# US 11,445,062 B2 · Techniques for behavioral pairing in a task assignment system > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,445,062 B2 - Document ID: US11445062B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/551,285 - Filed: 2019-08-26 - Published: 2021-03-04 - Granted: 2022-09-13 - Earliest claimed: 2019-08-26 - Assignees: Afiniti, Ltd. - Applicants: Afiniti, Ltd. - Inventors: Jason Delker; Zia Chishti - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11445062B2 ## CPC - G06Q 10/00: Administration; Management - H04M 3/4285: {Notifying, informing or entertaining a held party while on hold, e.g. Music On Hold} - G06F 16/685: {using automatically derived transcript of audio data, e.g. lyrics (speech recognition G10L15/00)} - G06Q 10/06: Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling - G06Q 30/02: Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising - H04M 3/5175: {Call or contact centers supervision arrangements} - H04M 3/5183: {Call or contact centers with computer-telephony arrangements} - H04M 3/51: Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention {, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing} - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - H04M: TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION (circuits for controlling other apparatus via a telephone cable and not involving telephone switching apparatus G08) - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract Techniques for behavioral pairing in a task assignment system are disclosed. In one particular embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method for behavioral pairing in a task assignment system comprising: determining, by at least one computer processor communicatively coupled to and configured to operate in the task assignment system, information about a task waiting for assignment in the task assignment system; and selecting, by the at least one computer processor, a hold activity from a plurality of hold activities for the task based on the information about the task, wherein the selected hold activity is expected to improve performance of the task assignment system. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for behavioral pairing in a task assignment system comprising: determining, by at least one computer processor communicatively coupled to and configured to operate in the task assignment system, information about a task waiting for assignment in the task assignment system; determining, by the at least one computer processor, a highest-performing hold activity from a plurality of hold activities for the task based on information about the task and a plurality of historical task-hold activity pairings; and selecting, by the at least one computer processor, the highest-performing hold activity from the plurality of hold activities for the task, wherein the selected hold activity is expected to improve performance of the task assignment system for a task-agent pairing involving the task, wherein the task and the task-agent pairing are otherwise unrelated to the highest-performing hold activity. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the task assignment system is a contact center system. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of hold activities is a plurality of music recordings. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein each music recording of the plurality of music recordings is associated with at least one of a genre, an artist, a release date, and a beats-per-minute measurement. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the information about the task includes at least one of an account type, an account tenure, an age or age range, and a location associated with the task. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein determining the highest-performing hold activity is further based on a behavioral pairing model of preferred task-hold activity pairings. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The method of claim 6, wherein the behavioral pairing model is determined using historical task-hold activity pairings outcome data. ### Claim 8 A system for behavioral pairing in a task assignment system comprising: at least one computer processor communicatively coupled to and configured to operate in the task assignment system, wherein the at least one computer processor is further configured to: determine information about a task waiting for assignment in the task assignment system; determine a highest-performing hold activity from a plurality of hold activities for the task based on information about the task and a plurality of historical task-hold activity pairings; and select the highest-performing hold activity from the plurality of hold activities for the task, wherein the selected hold activity is expected to improve performance of the task assignment system for a task-agent pairing involving the task, wherein the task and the task-agent pairing are otherwise unrelated to the highest-performing hold activity. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the task assignment system is a contact center system. ### Claim 10 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the plurality of hold activities is a plurality of music recordings. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein each music recording of the plurality of music recordings is associated with at least one of a genre, an artist, a release date, and a beats-per-minute measurement. ### Claim 12 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the information about the task includes at least one of an account type, an account tenure, an age or age range, and a location associated with the task. ### Claim 13 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one computer processor is further configured to determine the highest-performing hold activity based on a behavioral pairing model of preferred task-hold activity pairings. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The system of claim 13, wherein the behavioral pairing model is determined using historical task-hold activity pairings outcome data. ### Claim 15 An article of manufacture for behavioral pairing in a task assignment system comprising: a non-transitory processor readable medium; and instructions stored on the medium; wherein the instructions are configured to be readable from the medium by at least one computer processor communicatively coupled to and configured to operate in the task assignment system and thereby cause the at least one computer processor to operate so as to: determine information about a task waiting for assignment in the task assignment system; determine a highest-performing hold activity from a plurality of hold activities for the task based on information about the task and a plurality of historical task-hold activity pairings; and select the highest-performing hold activity from the plurality of hold activities for the task, wherein the selected hold activity is expected to improve performance of the task assignment system for a task-agent pairing involving the task, wherein the task and the task-agent pairing are otherwise unrelated to the highest-performing hold activity. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein the task assignment system is a contact center system. ### Claim 17 (depends on 15) The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein the plurality of hold activities is a plurality of music recordings. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The article of manufacture of claim 17, wherein each music recording of the plurality of music recordings is associated with at least one of a genre, an artist, a release date, and a beats-per-minute measurement. ### Claim 19 (depends on 15) The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein the information about the task includes at least one of an account type, an account tenure, an age or age range, and a location associated with the task. ### Claim 20 (depends on 15) The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the at least one computer processor to operate so as to determine the highest-performing hold activity based on a behavioral pairing model of preferred task-hold activity pairings. ### Claim 21 (depends on 20) The article of manufacture of claim 20, wherein the behavioral pairing model is determined using historical task-hold activity pairings outcome data. ### Claim 22 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein determining the highest-performing hold activity comprises: determining a plurality of task-agent pairing outcomes for historical task-hold activity pairings; associating each task-agent pairing outcome of the plurality of outcomes with at least one hold activity in the plurality of hold activities; determining at least one task-agent pairing outcome based on the information about the task; and selecting a hold activity associated with the at least one task-agent pairing outcome as the highest-performing hold activity. ### Claim 23 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one computer processor is further configured to determine the highest-performing hold activity by: determining a plurality of task-agent pairing outcomes for historical task-hold activity pairings; associating each task-agent pairing outcome of the plurality of outcomes with at least one hold activity in the plurality of hold activities; determining at least one task-agent pairing outcome based on the information about the task; and selecting a hold activity associated with the at least one task-agent pairing outcome as the highest-performing hold activity. ### Claim 24 (depends on 15) The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the at least one computer processor to operate so as to determine the highest-performing hold activity by: determining a plurality of task-agent pairing outcomes for historical task-hold activity pairings; associating each task-agent pairing outcome of the plurality of outcomes with at least one hold activity in the plurality of hold activities; determining at least one task-agent pairing outcome based on the information about the task; and selecting a hold activity associated with the at least one task-agent pairing outcome as the highest-performing hold activity.