Electronic message routing using a routing tag
An electronic message processing system in which routing tags are used to determine how electronic messages are routed, distributed, or otherwise processed by the system. The association of a routing tag with an electronic message indicates to the system that the tagged electronic message does not need to undergo classification in order to determine how to process the message. In particular, routing tags are associated with electronic messages which have already been classified and which are subsequently sent out of the system to return at a later time. The routing tag prevents the message from having to be re-classified upon its return to the system. Reducing the number of messages that are classified, or re-classified, is advantageous since the classification process, which typically involves text analysis, is a time consuming process.
1. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to process electronic messages, the processing comprising:
receiving an original electronic message, wherein the original electronic message comprises an e-mail message created from data entered into a web-form, the web-form corresponding to a type of request;
classifying the original electronic message, wherein the classifying comprises determining routing information that comprises the type of request;
generating a revised electronic message comprising the original electronic message and a web-form routing tag, wherein the web-form routing tag comprises a tag element that indicates that the revised electronic message is generated from a web-form and the type of request is included in a subject line of the e-mail message;
transmitting the revised electronic message;
receiving a second electronic message;
parsing the second electronic message to detect a second routing tag, wherein the second routing tag comprises one or more message classes for the second electronic message, and wherein the second routing tag causes the second electronic message to be processed without textual analysis;
if the second routing tag is not detected, sending the second electronic message to a text analyzer for classification and processing the message based on the classification; and
if the second routing tag is detected, processing the second electronic message based on the second routing tag.
2. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the routing tag comprises an extensible mark-up language (XML) format.
3. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the classification defines the routing of the second electronic message.
4. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the processing of the second electronic message comprises distributing the second electronic message to one of a plurality of agents based on a category of the second electronic message.
5. The computer readable medium of claim 4 , wherein the category comprises one of an external message, an internal message or a web-form message.
6. The computer readable medium of claim 1 , further comprising, after the classification, adding a new routing tag to the message.
7. The computer readable medium of claim 4 , further comprising storing for each message an entry in a distributor control table, wherein the table stores, for each message, the category of the message and a status of the message.
8. A computer implemented method for processing electronic messages, the method comprising:
receiving an original electronic message, wherein the original electronic message comprises an e-mail message created from data entered into a web-form, the web-form corresponding to a type of order;
classifying the original electronic message, wherein the classifying comprises determining routing information that comprises the type of order;
generating a revised electronic message comprising the original electronic message and a web-form routing tag, wherein the web-form routing tag comprises a tag element that indicates that the revised electronic message is generated from a web-form and the type of request is included in a subject line of the e-mail message;
transmitting the revised electronic message;
receiving a second electronic message;
parsing the second electronic message to detect a second routing tag, wherein the second routing tag comprises one or more message classes for the second electronic message, and wherein the second routing tag causes the message to be processed without textual analysis;
if the second routing tag is not detected, sending the electronic message to a text analyzer for classification and processing the second electronic message based on the classification; and
if the second routing tag is detected, processing the second electronic message based on the second routing tag.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the routing tag comprises an extensible mark-up language (XML) format.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the classification defines the routing of the second electronic message.
11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the processing of the second electronic message comprises distributing the second electronic message to one of a plurality of agents based on a category of the second electronic message.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the category comprises one of an external message, an internal message or a web-form message.
13. The method of claim 8 , further comprising, after the classification, adding a new routing tag to the message.
14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising storing for each message an entry in a distributor control table, wherein the table stores, for each message, the category of the message and a status of the message.
15. An electronic message routing system comprising:
a processor;
a non-transitory computer readable medium for storing instructions that cause the processor to:
receive an original electronic message, wherein the original electronic message comprises an e-mail message created from data entered into a web-form, the web-form corresponding to a type of request;
classify the original electronic message, wherein the classifying comprises determining routing information that comprises the type of request;
generate a revised electronic message comprising the original electronic message and a web-form routing tag, wherein the web-form routing tag comprises a tag element that indicates that the revised electronic message is generated from a web-form and the type of request and is included in a subject line of the e-mail message;
transmit the revised electronic message;
receive a second electronic message;
parse the second electronic message to detect a second routing tag, wherein the second routing tag comprises one or more message classes for the second electronic message, and wherein the second routing tag causes the second electronic message to be processed without textual analysis;
if the second routing tag is not detected, send the second electronic message to a text analyzer for classification and process the message based on the classification; and
if the second routing tag is detected, process the second electronic message based on the second routing tag.
16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the routing tag comprises an extensible mark-up language (XML) format.