Method and apparatus for automatic call distribution

• US 6,985,576 B1
• Filed: 12/02/1999
• Issued: 01/10/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: WorldCom, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Huck, Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): BUI, BING Q
• Application Number:
  US09/453,108
• Time in Patent Office: 2,231 Days
• Field of Search: 370/352, 370/353, 370/354, 370/355, 370/356, 379/88.12, 379/88.13, 379/88.14, 379/88.17, 379/88.19, 379/265.02, 379/265.09, 379/900, 379/201.03, 379/218.01, 379/265.11, 379/265.12, 379/265.13
• US Class Current: 379/265.09
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/60 Medium conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2066 Call type detection of indication, e.g. voice or fax, mobile of fixed, PSTN or IP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/408 Customer-specific call routing plans
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42068 where the identifier is used to access a profile
• 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 3/5233 Operator skill based call distribution

Abstract

An Internet Protocol (IP) call distribution system, for selecting agents to handle incoming requests from users, that uses publish/subscribe technology so that agent state does not need to be maintained. An automatic call distribution method for selecting agents to handle incoming requests from users, that uses publish/subscribe technology so that agent state does not need to be maintained.

Claims

1. An Internet Protocol (IP) call distribution system, for selecting an agent, from multiple possible agents, to handle incoming requests from users, the call distribution system comprising:

an IP gateway configured to convert PSTN phone calls to Internet Protocol phone calls, the IP gateway being configured to pass ANI information, if available, from the PSTN phone call;

a server configured to be coupled to the IP gateway by an Internet Protocol network, and configured to be coupled to agent workstations by the Internet Protocol network, the server having a publish/subscribe component, the server further including a call processing component which determines how incoming calls are to be handled, and a user database organized to include records about users and user ANI information associated with the users, the server for respective incoming calls, being configured to;

search the customer database for a record for the user making the call, by searching for a record containing the ANI information of the phone call;

apply rules appropriate for the user, using a rules engine, to determine a subset of agents with skills required to communicate with the user;

broadcast an event to the subset of agents indicating that a call is available to be handled;

receive responses from available agents of the subset; and

select an available agent of the subset and pass the call to the selected agent;

wherein the agents subscribe to skills using the publish/subscribe component.

2. A call distribution system in accordance with claim 1 and further comprising a web server coupled to the first mentioned server via the Internet Protocol network, the web server being configured to receive e-mail from an e-mail client and forward the e-mail to the first mentioned server via the Internet Protocol network.

3. A call distribution system in accordance with claim 1 and further comprising a web server coupled to the first mentioned server via the Internet Protocol network, the web server being configured to receive e-mail from a user using an e-mail client and to forward the e-mail to the first mentioned server via the Internet Protocol network, the first mentioned server being further configured to:

search the customer database for a record for the user, by searching for a record containing the e-mail address of the user;

apply rules appropriate for the user, using the rules engine, to determine a second subset of agents, with skills required to communicate with the user;

broadcast an event to the second subset of agents indicating that an e-mail is available to be handled;

receive responses from available agents of the second subset; and

select an available agent of the second subset and forward the e-mail to the selected agent.

4. A call distribution system in accordance with claim 1 and further comprising an Internet Protocol phone, coupled to the server via the Internet Protocol network, for use by an agent.

5. A call distribution system in accordance with claim 1 and further comprising a client machine, coupled to the server via the Internet Protocol network, for use by an agent.

6. A call distribution system in accordance with claim 1 and further comprising a unified messaging server coupled to the first mentioned server via the Internet Protocol network, the unified messaging server being configured to receive a facsimile from a facsimile machine, convert the facsimile to an e-mail, and forward the e-mail to the first mentioned server via the Internet Protocol network.

7. A call distribution system in accordance with claim 1 and further comprising a unified messaging server coupled to the first mentioned server via the Internet Protocol network, the unified messaging server being configured to receive a facsimile from a facsimile machine, perform optical character recognition on the facsimile to convert the facsimile to e-mail text, and forward the e-mail text, with the facsimile image appended, to the first mentioned server via the Internet Protocol network.

