Telephonic communications – Centralized switching system – Call distribution to operator
Reexamination Certificate
1998-06-03
2001-04-24
Matar, Ahmad (Department: 2642)
Telephonic communications
Centralized switching system
Call distribution to operator
C379S266070, C379S309000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06222918
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a facility for distributing telephone calls in a network that generally includes one or more interconnected telephone exchanges to which telephone terminals or stations are connected, with at least some of them being designed to satisfy requests for service and/or information coming from callers in the form of telephone calls, said calls being set up via junctors through which the terminals or the sets of the callers, i.e. of the users ringing in, enter into communication with the facility.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Originally, call distribution facilities were generally implemented in the form of specialized equipment designed to be associated with telephone exchanges in order to enable callers to be put into communication telephonically with agents for answering their requests. Subsequently, it has become commonplace to integrate such facilities which often include a large software content, in telephone exchanges, and in particular in private type exchanges made available to users, e.g. businesses where the users are often employees or clients.
Such facilities enable numerous businesses to provide information and service on request in very refined individualized and possibly personalized manners; as a result, they contribute to the image given to the outside world of a business running such a facility.
Naturally, the primary function of a call distribution facility is to route the calls of telephone callers to agents, in human or machine form, for the purpose of taking them into account and/or answering them, at least in part.
Various criteria can be involved in the operations designed to cause a call to be distributed to an agent by such a facility, and it is common practice to take account of the caller concerned, the purpose of the call, and/or the time that the caller has already waited on a particular call. These criteria are used by the distribution facility and/or by the personnel running and/or supervising the facility so that the most appropriate possible response is given to each call as a function of the needs of callers, and in particular the needs of callers having a call in progress at that time and the available resources for processing by human or by machine.
Naturally speed of response is an essential element that such a facility must take into account insofar as such speed of response is one of the elements having the most direct effect on caller appreciation of the service provided by the facility and the departments it serves, with this element being largely responsible for the impression of satisfaction or dissatisfaction felt by users.
This leads to distribution facilities being organized in such a manner as to have different queues enabling callers to be distributed as a function of agent availability, with callers being given priorities as a function of how long their respective calls have been waiting and/or criteria related to the callers themselves, providing there is some way in which callers can be identified selectively when they call. Nevertheless, such facilities necessarily have limits and they do not always perform satisfactorily, particularly during periods of high calling traffic, and as a result waiting times can lengthen for certain unlucky callers. As in any traffic that is insufficiently supervised, localized overloads can arise which then penalize some of the callers waiting for a reply because they are in a queue that is temporarily blocked, whereas other queues can exist simultaneously that are lightly loaded and that could serve those callers.
This has also led to facilities in which the various processes that may be performed on the occasion of a call are split up into sequences of operations that are organized in modular manner and that make it possible to perform redistribution at various stages in the processing.
Nevertheless, the various facilities mentioned above are not really satisfactory insofar as they do not provide sufficient information, particularly in the event of potential or actual overloading, thus preventing the operator from having an overall view sufficiently in advance, which leads to callers being dissatisfied when they are poorly served and sometimes left hanging on without any relevant information, in the event of call processing being abnormally delayed. Unfortunately, as already mentioned, the conditions under which such facilities run contribute very greatly to the image of the business running the facilities and of the services they are providing in the eyes of the people using those services.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention thus provides a telephone call distribution facility for giving the users of sets and/or terminals in a telecommunications network access to at least one service provided by means of at least one agent, said facility including at least one call-director receiving telephone calls for accessing a service, at least one group of processing agents, and at least one transit unit for calls received via a call-director and waiting for processing by an agent.
According to a characteristic of the invention, the facility comprises:
“primary distribution” first means for selecting a transit unit for a call reaching a call-director, the selection being made as a function of a minimum cost obtained by comparing costs established on the basis of indications characteristic of the present situations of each of the transit units and of each of the processing groups capable at that time of being put into communication with said call-director;
“downstream secondary distribution” second means for selecting a processing group for a call that has reached a transit unit that was previously empty of calls; the selection being as a function of a minimum cost obtained by comparing costs established on the basis of indications characteristic of the present situations of each of the processing groups capable at that time of being put into communication with said transit unit;
“upstream secondary distribution” third means for selecting a transit unit for processing a call waiting in said unit as soon as an agent becomes available to perform processing, selection being as a function of a maximum cost obtained by comparing costs established on the basis of indications characteristic of the situations present in each of the transit units capable at that time of being put into communication with the processing group of which the available agent forms a part; and
“tertiary distribution” fourth means for selecting an available agent in a processing group to take account of a call coming from a transit unit, on the basis of indications characteristic of the situation present in the processing group with which said transit unit has been put into communication.
According to another characteristic of the invention, the facility includes first means for selecting a transit unit for a call that has reached a call-director as a function of a minimum cost obtained after comparing costs that are established for each of the transit units that could be put into communication with the receiving call-director on the basis of defined characteristic indications which include an index for the occupancy of the transit unit in waiting calls, a standardized waiting time period estimated for each call in said unit, and a priority level given to said unit.
According to another characteristic of the invention, the facility includes second means for selecting a processing group for a call that has reached a transit unit that was previously empty of calls, as a function of a minimum cost obtained by comparing costs established for each of the processing groups capable at that time of being put into communication with the transit unit, on the basis of characteristic indications including an index relating to the availability of agents in the processing group, a priority level given to said transit unit, a value for the longest rest time relating to the agents of the processing group, and a cost constant associated with the transit unit.
According to another characteristic of the invention
Baruch Sauveur
Bizien Jean-Yves
De Kouchkovsky Nicolas
Derville Denis
Alcatel
Deane, Jr. William J.
Matar Ahmad
Sughrue Mion Zinn Macpeak & Seas, PLLC
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