Apparatus and method in improving e-mail routing in an internet protocol network telephony call-in-center

Abstract

An Internet Protocol Network Telephony call center having a plurality of agents for serving clients also processes e-mails addresses to the call center, but not to specific agents. An e-mail server receives and routes the e-mail, and includes a router and a database storing skill set information regarding agents. The router extracts information from the e-mails, matches key words in the extracted information with key words from the skill sets, and routes the e-mails to appropriate agents having the necessary skills to respond to the service requirements in the e-mails.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A system for routing an electronic mail (e-mail) to one of a plurality of agents in an Internet Protocol Network Telephony call center, each of said agents having a specific skill set from a variety of possible skill sets, the system comprising:

an e-mail server adapted to receive said e-mail from a sender;

an information extractor for extracting information from said e-mail;

a router; and

a database accessible to the router and storing skill sets of said agents;

wherein the router selects the one of a plurality of agents by matching stored information about the specific skill sets with portions of extracted information from said e-mail.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a statistics server (stat-server) recording activities of said call center, and wherein said routing performed by said router further uses said recorded activity in said stat-server.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein routing of e-mails to selected agents is load-balanced based on recorded activity stored in said stat-server.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein an overload threshold is set for number of e-mails to be routed, and senders of e-mails are notified of a possible delay when the threshold is exceeded.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said database further stores information on senders of e-mails, and routing performed by said router further uses said stored information on senders of e-mails.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein said database stores information about prior relationships of agents and e-mail senders, and said router uses said relationship information in making routing decisions.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein a time limit for response to e-mails by said agents is set, and wherein e-mails not answered within said time limit are rerouted to other agents.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein said information extractor comprises plural and selectable extraction algorithms.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein one of the extraction algorithms includes a parser, and wherein said one of the extraction algorithms uses the parser to search for keywords in said e-mail.

10. A method for routing electronic mails (e-mails) in an Internet Protocol Network Telephony (IPNT) call center having a plurality of agents, comprising steps of:

(a) receiving e-mails at an e-mail server in the call center;

(b) extracting information from the e-mails;

(c) matching extracted information with skill sets of agents; and

(d) selecting a specific agent to receive a specific e-mail based on results of the matching step (c).

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention in its several aspects presented herein is in the area of telephone communication in the broadest sense; that is, including all multimedia communication aspects of intelligent networks, call-center technology including computer-telephony integration (CTI), and Internet protocol telephony networks and related technology.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Telephone is one of the most widely used communication equipments in the world. At first, it was merely a convenient tool to allow people to communicate while they are physically separated. Recently, many companies use telephones to market products and services, provide technical supports to consumer products, allow customers to access their own financial data, etc. Thus, telephone is becoming a major business and marketing tool.

In order to more effectively use telephone for business and marketing purposes, call centers have been developed. In a call center, a large number of agents handle telephone communication with customers. The matching of calls between customers and agents is typically performed by software. A simple example is used here to describe a few of the many advantages of using call centers. When a call is made to a call center, the telephone number of the calling line is typically made available to the call center by a telephone carrier. Based on this telephone number, the software in the call center can access a database server to obtain information about the customer who has been assigned that phone number. The software can now route the call to an agent who can best handle the call based on predefined criteria (e.g., language skill, knowledge of products the customer bought, etc.). The software immediately transfers relevant information to a computer screen used by the agent. Thus, the agent can gain valuable information about the customer prior to receiving the call. As a result, the agent can more effectively handle the telephone transaction.

It can be seen from the above example that the enabling technology requires a combination of telephone switching and computer information processing technologies. The term commonly used for this combined technology is computer-telephony-integration (CTI).

In recent years, advances in computer technology and telephony equipment and infrastructure as well has provided many opportunities for improving telephone service. Similarly, development of the information and data network known as the Internet together with advances in computer hardware and software has led to a new multi-media telephone system known in the art as Internet protocol network telephony (IPNT). In IPNT as well as in the older intelligent and CTI-enhanced telephony systems, both privately and publicly switched, it is desirable to handle more calls faster and to provide improved service in every way, including such improvements as video calls and conferencing.

