Patent Issued for Routing for remote electronic devices (USPTO 11818020): Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company

2023 NOV 30 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx journalists, a patent by the inventors Calabrese, Joseph (Springfield, MA, US), Fortini, Joseph (Springfield, MA, US), Shubrick, Payton (Springfield, MA, US), filed on September 9, 2021, was published online on November 14, 2023.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11818020, is Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (Springfield, Massachusetts, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “As the processing power of computers allow for greater computer functionality and the Internet technology era allows for interconnectivity between computing systems, many employees are able to work remotely, such as from a home-office. Conventionally, institutions that allow remote work typically utilize a server to route data to and from computing devices utilized by remote employees. These servers have become conduits for transmission and distribution of the data between customers, the institution’s computing environments, and the remote employees.

“However, conventional systems of routing data to remote employees have faced technical challenges. For instance, different employees may utilize different electronic devices having different computing resources. Furthermore, employees may use a local network at their remote location to receive and send data to the server and/or directly to the customers. For instance, a remote employee may connect over Wi-Fi to his/her personal home Internet connection to connect to the server and send/receive data from the server (e.g., receive a call that is routed by the server and/or access an application to satisfy a request transmitted by the institution’s server). Poor connections can result in dropped calls, pauses during calls, delays, and other issues. Therefore, network connectivity issues that are typically not controlled by the institution’s server can vastly affect the employee’s efficiency and ability to work.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “For the aforementioned reasons, what is therefore desired is an intelligent routing system for forecasting network connectivity and computing resources needed and routing requests based on each remote employee’s unique network conditions. The intelligent routing system described herein is a forward-looking resource management system, which may dynamically revise workflow based on employee’s network capacity and expected changes of computing resources. The intelligent routing system described herein may proactively adjust allocation of workflow (e.g., call routing), such that resource-heavy requests are allocated to employees who enjoy better connections.

“The intelligent routing system may include a server that monitors network connectivity of each employee (and his or her connected electronic devices). The server may analyze client requests to identify resources needed to satisfy such requests. The server may also route the requests to the most appropriate employee by establishing a remote connection between the customer and the remote employee.

“In an embodiment, a method comprises generating, by a server for each remote electronic device within a set of remote electronic devices, a network traffic value corresponding to a volume and speed of data packets communicated between a network and each remote electronic device via at least one network routing device; upon establishing an electronic communication session with a customer device, receiving, by the server from the customer device, an electronic request to be routed to at least one electronic device within the set of electronic devices; identifying, by the server, at least one application to be executed to satisfy the electronic request; calculating, by the server, network traffic value threshold associated with the identified at least one application; identifying, by the server, a first remote electronic device having a network traffic value that satisfies the calculated network traffic threshold; routing, by the server, the electronic request to the first remote electronic device.

“In another embodiment, a system comprises a server comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions that when executed by the processor causes the processor to perform operations comprises generate, for each remote electronic device within a set of remote electronic devices, a network traffic value corresponding to a volume and speed of data packets communicated between a network and each remote electronic device via at least one network routing device; upon establishing an electronic communication session with a customer device, receive, from the customer device, an electronic request to be routed to at least one electronic device within the set of electronic devices; identify at least one application to be executed to satisfy the electronic request; calculate network traffic value threshold associated with the identified at least one application; identify a first remote electronic device having a network traffic value that satisfies the calculated network traffic threshold; and route the electronic request to the first remote electronic device.

“It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the subject matter as claimed.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method comprising: generating, by a server for a set of remote electronic devices configured to execute an application associated with a customer’s electronic request, a network traffic value corresponding to a volume and speed of data packets communicated between a network and each of the set of remote electronic devices via at least one network routing device; receiving, by the server from a customer device, the customer’s electronic request to be routed to at least one electronic device within the set of remote electronic devices; identifying, by the server, at least one application associated with the customer’s electronic request to be executed by the at least one remote electronic device, having the network traffic value satisfying a threshold, during at least one electronic communication session via the network; and displaying, by the server, a graphical user interface comprising: an identification of the at least one application; and the network traffic value for at least one remote electronic device.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface further comprises a status of at least one electronic communication session.

“3. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface displays the network traffic value for at least one remote electronic device during the at least one electronic communication session.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface further comprises an identifier of the electronic request.

“5. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface comprises the network traffic value for the remote electronic device measured in at least two time periods.

“6. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface comprises a visual trend of at least two network traffic values for the remote electronic device measured at two time periods.

“7. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface comprises a visual trend of at least two network traffic values for a second remote electronic device measured at two time periods.

“8. The method of claim 7, wherein the visual trend of the remote electronic device is visually distinct from the visual trend of the second remote electronic device.

“9. The method of claim 1, wherein the network traffic value further corresponds to a latency speed.

“10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: periodically updating, by the server, the graphical user interface.

“11. The method of claim 10, wherein the server updates the graphical user interface in real time.

“12. The method of claim 1 further comprising: calculating, by the server, the network traffic value for the remote electronic device based on a previous network traffic value for the remote electronic device.

“13. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one electronic communication session is between the remote electronic device and the customer device.

“14. A system comprising: a server comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions that when executed by the processor causes the processor to perform operations comprising: generating, for a set of remote electronic devices configured to execute an application associated with a customer’s electronic request, a network traffic value corresponding to a volume and speed of data packets communicated between a network and each of the set of remote electronic devices via at least one network routing device; receiving, by the server from a customer device, the customer’s electronic request to be routed to at least one electronic device within the set of remote electronic devices; identifying at least one application associated with the customer’s electronic request to be executed by the at least one remote electronic device, having the network traffic value satisfying a threshold, during at least one electronic communication session via the network; and displaying a graphical user interface comprising: an identification of the at least one application; and the network traffic value for at least one remote electronic device.

“15. The system of claim 14, wherein the graphical user interface further comprises a status of the at least one electronic communication session.

“16. The system of claim 14, wherein the graphical user interface displays the network traffic value for at least one remote electronic device during the at least one electronic communication session.

“17. The system of claim 14, wherein the graphical user interface further comprises an identifier of the electronic request.

“18. The system of claim 14, wherein the graphical user interface comprises the network traffic value for the remote electronic device measured in at least two time periods.

“19. The system of claim 14, wherein the graphical user interface comprises a visual trend of at least two network traffic values for the remote electronic device measured at two time periods.”

For more information, see this patent: Calabrese, Joseph. Routing for remote electronic devices. U.S. Patent Number 11818020, filed September 9, 2021, and published online on November 14, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11818020)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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