Routing of web-based contacts
First Claim
1. A method of routing contacts in a network having a plurality of discrete contact centres, the method comprising the steps of:
- a) providing a uniform resource indicator (URI), accessible by a plurality of users of the contact centre network, said URI being, in advance of its activation by a user, a network address of a resource of the network of contact centres, such that when said URI is activated by a user a contact is forwarded to said resource;
b) maintaining a record of said contact centre network address of said resource to which said contact should be forwarded;
c) updating said record in accordance with information received from said contact centres; and
d) updating said URI over time to dynamically point to a particular resource of one of the contact centres based on the current state of said record such that individual contacts are directed to a particular contact centre as they arrive in said contact centre network.
20 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method of providing access to a network of contact centers comprises providing contact links on one or more web pages which when activated initiate contacts to the contact centers. The network addresses associated with the links and to which the contacts are automatically directed are dynamically specified in the web pages and are obtained from a database. The database is dynamically updated in response to statistical updates received periodically or continually from the individual contact centers. In this way the contacts can be directed in advance to the most appropriate destination without having to evaluate each contact as it enters the contact center network, thereby reducing processing time and delays. Alternatively one or more remote session initiation protocol (SIP) proxy servers can be updated periodically with network addresses from the database, whereby SIP requests are directed by the proxy server to the contact center or agent most suitable to handle the contact, as determined in advance of the request from the statistical information.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A method of routing contacts in a network having a plurality of discrete contact centres, the method comprising the steps of:
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a) providing a uniform resource indicator (URI), accessible by a plurality of users of the contact centre network, said URI being, in advance of its activation by a user, a network address of a resource of the network of contact centres, such that when said URI is activated by a user a contact is forwarded to said resource; b) maintaining a record of said contact centre network address of said resource to which said contact should be forwarded; c) updating said record in accordance with information received from said contact centres; and d) updating said URI over time to dynamically point to a particular resource of one of the contact centres based on the current state of said record such that individual contacts are directed to a particular contact centre as they arrive in said contact centre network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A session initiation protocol (SIP) proxy server providing access to a network of a plurality of discrete contact centres via a data network, said proxy server including a cache for storing one or more Uniform Resource Indicators (URIs) each being, in advance of its activation, a network address of a contact centre resource, and a cache management unit for dynamically updating said cache in accordance with current information made available to the proxy server by a management server of the contact centre network, whereby contact requests received by the proxy server are resolved with reference to said cache for automatic direction to a dynamically updated network address determined in advance by said management server such that individual contacts are directed to a particular contact centre as they arrive in said contact centre network.
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23. A contact centre network comprising a plurality of discrete contact centres and a web server communicating with said contact centres via a data network accessible by a plurality of users of said contact centres, wherein:
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each contact centre comprises a) a plurality of agent stations adapted to receive and respond to contacts received via the data network; b) a contact centre management unit for managing the distribution of contacts to said agent stations; and c) a statistics processing unit for determining performance parameters of the contact centre as a whole and/or individual agent stations within the centre and for forwarding information derived from said parameters to said web server; and said web server comprises; a) a page server unit for receiving web page requests from users of the contact centres and serving web pages to said users in response to said requests; b) a web page store for storing said web pages as dynamically evaluated code; c) a processing unit for dynamically evaluating said code when a web page request is received by the page server unit and returning to the page server unit the results of said evaluation, said evaluation including the determination of at least one network address of a contact centre resource associated with a link on said page, whereby said link is, in advance of its activation by a user, said at least one a network address of a contact centre resource; d) a memory accessible by said processing unit for storing said at least one network address of a contact centre resource; and e) a memory management unit for maintaining and updating the at least one network address of a contact centre resource in said memory in accordance with the information received from the statistics processing units of said contact centres such that individual contacts are directed to a particular contact centre as they arrive in said contact centre network.
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24. A computer program product comprising instructions which when executed in a web server are effective to:
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a) provide a web-based link accessible by a plurality of users of the contact centre network, said link being, in advance of its activation by a user, a network address of a resource of the network of contact centres, such that when said link is activated by a user a contact is forwarded to said resource; b) maintain a record of a contact centre network address of said resource to which said contact should be forwarded; c) update said record in accordance with information received from said contact centres;
updating said URI over time to dynamically point to a particular resource of one of the contact centres based on the current state of said record such that individual contacts are directed to a particular contact centre as they arrive in said contact centre network.
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Specification