Method and system for matching entities in an auction

• US 9,860,391 B1
• Filed: 09/23/2016
• Issued: 01/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Patent Armory Inc. (Jeffrey M. Gross)
• Original Assignee: Steven Mark Hoffberg, Wai Wu
• Inventors: Wu, Wai, Hoffberg, Steven M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Khai N
• Application Number:
  US15/274,744
• Time in Patent Office: 466 Days
• Field of Search: 37921001, 37926501, 37926502, 37926503, 37926504, 37926505, 37926506, 37926507, 37926508, 37926509, 3792651, 37926511, 37926512, 37926513, 37926514, 37926601, 37926602, 37926603, 37926604, 37926605, 37926606, 37926607, 37926608, 37926609, 3792661
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8061 Selecting least cost route depending on origin or type of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42068 where the identifier is used to access a profile
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/523 with call distribution or queueing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5233 Operator skill based call distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5238 with waiting time or load prediction arrangements

Abstract

A method for matching a first entity with at least one second entity selected from a plurality of second entities, comprising defining a plurality of multivalued scalar data representing inferential targeting parameters for the first entity and a plurality of multivalued scalar data of each of the plurality of second entities, representing respective characteristic parameters for each respective second entity; and performing an automated optimization with respect to an economic surplus of a respective match of the first entity with the at least one of the plurality of second entities, and an opportunity cost of the unavailability of the at least one of the plurality of second entities for matching with an alternate first entity.

Claims

1. A method for routing communications within a packet switched communication network from sources to respective destinations, each communication being associated with source characteristic information which characterizes the communication with respect to a plurality of distinct content-related or source-related characteristics, comprising:

receiving the communications through a packet switched communication network interface to the packet switched communication network;

determining destination characteristic information defining a plurality of characteristics for each of a plurality of available destinations;

producing optimal packet switched routing information for the respective communication, with at least one automated processor, by analyzing an economic function for a plurality of respective available destinations, dependent on at least;

the plurality of distinct content-related or source-related characteristics,

the plurality of characteristics for each of the plurality of available destinations, and

a parameter representing a change in a value of the packet switched communication network resulting from the packet switched routing information; and

routing the communications based on at least the packet switched routing information with a packet switched communication network router, which changes a respective state of the packet switched communication network.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the economic function is further dependent on a current state of the packet switched communication network and at least one predicted future state of the packet switched communication network, and the routing of the communications changes a state of the packet switched communication network, which constrains subsequent packet switched routing information.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the packet switched communication network router concurrently routes a plurality of communications based on successively received routing information.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of communications comprise voice communications from human callers.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the destination characteristic information comprises a plurality of skill weights for each of a plurality of agents, and the economic function is further dependent on at least a respective agent cost.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein each respective destination is mutually exclusive with respect to availability for concurrent packet switched communication network communications.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the economic function comprises an economic surplus function which is responsive to at least a benefit to the respective source of the communication, and a respective cost associated with each of the plurality of the destinations, wherein the economic surplus function is optimized by maximization of the aggregate economic surplus of the routing over a period of time of a plurality of concurrent or predicted communications.

8. A system for routing communications within a packet switched communication network from sources to respective destinations, each communication being associated with source characteristic information which characterizes the communication with respect to a plurality of distinct content-related or source-related characteristics, each destination being associated with destination characteristic information, comprising:

a packet switched communication network interface configured to receive the communications through the packet switched communication network;

a memory configured to store destination characteristic information defining a plurality of characteristics for each of a plurality of possible destinations;

at least one automated processor configured to produce packet switched routing information for each respective communication responsive to at least one economic function of at least;

the source characteristic information,

the destination characteristic information,

a state of the packet switched communication network, and

a predicted change in the state of the packet switched communication network as a result of the packet switched routing information; and

a packet switched communication network router configured to receive the produced packet switched routing information and route the communications based on at least the packet switched routing information, to thereby change a state of the packet switched communication network subsequent to the routing of the communications.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein:

the respective communications do not explicitly define respective destinations for the communication;

packet switched routing information for a respective first communication from a first source to a respective first destination is inconsistent with packet switched routing information for concurrent routing of a respective second communication from a second source to a respective second destination;

the packet switched communication router is configured to change a state of the packet switched communication network in a manner that constrains subsequent availability of respective destinations in response to the packet switched routing information; and

the economic function is analyzed to determine an optimum destination for the respective communication.

