Gesture-based control of call center agent status changes

Abstract

Gesture-based call center agent status change control. Users of networked communication devices can omit updating their availability status and the availability status of associated communication devices if the status change is sudden or is deemed to be of short enough duration. By rapidly changing their status, routing components can more accurately know whether communications routed to the communication device will be answered. By leveraging the camera and gesture processing logic, users can naturally and quickly update their status without having to navigate menus or select options through manual, tactile interaction with the communication device.

Description

[0001] Copyright Notice

[0002] A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. Technical Field

[0003] The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for machine input and, more particularly, to contactless state changes of nodes on a network. Background Art

[0004] You call a contact center, go through an interactive voice response (IVR) tree, select the right option in the IVR menu tree, but ultimately the phone keeps ringing, does this sound familiar? It’s not a call routing error; rather, the agent may not be at his desk or has decided not to answer the call. Most contact center services use agent status as one of the key criteria for routing customer calls to the best “available” agent, but who determines that an “available” agent is actually available to answer the call?

[0005] For contact center routing logic, if the agent's status is marked as available, then incoming calls can be routed to that agent. For a while! When an agent is away from his desk or on a personal call / text message, he should change status (e.g., AUX mode); therefore, the routing logic stops sending calls to the agent when the agent is unavailable to answer calls. The reality is that status changes are not done consistently. The potential for problems (not changing status consistently) is amplified when agents are working from home. Such incidents lead to customer frustration, repeated calls, longer queues / IVRs, lost revenue, damaged company brand, and decreased loyalty. Summary of the invention

[0006] These and other needs are solved by various embodiments and configurations of the present invention. The present invention can provide many advantages depending on the specific configuration. These and other advantages will be apparent from the disclosure of the invention(s) contained herein.

[0007] As a general introduction, and in one embodiment, providing a simple method of changing agent state incentivizes agents to do so, thereby providing greater accuracy in knowing which agents are actually available to accept communications.

[0008] In an embodiment of the present invention, a system and method for a frictionless mechanism to transmit / change agent status is provided. Rather than relying on a clumsy drop-down menu to change the agent's status, the proposal relies on the agent's gesture to indicate a state change. The gesture in the form of a video will be continuously picked up by a camera (such as a camera attached to or integrated into a PC / laptop) and fed to the Agent State Monitoring Engine (ASME). ASME is an AI-enabled non-intrusive engine responsible for converting the agent's intention to state changes and feeding the state changes to the call center routing logic. The video feed can be provided to a person only for reviewing or evaluating the process performed by the machine and / or the decision made by the machine, otherwise the video feed is not provided to anyone; instead, the video is consumed only by the electronic systems and components described herein (such as systems and / or components that execute the AI ​​engine) to understand the agent's intention. As the camera continues to focus on the agent gesture, ASME will immediately pick up the gesture and feed the intention to make fast and frequent updates to the agent status in the call center routing logic, thereby keeping the routing logic up to date at all times.

[0009] For example, an agent comes to his desk and is ready to take a call. He shows a thumbs up sign. This gesture will be picked up by the ASME, which will interpret the thumbs up sign as the agent's intention to change the status to AVAILABLE. Here, the ASME can understand the intention and can change the agent status to AVAILABLE, instead of the agent going to the screen and manually changing the status to AVAILABLE. Once completed, the call center routing logic can include this agent in the available agent pool and can route the call to this agent.

[0010] Continuing with this example, when the agent needs to leave or just do something unrelated to the call (e.g., make a personal call or chat, answer a question from a colleague standing next to the agent, greet the supervisor, etc.), he will simply show a thumbs-down gesture, which ASME recognizes as the agent's intention to change the agent's status to indicate unavailability, such as AUX mode. If the agent forgets to use the gesture and simply leaves the desk, ASME will automatically change the agent's status to AUX in the agent's absence. When the agent comes back and settles down at his desk, he can simply show the thumbs-up gesture again to change his status back to AVAILABLE.

[0011] If the agent comes back and forgets to show the thumbs up gesture, ASME can remind the agent that he is in AUX mode - not AVAILABLE. Once the agent shows the thumbs up gesture, ASME will change the status to AVAILABLE.

[0012] In the above examples, the thumbs up and thumbs down gestures are used for illustration purposes only. The administrator or agent will be allowed to pick and choose the gesture to use for a specific state change. The solution may provide a library of standard hand gestures as well as the option for the agent or administrator to define custom gestures.

[0013] In another embodiment, the ASME may add / invoke voice and / or facial authentication. The agent will not have to log into his machine to change status as an ASME and may be configured to log the agent in as AVAILABLE upon being recognized by voice and / or facial recognition and / or providing voice and / or gestures to indicate that they are AVAILABLE.

[0014] Security can be added to this application by only accepting gestures from specific agents. In other words, ASME can perform facial matching before accepting gestures and making changes to the agent's state. Facial matching can help avoid unintentional and / or malicious state changes. For example, a passerby can show a thumbs up / thumbs down gesture to the agent's camera for whatever reason. If ASME interprets this as the agent's intention, then an erroneous state change will result. Therefore, in another embodiment, ASME will simply ignore the passerby's gestures and only accept gestures from recognized agents.

[0015] In another embodiment, a training data set is provided for initial training of the AI. The training data may include a sufficient number of images capturing different gestures and results. The images will cover the subject from different angles and in different lighting conditions. This data set will be used to create an initial model. As part of the initial model or as a second stage of training, the AI ​​is provided with known non-gestures (e.g., movements that the AI ​​should not recognize as gestures associated with state changes) to avoid misidentifying movements as state changes indicating gestures.

[0016] In another embodiment, training can be refined by manual training input of the agent to train AI and / or the agent. For example, the agent can use different gestures for the expected state. The application will have a video / animation to guide the user to use gestures to change the agent state. For example, it will show the user how a specific gesture will cause a specific agent state change. After the video, the agent will receive a training exercise in which the agent will be prompted to show the gesture and the application will interpret and share the results with the agent. The agent will then be prompted to confirm whether the application has correctly captured the intent. In addition to familiarizing the user with the new ability, this manual training exercise will also generate a dynamic data set that will amplify the static data set that can initially be provided to the AI. The total data set will provide enhanced modeling for the agent. Over time, the application will continue to evolve the model to improve the accuracy of identifying gestures. Similarly, the agent may be asked to perform a gesture, and the AI ​​responds with the intention of the determined gesture. The agent's response indicating the correctness of the determined intent or its lack thereof is then provided back to the AI ​​as a source of subsequent training images.

[0017] Exemplary aspects are directed to:

[0018] A system comprising: a processor configured with machine-readable instructions maintained in a non-transitory storage device; a camera; and a network interface to a network; and wherein the processor performs: receiving a first image from the camera; evaluating the first image to determine whether the first image includes a status update gesture made by a user; after determining that the first image includes the status update gesture, providing a status of the system associated with the status update gesture to a component via the network so that the system is selectively excluded from or included in receiving communications, including exclusion when the status is associated with unavailability or inclusion when the status is associated with availability.

[0019] A method includes: receiving a first image of a user from a camera; evaluating the first image to determine whether the first image includes a status update gesture made by the user; after determining that the first image includes the status update gesture, providing a component with a user status associated with the status update gesture; and when determining that the status update gesture is associated with the unavailability of the user, suspending the connection of a communication device associated with the user to any one of a plurality of client devices; and when determining that the status update gesture is associated with the availability of the user, enabling the communication device associated with the user to connect to one of the plurality of client devices via a network to communicate with a client associated with one of the plurality of client devices.

