Patent decision

BL number

O/085/08

Concerning rights in

GB0416395.2

Hearing Officer

Mrs S E Chalmers

Decision date

19 March 2008

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Rockwell Electronics Commerce Technologies L.L.C.

Provisions discussed

PA 1977 Section 1(2)

Keywords

Excluded fields (refused)

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The application relates to a method of compiling performance reports in a contact centre serving clients through the internet. Transactions passing through the internet are for the most part asynchronous in that the data is created first and then transmitted. A transaction involving an email exchange between a client and a contact centre agent may therefore take place over many hours or even days although the actual transmission of the data for each email is virtually instantaneous. It is therefore hard to determine how long an internet transaction has taken and the amount of effective effort expended by the agent in handling that transaction.

The invention relates to a way of measuring an agent’s efforts when handling asynchronous transactions with clients through the Internet which takes account of the type and content of each transmission within that transaction. This information is used to compile a performance report which can be used to evaluate the performance and quality of service provided by the agent. The hearing officer applied the four part test set out in the Aerotel and Macrossan judgment, found the invention to be excluded as method for doing business and a computer program, and refused the application.