data and sends said e-mail to the selected support person. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
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48. A method for routing electronic mails (e-mails) in a processing center having a plurality of support persons, comprising steps of:
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(a) receiving e-mails at an e-mail server in the processing center;
(b) placing the received emails in a queue (c) checking a database for availability of support persons to which e-mails may be routed; and
(d) selecting a specific support person to receive a specific e-mail based on results of the checking step (c); and
sending said e-mail to the specific support person selected.
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Specification