CA2329903C - Multimedia queuing in a customer contact or call center - Google Patents
Multimedia queuing in a customer contact or call center Download PDFInfo
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- CA2329903C CA2329903C CA2329903A CA2329903A CA2329903C CA 2329903 C CA2329903 C CA 2329903C CA 2329903 A CA2329903 A CA 2329903A CA 2329903 A CA2329903 A CA 2329903A CA 2329903 C CA2329903 C CA 2329903C
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- 238000004891 communication Methods 0.000 description 16
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- 230000008520 organization Effects 0.000 description 5
- 230000005540 biological transmission Effects 0.000 description 3
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Classifications
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
- H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
- H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
- H04M3/50—Centralised arrangements for answering calls; Centralised arrangements for recording messages for absent or busy subscribers ; Centralised arrangements for recording messages
- H04M3/51—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
- H04M3/523—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing with call distribution or queueing
- H04M3/5232—Call distribution algorithms
- H04M3/5233—Operator skill based call distribution
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
- H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
- H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
- H04M3/50—Centralised arrangements for answering calls; Centralised arrangements for recording messages for absent or busy subscribers ; Centralised arrangements for recording messages
- H04M3/51—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
- H04M3/523—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing with call distribution or queueing
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
- H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
- H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
- H04M3/50—Centralised arrangements for answering calls; Centralised arrangements for recording messages for absent or busy subscribers ; Centralised arrangements for recording messages
- H04M3/51—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
- H04M3/5158—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing in combination with automated outdialling systems
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
- H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
- H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
- H04M3/50—Centralised arrangements for answering calls; Centralised arrangements for recording messages for absent or busy subscribers ; Centralised arrangements for recording messages
- H04M3/51—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
- H04M3/5183—Call or contact centers with computer-telephony arrangements
- H04M3/5191—Call or contact centers with computer-telephony arrangements interacting with the Internet
Abstract
A method, apparatus, and customer contact or call server that provides a unified queuing mechanism for queuing multiple media requests. The queuing mechanism includes one or more skillsets each including an idle agent queue and a pending requests queue. Skillsets are assigned interrupt levels defining the importance of skillsets with respect to each other. Agents are assigned to and queued in the idle agent queue of one or more of the skillsets. As media requests are received in the pending requests queues of skillsets, agents are dispatched to attend to the requests. As an agent is dispatched from a skillset, it is removed from other skillsets that have an equal or lower interrupt level, and is maintained in skillsets that have a higher interrupt level. Consequently, an agent, tending to a media request, may be interrupted with other media requests only if the other media requests are queued in skillsets of higher inierruptibility level, and if the agent is assigned to those other skillsets. Media requests include, among other things, a voice/video call request, an e-mail request, a web form request, and an outbound voice call request.
Description
I~9LL'I'IUIEDl.4 QDEI;I1'G IN A CGS'1'O~'IER CON'I'AC1' OR
CALL CI?1TF12 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates generally to the field of customer- contact or call centers.
?. l3acl:~round Information A customer call centers is used by an organization to answer telephone calls regarding sales and services provided by the organization, technical support, and other information. The customer call center includes a number of agents that stand by and provide support on behalf of the organization. Typically, the customer call center receives incoming telephone calls, and queues the calls to one or more groups of agents in the order of receipt and priority using, for example, information about the customer (e.g., caller identification "CLID" signal, information provided in an interactive voice response session, etc.). The agents in the group to which the calls are assigned are presented with the calls, answering them in the order of priority.
With the advent of the Internet, communication has rapidly expanded to on-line e-mails, web forms, and the like. Consequently, organizations have also implemented email servers for handling on-line communications regarding customer support, placement of order, etc. The e-mails and web for~s are also replied to by agents of the organization typically on a first-come first-serve and/or priority basis, as, for example, determined automatically by the subject or content of the e-mail or web fore.
Each transaction or media type such as voice calls and on-line communications typically has its own queuing mechanism or system, requiring the organization to separately administer the different systems. Moreover, with _7_ different systems, the "blending" of transactions becomes more difficult, often leading to poor quality reporting.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a method, apparatus, and system that overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks.
SUMMARY OF THE 1NVEN'TION
The present invention comprises a method for a server. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving a first contact request of a first source, queuing the first contact request in a pending queue of a first of one or more skillsets, and connecting a first agent assigned to the f rst skillset to the first sourcE. The method further includes receiving a second contact request of a second source, where the first and second contact reduests are of different media requests, queuing the second contact request in the pending queue of a second of the one or more skillsets, and connecting a second agent to the second source.
Other embodiments are described and claimed herein.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 shows a block diagram of a call center system, according to one embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 2 illustrates the queuing structure of the multimedia queuing manager, according to one embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 3 illustrates skillset assignment of agents in the queuing structure of the multimedia queuing manager, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 4 shows a block diagram of the call center server of Figure 1 handling an incoming voice call, according to one embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 5 is a block diagram of the call center server of Figure 1 showing a technique according to another embodiment of the present invention.
Figures 6 through 8 illustrate the queuing mechanism of the multimedia queuing manager with respect to an exemplary scenario.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The present invention comprises a method, apparatus, and customer call server that provides a unified queuing mechanism for queuing multiple media requests.
As discussed herein, a "computer system" or "server" is a product including circuitry capable of processing data. The computer system or server may include, but is not limited or restricted to, a conventional computer (e.g., laptop, desktop, palmtop, server, mainframe, etc.), hard copy equipment (e.g., printer, plotter, scanner, fax machine, etc.), wireless communication equipment, and the like.
Figure 1 shows a block diagram of a call center system 100, according to one embodiment of the present invention. The blocks 1 10, 1 12, 1 16, 1 18, and 140 are functional blocks, which may be implemented in software and/or hardware.
Two or more of such functional blocks may be co-located in a single physical device. For example, the aforementioned blocks may be implemented in software, and located on a computer system having a processor, memory, input~output ports, etc. In another embodiment, the blocks may be implemented on more than one physical device.
As shown in Figure 1, the call center system 100 includes a plurality of agents 124-I24h- ("N" is a positive whole number), where an agent can be a real person, an automated device, etc. An agent may be assigned to one or more skillsets and priority levels within such one or more skillsets. A skillset is broadly defined as a set of one or more skills that an agent possesses. For example, an agent may be trained to answer technical questions about a product line, trained to provide sales support, speak other languages, etc. In one embodiment, to be allocated to a specific skillset an agent must possess all skills required to handle calls in that skillset. It is also contemplated that the agent need not possess all skills in a particular skillset in order to be assigned or allocated to that particular skillset. Agents can be assigned to more than one skillsets. The agent is also assigned a priority level in each skillset so that a supervisor or manager of the call center can ensure that agents are most effectively used, depending on their knowledge and level of training in each skillset.
Agents 1241-124h~ may have access to respective telephone sets 126,-126N
and/or respective computers (or terminals) 128,-128h~. Thus, at any one time, an agent may only have access to a telephone set, a computer, or both. In the embodiment of Figure 1, three agents are shown, where each agent has access to both a telephone set and a computer. In one embodiment, a telephone set 126 is used to take voice calls, voice mails, and initiate voice calls, while the computer 128 is used to answer e-mails, take inforn~ation off web fornls and reply, if necessary, answer faxes, etc. In another embodiment, a computer may be used to perform telephonic functions in addition to conventional computer functions.
The telephone sets 126,-126h are coupled to a private branch exchange (PBX) 120 via communication lines 154, and the computers 1281-128h are coupled to a network interface 122 via communication lines 160. The network interface 122 represents a block of one or more physical devices including, among other things, routers, bridges, hubs, servers (e.g., e-mail server, web/content server, etc.), firewall, etc., and combinations thereof. The call center system 100 may be internally connected in a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), etc., or combinations thereof. The PBX 120 is coupled to a public switch telephone network (PSTN) 170 via trunk lines 1~0. The network interface 122 is coupled to a network cloud 172 (e.g., Internet) via communication lines 156.
The network cloud 172 may include any type of network that can transport packets and/or cells of information (e.g., signaling commands and media) thereacross.
Exemplary networks include, but are not limited or restricted to, Transmission Control Protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), frame relay, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), and X.25 networks. In one embodiment, one or more of the telephone sets 126,-126N may be Internet Protocol (IP) compatible telephone sets.
