Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for assigning a call to one of a plurality of agents. The method includes the steps of providing a description of the call to each of the plurality of agents, receiving a bid to handle the call from each of the plurality of agents and assigning the call to an agent of the plurality of agents with a highest relative received bid.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for measuring a time of considering an e-mail message received by an agent of an automatic contact distribution system. The method includes the steps of detecting each opening and closing of the e-mail received by the agent, measuring an elapsed time between each detected opening and closing of the e-mail and summing the measured elapsed times between the openings and closings of the e-mail to provide a cumulative total time for preparing the response to the e-mail.

Abstract: The method or system for conferencing an email message such that two or more individuals can simultaneously answer an email message and input their individual expertise on a solution or answer to the email message comprising the steps of or software and circuitry for: receiving and processing an email message at an email server, supplying the email message to a custom SIP user agent to initiate an email session which simultaneously delivers the email message to client agents each containing a custom SIP user agent for processing/answering the email.

Abstract: The method or system for conferencing an email message such that two or more individuals can simultaneously answer an email message and input their individual expertise on a solution or answer to the email message comprising the steps of or software and circuitry for: receiving and processing an email message at an email server, supplying the email message to a custom SIP user agent to initiate an email session which simultaneously delivers the email message to client agents each containing a custom SIP user agent for processing/answering the email.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for storing data from an automatic contact distributor for access through the Internet. The method includes the steps of transferring information from a first resource of the automatic contact distributor to a database through the Internet where the transferred information is encoded within a SIP REGISTER message and where the transferred information relates to a predetermined service that the first resource has performed for a second resource of the automatic contact distributor, storing the transferred information in a data file of the database where the data file is indexed by a file identifier and retrieving the information from the database by a third resource of the automatic contract distributor using the file identifier.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for measuring a time of considering an e-mail message received by an agent of an automatic contact distribution system. The method includes the steps of detecting each opening and closing of the e-mail received by the agent, measuring an elapsed time between each detected opening and closing of the e-mail and summing the measured elapsed times between the openings and closings of the e-mail to provide a cumulative total time for preparing the response to the e-mail.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for assigning a call to one of a plurality of agents. The method includes the steps of providing a description of the call to each of the plurality of agents, receiving a bid to handle the call from each of the plurality of agents and assigning the call to an agent of the plurality of agents with a highest relative received bid.