Call Distribution To Operator Patents (Class 379/265.01)
  • Patent number: 10348900
    Abstract: Techniques for behavioral pairing model evaluation in a contact center system are disclosed. In one particular embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method for behavioral pairing model evaluation in a contact center system comprising determining an ordering of a plurality of agents, determining an ordering of a plurality of contact types; analyzing, historical contact-agent outcome data according to the orderings of the pluralities of agents and contact types to construct a pairing model; and determining an expected performance of the contact center system using the pairing model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2019
    Assignee: Afiniti Europe Technologies Limited
    Inventor: Zia Chishti
  • Patent number: 10348901
    Abstract: Techniques for behavioral pairing model evaluation in a contact center system are disclosed. In one particular embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method for behavioral pairing model evaluation in a contact center system comprising determining an ordering of a plurality of agents, determining an ordering of a plurality of contact types; analyzing, historical contact-agent outcome data according to the orderings of the pluralities of agents and contact types to construct a pairing model; and determining an expected performance of the contact center system using the pairing model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2019
    Assignee: Afiniti Europe Technologies Limited
    Inventor: Zia Chishti
  • Patent number: 10341836
    Abstract: There is provided a system and method for reporting incidents. Incident data indicative of the incident is received. At least one organization the incident is to be reported to is then determined from the incident data and the incident data is routed to the at least one organization.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2019
    Inventors: John L. Rowe, Wayd McNally, Brad D. Pineau
  • Patent number: 10334106
    Abstract: Text of customer support sessions of a company may be processed to detect events that are taking place. For example, an event may be a service disruption. The company may desire to detect the events and take action to address them. The events may be detected by processing customer support sessions during a time window and computing counts, where each count corresponds to a topic and a customer parameter. The topics may be determined from the customer support sessions and the customer parameters may relate to information about the customer (e.g., services received by the customer). Baseline counts may also be computed that correspond to typical or expected behavior when no event is occurring. Event detection scores may be computed by processing the counts and baseline counts and used to determine if an event has occurred. The process may be repeated for subsequent time windows.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Assignee: ASAPP, INC.
    Inventor: Shawn Henry
  • Patent number: 10326884
    Abstract: Techniques for hybrid behavioral pairing in a contact center system are disclosed. In one embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method for hybrid behavioral pairing in a contact center system comprising: determining a first ordering of a plurality of contacts according to a behavioral pairing strategy with a balanced contact utilization; determining a second ordering of the plurality of contacts according to a performance-based routing strategy with an unbalanced contact utilization; determining a third ordering of the plurality of agents according to a combination of the first ordering and the second ordering having a skewed contact utilization between the balanced contact utilization and the unbalanced contact utilization; and outputting a hybrid behavioral pairing model based on the third ordering for connecting an agent to a contact of the plurality of contacts in the contact center system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2019
    Assignee: Afiniti Europe Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Zia Chishti, Vikash Khatri
  • Patent number: 10320608
    Abstract: Method of providing services for a vehicle, the method comprising: storing for at least one model of vehicle of said group of vehicles, the configuration files for at least one service to be provided; storing a set of data pairs comprising an identifier of the control unit and an identification number of the corresponding vehicle; receiving the identification number of the vehicle from said vehicle by the services provision server; extracting the identifier of the control unit as a function of the identification number of the vehicle; —an extraction of one or more configuration files as a function of a vehicle identification datum; and—a downloading by the control unit of said vehicle from the services provision server of the configuration file or files extracted for the setting up of the service or services to be provided for the model of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2019
    Assignee: RENAULT s.a.s.
