Followup of customer service agents

• US 9,219,818 B2
• Filed: 02/17/2015
• Issued: 12/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kaufman, Donald L.
• Primary Examiner(s): SHAH, ANTIM G
• Application Number:
  US14/624,330
• Publication Number:
  US 20150195407A1
• Time in Patent Office: 308 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265.01, 379/265.02, 379/265.04, 379/265.05, 379/265.06, 379/265.09, 379/265.11, 379/265.12, 379/265.13, 379/265.14, 379/266.01, 379/266.06, 379/266.09
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/00 Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5231 with call back arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5235 Dependent on call type or called number [DNIS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5238 with waiting time or load prediction arrangements

Abstract

A user of a personal computing device may identify an item of interest displayed in a user interface provided by a network-based service and would like to obtain more information. The user may submit an electronic contact requests to an agent continuity service in communication with one or more service agents in order to obtain more information. The agent continuity service may determine whether the user has communicated with an agent previously and, if so, provide the user with the option to communicate with the agent again, should the user desire.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable components, the computer-executable components comprising:

an agent identification component, the agent identification component operative to;

receive a request for contact with an agent from a customer;

determine an identity of the customer; and

identify at least one agent that has previously participated in a prior contact with the customer and that has received a positive review based on the prior contact with the customer;

an agent availability component, the agent availability component operative to;

determine an availability of the at least one identified agent to contact the customer;

identify an available agent that is available to contact the customer; and

transmit a user interface including the at least one identified agent, the available agent, and the agents'"'"' respective availabilities to the customer, wherein the user interface is configured to enable the customer to select one of the at least one identified agent or the available agent for contact; and

a contact distribution system, the contact distribution system configured to;

receive an agent selection identifying a selected agent after the agent availability component transmits the transmitted user interface; and

route the contact between the customer and the selected agent.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the contact comprises one or more of a telephone call, an electronic mail message, a voice-over IP (VOIP) communication, a video conference, an instant message (IM), or a short message service (SMS) text message.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the availability of an agent comprises one of “

Immediately Available,”

“

Available with wait,”

or “

Unavailable”

.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the transmitted user interface enables the customer to wait for contact with the selected agent or request that the selected agent contact the customer at a later date.

5. A system comprising:

a data store operative to store a record of contacts between a first person and one or more second persons; and

a computing device in communication with the data store, wherein the computing device is operative to;

obtain a record of contacts associated with the first person, wherein the record of contacts identifies one or more second persons with whom the first person has previously had contact;

identify, from the one or more second persons, a second person that has received a positive review based on a prior contact with the first person;

determine an availability of the second person for contact with the first person;

identify an available person that is available to contact the first person;

transmit the availability of the second person and the availability of the available person to the first person;

receive a selection identifying one of the second person or the available person to participate in a contact with the first person; and

route the contact between the first person and either the second person or the available person in response to the selection.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the computing device is further operative to select the second person by selecting a second person that has been in contact with the first person more recently than others of the one or more second persons.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the availability of the second person comprises one of “

Immediately Available,”

“

Available with wait,”

or “

Unavailable”

.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the availability of the second person further includes an estimated wait time.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein the computing device is further operative to identify the first person by inferring the identity of the first person from a contact request.

10. The system of claim 5, wherein the computing device is further operative to verify the identified second person based upon a response received from a user interface provided with the transmitted availability.

11. The system of claim 5, wherein the contact comprises one or more of a telephone call, an electronic mail message, a voice-over IP (VOIP) communication, a video conference, an instant message (IM), or a short message service (SMS) text message.

12. A computer-implemented method of routing a contact between a first person and a second person, the method comprising:

under control of one or more configured computer systems;

identifying a second person that has previously participated in a prior contact with a first person and that has received a positive review based on the prior contact with the first person;

determining an availability of the second person to contact the first person;

identifying an available person that is available to contact the first person;

generating a user interface including the availability of the second person and the availability of the available person;

receiving a selection indicating whether the first person has an interest to contact the second person or the available person; and

placing the first person into contact with either the second person or the available person based upon the selection.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the availability of the second person to contact the first person comprises one of “

Immediately Available,”

“

Available with wait,”

or “

Unavailable”

.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the availability of the second person further includes an estimated wait time.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the user interface further enables the first person to wait to contact the second person or request that the second person contact the first person at a later date.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the contact comprises one or more of a telephone call, an electronic mail message, a voice-over IP (VOIP) communication, a video conference, an instant message (IM), or a short message service (SMS) text message.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable components, the computer-executable components configured to cause a hardware processor to:

obtain a record of contacts associated with a first person, wherein the record of contacts identifies one or more second persons with whom the first person has previously had contact;

identify, from the one or more second persons, a second person that has received a positive review based on a prior contact with the first person;

determine an availability of the second person for contact with the first person;

identify an available person that is available to contact the first person;

transmit the availability of the second person and the availability of the available person to the first person;

receive a selection identifying one of the second person or the available person to participate in a contact with the first person; and

route the contact between the first person and either the second person or the available person based upon the selection.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable components configured to cause the hardware processor to identify a second person comprise computer-executable components configured to cause the hardware processor to select at least one second person by identifying a second person that has been in contact with the first person more recently than others of the one or more second persons.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the availability of the second person comprises one of “

Immediately Available,”

“

Available with wait,”

or “

Unavailable”

.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising computer-executable components configured to cause the hardware processor to identify the first person by inferring an identity of the first person from a contact request.