Statistical diagnosis in interactive voice response telephone system

DETAILED DESCRIPTION These and other problems inherent in the prior art have been solved by providing a statistical health monitor associated with an interactive voice response (IVR) unit that compiles and analyzes statistical parameters related to the operation of telephone lines connected to the interactive voice response system.
The statistical health monitor of the present invention also compiles and analyzes operational parameters associated with the execution of application modules associated with the interactive voice response unit.
In one embodiment of the present invention, a statistical engine monitors incoming telephone lines and calculates the incoming call rate of telephone calls being handled by the IVR unit in a first available distribution across multiple telephone lines connected to the public telephone system.
In another embodiment of the present invention, a statistical engine monitors incoming telephone lines and calculates the incoming call rate of telephone calls being handled by the IVR unit in a round-robin distribution service across multiple telephone lines connected to the public telephone system.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, a statistical engine monitors incoming telephone lines and calculates the number of telephone calls falling below a minimum threshold duration or exceeding a maximum threshold duration on a line-by-line basis across multiple telephone lines.
In all of the foregoing embodiments, the key parameters monitored by the present invention are call arrival rate and the duration of each call.
The present invention detects intermittent faults on a particular line by comparing the statistical parameters of that line with the preceding and/or following telephone lines, or against any other or all other telephone lines in both rotary distribution and in sequential distribution service.
Furthermore, the present invention can diagnose intermittent faults in a particular telephone line by comparing the statistical parameters of that line with the statistical parameters of a corresponding line in a "model distribution" for either a rotary distribution or a sequential distribution service