    Inventor: Nicolas Gel
  • Patent number: 10313518
    Abstract: Disclosed is a voice messaging and calling system for inmates and their friends and family (collectively referred to as “outsiders”). It extends existing inmate telephone systems (“ITS”) without requiring any additional installation within correctional facilities or modifications to the existing ITS. An existing ITS provides functional restrictions, security restrictions and privacy limitations. The described system enhances the existing ITS to reduce the functional restrictions by adding the ability to leave voicemail messages when outsiders are unavailable and return calls to, or leave messages for, multiple outsiders in a single call. An additional enhancement allows outsiders to leave messages for the inmate at any time, which the inmate can listen to later. The security restrictions and privacy limitations are unaffected and left in place. The described system also reduces costs for inmates by allowing them to leave messages for and return calls to, multiple outsiders in a single call.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignee: Corrio, SPC
    Inventors: Eric Juvet, Sam Baker, Alex Peder
  • Patent number: 10311720
    Abstract: A method of generating flow data indicative of speeds of travel within a navigable network in an area covered by an electronic map is disclosed. The electronic map comprises a plurality of segments representing navigable elements of the navigable network. Live vehicle probe data is obtained indicative of the average speed of travel for the current time with respect to distance along a link, the link being predetermined by reference to the electronic map. The link is sectioned to provide a plurality of sections along the length thereof. The sectioning is carried out based on the data indicative of the current average speed of time along the link. Where a differential in the current average speed exceeds a threshold, a new section is created.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignee: TOMTOM TRAFFIC B.V.
    Inventors: David Schilling, Stefan Lorkowski, Nikolaus Witte
  • Patent number: 10313511
    Abstract: A computer system is described that is configured to enable customers of an organization to self-monitor account activity and modify account access settings via a contact center of the organization. The contact center control system is configured to provide an interactive call history associated with the customer's accounts with the organization. Using the call history, the customer may perform self-monitoring of calls into the contact center that access the customer's accounts, and notify the organization if any of the calls appear suspicious. The contact center control system is configured provide a user interface through which the customer may modify account access settings including changing which types of authentication methods are enabled to access the customer's accounts, and blocking account access by callers from certain phone numbers. The contact center control system may allow the customer to turn off all access to the customer's accounts via the contact center.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignee: Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
    Inventors: Julio Jiron, Kevin King, Beth S. Moss, James Lyle Schafer, Kalyan Subramanian, Chris Theodore Kalaboukis, Raziq Yaqub
  • Patent number: 10298758
    Abstract: Agents operating at call centers or other customer support service networks may assist large numbers of customers consecutively and in a dynamic manner. One example may include populating a portion of a first agent user interface of a first agent device with a first customer profile, identifying a second agent device currently assigned a second customer call with second customer call information related to the first customer call information, comparing the first customer call information to the second customer call information, determining the second customer call information exceeds a relevancy threshold when compared to first customer call information, populating a portion of a second agent user interface of the second agent device with the portion of the first agent user interface, and updating the first agent user interface by removing the first customer call information and providing another customer call to the first user agent device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignee: West Corporation
    Inventors: Jonathan R. Dirienzi, Jonathan Levine, Eric Weaver
  • Patent number: 10298762
    Abstract: Techniques for benchmarking pairing strategies in a contact center system are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignee: Afiniti Europe Technologies Limited
    Inventor: Zia Chishti
  • Patent number: 10298755
    Abstract: A dialing list is managed, with human intervention, by obtaining a proposed call list for to-be-called (TBC) parties from a source, which list is displayed to a call center (CC) agent who selects one or more TBC parties, which causes generation of an agent-approved (AA) call list. Outbound calls are made using the AA call list. TBC parties not selected are not called by the dialing platform. The dialing platform responsive in-bound calls and non-productive (NP) calls. The AA call list is supplemented with NP call data such that TBC parties are linked to NP call data, thereby creating a productive TBC call list. A telecom session is initiated between the CC agent and the TBC called party.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignee: Authority Software LLC
    Inventors: Louis Mandic, Natalie Perez
  • Patent number: 10291781
    Abstract: A method for routing activities in a contact center to contact center agents includes: concurrently selecting, by a processor, N activities, wherein N is an integer greater than 1; concurrently identifying, by the processor, N contact center agents; identifying, by the processor, one or more sets of preferences associated with the N activities and the N contact center agents; matching, by the processor, the N activities and the N contact center agents based on the one or more sets of preferences; and routing, by the processor, one or more of the N activities to the matched contact center agents.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2019
