The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 04, 2001
Filed:
Nov. 23, 1998
Richard B. Hull, Morriw Township, Morris County, NJ (US);
Bharat Kumar, Scotch Plains, NJ (US);
Gang Zhou, Bedminster Township, Somerset County, NJ (US);
Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill, DE (US);
Abstract
Computer and telecommunication systems employing workflow (contact flow) processes are enhanced by employing dynamic random differential treatment of so-called instances (contacts) entering the workflow (contact flow). This is realized, for example, by associating a prescribed distinguishing function with the workflow (contact flow), and to use a value given by this prescribed distinguishing function in one or more decisions relating to how the object instance (contact) should be processed. Each decision is essentially a choice between two or more paths in a workflow (contact flow), or a choice between two or more workflows (contact flows). For example, the prescribed distinguishing function could associate a distinguishing value having an integer value between 1 and 100 with object instances (contacts), and a selection function for making a decision to use one or more of a plurality of workflows (contact flows) is related to a prescribed parameter “x” that has a value from 0 to 100. For example, each object instance (contact) with a prescribed distinguishing value≦x is routed to a first of the plurality of possible treatments and each object instance (contact) with distinguishing value>x is routed to at least another of the plurality of possible treatments. Additionally, dynamic control is utilized over the parameters employed by the selection function that control whether object instances (contacts) are routed to the first treatment or to some other treatment. For the preceding example, this is accomplished by permitting dynamic control over the value of prescribed parameter x. This dynamic control is effected either manually or automatically. In a particular embodiment of the invention, dynamically controlled differentiation is realized by associating a random number (or other randomly chosen value) with each object instance (contact), and to use this random number in one or more decisions relating to how the object instance (contact) should be processed. That is, a randomized differentiator is utilized as the dynamically controlled differentiator.