E-mail response system

• US 7,756,878 B2
• Filed: 03/31/2005
• Issued: 07/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Meyer, Robert, Findley, David Norman, Droney, Benjamin E., Ma, Ying, Cherukuri, Srinivas, Hicks, Amy, Kannan, Karthik
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo; Tim T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): MENG, JAU SHYA
• Application Number:
  US11/096,204
• Publication Number:
  US 20060224621A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,930 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/748
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

A system and method for processing e-mail is provided wherein an e-mail is received from an originator or a customer, a routing destination is determined and responses to the e-mail are retrieved from a library based on the selected routing destination. Customer data is then accessed and the responses are filtered based on customer information that is extrinsic to the e-mail. An agent can select a response from the list of filtered responses and the selected response can be sent to the originator.

Claims

1. A method of processing e-mail, the method comprising:

receiving, at an e-mail processing system including a processor and a memory, an e-mail from an originator via a communications network, wherein the e-mail includes content related to a particular service of a plurality of services;

automatically retrieving a set of potential responses to the e-mail from the memory of the e-mail processing system, wherein the set of potential responses is determined based on the particular service;

automatically retrieving account information related to the originator of the e-mail from the memory of the e-mail processing system;

automatically filtering the set of potential responses at the e-mail processing system to provide a filtered and ordered set of responses, wherein the set of potential responses is filtered at least in part based on the account information related to the originator of the e-mail that is retrieved from the memory of the e-mail processing system; and

automatically sending a first response from the e-mail processing system to the originator of the e-mail when the first response has a confidence level that exceeds a threshold confidence level to cause an agent not to receive the filtered and ordered set of responses, and when none of the responses has a confidence level that exceeds the threshold confidence level, assigning the e-mail and the filtered and ordered set of responses to the agent.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the agent is determined based on the particular service.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the particular service includes a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) service.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a list of the filtered and ordered set of responses to the agent in order of relevancy.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the list of the filtered and ordered set of responses is organized based on a confidence level.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising initiating presentation of at least a portion of the filtered and ordered set of responses within a graphical user interface configured to allow the agent to select a potential response.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the e-mail includes at least one of an attached fax, an attached audio file, and an attached voice message that is routed to the agent along with the e-mail.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the account information related to the originator of the e-mail includes a physical address associated with the originator of the e-mail, and wherein the set of potential responses is filtered based on whether the particular service is available at the physical address.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the particular service includes a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) service.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the account information related to the originator of the e-mail includes one or more purchased services of the plurality of services, and wherein the set of potential responses is filtered based on whether the particular service is one of the one or more purchased services.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the account information related to the originator of the e-mail includes payment history information, and wherein the set of potential responses is filtered at least in part based on the payment history information.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising initiating presentation of at least a portion of the filtered and ordered set of responses within a graphical user interface that is configured to allow the agent to review the e-mail and to forward the e-mail to another agent.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the e-mail includes an attached form, and wherein the e-mail processing system automatically determines that the e-mail includes content related to the particular service based on an entry in the attached form.

14. A method of responding to an e-mail, the method comprising:

receiving, at an e-mail processing system including a processor and a memory, an e-mail from a user via a communications network, wherein the e-mail includes content related to a particular service of a plurality of services;

automatically determining a routing destination for the e-mail based on the particular service included in the content of the e-mail;

automatically retrieving possible responses to the e-mail based on the routing destination;

automatically retrieving account information related to the originator of the e-mail from the memory of the e-mail processing system;

automatically determining whether the originator of the e-mail subscribes to the particular service based on the account information;

automatically filtering the possible responses at the e-mail processing system to produce a filtered list of responses, wherein the possible responses are filtered at least in part based on whether the originator of the e-mail subscribes to the particular service;

assigning a relevancy score to each possible response of the filtered list of responses;

automatically sending a response from the filtered list of responses from the e-mail processing system to the originator of the e-mail when the relevancy score associated with the response exceeds a threshold relevancy level; and

when none of the responses of the filtered list of responses exceeds the threshold relevancy level, sorting the filtered list of responses based on the assigned relevancy scores to produce a relevancy ordered list of responses and initiating display of the relevancy ordered list of responses at an agent terminal.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the particular service includes a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) service.