Abstract: A contact center receives an image and processes the image to identify useful information. From this information, a routing parameter is obtained for use in routing a contact relating to that image to an agent or other resource of the contact center. In this way a received image can be employed to route a contact.

Abstract: There is a need to provide a method of managing contacts in a network of contact centers which facilitates even distribution of work load across the contact centers, is flexible, has inherent resilience, and which enables each contact center to have a degree of autonomy. This is achieved in the present invention by using contact objects and agent objects at each contact center and replicating and synchronizing those objects from each contact center to each of the other contact centers.

Abstract: Instant messaging contacts received at a contact center are directed to a conference with other such contacts before being allocated to an agent. In this way, customers of the contact center are entertained while waiting and have the ability to resolve one another's problems, thereby reducing the load on the contact center's agents. In another aspect, automated instant messaging scripts interact with the customer to elucidate the nature of the customer contact before directing the contact to a human agent.

Abstract: A mechanism is provided in a networked multiplayer game for use by playable characters. When operated by a player's character, this mechanism causes the game to send a request for contact to an external contact center. The contact request is queued and allocated to an agent, optionally with the assistance of information provided by the game. When a contact center agent answers the contact request, a communications channel is opened from the agent directly into the game where the game system directs the communication to the local environment of the player's character enabling the player to communicate with the agent of a contact center without leaving the game environment. The agent or contact center may additionally have a representation in the game so that the player can interact with the agent or contact center. The agent representation may be a character in the game controlled by an agent who is logged into the game, or by the contact center manipulating a game client or API, or by the game engine itself.

Abstract: A peer to peer contact center is provided by individual user terminals registering with a server which acts as a proxy to receive contacts from callers to the contact center. The server redirects the calls to individual terminals according to simple rules without subjecting the calls to any contact center treatment. The individual terminal receiving a call subjects the call to a contact center treatment while holding the call, and then determines from among the registered terminals the most suitable terminal for handling the call. The call is then transferred to the selected terminal. In this way the complex infrastructure of traditional contact centers is dispensed with and each individual terminal acts as a mini contact centre in respect of the calls distributed to it in a dumb or semi-dumb fashion by the server.

Abstract: According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of allocating calls coming into a call center from a caller location remote from the call center, receiving a call from a caller which includes information from an RFID chip located in close proximity to the caller location; decoding the information from the RFID chip to determine one or more parameters relating to the information; using said one or more parameters to allocate the call from the caller at the call center to ensure calls are handled in accordance with the parameters. This has the advantage of much more efficient management of the of the calls within the call center and ensures that the calls are sent to the agent with the most appropriate skill set.

Abstract: Wireless terminals such as mobile phones which provide cellular communications for example for telephony and short message service (SMS) are well known and more recently such terminals are also able to provide FM radio reception. RDS information received at such a terminal is used to access a service provider via any suitable medium e.g. email, fax, telephone, SMS message, etc. This enables the end user to access the service provider quickly and effectively for example, to purchase a copy of a record heard on the radio or to request information about a product advertised on the radio. Also, the service provider is able to deal with the user interaction effectively because the RDS information can be used to assess the user's requirements for the transaction in advance. In a preferred example, the service provider comprises a contact center such as a call center and the RDS information is used to allocate an appropriate call center agent.

Abstract: SIP (session initiation protocol) requests are processed by a networked server having a processor which has a dedicated packet handling circuit (or network-aware co-processor), without passing said requests through an IP stack to an application layer. The co-processor receives SIP requests in the form of IP packets. The co-processor then parses the packets, and thereby identifies a SIP destination address in the datagram of the packet. A memory area accessible by the co-processor has a stored list of SIP addresses and of associated forwarding addresses to which packets containing the listed SIP destination addresses are to be directed. The co-processor directly modifies the packets to include the stored further address, which may be an IP address or a SIP address, associated with the original destination SIP address and then forwards the packets via the network.

Abstract: An improved system, method and product are disclosed for attaching non load-bearing metal wall studs to an overhead metal track in metal stud framing systems used for wall partitioning, in a manner that allows the overhead track to deflect under load without transferring the load to the studs and any attached wall partitions. The system features compression spring attachment products that frictionally engage overlapping flange portions of the track and studs so that any overhead load-induced movements of the track are not transferred from the track to the studs, or to any wall partitions attached to the studs.