    Inventors: Vladimir Mezhibovsky, Nikolay Korolev, Vitaliy Teryoshin, Herbert Willi Artur Ristock
  • Patent number: 10284722
    Abstract: A system for contact management a server to store, for a campaign, a list of contacts and a contact plan associated with that list of contacts, for each contact, agent notes, and, for the campaign, agent assistance text. The server determines a highest priority opportunity from the list of contacts for an agent associated with the client device as a function of the contact plan, qualifications of the agent, and a current time. The server sends the highest opportunity contact to the client device. The client device receives and presents the contact from the list that was determined to be the highest priority, agent notes for that contact, and agent assistance text. The client device accepts input of results of the agent communicating with the contact and notes regarding the contact, and sends the result and the notes to the server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2019
    Assignee: Dealer WRX, LLC
    Inventors: William Carroll Smith, II, Matthew Brandon Smith, William Carroll Smith, III
  • Patent number: 10244209
    Abstract: Methods and systems for monitoring a remote agent. An agent's workstation may be provided with an application that receives a trigger condition at an agent workstation during a communication between the remote agent and a caller. During the communication, it may be determined if video imagery of the remote agent is required. If so, video imagery capture may be triggered. The video imagery may be associated with activities of the remote agent during the capture, and the video imagery stored at a recorder for later playback.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: VERINT AMERICAS INC.
    Inventor: Robert John Barnes
  • Patent number: 10235685
    Abstract: A first request is received at a server for a view of a chart graph from a client device over a network. The first request includes a first view identifier (ID) identifying a first of the views and a first filtering parameter for filtering data to be associated with the first view. A second request is transmitted to a CRM system over a network to retrieve live data associated with one or more chart elements of the first view. The second request includes information identifying the first filtering parameter such that only live data satisfying the first filtering parameter is retrieved from the CRM system. In response to the live data received from the remote CRM system, the live data is transmitted to the client device, wherein the client device renders a chart graph based on the live data and displays the chart graph at the client device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: CLARI INC.
    Inventors: Mark Shuai Sun, Matthew King
  • Patent number: 10218850
    Abstract: The methods, apparatus, and systems described herein are designed to route customer communications to the best agent or best available agent. The methods include identifying origination data for a customer contacting a contact center with a customer task, determining a predicted personality type of the customer based on the identified origination data and a customer profile, providing a routing recommendation to a communication distributor to route the customer to an agent based on the predicted personality type of the customer and historical customer data, routing the customer via the communication distributor to the agent based on the routing recommendation, and updating the customer profile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2019
    Assignee: MATTERSIGHT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kelly Conway, David Gustafson, Douglas Brown, Michael Glen Gates, William Duane Skeen, Brendan Joyce
  • Patent number: 10205827
    Abstract: An architecture and process flow for a contact center that receives payments prevents the agent from hearing sensitive financial information during the payment transaction. During a call with a remote party, the agent determines an appropriate time to bridge on a bank card payment processing system to receive and process a payment. Audio of the call to the agent is then interrupted so as to avoid the agent hearing any sensitive financial information provided by the remote party. Various status indications may be displayed to the agent so that the agent is able to monitor the progression of the payment transaction without hearing the contents of the call. When the payment transaction has completed the agent audio to be restored and the display indications related to the payment transaction are removed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2019
    Assignee: NOBLE SYSTEMS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Marcin Pycko, Karl H. Koster
  • Patent number: 10205823
    Abstract: Systems for caller identification and authentication may include an authentication server. The authentication server may be configured to receive audio data including speech of a plurality of telephone calls, use audio data for at least a subset of the plurality of telephone calls to store a plurality of known characteristics each associated with a specific demographic, and/or use audio data for at least one of the plurality of telephone calls to identify the telephone caller making the telephone call based on determining a most similar known characteristic of the plurality of known characteristics to the audio data of the caller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2019
    Assignee: Capital One Services, LLC
    Inventors: Austin Walters, Jeremy Goodsitt, Fardin Abdi Taghi Abad
  • Patent number: 10200420
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for a computer-implemented technique for maximizing customer satisfaction and first call resolution, including converting telephone calls into online chats, while minimizing cost is provided. Techniques for incorporating analytics as applied to customer data into particular strategies for call deflection, targeting particular individuals to increase chat acceptance rate, and computing a customer's wait time are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2019
    Assignee: [24]7.AI, Inc.
