Roboticarmforusewithpharmaceuticalunitofus.docx

Roboticarmforusewithpharmaceuticalunitofus.docx

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Roboticarmforusewithpharmaceuticalunitofus

Communicationssystemusingacentralcontrollertocontrolatleastonenetworkandagentsystem

BACKGROUNDOFTHEINVENTION

1.FieldoftheInvention

Thepresentinventionrelatesgenerallytoacommunicationssystemandmethodforoperatingsame.Morespecifically,thepresentinventionrelatestoadistributed,fault-tolerantcommunicationssystemandmethodforoperatingsamethatmakesreal-time,callroutingdecisionsbaseduponsystem-wideresourceutilizationpreferencesandinformation.Particularutilityforthepresentisfoundintheareaofcalldistributionthroughapublicnetwork（e.g.apublictelephonenetwork）toandthroughagentsystemshavingapluralityofdiverseindividualworkgroupsandcallerservices（e.g.interactivevoiceresponseand/orvoicemailsystems）,althoughotherutilitiesarealsocontemplated.

2.BriefDescriptionofRelatedPriorArt

Systemsforroutingcallsthroughpublicorprivatecommunicationsnetworksareknownintheart.Conventionalautomaticcalldistribution（ACD）systemsroutecallstoagentsintelemarketingandserviceinquirycenters,andprovidelimitedreal-timecallmanagementandreportingcapabilities.AtypicalACDsystemwillmonitorthestatusoftheagentand,whenanincomingcallisreceived,selectstheagenttohandleaparticularservicerequest.ReportingandperformancedatafromtheagentsarealsogeneratedbytheACD.

OneparticulartypeofschemefordistributingcallstoagentsisdisclosedinFrauenthaletal.,U.S.Pat.No.4,737,983.AccordingtoFrauenthaletal,datarepresentingthepresentcallcongestionofeachoftheACDsystemsisaccumulatedinadatabase.Usingthedatainthedatabase,thepercentageofcallsmadetotheACDsystems,asagroup,isdetermined.Theinformationisthenusedtogeneratecallroutinginformation.Whenanewcallismadetothecentraloffice,theroutinginformationisqueriedtodeterminewhichoftheACDsystemsistoreceivethecall,soastobalancethecalltrafficloadacrosstheACDsystems.

AnothercalldistributionschemeisprovidedinGechteretal.,U.S.Pat.No.5,036,535.Thispatentdisclosesasystemforautomaticallydistributingtelephonecallsplacedoveranetworktooneofapluralityofagentstationsconnectedtothenetworkviaserviceinterfaces,andprovidingstatusmessagestothenetwork.Gechteretal'sdisclosedsystemincludesmeansforreceivingtheagentstatusmessagesandcallarrivalmessagesfromthenetwork,whichmeansareconnectedviaanetworkserviceinterfacetothenetwork.Routingmeansresponsivetothereceivingmeansisprovidedforgeneratingaroutingsignalprovidedtothenetworktoconnecttheincomingcalltoanagentstationthroughthenetwork.InthesystemdisclosedinGechteretal,whenanincomingcallismadetothecallrouter,itdecideswhichagentstationshouldreceivethecall,establishesacallwiththatagentstation,andthentransferstheoriginalcallontothesecondcalltoconnecttheincomingcallerdirectlytotheagentstationandthendropsoutoftheconnection.（See,Gechteretal.,column11,lines45-51）.

U.S.Pat.No.5,193,110issuedtoJonesetaldisclosesanintegratedservicesplatformforatelephonecommunicationssystemwhichplatformincludesapluralityofapplicationprocessingportsforprovidingdifferenttypesofinformationservicestocallers.InJonesetal'sdisclosedsystem,amastercontrolunitandahighspeeddigitalswitchareusedtocontrolprocessingofincomingphonecallsbyrecognizingthetypeofservicerequestedbythecallerandthenroutingthecalltotheappropriateprocessingport.TheJonesetalsystemisdisclosedasanadjuncttocurrentswitchingtechnologyinpublicandprivatenetworks.

AnothercallroutingsystemistheEnhanced800ServiceprovidedbyAT&T.Enhanced800Serviceallowcallingcustomerstosplitcallsanddirectthemtomultiplecallcenters.Unfortunately,amongitsmanydisadvantages,thissystemispredicateduponthenotionthatsystemdynamicsarerelativelystatic（i.e.,thatcallvolumesdonotchangedrasticallyandthatpropersystemfunctioningisa"given"）.However,giventhedynamicsofthemoderntelecommunicationsmarket,thisnotionisoftenverystrong.

Unfortunately,noneoftheaforesaidpriorartsystemsdisclosesintegratedmeansforcontrollingboththeroutingofcallstotheagentand/orcallerservicesystems,operationoftheagentand/orcallerservicesystemsthemselves,andthevariousmanagementandadministrationfunctions（e.g.compilationandupdatingofcallmanagement,preferences,andstatusinformationdatabases,andinputtingofusercontrolpreferences）sincenosingle（"global"）controllercompletelycontrolsprocessinganddistributionofallcallsthroughoutthesystem,andadministrativefunctions.Thus,disadvantageously,thepriorartfailstoprovidemeansforoptimallyutilizingsystemresourcesaccordingtounifiedoptimizationcriteria.Additionally,thepriorartfailstoprovideadequatemeansforpreventingcatastrophicsystemfailureintheeventofcontrollermalfunctionand/orfailureofotherimportantelementsofthesystem.

