Common gateway to call control systems

An apparatus for supporting intelligent call routing (ICR) systems of at least a first vendor in a vendor neutral fashion using a computer system, the apparatus comprising:

• means for receiving a request for a call routing function in a vendor neutral format from a program, the request identifying at least a first ICR system to receive the request;
• means for preparing the request in a vendor specific format for transmission to the at least a first ICR system, the vendor specific format selected according to the format used by the at least a first ICR system;
• means for transmitting the request in the vendor specific format to the at least a first ICR system over a network;
• means for converting the response into a vendor neutral format responsive to receiving a response over the network from the at least a first ICR system;
• and
• means for relaying the response in the vendor neutral format to the program

An electromagnetic waveform comprising a computer program for supporting intelligent call routing (ICR) systems of at least a first vendor in a vendor neutral fashion using a computer system, the computer program comprising:

• a first set of instructions for receiving a request for a call routing function in a vendor neutral format from a program, the request identifying at least a first ICR system to receive the request;
• a second set of instructions for preparing the request in a vendor specific format for transmission to the at least a first ICR system, the vendor specific format selected according to the format used by the at least a first ICR system;
• a third set of instructions for transmitting the request in the vendor specific format to the at least a first ICR system over a network;
• a fourth set of instructions for converting the response into a vendor neutral format responsive to receiving a response over the network from the at least a first ICR system;
• and
• a fifth set of instructions for relaying the response in the vendor neutral format to the program.

An electromagnetic waveform comprising a formatted uniform resource locator (URL) for requesting intelligent call routing (ICR) functionality in a vendor neutral fashion, the formatted URL comprising:

• a protocol specification component, the protocol specification specifying a protocol for making requests;
• an ICR system specification component;
• an ICR request type specification component;
• and
• one or more data fields.