    Inventors: Pallipuram V. Kannan, Ravi Vijayaraghavan
  • Patent number: 10194027
    Abstract: A speech analytics system detects speech during a call involving a contact center agent and a remote party. Upon detecting the speech, an event message is generated by the speech analytic system and transmitted to a checkpoint and alert reporting module, which is configured to generate and update a checkpoint widget displayed to the agent. The checkpoint widget provides visual information regarding the status of the checkpoints encountered during the call. Checkpoint widgets may be stored for each call handled by an agent, and subsequently may be requested for display to a supervisor for reviewing of the agent's performance. Upon providing appropriate filter information, the selected widgets may be displayed using a time-line. By selecting a particular checkpoint indicator on a widget, audio from the call associated with that checkpoint is retrieved and streamed to the supervisor, thus allowing auditory review of that portion of the call.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2019
    Assignee: NOBLE SYSTEMS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Rajesh S. Daddi, Karl H. Koster
  • Patent number: 10170118
    Abstract: A telephony system comprising means to establish an initial telephone call (1) between at least two initial telephone terminals (2, 3) characterized in that it further comprises: a call recording server (5) designed to record said initial telephone call (1), a speech to text engine (6) able to make a text transcription (9) of said initial telephone call (1), a providing mean (7) able to provide said text transcription (9) to a third telephone terminal (4).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2019
    Inventors: Stéphane Blecon, Divi Laine
  • Patent number: 10171669
    Abstract: A system and method for enhanced interaction processing in a contact center that includes routing interactions based on adaptable business objectives. A processor detects a pending interaction with a customer. The processor identifies first and second objectives of the contact center in response to detecting the pending interaction, where the first objective is identified as more important to the contact center than the second objective. The processor identifies a first agent for handling the first objective, and determines a likelihood of success of the first agent in achieving the first objective. The processor identifies a second agent for handling the second objective, and determines a likelihood of success of the second agent in achieving the second objective.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2019
    Inventors: Nikolay Korolev, Herbert Willi Artur Ristock, David H. Anderson, Todd Hollenberg, Bradley Krug, Charlotte Toerck
  • Patent number: 10165123
    Abstract: Techniques for benchmarking pairing strategies in a contact center system are disclosed. In one particular embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method for techniques for benchmarking pairing strategies in a contact center system comprising: cycling, by at least one processor, among at least two pairing strategies; and determining, by the at least one processor, a difference in performance between the at least two pairing strategies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2018
    Assignee: Afiniti Europe Technologies Limited
    Inventor: Zia Chishti
  • Patent number: 10158827
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method and system of providing a video chat experience in a network are described. The method may include: receiving live video stream signals, including audio signals, from a plurality of participants of a live video chat session; combining the live video stream signals into a shared canvas; providing the shared canvas to the plurality of participants, wherein the shared canvas is substantially synchronized among the plurality of participants; and providing options for the specific chat participant to manipulate the shared canvas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2018
    Assignee: AIRTIME MEDIA, INC.
