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US 6,748,063 B1Granted
Call distribution
AssigneeBristish Telecommunications public limited company
InventorsRowland G Hunt, Simon Berry
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A call distribution system, suitable for use in a network supporting a telemarketing call center, maintains call counts at a global data server and at a number of transaction servers which are connected in common to the global data server. A choice is made of either the global count or the local count to be used in addressing a distribution map which determines the destination for a particular call. The distribution map may be a minimum error map which minimizes the deviation from a planned distribution ratio wherever a call sequence is terminated.
Claims12
A call distribution system suitable for use in a communications network, the system comprising:
- a data server including a global call counter which is incremented in response to the arrival of successive calls received by a plurality of call transaction processors connected in common to the data server, each call transaction processor including a local call counter;
- and a call distribution map which is addressed using a call counter value to determine a call destination;
- and
- a controller which is responsive to the traffic rate and which determines for each call transaction processor, in dependence upon the traffic rate received by said call transaction processor, whether a routing decision for a new call is made using a call counter value generated by the global call counter or a call counter value generated by one of the plurality of local call counters.
1 more element
A call distribution system suitable for use in a communications network, comprising:
- a) a data server including a global call counter which is incremented in response to the arrival of successive calls;
- b) a plurality of call transaction processors connected in common to the data server, each call transaction processor including:
- a local call counter, and
- a call distribution map which is addressed using a call counter value to determine a call destination;
- and
- c) a controller which is responsive to the traffic rate and which determines, in dependence upon the traffic rate, whether a routing decision for a new call is made using the global call counter at the data server or is made using a local call counter;
- wherein the data server is arranged to communicate an updated value of the global call counter to a call transaction processor, and the transaction processor is arranged to use the updated value communicated by the data server to address a call distribution map held locally at the transaction processor.
4 more elements
A call distribution system suitable for use in a communications network, the system comprising
- a call counter which is arranged to be incremented in response to the arrival of successive calls at a call transaction processor;
- a distribution map comprising a list of call destination identities, each identity occurring in the distribution map with a frequency corresponding to a predetermined ratio of calls selected for the corresponding destination;
- a call routing processor which is arranged to address the distribution map in dependence upon a current value in the call counter and to assign a call destination to an incoming call accordingly, wherein the call counter is updated by a call transaction processor arranged to use an updated counter value communicated by a data server to enable the call routing processor to address a call distribution map held locally at the call transaction processor.
A call distribution system suitable for use in a communications network, comprising:
- a) a data server including a global call counter which is incremented in response to the arrival of successive calls;
- b) a plurality of call transaction processors connected in common to the data server, each call transaction processor including:
- a local call counter, and
- a call distribution map which is addressed using a call counter value to determine a call destination;
- and
- c) a controller which is responsive to the traffic rate and which determines, in dependence upon the traffic rate, whether a routing decision for a new call is made using the global call counter at the data server or is made using a local call counter;
- wherein the distribution map is a minimum error map in which a sequence of destination identities in the map is such that if a call sequence is terminated at any point in the map a deviation of a proportion of calls directed to different destinations from a predetermined target ratio is minimised.
4 more elements
A method of distributing calls in a communications system comprising:
- a) maintaining a global count of the calls received by a plurality of call transaction processors for a respective call distribution node;
- b) maintaining locally at each of the plurality of call transaction processors a local count of the calls for the respective call distribution node processed by the call transaction processor;
- c) selecting, for each of said plurality of call transaction processors, either a value of the global count communicated to the call transaction processor or a value of the local count depending on call traffic levels at said call transaction processor;
- and
- d) addressing a call distribution map using the value selected in step (c) and determining thereby the destination to which a call is directed;
- wherein the selection of either the value of the global count or the value of the local count depends on a rate of incoming calls for said transaction processor.
3 more elements
A method of distributing calls in a communications system comprising:
- a) in response to a new call, incrementing a call counter;
- b) addressing, using a value of the call counter, a distribution map, which distribution map comprises a list of call destination identities, each identity occurring in the distribution map with a frequency corresponding to a predetermined ratio of calls selected for the corresponding destination;
- and
- c) directing a call to a destination selected in step (b);
- wherein the distribution map is a minimum error map in which a sequence of destination identities in the map is such that if a call sequence is terminated at any point in the map a destination of a proportion of calls directed to different destinations from a predetermined target ratio is minimized.
2 more elements
A method of distributing calls in a communications system comprising:
- a) maintaining a global count of the calls for a respective call distribution node;
- b) maintaining locally at a call transaction processor a local count of the calls for the respective call distribution node processed by the call transaction processor;
- c) selecting either a value of the global count or a value of the local count depending on call traffic levels;
- d) addressing a call distribution map using the value selected in step (c) and determining thereby the destination to which a call is directed;
- wherein the distribution map is a minimum error map in which a sequence of destination identities in the map is such that if a call sequence is terminated at any point in the map a deviation of a proportion of calls directed to different destinations from a predetermined target ratio is minimized.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.