[0020] A communication device comprises: a processor configured with machine-readable instructions maintained in a non-transitory storage device; a camera; and a network interface to a network; and wherein the processor performs: receiving a first image from the camera; evaluating the first image to determine whether the first image includes a status update gesture made by a user; and upon determining that the first image includes the status update gesture, setting a status of the communication device associated with the status update gesture so that the communication device is identified as unavailable and selectively rejects communication requests or so that the communication device is identified as available and accepts communication requests.

[0021] Any of the above aspects, wherein the processor performs an evaluation of a first image to determine whether the first image includes a status update gesture made by a user and further includes: determining whether the first image includes a status update gesture made by another party different from the user; and after determining that the status update gesture is made by the other party, omitting providing the system status to the component.

[0022] Any of the above aspects, wherein the processor performs an evaluation of the first image to determine whether the first image includes a state update gesture further comprising: providing the first image to a neural network trained using at least one state update gesture set; and wherein the neural network determines that the first image includes a state update gesture after determining that the first image is determined to be more likely than not to match a threshold first image attribute learned from the at least one state update gesture set.

[0023] Any of the above aspects, wherein the neural network is trained with a second training set that includes the first training set and a set of non-state update gestures that were incorrectly identified as state update gestures during training of the at least one state update gesture set.

[0024] Any of the above aspects also includes the processor executing: after determining that the first image includes a status update gesture, further determining the type of the status update gesture; after determining that the type of the status update gesture is an availability type, providing a status to the component also including an available status; and after determining that the type of the status update gesture is an unavailability type, providing a status to the component also including an unavailable status.

[0025] Any of the above aspects also includes: an output component; and wherein the processor also performs: receiving a second image at a subsequent time to the first image and wherein the processor previously determined that the type of status update gesture associated with the first image is an availability type; determining whether an error state exists includes determining whether the second image includes at least one of the following: (a) multiple gestures associated with unavailability or (b) multiple gestures none of which is associated with availability; and presenting a mark of the error state on the output.

[0026] Any of the above aspects also includes: an output component; and wherein the processor also performs: receiving a second image at a subsequent time to the first image, and wherein the processor previously determined that the type of status update gesture associated with the first image is an unavailability type; determining whether an error state exists includes determining whether the second image includes at least one of the following: (a) multiple gestures associated with availability or (b) multiple gestures none of which is associated with unavailability; and presenting a mark of the error state on the output.

[0027] Any of the above aspects, wherein the processor also performs: receiving a second image from the camera, wherein the second image is received while the system is currently engaged in communication; evaluating the second image to determine whether the second image includes a second status update gesture associated with unavailability; and upon determining that the second image does include a second status update gesture associated with unavailability, performing a pause action, including one or more of muting audio provided by the system as part of the communication, pausing a video image provided by the system as part of the communication, or terminating the communication.

[0028] Any of the above aspects, wherein the processor further performs: receiving a third image from the camera, wherein receiving the third image occurs while the system is currently engaged in communication while performing a pause action; evaluating the third image to determine whether the second image includes a third status update gesture associated with availability; and upon determining that the second image does include a second status update gesture associated with availability, performing a resume action, including unmuting audio provided by the system as part of the communication and resuming one or more of a video image provided by the system as part of the communication.

[0029] Any of the above aspects, wherein the processor further performs: when the status is associated with unavailability, causing the system to be selectively excluded from receiving communications, also including rejecting communications presented by the system for answering; and when the status is associated with availability, causing the system to be selectively included to receive communications, also including answering communications presented by the system for answering.

[0030] Any of the above aspects, further comprising: providing the first image to a neural network trained with at least one state update gesture set; and wherein the neural network determines that the first image includes a state update gesture after determining that the first image is determined to be more likely to not match a threshold first image attribute learned from the at least one state update gesture set.

[0031] Any of the above aspects, wherein the neural network is trained with a second training set that includes the first training set and a set of non-state update gestures that were incorrectly identified as state update gestures during training of the at least one state update gesture set.

[0032] Any of the above aspects also includes: after determining that the first image includes a status update gesture, further determining the type of the status update gesture; after determining that the type of the status update gesture is an availability type, providing the status to the component also includes an available status; and after determining that the type of the status update gesture is an unavailability type, providing the status to the component also includes an unavailable status.

[0033] Any of the above aspects also includes: receiving a second image from the camera, wherein the second image is received while the system is currently engaged in communication; evaluating the second image to determine whether the second image includes a second status update gesture associated with unavailability; and after determining that the second image does include a second status update gesture associated with unavailability, performing a pause action, including muting audio provided by the system as part of the communication, pausing a video image provided by the system as part of the communication, or terminating the communication. One or more.

[0034] Any of the above aspects, wherein the processor further performs: receiving a third image from the camera, wherein receiving the third image occurs while the system is currently engaged in communication while performing a pause action; evaluating the third image to determine whether the second image includes a third status update gesture associated with availability; and upon determining that the second image does include a second status update gesture associated with availability, performing a resume action, including unmuting audio provided by the system as part of the communication and resuming one or more of a video image provided by the system as part of the communication.

[0035] Any of the above aspects also includes: when the status is associated with unavailability, the system is selectively excluded from receiving communications, and also includes rejecting communications presented by the system for answering; and when the status is associated with availability, the system is selectively included to receive communications, and also includes answering communications presented by the system for answering.

[0036] Any of the above aspects, wherein the processor performs an evaluation of the first image to determine whether the first image includes a state update gesture further comprising: providing the first image to a neural network trained with at least one state update gesture set; and wherein the neural network determines that the first image includes a state update gesture after determining that the first image is determined to be more likely than not to match a threshold first image attribute learned from the at least one state update gesture set.

[0037] Any of the above aspects, wherein the neural network is trained with a second training set that includes the first training set and a set of non-state update gestures that were incorrectly identified as state update gestures during training of the at least one state update gesture set.

[0038] A system on chip (SoC) comprises any one or more of the above aspects.

[0039] One or more means for performing any one or more of the above aspects.

[0040] Any one or more of the aspects substantially as described herein.

[0041] Any of the above aspects, wherein the data storage device includes a non-volatile storage device, which non-volatile storage device includes at least one of the following: on-chip memory within a processor, a register of a processor, on-board memory located on a processing board co-located with the processor, a memory accessible to the processor via a bus, a magnetic medium, an optical medium, a solid-state medium, an input-output buffer, a memory of an input-output component that communicates with the processor, a network communication buffer, and a networking component that communicates with the processor via a network interface.

[0042] The phrases "at least one", "one or more", "or", and "and / or" are open-ended expressions that both connect and dissociate in operation. For example, each of the expressions "at least one of A, B, and C", "at least one of A, B, or C", "one or more of A, B, and C", "one or more of A, B, or C", "A, B and / or C", and "A, B, or C" means only A, only B, only C, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, or A, B, and C together.

[0043] The term "an" entity refers to one or more of that entity. Thus, the terms "one", "one or more", and "at least one" can be used interchangeably herein. It should also be noted that the terms "including", "comprising", and "having" can be used interchangeably.

[0044] As used herein, the term "automatic" and variations thereof refer to any process or operation that is generally continuous or semi-continuous and that can be completed without material human input when it is performed. However, a process or operation may be automatic even if the performance of the process or operation uses material or immaterial human input if the input is received before the process or operation is performed. Human input is considered material if it affects how the process or operation will be performed. Human input that consents to the performance of the process or operation is not considered "material."

[0045] Aspects of the present disclosure may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.), or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects, all of which may be generally referred to herein as a "circuit," "module," or "system." Any combination of one or more computer-readable media may be utilized. A computer-readable medium may be a computer-readable signal medium or a computer-readable storage medium.

