System and method for a work distribution service

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9628624-B2
Application number	US-201615099931-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 15, 2016
Priority date	Mar 14, 2014
Publication date	Apr 18, 2017
Grant date	Apr 18, 2017

Abstract

Systems and methods for a work distribution service. At a multi-tenant platform that provides a work distribution service for a plurality of external systems, a priority is assigned to a first work item of a first external system. The work item is received via a RESTful work item API call request. The priority is assigned based on work item attributes of the work item and a workflow instruction corresponding to workflow information specified by the work item. The workflow instruction is provided by the external system via a RESTful Workflow API. A worker is assigned to the work item based on: the priority of the work item, the workflow information, and worker state managed by the first external system via a RESTful Worker API. The worker state includes worker attributes. The work item is generated by the external system, and the workflow instruction is managed by the external system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising: at a multi-tenant work distribution system:
responsive to a first work item API request provided by a first external application server system of a first account of a plurality of accounts of the multi-tenant work distribution system, determining a first worker identifier of a plurality of worker identifiers configured for the first account to be assigned to a first work item corresponding to the first work item API request;
providing first assignment information to the first external application server system via a first callback configured for the first account,
wherein the first assignment information specifies at least the first worker identifier and work item attributes of the first work item,
wherein the work distribution system receives the first work item API request from the first external application server system via an application protocol communication,
wherein the work distribution system provides the first assignment information to the first external application server system via an application protocol communication.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first worker identifier is a worker name.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the application protocol is as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first external application server system processes the first work item responsive to receipt of the first assignment information from the work distribution system.

5. The method of claim 3 , the method further comprising: responsive to at least one work processing instruction provided by the first external application server system for the first assignment information, the work distribution system: determining whether a worker identified by the worker identifier has completed processing of the work item; and responsive to a determination that the worker has completed processing of the work item, the work distribution system updating worker state of the worker to include an available status such that the worker can be assigned to a new work item by the work distribution system, wherein the first external application server system provides each work processing instruction via an application protocol communication.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the at least one work processing instruction includes an instruction to provide information of the work item to a worker endpoint associated with the worker identified by the worker identifier, the method further comprising the work distribution system providing the information of the work item to the worker endpoint responsive to receiving the instruction to provide information to the worker endpoint.

7. The method of claim 3 , the method further comprising: the work distribution system receiving at least one workflow instruction of the first account, wherein the work distribution system determines the first work identifier in accordance with the at least one workflow instruction.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first external application server system manages work distribution primitives associated with the first account by providing at least one application protocol communication to the work distribution system, and wherein work distribution primitives include at least workers, work items, work distribution workflows and work collections.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein each workflow is defined by a workflow instruction document that includes at least one workflow instruction, wherein workflow instructions of each workflow instruction document define logic on how a particular work item is paired with a worker, and wherein each work collection is constructed to store pending work items.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the work distribution system receives the at least one workflow instruction of the first account from the first external application server system via an application protocol communication.

11. A method comprising: at a multi-tenant work distribution system:
responsive to a first work item API request provided by a multi-tenant telephony communication platform on behalf of a first account of a plurality of accounts of the multi-tenant work distribution system, determining a first worker identifier of a plurality of worker identifiers configured for the first account to be assigned to a first work item corresponding to the first work item API request;
providing first assignment information to a first external application server system of the first account via a first callback configured for the first account,
wherein the first assignment information specifies at least the first worker identifier and work item attributes of the first work item,
wherein the work distribution system receives the first work item API request from the multi-tenant telephony communication platform via an application protocol communication, and
wherein the work distribution system provides the first assignment information to the first external application server system via an application protocol communication.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first worker identifier is a worker name.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the application protocol is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first external application server system processes the first work item responsive to receipt of the first assignment information from the work distribution system.

15. The method of claim 11 , the method further comprising: responsive to at least one work processing instruction provided by the first external application server system for the first assignment information, the work distribution system: determining whether a worker identified by the worker identifier has completed processing of the work item; and responsive to a determination that the worker has completed processing of the work item, the work distribution system updating worker state of the worker to include an available status such that the worker can be assigned to a new work item by the work distribution system, wherein the first external application server system provides each work processing instruction via an application protocol communication.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the at least one work processing instruction includes an instruction to provide information of the work item to a worker endpoint associated with the worker identified by the worker identifier, the method further comprising the work distribution system providing the information of the work item to the worker endpoint responsive to receiving the instruction to provide information to the worker endpoint.

17. The method of claim 11 , the method further comprising: the work distribution system receiving at least one workflow instruction of the first account, wherein the work distribution system determines the first work identifier in accordance with the at least one workflow instruction.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the first external application server system manages work distribution primitives associated with the first account by providing at least one application protocol communication to the work distribution system, and wherein work distribution primitives include at least workers, work items, work distribution workflows and work collections.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein each workflow is defined by a workflow instruction document that includes at least one workflow instruction, wherein workflow instructions of each workflow instruction document define logic on how a particular work item is paired with a worker, and

Assignees

• Twilio Inc

Inventors

• Wolthuis John
• Brazier Robert

Classifications

• H04M3/5175

  Call or contact centers supervision arrangements · CPC title

• H04M3/5232 Primary

  Call distribution algorithms · CPC title

• H04M3/5233 Primary

  Operator skill based call distribution · CPC title

• G06Q10/063114

  Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group · CPC title

• G06Q10/0633

  Workflow analysis · CPC title