Systems and methods for customer contact

• US 8,879,717 B2
• Filed: 11/12/2013
• Issued: 11/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Jay, Jon R., Dashe, Jeremy A., Judkins, Brock A., Kaufman, Donald L., Lin, Yung-Chun, Sharpe, Raymond P. Jr., Sullivan, Joseph D., Weiland, Thomas J., Kidwai, Tauseef
• Primary Examiner(s): AL AUBAIDI, RASHA S
• Application Number:
  US14/078,272
• Publication Number:
  US 20140074529A1
• Time in Patent Office: 357 Days
• Field of Search: 37926501-26502, 379/265.11, 379/265.09, 379/266.01
• US Class Current: 379/265.09
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/016 After-sales
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/38 Displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2011 Service processing based on information specified by a party before or during a call, e.g. information, tone or routing selection
• 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 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing

Abstract

A user of a personal computing device may identify an item of interest displayed in a user interface provided by a network-based service and would like to obtain more information. The user may submit one or more electronic contact requests to a contact service in communication with a contact distribution system in order to obtain more information. The contact distribution system determines accurate, real-time availability of service agents and enables communications between the customer and an agent to be established in accordance with user contact information provided by the user.

Claims

1. A system for coordinating contact between a user and a service agent, the system comprising:

a data store configured to temporarily store service agent information for a first period of time;

a computing system, comprising one or more processors, in communication with the data store, wherein the computing system is configured to;

receive a first request for service agent information from a first user;

generate a response to the first request based on service agent information associated with and received from one or more service agents;

temporarily store at least part of the service agent information in the data store for the first period of time;

receive a second request for the service agent information from a second user during the first period of time; and

obtain the service agent information from the data store when the second request is received within the first period of time.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing system is further configured to generate the service agent information by communicating with the one or more service agents.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the service agent information comprises an agent status, the agent status representing an availability of the service agent to communicate with the first user.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the agent status is based upon an availability signaled to the contact distribution system by one or more service agents using an agent user interface to the contact distribution system.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the service agent information comprises a contact status, the contact status representing a status of a contact between the first user and the service agent.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the computing system is configured to receive a request for service agent information including user contact information, and wherein the contact status is based, at least in part, upon the status of the contact generated between the first user and the service agent using the user contact information.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing system is further configured to receive the service agent information from a contact distribution system, and wherein the contact distribution system generates the service agent information by communicating with the one or more service agents.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the computing system is further configured to obtain identifiers that uniquely identify requests for service agent information and responses to the requests.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the computing system is further configured to generate a contact identifier, the contact identifier uniquely identifying requests for service agent information to the computing system.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the computing system is further configured to store at least one of the identifiers and user information received in response to requests for service agent information.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the contact distribution system enables contact between the first user and the service agent by one or more of a telephone call, electronic mail, an SMS message, instant messaging, an electronic message that is published or posted for viewing by others, and a video message.

12. A computer-implemented method for coordinating contact between a user and a service agent, the method comprising:

under control of one or more configured computer systems;

receiving a first request for service agent information from a first user;

generating a response to the first request based on service agent information associated with one or more service agents, wherein the service agent information is received from a contact distribution system, and wherein the contact distribution system generates the service agent information by communicating with the one or more service agents;

storing at least part of the service agent information in a data store for a first period of time;

receiving a second request for the service agent information from a second user during the first period of time; and

obtaining the service agent information from the data store when the second request is received within the first period of time.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the service agent information comprises an agent status, the agent status representing an availability of the service agent to communicate with the first user.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the agent status is based upon availability signals received from a service agent.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the service agent information comprises a contact status, the contact status representing a status of a contact between the first user and the service agent.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the service agent information is associated with the request for service agent information by associating identifiers that uniquely identify each of the service agent information and the request for service agent information with each other.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, further comprising storing one or more of the service agent information, the identifiers, and the associations between the identifiers.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having encoded thereon instructions to coordinate contact between a user and a service agent, wherein the instructions, when executed by a computing apparatus, cause the computing apparatus to:

receive a first request for service agent information from a first user;

generate a response to the first request based on service agent information associated with one or more service agents, wherein the service agent information is received from a contact distribution system, and wherein the contact distribution system generates the service agent information by communicating with the one or more service agents;

store at least part of the service agent information in a data store for a first period of time;

receive a second request for the service agent information from a second user during the first period of time; and

obtain the service agent information from the data store when the second request is received within the first period of time.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the service agent information comprises an agent status, the agent status representing an availability of the service agent to communicate with the first user.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the agent status is based upon availability signals received from a service agent.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the service agent information comprises a contact status, the contact status representing a status of a contact between the first user and the service agent.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the service agent information comprises a service agent response to a first user query after contact between the first user and the service agent is established.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the service agent information is associated with the request for service agent information by associating identifiers that uniquely identify each of the service agent information and the request for service agent information with each other.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 23, further comprising storing one or more of the service agent information, the identifiers, and the associations between the identifiers.