Customer support system and method therefor

• US 9,419,821 B2
• Filed: 06/20/2011
• Issued: 08/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Ilagan, Oliver
• Primary Examiner(s): KAMARA, MOHAMED A
• Application Number:
  US13/164,134
• Publication Number:
  US 20120320904A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,884 Days
• Field of Search: 370/352, 370/412, 370/338, 370/311, 370/252, 379/266, 379/266.01, 379/266.09, 379/265, 379/212.01, 705/26.1, 705/26.41, 705/26.62, 705/27.2
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/01 Customer relationship services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways

Abstract

A method of routing a voice communication from a web page to one of a plurality of queues includes determining whether a user has previously visited the web page. If the user has not previously visited the web page, the web page is displayed without a button to initiate the voice communication. If the user has previously visited the web page, the button is displayed.

Claims

1. A method of routing a voice communication from a web page to one of a plurality of queues, comprising:

determining whether a user has previously visited the web page by interrogating browser cookies;

if the user has not previously visited the web page or a delay at one or more of the queues equals or exceeds a threshold based upon an excessive call hold time, sending instructions to display the web page without a button to initiate the voice communication, wherein the user is unable to join any of the queues without use of the button;

if the user has previously visited the web page and the delay at the one or more of the queues does not exceed a threshold, sending instructions to a server to display the button such that by selecting the button the voice communication is initiated; and

routing the voice communication to one of the queues at least in part based on an identifier that uniquely identifies an information handling system that displays the web page;

wherein the identifier is obtained from a file stored on the information handling system, and a manufacturer of the information handling system assigned the identifier to the information handling system.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the instructions comprise HTML code.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining if the voice communication pertains to one of sales, technical support and customer care.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the voice communication is a voice over Internet protocol call.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining bandwidth available for the voice communication.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising detecting whether an information handling system that displays the web page includes a microphone.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising detecting whether an information handling system that displays the web page includes a camera.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the threshold is a length of one or more of the queues.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the threshold is a call hold time at one or more of the queues.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

testing whether an information handling system that displays the web page supports a softphone application; and

not sending instructions to display the button based upon determining that the information handling system of the user does not support a softphone application.

11. A method of routing a voice communication from a user at an information handling system to one of a plurality of queues, comprising:

determining whether a certain promotion or sale of a particular product is appropriate for the user;

if the promotion or sale of the particular product is not appropriate for the user, then using a server to generate the web page without a button capable of initiating the voice communication, wherein the user is unable to join any of the queues without use of the button; and

if the promotion or sale of the particular product is appropriate for the user, then using the server to generate the web page with the button; and

routing the voice communication to one of the queues at least in part based on an identifier that uniquely identifies the information handling system that displays the web page;

wherein the identifier is obtained from a file stored on the information handling system, and a manufacturer of the information handling system assigned the identifier to the information handling system.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

determining if the voice communication pertains to one of sales, technical support and customer care.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising generating the web page without the button based upon a delay at one or more of the queues exceeding a threshold.

14. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

testing whether an information handling system that displays the web page supports a softphone application; and

not sending instructions to display the button based upon determining that the information handling system of the user does not support a softphone application.

15. A system for routing a voice communication from a web page to one of a plurality of queues, comprising:

a server to determine whether a certain promotion or sale of a particular product is appropriate for a user;

wherein if the promotion or sale of the particular product is not appropriate for the user, then the server generates the web page without a button capable of initiating the voice communication, wherein the user is unable to join any of the queues without use of the button;

wherein if the promotion or sale of a particular product is appropriate for the user, then the server generates the web page with the button such that by selecting the button the voice communication is initiated; and

wherein the server makes its determination of the appropriateness based at least in part on an identifier that uniquely identifies an information handling system that displays the web page, wherein the identifier is obtained from a file stored on the information handling system, and a manufacturer of the information handling system assigned the identifier to the information handling system.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein:

the server makes its determination of the appropriateness based at least in part on the values of the routing variables in a database table.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein:

the server selects which particular product to promote based at least in part on the values of the routing variables in a database table.