| Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
|---|
| 379266010 | Call or agent queuing | 83 |
| 20080205630 | Method and system for entering and managing a caller in a call queue via an untethered form of communication - A method, system and program for entering a prospective caller in a call queue, specifically to a selection of methods and systems allowing a caller to enter a call queue utilizing an untethered form of communication based on information conveyed over a network that does not originate from a telephone or softphone. A prospective caller, who would normally use a telephone to call and enter a call queue, can do so with other means over the network, such as Instant Messaging, E-Mail, SMS, etc. When the system receives such a request, it is placed in the appropriate call queue and handled in manner similar to a call made from a telephone, not requiring the caller to hold on the telephone while in the queue. | 08-28-2008 |
| 20080273687 | System and Method for Providing Customer Activities While in Queue - A system and method for providing customer activities while in queue allows for one or more customers to interact with one or more customer activities while waiting to speak with a live agent. The customers engage the customer activities while holding in a queue where the customer activities reduce the boredom, frustration, and perceived hold duration associated with holding to speak to a live agent. The customers are offered one or more options of the customer activities to interact with and the system and method monitors the customers' selections and interaction with the customer activities. As agents become available, each customer is transferred to an agent along with information regarding the customer's interaction with a selected customer activity. Upon completion of the interaction between the agent and the customer, the customer has the option to return to the selected customer activity and continue interacting with the selected customer activity. | 11-06-2008 |
| 20090010420 | Method of managing queue at the service provider end - The present invention relates to a method for assisting in reducing the queue length in public and private waiting areas such as government organizations or quasi government organizations or private sector organizations or individuals or group of individuals wherein the method is based on the concept of providing to the customer data which would enable him to take decision that would either reduce the queue length at the service provider's end and/or reduce his waiting time and/or reduce the customer service cost and/or enhance the customer satisfaction. | 01-08-2009 |
| 20090034711 | Multiple Queuing and Servicing of a Contact - A contact originator is given a choice to enqueue the contact in multiple contact queues, to serve multiple needs or interests of the originator. If the contact reaches the head of the queue for the primary need while the contact is being serviced from a queue for a secondary need, the contact either remains at the head of the primary-need queue until the servicing at the secondary-need queue is completed, or a resource of the primary-need queue is conferenced in with the contact and the resource of the secondary-need queue so that the resources can serve both needs simultaneously. | 02-05-2009 |
| 20090086959 | Method and System for Hierarchicy Based Contact Routing - Resource allocation in a contact center can be performed using a network of nodes. Such a network of nodes can be organized according into resource nodes, domain nodes, and service nodes, with paths from the domain nodes, through the service nodes, to the resource nodes being used in the allocation. | 04-02-2009 |
| 20090103711 | Methods and systems for determining inappropriate threats during a telephonic communication between a customer and a contact center - The invention relates to a method and system for analyzing an electronic communication, more particularly, to analyzing a telephone communication between a customer and a contact center to determine inappropriate threats made during a telephonic communication. | 04-23-2009 |
| 20090116635 | Handling of a Session Initiation Protocol-Capable Telecommunications Terminal that is Put on Hold - A method is disclosed that enables the proper treatment of a queued call by a call center, or other data-processing system capable of queuing calls, in which the calling terminal of the queued call has been put on hold by its user. The call center is able to detect the terminal being put on hold by monitoring for a SIP re-INVITE request, in which the session description signifies an on-hold condition. When it is determined that the calling terminal is on hold, the call center modifies its treatment of the queued call. For example, the call center might freeze the call's position in the queue until the calling party takes the phone off of hold. As another example, the call center might allow the call to work its way to the top of the queue, with the terminal on hold, and then maintain the call's position at the top of the queue until a service agent is available. | 05-07-2009 |
| 20090116636 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR HANDLING A TELEPHONE CALL - One embodiment of the invention provides a method of handling a telephone call. The method includes providing a multi-tenanted computer-telephony integration (CTI) server. The different tenants correspond to various outlets for one or more product or service offerings. The CTI server is located outside the customer premises for the various outlets. The method further includes receiving a call directed to one of the outlets and using CLI for the call by the CTI server to identify the calling party and a customer profile for the calling party. The customer profile is based on previous orders. The method further includes queuing the call within the network if it is determined that the outlet is unable to currently service the call, and forwarding the call to the outlet to process the call. The CTI server uses the customer profile for providing priority call handling treatment for loyal customers. | 05-07-2009 |
| 20090122973 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED CALL DISTRIBUTION - Aspects of systems and methods for maintaining and operating agent nodes are provided. In some embodiments, calls, contacts, and other work units may be routed to individual customer service agents via a centralized queue based on a variety of factors. Some embodiments may provide market-based call pricing and customer service agent compensation. | 05-14-2009 |
| 20090154689 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FORWARDING A SESSION BASED ON A RECORDING CAPACITY - A system and method for forwarding a session based on a recording capacity. A recording sub-system may inform a session forwarding component of a recording capacity associated with agents. A forwarding component may select an agent to handle a session based on a recording capacity associated with the agent. A session may be interrupted if the recording capacity associated with the session is reduced below a predefined level. | 06-18-2009 |
| 20090190749 | Jumping callers held in queue for a call center routing system - Methods and systems are provided for routing callers to agents in a call-center routing environment. An exemplary method includes identifying caller data for a caller in a queue of callers, and jumping or moving the caller to a different position within the queue based on the caller data. The caller data may include one or both of demographic data and psychographic data. The caller can be jumped forward or backward in the queue relative to at least one other caller. Jumping the caller may further be based on comparing the caller data with agent data via a pattern matching algorithm and/or computer model for predicting a caller-agent pair outcome. Additionally, if a caller is held beyond a hold threshold (e.g., a time, “cost” function, or the like) the caller may be routed to the next available agent. | 07-30-2009 |
