Patents by Inventor James K Boutcher

James K Boutcher has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 9294890
    Abstract: A message receiving, intercepting and processing method and corresponding application and device may provide receiving a message at a message processing server, identifying the received message as including text information, identifying the intended recipient of the message as an automated response subscriber; and generating a response message on behalf of the automated response subscriber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2016
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: James K. Boutcher, Jeffrey William Cordell, Adam Caldwell
  • Patent number: 9282126
    Abstract: Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate to user access to an application service that references user account information and previous user action information. One example method may include receiving, via a receiver device, user input information to access an application, the user input information including at least one action request and authorizing the user to access the application. The method may also include storing the user input information as part of a contextual history information record in a database memory, generating a response message to the selected at least one action request based on the contextual history information, and forwarding the response message to the user via a transmitter device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2016
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: Michael T. Mateer, James K. Boutcher, Jesse Andersen
  • Patent number: 9264549
    Abstract: An apparatus, method, and/or computer program is provided to detect, based on a predetermined period of time, that one or more conference participants are located in a conference room. An alert message is transmitted to a registered mobile device of the leader of the conference. The alert message indicates that one or more conference participants are waiting in the conference room. And, the conference leader is connected to the conference room based on a response message received from the conference leader.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2016
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: Steven E. Gass, Jeffrey William Cordell, James K. Boutcher, Myron P. Sojka
  • Patent number: 9256879
    Abstract: A method and apparatus of providing notifications to a customer is disclosed. One example method of operation may include identifying a notification event associated with a customer via a customer management module and retrieving a customer preference record and determining a notification device preference for a customer Internet protocol (IP) device included in the customer preference record. The method may also include transmitting the notification event to the customer's IP device based on the notification device preference, the notification event may include a live agent support option which may be accessed in the event that the automated support options fail to satisfy the customer's questions and concerns.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2016
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: Jeffrey William Cordell, James K. Boutcher
  • Patent number: 9247066
    Abstract: A message processing application may be configured to receive at least one inquiry message from a user device in the form or a text message, email or other communication message format. The message may be received and processed to identify the content of the inquiry message to determine whether the inquiry message should be transferred to a live agent queue or whether the inquiry message should be responded to with an automated response stored in a database. In the case of the automated message failing to address the user's inquiry or if the automated responses do not appear to be relevant based on the comparison of the message content to automated response content then transmitting the inquiry message to the live agent queue.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2016
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: Kellan Stec, Geetha Gopalakrishnan, James K. Boutcher
  • Patent number: 9232059
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method, apparatus, system and non-transitory computer program product configured to process user call responses and assign caller specific preferences to the user based on the caller's feedback. One example method of processing spoken words from a user of a calling platform may include operations, such as calling a user via a call processing device, and sending a call prompt message to the user after the user has answered the call, the call prompt message soliciting a user response. The user may respond and the response is received as a spoken call greeting from the user in response to the call prompt message. Other operations may include recording the spoken call greeting, and determining whether the spoken call greeting is indicative of a language preference. The system may process the user's word or utterances and assign language preferences to the user based on the user provided information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2016
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: James K. Boutcher, David Scheet, Jeffrey William Cordell, Daniel E. Smith
  • Patent number: 9232373
    Abstract: A message receiving, intercepting and processing method and corresponding application and device may provide receiving a message at a message processing server, the message being intended for a phone number associated with a customer service provider, identifying a telephone number of the sender of the message, parsing at least one word from the message, retrieving user account information of the sender, and generating an automated response to the message that includes contextual information that is based on at least one of the user account information and the parsed at least one word from the message.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2016
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: Adam Caldwell, Jeffrey William Cordell, James K. Boutcher
  • Patent number: 9203963
    Abstract: In a call center, a caller's geographical position may be mapped together with a geographical position of a call agent allocated to handle the call. A map may display tags depicting the respective positions of the caller and the call agent with a visual link indicating the call connection. The call agent may be selected dependent on the relative proximity to the caller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2015
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: James K. Boutcher, Michael Joseph Parmeley
  • Patent number: 9143907
    Abstract: A message receiving, intercepting and processing method and corresponding application and device may provide receiving a message at a message processing server, the message being intended for a phone number associated with a customer service provider. The method may also include identifying a telephone number of the sender of the message, parsing at least one word from the message, retrieving user account information of the sender, and generating an automated response to the message that includes contextual information that is based on at least one of the user account information and the parsed at least one word from the message.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2015
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: Adam Caldwell, Jeffrey William Cordell, James K. Boutcher
  • Patent number: 9106731
    Abstract: A method and apparatus of processing a voice call are disclosed. One example method of operation may include recording at least a portion of a conference call and storing the portion of the conference call in memory. The method may also include processing the portion of the conference call to identify at least one segment of interest and adding the at least one segment of interest to an existing work order associated with a third party application. The method may further provide forwarding the at least one segment of interest to a third party computing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2015
