Method of routing calls from a contact center

• US 8,634,537 B2
• Filed: 08/16/2004
• Issued: 01/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alvaria Cayman
• Original Assignee: Aspect Software Incorporated
• Inventors: Hollatz, Mike, Moser, Mary Ellen, Wesen, Dave, Hodson, Jeff
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang, Fan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Teshale, Akelaw
• Application Number:
  US10/919,166
• Publication Number:
  US 20060034257A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,445 Days
• Field of Search: 370/270, 370352-356, 37926501-2661
• US Class Current: 379/265.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/401 wherein the services involve a main real-time session and one or more additional parallel real-time or time sensitive sessions, e.g. white board sharing or spawning of a subconference
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42093 Notifying the calling party of information on the called or connected party
• 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 3/5158 in combination with automated outdialling systems devices for signalling identity of wanted subscriber H04M1/26
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for routing calls from a contact center. The method includes the steps of providing a SIP presence server within the contact center that only provides presence information in support of outgoing calls from agents of the contact center, receiving a presence message by the SIP presence server identifying a communication port of an client and routing a call from an agent of the contact center to the client based upon the received registration message.

Claims

1. A method of routing calls from a contact center, such method comprising the steps of:

providing a limited access SIP presence server within the contact center with access limited to agents of the contact center that only provides presence information in support of outgoing calls from the agents of the contact center;

the SIP presence server receiving a SIP presence message from a communication server of the control center which registers presence information of a client identifying the client and a portal address of a communication port being used by the client of the contact center for a call, and maintaining privacy of the client presence information; and

retrieving the client presence information from the SIP presence server automatically in response to assigning the call to an agent of the contact center; and

routing the call from an agent of the contact center to the client based upon the received presence information by automatically forwarding the portal address to a proxy server from the SIP presence server and opening a communications channel with the client using the portal address.

2. The method of routing calls from the contact center as in claim 1 further comprising retrieving a portal address of the communication port by using a SIP SUBSCRIBE/NOTIFY message and prewriting the portal address into a destination address field of an activation application of the agent to control information flow for multiple messages from the client through different communications ports.

3. The method of routing calls from the contact center as in claim 2 wherein the client registers a new presence at a new portal with the SIP presence server replacing any prior presence information with the new presence information.

4. The method of routing calls from the contact center as in claim 2 wherein the portal address further comprises a Universal Resource Locator of the client.

5. The method of routing calls from the contact center as in claim 2 wherein the portal address further comprises a telephone number of the client.

6. The method of routing calls from the contact center as in claim 2 wherein the portal address further comprising an e-mail address of the client and wherein the communication server automatically registers the presence information of the client in the SIP presence server using a third party SIP presence message including a unique identifier assigned by the communication server.

7. The method of routing calls from the contact center as in claim 2 further comprising transferring the retrieved portal address to a proxy server of the contact center.

8. The method of routing calls from the contact center as in claim 1 further comprising transferring an identifier of the client to a redirect server of the contact center.

9. The method of routing calls from the contact center as in claim 8 wherein the step of transferring the identifier to a redirect server of the contact center further comprises a host periodically querying the SIP presence server using a SIP Notify message, and matching the presence information with a call record.

10. The method of routing calls from the contact center as in claim 9 wherein the step of the host matching the presence information with a call record further comprises the host transferring a third-party redirect message to the redirect server in response to matching the call record by sending a third party SIP redirect message to the redirect server with current client presence information and the identifier of the client and then routing the call to the redirect server which routes the call based on the current presence information.

11. The method of routing calls from the contact center as in claim 1 wherein the step of receiving the presence message further comprising coupling a server to an incoming call arriving at the contact center, detecting a source address of the outside caller, composing the presence message and forwarding the presence message to the presence server as a third-party presence message.

12. The method of routing calls from the contact center as in claim 11 wherein the server further comprises a multi-mode server, an e-mail server or an instant messaging server.

13. The method of routing calls from the contact center as in claim 11 wherein the step of coupling the server to the incoming call further comprises providing a website within the contact center for registration of a callback option by the client.

14. The method of routing calls from the contact center as in claim 11 wherein the step of coupling the server to the incoming call further comprises providing an e-mail server within the contact center for registration of a callback option by the client.

15. The method of routing calls from the contact center as in claim 11 wherein the step of coupling the server to the incoming call further comprises providing an instant message server within the contact center for registration of a callback option by the client.