    Inventors: Matt Cahill, Sean Parker, Shawn D. Fanning, Joey Liaw
  • Patent number: 10148815
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method, system, and computer program product of managing telephone interactions of a user and an agent. In an embodiment, the present invention includes determining when a user telecommunications device is no longer in an on-hold state based on electronic signals transmitted from an agent telecommunications device, in response to the determining, receiving speech of an agent from the agent telecommunications device, in response to the receiving, transmitting an alert message to the user telecommunications device, in response to the receiving, monitoring for at least one indication that the user is about to speak with the agent, in response to the monitoring not resulting in the at least one indication, transmitting at least one utterance corresponding to the user to the agent telecommunications device, and in response to the monitoring resulting in the at least one indication, conducting a smooth transition to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2018
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Arnon Amir, Nimrod Megiddo
  • Patent number: 10142468
    Abstract: Methods and systems described in this disclosure allow customers to personalize their phone experience when calling into an organization. In some embodiments, customers who may benefit from this service are identified based on the content of the customer's previous or current phone calls to the organization. The identified customers may be invited to enroll and to provide preferences for a customized Interactive Voice Response experience. In some embodiments, the customer can elect to hear the balances of one or more of his accounts without going through a phone menu or asking a representative to look up the relevant amounts. Once enrolled, when the customer dials into the organization and upon successful authentication, the organization proactively states the customer's account balances with no further customer request.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2018
    Assignee: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION (USAA)
    Inventors: Patricio H. Garcia, Amanda Jean Segovia, Hector J. Castillo, Janeen Rubio, Robert Craig Korom, Roy David McDonald
  • Patent number: 10140642
    Abstract: An automated method of customer engagement and issue location, prediction, and response that utilizes disparate data sources including social media, weather, news, real estate information, customer account information, and/or asset information to locate and categorize issues, to predict the occurrence of such issues, and to determine/automate operational and customer-related responses to such issues.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2018
    Assignee: DATA CAPABLE, INC.
    Inventors: Peter Michael DiSalvo, Ryan Joseph Zaczynski
  • Patent number: 10135984
    Abstract: This disclosure sets forth systems and techniques that automatically allocate and throttle back resource capacity to multiple campaign events, in real-time, based on campaign event priorities and a supply and demand of available resource capacity. For example, a campaign management system may re-allocate unused resource capacity to a particular campaign event based on the particular campaign event's real-time demand for additional resource capacity. Unused resource capacity may originate from a common pool of resource capacity, or from other campaign events that have an over-allocation of resource capacity that is being underutilized. Further, the techniques described herein also describe throttling back resource capacity of a particular campaign event in response to determining that an existing pool of available resource capacity is unable to serve the particular campaign event's requirements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2018
    Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Abha Bhatia, Poornima Magadevan
  • Patent number: 10133999
    Abstract: A risk identification system automatically determines deals at risk by analyzing conversations of representatives with customers. The risk identification system retrieves recordings of various conversations, extracts features of each of the conversations, and analyzes the features to determine if any of the conversations includes features that are indicative of a deal discussed in that conversation being at risk. By performing such an analysis of conversations, the risk identification system can identify a number of deals that are at risk and generate a report of such deals and notify a consumer user of the risk identification system of such deals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2018
    Assignee: AffectLayer, Inc.
    Inventors: Roy Raanani, Russell Levy, Dominik Facher, Micha Yochanan Breakstone
  • Patent number: 10129396
    Abstract: The invention relates to a customer interaction management system that comprises a memory, an input and a computer processor programmed to: interact, via a first communication channel, with the customer via an automate self-service feature; receive a customer input to opt out of the automated self-service feature; place the customer in a queue with an estimated wait time; determine whether the estimated wait time exceeds a threshold wait time; engage the customer in a self-service on hold feature via a second communication channel separate from the first communication channel; and maintain the customer's place in the queue while the customer interacts with the self-service on hold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2018
    Assignee: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.
