Call center input/output agent utilization arbitration system

• US 9,137,370 B2
• Filed: 05/09/2012
• Issued: 09/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: XANT Inc.
• Original Assignee: Insidesales.com
• Inventors: Purdy, Thomas, Telschow, Daniel E., Elkington, David R
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoque, Nafiz E
• Application Number:
  US13/468,030
• Publication Number:
  US 20130121484A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,224 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265.02, 379/265.04, 379/265.05
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5175 Call or contact centers supervision arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/523 with call distribution or queueing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5232 Call distribution algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0024 Services and arrangements where telephone services are combined with data services arrangements which combine a telephonic equipment and a computer H04M7/0012

Abstract

Disclosed herein are systems and methods that provide for maintenance of the status of availability of call-center agents through the use of local arbitration between processes and applications that may interact with more than one resource of telephone contacts between differing activities or work for these call-center agents. Detailed information on various example embodiments of the inventions are provided in the Detailed Description below, and the inventions are defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A call processing system allowing for the assignment of agents to a plurality of automated call managers whereby each assigned agent can practice predefined dialog with distant parties for more than one activity database, each activity database managed in conjunction with one of the plurality of automated call managers and including a unique set of informational types related to an activity for which the automated call manager is being utilized for, said system comprising:

a plurality of telephonic sets in different agent locations, each telephonic set being operable for a two-way audio conversation between a call-center agent and a distant party in a telephone network, each telephonic set being further operable to receive forwarded calls from an automated call manager;

a data network providing for the communication of data between network devices;

one or more database servers providing over said data network contact databases containing the identities of individual persons and their addresses, each of said contact databases optionally including other items of information relating to these persons such as a name, a history, a reputation, and other information related to the activity to which said telephonic sets are being utilized for;

a plurality of automated call managers available as network devices over said data network, each automated call manager being operable to receive incoming communications from distant parties and forward these incoming communications to call service agents, each automated call manager including ACM processing facilities for executing software, each automated call manager further including facilities to contain operating system files and applications, each automated call manager further including an ACM storage device group containing at least one non-transitory storage device having stored thereupon instructions executable by said ACM processing facilities of one of said automated call managers to achieve the functions of;

(i) establishing and maintaining a plurality of links of communication with agents each operating an agent terminal over said data network,

(ii) pairing a communications link with one of said agent terminals with one of said plurality of telephonic sets,

(iii) receiving notifications of the availability and unavailability of agents operating agent terminals,

(iv) tracking the state of availability of agents upon the basis of received notifications,

(v) managing incoming telephone communications,

(vi) selecting a telephonic set to forward an incoming telephone communication, said selection being made on the basis of the state of the availability and unavailability of agents and on pairings made between agent terminals and telephonic sets,

(vii) forwarding incoming telephone communications to selected telephonic sets,

(viii) accessing said contact databases to produce information of an identity, said accessing utilizing an address produced by a telephone network of an incoming caller,

(ix) communicating the produced identity of an incoming caller to the agent terminal paired with the selected telephonic set to which an incoming call is being forwarded, and

(x) communicating with an agent terminal in a predefined ACM-specific activity, this communication including the transfer of items of information for an activity database managed in conjunction with one of said automated call managers;

optionally, a server providing for on-line delivery of information, said server including a server storage device group containing at least one non-transitory storage device of information; and

a plurality of agent terminals available as network devices over said data network, each agent terminal being located in proximity to one of the plurality of telephonic sets, each agent terminal including agent processing facilities for executing software, each agent terminal further including a display and an input device, each agent terminal further including an agent storage device group containing at least one non-transitory storage device operable to contain operating system files and applications, the set of storage device groups within said call processing system having stored thereupon instructions executable by said processing facilities of one of said agent terminals to achieve the functions of;

