Telephonic communications – Centralized switching system – Call distribution to operator
Reexamination Certificate
1998-03-27
2001-12-11
Hong, Harry S. (Department: 2742)
Telephonic communications
Centralized switching system
Call distribution to operator
C379S265120, C379S266020, C379S266080
Reexamination Certificate
active
06330326
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a telephone call center with dynamic staffing of service agents to provide service to incoming calls with substantially zero delay.
Telecommunication systems are well known retail sales devices. A typical implementation of a known system is shown in FIG.
1
. There, a telephone call center
200
is provided in communication with a telephone network
100
, such as the Public Switched Telephone Network. The telephone call center
200
may include a communication switch
210
and a telecommunications queue
230
that is controlled by a control processor
220
. The call center
200
may also include a plurality of agents A
l
-A
n
, each of which is able to service a given number of incoming calls. Thus, the number of agents determines the capacity of the telephone call center
200
.
When all agents are occupied, the telephone call center cannot provide service to a new customer. Accordingly, it is common to place the customer in a telecommunications queue. The new customer sits idle in the queue until an agent becomes available to serve the new customer.
Telecommunications queues can cause customer dissatisfaction. The customer often cannot transact other business while he waits in queue. Further, the customer cannot determine his position in the queue or estimate the length of time that he will wait in the queue. The fact that the customer is placed in the queue may be interpreted by the customer as indifference on the part of the retailer to the customer.
Telecommunications based retail operations are highly competitive businesses. Retailers compete on a host of factors, including quality of service and costs. Often the factors themselves are competing. A retailer may choose to improve service by increasing the number of service agents present at the call center. However, agents must be trained. They require certain tools, such as computer and telephone equipment, to service customers. Thus, the decision to increase the number of agents servicing customers may incur additional cost.
There is a need in the art for telephone call center that improves service quality by providing substantially zero delay service and yet maintains the cost of such service at a minimum.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The disadvantages of the prior art are alleviated to a great extent by a service system that provides substantially zero delay service and dynamically adjusts resources required to provide the service. According to an embodiment of the present invention, future staffing requirements of the service system are predicted by determining, of a number of customers currently in service, how many will remain in service at a predetermined future time and how many customers that will come to the system in the future can be expected to remain in service at the predetermined future time.
For customers in service, customers may be classified according to one or more attributes known for the customer. The attributes may be helpful to identify a type of service being provided to the customer and determine a remaining service time for the customer. Thus, the customer attributes may provide for more accurate staffing predictions than in the prior art.
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M. Perry, A. Nilsson, Performance Modeling of Automatic Call Distributors Assignable Grade of Service Staffing UXIV International Switching Symposium, Oct. 25-30, 1992, pp. 294-298.*
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AT&T Corp.
Deane, Jr. William J.
Hong Harry S.
Kenyon & Kenyon
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