The PBX 120 may optionally receive and/or initiate telephone calls over the network cloud 172 (e.g., IP calls), as shown by dashed lines 174.
Continuing to refer to Figure 1, the PBX 120 is coupled to a media gateway 1 10 via communication lines 152 and the network interface 122 is coupled to a media gateway 1 12 via communication lines l 5S. Media gateway I 10 is used for, among other things, connecting voice calls to and outgoing voice calls from agents. In one embodiment, the connection ofthe voice call to agents is physically controlled by the PBX 120. The PBX l 20 notifies the media gateway 1 10 of the incoming voice call via messages transmitted over communication lines 1 ~2. It is to be noted that the protocol of the messaging between functional blocks within the system 100 is not critical to the teachings of the present invention.
The media gateway I 12 is responsible for detecting receipt of e-mails, web fon~ns, etc., and displaying the e-mails, web forms, etc. on the computers 128~-128N. Thus, for example, on an incoming e-mail, the media gateway 112 displays the e-mail on one of the computers 128 to allow an agent to respond. The incoming e-mails and/or web forms may be stored in media gateway 1 l2 or on a separate sen~er that is in communication with the media gateway I 12.
It is to be noted that many media gateways may be used in the system 100, and, for that matter, more than one media gateway ma~~ be used for controlling telephone sets. Thus, one media gateway may be used to connect voice calls to a first set of one or more telephone sets, while a second media gateway may be used to connect voice calls to a second set of one or more voice calls. There may be a media gateway for outbound voice dialing where voice and/or pre-recorded calls are placed (e.g., for telemarketing). A further media gateway may be implemented to control IP voice calls coming in and out (e.g., NetMeetingTn').
The media gateways 110 and 112 are coupled to an agent manager I 16 via communication lines 130 and 132, respectively, and a multimedia queuing manager (MQM) 118 via communication lines 134 and 136, respectively. The agent manager 116 is a centralized functional block that is aware of the capabilities and status of the agents. The agent manager I I 6 knows, among other things, the type of media and skillsets that agents can handle (e.g., voice calls, e-mails, web forms, etc.). For example, if an agent only logs in from a telephone set, then the agent can answer voice calls and initiate outgoing calls, but cannot respond to e-mails or web forms. If the agent logs in from a telephone and a computer or a computer having telephonic capabilities, then the agent can perform all of the aforementioned actions. This information is detected when the agent logs in.
The MQM 1 18 queues the incoming media reducst (e.g., voice call request, e-mail request, etc.) in a common queuing structure without necessarily knowing the type of media that is being queued. h1 one embodiment, the MQM
1 18 queues incoming media requests into one or more skillsets. When agents becomes available, the agent manager 116 notifies the MQM I 18 by sending a message including agent IDs via communication lines 1 p8. The MQM 118 queues the available agents in the skillset(s) that the agents are assigned to. If an agent becomes available in a skillset that has a pending media request, or a pending media request comes into a skillset that has an available agent, the MQM
1 18 sends a message to one of the media gateways (e.g., 1 10 or 1 12) indicating the agent (e.g., using the agent ID) that is to handle the pending media request.
The system 100 further includes a configuration database 140, which includes information about agents including the configured skillset(s) that the agents belong/assigned to, the priority level assigned to agents, etc. Thus, once an agent logs in with a user ID and password, the agent manager 1 16 performs a lookup in the configuration database 140 to obtain information about the agent.
Additionally, the configuration database 140 includes a list of skillsets and associated interrupt levels. The interrupt level of a skillset defines the importance of that skillset with respect to other skillset, as will be described below.
Skillsets may be created or destroyed dynamically. The MQM 1 1 S also has access to the configuration database 140 to obtain the skillsets. In one embodiment, when no agent is logged into a skillset, that skillset is referred to as an out-of service skillset, and cannot queue a medialpending request.
Figure 2 illustrates the queuing structure of the multimedia queuing manager 1 18, according to one embodiment of the present invention. Referring to Figure 2, the queuing structure includes one or more skillsets, labeled as Skillset I
to Skillset S, where "S" is a positive whole number. For example, technical support may be assigned two skillsets, a voice call skillset and an e-mail skillset.
Similarly, the sales department may be assigned skillsets such as a voice skillset and a miscellaneous skillset (e-mail, web fornis, ete.). At startup, the MQM
reads the configuration database 140 to determine the skillsets that are available for the call center system 100, and establishes the skillsets in memory.
In one embodiment, each skillset includes two queues, namely, an idle agent queue 210 and a pending requests queue 215. Within the idle agent queue 210 are priority levels P l to PA, and within the pending requests queue 215 are priority levels PI to PB (where "A" and "B" are positive whole numbers, and where "A" and "B" may be different). In the embodiments described herein, priority level P1 is defined as the highest priority level, though in other embodiments, priority levels may be defined differently. The idle agent queue 210 lists the agents that are idle and the priority level assigned to the agents. The priority levels are pre-defined and stored in the configuration database 140.
The priority level might define the training level of the agent in the particular skillset, or any other criteria that the supervisors/managers determine for their call center.
The pending requests queue 21 ~ contains the pending requests (e.g., voice calls, e-mails, web forn~s, etc.) at particular priority levels that are waiting to be answered by agents.
In one embodiment, an idle agent and a pending rec-luest cannot coexist in a skillset at the same time. The priority level of an agent and a pending request may be changed dynamically. In the case of agents, the change in priority level in a skillset is performed through the configuration database 140. This change automatically propagates to the MQM 118, which moves the agent to the new priority. In the case of pending requests, there is a message that can be sent from the associated media gateway to the MQM at any time to adjust the priority request without removing the same from the queue.
Each skillset is also assigned an interruptibility level, which is from 1 to L
(where "L" is a positive whole number). The interrupt level defines the importance of skillsets and whether agents assigned to a skillset may be interrupted while busy answering other requests. The highest level of interruptibility is defined as level l, meaning that requests being handled by _g_ agents from skillsets at this level cannot be interrupted by requests in skilisets at lower levels of intemiptibility.
The MQM 1 18 provides an interface which allows other functional blocks such as, for example, the agent manager 116, media gateways (e.g., 110 and 112), etc. to query the MQM 118 about state information. State information includes media requests that are pending in a pending requests queue of one or more skillsets, a list of all calls currently in the MQNI 1 18, a list of all idle agents, etc.
At system startup, each media gateway in the system 100 sends an initialization message to the agent manager 1 16 indicating to the agent manager 1 16 of its existence. The initialization message optionally includes information including, among other things, the type of media supported, the devices controlled (e.g., telephone sets, computers, etc.), and the like. Alternatively, media gateways may dynamically send messages to the agent manager 1 16 identifying the devices controlled, as agents log in. Furthermore, each media gateway sends a message to the MQM 118 to indicate its existence for subsequently sending the MQM media requests for queuing. The media gateway 110 also sends a message to the PBX
120 indicating the telephone sets that the media gateway 110 is controlling.
Additionally, the media gateway 112 sends messages to the agent manager 116 and the MQM 1 18, respectively, to notify the agent manager and the MQM of its existence. When agents login to computers or terniinals, the computer client is pre-loaded with software that knows how to find the media gateway 112 (e.g., usually by an IP address and port number). The computer then establishes a link with the media gateway 112 at agent login time. The agent information is retrieved from the configuration database 140 {either directly by each media gateway, or indirectly through the agent manager 116).
