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.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A system for increasing transaction queue efficiency comprising:
 a computerized server having software stored on and executing from a machine-readable medium, the software comprising: 
 a first portion of instructions for implementing a queue for governing order of processing transactions; 
 a second portion of instructions for reordering and/or removing one or more of the transactions from the queue; 
 an electronic router coupled to the computerized server for routing at least one of the transactions to a final destination;  
 wherein the second portion of instructions is for periodically accesses accessing stored information concerning individual ones of the transactions, using rules separately stored determines from the information, determining an estimated disposal time (EDT) for the transactions considered, and for particular ones of the transactions having a determined the estimated disposal time lower than a pre-stored time, either moves those moving the particular ones of the transactions ahead of other ones of the transactions in the queue or removes those removing particular ones of the transactions from the queue, 
 wherein the estimated disposal time is an estimate based on historical averaging of previous measurements for an originator of a transaction of a same type. 
 
     
     
       2. The system of  claim 1  wherein the computerized 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 instructions for parsing transaction information. 
     
     
       6. The system of  claim 1  wherein the software application includes an interface to a historical data repository. 
     
     
       7. The system of  claim 5  wherein the information parsed includes one or more of event type, event status in queue, event routing information, and event origination information. 
     
     
       8. The system of  claim 1  wherein the disposal time determined is an estimate based on known procedure for handling the event transactions. 
     
     
       9. The system of  claim 1  wherein the disposal time determined is an estimate based on historical averaging of previous measurements for the same originator of an event of a same type. 
     
     
       10. The system of  claim 1  wherein some events of the transactions are immediately promoted from the queue to an appropriate final destination queue. 
     
     
       11. The system of  claim 1  wherein events certain ones of the transactions that are modified to reflect a higher priority state are immediately routed to their final destinations. 
     
     
       12. A method for increasing transaction queue efficiency comprising the steps of:
 (a) implementing, by a processor, a queue for governing order of processing transactions on a computerized server having software stored on and executing from a machine-readable medium; 
 (b) periodically accessing, by the processor, stored information concerning individual ones of the transactions; 
 (c) using rules separately stored from the information, determining, by the processor, an estimated disposal time (EDT) for the individual ones of the transactions considered and, wherein the estimated disposal time is an estimate based on historical averaging of previous measurements for an originator of a transaction of a same type; 
 (d) for one or more transactions of the individual ones of the transactions having a determined the estimated disposal time lower than a pre-stored time, either moving those, by the processor, the one or more transactions ahead of other ones of the transactions in the queue or removing those the one or more transactions from the queue; and 
 (e) routing, by an electronic router coupled to the processor, at least one of the transactions to a final destination. 
 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 12  wherein the computerized server is a work force management and planning server enhanced with the addition of the software application. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 12  wherein the queue is a virtual message queue for a communication center. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 12  wherein the queue is a telephony queue. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 12  wherein the software application includes at least one parsing engine for parsing transaction information. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 12  wherein the software application includes an interface to a historical data repository. 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 12  wherein the information parsed includes one or more of event type, event status in queue, event routing information, and event origination information. 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 12  wherein the disposal time determined is an estimate based on known procedure for handling the event transactions. 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 12  wherein the disposal time determined is an estimate based on historical averaging of previous measurements for the same originator of an event of a same type. 
     
     
       21. The method of  claim 12  wherein some events of the transactions are immediately promoted from the queue to an appropriate final destination queue. 
     
     
       22. The system method of  claim 12  wherein events certain ones of the transactions that are modified to reflect a higher priority state are immediately routed to their final destinations.