(xi) recognizing the identity of an agent,

(xii) operating an arbitrator for a recognized agent,

(xiii) establishing a relationship over said data network between a recognized agent and an automated call manager for reception of incoming communications from distant parties to one of said telephone sets positioned for use by the recognized agent located at said agent terminal,

(xiv) maintaining the state of a recognized agent as to his availability for assignment of an incoming telephone call,

(xv) receiving assignments of incoming telephone calls for a recognized agent from automated call managers for which a relationship has been established,

(xvi) where an assignment of an incoming telephone call is received, updating the state of the recognized agent for which the assignment was received,

(xvii) through the arbitrator, notifying processes operating on said data network having established relationships between said automated call managers and a recognized agent of his unavailability, where an assignment of an incoming telephone call was received for that agent,

(xviii) transferring items of activity-specific information for activity caused by an automated call manager making an assignment,

(xix) where an assignment of an incoming telephone call is completed, updating the state of the recognized agent for which the assignment was received, and

(xx) through the arbitrator, notifying processes operating on said data network having established relationships between said automated call managers and a recognized agent of his availability, where an assignment of an incoming telephone call was completed for that agent.

2. A call processing system according to claim 1, wherein said storage device groups within said call processing system have stored thereupon instructions executable by said processing facilities of one of said agent terminals to achieve the functions of:

(xxi) through the arbitrator, notifying automated call managers for which a relationship has been established with a recognized agent of his availability and unavailability as assignments are received and completed.

3. A call processing system according to claim 1, wherein said storage device groups within said call processing system have stored thereupon instructions executable by said processing facilities of one of said agent terminals to achieve the functions of:

(xxi) displaying the identity of assigned incoming callers as received from an automated call manager.

4. A call processing system according to claim 1, wherein said storage device groups within said call processing system have stored thereupon instructions executable by said processing facilities of one of said agent terminals to achieve the functions of:

(xxi) upon startup of the arbitrator, querying for the presence of other running arbitrators for a recognized agent, and stopping the arbitrator being started if such querying shows an arbitrator already running for that recognized agent.

5. A call processing system according to claim 1, wherein said storage device groups within said call processing system have stored thereupon instructions executable by said processing facilities of one of said agent terminals to achieve the functions of:

(xxi) receiving from a recognized agent the specification of one of said telephonic devices, and

(xxii) transmittal of a received selection of a telephonic device to an automated call manager for which a relationship has been or is being established with a recognized agent.

6. A call processing system according to claim 1, wherein each automated call manager further includes a database of dialog, and wherein said ACM storage device group of said automated call managers further have stored thereupon instructions executable by said ACM processing facilities of one of said automated call managers to achieve the function of delivering to an agent computer upon assignment of an incoming call the dialog contained within said database.

7. A call processing system according to claim 1, wherein one of said automated call managers is further operable to receive a request from an agent terminal for an outbound call.

8. A call processing system according to claim 1, wherein said instructions executable by said processing facilities of one of said agent terminals are executable to achieve the function of notifying processes running on the same agent terminal as the agent terminal executing said instructions of a recognized agent'"'"'s availability and unavailability.

9. A call processing system according to claim 1, wherein said instructions executable by said processing facilities of one of said agent terminals are executable to achieve the two functions of notifying processes of a recognized agent'"'"'s availability and unavailability and utilizing said data network to notify processes running on a different network device than the agent terminal executing said instructions.

10. A call processing system according to claim 1, wherein said storage device groups within said call processing system have stored thereupon interpreter instructions executable by said processing facilities of one of said agent terminals to operate an interpreter, and wherein said storage device groups within said call processing system have stored thereupon arbitrator instructions executable through said interpreter instructions and configured to perform a check for a prior-running arbitrator, and further whereby said arbitrator instructions are configured to resolve conflicts between itself and other arbitrators that may be running.

11. A call processing system according to claim 10, wherein said interpreter instructions are configured for execution in conjunction with an Internet browser, and wherein said arbitrator instructions are delivered to said agent terminal over said data network.