Patents by Inventor Karl H. Koster
Karl H. Koster 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).
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Patent number: 11683411Abstract: A call handler is configured to originate calls using records stored in a contact list by using various campaign call data comprising a set of calling party numbers or “ANIs” that are to be used when originating calls. Each ANI is associated with a status, which reflects whether a terminating voice service provider has blocked a prior call using that ANI. The call handler is configured to recognize when a call is blocked by examining SIP protocol-based error codes and/or intercept announcements provided by the carrier when the call is blocked. Upon detecting the call is blocked, the call handler will update the status of that ANI and select another ANI value from the campaign call data to use for subsequent call originations of that campaign. A set of ANIs that a carrier has blocked may be stored to facilitate subsequent redress with that carrier.Type: GrantFiled: February 2, 2021Date of Patent: June 20, 2023Assignee: Noble Systems CorporationInventor: Karl H. Koster
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Patent number: 11575787Abstract: A dialing list comprising call records can be processed by a call handling component(s) in a contact center in various dialing modes. A call record may be processed to originate a voice call, where the agent manually dials the call as a voice telephone call. In another embodiment, one or more call records can be processed to originate a SMS text call or group text call, where the agent also determines when the call(s) originates. The agent is presented with a graphical user interface tailored to the dialing mode. The dialing mode used may be defined by the dialing list the call record is retrieved from, information from within the call record itself, application of a rule, or input from the agent. The dialing mode may be altered under certain conditions. When the call is originated, various compliance oriented tests, including calling windows and call attempts, are performed.Type: GrantFiled: August 2, 2021Date of Patent: February 7, 2023Assignee: NOBLE SYSTEMS CORPORATIONInventors: Karl H. Koster, Jason P. Ouimette
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Patent number: 11542011Abstract: An enhanced abandoned call recovery (“E-ACR”) process allows certain abandoned calls to be eligible for a callback call. An E-ACR assignment point defines which abandoned calls in an inbound campaign or interactive voice response (“IVR”) menu are eligible to be processed to determine whether the E-ACR callback should occur. The determination of whether a callback occurs involves various compliance tests, such as ensuring calling window, call attempts, and other regulatory concerns are addressed. Once a callback is determined to occur, it is associated with a specific campaign to ensure the called party is provided with agents having the skill set as defined for that assignment point. In this manner, only eligible callers receive an E-ACR callback, and further receive the callback in a compliant manner and handled by the same skill set of agents as would have been allocated to the caller had they not abandoned their call.Type: GrantFiled: April 23, 2020Date of Patent: January 3, 2023Assignee: Noble Systems CorporationInventors: Jason P. Ouimette, Jason S. Conner, Karl H. Koster
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Publication number: 20220377173Abstract: A dialer in a contact center is managed by a Communication Attempt Management System (“CAMS”) for tracking the total number of communications attempts, including voice calls, originated to an individual within a period of time. A list comprising account data of a plurality individuals may be processed by the CAMS to identify those accounts exceeding a weekly limit on the number of allowable communication attempts and are not authorized to receive further communications in that period of time. The list is modified to reflect those accounts which have not exceeded their corresponding limit and are authorized to be contacted. The modified list is provided to the dialer, which then originates a call to each account. The CAMS may then update each account to reflect each communication attempt made by the dialer and whether the communication is considered exempt or non-exempt with respect to the communication limits.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 1, 2022Publication date: November 24, 2022Inventor: Karl H. Koster
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Patent number: 11496899Abstract: A call blocking module in a smartphone is configured to generate a whitelist stored in the smartphone, the whitelist comprising a calling party number (“CPN”) using various number sources, such as a contact list, outgoing call list, or incoming call list. As each number source is modified with a new CPN, the whitelist may also be augmented automatically, or based upon a confirmation from a user of the smartphone. A contact center originating voice calls to the smartphone may be configured to generate a text call to the smartphone in order to populate the whitelist with the CPN that will be used when originating a subsequent voice call to the smartphone. Thus, the contact center can originate a text call to the smartphone to potentially increase the likelihood that a subsequent voice call will be passed by the whitelist.Type: GrantFiled: November 15, 2019Date of Patent: November 8, 2022Assignee: Noble Systems CorporationInventor: Karl H. Koster