In various embodiments and aspects of the present invention described in enabling detail below, new and enhanced apparatus and methods are provided for improving telephony systems and service.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention a system for routing an electronic mail (e-mail) to one of a plurality of agents in an Internet Protocol Network Telephony call center is provided, each of the agents having a specific skill set from a variety of possible skill sets, the system comprising an e-mail server adapted to receive the e-mail from a sender; an information extractor for extracting information from the e-mail; a router; and a database accessible to the router and storing skill sets of the agents. The router selects the one of a plurality of agents by matching stored information about the specific skill sets with portions of extracted information from the e-mail. In some embodiments a statistics server (stat-server) records activities of the call center, and the routing performed by the router further uses the recorded activity in the stat-server. Also in some embodiments routing of e-mails to selected agents is load-balanced based on recorded activity stored in the stat-server. An overload threshold may set for number of e-mails to be routed, and senders of e-mails are then notified of a possible delay when the threshold is exceeded.

In some other embodiments the database further stores information on senders of e-mails, and routing performed by the router further uses the stored information on senders of e-mails. The database may also store information about prior relationships of agents and e-mail senders, and the router uses the relationship information in making routing decisions as well. In an alternative embodiment a time limit for response to e-mails by the agents is set, and e-mails not answered within the time limit are rerouted to other agents. In other embodiments the information extractor comprises plural and selectable extraction algorithms. One of the extraction algorithms may include a parser, and the one of the extraction algorithms uses the parser to search for keywords in the e-mail.

The system provided by the several embodiments of the present invention allows e-mails to be addressed for service to a single entity, and then to be distributed to agents for service who are qualified by particular skills to respond to the need of the client sending the e-mail.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a video routing system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a trunk route script which allows a host of the present invention to control the operation of a private branch exchange.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the operation of the video routing system of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a drawing showing the logical connection between components in a call station of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a voice and data communication system of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a computer-telephony-integration system of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram showing the flow of events during an exemplary data and voice communication session conducted in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of another computer-telephony-integration system of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram showing the flow of events during another exemplary data and voice communication session conducted in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a drawing showing a call center architecture of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a prior art call center architecture.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a multiple call center's architecture of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram showing illustrating objects used in a stat-server of the multiple call centers system of the present invention.

FIGS. 15A and 15B (in combination) is a flow diagram showing the operation of a multiple call centers system in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of a call center system containing a central controller of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram of an individual call center of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a timing diagram showing a time interval when the estimation algorithm in accordance with the present invention is needed because no actual data is available.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram of a call center that can implement the multiple object state determination system of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram illustrating objects used in a stat-server of the multiple call centers system of the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram showing an e-mail processing center of the present invention.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram of a e-mail to CTI server adapter used in the e-mail processing center of the present invention.

FIG. 23 is a flow chart showing the operation of the e-mail processing center of FIG. 20.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Video Telecommunication Routing Systems and Methods (3215)

The present invention comprises a novel video telecommunication routing system and related methods. The following description is presented to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention. Description of specific applications is provided only as examples. Various modifications to the preferred embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a video routing system 100 of the present invention. System 100 comprises a video kiosk 102 which originates a video call and a call center 110 which accepts and assigns an appropriate video agent to process the call. Video Kiosk 102 and call center 110 are connected to a public-switched telephone network (PSTN) 104 via telephone lines 106 and 107, respectively. As will be explained below, line 106 is preferably a basic rate interface and line 107 is preferably a primary rate interface. Consequently, video calls between video kiosk 102 and call center 110 are carried by PSTN 104.

Call center 110 comprises a video routing device 111 which accepts calls (including video calls) when predetermined phone numbers are dialed, and then routes individual call to one of a plurality of stations in accordance with predefined criteria. These stations include video stations 115-117. In an embodiment of the present invention, the criteria could vary in real time as the characteristics of the calls and video stations change.

It is possible for call center 110 to process video calls from other video kiosks, such as kiosk 103. Call center 110 may also process conventional voice calls.

In one embodiment of the present invention, video stations 115-117 can be connected to a communication network 121. This network could be a local area network commonly used in many offices. Other devices, such as a database server 122, can also be connected to network 121. Information of video stations, call center personnel and customers can be stored in database server 120. This information is accessible by video stations 115-117. It should be appreciated that database server 120 lo does not have to be a sophisticated database management system. It could be as simple as a table stored in a small data processing device. Video routing device 111 may optionally be connected to database server 120 so as to access the information. This information can also be stored inside video routing device 111.