    Inventors: Prashant Desai, Parind S. Poi
  • Patent number: 10129040
    Abstract: A computing device including a processor device determines that a contact center agent (CCA) is in a non-contact session mode. A particular open conference session of a plurality of open conference sessions is identified. A CCA device associated with the CCA is connected to the particular open conference session.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2018
    Assignee: Avaya Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey D. Hodson, John H. Yoakum
  • Patent number: 10116707
    Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for secure electronic message exchange including coupling a control platform to a workstation of a plurality of workstations via a communications medium, where the control platform includes one or more apparatuses for monitoring, controlling, conversion, and billing, related to messages exchanged between a plurality of local users and a plurality of remote users. The system prevents forwarding or copying of a message sent by a local user of the plurality of local users and received by a remote user of the plurality of remote users, to another party by the control platform. The system and method also provides for authenticating the remote user with the control platform.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2018
    Assignee: Global Tel*Link Corporation
    Inventors: Stephen Hodge, David Woody
  • Patent number: 10091656
    Abstract: A generic wireless device management system and a method for operating the management system in a controlled environment is disclosed. The enterprise management system includes a generic wireless device and a generic provisioning server. The generic wireless device, which is initially in a generic blank state, coordinates with the generic provisioning server to authenticate an inmate and to load an inmate profile. After loading the inmate profile, the generic wireless device provides access to content specific to the inmate. After the inmate signs out of the generic wireless device, the generic wireless device is returned to a generic blank state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2018
    Assignee: Global Tel*Link Corporation
    Inventor: Stephen L. Hodge
  • Patent number: 10038783
    Abstract: A method for handling an interaction between an individual having a physical impairment and a customer contact center includes: detecting, by a processor, an interaction directed to a route point; determining, by the processor, whether the interaction is associated with an individual having a physical impairment; identifying, by the processor, a first resource of the contact center for handling the interaction, wherein the first resource is assigned an attribute indicative of being suitable for handling interactions with individuals having the physical impairment; ascertaining, by the processor, a presence of the first resource at a place enabled for handling interactions with individuals having the physical impairment; and transmitting, by the processor, a signal for routing the interaction to the first resource for servicing via the place, wherein in response to the signal, a communication session is established with a user device of the individual having the physical impairment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2018
    Inventors: Brian Wilcox, Colin Michael Leonard, Herbert Willi Artur Ristock
  • Patent number: 10021249
    Abstract: A system for day-level SLA-based routing, comprising a statistics server configured to collect, store, and provide service level agreement data; and a routing server configured to receive at least a customer interaction via a network, and configured to compare an interaction against service level agreement data provided by the statistics server, and configured to produce an interaction priority based at least in part on the comparison, and configured to route the interaction based at least in part on the interaction priority.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2018
    Assignee: NEWVOICEMEDIA LTD.
    Inventors: Christian McArdle, Tom Fairweather, Jonathan Alexander Wade, James Swinhoe
  • Patent number: 9992283
    Abstract: A single interface can be provided for accessing resources that are distributed among multiple platforms. Resources that are stored in different platforms and to which a user should have access can be identified. A stub can be created for each identified resource and can include functionality for causing the resource to be opened when the stub is selected. These stubs can then be combined in a single folder or other type of user interface where they can be selected to cause the corresponding resource to be opened.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2018
    Assignee: Quest Software Inc.
    Inventors: Jake Seigel, Derek Jury
  • Patent number: 9979821
    Abstract: A system and method are presented for advanced campaign management in outbound dialing platforms. In a contact center environment, a dialing campaign may be configured such that the outbound dialing platform modifies its behavior automatically throughout the dialing campaign as conditions change. Dialing campaigns may be constructed from groups, which are organized into a campaign sequence. As the campaign sequence flows between groups, details of the campaign may be monitored and evaluated by the platform. Group transitions may be initiated based on activation triggers. In an embodiment, campaign sequences may also be automatically transitioned to new campaign sequences, paused, or reset based on activation triggers. A transition may also be initiated by manual override of the platform.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2018
    Assignee: Interactive Intelligence Group, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark R. Stumpf, Chad McCormick, Brian Wolfe
  • Patent number: 9965784
    Abstract: The present invention is an instant message service (“IMS”) based interactive information, marketing and sales system, which provides a Merchant or Seller with a means to rapidly and effectively communicate with its customer base in order to facilitate the sale of a product or service from a Merchant's website to a customer via a customer's mobile computing device. The system represented by this invention is a voluntary, opted-in system, by which the customer provides its mobile telephone number or the telephone number of its chosen mobile device and the instant messaging system that the customer is using on its mobile device, to the Merchant or Seller. A customer then requests that the Merchant or Seller forward specific information to the customer concerning a particular product or service being sold by the Merchant or Seller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2018
    Inventors: Jeffrey N. Dinardo, Jr., Jeffrey N Dinardo, Sr.
