Automated voice system for improving agent efficiency and improving service to parties on hold

Claim 1

For use with a system which places outbound calls to and receives inbound calls from a plurality of parties, which selectively connects ones of said plurality of parties to ones of a plurality of agents, which selectively places ones of said plurality of parties on hold, and which uses a call pacing algorithm to control the rate of placement of said outbound calls, a method for advising a party who is placed on hold, comprising the steps of: measuring call handling times for each agent of said plurality of agents; providing said call handling times for each said agent to said call pacing algorithm; receiving, for each said agent and from said call pacing algorithm, a prediction of time remaining until each of said agents becomes available; ranking said agents based upon said time remaining for each agent; determining a priority status for each party who is placed on hold; ranking said parties who are placed on hold based upon said priority status; matching a party on hold with an agent, based upon said ranking of said agents and said ranking of said parties; and providing, to a said party on hold, a statement of said time remaining for a said agent which was matched to said party.

Claim 4

An apparatus for improving service to parties, said parties including both called parties and calling parties, said apparatus comprising: a plurality of agent terminals staffed by a corresponding plurality of agents; means for connecting selected ones of said parties to selected ones of said agents at said agent terminals, or placing selected ones of said parties on hold; control means for measuring call handling times for each of said agents, for providing said call handling times for each said agent to a call pacing algorithm to obtain a prediction of time remaining until each of said agents becomes available, for ranking said agents based upon said time remaining for each agent, for determining a priority status for each party who is placed on hold, for ranking said parties who are placed on hold based upon said priority status for each party, and for matching a party on hold with an agent, based upon said ranking of said agents and said ranking of said parties; and means for providing to each said party on hold a statement of said time remaining for said agent matched to said party.

Claim 5

An apparatus for improving service to parties, said parties including both called parties and calling parties, said apparatus comprising: a plurality of agent terminals staffed by a corresponding plurality of agents; means for connecting selected ones of said parties to selected ones of said agents at said agent terminals, or placing selected ones of said parties on hold; control means for measuring call handling times for each of said agents, for providing said call handling times for each said agent to a call pacing algorithm to obtain a prediction of time remaining until each of said agents becomes available, for ranking said agents based upon said time remaining for each agent, for determining a priority status for each party who is placed on hold, for ranking said parties who are placed on hold based upon said priority status for each party, and for matching a party on hold with an agent, based upon said ranking of said agents and said ranking of said parties; and means for providing to each said party on hold a statement of said time remaining for said agent matched to said party.