An example of the types of video telecommunication that can be advantageously handled by routing system 100 is intelligent routing of a video conference between a customer located at video kiosk 102 and an appropriate agent sitting by one of the video stations in call center 110.

Video routing device 111 comprises a switching device 112 for accepting calls from PSTN 104. Switching device 112 could be a automatic call distributor (ACD)/private branch exchange (PBX) or a PSTN switch. It should be appreciated that switching device 112 (hereinafter "ACD/PBX 112") can be a customer premise equipment or may be provided by a telephone communication carrier. ACD/PBX 112 contains a high bandwidth port 144 (for connecting to PSTN 104) and a plurality of low bandwidth ports (such as ports 146-150). Some of these ports can be connected to video stations 115-117. The other low bandwidth ports can be connected to voice-based devices. Each of the low bandwidth ports is assigned one or more directory numbers. In one embodiment of the present invention, two directory numbers (corresponding to two telephone channels) are assigned to a video station.

ACD/PBX 112 is also connected to a CTI/PBX server 113 through a computer-telephony-integration (CTI) link 123. Video routing device 111 comprises two other servers: a routing server/video ACD 114 for routing video calls and a stat-server 124 for storing historic information of call center 110. CTI/PBX server 113 functions as an interface between these two servers and ACD/PBX 112. These three servers are connected to communication network 121. In the present embodiment, the function of these servers are provided by software modules. As explained below, these three servers can be used in combination with a conventional ACD/PBX to achieve the video routing function of the present invention.

High bandwidth port 144 of ACD/PBX 112 is preferably connected to a high capacity telephone line, such as a primary rate interface (PRI) as defined in the CCITT ISDN 1.431 standard. This is one of the standards of the international ISDN protocol.

Low bandwidth ports 146-145 could be a single voice channel or a basic rate interface (BRI) as defined in CCITT ISDN 1.430 standard. Basically, BRI offers two 56 kilo-bit-per-second (Kbps) user data channels (the "bearer" or B channels) and one 16 Kbps signaling channel (the D channel). This interface is also referred to as 2B+D. The combined bandwidth is 128 Kbps. The PRI offers twenty three user data channels and one 64 Kbps signaling channel. This interface is also referred to as 23B+D.

In order to deliver video information at an acceptable level of quality (e.g., 15 frame per second), current compression technology prefers a bandwidth of at least 112 to 128 Kbps. This amount of bandwidth cannot be provided by a single telephone channel but could be provided by an ISDN BRI. Thus, in FIG. 1, line 106 connecting video kiosk 102 to PSTN 104 is preferably a BRI line.

As discussed above, a BRI line essentially comprises two telephone channels. These two telephone channels must be connected to the same low bandwidth port of PBX 142 in order to allow all the video data from video kiosk 102 to be transmitted to the same video station. A conventional PBX does not have the ability to recognize that two telephone channels originated from the same video kiosk. Thus, it is not possible for it to connect them to the same video station.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the servers in video routing device 111 (i.e., CTI/PBX server 113, stat-server 124 and routing server/video ACD 114; these three servers are collectively called the "host") are used in combination with a conventional PBX to route calls originated from video kiosk 102 to the appropriate low bandwidth port. In this embodiment, ACD/PBX 112 is a conventional PBX which comprises a data processing device capable of executing an internal trunk route script. This script contains a plurality of commands which control the operation of ACD/PBX 112. For example, the script can connect calls received at high bandwidth port 144 to low bandwidth ports in accordance with certain criteria, determine the type of music or announcement to play when a call is put on hold, select the strategy to queue calls when all low bandwidth ports are busy, etc.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the above described servers are used to determine the operation of ACD/PBX 112 (i.e., the internal trunk route script is essentially disabled). As a result, intelligence and routing decisions are moved from ACD/PBX 112 to the host. FIG. 2 is a flow chart 200 showing a trunk route script which allows the host to control the operation of ACD/PBX 112. ACD/PBX 112 receives an incoming call (step 202). ACD/PBX 112 places a request to the host for routing the call (step 204). ACD/PBX 112 then waits for a response from the host (step 206). If it receives a response from the host, control is transferred to host, which then performs routing operation in accordance with criteria determined by the host (step 208). Flow chart 200 then ends, and another call can be processed by ACD/PBX 112 and the host. If ACD/PBX 112 does not receive a response from the host, it determines whether a response timeout (e.g., 10 seconds) has elapsed (step 210). If the answer is yes, ACD/PBX 112 then executes its internal script (step 212). Thus, the internal script provides a default routing routine for the call center. Flow chart 200 then ends, and another call can be processed by ACD/PBX 112 and the host. If the answer is no, ACD/PBX 112 continues to wait (i.e., flow chart 200 branches back to step 206).