| 20090207996 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ELIMINATING HOLD-TIME IN PHONE CALLS - An independent calling system (ICS) used in a transaction between a waiting party and a queuing party includes the queuing party having a queuing calling system (QCS) with the ICS adapted to communicate with the QCS and determine a hold status of the transaction. | 08-20-2009 |
| 20090214021 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR IMPROVED ROUTING OF REPAIR CALLS TO A CALL CENTER - Processing a communication received at a communications center over a communications network includes determining whether a sender of the communication sent previous communications to a communications center based on identification information obtained from the communication. Communication is routed to an agent, from a first group of agents, when it is determined that the sender did not send previous communications to the communications center. The communication is processed by generating a report by the agent from the first group of agents. Communication is routed to an agent, from a second group of agents, when it is determined that the sender sent send previous communications to the communications center. The communication is re-processed by retrieving an existing report by the agent from the second group of agents. | 08-27-2009 |
| 20090245501 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR EXECUTING AGENT - Systems for executing a number of agents in a multiagent system are presented including: an agent executing apparatus for managing a number of active agents and for controlling activities associated with the number of active agents such that the number of active agents are cooperatively processed, where the agent executing apparatus is configured to provide an intra-transaction message mechanism and an out-of-transaction message mechanism; a cache for temporarily storing the number of active agents, where the number of active agents include a first active agent in a committed transaction and a second active agent in an uncommitted transaction; a permanent storage device for storing the number of agents before the number of agents enter a running state. | 10-01-2009 |
| 20090274293 | Network Router For Heterogeneous ACD System - A method and apparatus for routing contacts within an automatic contact distribution system having a plurality of automatic contact distributors. The method includes the steps of receiving a request for contact from a human client through a public communication system and randomly tendering the contact request to some subset of the plurality of automatic contact distributors. | 11-05-2009 |
| 20090285385 | Queuing Systems for Contact Centers - Customers queuing in the contact center are provided with the option to request a ticket number. Upon a ticket number being generated for the customer, the customer may disconnect or hang up, and an absentee contact is maintained in a queuing system. This allows the customer to reconnect within a predefined period and regain a place in a queue, possibly at a more advantageous position or at the top of the queue. Alternatively, the customer may reconnect at a less favorable position, but without having to re-enter all customer details in order to be allocated to an appropriate queue. | 11-19-2009 |
| 20090296919 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPTIMIZING LAYERED SERVICE ROUTING OF A CALL CENTER - A method and apparatus for optimizing layered service routing of a call center is provided. The method includes setting a level parameter threshold for each level group in a call queue, determining a compared call from the tail of the call queue when a new call arrives; inserting the new call after the compared call if a current level parameter of the compared call is larger than or equal to a level parameter threshold of a level group where the compared call belongs when the level of the new call is higher than the level of the compared call, and routing calls from the head of the call queue. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090323922 | METHOD FOR PROVIDING CALL SERVICES BY CALL CENTER, CALL SERVICE SYSTEM AND SERVER THEREOF - A method for providing call services by a call center, a call service system, and a server thereof are provided. The method includes: receiving user calls from users; determining a corresponding service sequence of each of the users in a call service queue according to a time sequence of the users calls from the users; collecting information of the users when the users are waiting for call services in the call service queue; and providing, according to the corresponding service sequence of the user in the call service queue, the call service to the user if it is the user's turn to accept the call service. Thus, the waiting time of the users is shortened, and the satisfaction degree is enhanced. | 12-31-2009 |
| 20100027779 | METHOD, DEVICE, AND PROGRAM FOR CALCULATING NUMBER OF OPERATORS NEEDED - A workforce requirement calculation device | 02-04-2010 |
| 20100040222 | Queuing System, Method And Device - A system and method for managing requests for service from customer terminals ( | 02-18-2010 |
| 20100128867 | CALL QUEUING FOR LOCATION-AWARE MOBILE DEVICES - A mobile device can be assigned to an extension configured as a Queue Agent (“QA”) in a call-queuing enabled virtual private branch exchange (vPBX). This and other mobile or fixed devices can be interconnected to form a virtual call center. Each extension can be assigned various rules, which specify how the incoming calls are answered at the extension and how calls in the call queue are selected for answering by the QA. As part of the rules, the vPBX system forwards calls from a call queue to the QA based on QA's availability status. If a location-aware mobile device is associated with the QA, the vPBX system can determine the QA's availability status based on a geographic location of the mobile device. A most geographically proximate agent can be selected for answering the call. | 05-27-2010 |
| 20100172487 | Method and system for managing interactive communications campaign using a hold queue - A web-based hosted solution (a managed service or system) through which business entities create and manage communications campaigns, such as interactive campaigns that afford target recipients an opportunity to be connected to a call center. To reduce latency of customer-to-agent connections, the system implements an agent stay-on-line function by which a persistent telephony connection is established and maintained between the system infrastructure and an available agent. In this manner, the agent may handle multiple customers while avoiding an ACD hold queue. In addition, preferably a service-side hold queue also is established and maintained on the service-side of the infrastructure. This hold queue maintains calls that are waiting to be connected to available agents. It ensures that any customer abandons (on the service side) do not impair the connections that are being established and maintained to the agents. The managed service carries out a communications campaign on behalf of a client. A “campaign” refers to a series of calls to a contact list using one or more sub-campaigns. A sub-campaign associates a list of contacts, a script, and a timeframe. | 07-08-2010 |
| 20100189250 | System and method for managing, directing, and queuing communication events - A queue interface system and method for queuing voice calls for use with a communication system having queues includes a queue selector allowing a user to select a queue from a list of queues on a display. In an embodiment, one or more of the queues on the list of queues is a service agent queue. Further, the queue interface system includes an expected wait time component for displaying an expected wait time for a customer for the selected queue. The system also includes a call options selector providing a hold option and a call option. The hold option places a call in the selected queue and the call option causes a call to occur. In an embodiment, the call option further includes assigning a placeholder for a customer in the selected queue and causing a call to the customer to occur after the expected wait time. | 07-29-2010 |