[0046] A computer-readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of computer-readable storage media would include the following: an electrical connection with one or more wires, a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer-readable storage medium may be any tangible, non-transitory medium that can contain or store a program used by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

[0047] A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal (e.g., in baseband or as part of a carrier wave) in which a computer readable program code is implemented. Such propagated signals may take any of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, electromagnetic signals, optical signals, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may also be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can transmit, propagate, or transfer a program used by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, device, or apparatus. The program code implemented on a computer readable medium may be sent using any suitable medium, including, but not limited to, wireless, wired, optical cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0048] As used herein, the terms "determine," "calculate," and variations thereof are used interchangeably and include any type of methodology, process, mathematical operation, or technique.

[0049] As used herein, the term "means" is to be given its broadest possible interpretation in accordance with 35 U.S.C. Section 112(f) and / or Section 112, paragraph 6. Thus, claims containing the term "means" should cover all structures, materials, or acts set forth herein and all their equivalents. In addition, the structures, materials, or acts and their equivalents should include all that is described in the Summary of the Invention, the Description of the Figures, the Detailed Description, the Abstract of the Specification, and the claims themselves.

[0050] The foregoing is a simplified summary of the invention that provides an understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is neither a broad nor an exhaustive overview of the invention and its various embodiments. The present invention is neither intended to identify the key or decisive elements of the invention nor to delineate the scope of the invention, but rather to present selected concepts of the invention in a simplified form as an introduction to the more detailed description presented below. As will be appreciated, other embodiments of the invention may use one or more of the features set forth above or described in detail below, either alone or in combination. Moreover, although the present disclosure is presented in the form of exemplary embodiments, it should be appreciated that various aspects of the present disclosure may be claimed separately. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0051] The present disclosure is described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings:

[0052] Figure 1 A first system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is depicted;

[0053] Figure 2 A first operation of a system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is depicted;

[0054] Figure 3 depicts a second operation of the system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0055] Figure 4 Depicting analysis of image frames according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0056] Figure 5 A first process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is depicted;

[0057] Figure 6 depicts a second process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

[0058] Figure 7 A second system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is depicted. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0059] The following description provides only embodiments and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the claims. Rather, the following description will provide a feasible description for implementing the embodiments for those skilled in the art. It should be understood that various changes may be made to the functions and arrangements of the elements without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

[0060] Any reference in the description including a numerical reference number, when a sub-reference identifier is present in the drawings without an alphabetical sub-reference identifier, when used in the plural, is a reference to any two or more elements having a similar reference number. When such a reference is made in the singular, but without an identifying sub-reference identifier, it is a reference to one of the elements of the same number, but is not limited to a specific one of the elements. Any express usage to the contrary herein or providing further qualification or identification shall take precedence.

[0061] The exemplary systems and methods of the present disclosure will also be described with respect to analysis software, modules, and associated analysis hardware. However, in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present disclosure, the following description omits well-known structures, components, and devices, which may be omitted or shown in simplified form in the drawings or otherwise summarized.

[0062] For purposes of explanation, numerous details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. However, it should be understood that the present disclosure can be implemented in a variety of ways beyond the specific details set forth herein.

[0063] Reference now Figure 1 , a communication system 100 is discussed in accordance with at least some embodiments of the present disclosure. The communication system 100 may be a distributed system and, in some embodiments, includes a communication network 104 that connects one or more client communication devices 108 to a work assignment mechanism 116 that may be owned and operated by an enterprise managing a contact center 102, wherein a plurality of resources 112 are distributed to handle incoming work items (in the form of contacts) from the client communication devices 108.

[0064] The contact center 102 may be variously implemented to receive and / or send messages associated with work items and the processing and management of work items (e.g., scheduling, assigning, routing, generating, billing, receiving, monitoring, viewing) through one or more resources 112. A work item is generally a request generated and / or received for a processing resource 112 that is implemented as an electronically and / or electromagnetically transmitted message or component thereof. The contact center 102 may include more or fewer components than shown and / or provide more or fewer services than shown. The boundaries indicating the contact center 102 may be physical boundaries (e.g., a building, a campus, etc.), legal boundaries (e.g., a company, a business, etc.), and / or logical boundaries (e.g., resources 112 used to provide services to customers for customers of the contact center 102).

[0065] In addition, the boundaries of the illustrated contact center 102 may be as shown or, in other embodiments, include changes to and / or more and / or fewer components than shown. For example, in other embodiments, one or more of the resources 112, customer database 118, and / or other components may be connected to the routing engine 132 via the communication network 104, such as when these components are connected via a public network (e.g., the Internet). In another embodiment, the communication network 104 may be a private utilization of a public network (e.g., a VPN) at least in part; a private network located at least in part within the contact center 102; or a mixture of private and public networks that may be used to provide electronic communication of the components described herein. In addition, it should be appreciated that components shown as external (such as the social media server 130 and / or other external data sources 134) may be physically and / or logically within the contact center 102, but still be considered external for other purposes. For example, the contact center 102 may operate a social media server 130 (e.g., a website operable to receive user messages from customers and / or resources 112) as a means of interacting with customers through their customer communication devices 108.

[0066] The customer communication devices 108 are implemented as being external to the contact center 102 because they are under the more direct control of their respective users. However, embodiments may be provided whereby one or more customer communication devices 108 are physically and / or logically located within the contact center 102 and still considered external to the contact center 102, such as when a customer is using a customer communication device 108 at a kiosk and is attached to a private network of the contact center 102 (e.g., a WiFi connection to the kiosk, etc.), within the contact center 102 or controlled by the contact center 102.

[0067] It should be appreciated that the description of the contact center 102 provides at least one embodiment, thereby making the following embodiments more easily understood without limiting these embodiments. Further changes, additions and / or subtractions to the contact center 102 may be made without departing from the scope of any embodiment described herein, and unless expressly provided otherwise, the scope of the embodiments or claims is not limited.

[0068] In addition, the contact center 102 can be combined with and / or utilize a social media server 130 and / or other external data sources 134 can be used to provide a means for the resources 112 to receive and / or retrieve contact information and connect to customers of the contact center 102. Other external data sources 134 can include data sources such as service bureaus, third-party data providers (e.g., credit agencies, public and / or private records, etc.). Customers can use their respective customer communication devices 108 to send / receive communications using the social media server 130.

[0069] According to at least some embodiments of the present disclosure, the communication network 104 may include any type of known communication medium or set of communication media, and may use any type of protocol to transport electronic messages between endpoints. The communication network 104 may include wired and / or wireless communication technologies. The Internet is an example of a communication network 104, which constitutes an Internet Protocol (IP) network consisting of many computers, computing networks, and other communication devices located around the world, which are connected by many telephone systems and other means. Other examples of the communication network 104 include, but are not limited to, standard plain old telephone systems (POTS), integrated services digital networks (ISDN), public switched telephone networks (PSTN), local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), session initiation protocol (SIP) networks, voice over IP (VoIP) networks, cellular networks, and any other type of packet switching or circuit switching networks known in the art. In addition, it can be appreciated that the communication network 104 need not be limited to any one type of network, but may include many different networks and / or network types. As an example, embodiments of the present disclosure may be used to improve the efficiency of a grid-based contact center 102. An example of a grid-based contact center 102 is more fully described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2010 / 0296417 to Steiner, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Furthermore, the communication network 104 may include a variety of different communication media, such as coaxial cables, copper / wire cables, fiber optic cables, antennas for sending / receiving wireless messages, and combinations thereof.