In the call center system agents log in and out dynamically. In the case where the agent has both a computer and a telephone, the agent only logs in once (e.g., from the computer). At the computer, the agent sends a login message (e.g., user ID and password) to the network interface 122, which forwards the message to the media gateway 1 12. 'The media gateway 112 registers the agent as a valid agent, and sends a message to the agent manager 116. The agent manager I 16 looks up in the configuration database 140 and determines that the agent also has a telephone set for receiving and initiating voice calls. Consequently, the agent manager 1 16 notifies the media gateway 110 that the agent is also logged into the telephone set. The media gateway 110, after registering the agent as a valid agent to take voice calls, sends a message to the PBX 120 to notify it that the gateway is handling the particular telephone set. The PBX 120 then forwards a message back to the telephone set via communication lines 154 to update the display on the telephone set, indicating to the agent that the agent is logged in. Meanwhile, the agent manager 1 16 sends a message to the MQM 118 to indicate that the agent is logged in and the skillset(s) the agent is to be logged into. The agent manager 116 tray decide not to inform the MQM 1 18 of the agent login at this point in time if the agent profile in the configuration database indicates that the agent should remain in a "not ready" state at login. In this case, the agent manager 1 16 only tells the MQM 1 I 8 after the agent indicates that the went is "ready" (e.g., using the telephone or computer to change the state). Thus, agents may have a "not ready" state in which they are logged in, bui are not ready to take calls, e-mails, etc. In this case, the agents are not placed in the skillset idle agent queues. In one embodiment, the agent sends a ready/not ready message to the media gateway, which passes on the message to the agent manager I 16. The agent manager then sends a ready/not ready message to the MQM I 18. For example, after login or after a call is completed, the agent may automatically be "not ready" for a fixed period of time to wrap up any paperwork, etc. after each call.
Figure 3 illustrates skillset assignment of agents in the queuing structure of the multimedia queuing manager 1 18, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment of Figure 3, four skillsets are defined, namely, a sales e-mail skillset having an interrupt level of 5, a sales voice skillset having an interrupt level of 2, a service e-mail skillset having an interrupt level of 4, and a service voice skillset having an interrupt level of 2. Figure 3 also shows four agents (310, 320, 330, and 340) that are assigned to the skillset(s) at login.
The agents can log in and log out at any time. Agents 310 and 320 log in from a computer and a telephone set, while agents 320 and 330 only login from a telephone set. When an agent logs in, the agent manger 1 I6 obtains the agent's configuration information including the skillsets that the agent belongs to, the priority level assigned to the agent for the skillset(s), etc. from the configuration database 140. The agent manager 1 16 then sends an agent idle message to the MQM 118, which includes, among other things, the configuration information obtained from the configuration database 140. 1'he MQM I I S then assigns the agent to one or more skillsets at the appropriate priority levels based on this configuration information. In a system in which an agent can be logged in but at a "not ready" state, the agent manager 1 16 will delay this message until the time when the agent becomes "ready." The MQM 1 18, therefore, only places agents in the skillsets' idle agent queues when the agent is both logged in and ready to accept calls/requests.
In this exemplary embodiment, agent 310 is logged into sales e-mail, sales voice, and service email skillsets at respective priority levels P1, P3, and P2, as shown by numeral 315. Agent 320 is logged into service e-mail and service voice skillsets at priority levels Pl and P2 (numeral 32~), agent 330 is logged into the sales voice and service voice skillsets at priority level P 1 (numeral 335), and agent 340 is also logged into the sales voice and service voice skillsets at priority levels P 1 and P2 (numeral 345).
Figure 4 shows a block diagram of the call center server of Figure 1 handling an incoming voice call, according to one embodiment of the present invention. Components equivalent to those in Figure 1 are represented by same numbers.
Referring to Figure 4, a telephone call is initiated by a caller 250 over the PSTN 170 (reference 1 ). The incoming telephone call arrives at the PBX 120, as shown by reference 2. The PBX 120 then sends a control message to media gateway 1 10 indicating that a telephone call has arrived (reference 3). The PBX
120 may navigate the caller 2~0 through one or more menus, play background music, etc. This may be done either by the PBX 120 on its own, or by the media gateway 1 10 instructing the PBX what treatments to give the caller while waiting.
In the meantime, the media gateway 110 sends a queue to skillset message (reference 4) to the MQNI 1 18 to queue the telephone call in a specif c skillset.
The media gateway 1 10 will know the skillset(s) to place the call into based on reading the configuration database 140. There may be other criterion(ria) by which to choose the skillset(s) to place the telephone call into. This could be based on, for example, the caller's number (e.g., CLID), the 800 number used to call into the system 100, the number entered by the caller 2~0 during a voice menu (customer number, social security number, etc.), and the like.
The MQM 1 18 queues the request for the voice call in a queue until an agent in the specific skillset is available. Once an agent is available in that skillset, the MQM 1 18 sends a route to agent message back to the media gateway I 10 identifying the agent (e.g., using an agent ID) to connect the call to (reference 5). The MQM 1 18 does not necessarily need to know how to connect the call to the agent. It can rely on the media gateway I 10 for the connection. The media gateway 1 10 sends a route call to agent message to the PBX 120 (reference 6).
The PBX 120 physically connects the incoming telephone call of the caller 250 with the agent based on the agent's current phone set, which the media gateway knows dynamically due to the agent login sequence described earlier (reference 7).
The media gateway 1 10 sends an agent busy message to the went manager 116 to indicate that the agent is now busy (reference 8). The agent manager 116 then forwards an agent busy message to the MQM 118 (reference 9). The agent busy message may optionally include a busy level value, which indicates the interruptibility level of the agent. The agent manager 1 16 may alter (increase or decrease) the interruptibility level of a skillset using this message. The MQM
removes the agent from the idle agent queues of all skillsets of equal or lower interruptibility to prevent other calls getting to the agent while the agent is busy.
The agent can be interrupted only if a request is queued in a skillset of higher interruptibility level (and only if this agent is assigned to that skillset).
In another embodiment, the agent may be interrupted if a request is queued in a skillset of an equal or higher interruptibility level.
The telephone call is completed if either the caller 2~0 or the agent handling the call disconnects. Once the call is completed, the PBX 120 sends a call disconnect message to the media gateway 110, which then informs the agent manager 116 that the agents status is now idle. The agent manager 11 G passes the agent idle status to the MQM 1 18, which puts the agent back into the idle agents queue 210 of one or more skillsets.
Figure 5 is a block diagram of the call center server of Figure 1 showing a technique according to another embodiment of the present invention. Referring to Figure 5, a user 260 (e.g., customer) sends an e-mail over the network cloud to the network interface 122 (reference 1). The network interface 122 then notifies the media gateway 112 of the received e-mail (reference 2). The media gateway 112 sends a message to the MQM 1 18 to queue the e-mail to a skillset (reference 3). In one embodiment, the skillset that the e-mail is queued into depends on the address that the e-mail was received on, the originator of the e-mail (e.g., corporate officer), etc. For example, if the e-mail is received at a technical support address, then the e-mail is queued to a technical support skillset.
The MQM 1 18 sends a message back to the media gateway 1 12, when an agent is available to answer the e-mail (reference 4). Once the route to agent message is received from the MQM 1 18, the media gateway I 12 causes the e-mail to be displayed on the agent's monitor (references 5 and 6). The media gateway 112 sends an agent busy message to the agent manager 116 to indicate that the agent is now busy (reference 7). The agent manager 1 16 then forwards an agent busy message to the MQM 118 (reference 8). The agent busy message optionally includes a busy level value, indicating the interruptibility level of the agent, which may be changed dynamically by the agent manager 116. Consequently, the MQM
1 18 removes the agent from the skillset idle agent queues for all skillsets of equal or lower interruptibility level. The agent can be interrupted only if a request is queued in a skillset of higher interruptibility level and only if this agent is assigned to that skillset. In one embodiment, the interruptibility level of an e-mail is lower than for a voice call. That is to say, a voice call may interrupt an e-mail reply (in progress by an agent), as will be seen next.
While the agent is responding to the e-mail, a telephone call initiated by a caller 270 arrives at the PBX 120 (references 9 and 10). As before, the PBX
sends a control message to media gateway 110 indicating that a telephone call has arrived (reference 1 1). The media gateway 110 sends a queue to skillset message (reference 12) to the MQiVI 1 13, which has a higher interruptibility level than the queue to skillset message for the e-mail (reference 12). Assuming that the agent was assigned to both the e-mail and voice call skillsets, and this went is the highest priority and longest idle in the voice call skillset (or no other agents are available), the MQM l 18 sends a route to agent message back to the media gateway 110 identifying the same agent that is currently responding to the e-mail (reference 13). In response, the media gateway 110 sends a route call to agent message to the PBX 120 (reference 14), which physically connects the incoming telephone call of the caller 320 with the agent responding to the e-mail (reference 1 ~). The media gateway 1 10 also sends an agent busy message to the agent manager 1 I 6 (reference 16). The agent manager I 16 knows that the agent was already busy (from reference 7 above), but now is busy with a higher interruptibility level. Consequently, the agent manager 116 sends an agent busy message to the MQM I1S with the higher interruptibility level (reference 17).
