Patent · US Expired

Method for providing customer treatment based on specified rules in conjunction with network source address of a request originator

US6732188B1 · kind B1 · utility

59Cited by
17References
15Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 15, 1999
Grant dateMay 4, 2004
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 15, 2019

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04M2203/551
  • WIPO fieldTelecommunications
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A call center or other processing system receives an incoming communication over a computer network, determines at least a portion of a network source address of the originator, and utilizes information from the source address to select a particular type of treatment for the communication. The computer network may be an Internet Protocol (IP) network and the network source address may be an IP source address. The communication may be a service request delivered from the originator to a call center over the Internet. The source address may be processed to determine, e.g., a particular individual corresponding to the originator, or a company name, company size, Internet service provider, geographic region, or other characteristic associated with the originator. This information is then used to determine how the communication will be handled, e.g., provided with service within a designated time, handled by an agent having particular skills, etc. The source address may also be used to control subsequent activation of live agent support icons presented via a web page. Advantageously, the invention allows more efficient handling of communications received over the Internet by allowing a …

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.