Method and system for distributing outbound telephone calls

• US 7,502,460 B2
• Filed: 06/06/2007
• Issued: 03/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alvaria Cayman
• Original Assignee: ALI Solutions, Inc. (Noble Systems Corporation)
• Inventors: Rodenbusch, Richard, Duncan, Daniel N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong; Harry S
• Application Number:
  US11/758,713
• Publication Number:
  US 20080118050A1
• Time in Patent Office: 643 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265.01, 379/265.02, 379/265.05, 379/265.12, 37926601-26605, 379/266.07, 379/266.08, 379/266.1
• US Class Current: 379/266.07
• 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:

one or more 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 at least one of the dialing devices, the distribution module having 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 at least one of the pools to at least one of the queues, and transfer at least one of the queues to the at least one dialing device.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the distribution module is further operable to transfer additional call records from the at least one pool to the at least one queue if the at least one dialing device has contacted predetermined of the call records.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the distribution module comprises a server that supports TCP/IP, the distribution module transferring the queues with TCP/IP.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one dialing device comprises a predictive dialer.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the distribution module is further operable to monitor the at least one dialing device to determine contact results associated with the call records and to transfer additional call records to the at least one queue based at least in part on the contact results.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the distribution module is further operable to redistribute call records between plural queues based at least in part upon contact attempt results associated with the call records at the at least one dialing device.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprising a scheduling module interfaced with the distribution module, the scheduling module operable to schedule call records for ordered contact attempts by the at least one dialing device according to one or more factors.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the distribution module manages call records in plural pools, the distribution module further operable to transfer call records to a 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.

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

transferring at least one of the queues to at least one dialing device, the dialing device having plural associated agents; and

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

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

monitoring the results of outbound telephone calls at the dialing device;

communicating the results to the distribution module; and

distributing additional call records to the at least one queue of the dialing device based in part on the results.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein organizing call records at the distribution module further comprises:

determining a priority between the call records based on one or more factors; and

ordering the call records in queues based on the priority.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the priority is based on the likelihood of a successful contact for the call record.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the priority is based on a location associated with each call record.

14. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

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

analyzing the call attempt results to determine the number of call records remaining to be called in the at least one queue and a depletion rate at which the dialing device calls the call records in the at least one queue.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

determining a number of additional call records for the at least one queue based upon the number of call records remaining to be called and the depletion rate; and

distributing the determined number of additional call records to the at least one queue.

16. The method of claim 9 further comprising redistributing the call records between plural queues based on the call attempt results associated with each of plural dialing devices.

17. The method of claim 9 wherein transferring at least one of the queues to at least one dialing device further comprises:

transferring plural queues to plural dialing devices;

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.