[0070] The client communication device 108 may correspond to a client communication device. According to at least some embodiments of the present disclosure, clients may utilize their client communication devices 108 to initiate work items. Illustrative work items include, but are not limited to, contact information directed to and received at the contact center 102, web page requests for a server cluster (e.g., a server set), media requests, application requests (e.g., requests for application resource locations on a remote application server (such as a SIP application server), etc.). The work item may be in the form of a message or message collection sent over the communication network 104. For example, the work item may be sent as a phone call, a packet or a collection of packets (e.g., an IP packet sent over an IP network), an email message, an instant message, an SMS message, a fax, and a combination thereof. In some embodiments, the communication may not necessarily be directed to the work assignment agency 116, but may be on some other server (such as a social media server 130) harvested from it by the work assignment agency 116 in the communication network 104, which generates a work item for the harvested communication. Examples of such harvested communications include social media communications harvested by the work assignment agency 116 from a social media server 130 or a network of servers. Exemplary architectures for harvesting social media communications and generating work items based thereon are described in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 12 / 784,369, 12 / 706,942, and 12 / 707,277, filed on Mar. 20, 2010, Feb. 17, 2010, and Feb. 17, 2010, respectively; the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

[0071] The format of the work item may depend on the capabilities of the client communication device 108 and the format of the communication. In particular, a work item is a logical representation within the contact center 102 of work performed in association with providing services for communications received at the contact center 102 (and more specifically, the work assignment mechanism 116). Communications may be received and maintained at the work assignment mechanism 116, a switch or server connected to the work assignment mechanism 116, or the like until a resource 112 is assigned to the work item representing that communication. At this time, the work assignment mechanism 116 passes the work item to the routing engine 132 to connect the client communication device 108 that initiated the communication with the assigned resource 112.

[0072] Although routing engine 132 is depicted as being separate from work assignment mechanism 116 , routing engine 132 may be incorporated into work assignment mechanism 116 , or its functionality may be performed by work assignment engine 120 .

[0073] According to at least some embodiments of the present disclosure, the communication device 108 may include any type of known communication equipment or a collection of communication equipment. Examples of suitable communication devices 108 include, but are not limited to, personal computers, laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular phones, smart phones, telephones, or combinations thereof. In general, each communication device 108 may be adapted to support video, audio, text, and / or data communications with other communication devices 108 and processing resources 112. The type of media that the communication device 108 uses to communicate with other communication devices 108 or processing resources 112 may depend on the communication applications available on the communication device 108.

[0074] According to at least some embodiments of the present disclosure, work items are sent to a set of processing resources 112 via the combined efforts of a work assignment mechanism 116 and a routing engine 132. Although in some embodiments, the resources 112 may be either fully automated resources (e.g., interactive voice response (IVR) units, microprocessors, servers, etc.), human resources using communication devices (e.g., using computers, phones, laptops, etc.), or any other resources known to be used in contact centers 102, as used herein, embodiments of the resources 112 are limited to human agents using agent communication devices (e.g., computers, smart phones, etc.) to communicate with other nodes at least via a communication network 104. The agent communication device includes a network interface to enable the agent communication device to communicate with other nodes (e.g., other resources 112 and / or customer communication devices 108) and one or more input-output components (such as speakers, microphones, cameras, displays, keyboards, mice, and / or variations thereof). In addition, the terms "user" or "agent" used hereinafter will refer to a human user of an agent communication device and may be used interchangeably.

[0075] As discussed above, the work assignment organization 116 and resources 112 may be owned and operated by a common entity in the form of the contact center 102. In some embodiments, the work assignment organization 116 may be managed by multiple enterprises, each with its own dedicated resources 112 connected to the work assignment organization 116.

[0076] In some embodiments, the work assignment mechanism 116 includes a work assignment engine 120 that enables the work assignment mechanism 116 to make intelligent routing decisions for work items. In some embodiments, the work assignment engine 120 is configured to manage and make work assignment decisions in a queue-free contact center 102, as described in U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 12 / 882,950, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. In other embodiments, the work assignment engine 120 can be configured to perform work assignment decisions in a traditional queue-based (or skill-based) contact center 102.

[0077] The work assignment engine 120 and its various components may reside in the work assignment mechanism 116 or in a plurality of different servers or processing devices. In some embodiments, a cloud-based computing architecture may be employed whereby one or more hardware components of the work assignment mechanism 116 are available in a cloud or network so that they may be a shared resource between a plurality of different users. The work assignment mechanism 116 may access a customer database 118, such as to retrieve records, profiles, purchase histories, previous work items, and / or other aspects of customers known to the contact center 102. The customer database 118 may be updated in response to input of work items and / or resources 112 processing work items.

[0078] It should be appreciated that, in addition to fully local embodiments, one or more components of the contact center 102 may be implemented in a cloud-based architecture or components thereof (e.g., hybrid). In one embodiment, the client communication device 108 is connected to one of the resources 112 via components that are fully hosted by a cloud-based service provider, where the processing and data storage hardware components may be dedicated to the operator of the contact center 102 or shared or distributed among multiple service provider customers, one of which is the contact center 102.

[0079] In one embodiment, a message is generated by a client communication device 108 and received at a work assignment mechanism 116 via a communication network 104. Messages received by a contact center 102, such as at a work assignment mechanism 116, are generally and herein referred to as "contact information." The routing engine 132 routes the contact information to at least one of the resources 112 for processing.

[0080] Figure 2 Operation 200 of a system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is depicted. In one embodiment, the resources 112 are implemented as agent communication devices 202 and agents 208 (as shown in captured image 206). The routing engine 132 and / or other components of the contact center 102 have received a communication from a customer communication device 108 used by a customer. The initial communication may be held by a component of the contact center 102 (other than the agent communication device 202), or is currently undergoing interaction with an interactive voice response or other automated resource to be connected to an agent (e.g., agent 208). Alternatively, the routing engine 132 may have initiated an outbound call with the customer communication device 108 to connect to one of the plurality of resources 112 when answered by the associated customer utilizing the customer communication device 108.

[0081] In the prior art, agents may indicate their availability or lack of availability by selecting a particular icon, menu item, or other user input presented on a display of agent communication device 202. However, when the status changes immediately, such as agent 208 is about to sneeze, cough, or work from home and needs to address the immediate issue, agent 208 may be unwilling or unable to take steps to perform such actions due to the complexity or time required to provide such input and suspend agent communication device 202 from being considered and / or connected to any communication until the status changes back to available. Thus, camera 204 attached to or integrated into agent communication device 202 monitors agent 208 within camera field of view 212. Upon determining that agent 208 is providing unavailable gesture 210, agent communication device 202 is placed in the UNAVAILABLE state, such as by providing notification of unavailability to routing engine 132 and / or other components of routing engine 132. When the proxy communication device 202 is in the UNAVAILABLE state, the proxy communication device 202 will not receive any further communications from the client communication device 108 directed by the routing engine 132 or other components of the contact center 102 .