| 20100195814 | Notification method and system of call center - A notification method and a notification system of a call center are disclosed. The method includes that the call center establishes a session with a client, inquires state information of agents, and if there is no idle agent, places the session in a waiting queue to wait for an idle agent allocated, and synchronously plays broadcast media for the client corresponding to the session in the waiting queue. In the embodiment of the invention, services with the same content are provided for part or all of the clients of the sessions in a waiting state by the broadcast way Compared with a unicast way adopted in the conventional art, the same content is not required to be respectively and repeatedly played for various client, and the clients of the sessions in the waiting state exit the call center after obtaining the desired information, which relieves queuing pressure of the call center, saves waiting time of the clients in sessions and increases work efficiency of the call center. | 08-05-2010 |
| 20100266116 | Pacing in Knowledge Worker Engagement - A method for mapping ready agents to incoming transactions has steps for (a) placing incoming transactions in a first queue managed by software executing from a machine-readable medium on a computerized appliance; (b) issuing a determined number of invitations in a period of time to agents known to be available to consider an invitation to interact with an incoming transaction; (c) placing identification of ready agents, who have accepted an invitation to interact, in a second queue managed by the software; (d) mapping transactions from the first queue to agents from the second queue; (e) monitoring changes in state of both the first and the second queues in the time period; and (f) adjusting determined number of invitations in step (b) in a manner to drive a chosen system performance metric toward a desired target value. | 10-21-2010 |
| 20100303226 | BARTERING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING POSITION IN A WAIT QUEUE IN A CONTACT CENTER - A contact center establishes a communication with a user. The communication is placed into a position in a wait queue that has other position(s) with other communication(s) that are waiting to be serviced by contact center agents. An offer is made to the user to change an amount of time to wait in the wait queue before being connected to a contact center agent. The offer can be based on a commodity such as money, frequent flyer miles, willingness to listen to an advertisement while holding, completing a survey, and the like. In response to the user accepting the offer, the position of the communication in the wait queue is changed to a different position. This allows the user to interactively adjust their wait time. | 12-02-2010 |
| 20100322406 | Servicing Calls in Call Centers Based On Estimated Call Value - Methods for enabling call center agents to adapt their servicing of incoming calls based on the estimated value of the calls are disclosed. In accordance with the first illustrative embodiment, when there is a “high-value” call waiting in the queue while one or more agents are currently servicing lower-value calls, an agent who is servicing a lower-value call is informed that there is a higher-value call waiting in the queue, and is prompted to provide an estimate of how much longer he or she will be servicing his or her current call. The call center system selects which agent the high-value call will be routed to based on: (i) the agents' responses to the prompts, and (ii) for each of the responding agents, a measure of how closely prior responses from the agent compared to the actual amount of time taken by the agent to complete servicing the call. | 12-23-2010 |
| 20100322407 | Servicing Calls in Call Centers Based on Caller Geo-Location - Methods are disclosed for servicing incoming calls at a call center based on one or more of the following: the geo-locations of the calling telecommunications terminals; the direction of movement of the calling telecommunications terminals (e.g., north, south, toward a particular geo-location or area, away from a particular geo-location or area, etc.); the speed of movement of the calling telecommunications terminals; and the local time at the calling telecommunications terminal. For example, in accordance with the illustrative embodiments, a person who calls the Home Depot® call center from his or her cell phone while in a Home Depot® store might be given priority over another call that was received earlier but was not placed from a Home Depot® store. | 12-23-2010 |
| 20110019812 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INTERACTIVE CUSTOMER SERVICE - A method is implemented by one or more server devices associated with a network. The method includes receiving information relating to a customer service request, where the information includes data to identify a category of the customer service request. The method also includes receiving a request to speak with a customer service agent, and placing a service call request in a calling queue associated with the category of the customer service request. The method further includes monitoring availability of customer service agents associated with the calling queue, and sending a call initiation message to the access terminal when a customer service agent associated with the calling queue is available. Based on the call initiation message, the access terminal may automatically initiate a voice session with an available customer service agent. | 01-27-2011 |
| 20110206199 | TIME-BASED WORK ASSIGNMENTS IN AUTOMATED CONTACT DISTRIBUTION - A contact center is described and systems, methods, and devices for processing work items within the contact center are provided. An Estimated Contact Handling Time (ECHT) is computed for one or more work items in the contact center and work items are distributed within the contact center at least partially based on the ECHT calculations. Thus, a time-based contact routing mechanism is provided to increase the efficiency with which a contact center operates. | 08-25-2011 |
| 20110255683 | ONE-TO-ONE MATCHING IN A CONTACT CENTER - A queueless contact center is described along with various methods and mechanisms for administering the same. The contact center proposed herein provides the ability to, among other things, achieve true one-to-one matching. Solutions are also provided for managing data structures utilized by the queueless contact center. Furthermore, mechanisms for generating traditional queue-based performance views and metrics for the queueless contact center are proposed to help facilitate a smooth transition from traditional queue-based contact centers to the next generation contact centers described herein. | 10-20-2011 |
| 20120069987 | Computer Telephony Integration Device and Resource Management Method and Incoming Call Control Method - A Computer Telecommunication Integration (CTI) device in a call center is disclosed. This device comprises a CTI management module, one or more CTI units and an agent caching pool shared by said CTI units. Said CTI management module is configured to configure and register CTI units, and monitor states of said CTI units. The CTI unit is configured to manage agents which are subordinate to this CTI unit, and select an idle agent which is able to provide services, and return the selection result to said CTI management module. The agent caching pool is configured to cache an identifier of said agent, a state of said agent, and the information of the CTI unit to which said agent is subordinate. The technical scheme also provides a method for managing resources and a method for controlling an incoming call applied to a call center. | 03-22-2012 |