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Patent number: 11431846Abstract: A dialer in a contact center is managed by a Communication Attempt Management System (“CAMS”) for tracking the total number of communications attempts, including voice calls, originated to an individual within a period of time. A list comprising account data of a plurality individuals may be processed by the CAMS to identify those accounts exceeding a weekly limit on the number of allowable communication attempts and are not authorized to receive further communications in that period of time. The list is modified to reflect those accounts which have not exceeded their corresponding limit and are authorized to be contacted. The modified list is provided to the dialer, which then originates a call to each account. The CAMS may then update each account to reflect each communication attempt made by the dialer and whether the communication is considered exempt or non-exempt with respect to the communication limits.Type: GrantFiled: September 17, 2020Date of Patent: August 30, 2022Assignee: NOBLE SYSTEMS CORPORATIONInventor: Karl H. Koster
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Publication number: 20220210273Abstract: Various embodiments of the invention provide methods, systems, and computer program products for sending an outbound communication to a party to generate an inbound communication from the party for a contact center. An expected response time is derived identifying a time the inbound communication is expected to be received from the party after sending the outbound communication to the party. In particular instances, an agent is identified who is expected to be available at the expected response time to handle the inbound communication when it is received by the party at the contact center. In addition, the content of the outbound communication may be composed to identify the agent to the party. Accordingly, the outbound communication is sent to the party so that the inbound communication can be routed to the agent upon being received.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 21, 2022Publication date: June 30, 2022Inventors: Christopher S. Haggerty, Karl H. Koster
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Patent number: 11283925Abstract: Various embodiments of the invention provide methods, systems, and computer program products for sending an outbound communication to a party to generate an inbound communication from the party for a contact center. An expected response time is derived identifying a time the inbound communication is expected to be received from the party after sending the outbound communication to the party. In particular instances, an agent is identified who is expected to be available at the expected response time to handle the inbound communication when it is received by the party at the contact center. In addition, the content of the outbound communication may be composed to identify the agent to the party. Accordingly, the outbound communication is sent to the party so that the inbound communication can be routed to the agent upon being received.Type: GrantFiled: January 10, 2020Date of Patent: March 22, 2022Assignee: Noble Systems CorporationInventors: Christopher S. Haggerty, Karl H. Koster
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Publication number: 20210368044Abstract: A dialing list comprising call records can be processed by a call handling component(s) in a contact center in various dialing modes. A call record may be processed to originate a voice call, where the agent manually dials the call as a voice telephone call. In another embodiment, one or more call records can be processed to originate a SMS text call or group text call, where the agent also determines when the call(s) originates. The agent is presented with a graphical user interface tailored to the dialing mode. The dialing mode used may be defined by the dialing list the call record is retrieved from, information from within the call record itself, application of a rule, or input from the agent. The dialing mode may be altered under certain conditions. When the call is originated, various compliance oriented tests, including calling windows and call attempts, are performed.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 2, 2021Publication date: November 25, 2021Inventors: Karl H. Koster, Jason P. Ouimette
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Patent number: 11089157Abstract: Agents are coached to improve their performance by participation in a speech coaching campaign. In one embodiment, an administrator identifies top and bottom performing agents, and retrieves their voice call recordings that are processed by a speech analytics system to produce word clouds corresponding to desirable and undesirable phrases. After reviewing and potentially editing the word clouds, a set of desirable and undesirable operational phrases are created, which the agent should use, or not use, during a call. A speech analytics system is configured to detect the presence of these operational phrases for an agent when the agent is on a call. The agent may review information depicting how well they are utilizing the desirable phrases and avoiding the undesirable phrases, and points may be allocated reflecting the agent's usage. The points may be processed by a gamification system to incentivize the agent to improve their performance.Type: GrantFiled: February 15, 2019Date of Patent: August 10, 2021Assignee: Noble Systems CorporationInventors: Mary Tabitha Lumsden, Jonathan W. West, Karl H. Koster