The MQM 118 then raises the interruptibility level. The agent manager 116 also sends a notify agent busy message to the media gateway 1 12 to notify it that the agent, which was handling the email, is now busy on a more important task (reference 18). The media gateway 112 then optionally disables or hides the e-mail on the agent's display (references 19 and 20).
Once the voice call is complete, the media gateway 110 sends an idle agent status message to the agent manager 1 16, which the sends a busy message to the MQM 1 18, lowering the interruptibility level for the e-mail. The agent manager 116 also sends a message to the media gateway 112 to restore the e-mail. The media gateway I 12 then restores the e-mail back on the agent's display. Once a response to the e-mail is completed and sent out, the media gateway I 12 sends an agent idle message to the agent manager 1 16. The agent manager forwards the agent idle message to the MQM 1 18, which puts the agent back into the idle agents queue in the one or more skillsets.
Figures 6 through 8 illustrate the queuing mechanism of the multimedia queuing manager 118 with respect to an exemplary scenario. In this exemplary scenario, the skillset assignment of agents is based on the embodiment of Figure J.
Referring first to Figures 3 and 6, a first e-mail request 410 is placed in the sales e-mail skillset at a priority level (not shown). Since agent 310 is idle in the safes e-mail skillset (see Figure 3), the e-mail is sent to agent 310 for a reply, as shown by arrow 412. In one embodiment, when an agent is selected to answer a media request, the agent is maintained in other skillsets, if any, where the agent has a higher interruptibility level. It is contemplated that the agent may be maintained in other skillsets where the agent has an equal or higher interruptibility level. In any event, since agent 310 had an interrupt level of ~ in the sales e-mail skillset, agent 310 is maintained in the sales voice and service e-mail skillsets because agent 310 is at higher interrupt levels (intemipt level 2 for sales voice skillset and interrupt level 4 for service e-mail skillset).
A second e-mail request 414 is received and placed at P3 in the sales e-mail skillset as shown by arrow 41 G. The assignment of the priority level (in this case P3) for a media request is controlled by the media gateways (e.g., media gateway 112). For example, an e-mail request from a registered customer may be assigned a higher priority level than an e-mail request from an unregistered user.
The media gateway 1 12 specifies to the MQM, by messaging, which skillset(s) to place the e-mail request (see Figure ~, message at reference 3). The media gateway 1 12 may optionally queue the request to multiple skillsets. It is also up to the media gateway to know the skillsets that are set up for e-mail, whether the skillsets are for sales or service, etc.
Thereafter, a voice call 418 request is received for the service voice skillset where three agents are idle. The idle agent with the highest priority level is connected to the incoming voice call. In this case, two agents are at priority level 1, and one of them is selected (e.g., agent 340), as determined by the idle time of these agents. As a result, agent 340 is connected to the voice call, as shown by arrow 420. Agent 340 is then removed from the sales voice skillset because it is not at a higher interrupt level. A second voice call request 422 is then received at the service voice skillset. The u~IQV 1 18 connects agent 330 to the second voice call, as shown by arrow 42-1. A~~ent 330 is also removed from the sales voice skillset because it is not at a higher interrupt level. A third voice call request 426 is received at the service voice skillset, and the agent 320 is connected to the third call, as shown by arrow 425. Agent 320 is removed from the service e-mail skillset because the interrupt level is lower at the sen~ice e-mail skillset.
A fourth call request 430 is received at the service voice skillset. Since no idle agents exist at the service voice skillset, the request is placed in the pending reduests queue at P3 (arrow 432), as selected by the media gateway 1 I 0.
Referring also now to Figure 7, an e-mail request 440 is received at the service e-mail skillset. Agent 310 is idle in this skillset, even though agent 310 is replying to e-mail (Figure 6, arrow 412). Consequently, agent 310 is connected to the e-mail for reply, as shown by arrow 442. Agent 310 is put on hold with respect to the reply to e-mail, as shown by dashed lines 412. Agent 310 is still in the sales voice skillset because it has a higher interrupt level in that skillset.
Referring also now to Figure S, a further voice call request 450 is received at the sales voice skillset. Since agent 310 is available at this skillset, agent 310 is connected to the voice call, as shown by arrow 452. Further, the second e-mail that agent 310 was replying to is also put on hold (dashed lines) in addition to the first e-mail that is on hold. Once the voice call 450 is completed, the agent returns to replying the e-mail =142 since no other request are pending having a higher interrupt level, and is also placed back into the idle agent queue of the sales voice skillset (by the agent manager 1 16 which informs MQM 118 of the new level, as per reference 17 of Figure 5). Once agent 310 is done replying to e-mail 442, agent 310 returns to responding to e-mail 410, and is also placed back into the idle agent queue of the service e-mail skillset (by the agent manager 116 which again informs MQM 1 18 of the new level). Once agent 310 is done replying to e-mai( 410, agent 310 becomes idle and is placed back into the idle agent queue of the sales voice skillset.
The present invention may be embodied in one of several forms including a method, apparatus, system, program product in a computer processor readable medium, and data signal embodied in a carrier wave. When implemented in software, the elements of the present invention are essentially the code segW
ents to perform the necessary tasks. The program or code segments can be stored in a processor readable medium or transmitted by a computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave over a transmission medium or communication link. The "processor readable medium" may include any medium that can store or transfer information. Examples of the processor readable medium include an electronic circuit, a semiconductor memory device, a ROM, a flash memory, an erasable ROM (FROM), a floppy diskette, a CD-ROM, an optical disk, a hard disk, a fiber optic medium, a radio frequency (RF) link, etc. The computer data signal may include any signal that can propagate over a transmission medium such as electronic network channels, optical fibers, air, electromagnetic, RF links, etc.
While certain exemplary embodiments have been described and shown in the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that such embodiments are merely illustrative of and not restrictive on the broad invention, and that this invention not be limited to the specific constructions and arrangements shown and described, since various other modifications may occur to those ordinarily skilled in the art.
CALL CI?1TF12 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates generally to the field of customer- contact or call centers.
?. l3acl:~round Information A customer call centers is used by an organization to answer telephone calls regarding sales and services provided by the organization, technical support, and other information. The customer call center includes a number of agents that stand by and provide support on behalf of the organization. Typically, the customer call center receives incoming telephone calls, and queues the calls to one or more groups of agents in the order of receipt and priority using, for example, information about the customer (e.g., caller identification "CLID" signal, information provided in an interactive voice response session, etc.). The agents in the group to which the calls are assigned are presented with the calls, answering them in the order of priority.
With the advent of the Internet, communication has rapidly expanded to on-line e-mails, web forms, and the like. Consequently, organizations have also implemented email servers for handling on-line communications regarding customer support, placement of order, etc. The e-mails and web for~s are also replied to by agents of the organization typically on a first-come first-serve and/or priority basis, as, for example, determined automatically by the subject or content of the e-mail or web fore.
Each transaction or media type such as voice calls and on-line communications typically has its own queuing mechanism or system, requiring the organization to separately administer the different systems. Moreover, with _7_ different systems, the "blending" of transactions becomes more difficult, often leading to poor quality reporting.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a method, apparatus, and system that overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks.
SUMMARY OF THE 1NVEN'TION
The present invention comprises a method for a server. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving a first contact request of a first source, queuing the first contact request in a pending queue of a first of one or more skillsets, and connecting a first agent assigned to the f rst skillset to the first sourcE. The method further includes receiving a second contact request of a second source, where the first and second contact reduests are of different media requests, queuing the second contact request in the pending queue of a second of the one or more skillsets, and connecting a second agent to the second source.
Other embodiments are described and claimed herein.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 shows a block diagram of a call center system, according to one embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 2 illustrates the queuing structure of the multimedia queuing manager, according to one embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 3 illustrates skillset assignment of agents in the queuing structure of the multimedia queuing manager, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 4 shows a block diagram of the call center server of Figure 1 handling an incoming voice call, according to one embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 5 is a block diagram of the call center server of Figure 1 showing a technique according to another embodiment of the present invention.
Figures 6 through 8 illustrate the queuing mechanism of the multimedia queuing manager with respect to an exemplary scenario.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The present invention comprises a method, apparatus, and customer call server that provides a unified queuing mechanism for queuing multiple media requests.
