System and method for granting delayed priority access to a resource
AssigneeNuance Communications, Inc.
InventorEduardo Olvera
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A user service center facilitates communication between a user and an agent at the user service center. At peak use times, the user service center is connected to a surplus of users with respect to its number of agents, and the user service center has the users wait to communicate with an agent. In one embodiment, the system and method described herein give the user the option to reconnect with the user service center at a later, off-peak, time. In exchange, the user is granted an identifier indicating priority access to an agent at the off-peak time. In this way, the user does not have to wait to communicate with an agent during the subsequent communication during the off-peak time.
Claims20
A method of managing calls at a user service center, the method comprising:
- determining whether an identifier associated with a user qualifies the user for priority access to an agent at a user service center based on a previous interaction with the user service center, the priority access granting access to a priority access queue;
- and
- if so, giving priority access to the user to interact with the agent by directing the user into the priority access queue using the identifier associated with the user, and if not, denying priority access to the user by directing the user into a standard access queue, the priority access queue corresponding to a priority agent pool including the agent, the standard access queue corresponding to a standard agent pool being distinct from the priority agent pool and excluding the agent.
A system for managing calls at a user service center, the system comprising:
- an identifier determination module configured to determine whether an identifier associated with a user qualifies the user for priority access to an agent at a user service center based on a previous interaction with the user service center, the priority access granting access to a priority access queue;
- and
- an access granting module configured to, if so, give priority access to the user to interact with the agent by directing the user into the priority access queue using the identifier associated with the user, and if not, deny priority access to the user by directing the user into a standard access queue, the priority access queue corresponding to a priority agent pool including the agent, the standard access queue corresponding to a standard agent pool being distinct from the priority agent pool and excluding the agent.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.