Method and system for distributing outbound telephone calls

• US 7,142,662 B2
• Filed: 07/09/2001
• Issued: 11/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Noble Systems Corporation
• Original Assignee: ALI Solutions, Inc. (Noble Systems Corporation)
• Inventors: Rodenbusch, Richard, Duncan, Daniel N
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Harry S.
• Application Number:
  US09/901,749
• Publication Number:
  US 20020006193A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,968 Days
• Field of Search: 379/266.1, 379/88.19, 379/92.03, 379/93.23, 379/32.02, 379/216.01, 379/265.01, 379/265.06, 379/266.07, 379/266.08, 379/309, 379/355.1, 379/265.02, 37926601-26605, 379/265.05, 257/693
• US Class Current: 379/266.07
• CPC Class Codes: A01M 1/106 for flying insects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5158 in combination with automated outdialling systems devices for signalling identity of wanted subscriber H04M1/26

Abstract

A method and system is provided for the distribution of outbound telephone calls. This method and system includes dialing devices receiving call records and providing telephone calls to one or more agents. Interfaced with the dialing device is a distribution module including pools and queues. The distribution module places the call records into the pools and transfers less than all of the call records to the queues to allow for calling by the dialing devices at peak efficiency. The distribution module transfers the queues to the dialing devices so that the dialing device can place telephone calls. The distribution module monitors the queues to determine when to send additional call records to the queues. In addition, distribution module monitors the results of the call records and updates the call records in the pools so that call records with unsuccessful outcomes can be safely called again later in the day.

Claims

1. A system for distributing outbound telephone calls, the system comprising:

a plurality of dialing devices operable to receive a plurality of call records and to provide a plurality of telephone calls to one or more agents;

a distribution module interfaced with the plurality of dialing devices and including a plurality of pools and a plurality of queues, the distribution module operable to place the call records into the pools, transfer less than all of the call records from the pools to the queues, and transfer the queues to the dialing devices; and

a plurality of contingency modules associated with the dialing devices, the contingency modules operable to secure the call records within the dialing devices upon a failure of the distribution module.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the contingency modules are further operable to secure the call records within the dialing devices upon a loss of communication between the distribution module and the dialing devices.

3. A system far distributing outbound telephone calls, the system comprising:

a plurality of dialing devices, each dialing device operable to receive a plurality of call records and to provide a plurality of telephone calls connected to the call records to one or more agents, each agent associated with one dialing device to connect with calls placed only by that associated dialing device; and

a distribution module interfaced with the plurality of dialing devices and including a plurality of pools and a plurality of queues, the distribution module operable to place the call records into the pools, transfer less than all of the call records from the pools to the queues, and transfer the queues to the dialing devices;

wherein the distribution module transfers call records from a first pool to a first queue and call records from a second pool to a second queue and wherein the distribution module transfers call records from the first pool to the first and second queues when the second pool contains no call records.

4. A method for distributing outbound telephone calls, the method comprising:

transferring a plurality of call records to a distribution module;

organizing the call records into a plurality of pools;

transferring less than all of the call records from the pools to a plurality of queues;

transferring the queues to a plurality of dialing devices;

dialing at each dialing device the call records of a transferred queue; and

altering the transferring of call records from at least one of the pools to at least one of the queues without stopping the dialing.

5. A method for distributing outbound telephone calls, the method comprising:

transferring a plurality of call records to a distribution module;

organizing the call records into a plurality of pools;

transferring call records from a first pool to a first set of one or more queues;

transferring call records for a second pool to a second set a one or more queues;

transferring the queues to a plurality of dialing devices;

dialing all of the call records of the first pool; and

transferring call records from the second pool to the first set of one or more queues.

6. A method for distributing outbound telephone calls, the method comprising:

transferring a plurality of call records to a distribution module;

organizing the call records into a plurality of pools;

transferring less than all of the call records from the pools to a plurality of queues using a plurality of selection rules;

transferring the queues to a plurality of dialing devices;

dialing at each dialing device the call records of the queue transferred to the dialing device; and

connecting contacts of a dialing device to agents associated only with that dialing device;

wherein the selection rules comprise two or more pools transferring call records to the queues based on a priority for each pool.

