Method of providing status information within an ACD

• US 7,751,550 B2
• Filed: 08/16/2004
• Issued: 07/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alvaria Cayman
• Original Assignee: Aspect Software Incorporated
• Inventors: Hollatz, Mike
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Quynh H
• Application Number:
  US10/919,194
• Publication Number:
  US 20060036607A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,150 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265.01, 709/227
• US Class Current: 379/265.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42374 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for retrievably storing information within an automatic contact distributor system within a database that is accessible through the Internet. The method includes the steps of saving the information from the automatic call distributor system within the database using a SIP REGISTER message and retrieving the information through the Internet using a SIP SUBSCRIBE message.

Claims

1. A method of retrievably storing status information within an automatic contact distributor system within a common database that is accessible through the Internet, the automatic contact distributor system including a plurality of automatic contact distributor resources which communicate with each other and with the common database over the internet such method comprising the steps of:

each resource periodically collecting its own status information, and each resource encoding the collected status information into a SIP REGISTER message using SIP CONTACT headers, and sending the SIP REGISTER message from the respective resource via the internet to the common database, and saving the status information from the plurality of resources into the common database, and;

retrieving the status information of a selected resource of the plurality of resources from the database through the Internet by sending a SIP SUBSCRIBE message from at least one of the resources to the common database over the Internet to retrieve the status information.

2. The method of retrievably storing status information within the automatic contact distributor system as in claim 1 further comprising an agent terminal of the automatic call distributor system sending the SIP REGISTER message from the agent terminal to the database.

3. The method of retrievably storing status information within the automatic contact distributor system as in claim 2 wherein the SIP REGISTER message from the agent further comprises one of the group consisting of agent sign-on, agent sign-off, calls handled per hour and average talk time.

4. The method of retrievably storing status information within the automatic contact distributor system as in claim 1 wherein the SIP REGISTER message from the automatic contact distributor further comprises one of the group consisting of calls handled per time period, queue length and abandoned calls per time period.

5. The method of retrievably storing status information within the automatic contact distributor system as in claim 1 further comprising a supervisor of the automatic call distributor sending the SIP REGISTER message from a terminal of the supervisor to the database.

6. The method of retrievably storing status information within the automatic contact distributor system as in claim 5 further comprising the supervisor of the automatic call distributor subscribing to saved information using a SIP EVENT header.

7. The method of retrievably storing status information within the automatic contact distributor system as in claim 6 wherein the information subscribed to further comprises an identifier of an agent and one of group consisting of agent sign-on, agent sign-off, calls handled per hour and average talk time.

8. The method of retrievably storing status information within the automatic contact distributor system as in claim 6 wherein the information subscribed to further comprises an identifier of an automatic contact distributor and one of the group consisting of calls handled per time period, queue length and abandoned calls per time period.

9. An apparatus for retrievably storing status information within an automatic contact distributor system within a common database that is accessible through the Internet, the automatic contact distribution system including a plurality of automatic contact distribution resources coupled to the internet, such apparatus comprising:

means associated with each respective resource for collecting status information of the respective resource and encoding the status information of each respective resource into a respective SIP REGISTER message using SIP CONTACT headers, and for sending the respective SIP REGISTER message from the respective resource;

means for receiving the respective SIP REGISTER messages via the internet and saving the status information from the respective automatic call distributor resources into the common database; and

means for retrieving the status information through the Internet by sending a SIP SUBSCRIBE message from at least one of the resources to the database over the Internet to retrieve the status information.

10. The apparatus for retrievably storing status information within the automatic contact distributor system as in claim 9 further comprising means within an agent terminal of the automatic call distributor system for sending the SIP REGISTER message from the agent terminal to the database.

11. The apparatus for retrievably storing status information within the automatic contact distributor system as in claim 10 wherein the SIP REGISTER message from the agent further comprises one of the group consisting of agent sign-on, agent sign-off;

calls handled per hour and average talk time.

12. The apparatus for retrievably storing status information within the automatic contact distributor system as in claim 9 further comprising means within an automatic contact distributor of the automatic call distributor system for sending the SIP REGISTER message from the automatic contact distributor to the database.

13. The apparatus for retrievably storing status information within the automatic contact distributor system as in claim 12 wherein the SIP REGISTER message from the automatic contact distributor further comprises one of the group consisting of calls handled per time period, queue length and abandoned calls per time period.

14. The apparatus for retrievably storing status information within the automatic contact distributor system as in claim 9 further comprising means within a supervisor terminal of the automatic call distributor for sending the SIP REGISTER message from a terminal of the supervisor to the database.

15. The apparatus for retrievably storing status information within the automatic contact distributor system as in claim 14 further comprising means within the supervisor terminal of the automatic call distributor for subscribing to saved information using a SIP CONTACT header.

16. The apparatus for retrievably storing status information within the automatic contact distributor system as in claim 15 wherein the information subscribed to further comprises an identifier of an agent and one of group consisting of agent sign-on, agent sign-off, calls handled per hour and average talk time.

17. The apparatus for retrievably storing status information within the automatic contact distributor system as in claim 15 wherein the information subscribed to further comprises an identifier of an automatic contact distributor and one of the group consisting of calls handled per time period, queue length and abandoned calls per time period.

18. An apparatus for retrievably storing status information within an automatic contact distributor system within a common database that is accessible through the Internet, such apparatus comprising:

a plurality of automatic contact distribution system resources, each respective resource collecting status information of the respective resource, encoding the status information of each respective resource into a respective SIP REGISTER message using SIP CONTACT headers and sending the respective SIP REGISTER messages from the respective resources over the Internet;

a SIP PRESENCE server that receives the respective SIP REGISTER messages over the Internet and saves the status information into the common database based upon receipt over the Internet of the SIP REGISTER messages; and

a terminal that retrieves the status information from the common database through the Internet by sending a SIP SUBSCRIBE message over the Internet to the common database.

19. The apparatus for retrievably storing status information within the automatic contact distributor system as in claim 18 further comprising a user agent within an agent terminal of the automatic call distributor system that sends the SIP REGISTER message from the agent terminal to the database.

20. The apparatus for retrievably storing status information within the automatic contact distributor system as in claim 19 wherein the SIP REGISTER message from the agent further comprises one of the group consisting of agent sign-on, agent sign-off, calls handled per hour and average talk time.

21. The apparatus for retrievably storing status information within the automatic contact distributor system as in claim 18 further comprising a user agent within an automatic contact distributor of the automatic call distributor system for sending the SIP REGISTER message from the automatic distributor to the database.

22. The apparatus for retrievably storing status information within the automatic contact distributor system as in claim 21 wherein the SIP REGISTER message from the automatic contact distributor further comprises one of the group consisting of calls handled per time period, queue length and abandoned calls per time period.

23. The apparatus for retrievably storing status information within the automatic contact distributor system as in claim 18 further comprising a user agent within a supervisor terminal of the automatic call distributor for sending the SIP REGISTER message from a terminal of the supervisor to the database.

24. The apparatus for retrievably storing status information within the automatic contact distributor system as in claim 23 further comprising a display application within the supervisor terminal of the automatic call distributor for subscribing to saved information using a SIP contact header.

25. The apparatus for retrievably storing status information within the automatic contact distributor system as in claim 24 wherein the information subscribed to further comprises an identifier of an agent and one of group consisting of agent sign-on, agent sign-off, calls handled per hour and average talk time.

26. The apparatus for retrievably storing status information within the automatic contact distributor system as in claim 24 wherein the information subscribed to further comprises an identifier of an automatic contact distributor and one of the group consisting of calls handled per time period, queue length and abandoned calls per time period.