Providing user information and control over a contact within a contact centre

• US 7,564,962 B1
• Filed: 12/19/2003
• Issued: 07/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited (Nortel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: O'Keeffe, Michael, Loftus, Liam
• Primary Examiner(s): Gauthier; Gerald
• Application Number:
  US10/741,519
• Time in Patent Office: 2,041 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88.17, 379/266.01, 379/265.09, 709/245, 709/204, 709/217, 709/219, 370/401, 705/50
• US Class Current: 379/265.09
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/42 Graphical user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2011 Service processing based on information specified by a party before or during a call, e.g. information, tone or routing selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet

Abstract

A contact relating to a communication being processed in a contact center (such as for example a voice call, video call or chat session) is allocated a unique identifier. A web page is accessible to the remote customer involved in the communication. On entering the unique identifier in the web page the user is provided with a customised page including information regarding the status of the contact (such as for example queue position, queue skillset, and expected wait time) and the user can select options in this page to influence the processing of the contact by the contact center, such as by switching queues, requesting a specific agent to handle the contact or terminating the contact and substituting an email or a callback request.

Claims

1. A method of providing remote control over a contact within a contact centre to a user associated with the contact, comprising the steps of:

a) generating a first web page, said first web page including information relating to the status of the contact,

b) providing one or more user controls accessible from said first web page,

c) awaiting activation of at least one of said controls by the user, and

d) on activation of one of said controls, generating a first command to a contact management component of the contact centre, said first command being effective to terminate a communications session involving the user and to await a new communication from the user to the contact centre from the first web page or a second web page linked to the first web page

e) in response to said first command, terminating said communications session involving the user and awaiting a new communication from the user, generated from the first or second web pages, including a second command different from said first command.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of generating a first web page is carried out in response to a request from a user, said request including an identifier provided to the user by the contact centre to identify said contact.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein said contact is associated with a communications session between the user and the contact centre, and wherein said identifier is provided to the user as part of said communications session.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said information includes one or more of:

i) an indication of a position of the contact in a queue,

ii) an indication of the current expected wait time for an agent to respond to the contact,

iii) an indication of the identity of an agent currently assigned to deal with the contact,

iv) an indication of a skillset grouping according to which the contact is queued, and

v) an indication of the media type of the contact.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said contact is associated with a real time communications session between the user and the contact centre, and the new communication is an email or form submission generated by the user from the first web page or the second web page linked to the first web page.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said contact is associated with a communications session between the user and the contact centre selected from a voice telephony session, a video telephony session, a web chat session and an instant messaging session.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said contact is associated with a real time communications session between the user and the contact centre, and the new communication is a call-back request generated by the user from the first web page or a the second page linked to the first web page.

8. A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein said contact is associated with a communications session between the user and the contact centre selected from a voice telephony session, a video telephony session, a web chat session and an instant messaging session.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

e) receiving from the contact centre confirmation of the new status of the contact after execution of said first command, and

f) generating a new web page including information relating to the new status of the contact.

10. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium encoded with instructions in machine readable form which, when executed in a web server having an interface with a contact centre, cause the web server to:

a) generate a first web page, said first web page including information relating to the status of a contact within the contact centre associated with a user of the contact centre,

b) provide one or more user controls accessible from said first web page,

c) await activation of at least one of said controls by the user,

d) on activation of one of said controls, generate a first command to a contact management component of the contact centre, said first command being effective to terminate a communications session involving the user, and

e) await activation of a control from said first web page or a second web page linked to the first web page before providing a new communication to the contact centre from the user, said new communication including a second command different from said first command.

11. A web server comprising:

a) an interface with a management system of a contact centre,

b) a web page building engine for receiving information relating to the status of a contact within the contact centre associated with a user of the contact centre, and generating a first web page including said information,

c) a control interface for recognising the activation of one or more user controls accessible from said first web page, and

d) a command generator for generating a first command to a management system of the contact centre on activation of one of said one or more user controls, said first command being effective to terminate a communications session involving the user

wherein said control interface is arranged to await activation of a control from said first web page or a second web page linked to the first web page before providing a new communication to the contact centre from the user, said new communication including a second command different from said first command.