| 20120099721 | RESTORATION OF A CALLER TO A PREVIOUS PLACE IN AN ON-HOLD QUEUE - A method for an automated call distribution system to re-associate a caller with a queue position previously established in an on-hold queue. The method includes receiving a first incoming call from a caller and assigning the caller to a position in an on-hold queue when the caller is placed on-hold by the automated call distribution system. A placeholder for the caller may then be assigned in the on-hold queue when the caller disconnects with the automated call distribution system. The placeholder corresponds to the position of the caller in the on-hold queue and is associated with a caller identifier. The method further includes receiving a second incoming call from the caller and associating the second incoming call with the caller identifier. It is then determined that the caller is associated with the placeholder. The caller is placed back into the on-hold queue at the position of the placeholder. | 04-26-2012 |
| 20120140916 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR QUEUE ROUTING - Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method and an apparatus for queue routing. The method includes: obtaining history behavior information of a user accessing a call center system; analyzing the history behavior information, and performing queue routing on a call of the user based on an analysis result of the history behavior information. The embodiments of the present invention further disclose an apparatus for queue routing, including: an information obtaining module and a call processing module. By using the technical solutions according to the embodiments of the present invention, a dynamic queue routing mechanism is provided according to the history behavior information of the user, and thus, a more refined service manner is provided for the user and user experience is improved. | 06-07-2012 |
| 20130177149 | APPLY TIME FOR TEMPORARY ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES - Methods and systems for supporting manual control of automatic call distribution systems are provided. In particular, an administrator can manipulate parameters associated with call center queues and/or call center agents in order to improve the performance of an in-trouble queue. The changes are reversed after a predetermined period of time has elapsed, and/or after the previously in-trouble queue has returned to a healthy state. | 07-11-2013 |
| 20130202102 | DYNAMIC CALL SPECIAL TREATMENT BASED ON AGGREGATE CALL HOLD QUEUE TIME - A computer places in a call queue a call having caller identification information. The computer creates a database record that includes the caller identification information of the call placed in the call queue and an aggregate call queue duration value representing the aggregate time that one or more calls having the caller identification information have been in the call queue. The computer calculates a call queue duration for the call, and adds the calculated call queue duration for the call to the aggregate call queue duration value of the database record associated with the caller identification information of the call. If the aggregate call queue duration value exceeds a predetermined value, the computer provides special treatment to the call. | 08-08-2013 |
| 20130243180 | COMMUNICATION DEVICE FOR ESTABLISHING AUTOMATED CALL BACK USING QUEUES - A communication device is provided for enabling a user to establish an automated call back from a communication system, such as a call center, for example. A software device application enables the communication device to communicate with the call center through the exchange of data. The communication device includes a display screen for displaying controls for allowing the user to interact with the communication system. The controls allow the user to request a list of providers from which to select a provider or company to contact. The communication device further provides controls for allowing the user to select a queue to join from a list of queues associated with the selected provider. An embodiment may also communicate contextual data between a communication device and a communication system, including information associated with the user of the communication device and information used to assist, instruct, or solve a user's problem. | 09-19-2013 |
| 20130336472 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR QUEUING A COMMUNICATION SESSION - A system and method including receiving a request to enqueue a communication session; adding the communication session to the queue of a plurality of communication sessions; upon adding the communication to the queue, transferring control logic to the configured wait-state application; receiving a dequeue request initiated by a second entity; in response to the dequeue request, managing the procession of communication sessions in the queue; and dequeuing a communication session from the queue. | 12-19-2013 |
| 20140023186 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SELECTIVELY ROUTING CALLS TO A CALL CENTER - Systems and methods of routing calls may include receiving a plurality of calls, and for each of the plurality of calls, determining a threshold time that may be a maximum service time for the call, estimating an expected service time for the call, comparing the threshold time with the expected service time for the call, and assigning the call into one of a plurality of queues based upon the comparing. The method of routing may further include prioritizing the plurality of queues based upon the expected service time for each call in each of the plurality of queues, directing each call in a first queue of the plurality of queues to a first group of agents, and providing a callback prompt to each call in a second queue of the plurality of queues, wherein a priority of the first queue is higher than a priority of the second queue. | 01-23-2014 |
| 20140086405 | MANAGEMENT OF QUEUES IN CONTACT CENTRES - Contacts are managed within a contact centre by representing each contact as a software object which contains skillset and priority identifiers. Contact objects are queued relative to one another by means of references to and/or from the object(s) immediately ahead of and behind each contact. In this way a conventional queue can be dispensed with. Queries can be made to a plurality of contact centres across a network to identify objects matching certain criteria at the top of each local queue. In this way a set of local queues substitutes for a network queue providing increased resilience in the case of the failure of any individual component of the network or of the network itself. | 03-27-2014 |
| 20140153710 | DISTRIBUTED EVENT DELIVERY - A distributed method of delivering events to agent devices. A first software module generates an event, e.g., a screen pop event or a ringing event, for delivery to a second module responsible for an agent device. A third module, which may be the same module as the first module, evaluates a hash function to determine an identifier for the second module from an identifier for the agent device. The first module delivers the event to the second module, which responds to the event, e.g., by causing an agent device to generate a ringing alert or to display a screen pop. | 06-05-2014 |
| 20140153711 | METHOD FOR THE OPERATION OF A SYSTEM AND SYSTEM FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF CALLS TO A CALL CENTER - A method is provided for the operation of a system for the administration of calls to a call center. A first call initiated by a caller using a call number allocated to the call center is automatically received and held in a waiting queue. A waiting position with respect to the first call is determined and the first call is ranged in the waiting queue corresponding to the determined waiting position. The calls held in the waiting queue are forwarded one after the other to an available call center agent. The first call is terminated within a time interval if the call has not been forwarded, and a second call to the caller is initiated by using a recorded call number. If the second call is answered, the second call will be ranged in the waiting queue, wherein the waiting position is determined in consideration of the first call. | 06-05-2014 |