Abstract: Participants who are in communication with a communications system can be placed in contact with one another by assigning each participant an agent profile allowing contact requests to be assigned to that participant in the capacity of an agent. One participant submits a contact request having details which can be matched against agent profiles, and that contact request is queue based on its content. A match is made between the contact request and a second participant by assigning the requests in the queue to participants whose agent profiles are matched with the queue. The second participant is thereby offered the opportunity to respond to the contact request in the capacity of an agent. It will be appreciated that rather than providing an unstructured environment (such as a free-for-all discussion forum), the method of the invention provides a way for a group of interested participants to respond to requests submitted by one another and to route such requests to a suitable and competent member of the group.

Abstract: Calls made using the session initiation protocol (SIP) are augmented by exchanging data in the form of messages between terminals where the message content is defined by items of information expressed as uniform resource indicators (URIs). The receiving terminal can extract and process such information based on the semantic information in URI format.

Abstract: A need exists to provide software support in a simple and effective manner over long periods of time. At the same time there is a need to allow contact centers to route calls appropriately when those calls relate to complex software support queries. This needs to be achieved without requiring complex call routing methods and apparatus at the contact center. The present invention addresses these problems by using software error codes or the like to route calls in a contact center.

Abstract: The invention is a system for installing a new operating system on a logical partition that has no existing software or data. The system comprises a baseline code and a process for customizing and configuring the baseline code for use in an on-demand environment. The process for customizing and configuring the baseline code comprises establishing a plurality of datasets that allow users to access the operating system after installation. The critical datasets that produce an operable system include virtual telecommunications parameters, job entry system parameters, operating system parameters, and security parameters.

Abstract: A communications management tool for a call center maintains a record of threads of communications of diverse media types (e.g. voice calls, emails and faxes) relating to particular issues, and analyses new communications to automatically identify possible matches with existing threads. In this way the efficiency of the agents at the center is increased and the management of the call center can be provided with data recording agent performance and efficiency in dealing with particular issues.

Abstract: There is a need to provide a method of managing contacts in a network of contact centers which facilitates even distribution of work load across the contact centers, is flexible, has inherent resilience, and which enables each contact center to have a degree of autonomy. This is achieved in the present invention by using contact objects and agent objects at each contact center and replicating and synchronizing those objects from each contact center to each of the other contact centers.

Abstract: Contacts received by a contact centre are auctioned to other contact centres to determine an optimum service or cost for each contact. By publishing requests for bids to a network visible space, multiple contact centres or agents can monitor for new requests, and if they can service the request, submit bids to take over the contact at the best price or service level. This enables contacts to be optimally distributed over a network without maintaining centrally records of currently available resources and current statistics for each contact centre. This also adds market competition to the distribution of contacts, providing the potential to increase the overall quality of service and to reduce costs.

Abstract: Contacts are managed within a contact centre by representing each contact as a software object which contains skillset and priority identifiers. Contact objects are queued relative to one another by means of references to and/or from the object(s) immediately ahead of and behind each contact. In this way a conventional queue can be dispensed with. Queries can be made to a plurality of contact centres across a network to identify objects matching certain criteria at the top of each local queue. In this way a set of local queues substitutes for a network queue providing increased resilience in the case of the failure of any individual component of the network or of the network itself.

Abstract: SIP (session initiation protocol) requests are processed by a networked server having a processor which has a dedicated packet handling circuit (or network-aware co-processor), without passing said requests through an IP stack to an application layer. The co-processor receives SIP requests in the form of IP packets. The co-processor then parses the packets, and thereby identifies a SIP destination address in the datagram of the packet. A memory area accessible by the co-processor has a stored list of SIP addresses and of associated forwarding addresses to which packets containing the listed SIP destination addresses are to be directed. The co-processor directly modifies the packets to include the stored further address, which may be an IP address or a SIP address, associated with the original destination SIP address and then forwards the packets via the network.

Abstract: Wireless terminals such as mobile phones which provide cellular communications for example for telephony and short message service (SMS) are well known and more recently such terminals are also able to provide FM radio reception. RDS information received at such a terminal is used to access a service provider via any suitable medium e.g. email, fax, telephone, SMS message, etc. This enables the end user to access the service provider quickly and effectively for example, to purchase a copy of a record heard on the radio or to request information about a product advertised on the radio. Also, the service provider is able to deal with the user interaction effectively because the RDS information can be used to assess the user's requirements for the transaction in advance. In a preferred example, the service provider comprises a contact center such as a call center and the RDS information is used to allocate an appropriate call center agent.

Abstract: A transcoder rate controller is provided which carries out tandem free operation (TFO) transcoding on inter-switching controller signals in a data transmission network.