12. A contact centre system comprising an interface for enabling a communications session to be initiated between a user and the contact centre, a management system for managing a contact generated in response to the initiation of said communications session, and a web server, said web server comprising:

a) an interface with a management system of a contact centre,

b) a web page building engine for receiving information relating to the status of a contact within the contact centre associated with a user of the contact centre, and generating a first web page including said information,

c) a control interface for recognising the activation of one or more user controls accessible from said first web page, and

d) a command generator for generating a first command to a management system of the contact centre on activation of one of said one or more user controls, said first command being effective to terminate a communications session involving the user

wherein said control interface is arranged to await activation of a control from said first web page or a second web page linked to the first web page before providing a new communication to the contact centre from the user, said new communication including a second command different from said first command.

13. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium encoded with instructions in machine readable form which, when executed in a web server having an interface with a contact centre, cause the web server to:

a) provide a first web page accessible by a user of the contact centre to enable the user to identify a contact within the contact centre to said web server,

b) receive at the web server a communication from the user identifying said contact,

c) forward information identifying said contact in an information request to a management system of the contact centre,

d) receive from the management system of the contact centre information regarding the status of the contact,

e) return a second web page to the user comprising some or all of said information regarding the status of the contact, wherein said returned second web page includes one or more user controls which when activated by the user cause the web server to issue a command to a management system of the contact centre to influence the status of the contact,

f) await activation of one of said one of more user controls,

g) issue said command upon said activation, and

f) upon receipt of a confirmation of the execution of said command, generate a new web page with information on the updated status of the contact.

14. A web server comprising:

a) code for a first web page accessible by a user of a contact centre to enable the user to identify a contact within the contact centre to said web server,

b) an interface with a management system of said contact centre,

c) a request forwarding module for receiving from the user an identifier of said contact and forwarding said identifier to the management system of the contact centre, and

d) a web page building engine for receiving information relating to the status of said contact within the contact centre associated with said user of the contact centre, and generating a second web page including said information, wherein said returned second web page includes one or more user controls which when activated by the user cause the web server to issue a command to a management system of the contact centre to influence the status of the contact, said web page building engine further being configured, upon receipt of a confirmation of the execution of said command, to generate a new web page with information on the updated status of the contact, and

e) an interface for issuing said command upon activation of one of said one of more user controls, and for receiving said confirmation of the execution of said command.

15. A web server as claimed in claim 14, wherein said code for said first web page is fixed code maintained in a store.

16. A web server as claimed in claim 14, wherein said code for said first web page is code for the dynamic generation of said first web page on receipt of a web page request from the user.

17. A contact centre system comprising an interface for enabling a communications session to be initiated between a user and a contact centre, a management system for managing a contact generated in response to the initiation of said communications session, and a web server, said web server comprising:

a) code for a first web page accessible by a user of the contact centre to enable the user to identify a contact within the contact centre to said web server,

b) an interface with a management system of a contact centre,

c) a request forwarding module for receiving from the user an identifier of said contact and forwarding said identifier to the management system of the contact centre, and

d) a web page building engine for receiving information relating to the status of a contact within the contact centre associated with a user of the contact centre, and generating a second web page including said information, wherein said returned second web page includes one or more user controls which when activated by the user cause the web server to issue a command to a management system of the contact centre to influence the status of the contact, said web page building engine further being configured, upon receipt of a confirmation of the execution of said command, to generate a new web page with information on the updated status of the contact, and

e) an interface for issuing said command upon activation of one of said one of more user controls, and for receiving said confirmation of the execution of said command.

18. A method of providing information regarding a contact within a contact centre, comprising the steps of:

a) receiving notification of a new communication between the contact centre and a user of the contact centre,

b) generating a contact associated with said communication and allocating an identifier to said contact,

c) providing said identifier to the user,

d) receiving from a web server a contact status request for said contact, wherein the contact is identified in said contact status request using said identifier, and

e) returning to the web server, in response to said contact status request, information regarding the current status of the contact associated with the identifier,

f) receiving from said web server a command to terminate a communications session involving the user and to substitute a new communication received from the user via the web server,

g) terminating said session in response to said command;

h) awaiting a new communication from said user submitted via said web server

whereby said user can submit the identifier received on initiation of the communication to a web server, receive from the web server information regarding the status of the contact, and exercise an option to terminate the communications session and substitute a new communication via the web server.

