Call routing based on local status evaluation

A call routing system responsive to an incoming call held by a switching facility to route that call to one of a plurality of response resources capable of responding thereto, comprising;

• a poll/selector responsive to an incoming call and associated caller data (i) to send a poll inquiry to a plurality of evaluate/controllers, (ii) to receive poll responses from at least one evaluate/controller indicating a current capability to respond to that call, and (iii) to provide a switching control signal based on selection of a poll response which meets predetermined criteria;
• and
• a plurality of evaluate/controllers each arranged to be linked to a group of said response resources and each responsive to said poll inquiry to provide a poll response indicative of current availability of a linked response resource to respond to that call;
• said poll/selector arranged to couple said switching control signal to control routing of that call from the switching facility.

A call routing system, responsive to an incoming call held by a switching facility to route that call to one of a plurality of response resources capable of responding thereto, comprising:

• a poll/selector responsive to an incoming call (i) to send a poll inquiry to a plurality of evaluate/controllers, (ii) to receive poll responses from at least one evaluate/controller indicating a current capability to respond to that call, and (iii) to provide a switching control signal based on selection of a poll response representing the best figure-of-merit value of all poll responses received;
• and
• a plurality of evaluate/controllers each arranged to be linked to a group of said response resources and each responsive to said poll inquiry to provide a poll response comprising a figure-of-merit value indicative of current availability of a linked response resource to respond to that call;
• said poll/selector arranged to couple said switching control signal to control routing of that call from the switching facility.

A call routing method, using localized response capability evaluation, comprising the steps of:

• (a) in response to an incoming call held by a switching facility and associated caller data, sending a poll inquiry from a central location to a plurality of response locations;
• (b) at each response location, evaluating the current availability of at least one response resource to respond to that call;
• (c) from at least one response location, sending to said central location a poll response indicative of current availability of a response resource to respond to that call;
• (d) at said central location, selecting a poll response which meets predetermined criteria;
• and
• (e) sending a switching control signal from said central location to control the routing of that call from the switching facility.