| 20140192972 | SYSTEM AND METHOD OF AUTOMATED ORDER STATUS RETRIEVAL - A computer-readable storage device stores instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations including selectively transferring a call to equipment of a customer service agent based on an order status. The call is automatically transferred to the equipment of the customer service agent in response to receiving an indication that the order status is not locatable. | 07-10-2014 |
| 20140294172 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATICALLY ROUTING A TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION - A method for automatically routing a telephonic communication to at least one of a plurality of communication destination addresses is provided. The method is implemented by a computer readable medium having a plurality of code segments. The method comprises the step of receiving customer identifier and communicating with a customer history database configured to store historic data. The method also includes determining whether the received customer identifier corresponds to a stored customer identifier in the customer history database. Historic data corresponding to the stored customer number is identified based on the comparison of the received customer identifier and the stored customer identifier. The telephonic communication is associated with a predetermined communication destination based on the identified historic data. The associated communication data is transmitted to a switching signal. | 10-02-2014 |
| 20140314226 | EXTERNAL CONTACT CENTER DATA COLLECTION AND MEASUREMENT - External queue monitoring of contact center queues is provided as a means that may better service the customer and measure service level objectives. External queue monitoring provides the opportunity for real-time monitoring of the queue and modification of contact center operations, such as devices routing queue members, in response to queuing or enqueued customers. | 10-23-2014 |
| 20140314227 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SPEECH-ENABLED CALL ROUTING - In a particular embodiment, a method includes determining, at a processor, a first destination based on a communication associated with a source, wherein an account is associated with the source. The method further includes determining a storage value associated with the account, wherein the storage value is associated with an amount of available storage associated with the account. The method further includes routing the communication based on a comparison of the storage value to a threshold. | 10-23-2014 |
| 20140369486 | CALL QUEUING FOR LOCATION-AWARE MOBILE DEVICES - A mobile device can be assigned to an extension configured as a Queue Agent (“QA”) in a call-queuing enabled virtual private branch exchange (vPBX). This and other mobile or fixed devices can be interconnected to form a virtual call center. Each extension can be assigned various rules, which specify how the incoming calls are answered at the extension and how calls in the call queue are selected for answering by the QA. As part of the rules, the vPBX system forwards calls from a call queue to the QA based on QA's availability status. If a location-aware mobile device is associated with the QA, the vPBX system can determine the QA's availability status based on a geographic location of the mobile device. A most geographically proximate agent can be selected for answering the call. | 12-18-2014 |
| 20140376716 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPTIMIZING RESPONSE TIME TO EVENTS IN QUEUE - A system for optimizing response time to events or representations thereof waiting in a queue has a first server having access to the queue; a software application running on the first server; and a second server accessible from the first server, the second server containing rules governing the optimization. In a preferred embodiment, the software application at least periodically accesses the queue and parses certain ones of events or tokens in the queue and compares the parsed results against rules accessed from the second server in order to determine a measure of disposal time for each parsed event wherein if the determined measure is sufficiently low for one or more of the parsed events, those one or more events are modified to a reflect a higher priority state than originally assigned enabling faster treatment of those events resulting in relief from those events to the queue system load. | 12-25-2014 |
| 20150055773 | OUTBOUND PACING MECHANISM FOR IVR - A pacing system and method for determining information related to a state of a call queue of an automatic call distributor (ACD). The information is based on a number of calls in the ACD queue waiting to be connected to a live agent. The pacing system and method controls a number of outbound calls being made by the IVR based system to a number of end users based on the information related to the ACD queue state. | 02-26-2015 |
| 20150078548 | Adaptive Stochastic Queueing - An Adaptive Stochastic Queueing device comprises a process that maintains a plurality of queues defined around the known and changing resource usage history of an ensemble of customers, customers seeking access to a resource. Applying a stochastic approach that reflects the history of each customer in reference to the ensemble history, the queues intercept and sort customers. A stochastic sequencer sequences customers from the queues to the resource in a manner that selectively promotes customers in a manner attuned to the application using the device. | 03-19-2015 |
| 20150103998 | Dialing Management System and Method - A system and method handling and sorting calls includes maintaining leads in a database, segregating the leads based on type, performing automated calls for each of a first stream of leads, and queuing the second stream of leads in the list manager application to provide a newest available lead to a user interfacing with the list manager application. The user initiates a call via the list manager application to the newest available lead, and transfers the call to a sales representative when the newest available lead indicates an interest to the user via a telephone conversation that a purchase may be desired, or ends the call when the newest available lead indicates no interest, there is no answer for the call, or there is no call being completed. | 04-16-2015 |
| 20150117633 | Outbound Calling Center Inventory Management - Systems and methods for optimizing inventory assignment amongst a plurality of Producers to achieve maximum revenue from a given inventory are provided. The system employs historical analysis of each producer's relative liquidation rate at a given percentage of capacity. The inventory is then assigned to the producers such that the anticipated relative liquidation rate for each producer working the inventory is substantially equal to a target relative liquidation rate. | 04-30-2015 |
| 20150124957 | Centralized Caller Profile System and Methods for Routing and Prioritizing Calls - Disclosed is a Centralized Caller Profile System and methods for routing and prioritizing calls. The disclosed systems and methods provide enhanced customer service by allowing multiple parties to update and share the same set of profile information from a centralized database. The disclosed systems and methods provide for faster, easier access to profile information, more efficient call routing, and the ability to prioritize callers in a caller queue. | 05-07-2015 |