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: James K. Boutcher, David Scheet, Jeffrey William Cordell
  • Patent number: 9065904
    Abstract: A method and apparatus of accessing a data service in a wireless communications network is disclosed. An example may include receiving a call identifying an application accessed by a mobile station, and verifying whether the accessed application is installed on the mobile station. The example may further include transferring a notification message to the mobile station based on the accessed application.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2015
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: Michael T. Mateer, James K. Boutcher
  • Patent number: 9003328
    Abstract: A mobile device includes a client application configured to process and display a push notification specifying an appointment reminder originating from a server acting as an appointment manager. The client displays a menu of available options for conducting additional appointment-related transactions, such as confirmation, rescheduling, or cancellation of the appointment. Based on the user selection, the client conducts a user-interactive transaction with the server to complete the requested appointment service.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2015
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: James K. Boutcher, Michael T. Mateer
  • Patent number: 8995645
    Abstract: A system and method for routing an agent to a preferred communications platform in order to receive a customer call. The system may include a web server call notification module that receives an automatic number identification and information relating to an establishment whose phone number was dialed, and a virtual automated call distributor (VACD). Further, the system may include an interactive voice response (IVR) system that requests an agent's identification from the VACD, wherein the VACD and the web server are coupled to the IVR system, and wherein the VACD routes a customer's information to an agent desktop environment (ADE) coupled to the VACD. Also included may be an access platform that receives the customer's information and updates an ADE phone control state session on an agent's desktop, wherein the customer's information is routed to the ADE environment through a message transfer layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2015
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: Jeffrey William Cordell, Gregory Stuart Cardin, James K. Boutcher
  • Patent number: 8983038
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method, apparatus, system and non-transitory computer program product configured to process user call responses and assign caller specific preferences to the user based on the caller's feedback. One example method of processing spoken words from a user of a calling platform may include operations, such as calling a user via a call processing device, and sending a call prompt message to the user after the user has answered the call, the call prompt message soliciting a user response. The user may respond and the response is received as a spoken call greeting from the user in response to the call prompt message. Other operations may include recording the spoken call greeting, and determining whether the spoken call greeting is indicative of a language preference. The system may process the user's word or utterances and assign language preferences to the user based on the user provided information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: James K. Boutcher, David Scheet, Jeffrey William Cordell, Daniel E. Smith
  • Patent number: 8965347
    Abstract: A method and apparatus are disclosed for transmitting notifications to customers. One example method may include identifying a notification event associated with a customer via a customer management module and retrieving a customer record. The method may also include identifying a customer's mobile device via a voice channel preference indicating the mobile device in the customer preference record, and transmitting the notification event to the customer's mobile device based on the voice channel preference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: Jennie Dawn Hanson, Jeffrey William Cordell, James K. Boutcher
  • Patent number: 8964946
    Abstract: A method and apparatus of processing a voice call are disclosed. One example method of operation may include recording at least a portion of a voice call, and storing the portion of the voice call in memory. The method may also include processing the portion of the voice call to identify at least one segment of interest, and forwarding the at least one segment of interest to a new call party responsive to a call transfer action.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: David Scheet, James K. Boutcher, Jeffrey William Cordell
  • Patent number: 8934616
    Abstract: In a call center, a caller's geographical position may be mapped together with a geographical position of a call agent allocated to handle the call. A map may display tags depicting the respective positions of the caller and the call agent with a visual link indicating the call connection. The call agent may be selected dependent on the relative proximity to the caller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 13, 2015
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: James K. Boutcher, Michael Joseph Parmeley
  • Patent number: 8929534
    Abstract: A system, method, and computer readable medium for routing an agent to a preferred communications platform comprises accessing a server comprising a routing strategy, wherein the routing strategy consists of a site value, a project identification value, a project load value, and an attribute value of the agent, and wherein the site value takes precedent over the project identification value which takes precedent over the project load value which takes precedent over the attribute value of the agent, and routing the agent to the preferred environment based on a result of the routing strategy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2015
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: Jeffrey William Cordell, Gregory Stuart Cardin, James K. Boutcher
  • Patent number: 8914850
    Abstract: Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate to user access to an application service that references user account information and previous user action information. One example method may include receiving, via a receiver device, user input information to access an application, the user input information including at least one action request and authorizing the user to access the application. The method may also include storing the user input information as part of a contextual history information record in a database memory, generating a response message to the selected at least one action request based on the contextual history information, and forwarding the response message to the user via a transmitter device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 16, 2014
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: Michael T. Mateer, James K. Boutcher, Jesse Andersen
  • Patent number: 8817968
    Abstract: A message processing application may receive at least one inquiry message from a user device in the form or a text message, email or other communication message format. The message may be received and processed to identify the content of the inquiry message to determine whether the inquiry message should be transferred to a live agent or whether the inquiry message should be responded to with an automated response stored in a database.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2014
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: James K. Boutcher, Geetha Gopalakrishnan