  • Patent number: 9961012
    Abstract: The customization of a communication pipelines having multiple stages. For each stage, a set of agent(s) is/are identified as available for adding to that stage. Furthermore, any stages that already have an agent assigned are identified. In response to receiving a user selection of an agent to be assigned to a particular stage, that does not already have an agent assigned, the selected agent is assigned to the stage. An enforcement agent enforces that there be only one agent assigned at most to each stage. Assignments of agents are made per stage. This allows the functionality of the agent to be simplified more towards augmenting the functionality of the stage. Accordingly, the logic of the agent is simplified, thereby making it more likely that there will be a healthy quality of agents available to select from for each stage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Amit Kumar Dutta, Krishnan Ananthanarayanan, Vishak Gopal, Mieszko Matkowski, Mahendra Sekaran
  • Patent number: 9955015
    Abstract: Information associated with messages and/or missed calls is provided to a subscriber. Calls received but not answered by the subscriber may be monitored. Each monitored call is classified as one of a missed call and a message. The monitored calls may be summarized based on a customizable rule set to create a summary. The summary is provided to the subscriber via, for example, a voice notification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Lisa J. Stifelman, Karen M. Cross, Sarah A. Caplener, Rajeev Khurana, Anne K. Sullivan, Rao Surapaneni, Justin B. Ward, Angus Davis
  • Patent number: 9942401
    Abstract: A system and method for automated call center operation facilitating agent-caller communication are provided. Multiple call sessions with users are simultaneously provided for an agent on a display. One of the call sessions is identified as active and the agent is allowed to communicate with the user of that call session. Speech utterances for each of the remaining call sessions are received from the user participating in that call session. Each received speech utterance is transcribed and displayed with the associated call session while the agent is communicating with the user of the active call. During the call sessions, text messages are received from one or more of the user of the active call and at least one of the users of the remaining call sessions. The text messages are displayed with the associated call sessions while the agent is communicating with the user of the active call session.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2018
    Assignee: Intellisist, Inc.
    Inventors: Gilad Odinak, Alastair Sutherland
  • Patent number: 9942397
    Abstract: Methods and systems described in this disclosure allow customers to personalize their phone experience when calling into an organization. In some embodiments, customers who may benefit from this service are identified based on the content of the customer's previous or current phone calls to the organization. The identified customers may be invited to enroll and to provide preferences for a customized Interactive Voice Response experience. In some embodiments, the customer can elect to hear the balances of one or more of his accounts without going through a phone menu or asking a representative to look up the relevant amounts. Once enrolled, when the customer dials into the organization and upon successful authentication, the organization proactively states the customer's account balances with no further customer request.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2018
    Assignee: United Services Automobile Association (USAA)
    Inventors: Patricio H. Garcia, Amanda Jean Segovia, Hector J. Castillo, Janeen Rubio, Robert Craig Korom, Roy David McDonald
  • Patent number: 9940592
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to a system and method for generating, processing and distributing leads, the system comprising a leads processing engine for receiving customer requests, creating leads based upon the customer requests, determining a best available agent or agents for each lead from a pool of available agents based upon one or more selected factors, and offering or sending each lead to the best available agent or agents.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2018
    Assignee: REVAGENCY IP, LLC
    Inventors: Van Anderson, David H. Anderson, Brad L. Anderson, Michael B. Anderson, Jeffrey R. Anderson
  • Patent number: 9930177
    Abstract: A system for contact management a server to store, for a campaign, a list of contacts and a contact plan associated with that list of contacts, for each contact, agent notes, and, for the campaign, agent assistance text. The server determines a highest priority opportunity from the list of contacts for an agent associated with the client device as a function of the contact plan, qualifications of the agent, and a current time. The server sends the highest opportunity contact to the client device. The client device receives and presents the contact from the list that was determined to be the highest priority, agent notes for that contact, and agent assistance text. The client device accepts input of results of the agent communicating with the contact and notes regarding the contact, and sends the result and the notes to the server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2018