| 20150139417 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COMMUNICATION ROUTING - A system and method are presented for communication routing. Communications may be routed into a queue based on criteria. A communication may be assigned to a distribution ring and a determination may be made as to whether there is an availability of resources to handle the communication. A communication may be re-routed if it cannot be handled to a new group. Re-routing may be based on criteria such as time delay, non-time based criteria such as skills, and environmental criteria, to name a few. Re-routing may continue until a communication is handled. The routing design may resemble concentric circles where the center represents the most desirable pool of handlers and each incremental ring represents the iterative expansion sets of agents. | 05-21-2015 |
| 20150312416 | VOICE CALL DIVERSION TO ALTERNATE COMMUNICATION METHOD - A method of voice call diversion includes detecting an incoming voice call communication from a calling device, identifying an alternate communication option, providing the alternate communication option to the calling device, detecting a selection of the alternate communication option from the calling device, and diverting the incoming voice call communication so as to utilize the selected alternate communication option. | 10-29-2015 |
| 20150350440 | MECHANISM FOR WORK ASSIGNMENT IN A GRAPH-BASED CONTACT CENTER - A graph database is described for use in connection with a contact center. The graph database includes a plurality of nodes and relationships that describe the operations, entities, personnel, and attributes in the contact center. Also described is the operation of a work assignment engine that leverages the graph database to make intelligent and flexible work assignment decisions. | 12-03-2015 |
| 20150350441 | CHARITY CALL MANAGEMENT PROGRAM - Techniques for improved management of charity calling programs are described. According to various embodiments, a request from a caller to participate in a charity call program associated with a particular charitable organization is received. A recipient that is currently not assigned to a caller associated with the charity call program is identified, based on an electronic recipient call list. Contact information associated with the recipient is then provided to the caller. Thereafter, it is determined that the caller has successfully communicated with the specific recipient. The electronic recipient call list is then updated to indicate that the caller has successfully communicated with the specific recipient. | 12-03-2015 |
| 20160021251 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SIMULATING VIRTUAL QUEUING OF CALLS - The present method and system provides for call center simulation including receiving a plurality of input parameters relating to call center operations, wherein the call center operations include a main queue for processing on-hold calls and a virtual queue for processing a plurality of call back requests. The method and system further includes generating a call arrival dataset based at least on the plurality of input parameters and simulating call center operations for managing the call arrival dataset across the time sequence, including placing a portion of the call arrival dataset into the virtual queue. The method and system includes simulating a metering of the call arrival dataset in the virtual queue for a metered wait time based at least on a queuing factor and generating a simulation output indicating operations processed via the main queue and the virtual queue. | 01-21-2016 |
| 20160100060 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR QUEUING A COMMUNICATION SESSION - A system and method including receiving a request to enqueue a communication session; adding the communication session to the queue of a plurality of communication sessions; upon adding the communication to the queue, transferring control logic to the configured wait-state application; receiving a dequeue request initiated by a second entity; in response to the dequeue request, managing the procession of communication sessions in the queue; and dequeuing a communication session from the queue. | 04-07-2016 |
| 20160134754 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPTIMIZING RESPONSE TIME TO EVENTS IN QUEUE - A system for optimizing response time to events or representations thereof waiting in a queue has a first server having access to the queue; a software application running on the first server; and a second server accessible from the first server, the second server containing rules governing the optimization. In a preferred embodiment, the software application at least periodically accesses the queue and parses certain ones of events or tokens in the queue and compares the parsed results against rules accessed from the second server in order to determine a measure of disposal time for each parsed event wherein if the determined measure is sufficiently low for one or more of the parsed events, those one or more events are modified to a reflect a higher priority state than originally assigned enabling faster treatment of those events resulting in relief from those events to the queue system load. | 05-12-2016 |
| 379266020 | Based on type of call | 5 |
| 20080219429 | IMPLEMENTING A CONTACT CENTER USING OPEN STANDARDS AND NON-PROPRIETARY COMPONENTS - The present invention discloses an open contact center formed from multiple contact center components that conform to open standards and that intercommunicate utilizing open standards. The open contact center can provide automated interactive communications with callers, can provide queue management for callers waiting to communicate with live agents, can provide skills based routing for assigning live agents to callers based upon skills of the live agents and skills needed by the callers, and can provide tooling for provisioning and monitoring the live agents. In one configuration, the contact center components can execute within a middleware solution, such as WEBSPHERE, that has IP Multimedia Subsystem capability. Additionally, the contact center components can be implemented as service oriented architecture (SOA) components that communicate over an enterprise service bus (ESB). | 09-11-2008 |
| 20130223618 | INSTANT MESSAGE CONTACT MANAGEMENT IN A CONTACT CENTER - The present invention is directed to a method for servicing a transaction in a contact center. When an instant message communication associated with a transaction is suspended prematurely, special treatment may be provided to the transaction initiator. The special treatment includes: (a) maintaining the assigned service priority for the transaction for assignment to a subsequent communication; (b) scheduling a subsequent outbound instant message to an external endpoint associated with the transaction initiator; (c) assigning to the transaction initiator a favored service priority when the subsequent inbound instant message is received by the contact center; and (d) maintaining previously selected item(s) in memory and providing the item(s) to the transaction initiator in a subsequent communication. | 08-29-2013 |
| 20130251139 | COMMUNICATION SYSTEM FOR ESTABLISHING AUTOMATED CALL BACK USING QUEUES - A communication device is provided for enabling a user to establish an automated call back from a communication system, such as a call center, for example. A software device application enables the communication device to communicate with the call center through the exchange of data. The communication device includes a display screen for displaying controls for allowing the user to interact with the communication system. The controls allow the user to request a list of providers from which to select a provider or company to contact. The communication device further provides controls for allowing the user to select a queue to join from a list of queues associated with the selected provider. An embodiment may also communicate contextual data between a communication device and a communication system, including information associated with the user of the communication device and information used to assist, instruct, or solve a user's problem. | 09-26-2013 |
