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: 9635179
    Abstract: An apparatus, a method, and a computer program are disclosed. According to one example the apparatus may be configured to receive via the receiver a message from a mobile device to connect with an agent. The apparatus may also be configured to determine and select an available agent via the processor in order for the mobile device to communicate with the available agent, and transmit via the transmitter an agent availability message to the mobile device, wherein the agent availability message requires an acknowledgement from the mobile device prior to connecting the mobile device with the available agent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2017
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: Michael T. Mateer, James K. Boutcher, Jesse Andersen
  • Patent number: 9621720
    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: September 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: Adam Caldwell, Jeffrey William Cordell, James K. Boutcher
  • Patent number: 9584664
    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: January 6, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: ALORICA BUSINESS SOLUTIONS, LLC
    Inventors: Jeffrey William Cordell, Gregory Stuart Cardin, James K. Boutcher
  • Patent number: 9584990
    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: July 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: James K. Boutcher, Geetha Gopalakrishnan
  • Patent number: 9584660
    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: January 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: James K. Boutcher, David Scheet, Jeffrey William Cordell, Daniel E. Smith
  • Patent number: 9577973
    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 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: Jeffrey William Cordell, James K. Boutcher
  • Patent number: 9571620
    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 processing the at least one segment of interest and creating at least one tag of interest to be associated with a third party application. The method may also include forwarding the at least one tag of interest to a third party computing device responsive to the identified segment of interest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: Jeffrey William Cordell, James K. Boutcher, David Scheet
  • Patent number: 9553989
    Abstract: A method and computer readable medium for routing a call to geographically dispersed agents based on agent skill-set, agent location and caller location that results in the call being delivered to the best available agent. The computer readable medium and method are utilized with a system comprised of a call center application module coupled to a database module with a communications network being used to couple incoming calls from customers with the best available agent. A database contains a ranking of available agents, based on a dataset including information regarding skill-set, previous interaction with the customer, proximity to the customer, language capability, current availability, and the like. The method chooses the best available agent to service a customer call based on the agent rankings. In the case where the customer has a preference for proximity of the agent to the customer, the system adjusts the agent rankings according to the agent's distance from the customer prior to making a selection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2017
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: James K. Boutcher, Michael Todd Mateer, Craig A. Webster
  • Patent number: 9553991
    Abstract: At least one inquiry message is received 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: January 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2017
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: Kellan Stec, Geetha Gopalakrishnan, James K. Boutcher
  • Patent number: 9549300
    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: January 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2017
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: Adam Caldwell, Jeffrey William Cordell, James K. Boutcher
  • Patent number: 9549392
    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: April 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2017
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: Jennie Dawn Hanson, Jeffrey William Cordell, James K. Boutcher
  • Patent number: 9544435
    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: December 1, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: James K. Boutcher, Michael Joseph Parmeley
  • Patent number: 9537993
    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: July 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2017
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: David Scheet, James K. Boutcher, Jeffrey William Cordell
  • Patent number: 9537959
    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: March 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2017
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: Michael T. Mateer, James K. Boutcher, Jesse Andersen
  • Patent number: 9473623
    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: June 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2016
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: Michael T. Mateer, James K. Boutcher
  • Patent number: 9412255
    Abstract: Monitoring a particular home or place of business for activity may provide a remote subscriber with updated information regarding feedback from sensors at the remote location. One example method of operation may include receiving sensor data from one or more sensors that have been activated at the remote location, identifying a subscriber account associated with the sensor data, matching the sensor data with a predefined sensor identifier stored in the subscriber account, and generating a notification to include the predefined sensor identifier and a time reference indicator associated with a time the sensor data was activated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2016
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: Eileen Clare Frost, James K. Boutcher
  • Patent number: 9413881
    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: August 10, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2016
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: James K. Boutcher, David Scheet, Jeffrey William Cordell
  • Patent number: 9386137
    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: February 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2016
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: David Scheet, James K. Boutcher, Jeffrey William Cordell
  • Patent number: 9313330
    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 processing the at least one segment of interest and creating at least one tag of interest to be associated with a third party application. The method may also include forwarding the at least one tag of interest to a third party computing device responsive to the identified segment of interest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2016
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: Jeffrey William Cordell, James K. Boutcher, David Scheet
  • Patent number: 9307076
    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: February 6, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2016
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: Jennie Dawn Hanson, Jeffrey William Cordell, James K. Boutcher