US5168515A — Switchless automatic call distribution system

Claim 1

Independent Claim 193 words

An automatic call distributing system for automatically distributing telephone calls placed over a telephone network to one of a plurality of agent stations, said system comprising a call router device for directing incoming telephone calls to agent stations, a plurality of agent stations connected to communicate with said call router device, said agent stations having autonomous state machines defined by a plurality of agent states and state transitions that determine the operation of said agent stations, said agent stations providing agent state status messages to said call router, said agent state status messages including transition notifications indicating transitions from one state to another state that do not require approval from said call router and transition requests indicating requests for transition from one state to another state for transitions that do require approval from said call router, each said agent station being responsive to a forced response signal which causes said state machine to make a transition to one of its defined states, said call router device including an agent station state manager connected to receive said transition notifications and said transition requests and to provide said forced response signals to said agent stations.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 193 words

An automatic call distributing system for automatically distributing telephone calls placed over a telephone network to one of a plurality of agent stations, said system comprising a call router device for directing incoming telephone calls to agent stations, a plurality of agent stations connected to communicate with said call router device, said agent stations having autonomous state machines defined by a plurality of agent states and state transitions that determine the operation of said agent stations, said agent stations providing agent state status messages to said call router, said agent state status messages including transition notifications indicating transitions from one state to another state that do not require approval from said call router and transition requests indicating requests for transition from one state to another state for transitions that do require approval from said call router, each said agent station being responsive to a forced response signal which causes said state machine to make a transition to one of its defined states, said call router device including an agent station state manager connected to receive said transition notifications and said transition requests and to provide said forced response signals to said agent stations.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 51 words

The system of claim 1 wherein said agent stations include means to wait for a forced response signal from said state manager before changing in state when a transition request is sent and to not wait for a forced response signal to change in state when a transition notification is sent.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 144 words

The system of claim 2 wherein said agent stations have an active state in which incoming telephone calls are connected, a ready state in which the agent station is ready to receive an incoming telephone call, and one or more other states in which the station is not ready to receive an incoming telephone call, and wherein said agent station has one or more input devices to initiate a transition in state from the ready state to said one or more other particular states, and wherein said agent station has means to provide a transition request upon activation of a particular input device of said one or more input devices, and said station manager has means for sending a forced response signal to cause said agent station to change from said ready state to a particular state of said one or more other states.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 28 words

The system of claim 3 wherein said other states include a setup state in which said agent station can initiate an outgoing telephone call and an idle state.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 67 words

The system of claim 1 wherein said agent stations have a plurality of said agent states that are associated with a sign-off condition in which the agent stations do not transmit said agent status messages to said call router device and a plurality of states that are associated with a sign-on condition in which said agent stations provide said agent status messages to said call router device.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 28 words

The system of claim 1 further comprising means for programmably changing which transitions in state have associated transition notifications and which transitions in state have associated transition requests.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 64 words

The system of claim 6 wherein said agent stations include means for maintaining a transition table determining which transitions in state have associated transition notifications and which transitions in state have associated transition requests, said agent stations also including input devices to initiate transitions in agent state and means to refer to said transition table upon receiving an input from a said input device.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 66 words

The system of claim 7 wherein said transition table includes an error entry for a transition between two agent states, and wherein said means for programmably changing includes means for placing an error entry in said transition table of an agent station, said error entry indicating an absence of ability to make a transition between two agent states, thereby defining the functionality of said agent station.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 37 words

The system of claim 8 wherein said means for programmably changing includes means for changing the entries in said transition table as a function of the number of incoming calls placed to the automatic call distributing system.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 27 words

The system of claim 1 further comprising means for maintaining a response table in said call router device listing particular forced response signals for particular transition requests.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 37 words

The system of claim 10 wherein said means for programmably changing includes means for changing the entries in said response table as a function of the number of incoming calls placed to the automatic call distributing system.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 44 words

The system of claim 1 wherein said call router device and said agent stations are connected to said telephone network via network service interfaces, and wherein said status messages and forced response signals are transmitted via said network service interfaces over said telephone network.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 14 words

The system of claim 1 wherein said telephone network is a combination of networks.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 130 words

An automatic call distributing system for automatically distributing telephone calls placed over a telephone network to one of a plurality of agent stations, said system comprising a call router device for directing incoming telephone calls to agent stations, and a plurality of agent stations connected to communicate with said call router device, said agent stations having autonomous state machine defined by a plurality of agent states and state transitions that determine the operation of said agent stations, said agent stations providing agent state status messages to said call router indicating said agent states, said call router device including means for programmably changing said agent states and state transitions that define said autonomous state machines as a function of the number of incoming calls placed to the automatic call distributing system.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 130 words

An automatic call distributing system for automatically distributing telephone calls placed over a telephone network to one of a plurality of agent stations, said system comprising a call router device for directing incoming telephone calls to agent stations, and a plurality of agent stations connected to communicate with said call router device, said agent stations having autonomous state machine defined by a plurality of agent states and state transitions that determine the operation of said agent stations, said agent stations providing agent state status messages to said call router indicating said agent states, said call router device including means for programmably changing said agent states and state transitions that define said autonomous state machines as a function of the number of incoming calls placed to the automatic call distributing system.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 40 words

The system of claim 14 wherein said call router device and said agent stations are connected to said telephone network via network service interfaces, and wherein said status messages are transmitted via said network service interfaces over said telephone network.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 14 words

The system of claim 14 wherein said telephone network is a combination of networks.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	1995-12-01	1996-06-01	1996-12-01	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	1999-12-01	2000-06-01	2000-12-01	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2003-12-01	2004-06-01	2004-12-01	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Switchless automatic call distribution system

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