Distributed hardware/software system for managing agent status in a communication center

• US 8,031,860 B2
• Filed: 02/22/2001
• Issued: 10/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Incorporated (Genesys Cloud Services Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Incorporated (Genesys Cloud Services Incorporated)
• Inventors: Coussement, Stefaan Valere Albert
• Primary Examiner(s): Aubaidi; Rasha Al
• Application Number:
  US09/791,282
• Publication Number:
  US 20020114441A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,876 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265.06, 379/265.09, 379/265.04, 379/266
• US Class Current: 379/265.09
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/6018 Subscriber or terminal logon/logoff
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42102 Making use of the called party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42365 Presence services providing information on the willingness to communicate or the ability to communicate in terms of media capability or network connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5175 Call or contact centers supervision arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5183 Call or contact centers with computer-telephony arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/523 with call distribution or queueing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5237 Interconnection arrangements between ACD systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/00 Arrangements for interconnection between switching centres
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0069 comprising a residential gateway, e.g. those which provide an adapter for POTS or ISDN terminals

Abstract

An agent presence application for monitoring target agent resources and rendering agent states to subscribing applications is provided. The presence application has at least one first portion for collecting data regarding states of activity of the target agent resources, and at least one second portion for integrating the data and rendering the agent states to the subscribing applications.

Claims

1. An agent presence application distributed on a plurality of computer platforms at agent workstations for monitoring and collecting data from target agent resources and rendering the data to subscribing applications, comprising:

a first portion executing at the target agent resources for automatically collecting real-time data regarding conditions of attributes of communication capabilities and availability of the target agent resources; and

a second portion for integrating the collected data and rendering the data to the subscribing applications;

wherein the target agent resources include at least communication devices at the agent workstations and capabilities include at least media protocol capabilities including at least one or more of e-mail, Internet Protocol (IP) phone, chat communication applications, file sharing programs, and instant messenger applications.

2. The agent presence application of claim 1 wherein multiple copies or versions of the first portion execute on the platforms monitoring individual ones of the one or more communication devices, and provide the data to at least one agent proxy server executing a copy of the second portion, the at least one agent proxy server dedicated to integrating the data for the one or more communication devices.

3. The agent presence application of claim 2 wherein one or more of the platforms upon which the first portions execute are computers in the agent stations.

4. The agent presence application of claim 2 wherein one or more of the platforms upon which the first portions execute comprise individual ones of the one or more communication devices.

5. The agent presence application of claim 2 wherein one or more of the platforms upon which the first portions execute comprise individual service proxy platforms also enabling services for one of the communication devices.

6. The agent presence application of claim 5 wherein the service proxy platform is a Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) proxy enabling a VoIP telephone.

7. The agent presence application of claim 5 wherein the service proxy platform is a call-control gateway platform.

8. The agent proxy application of claim 2 wherein the first portions provide data to more than one agent proxy server to provide redundancy.

9. The agent proxy application of claim 2 wherein the platforms, agent stations and subscribing applications are all a part of a single communication center.

10. The agent proxy application of claim 2 wherein the platforms, agent stations and subscribing applications are distributed over a plurality of communication centers.

11. The agent proxy application of claim 2 wherein more than one first portion is dedicated each to distinct ones of the communication devices associated with a single agent station, and the data from the more than one first portion is aggregated for the single agent station at the agent proxy server associated with the single agent station.

12. The agent proxy application of claim 2 comprising multiple sets of agent stations having communication devices monitored by the copies or versions of the first portion and multiple agent proxy servers executing copies of the second portion, wherein agent proxy servers are associated in a hierarchical fashion, such that higher-level agent proxy servers aggregate data from multiple lower-level agent proxy servers with which each higher-level server is associated, the aggregated data at the higher level servers comprising data from all of the agent stations associated with each of the lower-level servers.

13. The agent proxy application of claim 12 wherein the platforms, agent stations and subscribing applications are all a part of a single communication center.

14. The agent proxy application of claim 12 wherein the platforms, agent stations and subscribing applications are distributed over a plurality of communication centers.

15. The agent proxy application of claim 1 wherein the subscribing applications include communication-routing applications.

16. An agent proxy server system operable in at least one communication center, the system comprising:

agent resources including at least communication devices enabling agents to process communication events;

one or more agent proxy servers;

one or more subscribing applications subscribing to one or more of the agent proxy servers;

a communication network connecting the agent resources, the subscribing applications and the one or more agent proxy servers; and

a distributed agent presence application having a first portion executing on a computer platform at an agent station for monitoring the agent resources and collecting data regarding conditions of attributes of communication capabilities and availability of the agent resources and rendering the data to the subscribing applications, wherein capabilities include at least media protocol capabilities including at least one or more of e-mail, Internet Protocol (IP) phone, chat communication applications, file sharing programs, and instant messenger applications, and a second portion of the distributed agent presence application executes at the one or more proxy servers for integrating the collected data and rendering the data to the subscribing applications.