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Patent number: 11082558Abstract: A dialing list comprising call records can be processed by a call handling component(s) in a contact center in various dialing modes. A call record may be processed to originate a voice call, where the agent manually dials the call as a voice telephone call. In another embodiment, one or more call records can be processed to originate a SMS text call or group text call, where the agent also determines when the call(s) originates. The agent is presented with a graphical user interface tailored to the dialing mode. The dialing mode used may be defined by the dialing list the call record is retrieved from, information from within the call record itself, application of a rule, or input from the agent. The dialing mode may be altered under certain conditions. When the call is originated, various compliance oriented tests, including calling windows and call attempts, are performed.Type: GrantFiled: November 15, 2019Date of Patent: August 3, 2021Assignee: Noble Systems CorporationInventors: Karl H. Koster, Jason P. Ouimette
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Patent number: 10917521Abstract: A system for sending limited-content message texts to a debtor, where each message comprises a fixed format, comprising an agent's name, which may be an alias, a callback number, and optional suggested times for the recipient to callback the agent. The limited content message texts are sent over a time period during the work schedule of the agent. Upon receiving a voice telephone callback from the recipient, a comparison is performed on the calling party number to ascertain if it matches a called party number of one of the sent limited-content message texts. If matched, then the call is routed to the agent identified in the limited-content message text. If the agent is unavailable, various options for routing the call is identified. The agent is further presented with information indicating the voice telephone call is a callback in response to a previously sent limited-content message text.Type: GrantFiled: July 17, 2020Date of Patent: February 9, 2021Assignee: Noble Systems CorporationInventors: Karl H. Koster, Guilherme A Miranda Villarinho
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Patent number: 10891940Abstract: An approach for optimizing a confidence score threshold that is used to recognize a target word(s) in an audio source. A variety of potential instances of the target word can be detected and classified using an initial confidence score threshold value. Each potential instance of the target word is audibly reviewed and validated by a user. After a determination of the correctness of each potential instance's classification, a different confidence score threshold value can be used to produce an updated set of classification results without requiring the user to revalidate the results. By using a variety of confidence score threshold values to produce various sets of classification results, an optimized confidence threshold setting can be determined for the identified target word based on minimizing errors in the various results. This value can then be applied for future analysis of the target word in an audio source.Type: GrantFiled: December 13, 2018Date of Patent: January 12, 2021Assignee: Noble Systems CorporationInventors: Steven K. Mammen, Patrick M. McDaniel, Karl H. Koster
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Patent number: 10880437Abstract: Various embodiments of the invention provide methods, systems, and computer program products for changing an interaction taking place between an agent and a party from a first channel of communication to a second channel of communication. A communication assembly comprising the interaction is linked to a first communication session currently being held between the agent and party using the first channel of communication. A second communication session to be held between the agent and party using the second channel of communication at a future time is reserved and linked to the communication assembly. The first communication session is then terminated and at the future time, a communication involving the party and using the second channel of communication is established. Accordingly, the communication is linked with the second communication session and routed to the agent so that the agent can interact with the party over the second channel of communication.Type: GrantFiled: September 19, 2019Date of Patent: December 29, 2020Assignee: Noble Systems CorporationInventors: Ellwood I. Neuer, III, Christopher S. Haggerty, Karl H. Koster
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Patent number: 10785370Abstract: In various embodiments, a predictive dialer in a contact center is managed by a Communication Attempt Management System (“CAMS”) that manages the total number of communications attempts, including voice calls, originated to an individual associated with an account within a period of time. In particular embodiments, a list comprising account data of a plurality individuals may be processed by the CAMS to identify those accounts which have exceeded a weekly limit on the number of allowable communication attempts and are not authorized to receive further communications in that period of time. The list is modified to reflect those accounts which have not exceeded their corresponding limit and are authorized to be contacted. The modified list is provided to the predictive dialer, which then originates a call to each account. The CAMS may then update each account to reflect each communication attempt made by the predictive dialer.Type: GrantFiled: October 9, 2019Date of Patent: September 22, 2020Assignee: Noble Systems CorporationInventors: Karl H. Koster, Jason P. Ouimette, Christopher S. Haggerty