| 20150036817 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR TRACKING CALLS RESPONSIVE TO ADVERTISEMENTS USING BACK CHANNEL MESSAGING AND DATA CHANNEL COMMUNICATIONS - Systems, methods, apparatus, and computer-readable media are provided to track call information pertinent to calls responsive to advertisements. A message may be received via a data network from a communication device running an application. The application may be associated with a communication reference. Responsive to selection of a user-selectable option that may correspond to an advertisement presented via the communication device, the message may be sent, via the data network, to a call information handling system. The message may indicate call information. Unique identification of the communication device and/or a user may be determined. The call information may be stored in a tracking information repository in association with the unique identification. | 02-05-2015 |
| 20220141338 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SECURE CALL ROUTING AND QUEUING - An agent queuing system implemented without relying on a private branch exchange. The queuing system can be cloud-based and routes calls to agents, for example, through a first-in/first-out (FIFO) queue. Clients are assigned a unique number that identify one or more queues. When a call is received, a database maintains the unique number that was called and the associated company information is retrieved, along with any queues allocated for their company. A call is placed to the next available agent from the selected queue. A recording is played to the agent identifying the queue the call is arriving from and the agent is prompted to accept the call. If the call is accepted, the agent is taken out of the available agent pool for the duration of the call. The call can be routed without exposing the phone numbers of the caller or agent involved in the call. | 05-05-2022 |
| 379266030 | Based on time (e.g., age of queued call, time of day, date) | 5 |
| 20090190750 | Routing callers out of queue order for a call center routing system - Methods and systems are provided for routing callers to agents in a call-center routing environment. An exemplary method includes identifying caller data for a caller of a plurality of callers in a queue, and routing the caller from the queue out of queue order. For example, a caller that is not at the top of the queue may be routed from the queue based on the identified caller data, out of order with respect to the queue order. The caller may be routed to another queue of callers, a pool of callers, or an agent based on the identified caller data, where the caller data may include one or both of demographic and psychographic data. The caller may be routed from the queue based on comparing the caller data with agent data associated with an agent via a pattern matching algorithm and/or computer model for predicting a caller-agent pair outcome. Additionally, if a caller is held beyond a hold threshold (e.g., a time, “cost” function, or the like) the caller may be routed to the next available agent. | 07-30-2009 |
| 20130058476 | PROCESSING METHOD AND DEVICE FOR TIMEOUT OF QUEUING REQUEST - A certain embodiment of the invention discloses a processing method and device for timeout of a queuing request. The method comprises the steps of: after a first queuing request in a waiting queue is timeout, setting the first queuing request to be in a queuing-paused state, and prompting a timeout (S | 03-07-2013 |
| 20130223619 | ADAPTIVE ESTIMATED WAIT TIME PREDICTOR - Systems and methods for providing adaptive estimated wait time predictions for work items are provided. More particularly, a processor-enabled module may select a best estimated wait time algorithm from among a plurality of estimated wait time algorithms that meets the accuracy and calculation resource conditions of a contact center based on rules. Furthermore, the conditions of a contact center may change at times and as a result the selection of which estimated wait time algorithm is considered best will adapt to suit the contact center change. In addition, the selected best estimated wait time prediction can be provided to client communication devices. | 08-29-2013 |
| 20130230163 | SERVICING CALLS IN CALL CENTERS BASED ON ESTIMATED CALL VALU - Methods for enabling call center agents to adapt their servicing of incoming calls based on the estimated value of the calls are disclosed. In accordance with the first illustrative embodiment, when there is a “high-value” call waiting in the queue while one or more agents are currently servicing lower-value calls, an agent who is servicing a lower-value call is informed that there is a higher-value call waiting in the queue, and is prompted to provide an estimate of how much longer he or she will be servicing his or her current call. The call center system selects which agent the high-value call will be routed to based on: (i) the agents' responses to the prompts, and (ii) for each of the responding agents, a measure of how closely prior responses from the agent compared to the actual amount of time taken by the agent to complete servicing the call. | 09-05-2013 |
| 20140369487 | Method and apparatus for bridging communication requests to call centers - A method to shorten hold time experienced by callers to call centers by placing predictive calls into call centers in advance to obtain favorable queue positions, and release the most favorable queue positions to callers when they indicate desires to speak with call center agents by bridging their inbound calls to the favorable positions. Most favorable positions are usually the earliest predictive calls placed that are still in the queue. The method also includes other proactive tasks that may be required to navigate automated ACD or IVR call tree, maintain the active status of call queues to ACD or IVR, detect and treat possible improper disconnection, and detect and remediate premature disconnection between callers and agents. | 12-18-2014 |
| 379266040 | Overflow (e.g., queue-to-queue, ACD-to-ACD) | 1 |
| 20160142547 | METHOD OF DISTRIBUTED AGGREGATION IN A CALL CENTER - A method for partitioning a call center having N agents associated with M agent groups, for computation by a plurality of computational nodes, has steps for (a) assigning each agent as a vertex in a hypergraph; (b) assigning each agent group as a hyper-edge in the hypergraph; and (c) applying a hypergraph partitioning algorithm to partition the agents and groups relative to the nodes with the hypergraph cost function awarding equal load distribution to nodes and minimizing inter-node traffic. | 05-19-2016 |
| 379266050 | Split | 1 |
| 20080226059 | Method and system for managing calls - A method for managing calls includes allocating a plurality of agents among a plurality of queues, receiving a plurality of calls each for connection with at least one of the plurality of agents, and assigning each of the plurality of calls to a queue of the plurality of queues. The method further includes monitoring a dynamic value profile for each of the plurality of queues. The dynamic value profile for a queue is calculated based on one or more financial attributes of the current calls in the queue. The method includes determining that the dynamic value profile for a first queue is greater than the dynamic value profile for a second queue. In addition, the method comprises reallocating one or more of the plurality of agents, among the plurality of queues in response to determining that the dynamic value profile for the first queue is greater than the dynamic value profile for the second queue. | 09-18-2008 |
| 379266060 | Estimating or reporting waiting time | 11 |
| 20090097635 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RESERVING A POSITION ON A QUEUE IN A SERVICE CENTER - The Service Call Reservation program reserves a location in a queue so that a caller does not have to stay on the line to keep a position in a queue. When a customer contacts a service center the Service Call Reservation program informs the customer of the expected wait time. If the customer believes that the wait period is too long, the customer will indicate that to the program, and the program will prompt the user to provide a preferred method of notification. | 04-16-2009 |