[0082] In another embodiment, the agent communication device 202 may currently be engaged in a communication with the client communication device 108, and upon receiving the unavailable gesture 210 and placing the agent communication device 202 in the UNAVAILABLE state, the communication may be altered, e.g., sound may be captured by a microphone (not shown) so that speech from the agent 208 is provided to the communication. An interruption (e.g., muting) may be made at the microphone, the agent communication device 202, or other component to prevent the sound captured by the agent communication device 202 from being provided to the client communication device 108. As a further option, a generated or previously recorded audio message may be provided to the client communication device 108 (e.g., "Please wait while we reconnect you to an agent."). Similarly, in another embodiment, if the camera 204 is providing video content to the client communication device 108, then providing an image to the client communication device 108 may be interrupted. As a further option, a generated or previously recorded still or video image may be provided, such as a graphic indicating that the video does not currently include the agent but is on standby and that the video will continue as soon as possible. Alternatively, and in yet another embodiment, the communication may be terminated (e.g., dropped, re-queued for a different agent and associated agent communication device, etc.). Additionally or alternatively, unavailable gesture 210 may notify a queue management component (such as work assignment mechanism 116, work assignment engine 120, and / or routing engine 132) that agent 208 is unavailable for subsequent calls. Thus, the current call may be completed without further calls being routed to agent communication device 202. Thus, calls queued specifically for agent 110 may be re-queued to a different agent. Once agent 210 is unavailable, such as through available gesture 302 (see Figure 3 ) or indicates availability through other means (e.g., menu options, settings, etc.), the queue management component will again route the call to the agent 208 via the agent communication device 202.

[0083] In another embodiment, the agent 208 may act inconsistently with the current state of the agent communication device 202. For example, the agent communication device 202 may currently be AVAILABLE, but the agent 208 is not in the camera field of view 212 of the camera 204. Thus, the agent communication device 202 may be automatically placed in an UNAVAILABLE state. Optionally, an audible or visual notification may be presented, such as notifying the agent 208 of its status or indicating an error after it returns. For example, the camera 204 or another component or connection may have a failure and the agent 208 is physically present but is not shown or detected in the captured image 206 due to the failure. Thus, the agent 208 may override and / or disable automatic gesture detection.

[0084] Figure 3Operation 300 of a system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is depicted. Similar to operation 200, camera 204 captures captured image 206 within camera field of view 212, including agent 208 making available gesture 302.

[0085] The routing engine 132 and / or other components of the contact center 102 have received a communication from a customer communication device 108 used by a customer. The agent communication device 202 had an UNAVAILABLE state prior to receiving the captured image 206 including the available gesture 302 and the communication from any customer communication device 108 was a communication device associated with another agent or held in a queue. After the agent communication device 202 receives the available gesture 302, a notification is provided to the routing engine 132 and / or other components of the contact center 102 to indicate that the agent communication device 202 is available to accept communications, and after determining the appropriate communication, the communication is routed to the agent communication device 202 for connection, thereby being used for communication between the agent 208 and the customer utilizing the customer communication device 108.

[0086] In another embodiment, the proxy communication device 202 may currently be participating in communications with a client communication device 108 that has been put on hold, e.g., audio and / or video originating from the proxy communication device 202 is not provided to the client communication device 108. Therefore, after the state becomes AVAILABLE, the audio and / or video from the proxy communication device 202 is resumed.

[0087] In another embodiment, the agent 208 may act inconsistently with the current state of the agent communication device 202. For example, the agent communication device 202 may currently be UNAVAILABLE, but the agent 208 appears to be waiting for communication but no communication is forthcoming. For example, the agent 208 may curl up their palms, a motion that may be associated with confusion or uncertainty. In response, the camera 204 and the agent communication device 202 may determine that this gesture is an inquiry about the current state of the agent communication device 202 and provide a visual and / or auditory response (e.g., "The current state is UNAVAILABLE. Change to AVAILABLE?"). The agent 208 may then provide the unavailable gesture 210 and the agent communication device 202 then changes to AVAILABLE.

[0088] The camera field of view 212 of the camera 204 is not present. Thus, the agent communication device 202 may be automatically placed in an UNAVAILABLE state. Optionally, an audible or visual notification may be presented, such as notifying the status of the agent 208 after it returns or indicating an error. For example, the camera 204 or another component or connection may be faulty and the agent 208 may be physically present but not shown or detected in the captured image 206 due to the fault. Thus, the agent 208 may override and / or disable automatic gesture detection.

[0089] In another embodiment, the unavailable gesture 210 and / or the available gesture 302 may require a minimum threshold time to cause a state change. The minimum time is preferably short (e.g., less than one second) but may be increased, such as if the proxy communication device 202 incorrectly identifies a non-gesture as a state-changing gesture. Additionally or alternatively, a neural network associated with the proxy communication device 202 may be trained, such as by the proxy 208, to provide an indication of a non-gesture error that has been incorrectly identified as a gesture.

[0090] Figure 4 Analysis of an image frame 400 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is depicted. In one embodiment, the image frame 400 is captured by the camera 204. One or more image segments may be identified, such as performing line detection or other object detection processes performed by the processor. For example, the image frame 400 may be known to include a particular agent (e.g., "Agent Smith") or determined to include a particular agent 208 via facial recognition. The image segment may include an arm portion 402, a face 408, a thumb portion 412, a finger portion 410, and / or other portions. A particular position of any one image portion when relative to another image portion may be a gesture indication. For example, the hand portion 406 may include a thumb portion 412 above the finger portion 410 (e.g., closer to the top of the image frame 400 than the finger portion 410), and the gesture is determined to be a "thumbs up," which may be a gesture associated with availability. Conversely, if thumb portion 412 is below finger portion 410 (eg, closer to the bottom of image frame 400 than finger portion 410), then the gesture will be determined to be a "thumbs down," which may be a gesture associated with unavailability.

[0091] Although image frame 400 may provide a single frame of a video image that is determined to include a status update gesture. In another embodiment, multiple frames are analyzed to determine whether the gesture is implemented in the motion of agent 208, and therefore implemented within multiple video frames. For example, agent 208 may make a waving motion across the agent's neck - a gesture associated with "cutting", or, as used herein, associated with unavailability. In another example, agent 208 may hold their hands or fingers generally flat and make a rolling motion associated with an action or performance, or, as used herein, a gesture associated with availability.

[0092] Figure 5 Process 500 is depicted in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. A human is an imprecise mechanism for reproducing a gesture, whether the gesture is substantially static (e.g., "thumbs up" or "thumbs down") or animated (e.g., a throat slash motion or a "rolling" motion). Since it is unlikely to produce an exact match to a previously determined state-indicating gesture, a basic match of the current gesture to a corpus or model of gestures is provided, such as via evaluation by a trained neural network.

[0093] A neural network is provided, such as one or more processes implemented as machine-readable instructions maintained in a non-transitory memory and executed by the processor(s) of the proxy communication device 202 and / or other processing device(s) in communication with the proxy communication device 202. As is known in the art and in one embodiment, the neural network self-configures a layer of logical nodes having inputs and outputs. If the output is below a self-determined threshold level, then the output is ignored (i.e., the input is within the inactive response portion of the scale and the output is not provided), if the self-determined threshold level is above the threshold, then the output is provided (i.e., the input is within the active response portion of the scale and the output is provided), and specific placement of active and inactive delineations is provided as one or more training steps. Multiple inputs to a node generate a multi-dimensional plane (e.g., a hyperplane) to depict combinations of active or inactive inputs.

[0094] For example, a first layer of nodes may evaluate the edges of an image, and when an edge is detected, the node provides input to the next layer of nodes. The next layer of nodes may look for texture, such as to depict a wall from a body portion. Here, the node that finds the target texture is active and provides input to the next layer of nodes, which then look for specific shapes or other features. This process continues until it is concluded that a status update gesture is or is not provided within the image(s). As a further embodiment, a specific status update gesture (e.g., thumbs up or thumbs down) may be determined.

