Use of abstracted data in pattern matching system

• US RE46,986 E1
• Filed: 07/13/2016
• Issued: 08/07/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Afiniti Ltd
• Original Assignee: Afiniti International Holdings, Ltd.
• Inventors: Chishti, Zia, Merchant, Akbar A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarae, Michelle
• Application Number:
  US15/209,512
• Time in Patent Office: 755 Days
• Field of Search: 37926501
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/402 Agent or workforce management
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5175 Call or contact centers supervision 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 3/5232 Call distribution algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5233 Operator skill based call distribution

Abstract

Method, system and program product, for operating a call center system, the method comprising: obtaining performance data for agents in a set of agents; obtaining a respective abstracted data stream for multiple calls, each respective data stream having multiple different locations along the abstracted data stream representing multiple different respective fields, the meaning for the field data in the respective different locations for the different respective fields not known by the system; determining respective patterns for the respective data streams; obtaining performance data for the respective patterns; matching using a selected matching algorithm one of the agents from the set of agents to one of the calls based at least in part on the performance data for the respective pattern of the call and on performance data for the respective agents of the set of agents.

Claims

1. A method of operating a call contact center system, comprising:

obtaining, by one or more computers communicatively coupled to and configured to operate in the contact center system, performance data for agents in a set of agents;

obtaining, by the one or more computers, a respective abstracted data stream for each of multiple calls contacts, with each respective data stream having multiple different locations along the abstracted data stream representing multiple different respective fields, wherein the meaning for the field data in the respective different locations for the different respective fields is not known by the system;

determining, by the one or more computers, from respective field data positions in the respective data streams respective patterns for the respective data streams;

obtaining, by the one or more computers, performance data for the respective patterns;

and

matching, by the one or more computers, using a selected matching algorithm one of the agents from the set of agents to one of the calls contacts based at least in part on the performance data for the respective pattern of the call contact and based at least in part on the performance data for the respective agents of the set of agents; and

outputting, by the one or more computers, an instruction to connect the matched contact and agent in the contact center system.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the abstracted data stream is one selected from the group of 0'"'"'s and 1'"'"'s, yes and no, true and false, binary, integer, decimal, and alphanumeric.

3. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the abstracted data stream is scrambled, but the scrambling is the same for calls contacts received during a period.

4. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the abstracted data stream is scrambled, and further comprising:

rearranging, by the one or more computers, the data to an order of a data set to be used for correlation.

5. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising the steps:

determining, by the one or more computers, field positions for the fields in the abstracted data stream; and

selecting, by the one or more computers, only the determined field positions from the data stream to form the pattern.

6. The method as defined in claim 1,

wherein for multiple of the abstracted data streams received during the period, the abstracted data for the different fields are received in two or more different orders over the course of the period of time, and

further comprising arranging, by the one or more computers, the field data for the different fields for the data streams of the respective calls contacts in a same order, by the one or more computers.

7. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the respective pattern determined for the call contact is ranked by performance, and wherein the matching algorithm performs matching based at least in part on the performance rank of the call contact and the performance data of the respective agents in the set of agents.

8. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the performance of the call contact is based on one or more selected from the group of sale, call contact handle time, retention, customer satisfaction, revenue, first call contact resolution, units sold, and transaction points.

9. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining, by the one or more computers, a call contact type for the respective call contact selected from the group of sale, complaint, information request, and very important person (VIP), and

wherein the matching algorithm performs matching based at least in part on the call contact type.

10. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the matching step during a period further comprises:

switching, by the one or more computers, to using a different matching algorithm based on correlation of call contact performance to agent performance at a switchover point in the period.

11. A system of operating a call contact center system, comprising:

a communications component for handling calls contacts; and

one or more computers communicatively coupled to and configured to operate in the contact center system, wherein the one or more computers are further configured with the following components;

;

a collector configured in the one or more computers to obtain performance data for agents in a set of agents;

the collector further configured in the one or more computers to obtain a respective abstracted data stream for each of multiple of the calls contacts, with each respective data stream having multiple different locations along the abstracted data stream representing multiple different respective fields, wherein the meaning for the field data in the respective different locations for the different respective fields is not known by the system;

the collector further configured in the one or more computers to determine from respective field data positions in the respective data streams respective patterns for the respective data streams;

the collector further configured in the one or more computers to obtain performance data for the respective patterns;

and

a matching engine configured in the one or more computers with a matching algorithm to match one of the agents from the set of agents to one of the calls contacts based at least in part on the performance data for the respective pattern of the call contact and based at least in part on the performance data for the respective agents of the set of agents; and

the matching engine further configured to output an instruction to connect the matched contact and agent in the contact center system.

12. The system as defined in claim 11, wherein the abstracted data stream is one selected from the group of 0'"'"'s and 1'"'"'s, yes and no, true and false, binary, integer, decimal, and alphanumeric.

13. The system as defined in claim 11,

wherein abstracted data stream is scrambled, and

wherein the collector is configured in the one or more computers to rearrange the data to an order of a data set to be used for correlation.

14. The system as defined in claim 11,

wherein the collector is further configured in the one or more computers:

to determine field positions for the fields in the abstracted data stream; and

to select only the determined field positions from the data stream to form the pattern.

15. The system as defined in claim 11,

wherein for multiple of the abstracted data streams received during the period, the abstracted data for the different fields are received in two or more different orders over the course of the period of time, and

wherein the collector is further configured in the one or more computers to arrange the field data for the different fields for the data streams of the respective calls contacts in a same order.

16. The system as defined in claim 11,

wherein the matching engine is configured to rank the respective patterns by performance, and to perform matching based at least in part on the performance rank of the call contact and the performance data of the respective agents in the set of agents.

17. Non-transitory computer-readable media, comprising:

computer-readable program code embodied therein in the non-transitory computer-readable media, to perform, when executed by one or more computers communicatively coupled to and configured to operate in a contact center system, the steps of;

obtaining, by the one or more computers, performance data for agents in a set of agents;

obtaining, by the one or more computers, a respective abstracted data stream for each of multiple calls contacts, with each respective data stream having multiple different locations along the abstracted data stream representing multiple different respective fields, wherein the meaning for the field data in the respective different locations for the different respective fields is not known by the system;

determining, by the one or more computers, from respective field data positions in the respective data streams respective patterns for the respective data streams;

obtaining, by the one or more computers, performance data for the respective patterns;

and

matching, by the one or more computers, using a selected matching algorithm one of the agents from the set of agents to one of the calls contacts based at least in part on the performance data for the respective pattern of the call contact and based at least in part on the performance data for the respective agents of the set of agents; and

outputting, by the one or more computers, an instruction to connect the matched contact and agent in the contact center system.