Adaptive communication application programming interface

• US 8,045,698 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2007
• Issued: 10/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siebel Systems Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Siebel Systems Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Chen, Mingtse, Jay, Henry D., Pak, Wai H., Annadata, Anil K.
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, QUYNH H
• Application Number:
  US11/966,545
• Publication Number:
  US 20080159520A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,397 Days
• Field of Search: 379/266.01, 379/266.06, 379/266.1
• US Class Current: 379/266.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5175 Call or contact centers supervision arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/523 with call distribution or queueing

Abstract

An apparatus and method for maintaining data for multi-channel communication queuing associated with different media formats such as telephone, email, and fax. A list of agent data includes information related to types of communication media an agent can access. The data can further include information related to an agent'"'"'s skills, a list of media routes, statistics for communication channels of specified media types, statistics for an agent, and journals for work items. Priority values for the media routes, the maximum number of queued items for the media routes, and times for escalating a work item can also be included.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a communication server configured to

provide a media-agnostic interface to a plurality of communication channels, wherein each communication channel of the plurality of communication channels is of a unique media type,

provide a connection between a selected communication channel and a selected client of a plurality of clients, and

receive a request for connection to a requested agent associated with a client of the plurality of clients, wherein the requested agent is authorized to communicate using a media type of a communication channel corresponding to the request;

a queuing system configured to

queue the request in one of a plurality of queues, wherein

each queue of the plurality of queues is correlated to a media type, and

the request is queued in a queue corresponding to the media type of the communication channel corresponding to the request; and

a business service, coupled to the communication server and the queuing system, and configured to

provide communication between the queuing system and the communication server by converting information received from the queuing system into a format usable by the communication server,

retrieve one or more rules from a data table, and

upload the one or more rules to the queuing system, wherein

the one or more rules are one or more of route rules and escalation rules.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the queuing system is further configured to:

assign a queued first request to a first agent wherein the first agent is authorized to respond to requests associated with the media type of the communication channel of the queued first request,

transmit a first message to the communication server to connect the queued first request to a first client of the plurality of clients, wherein the first client is associated with the first agent, and

remove the queued first request from an associated queue.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the first message is communicated to the business service using an application programming interface (API).

4. The system of claim 2 wherein the business service is further configured to place data in the first message into a data structure usable by the communication server.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the business service is further configured to:

provide communication between the communication server and the queuing system by converting information received from the communication server into a format usable by the queuing system.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the business service is further configured to:

place the information received from the communication server into one or more of data structures, commands, and parameters usable by an API associated with the queuing system.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the business service is further configured to provide communication between one or more clients of the plurality of clients and the queuing system.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the business service is further configured to:

set a state for a first agent associated with a first client of the one or more clients, wherein

the state defines whether the first agent is ready to receive a queued request.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the business service is further configured to:

query the queuing system for information related to status of queued requests.

10. A system comprising:

a communication server configured to

provide a media-agnostic interface to a plurality of communication channels, wherein

each communication channel of the plurality of communication channels is of a unique media type,

provide a connection between a selected communication channel and a selected client of a plurality of clients, and

receive a request for connection to a requested agent associated with a client of the plurality of clients, wherein

the requested agent is authorized to communicate using a media type of a communication channel corresponding to the request;

a queuing system configured to

queue the request in one of a plurality of queues, wherein

each queue of the plurality of queues is correlated to a media type, and

the request is queued in a queue corresponding to the media type of the communication channel corresponding to the request,

assign a queued first request to a first agent, wherein

the first agent is authorized to respond to requests associated with the media type of the communication channel of the queued first request,

transmit a first message to the communication server to connect the queued first request to a first client of the plurality of clients, wherein

the first client is associated with the first agent,

remove the queued first request from an associated queue, and

update a state corresponding to the first agent and the queued first request reflecting an acceptance communication that the queued first request is accepted, in response to the acceptance communication; and

a business service, coupled to the communication server and the queuing system, and configured to

provide communication between the queuing system and the communication server by converting information received from the queuing system into a format usable by the communication server, and

provide the acceptance communication to the queuing system from the first client associated with the first agent.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the business service is further configured to:

report performance statistics from the communication server and the queuing system.

12. A method comprising:

converting information received from a queuing system into a format usable by a communication server;

providing communication between the queuing system and the communication server by transmitting the converted information to the communication server, wherein

the communication server provides a media-agnostic interface to a plurality of communication channels each associated with a unique media type,

the communication server receives a request for connection to an agent of a plurality of agents, wherein the agent is authorized to communicate using a media type of a communication channel corresponding to the request, and

the queuing system queues the request in one of a plurality of queues, wherein

each queue of the plurality of queues is correlated to a media type, and

the request is queued in a queue corresponding to the media type of the communication channel corresponding to the request;

retrieving one or more rules from a data table; and

uploading the one or more rules to the queuing system, wherein

the one or more rules are one or more of route rules and escalation rules.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein said converting further comprises:

placing the information received from the queuing system into a data structure usable by the communication server.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

providing communication between the communication server and the queuing system by converting information received from the communication server into a format usable by the queuing system.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said converting information received from the communication server into a format usable by the queuing system comprises:

placing the information received from the communication server into one or more of data structures, commands, and parameters usable by an API associated with the queuing system.

16. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

providing communication between one or more clients and the queuing system.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

setting a state for a first agent associated with a first client of the one or more clients, wherein the state defines whether the first agent is ready to receive a queued request.

18. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

querying the queuing system for information related to status of queued requests.