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:
Sep. 28, 2004
Filed:
Dec. 03, 1999
James B. A. Tracey, Danville, CA (US);
Bruce Mackinlay, Hayward, CA (US);
Joseph Tagupa, North Berkeley, CA (US);
Paul Lauffenburger, Grants Pass, OR (US);
Daniel Exline, II, Brentwood, CA (US);
Harold T. Leach, Jr., Danville, CA (US);
DCS, Inc., Livermore, CA (US);
Abstract
A workflow management system and method is described. The illustrated embodiment is a contact management system, more particularly adapted for employment in a debt collection context. Methods and systems are described for allowing a debt collector to associate debtors with different categories, either manually or automatically in response to predetermined condition. Thus, the system can efficiently manage the status of debtors by associating each debtor with a particular category. As part of this system, the debtor accounts are moved from one category to another, and from one individual to another, as the collection process is undertaken. The system maintains each debtor account within a predetermined category, and then displays each of the categories to a collector on a graphical display. The graphical display uses rectangular bars for representing each category, and indicates within the rectangular bars how many contacts belong to the category. When the graphical display is generated on the collector's computer monitor, the collector can press a function key corresponding to a category in order to be presented with a list of debtor accounts within the category.