    Assignee: Dealer WRX, LLC
    Inventors: William Carroll Smith, II, Matthew Brandon Smith, William Carroll Smith, III
  • Patent number: 9910886
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure, in certain embodiments, are directed toward providing a visual representation of question quality in a question answering system. More particularly, aspects are directed toward receiving, by a question answering system, an input question having a set of query attributes. The set of query attributes may be user-influenced characteristics of the input question. Aspects of the present disclosure are also directed toward evaluating, by comparing the set of query attributes to a set of assessment criteria, the quality of the input question. Aspects of the present disclosure are also directed toward assigning, in response to evaluating the quality of the input question, a set of quality values to the set of query attributes. Using the assigned set of quality values and the set of query attributes, an icon that indicates a visual representation of the quality of the input question may be generated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2018
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Richard H. Adams, Jr., Swaminathan Chandrasekaran, Sridhar Sudarsan, David D. Taieb
  • Patent number: 9904920
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method and system for authenticating identification of a customer during interaction with a company representative. Data is received and stored relating to the customer at a computer. The data includes one or more identification attributes associated with the customer and one or more authentication data attributes associated with the customer. An interaction is commenced between the customer and the company representative. Captured is one or more identification attributes and authentication data attributes relating to customer from the interaction between the customer and the company representative. The customer is identified by matching a captured identification attribute with a stored identification attribute. The customer is authenticated by matching a captured authentication data attribute with a like stored authentication data attribute associated with the identified customer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2018
    Assignee: United Services Automobile Association (USAA)
    Inventors: Jason W. Lindley, Donald H. Griffin, Jr.
  • Patent number: 9904927
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and media for the application of funnel analysis using desktop analytics and textual analytics to map and analyze the flow of customer service interactions. In an example implementation, the method includes: defining at least one flow that is representative of a series of events comprising at least one speech event, at least one Data Processing Activity (DPA) event, and at least one Computer Telephone Integration (CTI) event; receiving customer service interaction data comprising communication data, DPA metadata, and CTI metadata; applying the at least one flow to the customer service interaction data; determining if the customer service interaction data meets the at least one flow; and producing an automated indication based upon the determination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2018
    Assignee: VERINT SYSTEMS LTD.
    Inventors: Rahm Fehr, Roni Romano, Omer Ziv
  • Patent number: 9900437
    Abstract: A system and method for managing interactions of a customer contact center. A contact center processor receives a request to reserve a contact center resource for handling an interaction. The processor also receives data about the interaction. The processor identifies a routing point for routing the interaction based on the received data. The routing point is associated with routing logic controlled by a customer instead of the contact center. The processor routes the interaction to the identified routing point for giving the customer control of the routing of the interaction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: GENESYS TELECOMMUNICATIONS LABORATORIES, INC.
    Inventors: Herbert W. A. Ristock, Merijn te Booij, Akbar Riahi, Vladimir Mezhibovsky, Kentis Gopalla
  • Patent number: 9898723
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provide for secure voice authentication through a communication device or access device. Certain embodiments allow for providing a word string to a communication device or authentication device. The communication or authentication device plays a supplemental signal that is unique to a transaction. The communication device or authentication device concurrently records an audio segment originating from the user and the supplemental signal. The audio segment is an attempt by the user to vocally reproduce the word string. The communication device or authentication device sends the concurrently recorded audio segment and supplemental signal, to a computer, where the computer authenticates the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: Visa International Service Association
    Inventors: Robert Rutherford, Julian Hua