Method and apparatus for establishing connections

Abstract

A system and method is provided for establishing a connection between an agent and a user. A request is received from the user requesting contact by an agent. The request includes an identifier associated with the web page being viewed by the user. An agent is selected based on the web page being viewed by the user. The identifier associated with the web page is transmitted to an agent that will contact the user. A connection is then established between the user and the agent.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method of establishing a connection with a user, the method including: 
 receiving a request for agent contact from the user, wherein the request includes an identifier associated with a web page being viewed by the user;    selecting an agent to respond to the request based on the web page being viewed by the user;    transmitting the identifier associated with the web page to the agent; and    establishing the connection between the user and the agent;    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , which includes displaying the web page associated with the identifier to the agent.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , which includes retrieving an information associated with the user from a database; and 
 displaying the information to the agent.    
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , which includes generating a user web page containing the information associated with the user, displaying the information associated with the user to the agent and displaying the user web page to the agent.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , in which establishing the connection between the user and the agent includes initiating a voice connection across a telephone network between the user and the agent.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , which includes a verification.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the verification is performed by a telephone answering system.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the verification is performed by an integrated voice response system.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the verification determines that the connection is to the user that requested agent contact.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , in which the request is received through a web server.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , in which the identifier associated with the web page is a uniform resource locator (URL) of the web page.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , in which the method is implemented in a call processing environment.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein establishing the connection between the user and the agent is performed at a scheduled time.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the scheduled time is selected by the user.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the scheduled time is selected by an organization based on expected agent availability.  
     
     
         16 . A system for establishing a connection with a user, the system including: 
 a receiving mechanism to receive a request for agent contact from the user, wherein the request includes an identifier associated with a web page being viewed by the user;    a selection mechanism for a selection of an agent to respond to the request, the selection of the agent being based on the web page being viewed by the user;    a communications mechanism to transmit the identifier associated with the web page to the agent; and    a connection device to establish the connection between the user and the agent.    
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , which includes a display mechanism to display the web page associated with the identifier to the agent.  
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 16 , which includes a retrieval mechanism to retrieve user information from a database and to display the user information to the agent.  
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , which includes a web page generator to generate a user web page containing the user information that is retrieved by the retrieval mechanism and displayed by the retrieval mechanism.  
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 16 , in which the connection device is a voice connection device that initiates a voice connection across a telephone network between the user and the agent.  
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 20 , which includes a verification mechanism to verify that the voice connection is to the user who requested agent contact.  
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 16 , in which the receiving mechanism is a web server.  
     
     
         23 . A system for establishing a connection with a user, the system including: 
 means for receiving a request for agent contact from the user, wherein the request includes an identifier associated with a web page being viewed by the user;    means for selecting an agent to respond to the request for agent contact by contacting the user, the selection of the agent being based on the web page being viewed by the user;    means for communicating the identifier associated with the web page to the agent selected to contact the user; and    means for establishing the connection between the user and the agent.    
     
     
         24 . A computer software product including a medium, readable by a machine, the medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when executed by the machine, causes the machine to: 
 receive a request for agent contact from the user, wherein the request includes an identifier associated with a web page being viewed by the user;    select an agent to respond to the request for agent contact by contacting the user, said selection being based on the web page being viewed by the user;    transmit the identifier associated with the web page to the agent selected to contact the user; and    establish a connection between the user and the agent.