SUMMARYOFTHEINVENTION

Accordingly,onepreferredembodimentofthepresentinventionprovidesacommunicationssystem（andmethodforoperatingsame）havingintegratedcentralcontrolofboththeroutingofcallstotheagentand/orcallerservicesystems,theoperationoftheagentand/orcallerservicesystemthemselves,andadministrativefunctions.Advantageously,thesystemandmethodofthisembodimentofthepresentinventionpermitasinglecentralcontrollertocompletelycontrolalldistributionofcallsthroughouttheentirenetwork（i.e.eveninandthroughseparateagentandcallerservicesystems）.Thispermitsalloftheresourcesofthesystemtobeallocatedaccordingtounifiedoptimizationcriteriasoastopermitoptimalsystemresourceutilization.Alsoadvantageously,thisembodimentofthepresentinventionpermitstrulyglobal（i.e.system-wide）administrationandcontrol.

Additionally,inpreferredembodimentsofthepresentinvention,thesystemprovidesenhancedroutingcapabilitiesbycollectingfromthenetworkcallerinformationsuchasdialednumber,callinglineID,andcallerentereddigits.Insuchpreferredembodiments,priortoconnectionofthecalltoitsultimateterminationpoint,thesystemusesthecaller-entereddigits,callinglineIDandothersysteminformationtoformulatearoutingcommandbacktothepublicnetwork.TheroutingcommandmaycausethenetworktodeliverthephysicalcalltothecallterminationpointalongwithDNISorsysteminformationcarriedintheuser-to-userfieldoftheISDNsetupmessage.Advantageously,thispermitsexplicitcontroloftheinterchangecarriersconnectingthecalltothetargettermination,baseduponadiversesetofcriteria,includingcalleraccountsandpersonalIDnumbers.

Anotherpreferredembodimentofthesystemofthepresentinventionessentiallycomprisesapluralityofpublicnetworksforinterconnectingapluralityofcallstoapluralityofrespectiveagentsystems.Eachoftheagentsystemsincludesapluralityofworkgroups.Thisembodimentalsocomprisesuptotwocentralcontrollersforgeneratingcontrolsignalstocontrolthepublicnetworksandtheagentsystemstooptimallyroutethecallsthroughthenetworksandtheagentsystemstocertainoftheworkgroups.Thecentralcontrollersareadaptedtogeneratethecontrolsignalsbaseduponstatusmessagesreceivedfromtheagentsystems,requestedservicedatafromthenetwork,andoptimizationparameters.Thecentralcontrollersincludetwocontrollersconfiguredinaredundantmannerforcontrollingthesystemintheeventoffailureofoneofthecontrollers.Thecentralcontrollersmaybegeographicallyseparatedfromeachother.Thisembodimentalsoincludessynchronizermeansforvirtuallysynchronizingrespectiveinternalstatesofthecentralcontrollers,andinterfacingmeansforinterfacingthecentralcontrollerstothepublicnetworksandgatewaymeansforinterfacingthecentralcontrollerstotheagentsystems.

Athirdpreferredembodimentofthesystemofthepresentinventionessentiallycomprisesatleastonetelephonenetworkforinterconnectingatleastonetelephonecalltoatleastonetelephonecallservice,andatleastoneInternetnetworkforconnectinganInternetcalltoatleastoneInternetservice.Thetelephonenetworkandcallservicesarecontrolledbycontrolsignalssuppliedtheretofromaprimarycentralcontrollerforgeneratingthecontrolsignalssoastooptimallyroutesaidtelephonecallbetweenthetelephonenetworkandthetelephonecallservice,andalsosoastooptimallyconnecttheInternetcallandtheInternetcallservice,baseduponstatusmessagesreceivedfromthecallservices,requestedservicedatafromthenetworks,andoptimizationparameters.

Preferably,inthisthirdembodiment,eachofthecallservicescompriseatleastoneagentworkstation,whichmayormaynotbeassociatedwithanACDorPBX.Alsopreferably,thetelephonecallserviceincludesanIVRorsimilarsystem,andtheInternetcallserviceincludesatleastoneInternetmultimediaserviceprovider.Inthisembodiment,atleastoneworkstationisnetworkedtoacallerinformationdatabase.

Afourthpreferredembodimentofthepresentinventionessentiallycomprisesatleastonepublicnetworkforinterconnectingapluralityofvoicecallstoatleastonecallerserviceand/oragentsviaaswitchingsystem.Theswitchingsystemandatleastonenetworkarecontrolledbyacentralcontrollersoastooptimallyroutethecallstothecallerservicesand/oragents,whicharealsocontroll