[0095] Thus, and in one embodiment, step 502 provides a plurality of seed images of gestures to the neural network. For example, a particular "AVAILABLE" gesture or a particular "UNAVAILABLE" gesture. The seed images may be provided by agent 208, which will then provide gestures to indicate a change in state and / or other person. Step 504 provides a plurality of variations of the gestures. These variations may include one or more acceptable ranges of positions relative to absolute values ​​(e.g., the thumb must be pointing upward within forty-five degrees of vertical to be a "thumbs up" gesture) or relative values, such as the degree of bending of a joint of a human body part (e.g., the degree to which a thumb can be bent and still indicate a "thumbs up"). Similarly, variations may be provided for animated gestures (e.g., how large a scroll gesture is). Using the seed images and the variations of the seed images, step 506 performs a first training action on the neural network.

[0096] As a result of step 506, one or more images may incorrectly identify body positions or movements as state indicating gestures. Thus, step 508 provides a second training step, including the seed image from step 502, the changes provided in step 504, and a plurality of non-state gestures that were incorrectly identified as state updating gestures in step 506.

[0097] If the currently determined gesture is associated with the current state of the proxy communication device 202, (e.g., the gesture is associated with "Available" and the proxy communication device 202 currently has an "Available" state), then the gesture may be ignored and / or confirmed. If the currently determined gesture is different from the current state of the proxy communication device 202 (e.g., the gesture is associated with "Available" and the proxy communication device 202 currently has an "UNAVAILABLE" state), then the gesture is a state update gesture. Optionally, upon receipt of the gesture, a tone or other audible indication may be provided, such as by a speaker associated with the proxy communication device 202, and / or a visual indication presented on a display associated with the proxy communication device 202 may be provided to indicate the current state and / or state change.

[0098] Figure 6 Process 600 is depicted in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Process 600 may be implemented as machine-readable instructions that, when read by a processor from a non-transitory memory, cause a processor (such as a processor of work assignment mechanism 116, work assignment engine 120, routing engine 132, and / or proxy communication device 202, or a processor accessible thereto) to perform the steps of process 600.

[0099] Process 600 may be implemented after training of the neural network (see process 500). Step 602 accesses a communication to be connected to one of a plurality of resources 112, one of which includes an agent communication device 202 associated with an agent 208. The communication may originate from a customer communication device 108 (i.e., inbound) or from a component of the contact center 102 (other than any resource 112) to the customer communication device 108. Next, a test 604 determines whether the status is AVAILABLE, and if so, the communication is connected to the communication device at step 606. If test 604 is determined to be negative, then the next agent (and associated agent communication device) is selected at step 608 and processing continues back to test 604 until an available agent (and associated agent communication device) has an AVAILABLE status. If not found, the communication may remain in a queue until the call can be connected to an available agent.

[0100] Figure 7 Device 702 in system 700 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is depicted. In one embodiment, proxy communication device 202 may be implemented in whole or in part as device 702 including various components and connections to other components and / or systems. Components are implemented differently and may include a processor 704. Processor 704 may be implemented as a single electronic microprocessor or a multiprocessor device (e.g., multi-core) with components such as (one or more) control units, (one or more) input / output units, (one or more) arithmetic logic units, (one or more) registers, main memory, and / or other components that access information (e.g., data, instructions, etc.) received such as via bus 714, execute instructions, and output data (again such as via bus 714). In other embodiments, processor 704 may include a shared processing device that may be used by other processes and / or process owners, such as in a processing array or distributed processing system (e.g., a "cloud", farm, etc.). It should be appreciated that processor 704 is a non-transitory computing device (e.g., an electronic machine including circuitry and connections to communicate with other components and devices). Processor 704 may operate a virtual processor, such as to process machine instructions that are not native to the processor (e.g., translating 9xx chipset code to emulate a different processor's chipset or a non-native operating system (such as the VAX operating system on a Mac), however, this virtual processor is an application executed by the underlying processor (e.g., processor 704) and its hardware and other circuitry.

[0101] In addition to the components of the processor 704, the device 702 may also utilize a memory 706 and / or a data storage device 708 to store accessible data (such as instructions, values, etc.). The communication interface 710 facilitates communication with components (such as the processor 704) having components that are not accessible via the bus 714 via the bus 714. The communication interface 710 may be implemented as a hardware device of a network port, card, cable, or other configuration. Additionally or alternatively, the human input / output interface 712 is connected to one or more interface components to receive and / or present information (e.g., instructions, data, values, etc.) from humans and / or electronic devices. Examples of input / output devices 730 that can be connected to the input / output interface include, but are not limited to, keyboards, mice, trackballs, printers, displays, sensors, switches, relays, etc. In another embodiment, the communication interface 710 may include or be included by the human input / output interface 712. The communication interface 710 may be configured to communicate directly with networked components or utilize one or more networks (such as network 720 and / or network 724).

[0102] The network 104 may be implemented in whole or in part as a network 720. The network 720 may be a wired network (e.g., Ethernet), a wireless (e.g., WiFi, Bluetooth, cellular, etc.) network, or a combination thereof and enables the device 702 to communicate with (one or more) network components 722. In other embodiments, the network 720 may be implemented in whole or in part as a telephone network (e.g., a public switched telephone network (PSTN), a private branch exchange (PBX), a cellular telephone network, etc.).

[0103] Additionally or alternatively, one or more other networks may be utilized. For example, network 724 may represent a second network that may facilitate communication with components used by device 702. For example, network 724 may be an internal network of a business entity or other organization (such as contact center 102), whereby components are trusted (or at least more trusted), and networked component 722 may be connected to network 720 including a public network (e.g., the Internet) that may not be trusted.

[0104] Components connected to the network 724 may include memory 726, data storage 728, (one or more) input / output devices 730, and / or other components accessible to the processor 704. For example, the memory 726 and / or data storage 728 may supplement or replace the memory 706 and / or data storage 708 completely or for a specific task or purpose. For example, the memory 726 and / or data storage 728 may be an external data repository (e.g., a server farm, an array, a "cloud", etc.) and allow the device 702 and / or other devices to access the data thereon. Similarly, the processor (s) 704 may access the (one or more) input / output devices 730 and 720 via the human input / output interface 712 and / or via the communication interface 710, either directly, via the network 724, only via the network 720 (not shown), or via the network 724. Each of the memory 706, the data storage 708, the memory 726, and the data storage 728 includes a non-transitory data storage device including a data storage device.

[0105] It should be appreciated that computer-readable data can be sent, received, stored, processed and presented by various components. It should also be appreciated that the components shown can control other components, whether described herein or otherwise. For example, an input / output device 730 can be a router, switch, port or other communication component, so that a specific output of the processor 704 enables (or disables) the input / output device 730 that can be associated with the network 720 and / or the network 724 to allow (or not allow) communication between two or more nodes on the network 720 and / or the network 724. For example, using a specific client communication device 108, a connection between a specific client can be enabled (or disabled) by a specific networking component 722 and / or a specific resource 112 (e.g., an agent communication device 202). Similarly, a specific networking component 722 and / or a resource 112 can be enabled (or disabled) to communicate with a specific other networking component 722 and / or a resource 112, and in some embodiments, the specific other networking component 722 and / or the resource 112 include the device 702, and vice versa. Those skilled in the art will recognize that other communication devices in addition to or in place of those described herein may be used without departing from the scope of the embodiments.

