Bidding work assignment on conference/subscribe RTP clearing house

• US 8,385,533 B2
• Filed: 09/21/2009
• Issued: 02/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Flockhart, Andrew D., Steiner, Robert C.
• Primary Examiner(s): SMITH, CREIGHTON H
• Application Number:
  US12/563,831
• Publication Number:
  US 20110071879A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,254 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265.09, 379/265.1, 379/265.14, 379/266.03, 379/266.06
• US Class Current: 379/265.09
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/405 Competitive bidding for work items
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/523 with call distribution or queueing

Abstract

A distributed contact center and method of managing tasks within such a contact center is provided. The various sites of the distributed contact center are adapted to bid on contacts by transmitting bids to a work item distribution mechanism via RTP streams, thereby enabling the work item distribution mechanism to analyze the bids in real-time and route the contact accordingly.

Claims

1. A communication method, comprising:

receiving a contact at a work item distribution mechanism in a contact center, the contact center further comprising at least first and second remote sites in communication with the work item distribution mechanism;

generating a work item corresponding to the contact;

receiving a first bid and second bid from the first and second remote sites, respectively, the first and second bids comprising bid parameters defining each site'"'"'s ability or desire to process the work item, wherein the first bid is provided to the work item distribution mechanism via a first RTP stream established between the first remote site and the work item distribution mechanism;

analyzing, at the work item distribution mechanism, the bid parameters of the first and second bids;

determining, based on the analysis, that the bid parameters of the first bid satisfy a set of bid requirements associated with the contact more completely than the bid parameters of the second bid; and

forwarding the work item to the first remote site for processing by the first remote site.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second bid is provided to the work item distribution mechanism via a second RTP stream established between the second remote site and the work item distribution mechanism.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first remote site shares the first bid with the second remote site.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first bid is shared with the second remote site via the second RTP stream.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the first bid is shared with the second remote site via a third RTP stream established between the first remote site and the second remote site.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the first and second RTP streams are established using a Session Initiation Protocol.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of bid requirements comprise a plurality of parameters including one or more of (i) cost requirements;

(ii) time requirements;

(iii) volume requirements;

(iv) skill requirements; and

(v) resource requirements for processing the contact, wherein the bid parameters of the first and second bids include at least one value satisfying the plurality of parameters in the set of bid requirements and wherein the first bid satisfies more of the plurality of parameters than the second bid.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first and second bids comprise a bid to process a plurality of work items in excess of work items enqueued at the work item distribution mechanism and wherein at least one of the first and second bids are received at the work item distribution mechanism before the contact is received at the work item distribution mechanism.

9. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising processor executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed, perform the steps of claim 1.

10. A contact center, comprising:

a work item distribution mechanism in communication with at least a first remote site and second remote site, the work item distribution mechanism being adapted to receive a contact and generate a work item for that contact, the work item distribution mechanism also adapted to receive a first bid and second bid from the first and second remote sites, respectively, the first and second bids comprising bid parameters defining each site'"'"'s ability or desire to process the work item, wherein the first bid is provided to the work item distribution mechanism via a first RTP stream established between the first remote site and the work item distribution mechanism, wherein the work item distribution mechanism is further adapted to analyze the bid parameters of the first and second bids, determine, based on the analysis, that the bid parameters of the first bid satisfy a set of bid requirements associated with the work item more completely than the bid parameters of the second bid, and route the work item to the first remote site for processing by the first remote site.

11. The contact center of claim 10, wherein the second bid is provided to the work item distribution mechanism via a second RTP stream established between the second remote site and the work item distribution mechanism.

12. The contact center of claim 11, wherein the first remote site shares the first bid with the second remote site.

13. The contact center of claim 12, wherein the first bid is shared with the second remote site via the second RTP stream.

14. The contact center of claim 12, wherein the first bid is shared with the second remote site via a third RTP stream established between the first remote site and the second remote site.

15. The contact center of claim 12, wherein the first and second RTP streams are established using a Session Initiation Protocol and wherein the work item distribution mechanism is distributed among at least the first and second site via a conference mechanism.

16. The contact center of claim 10, wherein the set of bid requirements comprise a plurality of parameters including one or more of (i) cost requirements;

(ii) time requirements;

(iii) volume requirements;

(iv) skill requirements; and

(v) resource requirements for processing the work item, wherein the bid parameters of the first and second bids include at least one value satisfying the plurality of parameters in the set of bid requirements and wherein the first bid satisfies more of the plurality of parameters than the second bid.

17. The contact center of claim 10, wherein at least one of the first and second bids comprise a bid to process a plurality of work items in excess of the work items enqueued at the work item distribution mechanism and wherein at least one of the first and second bids are received at the work item distribution mechanism before the contact is received at the work item distribution mechanism.

18. A non-transitory computer program product comprising computer executable instructions stored onto a computer readable medium which, when executed by a processor of a computer, cause the processor to execute a method, the method comprising:

receiving a first bid and second bid from first and second remote sites, respectively, the first and second bids comprising bid parameters defining each site'"'"'s ability or desire to process one or more work items, wherein the first bid is received via a first RTP stream established with the first remote site;

analyzing the bid parameters of the first and second bids;

determining that the first bid is a winning bid; and

routing one or more work items to the first remote site for processing by the first remote site.