19. A method as claimed in claim 18, wherein said information includes one or more of:

i) an indication of a position of the contact in a queue,

ii) an indication of the current expected wait time for an agent to respond to the contact,

iii) an indication of the identity of an agent currently assigned to deal with the contact,

iv) an indication of a skillset grouping according to which the contact is queued, and

v) an indication of the media type of the contact.

20. A method as claimed in claim 18, further comprising the step of:

g) issuing to the web server a confirmation of the execution of the command.

21. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium encoded with instructions in machine readable format which when executed in a computing system of a contact centre are effective to cause said system to:

a) generate a contact, upon receiving notification of a new communication between the contact centre and a user of the contact centre, said contact being associated with said communication,

b) allocate an identifier to said contact,

c) provide said identifier to the user, and

d) return information to a web server, on receiving from the web server a contact status request for said contact, wherein the contact is identified in said contact status request using said identifier, said information comprising information regarding the current status of the contact associated with the identifier

e) receive from said web server a command to terminate a communications session involving the user and to substitute a new communication received from the user via the web server,

f) terminate said session in response to said command;

g) await a new communication from said user submitted via said web server.

22. A contact centre management system comprising:

a) a contact object generator for generating a contact, upon receiving notification of a new communication between the contact centre and a user of a contact centre, said contact being associated with said communication,

b) an identifier allocation module for allocating an identifier to said contact,

c) an interface with a communications system of the contact centre for returning said identifier to the user, in response to said communication, and

d) an interface with a web server for receiving from the web server a contact status request for said contact, wherein the contact is identified in said contact status request using said identifier, and

e) a status information compiler for compiling, in response to said contact status request, information regarding the current status of the contact associated with the identifier and returning said information to the web server

said interface further being suitable to receive from said web server a command to terminate a communications session involving the user and to substitute a new communication received from the user via the web server,

a processor programmed to terminate said session in response to said command and to await a new communication from said user submitted via said web server.

23. A method of providing remote control over a contact within a contact centre to a user associated with the contact, comprising the steps of:

a) generating a web page, said web page including information relating to the status of the contact,

b) providing one or more user controls accessible from said web page,

c) awaiting activation of at least one of said controls by the user, and

d) on activation of one of said controls, generating a command to a contact management component of the contact centre, said command being effective to switch the contact between queues in the contact centre;

e) in response to said command, switching the contact between queues in the contact centre said webpage further being suitable to receive from said web server a command to terminate a communications session involving the user and to substitute a new communication received from the user via the web server, a processor programmed to terminate said session in response to said command and to await a new communication from said user submitted via said web server.

24. A computer program product comprising instructions in machine readable form which, when executed in a web server having an interface with a contact centre, cause the web server to:

a) generate a web page, said web page including information relating to the status of a contact within the contact centre associated with a user of the contact centre,

b) provide one or more user controls accessible from said web page,

c) await activation of at least one of said controls by the user, and

d) on activation of one of said controls, generate a command to a contact management component of the contact centre, said command being effective to switch the contact between queues in the contact centre;

e) said webpage further being suitable to receive from said web server a command to terminate a communications session involving the user and to substitute a new communication received from the user via the web server, a processor programmed to terminate said session in response to said command and to await a new communication from said user submitted via said web server.

25. A contact centre system comprising an interface for enabling a communications session to be initiated between a user and the contact centre, a management system for managing a contact generated in response to the initiation of said communications session, and a web server, said web server comprising:

a) an interface with a management system of a contact centre,

b) a web page building engine for receiving information relating to the status of a contact within the contact centre associated with a user of the contact centre, and generating a web page including said information,

c) a control interface for recognising the activation of one or more user controls accessible from said web page, and

d) a command generator for generating a command to a management system of the contact centre on activation of one of said one or more user controls, said command being effective to switch the contact between queues in the contact centre;

e) said webpage further being suitable to receive from said web server a command to terminate a communications session involving the user and to substitute a new communication received from the user via the web server, a processor programmed to terminate said session in response to said command and to await a new communication from said user submitted via said web server.