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, video routing is performed by combining the resources of stat-server 124, routing server/video ACD 114, and CTI/PBX server 113. Stat-server 124 contains a database for storing all relevant activities of call center 110 (e.g., the current status and history of activities of all low bandwidth ports). Routing server/video ACD 114 routes calls to appropriate low bandwidth ports based on factors such as the information contained in stat-server 124, the information delivered by ACD/PBX 112 and the status of various low bandwidth ports. CTI/PBX server 113 acts as a bridge between ACD/PBX 112 at one end and stat-server 124 and routing server/video ACD 114 at the other end. CTI/PBX server 113 is designed to interface with PBXs manufactured by different vendors and present a uniform application program interface (API) to stat-server 124 and routing server/video ACD 114. An advantage of this arrangement is that individual components in video routing device 111 could be replaced and enhanced separately. For example, substantially the same routing server/video ACD and stat-server could be used with PBXs from different manufacturers by changing CTI/PBX server 113.

The operation of an embodiment of video routing system 100 is now described in connection with flow chart 250 of FIG. 3. The video routing system in this embodiment operates in a telephone system in which two separate telephone numbers are associated with an ISDN channel. It should be note that this embodiment can be modified in a manner described below to function in a telephone system in which only one telephone number is associated with an ISDN channel.

In system 100, a regular toll-free 800-number is pre-assigned to carry video information. Thus, video kiosk 102 dials this number twice, each time using a different phone number associated with the ISDN channel (step 252). The time gap for connecting these two calls to call center 110 by PSTN 104 ranges from less than a second to several seconds. Typically, the gap is below one minute.

PSTN 104 connects the calls to call center 110 (step 254). Each time when the 800-number is dialed, PSTN 104 delivers two pieces of information to ACD/PBX 112:

a "dial number identification system" (DNIS) for uniquely identifying the toll-free 800-number and an "automatic number identification" (ANI) for uniquely identifying the telephone line which originates the call. In this embodiment, the above described toll free 800-number and the ISDN line connected to video kiosk 102 are pre-assigned for video conference purposes. The DNIS and ANIs of the corresponding 800-number and ISDN line should have been previously stored in a database (which could be located in routing server/video ACD 114 or database server 120).

In the present invention, ACD/PBX 112 transfers control of calls to the host (step 258). When ACD/PBX 112 receives the DNIS and the first of two ANIs from PSTN 104, it send s these two number s t o CTI/PBX server 113, which in turn sends them to routing server/video ACD 114. Routing decision is not made by ACD/PBX 112. Be cause this DNIS is one of the numbers recognized by routing server/video ACD 114 to be associated with a video call, the video routine algorithm of routing server/video ACD 114 is invoked. This serves as a convenient method for screening out non-video calls.

Routing server/video ACD 114 then determines if this is a new video call or a part of an existing video call (step 260). It branches to a "DN-Relate" database. An example of a DN-Relate database is shown in Table 1:

                  TABLE 1
    ______________________________________
    DN-Relate
    DN1#   DN2#     Status     Time Stamp
                                        Related ANI
    ______________________________________
    1000   1001     Available  9:20
    1040   1041     Unavailable
                               10:10
    1060   1061     Waiting    10:32    1213
    ______________________________________

                  TABLE 2
    ______________________________________
    ANI-Relate
    First ANI        Second ANI
    ______________________________________
    1212             1213
    1213             1212
    3276             3277
    3277             3276
    (Other pairs of ANIs)
    ______________________________________