10. The system according to claim 8, wherein the at least one automated processor is configured to:

execute under control of a software operating system having a message queue;

communicate with the packet switched communication network router via messages passed through the message queue; and

produce the packet switched routing information for each respective communication responsive to the at least one economic function by implementing at least one automated auction.

11. The system according to claim 8, wherein the at least one automated processor is further configured to predict an efficiency of respective destinations with respect to the source characteristic information for a respective communication, normalized by a predicted respective cost of the respective destination.

12. The system according to claim 8,

wherein the plurality of respective destinations comprise human agents within a call center;

and

wherein the at least one automated processor is further configured to;

retrieve respective database records associated with the plurality of human callers for the human agents, and

to produce the packet switched routing information further dependent on at least a predicted utility value of a cost-benefit function dependent on at least benefits to the respective sources and costs of the respective destinations.

13. A method for routing communications within a packet switched communication network from sources to respective destinations, each communication being associated with source characteristic information which characterizes the communication with respect to a plurality of distinct content-related or source-related characteristics, each destination being associated with destination characteristic information, comprising:

receiving the communications through a packet switched communication network interface from the packet switched communication network;

storing destination characteristic information defining a plurality of characteristics for each of a plurality of possible destinations in a memory;

producing packet switched routing information for each respective communication, with at least one automated processor, responsive to at least one economic function of at least;

the source characteristic information,

the destination characteristic information,

a state of the packet switched communication network, and

a predicted change in the state of the packet switched communication network as a result of the packet switched routing information; and

routing the communications with a packet switched communication network router selectively dependent on the produced packet switched routing information, to thereby change a state of the packet switched communication network subsequent to the routing of the communications.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein:

the respective communications do not explicitly define respective destinations for the communication;

packet switched routing information for a respective first communication from a first source to a respective first destination is inconsistent with packet switched routing information for concurrent routing of a respective second communication from a second source to a respective second destination;

the packet switched communication router changes a state of the packet switched communication network in a manner that constrains subsequent availability of respective destinations in response to the packet switched routing information; and

the economic function is analyzed to determine an optimum destination for the respective communication.

15. The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

executing a software operating system having a message queue on the at least one automated processor;

communicating with the packet switched communication network router via messages passed through the message queue; and

producing the packet switched routing information for each respective communication responsive to the at least one economic function by implementing at least one automated auction with the at least one automated processor.

16. The method according to claim 13, further comprising predicting an efficiency of respective destinations with respect to the source characteristic information for a respective communication, normalized by a predicted respective cost of the respective destination, with the at least one automated processor.

17. The method according to claim 13, wherein the plurality of respective destinations comprise human agents within a call center, further comprising:

retrieving respective database records associated with the plurality of human callers for the human agents from an automated database storage and retrieval system, and

producing the packet switched routing information by the at least one automated processor further dependent on at least a predicted utility value of a cost-benefit function dependent on at least benefits to the respective sources and costs of the respective destinations.

18. The method according to claim 13, wherein the destination characteristic information comprises respective proficiencies of a plurality of agents for handing received communications according to a respective communication type.

19. The method according to claim 13, wherein the at least one economic function is selected from one or more of the group consisting of at least one of a cost function, a benefit function, a cost-benefit function, and a utility function.

20. The method according to claim 13, wherein the at least one economic function is responsive to a predicted future state of a customer satisfaction of a respective customer, resulting from the routing of the respective communication to the respective customer.