17. The agent proxy system of claim 16 wherein multiple copies or versions of the first portion execute on platforms monitoring individual ones of the one or more communication devices, and provide the data to at least one agent proxy server executing a copy of the second portion, the at least one agent proxy server dedicated to integrating the data for the one or more communication devices.

18. The agent proxy system of claim 17 wherein one or more of the platforms upon which the first portions execute are computers in the agent stations.

19. The agent proxy system of claim 17 wherein one or more of the platforms upon which the first portions execute comprise individual ones of the one or more communication devices.

20. The agent proxy system of claim 17 wherein one or more of the platforms upon which the first portions execute comprise individual service proxy platforms also enabling services for one of the communication devices.

21. The agent proxy system of claim 20 wherein the service proxy platform is a call-control gateway platform.

22. The agent proxy system of claim 20 wherein the service proxy platform is a Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) proxy enabling a VoIP telephone.

23. The agent proxy system of claim 17 wherein the first portions provide data to more than one agent proxy server to provide redundancy.

24. The agent proxy system of claim 17 wherein the platforms, agent stations and subscribing applications are all a part of a single communication center.

25. The agent proxy system of claim 17 wherein the platforms, agent stations and subscribing applications are distributed over a plurality of communication centers.

26. The agent proxy system of claim 17 wherein more than one first portion is dedicated each to distinct ones of the communication devices associated with a single agent station, and the data from the more than one first portion is aggregated for the single agent station at the agent proxy server associated with the single agent station.

27. The agent proxy system of claim 17 comprising multiple sets of agent stations having communication devices monitored by the copies or versions of the first portion and multiple agent proxy servers executing copies of the second portion, wherein agent proxy servers are associated in a hierarchical fashion, such that higher-level agent proxy servers aggregate data from multiple lower-level agent proxy servers with which each higher-level server is associated, the aggregated data at the higher level servers comprising data from all of the agent stations associated with each of the lower-level servers.

28. The agent proxy system of claim 27 wherein the platforms, agent stations and subscribing applications are all a part of a single communication center.

29. The agent proxy system of claim 27 wherein the platforms, agent stations and subscribing applications are distributed over a plurality of communication centers.

30. The agent proxy system of claim 16 wherein the subscribing applications include communication-routing applications.

31. In a communication center system, a method for providing agent status to subscribing applications, comprising the steps of:

(a) collecting real-time data regarding communication activity and capabilities of communication devices used the agents at agent stations, including at least media protocol capabilities including at least one or more of e-mail, Internet Protocol (IP) phone, chat communication applications, file sharing programs, and instant messenger applications, by a first portion of a distributed agent presence application executing on a first computer platform at the agent stations;

(b) integrating the data from step (a) and rendering the data to the subscribing applications by a second portion of the agent presence application executing on a second computer platform; and

(c) determining routing for an incoming communication to the communication center using at least a portion of the integrated data in step (b).

32. The method of claim 31 wherein multiple copies or versions of the first portion execute on the computer platforms monitoring individual ones of the one or more communication devices, and provide the data to at least one agent proxy server executing a copy of the second portion, the at least one agent proxy server dedicated to integrating the data for the one or more communication devices.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein one or more of the platforms upon which the first portions execute are computers in the agent stations.

34. The method of claim 32 wherein one or more of the platforms upon which the first portions execute comprise individual ones of the one or more communication devices.

35. The method of claim 32 wherein one or more of the platforms upon which the first portions execute comprise individual service proxy platforms also enabling services for one of the communication devices.

36. The method of claim 35 wherein the service proxy platform is a Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) proxy enabling a VoIP telephone.

37. The method of claim 35 wherein the service proxy platform is a call-control gateway platform.

38. The method of claim 32 wherein the first portions provide data to more than one agent proxy server to provide redundancy.

39. The method of claim 32 wherein the platforms, agent stations and subscribing applications are all a part of a single communication center.

40. The method of claim 32 wherein the platforms, agent stations and subscribing applications are distributed over a plurality of communication centers.

41. The method of claim 32 wherein more than one first portion is dedicated each to distinct ones of the communication devices associated with a single agent station, and the data from the more than one first portion is aggregated for the single agent station at the agent proxy server associated with the single agent station.

42. The method of claim 32 comprising multiple sets of agent stations having communication devices monitored by the copies or versions of the first portion and multiple agent proxy servers executing copies of the second portion, wherein agent proxy servers are associated in a hierarchical fashion, such that higher-level agent proxy servers aggregate data from multiple lower-level agent proxy servers with which each higher-level server is associated, the aggregated data at the higher level servers comprising data from all of the agent stations associated with each of the lower-level servers.

43. The method of claim 42 wherein the platforms, agent stations and subscribing applications are all a part of a single communication center.

44. The method of claim 42 wherein the platforms, agent stations and subscribing applications are distributed over a plurality of communication centers.

45. The method of claim 31 wherein the subscribing applications include communication-routing applications.