As discussed herein, a "computer system" or "server" is a product including circuitry capable of processing data. The computer system or server may include, but is not limited or restricted to, a conventional computer (e.g., laptop, desktop, palmtop, server, mainframe, etc.), hard copy equipment (e.g., printer, plotter, scanner, fax machine, etc.), wireless communication equipment, and the like.
Figure 1 shows a block diagram of a call center system 100, according to one embodiment of the present invention. The blocks 1 10, 1 12, 1 16, 1 18, and 140 are functional blocks, which may be implemented in software and/or hardware.
Two or more of such functional blocks may be co-located in a single physical device. For example, the aforementioned blocks may be implemented in software, and located on a computer system having a processor, memory, input~output ports, etc. In another embodiment, the blocks may be implemented on more than one physical device.
As shown in Figure 1, the call center system 100 includes a plurality of agents 124-I24h- ("N" is a positive whole number), where an agent can be a real person, an automated device, etc. An agent may be assigned to one or more skillsets and priority levels within such one or more skillsets. A skillset is broadly defined as a set of one or more skills that an agent possesses. For example, an agent may be trained to answer technical questions about a product line, trained to provide sales support, speak other languages, etc. In one embodiment, to be allocated to a specific skillset an agent must possess all skills required to handle calls in that skillset. It is also contemplated that the agent need not possess all skills in a particular skillset in order to be assigned or allocated to that particular skillset. Agents can be assigned to more than one skillsets. The agent is also assigned a priority level in each skillset so that a supervisor or manager of the call center can ensure that agents are most effectively used, depending on their knowledge and level of training in each skillset.
Agents 1241-124h~ may have access to respective telephone sets 126,-126N
and/or respective computers (or terminals) 128,-128h~. Thus, at any one time, an agent may only have access to a telephone set, a computer, or both. In the embodiment of Figure 1, three agents are shown, where each agent has access to both a telephone set and a computer. In one embodiment, a telephone set 126 is used to take voice calls, voice mails, and initiate voice calls, while the computer 128 is used to answer e-mails, take inforn~ation off web fornls and reply, if necessary, answer faxes, etc. In another embodiment, a computer may be used to perform telephonic functions in addition to conventional computer functions.
The telephone sets 126,-126h are coupled to a private branch exchange (PBX) 120 via communication lines 154, and the computers 1281-128h are coupled to a network interface 122 via communication lines 160. The network interface 122 represents a block of one or more physical devices including, among other things, routers, bridges, hubs, servers (e.g., e-mail server, web/content server, etc.), firewall, etc., and combinations thereof. The call center system 100 may be internally connected in a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), etc., or combinations thereof. The PBX 120 is coupled to a public switch telephone network (PSTN) 170 via trunk lines 1~0. The network interface 122 is coupled to a network cloud 172 (e.g., Internet) via communication lines 156.
The network cloud 172 may include any type of network that can transport packets and/or cells of information (e.g., signaling commands and media) thereacross.
Exemplary networks include, but are not limited or restricted to, Transmission Control Protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), frame relay, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), and X.25 networks. In one embodiment, one or more of the telephone sets 126,-126N may be Internet Protocol (IP) compatible telephone sets.
The PBX 120 may optionally receive and/or initiate telephone calls over the network cloud 172 (e.g., IP calls), as shown by dashed lines 174.
Continuing to refer to Figure 1, the PBX 120 is coupled to a media gateway 1 10 via communication lines 152 and the network interface 122 is coupled to a media gateway 1 12 via communication lines l 5S. Media gateway I 10 is used for, among other things, connecting voice calls to and outgoing voice calls from agents. In one embodiment, the connection ofthe voice call to agents is physically controlled by the PBX 120. The PBX l 20 notifies the media gateway 1 10 of the incoming voice call via messages transmitted over communication lines 1 ~2. It is to be noted that the protocol of the messaging between functional blocks within the system 100 is not critical to the teachings of the present invention.
The media gateway I 12 is responsible for detecting receipt of e-mails, web fon~ns, etc., and displaying the e-mails, web forms, etc. on the computers 128~-128N. Thus, for example, on an incoming e-mail, the media gateway 112 displays the e-mail on one of the computers 128 to allow an agent to respond. The incoming e-mails and/or web forms may be stored in media gateway 1 l2 or on a separate sen~er that is in communication with the media gateway I 12.
It is to be noted that many media gateways may be used in the system 100, and, for that matter, more than one media gateway ma~~ be used for controlling telephone sets. Thus, one media gateway may be used to connect voice calls to a first set of one or more telephone sets, while a second media gateway may be used to connect voice calls to a second set of one or more voice calls. There may be a media gateway for outbound voice dialing where voice and/or pre-recorded calls are placed (e.g., for telemarketing). A further media gateway may be implemented to control IP voice calls coming in and out (e.g., NetMeetingTn').
The media gateways 110 and 112 are coupled to an agent manager I 16 via communication lines 130 and 132, respectively, and a multimedia queuing manager (MQM) 118 via communication lines 134 and 136, respectively. The agent manager 116 is a centralized functional block that is aware of the capabilities and status of the agents. The agent manager I I 6 knows, among other things, the type of media and skillsets that agents can handle (e.g., voice calls, e-mails, web forms, etc.). For example, if an agent only logs in from a telephone set, then the agent can answer voice calls and initiate outgoing calls, but cannot respond to e-mails or web forms. If the agent logs in from a telephone and a computer or a computer having telephonic capabilities, then the agent can perform all of the aforementioned actions. This information is detected when the agent logs in.
The MQM 1 18 queues the incoming media reducst (e.g., voice call request, e-mail request, etc.) in a common queuing structure without necessarily knowing the type of media that is being queued. h1 one embodiment, the MQM
1 18 queues incoming media requests into one or more skillsets. When agents becomes available, the agent manager 116 notifies the MQM I 18 by sending a message including agent IDs via communication lines 1 p8. The MQM 118 queues the available agents in the skillset(s) that the agents are assigned to. If an agent becomes available in a skillset that has a pending media request, or a pending media request comes into a skillset that has an available agent, the MQM
1 18 sends a message to one of the media gateways (e.g., 1 10 or 1 12) indicating the agent (e.g., using the agent ID) that is to handle the pending media request.
The system 100 further includes a configuration database 140, which includes information about agents including the configured skillset(s) that the agents belong/assigned to, the priority level assigned to agents, etc. Thus, once an agent logs in with a user ID and password, the agent manager 1 16 performs a lookup in the configuration database 140 to obtain information about the agent.
Additionally, the configuration database 140 includes a list of skillsets and associated interrupt levels. The interrupt level of a skillset defines the importance of that skillset with respect to other skillset, as will be described below.
Skillsets may be created or destroyed dynamically. The MQM 1 1 S also has access to the configuration database 140 to obtain the skillsets. In one embodiment, when no agent is logged into a skillset, that skillset is referred to as an out-of service skillset, and cannot queue a medialpending request.
Figure 2 illustrates the queuing structure of the multimedia queuing manager 1 18, according to one embodiment of the present invention. Referring to Figure 2, the queuing structure includes one or more skillsets, labeled as Skillset I
to Skillset S, where "S" is a positive whole number. For example, technical support may be assigned two skillsets, a voice call skillset and an e-mail skillset.
Similarly, the sales department may be assigned skillsets such as a voice skillset and a miscellaneous skillset (e-mail, web fornis, ete.). At startup, the MQM
reads the configuration database 140 to determine the skillsets that are available for the call center system 100, and establishes the skillsets in memory.
In one embodiment, each skillset includes two queues, namely, an idle agent queue 210 and a pending requests queue 215. Within the idle agent queue 210 are priority levels P l to PA, and within the pending requests queue 215 are priority levels PI to PB (where "A" and "B" are positive whole numbers, and where "A" and "B" may be different). In the embodiments described herein, priority level P1 is defined as the highest priority level, though in other embodiments, priority levels may be defined differently. The idle agent queue 210 lists the agents that are idle and the priority level assigned to the agents. The priority levels are pre-defined and stored in the configuration database 140.
The priority level might define the training level of the agent in the particular skillset, or any other criteria that the supervisors/managers determine for their call center.
The pending requests queue 21 ~ contains the pending requests (e.g., voice calls, e-mails, web forn~s, etc.) at particular priority levels that are waiting to be answered by agents.
