EP1122937A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Load balanced distribution of calls to multiple call center sites
Assignee: Avaya Technology LLC
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Filing: 2001-01-31
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2021-01-31
Abstract
Abstract A multi-site call processing system includes multiple distributed call center sites, and utilizes a load balancing process to distribute calls among the sites for handling by agents. The system generates a multi-site performance score characterizing the performance of the load balancing process. Adjustments may be made in the load balancing process, such as selection of one type of load balancing over another for use at a particular time, based at least in part on the multi-site performance score. The multi-site performance score may be determined using single-site performance measures such as Average Speed of Answer (ASA) and agent occupancy generated across multiple time intervals. The multi-site performance score as generated for a given interval may be, e.g., a ratio of the maximum and minimum values of a single-site performance measure for that interval. As another example, the multi-site performance score may be in the form of a standard deviation of a set of normalized scores generated for the multiple sites across the specified time intervals. Filtering operations may be applied to the data for one or more selected intervals in order to further improve the ability of the performance measure to distinguish relevant variations in the load balancing process.
Inventors
- 👤 Richard Alan Cohen
- 👤 Andrew Derek Flockhart
- 👤 Robin H. Foster
- 👤 Mila Maximets
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-10 01:30
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04Q; H04Q3/00; H04Q3/64; H04M; H04M3/00; H04M3/42; H04M3/50; H04M3/51; H04M3/523; H04M3/5237; H04Q3/0016; H04Q3/0062; H04Q3/0091; H04M3/5232; H04M3/5234; H04Q2213/00; H04Q2213/1302; H04Q2213/13034; H04Q2213/1304; H04Q2213/13072; H04Q2213/13093; H04Q2213/13103; H04Q2213/13106; H04Q2213/13164; H04Q2213/13166; H04Q2213/1322; H04Q2213/1329; H04Q2213/13349; H04Q2213/13389
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 18
Claim 1
Independent Claim
66 words
A method for use in a multi-site call processing system comprising multiple
distributed call center sites, the method comprising the steps of: generating a multi-site performance score characterizing performance of a load
balancing process which determines assignment of incoming calls to particular ones of the
multiple distributed call center sites; and adjusting the load balancing process based at least in part on the multi-site
performance score.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method of claim 1 wherein the multi-site performance score is determined
at least in part based on a particular single-site performance measure generated for each of
the multiple sites across a plurality of specified time intervals.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method of claim 2 wherein the particular single-site performance measure
comprises an Average Speed of Answer (ASA) measure.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method of claim 2 wherein the particular single-site performance measure
comprises an agent occupancy measure.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
46 words
The method of claim 2 wherein the multi-site performance score for a given one
of the intervals comprises a ratio of a maximum value of the particular single-site
performance measure for that interval to a minimum value of the particular single-site
performance measure for that interval.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
32 words
The method of claim 1 wherein the multi-site performance score comprises a
standard deviation of a set of normalized scores generated for the multiple sites across a
plurality of specified time intervals.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
43 words
The method of claim 6 wherein each of the normalized scores in the set of
normalized scores is generated by taking a particular single-site performance measure for
a corresponding site and dividing it by a site average computed across all of the sites.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
52 words
The method of claim 6 further including the step of filtering the normalized
scores for a given one of the time intervals if a particular measure used to generate the
normalized scores for each of the multiple sites is below a threshold designated for all of the
multiple sites in that interval.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method of claim 8 wherein the filtering step comprises removing normalized
scores for the given interval from a computation of the multi-site performance score.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method of claim 8 wherein the filtering step comprises setting each of at
least a subset of the normalized scores for the given interval to a particular value prior to
computation of the multi-site performance score.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
70 words
An apparatus for use in a multi-site call processing system comprising multiple
distributed call center sites, the apparatus comprising: a load balancing element operative to generate a multi-site performance score
characterizing performance of a load balancing process which determines assignment of
incoming calls to particular ones of the multiple distributed call center sites, wherein the load
balancing process is adjusted based at least in part on the multi-site performance score.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
88 words
An article of manufacture containing one or more software programs for use in
a multi-site call processing system comprising multiple distributed call center sites, wherein
the one or more software programs, when executed in a processor, cause the processor to
perform the steps of: generating a multi-site performance score characterizing performance of a load
balancing process which determines assignment of incoming calls to particular ones of the
multiple distributed call center sites; and adjusting the load balancing process based at least in part on the multi-site
performance score.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
67 words
A method for use in a call processing system which implements a load balancing
process, the method comprising the steps of: generating a multi-entity performance score characterizing performance of the
load balancing process, the load balancing process determining assignment of incoming calls
to particular ones of a set of multiple entities; and adjusting the load balancing process based at least in part on the multi-entity
performance score.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
44 words
The method of claim 13 wherein the call processing system comprises multiple
distributed call center sites, and the multi-entity performance score characterizes
performance of a load balancing process which determines assignment of incoming calls to
particular ones of the multiple distributed call center sites.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
45 words
The method of claim 13 wherein the call processing system comprises
processing entities for multiple skills, and the multi-entity performance score characterizes
performance of a load balancing process which determines assignment of incoming calls to
particular ones of the processing entities for the multiple skills.
Claim 16
Independent Claim
71 words
An apparatus for use in a call processing system which implements a load
balancing process, the apparatus comprising: a load balancing element operative to generate a multi-entity performance score
characterizing performance of the load balancing process, the load balancing process
determining assignment of incoming calls to particular ones of a set of multiple entities,
wherein the load balancing process is adjusted based at least in part on the multi-entity
performance score.
Claim 17
Independent Claim
61 words
A method for use in a call processing system which implements a load balancing
process, the method comprising the steps of: generating a multi-entity performance score characterizing performance of the
load balancing process, the load balancing process determining assignment of incoming calls
to particular ones of a set of multiple entities; and generating a graphical representation of the multi-entity performance score.
Claim 18
Independent Claim
60 words
A method for use in a multi-site call processing system comprising multiple
distributed call center sites, the method comprising the steps of: generating a multi-site performance score characterizing performance of a load
balancing process which determines assignment of incoming calls to particular ones of the
multiple distributed call center sites; and generating a graphical representation of the multi-site performance score.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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