Patent Issued for Method and system for a scalable computer-telephony integration system (USPTO 11277517): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2022 MAR 31 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States) has been issued patent number 11277517, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Kammeyer, Aaron C. (Clinton, IL, US), Kirchner, Randall J. (Normal, IL, US), Littell, Louis A. (Normal, IL, US), Ward, Christopher L. (Normal, IL, US).

This patent was filed on October 7, 2020 and was published online on March 15, 2022.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “Today, in a competitive sales market, including insurance sales, organizations often field or service customer calls via a contact center. The contact center may be a unit within the organization or a separate business that the independent organization contracts with to receive customer calls, for example. In any case, the calls to the contact center are typically handled by providing contact information, such as an 800 number for a customer to call. When the customer calls the 800 number, a contact center call agent answers the phone, manually confirms the customer’s identity, identifies the purpose of the call, helps the customer, as needed, and ends the call. In some scenarios, the call may first be answered by a computer which may request a series of inputs from the user for determining where to direct the call, and based upon the received inputs, may direct the call to a contact center call agent who responds to the call as described above.

“However, large organizations may have several divisions where the divisions operate nearly independently of each other, and/or where each division has a separate contact center or a different group of call agents responding to the calls. For example, an insurance organization may include an automobile insurance division, a life insurance division, a banking division, a homeowner’s insurance division, etc.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present embodiments may relate to generating and accessing centralized databases for call agents across several independent systems to interact within a computer-telephony integration (CTI) system. The CTI system may include a CTI server device, which may receive and/or store customer call information for customers who initiate calls with the CTI system. The CTI server device may also store a customer call key as a reference to the customer call information, so that the customer call key may be transferred from the CTI system to a call agent and/or from call agent to call agent when a call is transferred. In addition to customer call information, the CTI server device may combine call agent login information from several independent systems and store the call agent login information in a centralized database, which may be accessible by all of the call agents across the several independent systems.

“Moreover, the CTI server device may generate and/or store a contact center directory, including contact information for call agents, which may be categorized by contact center service category. For example, the contact center directory may include an automobile insurance deductible contact center service category, which may include contact information for ten call agents each assigned to automobile insurance deductibles. Call agents across the several independent systems may access the contact center directory to communicate with other call agents assigned to a particular department or contact center service category.

“In one aspect, a computer-implemented method of managing a call agent to call agent telephone call transfer may be provided. The method may include: (1) receiving, by a first call agent located at a contact center in a computer-telephony integration system, a customer call from a customer; (2) receiving (via the one or more processors) from each of a plurality of call agents within the computer-telephony integration system, an indication of availability of the respective call agent to communicate with users of the computer-telephony integration system; and/or (3) presenting (via the one or more processors) the indications of availability and identification information for each of the plurality of call agents on a display. The method may also include: (4) presenting (via the one or more processors) a user control for searching the plurality of call agents on the display for use by the first call agent to view an indication of availability for a particular call agent of the plurality of call agents; and/or (5) transferring the customer call (via the one or more processors) from the first call agent to the particular call agent in response to the indication of availability identifying the particular call agent as available. The method may include additional, fewer, or alternative actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect, a system of managing a call agent to call agent telephone call transfer may be provided. The system may include one or more processors; a communication network; a database; a contact center device for a first call agent located at a contact center (wherein a customer call from a customer is received at the contact center device); and/or a non-transitory computer-readable memory communicatively coupled to the one or more processors, the contact center device, the communication network, and the database and storing thereon instructions. When executed by the one or more processors, the instructions may cause the system to: (1) receive, via the communication network and from each of a plurality of call agents within the computer-telephony integration system, an indication of availability of the respective call agent to communicate with users of the computer-telephony integration system; (2) present, via the communication network, the indications of availability and identification information for each of the plurality of call agents on a display; and/or (3) present, via the communication network, a user control for searching the plurality of call agents on the display for use by the first call agent to view an indication of availability for a particular call agent of the plurality of call agents. The instructions may also cause the system to: (4) transfer the customer call, via the communication network, from the first call agent to the particular call agent in response to the indication of availability identifying the particular call agent as available. The system may include additional, fewer, or alternate components and/or functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“Advantages will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description of the preferred embodiments which have been shown and described by way of illustration. As will be realized, the present embodiments may be capable of other and different embodiments, and their details are capable of modification in various respects. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method of managing a call agent to call agent telephone call transfer, the method executed by one or more processors programmed to perform the method, the method comprising: receiving, by a call agent located at a contact center in a computer-telephony integration system, a customer call from a customer and a customer call key stored in a database as a reference to customer call information for responding to the customer call, wherein the customer call key is transferred to the call agent without transferring the customer call information; using the customer call key to retrieve, via one or more processors, the customer information associated with the customer call key from the database; and presenting, via the one or more processors, the customer call information on a display for use by the call agent during the customer call with the customer.

“2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, via the one or more processors and from each of a plurality of call agents within the computer-telephony integration system, an indication of availability of the respective call agent to communicate with users of the computer-telephony integration system over the communication network; and presenting, via the one or more processors, the indications of availability and identification information for each of the plurality of call agents on the display.