[0106] In the foregoing description, for the purpose of illustration, the method is described in a specific order. It should be appreciated that, in alternative embodiments, the method may be performed in an order different from the order described without departing from the scope of the embodiment. It should also be appreciated that the above method may be performed as an algorithm executed by a hardware component (e.g., a circuit system) that is intended to perform one or more algorithms described herein or a portion thereof. In another embodiment, the hardware component may include a general-purpose microprocessor (e.g., a CPU, a GPU), which is first converted into a dedicated microprocessor. Then, the dedicated microprocessor in which the coded signal has been loaded makes the dedicated microprocessor maintain machine-readable instructions so that the microprocessor can read and execute the machine-readable instruction set derived from the algorithm and / or other instructions described herein. The machine-readable instructions for executing (one or more) algorithms or a portion thereof are not infinite, but utilize a limited instruction set known to the microprocessor. The machine-readable instructions may be encoded in the microprocessor as a signal or value in a signal generating component, and in one or more embodiments include the voltage in the memory circuit, the configuration of the switch circuit, and / or the selective use of a specific logic gate circuit. Additionally or alternatively, machine-readable instructions may be accessible to a microprocessor and encoded in a medium or device as a magnetic field, a voltage value, a charge value, a reflective / non-reflective portion, and / or a physical mark.

[0107] In another embodiment, the microprocessor also includes a single microprocessor, a multi-core processor, a plurality of microprocessors, a distributed processing system (e.g., array(s), blade(s), server farm(s), "cloud", multi-purpose processor array(s), cluster(s), etc.), and / or may be co-located with microprocessors that perform other processing operations. Any one or more microprocessors may be integrated into a single processing device (e.g., a computer, server, blade, etc.), or may be located in whole or in part in discrete components connected by communication links (e.g., a bus, network, backplane, etc., or multiple thereof).

[0108] Examples of general purpose microprocessors may include a central processing unit (CPU) having data values ​​encoded in an instruction register (or other circuitry to hold instructions) or including data values ​​at memory locations, which in turn include values ​​used as instructions. Memory locations may also include memory locations external to the CPU. Such CPU external components may be implemented as one or more of a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), a random access memory (RAM), a bus accessible storage device, a network accessible storage device, and the like.

[0109] These machine executable instructions may be stored on one or more machine readable media, such as CD-ROM or other types of optical disks, floppy disks, ROM, RAM, EPROM, EEPROM, magnetic or optical cards, flash memory or other types of machine readable media suitable for storing electronic instructions. Alternatively, these methods may be performed by a combination of hardware and software.

[0110] In another embodiment, the microprocessor can be a system or collection of processing hardware components, such as a microprocessor on a client device and a microprocessor on a server, a collection of devices with their corresponding microprocessors, or a shared or remote processing service (e.g., a "cloud-based" microprocessor). The microprocessor system can include task-specific allocation of processing tasks and / or shared or distributed processing tasks. In yet another embodiment, the microprocessor can execute software to provide services to simulate one or more different microprocessors. Thus, a first microprocessor composed of a first set of hardware components can virtually provide the services of a second microprocessor, where the hardware associated with the first microprocessor can operate using an instruction set associated with the second microprocessor.

[0111] While machine-executable instructions may be stored and executed locally to a particular machine (e.g., a personal computer, mobile computing device, laptop computer, etc.), it should be appreciated that storage of data and / or instructions and / or execution of at least a portion of the instructions may be provided via connectivity to a remote data storage and / or processing device or collection of devices (often referred to as the "cloud"), but may include public, private, dedicated, shared and / or other service bureaus, computing services and / or "server farms."

[0112] Examples of microprocessors described herein may include, but are not limited to, at least one of the following: 800 and 801, with 4G LTE integration and 64-bit computing 610 and 615, with 64-bit architecture A7 microprocessor, M7 motion coprocessor, Series of microprocessors, Core TM Series of microprocessors, Series processors, Atom TM Series processors, Intel Series processors, i5-4670K and i7-4770K 22nm Haswell, i5-3570K 22nm Ivy Bridge, FX TMSeries of microprocessors, FX-4300, FX-6300 and FX-8350 32nm Vishera, Kaveri microprocessor, Texas Jacinto C6000 TM Automotive infotainment microprocessors, Texas OMAP TM Automotive-grade mobile microprocessors, Cortex TM -M microprocessor, Cortex-A and ARM926EJ-S TM microprocessors, other industry equivalent processors, and may perform computing functions using any known or future developed standard, instruction set, library and / or architecture.

[0113] Any of the steps, functions and operations discussed herein may be performed continuously and automatically.

[0114] Exemplary systems and methods of the present invention have been described in conjunction with communication systems and components and methods for monitoring, enhancing and modifying communications and messages. However, in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention, the foregoing description omits many known structures and devices. This omission should not be construed as a limitation on the scope of the claimed invention. Specific details are set forth to provide an understanding of the present invention. However, it should be appreciated that the present invention can be practiced in a variety of ways beyond the specific details set forth herein.

[0115] In addition, although the exemplary embodiments described herein show various components of the system in juxtaposition, some components of the system may be remotely located in a distant part of a distributed network (such as a LAN and / or the Internet), or in a dedicated system. Therefore, it should be appreciated that the components of the system or parts thereof (e.g., microprocessors, memory / storage devices, interfaces, etc.) may be combined into one or more devices (such as servers, computers, computing devices, terminals, "clouds" or other distributed processing), or juxtaposed on specific nodes of a distributed network (such as analog and / or digital telecommunications networks, packet switching networks, or circuit switching networks). In another embodiment, the components may be physically or logically distributed across multiple components (e.g., a microprocessor may include a first microprocessor on one component and a second microprocessor on another component, each microprocessor performing a portion of a shared task and / or an assigned task). It will be appreciated from the foregoing description that, for reasons of computational efficiency, the components of the system may be arranged at any location within the distributed network of components without affecting the operation of the system. For example, various components may be located in switches, such as PBXs and media servers, gateways, in one or more communication devices, in one or more user's rooms, or some combination thereof. Similarly, one or more functional portions of the system may be distributed between the telecommunication device(s) and associated computing devices.

[0116] In addition, it should be appreciated that the various links connecting the elements may be wired or wireless links or any combination thereof, or any other known or later developed element(s) capable of supplying and / or transmitting data to or from the connected elements. These wired or wireless links may also be secure links and may be capable of transmitting encrypted information. For example, the transmission medium used as a link may be any suitable carrier for electrical signals, including coaxial cables, copper wires, and optical fibers, and may take the form of sound or light waves, such as those generated in radio wave and infrared data communications.

[0117] Furthermore, while the flow charts have been discussed and illustrated with respect to a particular sequence of events, it should be appreciated that changes, additions, and omissions may be made to this sequence without materially affecting the operation of the present disclosure.

[0118] Many variations and modifications of the invention may be used. It is possible to provide some features of the invention without providing others.

[0119] In yet another embodiment, the system and method of the present invention can be implemented in conjunction with a special-purpose computer, a programmed microprocessor or microcontroller and (one or more) peripheral integrated circuit components, an ASIC or other integrated circuit, a digital signal microprocessor, a hard-wired electronic or logic circuit such as a discrete component circuit, a programmable logic device or gate array such as a PLD, PLA, FPGA, PAL, a special-purpose computer, any comparable device, etc. In general, any (one or more) devices or devices capable of implementing the methods described herein can be used to implement various aspects of the present invention. Exemplary hardware that can be used for the present invention includes computers, handheld devices, phones (e.g., cellular, Internet-enabled, digital, analog, hybrid, and other) and other hardware known in the art. Some of these devices include microprocessors (e.g., single or multiple microprocessors), memory, non-volatile storage devices, input devices, and output devices. In addition, alternative software implementations including but not limited to distributed processing or component / object distributed processing, parallel processing, or virtual machine processing can also be constructed to implement the methods described herein, such as provided by one or more processing components.

