US 5,206,903 · Granted 1993-04-27

How AT&T's 1993 Patent Revolutionized Call Center Routing

Imagine a call center that's smart enough to connect you with the agent who actually knows the answer to your question. This patent describes a system that tags incoming callers with skill requirements and matches them to agents with matching expertise, getting faster at finding someone available the longer you wait.

Curated and verified by the IsItPatented Editorial team

The plain-English version

What it protects

The claim covers a method for automatically distributing incoming telephone calls by assigning skill numbers to callers (up to three in priority order) and agents (up to four), then systematically searching for an available agent whose skills match the caller's needs. What's protected here is the specific logic of the matching process: first trying to match the caller's top priority skill, then second, then third after a delay, and expanding the agent pool over time as wait duration increases.

Why it matters

Before this patent, call centers routed calls based on simple availability—whoever picked up first handled the call, regardless of whether they could actually help. This innovation let companies reduce customer frustration by connecting people to agents who understood their problem, improving both customer satisfaction and call resolution rates. It became foundational to how major telecommunications and customer service operations organized their routing systems.

Real-world use

When you call your bank's support line and get routed to someone in the fraud department instead of a random agent, you're benefiting from this skill-matching logic that's been standard in call centers for decades.

Original USPTO abstract

Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) equipment is improved by matching the information needs of an incoming caller with the particular expertise of a telemarketing agent who handles such calls. Each incoming call is assigned up to three prioritized skill numbers that estimate skill requirements of the calling party. Each agent possesses up to four skill numbers that represent various particular abilities of that agent. Numbers 1 through 9 are used. Upon arrival of the incoming call, a search is made for a match between the first caller skill number and an available agent possessing that skill. If no match is found, a similar search is made with respect to the second caller skill number. After a predetermined delay, a search is made with respect to the third caller skill number. When a match is found, the incoming call is connected to the agent possessing that skill. The longer that an incoming call remains unanswered, the larger the pool of agents becomes that will be allowed to handle the call. Although the specific expertise sought may not be matched, the present technique optimizes the matching process when a time constraint is imposed.

Patent details

Publication number: US 5,206,903
Filing date: 1990-12-26
Grant date: 1993-04-27
Assignee: At&T Bell Laboratories
Inventor(s): KOHLER; JOYLEE E., MATHEWS; EUGENE P., NALBONE; ROBERT D., PALMER; CRAIG F.
CPC class: H04M3/5233

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