7. A method for distributing outbound telephone calls, the method comprising:

transferring a plurality of call records to a distribution module;

organizing the call records into a plurality of pools;

transferring less than all of the call records from the pools to a plurality of queues using a plurality of selection rules; and

transferring the queues to a plurality of dialing devices, each dialing device having agents associated only with that dialing device that connect with contacts made by dialing call records by the that dialing device;

wherein the selection rules comprise two or more pools simultaneously transferring call records to the queues.

8. A method for distributing outbound telephone calls, the method comprising:

transferring a plurality of call records to a distribution module;

organizing the call records into a plurality of pools;

transferring less than all of the call records from the pools to a plurality of queues; and

transferring the queues to a plurality of dialing devices by locking the call records to each dialing device, creating a plurality of contingency files specific for each dialing device and updating the contingency files with call attempt results.

9. A method for distributing outbound telephone calls, the method comprising:

transferring a plurality of call records to a distribution module;

organizing the call records into a plurality of pools;

transferring call records from a first pool to a first queue;

transferring call records from a second pool to a second queue;

transferring the queues to a plurality of dialing devices, each dialing device having plural agents, the agents assigned only to that dialing device to connect with contacts made by dialing the call records with that dialing device; and

transferring call records from the first pool to the first and second queues when the second pool become depleted.

10. A system for distributing outbound telephone calls, the system comprising:

a plurality of dialing devices, each dialing device associated with plural agents and operable to receive a plurality of call records and to provide a plurality of telephone calls to the plural agents associated with the dialing device; and

a distribution module interfaced with the plurality of dialing devices and including a plurality of pools and a plurality of queues, the distribution module operable to place the call records into the pools, transfer less than all of the call records from the pools to the queues, and transfer the queues to the dialing devices.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the distribution module controls the coordination of the call records to the dialing devices.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the distribution module transfers additional call records from the pools to the queues when the dialing devices have called the call records initially transferred to the queues.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein the distribution module routes the queues over TCP/IP to the dialing devices.

14. The system of claim 10 wherein the distribution module routes the queues over asynchronous transfer mode to the dialing devices.

15. The system of claim 10 wherein the distribution module comprises a server that supports TCP/IP.

16. The system of claim 10 wherein the dialing devices comprise predictive dialers.

17. The system of claim 10 wherein the distribution module monitors the dialing devices to determine a successful or unsuccessful call attempt result for the telephone calls placed using the call records.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the distribution module transfers from the dialing devices the call attempt results.

19. The system of claim 10 wherein the distribution module monitors the number of call records in the queues remaining to be called by the dialing devices.

20. The system of claim 10 wherein the queues include a plurality of selection rules that control how the pools transfer call records to the queues.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein to selection rules comprise priority rules.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein the selection rules comprise percentage rules.

23. The system of claim 20 wherein the selection rules comprise a combination of the percentage rules and the priority rules.

24. The system of claim 10 further comprising:

a user interface associated with the distribution module, the user interface operable to allow a user to control the functionality of the distribution module.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the user interface comprises an online interface associated with a browser.

26. The system of claim 10 further comprising a plurality of contingency modules associated with the dialing devices, the contingency modules operable to secure the call records within the dialing devices upon a failure of the distribution module.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein the contingency modules are further operable to secure the call records within the dialing devices upon a loss of communication between the distribution module and the dialing devices.

28. The system of claim 10 further comprising a call record database associated with the distribution module, the call record database operable to store the call records and the call attempt results.

29. The system of claim 10 wherein the distribution module redistributes call records to the pools based upon the unsuccessful call attempt results.

30. The system of claim 10 wherein the distribution module associates the queues with a campaign on the dialing devices.

31. The system of claim 30 wherein the distribution module dynamically modifies the order of the call records within the pools without stopping the campaign.