| 20100303227 | ON-HOLD CALL MONITORING SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Systems and methods are provided for monitoring telephone calls that are placed on hold. The telephone calls may be between user electronic devices and call centers, such as customer service departments. In some embodiments, the electronic device can monitor an on-hold telephone call using a background process, which may free up a user interface of the electronic device for one or more non-phone-related tasks. The electronic device can monitor the telephone call for an indicator that a live operator is or will soon be present on the telephone call. Responsive to detecting the indicator, the electronic device can alert the user and allow the user to take control of the telephone call. In some embodiments, the electronic device can obtain information about the call center, such as expected on-hold wait-times, to determine whether an on-hold call should be monitored. | 12-02-2010 |
| 20100322408 | Data Store for Assessing Accuracy of Call Center Agent Service Time Estimates - A data store (e.g., a relational database, an object-oriented database, an unstructured file system, an in-memory data structure, etc.) and associated methods are disclosed for predicting the accuracy of agent responses in a call center. In accordance with the illustrative embodiment, agents in a call center are prompted at different times during their workday for estimates of how much longer they will be servicing their current call, and the estimates are stored in the data store along with the actual times required for completion of the call. Statistics for each agent's prediction accuracy are computed and stored in the data store along with the raw data, and can then be used to assess the accuracy of subsequent agent responses to queries. | 12-23-2010 |
| 20110286592 | PLAYING EXPECTED WAIT TIME ON AGENT'S NOTIFICATION - Systems and methods for providing estimated wait times are provided. More particularly, an estimated wait time is calculated based at least in part on agent availability information entered by the agent. The agent availability information may be obtained from the agent through a user interface provided by a contact center communication device. The user interface may include soft keys. In addition, the estimated wait time can be provided to client communication devices. | 11-24-2011 |
| 20120269339 | System and Method for Providing Customer Activities While in Queue - A system and method for providing customer activities while in queue allows for one or more customers to interact with one or more customer activities while waiting to speak with a live agent. The customers engage the customer activities while holding in a queue where the customer activities reduce the boredom, frustration, and perceived hold duration associated with holding to speak to a live agent. The customers are offered one or more options of the customer activities to interact with and the system and method monitors the customers' selections and interaction with the customer activities. As agents become available, each customer is transferred to an agent along with information regarding the customer's interaction with a selected customer activity. Upon completion of the interaction between the agent and the customer, the customer has the option to return to the selected customer activity and continue interacting with the selected customer activity. | 10-25-2012 |
| 20120321073 | GOAL-BASED ESTIMATED WAIT TIME - A contact center is described along with various methods and mechanisms for administering the same. The contact center proposed herein provides the ability to, among other things, determine an estimated wait time for contacts waiting to be serviced by resources of the contact center without relying on the traditional First-In-First-Out behavior of contact centers. | 12-20-2012 |
| 20130022195 | Determining Expected Wait Time - Embodiments for managing customer wait time at a call center are provided. In one embodiment, a system includes a switch having a software engine that determines the customer wait time, a computing device executing a work force optimization (WFO) software module, such that the software engine transmits a query to the WFO software module. In one embodiment, the WFO software module transmits a number of unlogged agents and a next shift time in response to the query, and such that the software engine determines the customer wait time based on the number of unlogged agents and the next shift time. | 01-24-2013 |
| 20130322615 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VIRTUAL QUEUING OF CALLS - The present method and system provides a virtual queuing technique including the method and system providing for receiving a communication request from a user for telephonic communication with a communication agent, wherein the communication request includes user information. The method and system includes receiving a call back request from the user to avoid the on-hold wait time and based on the call back request, placing the communication request and the user information associated therewith into a queuing system. The method and system thereby meters the communication request in the queuing system for a metered wait time based at least on a queuing factor relating to at least one of: the on-hold wait time and the user information and after expiration of the metered wait time, bridges a communication connection with the user and the communication agent based on the communication request. | 12-05-2013 |
| 20140037084 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR STATE AWARENESS ACROSS COMMUNICATION CHANNELS AND STATEFULLY TRANSITIONING BETWEEN COMMUNICATION CHANNELS - A system for providing state awareness across communication channels and statefully transitioning a user between a source channel and a destination channel is disclosed. The method may comprise storing a unique identifier associated with the user and data associated with the user, retrieving the data associated with the user based upon the user identifier and in response to the user entering the destination channel that is different from the source channel, and populating the data associated with the user in the destination channel. The destination channel may comprise a display of a customer service representative, and the populating may occur automatically. Furthermore, the method may comprise placing a call to a telephone number associated with the user in response to at least one of the user answering a requisite number of questions in the source channel and the user requesting a transition to a voice destination channel. | 02-06-2014 |
| 20150103999 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COST-BASED AUTOMATIC CALL DISTRIBUTION WITH STATISTICALLY PREDICTABLE WAIT TIME - System and method to select a contact handling mode in a contact center, the method including: receiving, by a communication interface, a contact from a customer; calculating, by a processor of the contact center, an expected wait time by the customer based upon historical contact information stored in a memory of the contact center; calculating an expected cost of queueing the customer for the expected wait time; and selecting the contact handling mode based upon the expected cost of queueing the customer. | 04-16-2015 |
| 20160191702 | CALL HOLDING MANAGEMENT - A system or a method may be provided that automatically distinguishes between a hold status and when someone live is talking on the phone. For example, the caller's phone may detect when the call holding has ended and a customer service representative is now actually on the line. The phone may alert the user to pick up the call at that time, such as utilizing a call-back mechanism. In an embodiment, the system may analyze and learn the various call holding music or recordings of call centers. The system may detect when the call holding music or recording ends in a telephone call and may alert the user. | 06-30-2016 |