    ______________________________________
    if ((T-UT)*min(CQ+AC+AW,A-AAW)/AHT>CQ+AC+AW) {BA=0;
    CC=CC+CQ+AC+AW; CQ=0; }
    else if (CQ+AC+AW-(T-UT)*min
    (CQ+AC+AW,A-AAW)/AHT<A-AAW)
    {BA=CQ+AC+AW-(T-UT)*min
    (CQ+AC+AW,A-AAW)/AHT;
    CC=CC+(T-UT)*min
    (CQ+AC+AW,A-AAW)/AHT; CQ=0; }
    else {BA=A-AAW; CC=CC+(T-UT)*min
    (CQ+AC+AW,A-AAW)/AHT;
    CQ=max(0,CQ+AC+AW-(T-UT)*min
    (CQ+AC+AW,A-AAW)/AHT-A
    +AAW);}
    CA=CC+BA;
    AC=min(BA,max(0,BA*CD/AHT));
    AW=BA-AC;
    AA=A-AAW-BA;
    UT=T.
    ______________________________________

                  TABLE 1
    ______________________________________
    (1)  NotMonitored:    The CTI server is not currently
                          tracking the status of
                          this agent DN. Consequently,
                          the stat-server is not
                          accumulating
                          statistical information for
                          this DN.
    (2)  Monitored:       The agent DN is monitored
                          by the CTI server.
    (3)  LoggedIn:        It indicates that an agent
                          has logged in to
                          the agent DN.
    (4)  OnHook:          It indicates that an agent
                          DN is on hook and
                          is waiting for a call.
    (5)  WaitForNextCall: This is active at almost
                          all time, even when
                          this agent DN has active
                          calls or when there
                          is no agent (for the
                          possibility of leaving a
                          voice mail message).
                          The only situation in
                          which WaitForNextCall is
                          not active is
                          when a predetermined key
                          is pressed (see
                          NotReadyForNextCall below).
    (6)  OffHook:         It indicates that the
                          telephone receiver is
                          offhook. However, other
                          states can be
                          active even when the
                          receiver is offhook
                          (e.g., WaitForNextCall).
    (7)  CallDialing:     It indicates that an agent
                          has dialed a call but
                          that the call is
                          not yet established.
    (8)  CallRinging:     It relates to an action
                          occurring on an agent
                          DN from the moment an
                          inbound call begins
                          ringing to the time just
                          before the handling
                          of the call by an agent.
    (9)  NotReadyForNextCall:
                          This refers to a hardware
                          condition preventing
                          the receipt of calls.
                          It is usually
                          activated by pressing
                          a predetermined key.
    (10) OfflineWorkType1:
                          It indicates that an agent
                          is offline to do
                          work that can be
                          classified as type 1.
    (11) OfflineWorkType2:
                          It indicates that an
                          agent is offline to do
                          work that can be
                          classified as type 2.
    (12) CallOnHoldUnknown:
                          It indicates that a call
                          of unknown type is
                          on hold.
    (13) CallOnHoldConsult:
                          It indicates that a
                          consulting call is on
                          hold.
    (14) CallOnHoldInternal:
                          It indicates that an
                          internal call is on hold
    (15) CallOnHoldOutbound:
                          It indicates that an
                          outbound call is on
                          hold
    (16) CallOnHoldInbound:
                          It indicates that an
                          inbound call is on
                          hold
    (17) CallUnknown:     It indicates that the CTI
                          server cannot determine
                          whether the call is a
                          consult, internal, outbound,
                          inbound or on-hold call.
    (18) CallConsult:     It indicates that a
                          consulting call is in
                          progress.
    (19) CallInternal:    It indicates that call
                          between two extensions (in
                          ternal calls) is in progress
                          (i.e., when no prefix is
                          used)
    (20) CallOutbound:    It indicates that an
                          outbound call is in progress.
    (21) CallInbound:     It indicates that an
                          inbound call is in
                          progress.
    (22) LoggedOut:       It indicates that an
                          agent has logged out
                          from the agent DN.
    (23) CallDialed:      It indicates that a
                          successful result was achieved
                          when a call was dialed.
    (24) CallAbandonedFromDialing:
                          It indicates that
                          during the process
                          of a call dialing
                          (and before another
                          party answers), the agent
                          hung up the phone.
    (25) CallAnswered:    It indicates that a call
                          was answered.
    (26) CallAbandonedFromRinging:
                          It indicates that
                          another party
                          hung up the phone while
                          a call was ringing.
    (27) CallAbandonedFromHolding:
                          It indicates that
                          another party
                          hung up the phone while
                          a call was on hold.
    ______________________________________

                  TABLE 2
    ______________________________________
    (1)  NotMonitored: The CTI server is not curre