32. The system of claim 30 wherein the distribution module dynamically changes the composition of the call records within the pools without stopping the campaign.

33. The system of claim 20 further comprising a scheduling module interfaced with the distribution module, the scheduling module operable to schedule call records in the pools instead of the dialing devices.

34. The system of claim 20 further comprising additional distribution modules interfaced with the distribution module and the dialing devices, the additional distribution modules operable to transfer and provide call records to other distribution modules and the pools and provide redundancy.

35. The system of claim 20 wherein the distribution module transfers call records to the queue from a first pool and transfers call records to the queue from a second pool when the call records in the first pool are depleted.

36. The system of claim 20 wherein the distribution module transfers call records to the queue from a first set of pools simultaneously and transfers call records to the queue using a second set of pools when the call records in the first set of pools are depicted.

37. The system of claim 20 wherein the distribution module transfers call records from a first pool to a first queue and call records from a second pool to a second queue and wherein the distribution module transfers call records from the first pool to the first and second queues when the second pool contains no call records.

38. A method for distributing outbound telephone calls, the method comprising:

transferring a plurality of call records to a distribution module;

organizing the call records into a plurality of pools;

transferring less than all of the call records from the pools to a plurality of queues;

transferring the queues to a plurality of dialing devices, each dialing device having plural associated agents; and

dialing at the dialing devices the call records of the transferred queues to connect agents associated with each dialing device to call records contacted by each dialing device.

39. The method of claim 38 wherein the pools comprise a specific and ordered group of call records.

40. The method of claim 38 wherein transferring the queues to the dialing devices comprises assigning a queue to a specified dialing device.

41. The method of claim 38 wherein transferring call records from the pools to the queues comprises transferring call records from one pool to one queue.

42. The method of claim 38 wherein transferring call records from the pools to the queues comprises transferring call records from more than one pool to one queue.

43. The method of claim 38 wherein transferring call records from the pools to the queues comprises transferring call records from one pool to more than one queue.

44. The method of claim 38 wherein transferring the queues tote dialing devices comprises associating the queues with a campaign on the dialing devices.

45. The method of claim 38 wherein transferring call records from the pools to the queues comprises changing which pools transfer records to a particular queue without stopping the campaign.

46. The method of claim 38 wherein transferring call records from the pools to the queues comprises the pools transferring call records to a first queue with the ability to transfer call records to a second queue if the pools transferring call records to the second queue become depleted.

47. The method of claim 38 wherein transferring call records from the pools to the queues comprises transferring a set number of call records which allows for a set amount of calling for each queue.

48. The method of claim 38 further comprising:

uploading a plurality of call attempt results from the dialing devices to the distribution module; and

determining the number of call records remaining to be called in the queues and a depletion rate at which the dialing devices call the call records in the queues.

49. The method of claim 48 further comprising determining if additional call records are needed in the queues based upon the number of call records remaining to be called and the depletion rate.

50. The method of claim 49 further comprising transferring additional call records from the pools to the queues.

51. The method of claim 38 further comprising redistributing the call records to the pools based on unsuccessful call attempt results.

52. The method of claim 38 wherein transferring the call records from the pools to the queues comprises transferring call records to the queues using a plurality of selection rules.

53. The method of claim 52 wherein the selection rules comprise two or more pools transferring call records to the queues based on a priority for each pool.

54. The method of claim 52 wherein the selection rules comprise two or more pools simultaneously transferring call records to the queues.

55. The method of claim 38 wherein transferring the queues to a plurality of dialing devices comprises:

locking the call records to each dialing device;

creating a plurality of contingency files specific for each dialing device; and

updating the contingency files with call attempt results.

56. The method of claim 38 wherein transferring the call records from the pools to the queues comprises:

transferring call records from a first pool to a first queue;

transferring call records from a second pool to a second queue; and

transferring call records from the first pool to the first and second queues when the second pool becomes depleted.