Dynamic load balancing between multiple locations with different telephony system

• US 8,102,992 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2007
• Issued: 01/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Paden, Jonathan, Sams, Bobby, Harris, Jon
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Hemant
• Application Number:
  US11/705,482
• Publication Number:
  US 20070165830A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,807 Days
• Field of Search: 370351-356, 370259-271, 370/237, 37922114-225, 379/229, 37926501-2661, 379 8801- 8805, 379219-22112, 709201-207, 709223-232, 709238-244, 7042701-278
• US Class Current: 379/265.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5234 Uniform load distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5237 Interconnection arrangements between ACD systems

Abstract

A system and method for dynamic load balancing between telephony systems are provided. The system includes an input to receive a call from a primary interactive voice response (IVR) system. The system also includes an IVR unit responsive to the call to receive input from a caller. The system also includes logic to select a telephony system from among a plurality of telephony systems based on the input from the caller and based on agent availability data of the plurality of telephony systems. The system further includes at least one output to send the received call for allocation to a call center site of the selected telephony system based on a routing protocol associated with the selected telephony system.

Claims

1. A load-balancing interactive voice response system comprising:

an input configured to receive a call from a primary interactive voice response system, wherein the primary interactive voice response system receives a plurality of calls and is configured to route a percentage of the plurality of calls to the load-balancing interactive voice response system;

logic to select a telephony system from among a plurality of telephony systems based on agent availability data of the plurality of telephony systems; and

at least one output to route the received call to a routing protocol component associated with a call center site of the selected telephony system based on a routing protocol associated with the selected telephony system.

2. The load-balancing interactive voice response system of claim 1, wherein the percentage of calls received from the primary interactive voice response is adjustable.

3. The load-balancing interactive voice response system of claim 1, wherein the logic selects the telephony system with a highest overall agent availability from among the plurality of telephony systems.

4. The load-balancing interactive voice response system of claim 1, wherein the logic plays a message to a caller while selecting the telephony system.

5. The load-balancing interactive voice response system of claim 1, wherein the at least one output performs a dual tone multiple frequency release transfer to route the received call for allocation.

6. The load-balancing interactive voice response system of claim 1, further comprising at least one traffic management interface to receive agent availability data from at least one of the plurality of telephony systems.

7. The load-balancing interactive voice response system of claim 6, wherein the at least one traffic management interface comprises a web-interface to access the agent availability data via a web-accessible application program interface of the at least one of the plurality of telephony systems.

8. The load-balancing interactive voice response system of claim 1, further comprising at least one traffic management interface to receive call distribution statistics from at least one of the plurality of telephony systems, wherein the logic selects the telephony system based at least partially on the call distribution statistics.

9. The load-balancing interactive voice response system of claim 1, wherein an adjustable percentage of calls received by the primary interactive voice response system are routed to the input, and wherein the logic recommends the adjustable percentage based on a sample of calls received.

10. The load-balancing interactive voice response system of claim 1, wherein the input comprises a voice path input.

11. The load-balancing interactive voice response system of claim 1, further comprising a user interface to receive user-specified routing criteria, wherein the logic selects the telephony system based at least partially on the user-specified routing criteria.

12. A method comprising:

receiving a call from a primary interactive voice response system at a load-balancing interactive voice response system, wherein the primary interactive voice response system receives a plurality of calls and is configured to route a first percentage of the plurality of calls to routing logic and to route a second percentage of the plurality of calls to the load-balancing interactive voice response system;

selecting a telephony system from among a plurality of telephony systems based on agent availability data associated with call center sites of the plurality telephony systems; and

routing the call to a routing protocol component of the routing logic, wherein the routing protocol component routes the call to a call center of the selected telephony system.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein selecting the telephony system comprises determining which of the plurality of telephony systems has a highest overall agent availability, and selecting the telephony system having the highest overall agent availability.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein routing the call to the routing protocol component comprises performing a dual tone multiple frequency (DTMF) release transfer using a routing configuration of the selected telephony system.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein receiving the call from the primary interactive voice response comprises receiving a voice call without transfer of other data.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving user-specified routing criteria, wherein the telephony system is selected based at least partially on the user-specified routing criteria.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising determining a recommended percentage of calls received by the primary interactive voice response system to be sent to the load-balancing interactive voice response system.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving the agent availability data from at least one call center site via a web-accessible application program interface.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising generating an alert signal based on a trend or a surge indicated by the agent availability data.

20. A method comprising:

receiving, at routing logic, a call directed to a primary interactive voice response system, wherein the primary interactive voice response system is configured to route a first percentage of received calls to the routing logic and to route a second percentage of the received calls to a load-balancing interactive voice response system, wherein the first percentage of calls received at the routing logic is based at least partially on routing criteria;

receiving agent availability data associated with a plurality of telephony systems; and

dynamically routing the call based at least partially on the agent availability data.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein dynamically routing the call comprises sending the call to a routing protocol component of the routing logic that is associated with at least one telephony system, wherein the routing protocol component allocates the call to a call center site of the at least one telephony system.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising setting the routing criteria based on the agent availability data.