Identifying actions to take with regard to repeat callers
AssigneeCox Communications, Inc.
InventorLOUIS J. CUTAJAR
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A call handling system receives an incoming call from a caller. In response to receiving the incoming call, the call handling system determines a call count for the caller. The call count for the caller is based on a number of calls in a sequence of calls received by the call handling system from the caller, including the incoming call. A maximum amount of time between any of the calls in the sequence of calls does not exceed an expiration period. Based on the call count for the caller, the call handling system identifies and performs an action to take with regard to the incoming call.
Claims20
A method for identifying actions to take with regard to repeat callers, the method comprising:
- receiving, by a call handling system, an incoming call from a caller;
- determining a call count for the caller, the call count for the caller based on a number of calls in a sequence of calls received by the call handling system from the caller, the sequence of calls including the incoming call, wherein a maximum amount of time between any of the calls in the sequence of calls does not exceed an expiration period;
- identifying, by the call handling system based on the call count for the caller, an action from among a plurality of actions available to take with regard to the incoming call;
- and
- after identifying the action, performing the action with regard to the incoming call.
A call handling system comprising:
- an automatic call distributor (ACD) that comprises:
- a call reception module that receives an incoming call from a caller;
- an action identification module that identifies a given action from among a plurality of actions available to take with regard to the incoming call, the action identification module identifying the given action based on a call count for the caller, the call count for the caller indicating a number of calls in a sequence of calls received by the call handling system from the caller, the sequence of calls including the incoming call, wherein a maximum amount of time between any of the calls in the sequence of calls does not exceed an expiration period;
- and
- an action performance module that performs the given action with regard to the incoming call.
A computer-readable storage medium that stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to:
- receive a call count request from an automatic call distributor (ACD), the call count request requesting a call count for a caller;
- obtain an account number for the caller;
- identify a relevant business unit from among a plurality of business units, wherein the caller wants to speak with an agent regarding the relevant business unit;
- query a database for records that specify account numbers that match the account number for the caller, the database storing records associated with different callers, each of the records having an account number attribute, a most-recent-call attribute, and a counter attribute, the account number attributes indicating account numbers for the callers, the most-recent-call attributes indicating most recent times that calls were received from the callers, the counter attributes indicating numbers of calls received from the callers;
- determine whether any records were returned by querying the database;
- perform the following steps when no records were returned by querying the database:
- create a new record in the database, the new record having an account number attribute indicating the account number for the caller, a counter attribute indicating that one call has been received from the caller, and a most-recent-call attribute indicating a current time;
- and
- set the call count for the caller to a value that indicates that the ACD has received no calls from the caller within an expiration period following a most recently received call from the caller;
- perform the following steps when an existing record is returned by querying the database:
- updating the existing record to increase the counter attribute of the existing record and to set the most-recent-call attribute of the existing record to indicate the current time;
- and
- calculate the call count for the caller using at least the counter attribute of the existing record;
- purge old records from the database, wherein the expiration period has passed after times indicated by most-recent-call attributes of the old records;
- and
- provide a call count response to the ACD, the call count response specifying the call count for the caller.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.