System, method, and computer program for communication channel-independent business flow management

• US 9,203,958 B1
• Filed: 08/11/2011
• Issued: 12/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amdocs Development Limited (Amdocs Ltd.), Amdocs Software Systems Limited (Amdocs Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Amdocs Software Systems Limited (Amdocs Ltd.)
• Inventors: Nandula, Srikanth, Acharekar, Abhay V., D'amour, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phuoc
• Assistant Examiner(s): ZAND, DAVOUD AMAN
• Application Number:
  US13/208,283
• Time in Patent Office: 1,573 Days
• Field of Search: 340/2.8, 340/2.9, 370/431, 704/270.1, 709/227, 709/249
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42068 where the identifier is used to access a profile
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/00 Selecting arrangements H04Q5/00 - H04Q11/00 take precedence

Abstract

A system, method, and computer program product are provided for communication channel-independent business flow management. In use, input associated with a communication is received over a communication channel. Additionally, a communication channel-independent business flow is initiated in response to the input. Furthermore, the input is provided to a communication channel-specific backend system, using the communication channel-independent business flow.

Claims

1. A computer program embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising computer code for:

receiving by a system from a device a request to establish a communication with the device over a first communication channel including a particular type of transmission medium, the request including a unique identifier of the communication channel;

selecting by the system a communication channel-independent business flow of the system from a plurality of communication-independent data flows stored in a repository of the system in response to receiving the request, the communication channel-independent business flow including a process of the system that provides the received request to a backend system other than the receiving system that is specific to the communication channel;

adding by the system an identifier of the selected communication channel-independent business flow to the unique identifier of the communication channel;

providing by the communication channel-independent business flow of the system the request, the unique identifier of the communication channel, and the identifier of the selected communication channel-independent business flow to a backend system specific to the communication channel, using the communication channel-independent business flow;

transferring the communication flow from the first communication channel to a second communication channel; and

utilizing the unique identifier to provide information and a stage of transfer when the communication flow is transferred from the first communication channel to the second communication channel.

2. The computer program of claim 1, wherein the input includes a request for the communication.

3. The computer program of claim 1, wherein the computer program is operable such that the input is received from a device of the user.

4. The computer program of claim 3, wherein the computer program is operable such that the input is received in response to the user entering the input via the device.

5. The computer program of claim 1, wherein the first communication channel includes a transmission medium for establishing the communication from a first party to a second party.

6. The computer program of claim 1, wherein the first communication channel includes one of an interactive voice response channel, an email channel, and a telephone channel.

7. The computer program of claim 1, wherein the computer program is operable such that the communication channel-independent business flow is re-usable across multiple different communication channels.

8. The computer program of claim 1, wherein the computer program is operable such that the communication channel-independent business flow is re-usable across multiple different channel-specific backend systems.

9. The computer program of claim 1, wherein the communication channel-independent business flow is a process independent of the first communication channel.

10. The computer program of claim 1, wherein the computer program is operable such that the unique identifier, including the identifier of the first communication channel, the identifier of the communication flow established for the communication, and the identifier of the initiated communication channel-independent business flow, is provided with the input to the communication channel-specific backend system.

11. The computer program of claim 10, further comprising:

computer code for receiving additional input associated with the communication over another communication channel; and

computer code for providing the additional input to another communication channel-specific backend system via the communication channel-independent business flow, using the unique identifier.

12. The computer program of claim 1, wherein the computer program is operable such that the input is provided to the communication channel-specific backend system for processing the input to provide the communication over the first communication channel.

13. The computer program of claim 2, wherein the communication channel-specific backend system adds an identifier of the communication channel-specific backend system to the unique identifier upon receipt of the request for the communication.

14. The computer program of claim 13, wherein the identifier of the communication channel-specific backend system includes an identifier of a server of the communication channel-specific backend system.

15. The computer program of claim 11, wherein the additional input is required to establish the communication, and the additional input is particular to the first communication channel.

16. The computer program of claim 1, wherein the communication channel-independent business flow is utilized for transferring the communication flow from the first communication channel to the second communication channel, such that the communication flow starts in the first communication channel and subsequently proceeds in the second communication channel.

17. A method, comprising:

receiving by a system from a device a request to establish a communication with the device over a first communication channel including a particular type of transmission medium, the request including a unique identifier of the communication channel;

selecting by the system a communication channel-independent business flow of the system from a plurality of communication-independent data flows stored in a repository of the system in response to receiving the request, the communication channel-independent business flow including a process of the system that provides the received request to a backend system other than the receiving system that is specific to the communication channel;

adding by the system an identifier of the selected communication channel-independent business flow to the unique identifier of the communication channel;

providing by the communication channel-independent business flow of the system the request, the unique identifier of the communication channel, and the identifier of the selected communication channel-independent business flow to a backend system specific to the communication channel, using the communication channel-independent business flow;

transferring the communication flow from the first communication channel to a second communication channel; and

utilizing the unique identifier to provide information and a stage of transfer when the communication flow is transferred from the first communication channel to the second communication channel.

18. A system, comprising:

a processor for;

receiving by a system from a device a request to establish a communication with the device over a first communication channel including a particular type of transmission medium, the request including a unique identifier of the communication channel;

selecting by the system a communication channel-independent business flow of the system from a plurality of communication-independent data flows stored in a repository of the system in response to receiving the request, the communication channel-independent business flow including a process of the system that provides the received request to a backend system other than the receiving system that is specific to the communication channel;

adding by the system an identifier of the selected communication channel-independent business flow to the unique identifier of the communication channel;

providing by the communication channel-independent business flow of the system the request, the unique identifier of the communication channel, and the identifier of the selected communication channel-independent business flow to a backend system specific to the communication channel, using the communication channel-independent business flow;

transferring the communication flow from the first communication channel to a second communication channel; and

utilizing the unique identifier to provide information and a stage of transfer when the communication flow is transferred from the first communication channel to the second communication channel.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor is in communication with memory via a bus.