In one embodiment, an idle agent and a pending rec-luest cannot coexist in a skillset at the same time. The priority level of an agent and a pending request may be changed dynamically. In the case of agents, the change in priority level in a skillset is performed through the configuration database 140. This change automatically propagates to the MQM 118, which moves the agent to the new priority. In the case of pending requests, there is a message that can be sent from the associated media gateway to the MQM at any time to adjust the priority request without removing the same from the queue.
Each skillset is also assigned an interruptibility level, which is from 1 to L
(where "L" is a positive whole number). The interrupt level defines the importance of skillsets and whether agents assigned to a skillset may be interrupted while busy answering other requests. The highest level of interruptibility is defined as level l, meaning that requests being handled by _g_ agents from skillsets at this level cannot be interrupted by requests in skilisets at lower levels of intemiptibility.
The MQM 1 18 provides an interface which allows other functional blocks such as, for example, the agent manager 116, media gateways (e.g., 110 and 112), etc. to query the MQM 118 about state information. State information includes media requests that are pending in a pending requests queue of one or more skillsets, a list of all calls currently in the MQNI 1 18, a list of all idle agents, etc.
At system startup, each media gateway in the system 100 sends an initialization message to the agent manager 1 16 indicating to the agent manager 1 16 of its existence. The initialization message optionally includes information including, among other things, the type of media supported, the devices controlled (e.g., telephone sets, computers, etc.), and the like. Alternatively, media gateways may dynamically send messages to the agent manager 1 16 identifying the devices controlled, as agents log in. Furthermore, each media gateway sends a message to the MQM 118 to indicate its existence for subsequently sending the MQM media requests for queuing. The media gateway 110 also sends a message to the PBX
120 indicating the telephone sets that the media gateway 110 is controlling.
Additionally, the media gateway 112 sends messages to the agent manager 116 and the MQM 1 18, respectively, to notify the agent manager and the MQM of its existence. When agents login to computers or terniinals, the computer client is pre-loaded with software that knows how to find the media gateway 112 (e.g., usually by an IP address and port number). The computer then establishes a link with the media gateway 112 at agent login time. The agent information is retrieved from the configuration database 140 {either directly by each media gateway, or indirectly through the agent manager 116).
In the call center system agents log in and out dynamically. In the case where the agent has both a computer and a telephone, the agent only logs in once (e.g., from the computer). At the computer, the agent sends a login message (e.g., user ID and password) to the network interface 122, which forwards the message to the media gateway 1 12. 'The media gateway 112 registers the agent as a valid agent, and sends a message to the agent manager 116. The agent manager I 16 looks up in the configuration database 140 and determines that the agent also has a telephone set for receiving and initiating voice calls. Consequently, the agent manager 1 16 notifies the media gateway 110 that the agent is also logged into the telephone set. The media gateway 110, after registering the agent as a valid agent to take voice calls, sends a message to the PBX 120 to notify it that the gateway is handling the particular telephone set. The PBX 120 then forwards a message back to the telephone set via communication lines 154 to update the display on the telephone set, indicating to the agent that the agent is logged in. Meanwhile, the agent manager 1 16 sends a message to the MQM 118 to indicate that the agent is logged in and the skillset(s) the agent is to be logged into. The agent manager 116 tray decide not to inform the MQM 1 18 of the agent login at this point in time if the agent profile in the configuration database indicates that the agent should remain in a "not ready" state at login. In this case, the agent manager 1 16 only tells the MQM 1 I 8 after the agent indicates that the went is "ready" (e.g., using the telephone or computer to change the state). Thus, agents may have a "not ready" state in which they are logged in, bui are not ready to take calls, e-mails, etc. In this case, the agents are not placed in the skillset idle agent queues. In one embodiment, the agent sends a ready/not ready message to the media gateway, which passes on the message to the agent manager I 16. The agent manager then sends a ready/not ready message to the MQM I 18. For example, after login or after a call is completed, the agent may automatically be "not ready" for a fixed period of time to wrap up any paperwork, etc. after each call.
Figure 3 illustrates skillset assignment of agents in the queuing structure of the multimedia queuing manager 1 18, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment of Figure 3, four skillsets are defined, namely, a sales e-mail skillset having an interrupt level of 5, a sales voice skillset having an interrupt level of 2, a service e-mail skillset having an interrupt level of 4, and a service voice skillset having an interrupt level of 2. Figure 3 also shows four agents (310, 320, 330, and 340) that are assigned to the skillset(s) at login.
The agents can log in and log out at any time. Agents 310 and 320 log in from a computer and a telephone set, while agents 320 and 330 only login from a telephone set. When an agent logs in, the agent manger 1 I6 obtains the agent's configuration information including the skillsets that the agent belongs to, the priority level assigned to the agent for the skillset(s), etc. from the configuration database 140. The agent manager 1 16 then sends an agent idle message to the MQM 118, which includes, among other things, the configuration information obtained from the configuration database 140. 1'he MQM I I S then assigns the agent to one or more skillsets at the appropriate priority levels based on this configuration information. In a system in which an agent can be logged in but at a "not ready" state, the agent manager 1 16 will delay this message until the time when the agent becomes "ready." The MQM 1 18, therefore, only places agents in the skillsets' idle agent queues when the agent is both logged in and ready to accept calls/requests.
In this exemplary embodiment, agent 310 is logged into sales e-mail, sales voice, and service email skillsets at respective priority levels P1, P3, and P2, as shown by numeral 315. Agent 320 is logged into service e-mail and service voice skillsets at priority levels Pl and P2 (numeral 32~), agent 330 is logged into the sales voice and service voice skillsets at priority level P 1 (numeral 335), and agent 340 is also logged into the sales voice and service voice skillsets at priority levels P 1 and P2 (numeral 345).
Figure 4 shows a block diagram of the call center server of Figure 1 handling an incoming voice call, according to one embodiment of the present invention. Components equivalent to those in Figure 1 are represented by same numbers.
Referring to Figure 4, a telephone call is initiated by a caller 250 over the PSTN 170 (reference 1 ). The incoming telephone call arrives at the PBX 120, as shown by reference 2. The PBX 120 then sends a control message to media gateway 1 10 indicating that a telephone call has arrived (reference 3). The PBX
120 may navigate the caller 2~0 through one or more menus, play background music, etc. This may be done either by the PBX 120 on its own, or by the media gateway 1 10 instructing the PBX what treatments to give the caller while waiting.
In the meantime, the media gateway 110 sends a queue to skillset message (reference 4) to the MQNI 1 18 to queue the telephone call in a specif c skillset.
The media gateway 1 10 will know the skillset(s) to place the call into based on reading the configuration database 140. There may be other criterion(ria) by which to choose the skillset(s) to place the telephone call into. This could be based on, for example, the caller's number (e.g., CLID), the 800 number used to call into the system 100, the number entered by the caller 2~0 during a voice menu (customer number, social security number, etc.), and the like.
The MQM 1 18 queues the request for the voice call in a queue until an agent in the specific skillset is available. Once an agent is available in that skillset, the MQM 1 18 sends a route to agent message back to the media gateway I 10 identifying the agent (e.g., using an agent ID) to connect the call to (reference 5). The MQM 1 18 does not necessarily need to know how to connect the call to the agent. It can rely on the media gateway I 10 for the connection. The media gateway 1 10 sends a route call to agent message to the PBX 120 (reference 6).
The PBX 120 physically connects the incoming telephone call of the caller 250 with the agent based on the agent's current phone set, which the media gateway knows dynamically due to the agent login sequence described earlier (reference 7).
The media gateway 1 10 sends an agent busy message to the went manager 116 to indicate that the agent is now busy (reference 8). The agent manager 116 then forwards an agent busy message to the MQM 118 (reference 9). The agent busy message may optionally include a busy level value, which indicates the interruptibility level of the agent. The agent manager 1 16 may alter (increase or decrease) the interruptibility level of a skillset using this message. The MQM
removes the agent from the idle agent queues of all skillsets of equal or lower interruptibility to prevent other calls getting to the agent while the agent is busy.
The agent can be interrupted only if a request is queued in a skillset of higher interruptibility level (and only if this agent is assigned to that skillset).
In another embodiment, the agent may be interrupted if a request is queued in a skillset of an equal or higher interruptibility level.
