Patent US5946387A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US5946387A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Agent-level network call routing
Assignee: GENESYS COMMUNICATIONS LABORATORIES Inc
•
Filing: 1997-02-19
•
Granted: 1999-08-31
•
Expires: 2017-02-19
Abstract
Abstract A computerized telephony call center for serving a customer base has a central switch connected to a plurality of telephones at operator workstations and adapted to route calls to individual ones of the telephones, and also connected to a public switched telephone network, and a first processor connected to the central switch by a high-speed data link and to the telephone network by a digital network connection. The first processor is adapted to monitor transactional activity of the central switch, to process the activity information according to selected routines in the processor, and to communicate processed information to a second processor over the digital network connection. The digital network connection may be a TCP\IP connection. In a preferred embodiment first processor is connected by a local area network (LAN) to network interfaces including a video display unit (VDU) and input apparatus proximate individual ones of the plurality of telephones connected to the central switch. In some embodiments the LAN is also connected to a data server running an instance of a database. In other embodiments the call center, and other similar call centers are all part of a call routing system wherein calls are routed from Service Control Points to call centers over telephone lines, and data is routed to the call centers over a separate digital network connection between processors coupled to the Service Control Points and to the call center central switches.
Inventors
- 👤 Alec Miloslavsky
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 17:50
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04L; H04L67/00; H04L67/2866; H04L67/30; H04L67/306; H04L65/00; H04L65/40; H04L65/401; H04M; H04M3/00; H04M3/42; H04M3/50; H04M3/51; H04M3/5183; H04M3/5191; H04M3/523; H04M3/5232; H04M3/5233; H04M3/5237; H04M3/54; H04M3/58; H04M7/00; H04M7/006; H04Q; H04Q3/00; H04Q3/0016; H04Q3/0029; H04Q3/0045; H04Q3/64; H04Q3/66; H04M2203/00; H04M2203/55; H04M2203/551; H04M2207/00; H04M2207/12; H04M3/08; H04M3/12; H04M3/22; H04M3/36; H04M3/367; H04M3/5166; H04M3/5236; H04M3/5238; H04M3/56; H04M7/12; H04Q2213/00; H04Q2213/13034; H04Q2213/13072; H04Q2213/13091; H04Q2213/13093; H04Q2213/13103; H04Q2213/13106; H04Q2213/13141; H04Q2213/13145; H04Q2213/13164; H04Q2213/13174; H04Q2213/13204; H04Q2213/1322; H04Q2213/13282; H04Q2213/13299; H04Q2213/13345; H04Q2213/13349; H04Q2213/1336; H04Q2213/13389
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 9
Claim 1
Independent Claim
175 words
A network-level call-routing system, comprising a network service control point (SCP) adapted for receiving and forwarding incoming telephone calls; a network information server accessible by the SCP; and at least one call center linked to the SCP by a telephony trunk, the at least one call center having at least one telephony switching apparatus connected to the telephony trunk, ports for switching incoming calls to connected agents, and a computer-telephony integration (CTI) sever connected to the telephony switching apparatus by a first data link and to the information server at network level by a second data link; wherein the CTI server monitors, on a transaction by transaction basis, activity of the telephony switching apparatus and switches the telephony switching apparatus via the first data link, and provides switch and agent status and agent skill sets to the information server by the second data link, and the SCP routes calls, by accessing information in the information server, to best-fit agents at the at least one call center based on availability and best fit to skill required.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
175 words
A network-level call-routing system, comprising a network service control point (SCP) adapted for receiving and forwarding incoming telephone calls; a network information server accessible by the SCP; and at least one call center linked to the SCP by a telephony trunk, the at least one call center having at least one telephony switching apparatus connected to the telephony trunk, ports for switching incoming calls to connected agents, and a computer-telephony integration (CTI) sever connected to the telephony switching apparatus by a first data link and to the information server at network level by a second data link; wherein the CTI server monitors, on a transaction by transaction basis, activity of the telephony switching apparatus and switches the telephony switching apparatus via the first data link, and provides switch and agent status and agent skill sets to the information server by the second data link, and the SCP routes calls, by accessing information in the information server, to best-fit agents at the at least one call center based on availability and best fit to skill required.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
56 words
