System and method for managing traffic bursts on a per tenant basis

• US 9,143,616 B2
• Filed: 11/02/2012
• Issued: 09/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Incorporated (Genesys Cloud Services Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Incorporated (Genesys Cloud Services Incorporated)
• Inventors: Kovalenko, Galina, Sayko, Slava, Zhakov, Slava
• Primary Examiner(s): HOANG, HIEU T
• Application Number:
  US13/668,200
• Publication Number:
  US 20140071980A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,054 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265.02, 379/265.01, 370/270, 709/224
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0882 Utilisation of link capacity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/406 Rerouting calls between call centers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/407 Call center operated for multiple customers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2227 Quality of service monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5183 Call or contact centers with computer-telephony arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/523 with call distribution or queueing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5233 Operator skill based call distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5235 Dependent on call type or called number [DNIS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5237 Interconnection arrangements between ACD systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5238 with waiting time or load prediction arrangements

Abstract

A system that supports multiple contact centers includes a communications network that is coupled between a private network (e.g. MPLS network) and a remote computing environment (e.g. cloud environment). A server system in the remote computing environment monitors health of different network segments (e.g. bandwidth of the connection between the communications network and the remote computing environment, bandwidth of a link used by a tenant to access the private network, etc.). When it is determined that quality of service for voice conversations for one or more contact centers is at risk due to a health status parameter of a network segment reaching a threshold, an appropriate system reaction is triggered. The system reaction may be to offload future calls to a peer remote computing environment to service future calls. The system reaction may also be to cancel outbound campaigns, provide pre-determined “sorry” messages, and the like.

Claims

1. A system for managing media traffic associated with a plurality of customer contact centers, the system comprising:

an edge device deployed in a communications network for facilitating calls between agents and customers of the plurality of contact centers, wherein the agents and customers access the communications network respectively over agent and customer private networks, the agents connecting to the agent private network via a first link, and the customers connecting to the communications network via a second link traversing the customer private network; and

a server system in a computing environment coupled to the communications network, the server system being configured to;

identify calls between the agents and the customers;

identify one of the plurality of customer contact centers associated with the identified calls;

determine availability of the first link for the identified customer contact center; and

in response to the determined availability for the identified customer contact center, triggering an action for preserving a particular quality of service for the identified customer contact center, wherein the action is at least one of canceling an outbound campaign for the identified contact center, or activating a greeting turning down a new inbound call directed to the contact center.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing environment is a cloud computing environment.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the determining the availability of the first link includes determining estimated available bandwidth of the first link for the identified contact center.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the determining the estimated available bandwidth of the first link includes determining a physical media limit for the first link provisioned for the identified contact center.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the determining the estimated available bandwidth of the communications link includes determining estimated bandwidth consumption for the identified calls.

6. A system for managing media traffic for a particular one of a plurality of contact centers, the system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memory devices coupled to the one or more processors and storing program instructions therein, the one or more processors being configured to execute the program instructions, the program instructions comprising;

identifying calls between agents and customers of the contact center, wherein the agents have access to agent communication devices for accessing the communications network over a private network, the agent communication devices for accessing the private network via a communications link;

identifying one of the plurality of contact centers associated with the identified calls;

determining availability of a communications link for the identified contact center; and

in response to the determined availability for the identified contact center, triggering an action for preserving a particular quality of service for the identified contact center, wherein the action is at least one of canceling an outbound campaign for the identified contact center, or activating a greeting turning down a new inbound call directed to the contact center.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the private network is configured to provide an anticipated quality of service for calls traversing the private network.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the determining the availability of the communications link includes determining estimated available bandwidth of the communications link for the identified contact center.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the determining the estimated available bandwidth of the communications link includes determining a physical media limit for the communications link provisioned for the identified contact center.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the determining the estimated available bandwidth of the communications link includes determining estimated bandwidth consumption for the identified calls.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the program instructions further include:

comparing the estimated bandwidth consumption for the identified calls against a threshold bandwidth consumption amount; and

triggering the action in response to determining that the estimated bandwidth consumption for the identified calls satisfies the threshold bandwidth consumption amount.

12. A method for managing media traffic for a particular one of a plurality of contact centers, the method comprising:

identifying calls between agents and customers of the plurality of contact centers, the agents having access to agent communication devices for accessing a communications network over a private network, the agent communication devices for accessing the private network via a communications link;

identifying one of the plurality of contact centers associated with the identified calls;

determining availability of the communications link for the identified contact center; and

in response to the determined availability for the identified contact center, triggering an action for preserving a particular quality of service for the identified contact center, wherein the action is at least one of canceling an outbound campaign for the identified contact center, or activating a greeting turning down a new inbound call directed to the contact center.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the private network is configured to provide a particular quality of service for calls traversing the private network.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the determining the availability of the communications link includes determining estimated available bandwidth of the communications link for the identified contact center.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the determining the estimated available bandwidth of the communications link includes determining a physical media limit for the communications link provisioned for the identified contact center.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the determining the estimated available bandwidth of the communications link includes determining estimated bandwidth consumption for the identified calls.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

comparing the estimated bandwidth consumption for the identified calls against a threshold bandwidth consumption amount; and

triggering the action in response to determining that the estimated bandwidth consumption for the identified calls satisfies the threshold bandwidth consumption amount.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the calls between the agents and customers are serviced by contact center applications hosted by a first server system in a first computing environment, the method further comprising:

signaling a second server system in a second computing environment to service second calls directed to the identified contact center.