Method and apparatus for optimizing response time to events in queue

Abstract

A system for optimizing response time to events or representations thereof waiting in a queue has a first server having access to the queue; a software application running on the first server; and a second server accessible from the first server, the second server containing rules governing the optimization. In a preferred embodiment, the software application at least periodically accesses the queue and parses certain ones of events or tokens in the queue and compares the parsed results against rules accessed from the second server in order to determine a measure of disposal time for each parsed event wherein if the determined measure is sufficiently low for one or more of the parsed events, those one or more events are modified to a reflect a higher priority state than originally assigned enabling faster treatment of those events resulting in relief from those events to the queue system load.

1 . A system for optimizing response time to events or representations thereof waiting in a queue by predicting an estimated disposal time for certain ones of those events comprising:
 a first server having access to the queue;   a software application running on the first server; and   a second server accessible from the first server, the second server containing rules governing the optimization;   characterized in that the software application at least periodically accesses the queue and parses certain ones of events or tokens thereof contained therein at the time of access and compares the parsed results against rules accessed from the second server in order to determine a measure of disposal time for each parsed event and wherein if the determined measure is sufficiently low for one or more of the parsed events, those one or more events are modified to a reflect a higher priority state than originally assigned, or promoted directly out of queue, enabling faster treatment of those events resulting in relief from those events to the queue system load.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the first server is a work force management and planning server enhanced with the addition of the software application. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the queue is a virtual message queue for a communication center. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the queue is a telephony queue. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the software application includes at least one parsing engine for parsing events. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the software application includes at least one additional interface to a historical data repository. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the rules governing the optimization process include rules for generation of token events that represent real events. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the data parsed includes event type, event status in queue, event routing information, and event origination information. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the data parsed includes event type, event status in queue, event routing information, event origination information, and event purpose information. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the data parsed further includes event content or a portion thereof. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 9  wherein the data parsed further includes event content or a portion thereof. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1  wherein an original priority status assignment of low below a certain threshold to a event or representation thereof causes the event to be parsed. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the measure of disposal time determined is an estimate based on known procedure for handling the event. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the measure of disposal time determined is an estimate based on historical averaging of previous measurements for the same originator of an event of a same type. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 1  wherein events that are modified to reflect a higher priority state are immediately promoted from the queue to an appropriate final destination queue. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 1  wherein events that are modified to reflect a higher priority state are immediately routed to their final destinations. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 1  wherein a measure of disposal time is taken collectively for a number of events of a same media type and summed as one disposal time for the sum of events or representations thereof considered, the sum compared to available resource load before priority state modification to determine if those resources will be unreasonable taxed. 
     
     
         18 . A software application for optimizing response time to events or representations thereof waiting in a queue by predicting an estimated disposal time for certain ones of those events comprising:
 at least one module for determining event type and event state of events or representations thereof;   at least one parsing engine for parsing event or represented event data;   a calculator for weighing parsed results against pre-set rules; and   an event modification module for changing event or represented event state;   characterized in that selected events or representations thereof are modified to reflect a higher priority state and, in some cases, different routing rules, including direct promotion from queue, than those originally assigned to those events due to a determination made that those selected events have a sufficiently high probability of efficient disposal in the system according to an estimated time of disposal for each event or representation thereof.   
     
     
         19 . The software application of  claim 18  wherein the queue is a virtual message queue for a communication center. 
     
     
         20 . The software application of  claim 18  wherein the queue is a telephony queue. 
     
     
         21 - 42 . (canceled)