16. An apparatus for routing calls from a contact center, such apparatus comprising:

a limited access SIP presence server disposed within the contact center with access limited to agents of the contact center that provides presence information in support of outgoing calls from the agents of the contact center to maintain privacy of the presence information;

means for receiving a third party SIP presence message from a communication server of the contact center which registers presence information of a client by the SIP presence server identifying the client and a portal address of a communication port of the client for a call;

means for automatically retrieving the client presence information from the SIP presence server in response to assigning the call to an agent of the contact center; and

means for routing the call from an agent of the contact center to the client based upon the received presence information by automatically forwarding the portal address to a proxy server from the SIP presence server and opening a communication channel with the client using the portal address.

17. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 16 further comprising a SIP SUBSCRIBE/NOTIFY message sent by the agent to the SIP presence server to retrieve a portal address of the communication port of the client and for prewriting the portal address into a destination address field of an activation application of the agent to control information flow for multiple messages from the client through different communication ports.

18. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 17 wherein the portal address further comprises a Universal Resource Identifier of the client.

19. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 17 wherein the portal address further comprises a Universal Resource Locator of the client.

20. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 17 wherein the portal address further comprises a telephone number of the client.

21. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 17 wherein the portal address further comprising an e-mail address of the client.

22. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 17 further comprising means for transferring the retrieved portal address to a proxy server of the contact center.

23. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 16 further comprising means for transferring an identifier of the client to a redirect server of the contact center.

24. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 23 wherein the means for transferring the identifier to a redirect server of the contact center further comprises a host retrieving the registration message and matching the registration message with a call record.

25. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 24 wherein the means for the host retrieving the registration message and matching the registration message with a call record further comprises the host transferring a third-party redirect message to the redirect server.

26. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 16 wherein the means for receiving the presence message further comprising means for coupling a server to an incoming call arriving at the contact center, means for detecting a source address of the outside caller, means for composing the presence message and means for forwarding the presence message to the presence server as a third-party presence message.

27. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 26 wherein the server further comprises a multi-mode server, an e-mail server or an instant messaging server.

28. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 26 wherein the means for coupling the server to the incoming call further comprises a website disposed within the contact center for registration of a callback option by the client.

29. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 26 wherein the means for coupling the server to the incoming call further comprises an e-mail server disposed within the contact center for registration of a callback option by the client.

30. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 26 wherein the means for coupling the server to the incoming call further comprises an instant message server disposed within the contact center for registration of a callback option by the client.

31. An apparatus for routing calls from a contact center, such apparatus comprising:

a limited access SIP presence server disposed within the contact center with access limited to agents of the contact center that provides presence information in support of outgoing calls from the agents of the contact center;

a call server that sends a SIP presence message to the SIP presence server which registers presence information to a client identifying a source address of a call received from a client and limits access to maintain privacy of the presence information of the client; and

a call processor that automatically retrieves the client presence information from the SIP presence server in response to assigning the call to an agent of the contact center and that routes the call from an agent of the contact center to the client based upon the received SIP presence information by automatically forwarding the portal address to a proxy server from the SIP presence server and opening a communications channel with the client using the portal address.

32. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 31 further comprising a SIP SUBSCRIBE/NOTIFY message sent by the agent to the SIP presence server to retrieve a portal address of the communication port of the client and prewriting the portal address into a destination address field of an activation application of the agent to control information flow for multiple messages from the client through different communications ports.

33. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 32 wherein the portal address further comprises a Universal Resource Identifier of the client.

34. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 32 wherein the portal address further comprises a Universal Resource Locator of the client.

35. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 32 wherein the portal address further comprises a telephone number of the client.

36. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 32 wherein the portal address further comprising an e-mail address of the client.

37. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 32 further comprising a proxy server that connects the agent to the portal address.

38. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 32 further comprising a redirect server that connects the agent to the outside server.

39. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 38 further comprising a host that retrieves the registration message from the SIP presence server and matches the registration message with a call record.

40. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 39 wherein the host further comprises a redirect server that receives a third-party redirect message from the host and sets up a communication connection between the agent and the client.

41. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 31 wherein the means for receiving the presence message further comprising a server coupled to an incoming call arriving at the contact center that detects a source address of the outside caller, composes the presence message and forwards the presence message to the presence server as a third-party presence message.

42. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 41 wherein the server further comprises a multi-mode server, an e-mail server or an instant messaging server.

43. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 41 wherein the call server coupled to the incoming call further comprises a website disposed within the contact center for registration of a callback option by the client.

44. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 41 wherein the call server coupled to the incoming call further comprises an e-mail server disposed within the contact center for registration of a callback option by the client.

45. The apparatus for routing calls from the contact center as in claim 41 wherein the call server coupled to the incoming call further comprises an instant message server disposed within the contact center for registration of a callback option by the client.