[0120] In yet another embodiment, the disclosed method can be easily implemented in conjunction with software using an object or object-oriented software development environment that provides portable source code that can be used on various computer or workstation platforms. Alternatively, the disclosed system can be implemented in part or completely in hardware using standard logic circuits or VLSI designs. Whether software or hardware is used to implement the system according to the present invention depends on the speed and / or efficiency requirements of the system, the specific functions, and the specific software or hardware system or microprocessor or microcomputer system used.

[0121] In yet another embodiment, the disclosed method may be implemented in part with software that may be stored on a storage medium and executed on a programmed general-purpose computer using the cooperation of a controller and memory, a special-purpose computer, a microprocessor, etc. In these cases, the system and method of the present invention may be implemented as a program (such as an applet, or CGI script), as a resource resident on a server or computer workstation, as a routine embedded in a dedicated measurement system, a system component, etc. The system may also be implemented by physically incorporating the system and / or method into a software and / or hardware system.

[0122] Embodiments including software herein are executed or stored for subsequent execution by one or more microprocessors and executed as executable code. The executable code is selected to execute instructions including a specific embodiment. The instructions executed are a constrained instruction set selected from a discrete native instruction set understood by the microprocessor, and submitted to a memory accessible to the microprocessor before execution. In another embodiment, before being executed by one or more microprocessors, human-readable "source code" software is first converted into system software to include an instruction set specific to a platform (e.g., a computer, a microprocessor, a database, etc.) selected from the native instruction set of the platform.

[0123] Although the present invention describes the components and functions realized in an embodiment with reference to specific standards and protocols, the present invention is not limited to these standards and protocols. Other similar standards and protocols not mentioned herein exist and are considered to be included in the present invention. Moreover, the standards and protocols mentioned herein and other similar standards and protocols not mentioned herein are periodically replaced by faster or more effective equivalents with substantially the same functions. Such replacement standards and protocols with identical functions are considered to be equivalents included in the present invention.

[0124] The present invention includes, in various embodiments, configurations, and aspects (including various embodiments, subcombinations, and subsets thereof), components, methods, processes, systems, and / or devices substantially as depicted and described herein. After understanding this disclosure, those skilled in the art will understand how to make and use the present invention. The present invention includes, in various embodiments, configurations, and aspects, providing devices and processes without items not depicted and / or described herein, or including, in various embodiments, configurations, or aspects thereof, without these items (as already used in previous devices or processes), for example, to improve performance, achieve ease of use, and / or reduce the cost of implementation.

[0125] The foregoing discussion of the present invention has been presented for the purpose of illustration and description. The foregoing is not intended to limit the present invention to one or more forms disclosed herein. In the foregoing specific embodiments, for example, various features of the present invention are combined together in one or more embodiments, configurations or aspects for the purpose of simplifying the present disclosure. The features of the embodiments, configurations or aspects of the present invention may be combined in alternative embodiments, configurations or aspects other than those discussed above. This method of disclosure should not be interpreted as reflecting the intention that the claimed invention requires more features than those explicitly set forth in each claim. On the contrary, as reflected in the following claims, the inventive aspects lie in less than all the features of a single aforementioned disclosed embodiment, configuration or aspect. Therefore, the following claims are hereby incorporated into this specific embodiment, with each claim itself as a separate preferred embodiment of the present invention.

[0126] Moreover, although the description of the invention has included descriptions of one or more embodiments, configurations or aspects and certain variations and modifications, other variations, combinations and modifications are also within the scope of the invention, such as may be within the skill and knowledge of those skilled in the art after understanding the present disclosure. It is intended to obtain the right to include alternative embodiments, configurations or aspects to the extent permitted, including those claimed alternative, interchangeable and / or equivalent structures, functions, scopes or steps, whether or not these alternative, interchangeable and / or equivalent structures, functions, scopes or steps are disclosed herein, and it is not intended to publicly contribute any patentable subject matter.

Claims

1. A system comprising: a processor configured with machine-readable instructions maintained in a non-transitory storage device; camera; as well as A network interface to the network; and The processor executes: receiving a first image from a camera; evaluating the first image to determine whether the first image includes a status update gesture made by a user; and After determining that the first image includes a status update gesture, providing the status of the system associated with the status update gesture to the component via the network so that the system is selectively excluded from or included in receiving communications, including being excluded from a call available user pool when the status is associated with unavailability or being included in a call available user pool when the status is associated with availability, wherein sending calls to the user is stopped when excluded from the call available user pool, and sending calls to the user is allowed when included in the call available user pool.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor performs the step of evaluating the first image to determine whether the first image includes a status update gesture made by the user further comprising: determining whether the first image includes a status update gesture made by another party other than the user; as well as When it is determined that the status update gesture is made by another party, providing the status of the system to the component is omitted.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor performing the evaluation of the first image to determine whether the first image includes a status update gesture further comprises: providing the first image to a neural network trained with at least one set of state update gestures; as well as wherein the neural network determines that the first image includes a state update gesture after determining that the first image is determined to be more likely than not to match a threshold first image attribute learned from the at least one set of state update gestures.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the neural network is trained with a second training set that includes the first training set and a set of non-state updating gestures that were incorrectly identified as state updating gestures during training of the at least one set of state updating gestures.

5. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a processor executing: After determining that the first image includes the status update gesture, further determining the type of the status update gesture; After determining that the type of the status update gesture is an availability type, providing the status to the component further includes an availability status; and After determining that the type of the status update gesture is an unavailability type, providing the status to the component also includes an unavailable status.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising: Output components; and The processor also performs: receiving a second image at a subsequent time to the first image, and wherein the processor previously determined that the type of status update gesture associated with the first image is an availability type; Determining whether an error state exists includes determining whether the second image includes at least one of: (a) a plurality of gestures associated with unavailability or (b) a plurality of gestures none of which is associated with availability; and A flag to render an error condition on the output.

7. The system of claim 5, further comprising: Output components; as well as The processor also performs: receiving a second image at a subsequent time to the first image, and wherein the processor previously determined that the type of status update gesture associated with the first image was an unavailability type; Determining whether an error state exists includes determining whether the second image includes at least one of: (a) a plurality of gestures associated with availability or (b) a plurality of gestures none of which is associated with unavailability; and A flag to render an error condition on the output.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor further executes: receiving a second image from a camera, wherein receiving the second image occurs while the system is currently engaged in communication; evaluating the second image to determine whether the second image includes a second status update gesture associated with unavailability; and Upon determining that the second image does include a second status update gesture associated with unavailability, performing a pause action including one or more of muting audio provided by the system as part of the communication, pausing a video image provided by the system as part of the communication, or terminating the communication.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor further executes: receiving a third image from the camera, wherein receiving the third image occurs while the system is currently engaged in communication while performing a pause action; evaluating the third image to determine whether the second image includes a third status update gesture associated with availability; and Upon determining that the second image does include a second status update gesture associated with availability, a restoration action is performed including one or more of unmuting audio provided by the system as part of the communication and restoring a video image provided by the system as part of the communication.

10. A method comprising: receiving, by the processor, a first image of a user from a camera; evaluating, by a processor, the first image to determine whether the first image includes a status update gesture made by the user; Upon determining, by the processor, that the first image includes a status update gesture, the processor providing a component with a status of the user associated with the status update gesture; After determining by the processor that the status update gesture is associated with unavailability of the user, the processor suspending the communication device associated with the user from connecting to any of a plurality of client devices, including stopping sending calls to the communication device associated with the user; as well as After the processor determines that the status update gesture is associated with the availability of the user, the processor enables a communication device associated with the user to connect to one of the multiple client devices via a network to communicate with a client associated with one of the multiple client devices, including allowing a call to be sent to the communication device associated with the user.

Images