Method and system for distributing outbound telephone calls

• US RE46,467 E1
• Filed: 03/03/2015
• Issued: 07/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Noble Systems Corporation
• Original Assignee: Noble Systems Corporation
• Inventors: Rodenbusch, Jr., Richard, Duncan, Daniel N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wassum, Luke S
• Application Number:
  US14/636,232
• Time in Patent Office: 854 Days
• Field of Search: 37926607, 37926505
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5158 in combination with automated outdialling systems devices for signalling identity of wanted subscriber H04M1/26

Abstract

A method and system is provided for the distribution of outbound telephone calls. This method and system includes dialing devices receiving call records and providing telephone calls to one or more agents. Interfaced with the dialing device is a distribution module including pools and queues. The distribution module places the call records into the pools and transfers less than all of the call records to the queues to allow for calling by the dialing devices at peak efficiency. The distribution module transfers the queues to the dialing devices so that the dialing device can place telephone calls. The distribution module monitors the queues to determine when to send additional call records to the queues. In addition, distribution module monitors the results of the call records and updates the call records in the pools so that call records with unsuccessful outcomes can be safely called again later in the day.

Claims

1. A system for distributing outbound telephone calls, the system comprising:

a distribution module server having a plurality of call records, the distribution module operable server configured to place the respective subsets of the plurality of call records into plural queues and associated with a single campaign, the server further configured to transfer each of the plural queues to a respective one of plural a plurality of dialing devices, wherein each of the plurality of dialing device operable to support devices comprises a predictive dialer in a respective contact center that is configured to originate plural contacts for plural agents with the using one of the respective subsets of the plurality of call records,

wherein the server is further configured to;

monitor each of the plurality of dialing devices to determine contact results comprising at least one of right party contacts, wrong party contacts, no answers, and detection of answering machines associated with the plural contacts originated using the one of the respective subsets of the plurality of call records, and

automatically transfer additional call records from the plurality of call records to one or more of the plural queues based on at least one of the right party contacts, the wrong party contacts, the no answers, and the detection of answering machines.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the distribution module server is further operable configured to transfer the additional call records to the one or more of the plural queues if upon determining the contact results indicate the respective one of the plurality of dialing devices have has contacted a predetermined number of the call records.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the distribution module comprises a server that supports TCP/IP, the distribution module transferring the queues with TCP/IP.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the dialing devices comprise predictive dialers.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the distribution module is further operable to monitor the dialing devices to determine contact results associated with the call records and to transfer additional call records to the queues based at least in part on the contact results.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the distribution module server is further operable configured to redistribute one of the respective subsets of the plurality of call records between the plural queues based at least in part upon on the contact attempt results associated with the one of the respective subsets of the plurality of call records at the of the respective one of the plurality of dialing devices.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprising a scheduling module interfaced with the distribution module, the scheduling module operable to schedule call records for ordered contact attempts by the dialing devices according to one or more factors.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the distribution module manages server is configured to manage the plurality of call records in plural pools, the distribution module server further operable configured to transfer a first subset of the plurality of call records to a first queue of the plural queues from a first pool and transfers transfer a second subset of the plurality of call records to the first queue from a second pool when the first subset of the plurality of call records in the first pool are depleted.

9. A method for distributing outbound telephone calls, the method comprising:

organizing call records at a distribution module server into a plurality of queues associated with a single campaign, wherein each of the plurality of queues is associated with a respective subset of the call records;

distributing each queue of the plurality of queues to a respective one of a plurality of dialing devices;

attemptingoriginating outbound telephone calls withusing the respective subset of the call records of one of the queueplurality of queues at each dialing devicethe respective one of the plurality of dialing devices;

and

providing each of the outbound telephone call calls to one of plural agents associated with each dialing device the respective one of the plurality of dialing devices;

communicating call attempt results from the respective one of the plurality of dialing devices to the server;

monitoring the call attempt results comprising at least one of right party contacts, wrong party contacts, no answers, and detection of answering machines by the server of the outbound telephone calls at the respective one of the plurality of dialing devices; and

automatically distributing an additional subset of the call records by the server to the one of the plurality of queues of the respective one of the plurality of dialing devices based on at least one of the right party contacts, the wrong party contacts, the no answers, and the detection of answering machines.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

monitoring the results of outbound telephone calls at each dialing device;

communicating the results to the distribution module; and

distributing additional call records to the queues based in part on the results.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein organizing the call records at the distribution module server further comprises:

determining a priority between the call records based on one or more factors; and

ordering the call records in the plurality of queues based on the priority.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the priority is based on the a likelihood of a successful contact for the a respective call record.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the priority is based on a location associated with each call record of the call records.

14. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

uploading a plurality of the call attempt results from the one of the plurality of dialing devices to the distribution module server; and

analyzing the call attempt results to determine the a number of call records remaining to be called in the one of the plurality of queues and a depletion rate at which the respective one of the plurality of dialing devices call the is calling call records in the one of the plurality of queues.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

determining a number of additional call records for each queues the one of the plurality of queues of the respective one of the plurality of dialing devices based upon the number of call records remaining to be called and the depletion rate; and

distributing the determined number of additional call records to each queue the one of the plurality of queues of the respective one of the plurality of dialing devices.

16. The method of claim 11 9 further comprising redistributing the call records between the queues a first queue associated with a first one of the plurality of dialing devices and a second queue associated with a second one of the plurality of dialing devices based on the call attempt results associated with each dialing device the first one of the plurality of dialing devices and the second one of the plurality of dialing devices.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein distributing the queues to a plurality of dialing devices comprises:

locking the call records to each dialing device;

creating a plurality of contingency files specific for each dialing device; and

updating the contingency files with call attempt results.