Telephonic communications – Centralized switching system – Call distribution to operator
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-15
2001-12-04
Matar, Ahmad (Department: 2642)
Telephonic communications
Centralized switching system
Call distribution to operator
C379S266040, C379S219000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06327364
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to processing calls on a telecommunications network and more specifically to a system and method for handling incoming calls to an Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) systems.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
ACD systems find widespread application in service industries for such purposes as providing automated banking services, airline arrival and departure information, and technical product support. The ACD system enables efficient and cost-effective processing within these services because it is able to solicit user feedback which can be utilized to either automatically access recorded information to be played for the caller or to automatically route the call to an ACD agent who is competent to handle the call.
One concern in designing an ACD system is ensuring that calls are efficiently routed to an ACD agent, so as to minimize the amount of time that any particular call is placed on hold. One basic technique of minimizing on-hold time is to employ a first-in/first-out call handling technique. The first-in/first-out technique requires that calls are routed to the next available ACD agent in the order in which the calls are received. However, in some ACD systems ACD agents are specialized in handling particular types of calls, so the first-in/first-out technique is not appropriate. For example in a product support department of a software facility, ACD agents might be grouped according to specialized expertise, so that a first group is knowledgeable in word processing, a second group is knowledgeable in a database program, and a third group is knowledgeable in a spreadsheet program. Utilizing a first-in/first-out technique in such a situation is inappropriate, because a caller with a question regarding the word processing program may be routed to an ACD agent having specialized knowledge regarding the database program or the spreadsheet program, rather than being routed to an agent with specialized knowledge in the word processing program.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,278,898 to Cambray et al. describes a system for managing ACD calls in which a system operator can configure criteria which are utilized by a queue prioritizer/call retriever to sequentially route calls to ACD agents. The criteria cited as examples include the length of time for which the calls have been on hold and whether a recording has been played for the caller. If the system operator recognizes that callers are more likely to disconnect from the ACD shortly after an occurrence of a particular event, for example transmission of a hold message, it is desirable to connect the caller to an ACD agent as soon as possible after the occurrence of the event. Upon detecting that the hold message has been transmitted over a particular call, the queue prioritizer/call retriever advances the call in an ACD queue to avoid losing the caller. As with many conventional ACD systems, the emphasis in managing the incoming call queue is primarily on avoiding loss of callers due to the callers being placed on hold for excessive intervals. However, the Cambray et al. patent does note that it is known to utilize an identification of a dialed telephone number as an indicator that a call is a long distance call and to handle that call prior to local calls.
Cambray et al. provides an example of an airline reservation system. Calls that are on hold longer than ten minutes are placed in a highest category of priority, since providers define that time period as the limit of acceptability. A middle category of priority may be for calls which have been on hold between one and two minutes, if it has been determined that customers are most likely to hang up during this period. All other calls may be assigned to a lowest category of priority, with the calls in this category being handled on a first-in-first-out basis.
Thus, the focus in the management of calls has been upon maximizing availability to customers, so as to achieve an acceptable profit margin in a competitive environment of customer service. Call management approaches that increase revenue may lead to savings for customers.
What is needed is a call management approach that is adaptable with respect to limitations of a call center, such that limited economic and/or hardware resources can be used efficiently.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A system and a method for automated handling of calls for a call center include determining system resource requirements for processing each call. The system resource requirements are related to the use of call-handling resources available to the call center. A strategy for advancing the calls to the call center includes utilizing the system resource requirements of the individual calls as one factor and preferentially advancing certain calls relative to other calls. In the preferred embodiment, the strategy includes providing alternative sets of call-advancement priorities. The selection of the set of priorities to be enforced is dependent upon the conditions of the call center. That is, the call-advancement preferences are dynamically set in the preferred embodiment. Other important factors in determining the appropriate set of priorities include customer satisfaction and the cost of maintaining individual calls.
Network bandwidth is one system resource that is monitored. The switching capacity of a network router is another resource of concern. In response to detecting that network bandwidth availability has fallen below a threshold level, a set of call-advancement priorities (i.e., “rules”) is selected to preferentially advance calls which are identified as having high network bandwidth requirements. Alternatively, if the network bandwidth availability is above the threshold, but the router resource availability for handling additional calls is below a threshold level, a second set of priorities may be selected to be preferential to advancing calls having high router resource requirements. The relative preferences determine the order of advancement of calls within a call queue.
In a preferred embodiment, the invention is practiced in a voice-over-data network environment. A network bandwidth monitor observes network traffic on a data network, such as a Local Area Network (LAN), to determine the network bandwidth availability. A router resource monitor determines the availability of router resources for handling additional incoming calls. Router resources and network bandwidth are monitored separately in a network configuration, where router resources may be shared with a second network. It is possible in such a configuration that the LAN media will have low traffic (i.e., high availability), while heavy traffic on the second network is consuming most of the shared router resources.
A call charge rate determining mechanism identifies a call charge rate associated with each incoming call. For example, if the system operator utilizes an 800 service through a Local Exchange Carrier (LEC), then each long distance call will incur charges to the system operator as soon as the call is received. The call charge rate determining mechanism can utilize an Automatic Number Identifier (ANI) provided by the LEC to search a table of long distance rates to identify the long distance charge rates for the calls.
A call bandwidth requirements monitor identifies network bandwidth requirements for each incoming call. Network bandwidth requirements for the call can be determined by the compression algorithm utilized for the incoming calls. For example, on a voice-over-data network a G.711 call will occupy substantially more bandwidth than a G.723 call. Another consideration in determining network bandwidth requirements for the incoming calls is ascertaining whether the calls are multimedia calls. A voice-only call will occupy significantly less bandwidth than a video teleconferencing call.
In the preferred embodiment, a queue manager communicates with the call charge rate determining mechanism, the network bandwidth monitor, and the call bandwidth requirements monitor to determine the queue order at least in part bas
Beyda William J.
Shaffer Shmuel
Matar Ahmad
Siemens Information and Communication Networks Inc.
Tieu Benny Q.
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