8. A call distribution system in accordance with claim 1 and further comprising a web collaboration server coupled to the first mentioned server via the Internet Protocol network, the web collaboration server being configured to receive a request for web collaboration from a user using a client machine and to forward the web collaboration request to the first mentioned server via the Internet Protocol network, the first mentioned server being further configured to:

search the customer database for a record for the user, by searching for a record containing address information of the user;

apply rules appropriate for the user, using the rules engine, to determine a second subset of agents, with skills required to communicate with the user;

broadcast an event to the second subset of agents indicating that a web collaboration request is available to be handled;

receive responses from available agents of the second subset; and

select an available agent of the second subset and couple the client machine of the user who requested web collaboration to a client machine of the selected agent for web collaboration.

9. A call distribution system in accordance with claim 8 wherein searching the customer database for a record for the user who requested web collaboration comprises searching for a record containing IP address information for the user.

10. A call distribution system in accordance with claim 8 wherein searching the customer database for a record for the user who requested web collaboration comprises obtaining information for the user from a cookie stored on the user'"'"'s client machine, and searching for a record containing information obtained from the cookie.

11. A call distribution system in accordance with the claim 8 wherein searching the customer database for a record for the user who requested a web chat comprises obtaining information for the user from a cookie stored on the user'"'"'s client machine, and searching for a record containing information obtained from the cookie.

12. A call distribution system in accordance with claim 1 and further comprising a web server coupled to the first mentioned server via the Internet Protocol network, the web server being configured to receive a chat request from a user using a client machine and to forward the chat request to the first mentioned server via the Internet Protocol network, the first mentioned server being further configured to:

search the customer database for a record of the user, by searching for a record for the user, by searching for a record containing address information of the user;

apply rules appropriate for the user, using the rules engine, to determine a second subset of agents, with skills required to communicate with the user;

broadcast an event to the second subset of agents indicating that a chat request is available to be handled;

receive responses from available agents of the second subset; and

select an available agent of the second subset and couple the client machine of the user who requested the chat to a client machine of the selected agent for a web chat.

13. A call distribution system in accordance with claim 12 wherein searching the customer database for a record for the user who requested a web chat comprises searching for a record containing IP address information for the user.

14. A call distribution method, for selecting an agent of multiple possible agents to handle an incoming request of one of many possible media types from a user, the call distribution method comprising:

receiving a subscription to skills from an agent, using publish/subscribe technology;

converting a PSTN phone call to an Internet Protocol phone call, and passing ANI information from the PSTN phone call;

searching a database for a record for the user, including searching for a record containing the ANI information;

applying rules appropriate for the user to determine a subset of agents subscribed to skills appropriate to communicate with the user;

broadcasting an event to the subset of agents indicating that a call is available to be handled;

receiving responses from available agents of the subset; and

selecting an available agent of the subset and pass the call to the selected agent.

15. A call distribution method in accordance with claim 14 and further comprising storing call processing rules which determine how incoming calls are to be handled, and storing records about customers and customer ANI information associated with the customers.

16. A call distribution method in accordance with claim 14 and further comprising:

receiving e-mail from a user;

searching the database for a record for the user, by searching for a record containing the e-mail address of the user;

applying rules appropriate for the user to determine a second subset of agents, with skills required to communicate with the user;

broadcasting an event to the second subset of agents indicating that an e-mail is available to be handled;

receiving responses from available agents of the second subset; and

selecting an available agent of the second subset and forwarding the e-mail to the selected agent.

17. A call distribution method in accordance with claim 14 and further comprising:

receiving a facsimile from a user using a facsimile machine, converting the facsimile to an e-mail;

searching the database for a record of the facsimile user, by searching for a record containing ANI information for the facsimile;

applying rules appropriate for the facsimile user to determine a second subset of agents, with skills required to communicate with the facsimile user;

broadcasting an event to the second subset of agents indicating that an e-mail is available to be handled;

receiving responses from available agents of the second subset; and

selecting an available agent of the second subset and forwarding the e-mail to the selected agent.

