Call queuing for location-aware mobile devices
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- receiving one or more calls in a call queue;
determining, by one or more computers, an availability status of a plurality of queue agents associated with the call queue, including;
determining respective geographic locations of mobile devices associated with one or more of the queue agents;
determining, for each of the one or more queue agents, that a respective mobile device associated with the queue agent is in a respective predetermined location for the queue agent; and
setting the availability statuses of the one or more queue agents to indicate that the one or more queue agents are available to take calls based on the mobile devices being in the respective predetermined locations; and
selecting, by the one or more computers, an available queue agent from the one or more queue agents to answer a call in the call queue based on the availability statuses and the geographic location of the mobile devices associated with the available queue agents relative to a location of a caller from which the call originates, including;
determining a geographic location of the caller from which the call originates;
identifying a mobile device of a queue agent having a geographic location that is within a predetermined proximity radius of the geographic location of the caller; and
selecting a queue agent associated with the identified mobile device as the available queue agent to answer the call.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A mobile device can be assigned to an extension configured as a Queue Agent (“QA”) in a call-queuing enabled virtual private branch exchange (vPBX). This and other mobile or fixed devices can be interconnected to form a virtual call center. Each extension can be assigned various rules, which specify how the incoming calls are answered at the extension and how calls in the call queue are selected for answering by the QA. As part of the rules, the vPBX system forwards calls from a call queue to the QA based on QA'"'"'s availability status. If a location-aware mobile device is associated with the QA, the vPBX system can determine the QA'"'"'s availability status based on a geographic location of the mobile device. A most geographically proximate agent can be selected for answering the call.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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receiving one or more calls in a call queue; determining, by one or more computers, an availability status of a plurality of queue agents associated with the call queue, including; determining respective geographic locations of mobile devices associated with one or more of the queue agents; determining, for each of the one or more queue agents, that a respective mobile device associated with the queue agent is in a respective predetermined location for the queue agent; and setting the availability statuses of the one or more queue agents to indicate that the one or more queue agents are available to take calls based on the mobile devices being in the respective predetermined locations; and selecting, by the one or more computers, an available queue agent from the one or more queue agents to answer a call in the call queue based on the availability statuses and the geographic location of the mobile devices associated with the available queue agents relative to a location of a caller from which the call originates, including; determining a geographic location of the caller from which the call originates; identifying a mobile device of a queue agent having a geographic location that is within a predetermined proximity radius of the geographic location of the caller; and selecting a queue agent associated with the identified mobile device as the available queue agent to answer the call. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method comprising:
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designating a plurality of call extensions as queue agent extensions; specifying, by one or more computers, a respective agent profile for each queue agent extension, the agent profile for each of the extensions identifying one or more mobile devices capable of answering a call to the queue agent extension and, one or more rules for determining availability statuses for the queue agent extension; and determining a respective availability status for each of the plurality of queue agent extensions, comprising determining, for each of one or more of the queue agent extensions, respective geographic locations of the mobile devices identified by the agent profile for the queue agent extension; determining, for each of the one or more queue agent extensions, that a respective mobile device identified by the agent profile for the queue agent extension is in a respective predetermined location identified in a rule for determining the availability status of the queue agent extension; and setting the availability statuses of the one or more queue agent extensions to indicate that the one or more queue agent extensions are available to take calls based on the mobile devices being in the respective predetermined locations. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 22)
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14. A device comprising:
a queue manager configured to; receive one or more calls from one or more callers; prioritize the one or more calls in a call queue; identify one or more available call agents from a list of call agents where availability is determined based at least on a geographic location associated with a mobile device of each call agent, and where determining availability includes; determining, for each of one or more of the call agents, that the mobile device of the call agent is in a respective predetermined location for the call agent; and setting the availability statuses of the one or more queue agents to indicate that the one or more call agents are available to take calls based on the mobile devices being in the respective predetermined locations; and dispatch a prioritized call in the call queue to a suitable call agent selected from the one or more identified available call agents, where suitability is based at least in part on proximity between a geographic location of a caller and the geographic location of the one or more identified available call agents. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
Specification