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Patent number: 10750021Abstract: A system for sending limited-content message texts to a debtor, where each message comprises a fixed format, comprising an agent's name, which may be an alias, a callback number, and optional suggested times for the recipient to callback the agent. The limited content message texts are sent over a time period during the work schedule of the agent. Upon receiving a voice telephone callback from the recipient, a comparison is performed on the calling party number to ascertain if it matches a called party number of one of the sent limited-content message texts. If matched, then the call is routed to the agent identified in the limited-content message text. If the agent is unavailable, various options for routing the call is identified. The agent is further presented with information indicating the voice telephone call is a callback in response to a previously sent limited-content message text.Type: GrantFiled: January 16, 2020Date of Patent: August 18, 2020Assignee: Noble Systems CorporationInventors: Karl H. Koster, Guilherme A Miranda Villarinho
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Patent number: 10742795Abstract: A system for sending limited-content message texts to a debtor, where each message comprises a fixed format, comprising an agent's name, a callback number, and optional suggested times for the recipient to callback the agent. The limited content message texts are sent over a time period during the work schedule of the agent and the optionally suggested callback times may take into account the agent's schedule. Upon receiving a voice telephone callback from the recipient, a comparison is performed on the calling party number to ascertain if it matches a called party number of one of the sent limited-content message texts. If matched, then the call is routed to the agent identified in the limited-content message text. The agent is further presented with information indicating the voice telephone call is a callback in response to a previously sent limited-content message text.Type: GrantFiled: July 26, 2019Date of Patent: August 11, 2020Assignee: Noble Systems CorporationInventors: Karl H. Koster, Guilherme Villarinho
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Patent number: 10742810Abstract: A contact center dialing a telephone number to a party, such as a debtor, may discover that the number is subject to a prohibition of being autodialed. In other embodiments, a number that was subject to the prohibition of being autodialed is now discovered to no longer be subject to such prohibition. Various mechanisms defined indicate how such a prohibition associated with the number may be indicated in a dialing list and how various contact center architectures may be used to process the dialing list. In one embodiment, separate sub-systems are used to dial separate dialing lists based on whether the number is to be manually dialed or dialed using an autodialer. In another embodiment, another architecture is used to process an integrated dialing list to determine whether a number is to be manually dialed or autodialed.Type: GrantFiled: October 19, 2018Date of Patent: August 11, 2020Assignee: Noble Systems CorporationInventors: Teresa Gudger, Karl H. Koster
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Patent number: 10674011Abstract: An enhanced abandoned call recovery (“E-ACR”) process allows certain abandoned calls to be eligible for a callback call. An E-ACR assignment point defines which abandoned calls in an inbound campaign or interactive voice response (“IVR”) menu are eligible to be processed to determine whether the E-ACR callback should occur. The determination of whether a callback occurs involves various compliance tests, such as ensuring calling window, call attempts, and other regulatory concerns are addressed. Once a callback is determined to occur, it is associated with a specific campaign to ensure the called party is provided with agents having the skill set as defined for that assignment point. In this manner, only eligible callers receive an E-ACR callback, and further receive the callback in a compliant manner and handled by the same skill set of agents as would have been allocated to the caller had they not abandoned their call.Type: GrantFiled: May 4, 2017Date of Patent: June 2, 2020Assignee: Noble Systems CorporationInventors: Jason P. Ouimette, Jason S. Conner, Karl H. Koster
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Patent number: 10623567Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer readable medium are disclosed for facilitating management of consent related information for an agent in a contact center. Upon receiving a request from a party to modify consent for receiving future communications, the agent may select an icon on their computer to manage consent. In one embodiment, one or more telephone numbers and their associated consent status is displayed to the agent. The agent may modify the consent status for a telephone number associated with the party. In another embodiment, the agent may select an icon that modifies the consent related information to reflect that consent has been revoked for all numbers and channel types thereof associated with the party.Type: GrantFiled: April 24, 2018Date of Patent: April 14, 2020Assignee: Noble Systems CorporationInventors: Andy E. Perdue, Karl H. Koster