18. A call distribution method in accordance with claim 14 and further comprising:

receiving a request for web collaboration from a client machine of a web collaboration user;

searching the customer database for a record for the web collaboration user;

by searching for a record containing address information of the user;

applying rules appropriate for the web collaboration user to determine a second subset of agents, with skills required to communicate with the web collaboration user;

broadcasting an event to the second subset of agents indicating that a web collaboration request is available to be handled;

receiving responses from available agents of the second subset; and

selecting an available agent of the second subset and coupling the client machine of the user who requested web collaboration to a client machine of the selected agent for web collaboration.

19. A call distribution method in accordance with claim 14 and further comprising:

receiving a request for chat from a client machine of a web collaboration user;

searching the customer database for a record for the chat user, by searching for a record containing address information of the chat user;

applying rules appropriate for the user, using the rules engine, to determine a second subset of agents, with skills required to communicate with the user;

broadcasting an event to the second subset of agents indicating that a chat requested is available to be handled;

receiving responses from available agents of the second subset; and

selecting an available agent of the second subset and couple the client machine of the user who requested the chat to a client machine of the selected agent for a web chat.

20. A computer readable medium embodying program code for selecting an agent to handle an incoming request from a user in an Internet Protocol call distribution system, for use with rules for a determining how incoming requests are to be handled, and with a customer database having records for users, the program code being configured to cause a computer, when in operation, to:

receive publish/subscribe subscriptions from agents identifying skills respective agents possess from multiple possible skills;

search the customer database for a record for the user, by searching for a record containing user identification information corresponding to user identification information associated with the incoming request;

use the rules to determine a subset of agents with skills required to communicate with the user;

broadcast an event to the subject of agents indicating that a request is available to be handled;

receive responses from available agents of the subset; and

select an available agent of the subset and pass the call to the selected agent.

21. A computer readable medium in accordance with claim 20, wherein the program code is further configured to cause the computer, when in operation, to:

store rules which determine how incoming requests are to be handled; and

store records about users and user ANI information associated with the users.

22. A computer readable medium in accordance with claim 20 wherein, if the request is in the form of an e-mail, searching the customer database for a record for the user comprises searching for a record containing the e-mail address of the user.

23. A computer readable medium in accordance with claim 20 wherein, if the request is in the form of a voice call, searching the customer database for a record for the user comprises searching for a record containing ANI information for the voice call.

24. A computer readable medium in accordance with claim 20 wherein, if the request is in the form of a facsimile, searching the customer database for a record for the user comprises searching for a record containing ANI information for the facsimile.

25. A computer readable medium in accordance with claim 20 wherein determining a subset of agents comprises determining which agents subscribed to a skill indicating they can handle the media type of the request.

26. A method for selecting an agent to handle an incoming request from a user in a call distribution system, the method comprising:

receiving a publish/subscribe subscription from an agent identifying skills respective agents possess from multiple possible skills;

searching a customer database for a record for a user, by searching for a record containing user identification information corresponding to user identification information associated with an incoming request;

applying rules appropriate for the user to determine a subset of agents with skills required to communicate with the user;

broadcasting an event to the subject of agents indicating that request is available to be handled;

receiving responses from available agents of the subset; and

selecting an available agent of the subset and passing the request to the selected agent.

27. A method for selecting an agent in accordance with claim 26, and further comprising:

storing rules which determine how incoming requests are to be handled; and

storing records about users and user ANI information associated with the users.

28. A method for selecting an agent in accordance with claim 26 wherein, if the request is in the form of an e-mail, searching the customer database for a record for the user comprises searching for a record containing the e-mail address of the user.

29. A method for selecting an agent in accordance with claim 26 wherein, if the request is in the form of a voice call, searching the customer database for a record for the user comprises searching for a record containing ANI information for the voice call.

30. A method for selecting an agent in accordance with claim 26 wherein, if the request is in the form of a facsimile, searching the customer database for a record for the user comprises searching for a record containing ANI information for the facsimile.