“3. The method of claim 2, wherein receiving an indication of availability of the respective call agent comprises: receiving, via the one or more processors from a contact center device of the respective call agent, an indication that the respective call agent is on a telephone call; setting, via the one or more processors, the indication of availability for the respective call agent to indicate that the respective call agent is on the telephone; upon completion of the telephone call, receiving, via the one or more processors from the contact center device of the respective call agent, an indication that the respective call agent is available; and setting, via the one or more processors, the indication of availability for the respective call agent to indicate that the respective call agent is available.

“4. The method of claim 2, wherein a display is a first display and wherein receiving an indication of availability of the respective call agent comprises: presenting, via the one or more processors, one or more user controls for selecting an indication of availability from a plurality of availabilities on a second display for the respective call agent; and receiving, via the one or more processors, the indication of availability for the respective call agent based upon a selection of the one or more user controls on the second display.

“5. The method of claim 2, further comprising: presenting, via the one or more processors, a user control for searching the plurality of call agents on the display for use by the call agent to view an indication of availability for a particular call agent of the plurality of call agents.

“6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, via the one or more processors, at least some of the customer call information via natural language processing in an interactive voice response (IVR) module; determining, via the one or more processors, additional customer call information by comparing the received at least some customer call information to previously stored customer personal information and when there is a match, determining the additional customer call information by obtaining the previously stored customer personal information; and transferring the customer call, via the one or more processors, from the IVR module to the call agent along with the customer call key.

“7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining additional customer call information comprises: receiving, via the one or more processors, a phone number for the customer when the customer call is received; comparing, via the one or more processors, the received phone number to previously stored customer phone numbers; and when there is a match, obtaining, via the one or more processors, insurance policy information associated with the previously stored customer phone number.

“8. The method of claim 1, wherein transferring the customer call key to the call agent without transferring the customer call information comprises: presenting, via the one or more processors, a set of contact information for the call agent on a display for use by another call agent during the customer call with the customer; presenting, via the one or more processors, one or more user controls for transferring, dialing, or conferencing, the call agent on the display for use by the other call agent; and transferring the customer call, via the one or more processors from the other call agent to the call agent along with the customer call key, upon receiving a selection from the other call agent via the one or more user controls to transfer the customer call to the call agent.

“9. The method of claim 1, wherein the customer call key is an eight digit alphanumeric character string.

“10. The method of claim 1, wherein customer call information includes at least one of: identification information for the customer, a subject of an inquiry by the customer, or insurance policy information for the customer.

“11. A system of managing a call agent to call agent telephone call transfer, the system comprising: one or more processors; a communication network; a database; a contact center device for a call agent located at a contact center; and a non-transitory computer-readable memory communicatively coupled to the one or more processors, the contact center device, the communication network, and the database, and storing thereon instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to: transfer a customer call, via the communication network, to the call agent along with a customer call key stored in a database as a reference to customer call information for responding to the customer call without transferring the customer call information; use the call key to retrieve the customer information associated with the customer call key from the database; and present, via the communication network, the customer call information on a display for use by the call agent during the customer call with the customer.

“12. The system of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the system to: receive, via the communication network and from each of a plurality of call agents within the computer-telephony integration system, an indication of availability of the respective call agent to communicate with users of the computer-telephony integration system over the communication network; and present, via the communication network, the indications of availability and identification information for each of the plurality of call agents on the display.

“13. The system of claim 12, wherein to receive an indication of availability of the respective call agent, the instructions cause the system to: receive, via the communication network from a contact center device of the respective call agent, an indication that the respective call agent is on a telephone call; set the indication of availability for the respective call agent to indicate that the respective call agent is on the telephone; upon completion of the telephone call, receive, via the communication network from the contact center device of the respective call agent, an indication that the respective call agent is available; and set the indication of availability for the respective call agent to indicate that the respective call agent is available.

“14. The system of claim 12, wherein a display is a first display and wherein to receive an indication of availability of the respective call agent, the instructions cause the system to: present, via the communication network, one or more user controls for selecting an indication of availability from a plurality of availabilities on a second display for the respective call agent; and receive, via the communication network, the indication of availability for the respective call agent based upon a selection of the one or more user controls on the second display.

“15. The system of claim 12, wherein the instructions further cause the system to: present, via the communication network, a user control for searching the plurality of call agents on the display for use by the call agent to view an indication of availability for a particular call agent of the plurality of call agents.

“16. The system of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the system to: receive at least some of the customer call information via natural language processing in an interactive voice response (IVR) module; determine additional customer call information by comparing the received at least some customer call information to previously stored customer personal information and when there is a match, determining the additional customer call information by obtaining the previously stored customer personal information; and transfer the customer call, via the communication network, from the IVR module to the call agent along with the customer call key.

“17. The system of claim 16, wherein to determine additional customer call information, the instructions cause the system to: receive a phone number for the customer when the customer call is received; compare the received phone number to previously stored customer phone numbers; and when there is a match, obtain insurance policy information associated with the previously stored customer phone number.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Kammeyer, Aaron C. Method and system for a scalable computer-telephony integration system. U.S. Patent Number 11277517, filed October 7, 2020, and published online on March 15, 2022. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=11277517.PN.&OS=PN/11277517RS=PN/11277517

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