Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 10
Claim 1
Independent Claim
115 words
A routing method for distributing communications to a plurality of
individuals comprising steps of: storing résumé data (58, 60 and 62) indicative of proficiencies
of said individuals with respect to skills advantageous to processing said
communications; enabling reception (64) of incoming communications having
substantial content freedom; formatting content (66) of each of said incoming communications
in a program-searchable format; searching said content (68) of each formatted incoming
communications to determine (70) which skills are advantageous to
processing said incoming communications; and at least partially based upon correlations (72) between said
stored résumé data and said determined skills advantageous to processing
said incoming communications, routing said incoming communications (74)
to said individuals on a one-by-one basis.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
33 words
The routing method of claim 1 wherein said step of formatting said content
(66) of each incoming communication includes generating text information
(34 and 40) of a message submitted in said incoming communication.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
26 words
The routing method of claim 2 wherein said step of searching said
content (68) includes executing a word query (30 and 32) of said text
information.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
51 words
The routing method of claim 1, 2 or 3 further comprising a step of
receiving said incoming communications (64) in a form of telephonically
recorded voice messages (16 and 38), said step of formatting content (66)
of said incoming communications including generating computer-generated
text information (40) representative of said voice messages.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
52 words
The routing method of claim 1 further comprising a step of receiving
said incoming communications (64) in a form of text messages transmitted
via a computer network, including at least one of receiving electronic mail
(20) and receiving text messages originating from a site of the World Wide
Web (22 and 23).
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
41 words
The routing method of claim 1 further comprising a step of receiving
said incoming communications (64) in a form of a facsimile message (14),
said step of formatting content (66) of said incoming communications
including utilizing optical character recognition techniques (36).
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
39 words
The routing method of claim 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 wherein said step of storing
résumé data (58, 60 and 62) is a step of identifying proficiencies of
automatic call distribution (ACD) with respect to different call-handling
requirements.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
142 words
A routing system (10) for distributing communications to ACD agents
comprising: memory (48) for storing résumé data indicative of proficiencies
of each of said ACD agents with respect to skills advantageous to
processing calls; input/output circuitry (18, 24 and 28) for receiving incoming
communications having substantial freedom of content; a format converter (34, 36, 40 and 42) connected to said
input/output circuitry for formatting content of said incoming communications
in a computer-searchable format; a content analyzer (30 and 36), connected to said format
converter, for searching said formatted incoming communications for
keywords indicative of skills advantageous to processing said incoming
communications; and a correlation device (44) for selecting among said ACD agents
to handle said incoming communications in response to correlations
between skills of said ACD agents as indicated within said stored résumé
data and skills advantageous to processing said incoming communications.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
28 words
The routing system of claim 8 wherein said input/output circuitry (18)
includes a voice message recorder (38), said format converter (36 and 40)
including a speech recognition device.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
35 words
The routing system of claim 8 wherein said input/output circuitry (24)
includes a network connection for receiving at least one of electronic mail
(20) and transmissions from a site on the World Wide Web (22).