The telephone call is completed if either the caller 2~0 or the agent handling the call disconnects. Once the call is completed, the PBX 120 sends a call disconnect message to the media gateway 110, which then informs the agent manager 116 that the agents status is now idle. The agent manager 11 G passes the agent idle status to the MQM 1 18, which puts the agent back into the idle agents queue 210 of one or more skillsets.
Figure 5 is a block diagram of the call center server of Figure 1 showing a technique according to another embodiment of the present invention. Referring to Figure 5, a user 260 (e.g., customer) sends an e-mail over the network cloud to the network interface 122 (reference 1). The network interface 122 then notifies the media gateway 112 of the received e-mail (reference 2). The media gateway 112 sends a message to the MQM 1 18 to queue the e-mail to a skillset (reference 3). In one embodiment, the skillset that the e-mail is queued into depends on the address that the e-mail was received on, the originator of the e-mail (e.g., corporate officer), etc. For example, if the e-mail is received at a technical support address, then the e-mail is queued to a technical support skillset.
The MQM 1 18 sends a message back to the media gateway 1 12, when an agent is available to answer the e-mail (reference 4). Once the route to agent message is received from the MQM 1 18, the media gateway I 12 causes the e-mail to be displayed on the agent's monitor (references 5 and 6). The media gateway 112 sends an agent busy message to the agent manager 116 to indicate that the agent is now busy (reference 7). The agent manager 1 16 then forwards an agent busy message to the MQM 118 (reference 8). The agent busy message optionally includes a busy level value, indicating the interruptibility level of the agent, which may be changed dynamically by the agent manager 116. Consequently, the MQM
1 18 removes the agent from the skillset idle agent queues for all skillsets of equal or lower interruptibility level. The agent can be interrupted only if a request is queued in a skillset of higher interruptibility level and only if this agent is assigned to that skillset. In one embodiment, the interruptibility level of an e-mail is lower than for a voice call. That is to say, a voice call may interrupt an e-mail reply (in progress by an agent), as will be seen next.
While the agent is responding to the e-mail, a telephone call initiated by a caller 270 arrives at the PBX 120 (references 9 and 10). As before, the PBX
sends a control message to media gateway 110 indicating that a telephone call has arrived (reference 1 1). The media gateway 110 sends a queue to skillset message (reference 12) to the MQiVI 1 13, which has a higher interruptibility level than the queue to skillset message for the e-mail (reference 12). Assuming that the agent was assigned to both the e-mail and voice call skillsets, and this went is the highest priority and longest idle in the voice call skillset (or no other agents are available), the MQM l 18 sends a route to agent message back to the media gateway 110 identifying the same agent that is currently responding to the e-mail (reference 13). In response, the media gateway 110 sends a route call to agent message to the PBX 120 (reference 14), which physically connects the incoming telephone call of the caller 320 with the agent responding to the e-mail (reference 1 ~). The media gateway 1 10 also sends an agent busy message to the agent manager 1 I 6 (reference 16). The agent manager I 16 knows that the agent was already busy (from reference 7 above), but now is busy with a higher interruptibility level. Consequently, the agent manager 116 sends an agent busy message to the MQM I1S with the higher interruptibility level (reference 17).
The MQM 118 then raises the interruptibility level. The agent manager 116 also sends a notify agent busy message to the media gateway 1 12 to notify it that the agent, which was handling the email, is now busy on a more important task (reference 18). The media gateway 112 then optionally disables or hides the e-mail on the agent's display (references 19 and 20).
Once the voice call is complete, the media gateway 110 sends an idle agent status message to the agent manager 1 16, which the sends a busy message to the MQM 1 18, lowering the interruptibility level for the e-mail. The agent manager 116 also sends a message to the media gateway 112 to restore the e-mail. The media gateway I 12 then restores the e-mail back on the agent's display. Once a response to the e-mail is completed and sent out, the media gateway I 12 sends an agent idle message to the agent manager 1 16. The agent manager forwards the agent idle message to the MQM 1 18, which puts the agent back into the idle agents queue in the one or more skillsets.
Figures 6 through 8 illustrate the queuing mechanism of the multimedia queuing manager 118 with respect to an exemplary scenario. In this exemplary scenario, the skillset assignment of agents is based on the embodiment of Figure J.
Referring first to Figures 3 and 6, a first e-mail request 410 is placed in the sales e-mail skillset at a priority level (not shown). Since agent 310 is idle in the safes e-mail skillset (see Figure 3), the e-mail is sent to agent 310 for a reply, as shown by arrow 412. In one embodiment, when an agent is selected to answer a media request, the agent is maintained in other skillsets, if any, where the agent has a higher interruptibility level. It is contemplated that the agent may be maintained in other skillsets where the agent has an equal or higher interruptibility level. In any event, since agent 310 had an interrupt level of ~ in the sales e-mail skillset, agent 310 is maintained in the sales voice and service e-mail skillsets because agent 310 is at higher interrupt levels (intemipt level 2 for sales voice skillset and interrupt level 4 for service e-mail skillset).
A second e-mail request 414 is received and placed at P3 in the sales e-mail skillset as shown by arrow 41 G. The assignment of the priority level (in this case P3) for a media request is controlled by the media gateways (e.g., media gateway 112). For example, an e-mail request from a registered customer may be assigned a higher priority level than an e-mail request from an unregistered user.
The media gateway 1 12 specifies to the MQM, by messaging, which skillset(s) to place the e-mail request (see Figure ~, message at reference 3). The media gateway 1 12 may optionally queue the request to multiple skillsets. It is also up to the media gateway to know the skillsets that are set up for e-mail, whether the skillsets are for sales or service, etc.
Thereafter, a voice call 418 request is received for the service voice skillset where three agents are idle. The idle agent with the highest priority level is connected to the incoming voice call. In this case, two agents are at priority level 1, and one of them is selected (e.g., agent 340), as determined by the idle time of these agents. As a result, agent 340 is connected to the voice call, as shown by arrow 420. Agent 340 is then removed from the sales voice skillset because it is not at a higher interrupt level. A second voice call request 422 is then received at the service voice skillset. The u~IQV 1 18 connects agent 330 to the second voice call, as shown by arrow 42-1. A~~ent 330 is also removed from the sales voice skillset because it is not at a higher interrupt level. A third voice call request 426 is received at the service voice skillset, and the agent 320 is connected to the third call, as shown by arrow 425. Agent 320 is removed from the service e-mail skillset because the interrupt level is lower at the sen~ice e-mail skillset.
A fourth call request 430 is received at the service voice skillset. Since no idle agents exist at the service voice skillset, the request is placed in the pending reduests queue at P3 (arrow 432), as selected by the media gateway 1 I 0.
Referring also now to Figure 7, an e-mail request 440 is received at the service e-mail skillset. Agent 310 is idle in this skillset, even though agent 310 is replying to e-mail (Figure 6, arrow 412). Consequently, agent 310 is connected to the e-mail for reply, as shown by arrow 442. Agent 310 is put on hold with respect to the reply to e-mail, as shown by dashed lines 412. Agent 310 is still in the sales voice skillset because it has a higher interrupt level in that skillset.
Referring also now to Figure S, a further voice call request 450 is received at the sales voice skillset. Since agent 310 is available at this skillset, agent 310 is connected to the voice call, as shown by arrow 452. Further, the second e-mail that agent 310 was replying to is also put on hold (dashed lines) in addition to the first e-mail that is on hold. Once the voice call 450 is completed, the agent returns to replying the e-mail =142 since no other request are pending having a higher interrupt level, and is also placed back into the idle agent queue of the sales voice skillset (by the agent manager 1 16 which informs MQM 118 of the new level, as per reference 17 of Figure 5). Once agent 310 is done replying to e-mail 442, agent 310 returns to responding to e-mail 410, and is also placed back into the idle agent queue of the service e-mail skillset (by the agent manager 116 which again informs MQM 1 18 of the new level). Once agent 310 is done replying to e-mai( 410, agent 310 becomes idle and is placed back into the idle agent queue of the sales voice skillset.
The present invention may be embodied in one of several forms including a method, apparatus, system, program product in a computer processor readable medium, and data signal embodied in a carrier wave. When implemented in software, the elements of the present invention are essentially the code segW
ents to perform the necessary tasks. The program or code segments can be stored in a processor readable medium or transmitted by a computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave over a transmission medium or communication link. The "processor readable medium" may include any medium that can store or transfer information. Examples of the processor readable medium include an electronic circuit, a semiconductor memory device, a ROM, a flash memory, an erasable ROM (FROM), a floppy diskette, a CD-ROM, an optical disk, a hard disk, a fiber optic medium, a radio frequency (RF) link, etc. The computer data signal may include any signal that can propagate over a transmission medium such as electronic network channels, optical fibers, air, electromagnetic, RF links, etc.
While certain exemplary embodiments have been described and shown in the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that such embodiments are merely illustrative of and not restrictive on the broad invention, and that this invention not be limited to the specific constructions and arrangements shown and described, since various other modifications may occur to those ordinarily skilled in the art.
Claims (16)
1. A method for a server including one or more agents, comprising:
receiving a first contact request of a first source;
queuing the first contact request in a pending queue of a first of one or more skillsets;
connecting a first agent assigned to the first skillset to the first source;
maintaining the first agent as a valid agent assigned to a second of the one or more skillsets;
receiving a second contact request of a second source, where the first and second contact requests are of different media requests;
queuing the second contact request in the pending queue of the second skillset;
putting on hold the connection of the first agent and the first source;
connecting the first agent to the second source; and connecting the first agent back to the first source when the connection between the first agent and the second source is terminated.
receiving a first contact request of a first source;
queuing the first contact request in a pending queue of a first of one or more skillsets;
connecting a first agent assigned to the first skillset to the first source;
maintaining the first agent as a valid agent assigned to a second of the one or more skillsets;
receiving a second contact request of a second source, where the first and second contact requests are of different media requests;
queuing the second contact request in the pending queue of the second skillset;
putting on hold the connection of the first agent and the first source;
connecting the first agent to the second source; and connecting the first agent back to the first source when the connection between the first agent and the second source is terminated.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second contact requests are different and include one of the following media requests: a telephone call request, an e-mail request, a web form request, and an outgoing call request.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second skillsets are sales and service skillsets, respectively.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second skillsets are the same skillset.
5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
removing the first agent as a valid agent from idle queues of other skillsets that have a lower interruptibility level than the first skillset.
removing the first agent as a valid agent from idle queues of other skillsets that have a lower interruptibility level than the first skillset.
6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
maintaining the first agent as a valid agent from idle queues of other skillsets that have a higher interruptibility level than the first skillset.
maintaining the first agent as a valid agent from idle queues of other skillsets that have a higher interruptibility level than the first skillset.
7. The method of claim 5 or claim 6 wherein the second skillset has a higher interruptibility level than the first skillset, and further comprising:
removing the first agent as a valid agent in the second skillset when the first agent is connected to the second source; and adding the first agent as a valid agent in the second skillset when the connection to the second source is terminated.
removing the first agent as a valid agent in the second skillset when the first agent is connected to the second source; and adding the first agent as a valid agent in the second skillset when the connection to the second source is terminated.
8. A queuing method for a call or contact server having one or more agents, comprising:
receiving a contact request from a source;
queuing the contact request in a first skillset assigned a first interrupt level;
connecting an agent assigned to the first skillset to the source;
maintaining the agent as a valid agent in a second skillset that is assigned a second interrupt level, the second interrupt level being at a higher interruptibility level than the first interrupt level;
receiving a second contact request from a second source;
queuing the second contact request in the second skillset;
causing the agent to hold the first source;
connecting the agent to the second source.
receiving a contact request from a source;
queuing the contact request in a first skillset assigned a first interrupt level;
connecting an agent assigned to the first skillset to the source;
maintaining the agent as a valid agent in a second skillset that is assigned a second interrupt level, the second interrupt level being at a higher interruptibility level than the first interrupt level;
receiving a second contact request from a second source;
queuing the second contact request in the second skillset;
causing the agent to hold the first source;
connecting the agent to the second source.
9. The queuing method of claim 8 further comprising:
removing the agent as a valid agent in other skillsets assigned interrupt levels that are equal to or lower than the first interrupt level.
removing the agent as a valid agent in other skillsets assigned interrupt levels that are equal to or lower than the first interrupt level.
10. The queuing method of claim 8 further comprising:
connecting the agent back to the first source when the connection between the agent and the second source is completed;
adding the agent as a valid agent in the second skillset; and adding the agent as a valid agent in the first skillset when the connection between the agent and the first source is completed.
connecting the agent back to the first source when the connection between the agent and the second source is completed;
adding the agent as a valid agent in the second skillset; and adding the agent as a valid agent in the first skillset when the connection between the agent and the first source is completed.
11. The queuing method of claim 8 wherein the first and second sources each include one of the following: an audio call, a video call, an e-mail, a web form, and a fax.
12. A system, comprising:
a memory element having one or more instructions; and a processor coupled to the memory element, the processor, in response to the one or more instructions, to:
receive a contact request from a source;
queue the contact request in a first skillset assigned a first interrupt level;
connect an agent assigned to the first skillset to the source;
maintain the agent as a valid agent in a second skillset that is assigned a second interrupt level, the second interrupt level being at a higher interruptibility level than the first interrupt level;
remove the agent as a valid agent in other skillsets assigned interrupt levels that are equal to or lower than the first interrupt level;
receive a second contact request from a second source;
queue the second contact request in the second skillset;
cause the agent to hold the first source; and connect the agent to the second source.
a memory element having one or more instructions; and a processor coupled to the memory element, the processor, in response to the one or more instructions, to:
receive a contact request from a source;
queue the contact request in a first skillset assigned a first interrupt level;
connect an agent assigned to the first skillset to the source;
maintain the agent as a valid agent in a second skillset that is assigned a second interrupt level, the second interrupt level being at a higher interruptibility level than the first interrupt level;
remove the agent as a valid agent in other skillsets assigned interrupt levels that are equal to or lower than the first interrupt level;
receive a second contact request from a second source;
queue the second contact request in the second skillset;
cause the agent to hold the first source; and connect the agent to the second source.
13. The system of claim 12 wherein the processor is to further, connect the agent back to the first source when the connection between the agent and the second source is terminated;
add the agent as a valid agent in the second skillset; and add the agent as a valid agent in the first skillset when the connection between the agent and the first source is completed.
add the agent as a valid agent in the second skillset; and add the agent as a valid agent in the first skillset when the connection between the agent and the first source is completed.
14. A computer program product having computer readable program code embodied therein that, when executed, causes a processor to:
receive a contact request from a source;
queue the contact request in a first skillset assigned a first interrupt level;
connect an agent assigned to the first skillset to the source;
maintain the agent as a valid agent in a second skillset that is assigned a second interrupt level, the second interrupt level being at a higher interruptibility level than the first interrupt level;
remove the agent as a valid agent in other skillsets assigned interrupt levels that are equal to or lower than the first interrupt level;
receive a second contact request from a second source;
queue the second contact request in the second skillset;
cause the agent to hold the first source; and connect the agent to the second source.
receive a contact request from a source;
queue the contact request in a first skillset assigned a first interrupt level;
connect an agent assigned to the first skillset to the source;
maintain the agent as a valid agent in a second skillset that is assigned a second interrupt level, the second interrupt level being at a higher interruptibility level than the first interrupt level;
remove the agent as a valid agent in other skillsets assigned interrupt levels that are equal to or lower than the first interrupt level;
receive a second contact request from a second source;
queue the second contact request in the second skillset;
cause the agent to hold the first source; and connect the agent to the second source.
15. The computer program product of claim 14 further causing the processor to:
connect the agent back to the first source when the connection between the agent and the second source is terminated;
add the agent as a valid agent in the second skillset; and add the agent as a valid agent in the first skillset when the connection between the agent and the first source is completed.
connect the agent back to the first source when the connection between the agent and the second source is terminated;
add the agent as a valid agent in the second skillset; and add the agent as a valid agent in the first skillset when the connection between the agent and the first source is completed.
16. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein the first and second sources each include one of the following: an audio call, a video call, an e-mail, a web form, and a fax.
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| US09/474,422 | 1999-12-29 |
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| US6771765B1 (en) | 2004-08-03 |
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| EP1113656A2 (en) | 2001-07-04 |
| EP1113656A3 (en) | 2003-10-01 |
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