The call-routing system of claim 1 comprising a plurality of call centers, each having a CTI server connected to a telephony switching apparatus and to the network-level information server, and wherein the SCP, by accessing information from the information server is adapted to route calls to agents at any one of the plurality of call centers.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
94 words
The call-routing system of claim 1 further comprising a call-center router at the at least one call center and a routing point within the telephony switching apparatus, wherein a call routed by the SCP to an agent at the at least one call center is routed to the routing point, and wherein the call-center router at the at least one call center checks the status of the originally-selected agent, forwarding the call to the agent if no status change has occurred, and selecting an alternate agent if the originally-selected agent is no longer available.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
74 words
The call-routing system of claim 2 further comprising call-center routers and routing points within the telephony switching apparatus at individual ones of the plurality of call centers, and wherein the call-center routers, upon receiving a routed call destined for a selected agent checks availability of the selected agent, forwards the call to the selected agent if that agent is still available, and selects an alternate agent if the originally-selected agent is no longer available.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
115 words
A method for accomplishing network-based agent-level call routing, comprising steps of: (a) monitoring transactions on a transaction-by-transaction basis of a telephony switch in a call center by a computer-telephony integration (CTI) server connected by a data link with the telephony switch; (b) providing to the network, by the CTI server via a digital link to an information server at network level, transaction status of the telephony switch and agent skill sets; (c) receiving an incoming call at a network-level service control point (SCP); (d) accessing information from the network-level information server; and (e) routing the incoming call to an agent at a remote call center based on the information provided by the network-level information server.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
115 words
A method for accomplishing network-based agent-level call routing, comprising steps of: (a) monitoring transactions on a transaction-by-transaction basis of a telephony switch in a call center by a computer-telephony integration (CTI) server connected by a data link with the telephony switch; (b) providing to the network, by the CTI server via a digital link to an information server at network level, transaction status of the telephony switch and agent skill sets; (c) receiving an incoming call at a network-level service control point (SCP); (d) accessing information from the network-level information server; and (e) routing the incoming call to an agent at a remote call center based on the information provided by the network-level information server.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
65 words
The method of claim 5, wherein, in step (a) transactions of a plurality of switches at a plurality of call centers is monitored, in step (b) transaction status of all the switches is reported to the network-level information server by CTI-servers connected to the plurality of switches, and, in step (c) calls are routed to agents at any one of the plurality of call centers.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
43 words
The method of claim 5 further comprising a step (f) for checking status of a selected agent at a call center to which a call is routed, and selecting an alternative agent for the call at the call center if status has changed.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
US4345315A
Cited
US4290141A
Cited
US4580012A
Cited
US4320256A
Cited
US4355207A
Cited
US4355372A
Cited
US4489438A
Cited
US4439636A
Cited
US4517410A
Cited
US4539435A
Cited
US4451700A
Cited
US4667287A
Cited
US4584602A
Cited
US4521643A
Cited
US4528643A
Cited
US4559415A
Cited
US4630200A
Cited
US4587379A
Cited
US4578700A
Cited
US4566030A
Cited
US4625276A
Cited
US4577062A
Cited
US4577067A
Cited
US4598367A
Cited
US4523055A
Cited
US4634809A
Cited
US4611094A
Cited
US4630201A
Cited
US4649563A
Cited
US4697282A
Cited
US4603232A
Cited
US4654482A
Cited
US4674044A
Cited
US4785408A
Cited
US4756020A
Cited
US4737983A
Cited
US4696029A
Cited
US4763191A
Cited
US4866756A
Cited
US4788715A
Cited
US4812843A
Cited
US4757267A
Cited
US4757267B1
Cited
US4893328A
Cited
US4908850A
Cited
US4908850B1
Cited
US5017917A
Cited
US4896345A
Cited
US4972461A
Cited
US4953204A
Cited
US5001710A
Cited
US5036535A
Cited
US5343477A
Cited
US5164983A
Cited
US5261096A
Cited
US5278977A
Cited
US5455903A
Cited
US5291551A
Cited
US5256863A
Cited
US5452350A
Cited
US5768360A
Cited
US5724418A
Cited
US5444774A
Cited
US5280625A
Cited
US5392400A
Cited
US5590188A
Cited
US5479487A
Cited
US5684870A
Cited
US5633924A
Cited
US5528678A
Cited
US5530744A
Cited
US5715307A
Cited
US5740238A
Cited
US5757904A
Cited
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2002-08-30 | 2003-03-01 | 2003-08-31 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2006-08-30 | 2007-03-01 | 2007-08-31 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2010-08-30 | 2011-03-01 | 2011-08-31 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |