Title of Invention	IM-BASED CUSTOMER SERVING SYSTEM, CUSTOMER SERVING METHOD AND TRANSFER SERVER
Abstract	Disclosed is an IM-based customer serving System. The system includes a transfer server and at least one customer serving terminal; wherein the transfer server is adapted to receive an IM message from an IM user terminal, forward the IM message to a selected customer serving terminal, and forward a reply IM message from the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal; and the customer serving terminal is adapted to receive the IM message forwarded by the transfer server, send the reply IM message to the transfer server according to the IM message. An IM-based customer serving method and a transfer server are also disclosed. The technical solution provided by embodiments of the present invention can lower the costs of the customer serving system, and each customer serving terminal is able to server multiple customers simultaneously.

Title of Invention

IM-BASED CUSTOMER SERVING SYSTEM, CUSTOMER SERVING METHOD AND TRANSFER SERVER

Abstract

Disclosed is an IM-based customer serving System. The system includes a transfer server and at least one customer serving terminal; wherein the transfer server is adapted to receive an IM message from an IM user terminal, forward the IM message to a selected customer serving terminal, and forward a reply IM message from the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal; and the customer serving terminal is adapted to receive the IM message forwarded by the transfer server, send the reply IM message to the transfer server according to the IM message. An IM-based customer serving method and a transfer server are also disclosed. The technical solution provided by embodiments of the present invention can lower the costs of the customer serving system, and each customer serving terminal is able to server multiple customers simultaneously.

Full Text	IM-BASED CUSTOMER SERVING SYSTEM, CUSTOMER SERVING METHOD AND TRANSFER SERVER FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to customer serving system and customer serving method fields, and more particularly, to an Instant Messaging (IM)-based customer serving system, an IM-based customer serving method and a transfer server. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Customer serving centers, also referred to as Call Centers, currently enable customers to communicate with an enterprise. Traditional Call Centers mainly adopt telephone for communication with customers, i.e., customers can get services from an enterprise through dialing a uniform telephone number. Combination of telephone system and computer system gives birth to Computer Telecommunication Integration (CTI) technique. The CTI technique can provide various services by taking advantage of the closely associated telephone system and computer system, such as self-service consulting service, telephone bank service, e-business service, and so on. FIG.1 is a schematic illustrating a typical customer serving system according to the prior art. In FIGl, Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is a circuit-switched global voice communication network and is a collection of all circuit-switched telephone networks. Private Branch Exchange (PBX) is mainly used for exchanging calls between local telephone line users within an enterprise. Meanwhile, the PBX allows the local users to share certain amount of external telephone line resources. The PBX is mainly adopted for using less telephone lines. The PBX is owned and operated by the enterprise instead of the telephone company. The PBX generally includes: a telephone trunk rooted in the PBX, a computer located between inside and outside of the PBX and performing memorizing, managing and switching, and network lines inside the PBX, etc. Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is an application software capable of interacting with a customer by receiving a voice input or keyboard input of a telephone and returning a proper responses. The IVR is generally embedded in large-scale application environments where accessing of databases is necessary. Other devices are all familiar and will not be described herein. The working flow of a t>'pical customer serving system shown in FIGl is as follows. A customer dials a customer service number of an enterprise. The call is forwarded to a customer serving system of the enterprise via the PSTN. At first, the customer is served by the IVR through the CTl. The CTI will perform a certain processing procedure according to information inputted by the customer. If the customer selects staff service, the CTl will transfer the call to a representative via the PBX for providing staff service. The above procedure is the core procedure of a telephone-based customer serving system. Meanwhile, many subsidiary functions, e.g., voice recording, searching, quality management, process management, scheduling, etc., are developed based on the core procedure, which may assist the telephone customer serving system. In addition, services such as Email and Voice over IP (VoIP) can also be provided through the Internet. However, the above CTl-based customer serving system is rather huge in size and costs are high. Enterprises usually can not afford such high costs. Although simplified editions are also available and devices can be integrated, such system is still beyond the grasp of most small enterprises due to the high costs. In addition, the telephone-based customer serving system also has deficiencies. For example, customers have to pay high communication fees. In addition, since telephone has a nature of exclusiveness. i.e. one representative can serve only one customer simultaneously, which forms an inevitable bottle neck for the telephone-based customer serving system. Furthermore, the nature of telephone determines that only voice interaction can be adopted and multimedia interaction is not available. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention provide an Instant Messaging (IM)-based customer serving system, an IM-based customer serving method, and a transfer server, so as to reduce the costs of the customer serving system. According to the above embodiments, technical schemes of the present invention are as follows. According to an embodiment of the present invention, an IM-based customer serving system is provided. The IM-based customer serving system includes a transfer server and at least one customer serving terminal; wherein the transfer server is adapted to receive an IM message sent from an IM user terminal, forward the IM message to a customer serving terminal selected, and forward a reply IM message from the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal; and the customer serving terminal is adapted to receive the IM message forwarded by the transfer server, send the reply IM message to the transfer server according to the IM message. According to another embodiment of the present invention, an IM-based customer serving method is provided. The IM-based customer serving method includes: receiving, by a transfer server, an IM message sent from an IM user terminal, forwarding the IM message to a customer serving terminal, and forwarding a reply IM message from the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal. According to still another embodiment of the present invention, a transfer server is provided. The transfer server includes: a receiving unit and an Instant Messaging (IM) message forwarding unit; wherein the receiving unit is adapted to receive an IM message from an IM user terminal and/or a reply IM message from a customer serving terminal; and the IM message forwarding unit is adapted to forwarding the IM message from the IM user terminal to the customer serving terminal, and forwarding the reply IM message of the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal. It can be seen from the above technical solution that, a transfer server is employed in the IM-based customer serving system of the present invention. In operation, the transfer server receives an IM message from an IM user terminal and forwards the \M message to a customer serving terminal. The customer serving terminal processes the IM message from the IM user terminal and replies to the IM message. The transfer server forwards the reply IM message from the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal. By utilizing the transfer server, a plurality of customer serving terminals is enabled to share one IM account, so as to work for the customer serving system. By using the IM-based customer serving system and the IM-based customer serving method, the costs can be far lower than that of traditional telephone-based customer serving system, thus the costs of enterprises for the customer serving system can be reduced. Therefore, the IM-based customer serving system can not only adopted by large companies but also by small entities. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG.1 is a schematic il!u,si;rating a structure of a typical customer serving system according to the prior art. FIG.2 is a schematic illustrating a structure of an IM-based customer serving system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.3 is a flow chart illustrating a processing flow of a customer serving system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.4 is a schematic illustrating a queue logic unit in a transfer server according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG5A is a schematic illustrating a process of a customer serving terminal sending an IM message according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.5B is a schematic illustrating a process of a transfer server forwarding an IM message from a customer serving terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.6A is a schematic illustrating a process of a transfer server forwarding an IM message received from a customer. FIG.6B is a schematic illustrating a process of a customer serving terminal receiving and processing an IM message from a customer according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.7 shows formats of messages exchanged between a customer serving terminal, a transfer server and an IM server according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.8 is a schematic illustrating a structure of a transfer server according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention v/ill be described hereinafter in detail with reference to embodiments to make the technical solution and merits thereof clearer. Instant Messaging (IM) is an application widely used on the Internet. It is also a most convenient way for communication. IM provides multimedia communications such as text, voice and visual communication and costs little. In the present invention, the IM is applied to the customer serving field to not only lower the costs for enterprises but also bring brand-new experiences to customers. Customers will have better experiences and customer serving efficiency can be improved due to the multimedia communication manners provided by IM messages, such as voice and visual communications. When applying IM to the customer serving field, a customer communicates with a customer serving terminal through an IM user terminal. Compared with traditional Call Center, an enterprise needs a uniform IM account instead of a telephone number. When establishing a connection between an IM user terminal and a customer serving terminal, the connection between the IM account of the IM user terminal and the JM account for customer serving of the enterprise is firstly established. Then the connection is routed to a customer serving terminal connected with the customer serving IM account. Compared with traditional Call Center, the structure of such customer serving system is greatly simplified due to the Internet having advantages in system structure. The IM user terminal may be an IM tool or an IM client in other forms. The above is a general idea of the present invention. The present invention will be described hereinafter with reference to an embodiment for facilitating those skilled in the ait to understand and implement the present invention. F1G.2 is a schematic illustrating a structure of an IM-based customer serving system. As shown in FIG.2, the customer serving system includes at least one transfer server and a plurality of customer serving terminals. The transfer server can be connected with the customer serving terminals through the Internet or through a local area network. The customer serving terminals may be connected with each other through the Internet or through a local area network. In FIG2, the transfer server is mainly adapted to receive an IM message from an IM user terminal, forward the IM message to one of the customer serving terminals, and forward a reply IM message of the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal through an IM server after the customer serving terminal processes and replies to the IPv^ message. As such, the forwarding of an IM message is completed. The customer serving terminal is mainly adapted to process the IM message from the IM user terminal and reply to the IM message. FIG.3 is a flow chart illustrating a processing flow of the customer serving system shown in F1G2. As shown in FIG.3, the processing flow of the customer serving system mainly includes the following steps. In step 101, an IM user terminal establishes a connection with an IM server through the Internet and acquires a customer serving IM account of an enterprise. The IM user terminal sends an IM message to the customer serving IM account through the Internet. This step corresponds to the procedure of dialing a customer serving number in conventional telephone-based customer serving system. The IM message may be a text message or a multimedia message. In step 102, after receiving the IM message sent by the IM user terminal, the IM server forwards the IM message to a transfer server of the customer serving system according to the customer serving IM account in the IM message. One customer serving IM account generally corresponds to one transfer server, whereas one transfer server may serve one or more customer serving IM accounts. When a transfer server serves more customer serving IM accounts, the customer serving IM accounts may be owned by one enterprise or by multiple enterprises. In step 103, the transfer server performs scheduling analysis according to certain logic and allocates the IM message to one of the customer serving terminals. As shown in FIG.4, the transfer server may also include a queue logic unit, adapted to allocate IM messages sent from IM user terminals to customer serving terminals according to pre-defined queue logic. The following example explains the process of the queue logic unit allocating the IM messages. The queue logic unit maintains a number of queues in the transfer server. Each queue consists of IM user terminals which have established connections with the customer serving IM account. Each customer serving terminal of the customer serving IM account usually corresponds to one of the queues, and different customer serving terminals corresponds to different queues. When an IM user terminal of a queue sends an IM message to the transfer server, the transfer server forwards the IM message to the customer serving terminal corresponding to the queue. When a new IM user terminal establishes a connection with the customer serving IM account and sends an IM message to the transfer server, the transfer server adds, according to recorded or acquired state of each customer serving terminal, e.g. busy grade, and/or service type, and/or the number of IM user terminals in the queue, the new IM user terminal to a queue to allocate the new IM user terminal to a customer serving terminal and sends the IM message to the selected customer serving terminal. The transfer server may allocate IM usertenninals among the customer serving terminals according to other pre-detlned queue logics, e.g., allocating averagely, allocating randomly, etc. Each queue may have a maximum length. The maximum length may be set or modified by the customer serving terminal corresponding to the queue, so as to set a maximum number of IM user terminals that the customer serving terminal can serve simultaneously. When the number of IM user terminals in the queue reaches the maximum number, the transfer server will not add new IM user terminal into the queue, thereby stop allocating new IM user terminals to the customer serving terminal. In step 104. the transfer server forwards the IM message from the IM user terminal to the customer serving terminal to which the IM user terminal is allocated. The above process of steps 101 to 104 gives an example for the process of an IM user terminal sending an IM message to the customer serving system. An exemplary process of the customer serving system sending an IM message to the IM user terminal will be described through steps 105 to 107 hereinafter. In step 105, the customer serving terminal processes the IM message received, replies to the IM message by sending a reply IM message to the transfer sever. In step 106, the transfer server forwards the reply IM message to the IM server serving the transfer server on the Internet. In step 107, the IM server forwards the reply IM message to the IM user terminal according to a conventional IM message forwarding procedure. In the above process, for a customer, the customer serving IM account has no difference with an ordinary IM account. In embodiments of the present invention, the IM user terminal communicating with the IM-based customer serving system is also the same with communicating with a conventional IM user terminal and does not require modification. Therefore, the IM-based customer serving system is easy to be implemented. The customer serving terminals of the customer serving system may be IM tools or other forms of IM clients, and only features in that the plurality of customer serving tenninals share the same IM account at the same time and provide functions related to customer serving. In general, the customer serving system of the present invention does not require modifications to conventional IM servers and IM user terminals, and merely requires a transfer server and a plurality of customer serving terminals to be added to the customer serving system. The transfer server can be regarded as an IM client when it logs on the IM system. But the transfer server distributes all messages received to the customer serving terminals and forwards messages replied by the customer serving terminals to the IM user terminals of the customers. For the IM server, the transfer server is merely an ordinary IM account accessing the IM server with the customer serving IM account. Therefore, the !M-based customer serving system has little impact on the customer serving terminal and the IM server, thus can be developed and deployed easily, which is one of the reasons for the low costs of the IM-based customer serving system. Still referring to FIG2. the customer serving system may further include a customer serving manager, adapted to manage the customer serving terminals in the customer serving system, e.g., managing the number of the customer serving terminals, names and working time of the customer serving terminals, etc. The customer serving manager may adopt the following manner for managing the customer serving terminals: the customer serving manager sets rights for each customer serving terminal, or alerts a customer serving terminal to current important matters to be processed according to status recorded of the customer serving terminal. Further, the customer serving terminals in the customer serving system may share information with each other. The information shared may include message history and/or user profiles. In other words, no matter which IM user terminal communicates with which customer serving terminal, other customer serving terminals are able to visit the message history communicated and the user profile of the IM user terminal. Each customer serving terminal may directly share its message history and/or user profiles with other customer serving terminals. But this kind of sharing makes it hard to perform data maintenance. Therefore, in other embodiments of the present invention, the customer serving system may further include a shared database. The shared database stores user profiles of IM user terminals, IM messages exchanged between the IM user terminals and the customer serving terminals. And each customer serving terminal can access this database for the shared data. The database may stand alone from the transfer server with user profiles and message history being acquired from the transfer server and stored into the database by the customer serving terminals. The database may also reside in the transfer server with user profiles and message history being stored into the database by the transfer server. Besides being stored in the form of a database, the message history and/or the user profiles may also be stored in other forms, such as in the form of notepads. In addition, it is also allowed to transfer workloads between the customer serving terminals, i.e. a customer serving terminal may transfer an IM user terminal it current serves to another customer serving terminal. There are various ways for transferring an IM user terminal between customer serving terminals. For example, customer serving terminal C queries the states of other customer serving terminals recorded and/or acquired by the transfer server, and selects customer serving terminal D and starts the transfer operation according to the states of the other customer serving terminals. The transfer server transfers the IM user terminal currently served by customer serving terminal C to customer serving terminal D when the transfer is triggered. Or, the transfer server may query the states of other customer serving terminals recorded and/or acquired by the transfer server when a transfer is triggered by customer serving terminal C, and selects customer serving terminal D according to a pre-defined rule, and transfers the IM user terminal currently served by customer serving terminal C to customer serving terminal D. Or, after receiving information of the IM user terminal transferred from customer serving terminal C, customer serving terminal D may determine whether to accept this IM user terminal according to a transfer response operation of a customer serving staff and/or a transfer rule pre-dei1ned in cusLoiner serving terminal D. If customer serving terminal D determines not to accept the IM user terminal, the transfer server may send a transfer failure message to customer serving terminal C after receiving a transfer response trigger. The transfer server may record and/or acquire the state of a customer serving terminal in the following manner: a customer serving terminal may set or modify the state of the customer serving terminal according to information configured by a customer serving staff, and inform the transfer server of the state. Or, the customer serving terminal may determine the state of the customer serving terminal based on trigger events of being logged on. the number of JM user terminals currently served by the customer serving terminal and the amount of information exchanged between the IM user terminals and the customer serving terminal, and inform the transfer server of the state. Or. the transfer server may determine the state of each customer serving terminal based on trigger events of the customer serving terminal being logged on, the number of IM user terminals currently served by the customer serving terminal and the amount of information exchanged between the customer serving terminal and the IM user terminals. An example will be given hereinafter to explain the transfer of an IM user terminal between customer serving terminals. According to embodiments of the present invention, a customer serving terminal requests the transfer server to transfer an IM user terminal currently served by the customer serving terminal to another customer serving terminal. According to the request, the transfer server forwards subsequent IM messages sent from the IM user terminal to the another customer serving terminal. Specifically, during the transfer, customer serving terminal A may query whether there is a customer serving terminal B which is currently idle and may accept the transfer. If there is, the transfer can be started; otherwise, the transfer will not be started. If the transfer can be started, customer serving terminal A sends a transfer command to the transfer server informing the transfer server to transfer the IM user terminal to customer serving terminal B. The transfer server adjusts the queues, transfers the IM user terminal from the queue of customer serving terminal A to the queue of customer serving terminal B. in subsequent process, the transfer server will forward all IM messages from the IM user terminal to customer serving terminal B. The customer serving system may require other functions, e.g. functions for setting enterprise numbers, for setting IDs of customer serving terminals, for statistics and for monitoring, and many other accessorial functions, etc. Since the customer serving system is completely based on IM tools, the development, maintenance and implementation of these functions are relatively simple and the costs is very low. In addition, the transfer server may be a stand alone entity, or be integrated in an IM server of an existing IM system. Thus, the enterprises only have to provide a plurality of customer serving terminals for providing the IM-based customer serving. As such, the costs can be reduced to the lowest. Various manners can be adopted for forwarding IM messages between an IM server, a transfer server and a customer serving terminal. FIG5A is a schematic illustrating a process of a customer serving terminal sending an IM message according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG5B is a schematic illustrating a process of a transfer server forwarding an IM message from a customer serving terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.6A is a schematic illustrating a process of a transfer server forwarding an IM message received from a customer. FIG.6B is a schematic illustrating a process of a customer serving terminal receiving and processing an IM message from a customer according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG7 shows formats of messages exchanged between a customer serving terminal, a transfer server and an IM server according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG5A and F1G5B, the process of sending an IM message from a customer serving terminal to an IM user terminal is as follows. In step 201, before sending an IM message, which conforms to a conventional IM system protocol, to an IM system, a customer serving terminal firstly generates a conventional IM system data packet body, i.e. a data packet body conforming to the first format shown in FIG7, according to the conventional IM system protocol. In step 202 to step 203. the customer serving terminal adds a data packet header 2 and corresponding data packet tail to the conventional IM data packet body according to the conventional IM system protocol. The data packet at this stage can generally be recognized by the conventional IM system. But the data packet is not ready for being transmitted to the transfer server yet, because the transfer server not only requires the data packet to provide information of the conventional IM system, but also requires information of the customer serving system, e.g. routing information, signaling number, timing with the transfer server, the protocol used between the customer serving terminal and the transfer server, etc. Therefore, the customer serving terminal further adds a customer serving system header and corresponding data packet tail to the data packet, i.e. data packet header 1 and the corresponding data packet tail as shown in the first format in FIG.7. In step 204. the customer serving terminal sends the data packet including the data packet header 1 and corresponding data packet tail, the data packet header 2 and corresponding tail to the transfer server. In step 205 to step 206, after receiving the data packet from the customer serving terminal, the transfer server performs a first analysis on the data packet, i.e. acquiring customer serving system information, signaling number, etc. from the customer serving system data packet header, then determines whether to forward the data packet according to the signaling number. If the transfer server determines to forward the data packet, a second analysis will be performed to analyze the conventional IM system protocol header, i.e. data packet header 2. In step 207, the transfer sever analyzes the conventional IM system protocol header, i.e. data packet header 2, to determine a target IM user terminal and records the routing information. The routing information is recorded for forwarding subsequent IM messages received from the IM user terminal to the customer serving terminal. The routing information may alternatively be recorded when forwarding an IM message received from the IM user terminal to the customer serving terminal, so that the transfer server is able to forward an IM message replied by the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal according to the routing information. In step 208 to step 209. after determining the target IM user terminal, the transfer server removes the customer serving system data packet header and corresponding data packet tail, i.e. removes the data packet header 1 and corresponding data packet tail. Thus, the remaining packet is a conventional IM system data packet including only data packet header 2 and corresponding data packet tail. The transfer server may need to do a few modifications to data packet header 2 and corresponding data packet tail in order to make the data packet meet the requirement of the conventional IM system. Finally, the transfer server sends the conventional IM system data packet which meets the requirement of the conventional IM system and includes data packet header 2 and corresponding data packet tail to the IM server. Through the above steps 201 to 209. a data packet conforming to the conventional IM system protocol and including an IM message is transmitted to the IM system successfully and can be recognized correctly. And for the IM system, the data packet received from the customer serving system has no difference with data packets received from inside of the IM system, and therefore, will be processed properly. When receiving the IM message sent from the customer serving system, the IM user terminal may directly reply to it when necessary. The reply IM message will then be forwarded to the customer serving terminal after being processed by the IM server and the transfer server. Referring to FIG6A and FIG6B. the process of a customer serving terminal receiving an IM message sent by an IM user terminal from an IM server is as follows. In step 301 to step 302, the transfer server receives a data packet, i.e. a conventional IM system data packet including an IM message, data packet header 2 and corresponding data packet tail from the IM system. The transfer server analyzes the header of the data packet and determines whether to forward the data packet to a customer serving terminal. In step 303 to step 304, if the transfer server determines to forward the data packet, the transfer server delcrniiiies a Larget customer serving terminal to v/hich the data packet is foi-warded according to routing information carried in the conventional IM system data packet and routing information recorded. in step 305 to step 306, the transfer server encapsulates the data packet by adding a customer serving system header 1 and corresponding data packet tail into the data packet, and forwards the encapsulated data packet to the destination customer serving terminal. In step 307 to step 309, after receiving the data packet forwarded by the transfer server, the customer serving terminal firstly determines whether the data packet forwarded by the transfer server is a conventional IM system data packet including data packet header 1 and corresponding data packet tail, data packet header 2 and corresponding data packet tail by analyzing the header of the data packet. If determining that the data packet is a conventional IM system data packet, the customer serving terminal removes the customer serving system header, i.e. data packet header 1, and corresponding data packet tail to obtain a conventional IM system data packet including an IM system protocol header, i.e. data packet header 2. In step 310, the customer serving terminal performs service logic processing according to the conventional IM system data packet including the data packet header 2. Through the above data organizing manner, data forwarding is implemented both inside the customer serving system and between the customer serving system and the conventional IM system are realized without affecting existing IM server and IM user terminals. Besides the data organizing manners shown in FIG.5A, FIG5B, FIG6A and FIG.6B, other communication protocols and data formats specified by both the customer serving system and the transfer server may also be used. The transfer server encapsulates a conventional IM system data packet from the IM server into a specified data packet format, and sends the encapsulated data packet to a cuslorncr serving terrnina! according to the specified communication protocol. After receiving the encapsulated data packet from the transfer server, the customer serving terminal, analyzes the encapsulated data packet according to the specified data packet format to obtain the conventional IM system data packet, generates a reply IM message based on the conventional IM system data packet, generates a reply conventional IM system data packet according to the reply IM message, converts the reply IM system data packet into the data packet format specified by both the customer serving terminal and the transfer server, and sends the reply IM system data packet to the transfer server according to the specified communication protocol. The transfer server receives the reply data packet from the customer serving terminal, converts the data packet into a data packet format designated by the IM server, and sends the data packet to the IM server. Embodiments of the present invention also provide a transfer server. FIG.8 shows a structure of a transfer server according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG,8, the transfer server includes receiving unit 801 and IM message forwarding unit 802. The receiving unit 801 is adapted to receive an IM message from an IM user terminal, and/or receive a reply IM message from a customer serving terminal. The IM message forwarding unit 802 is adapted to forward the IM message from the IM user terminal to the customer serving terminal, and forward the reply IM message of the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal. The transfer server may further include queue logic unit 803. The queue logic unit 803 is adapted to allocate an IM user terminal to a customer serving terminal according to pre-defmed queue logic and a queue instruction from the receiving unit 801, and inform the IM message forwarding unit 802 of the allocation result. The IM message forwarding unit 802 is further adapted to forward an IM message sent by the IM user terminal allocated to the customer serving terminal to the customer serving terminal according to the allocation result of the queue logic unit 803. The receiving unit 801 is further adapted to send the queue instruction to the queue logic unit 803 according to the IM message received from the IM user terminal and destined for the customer serving terminal. The transfer server may further include transfer unit 804. The transfer unit 804 is adapted to transfer, after receiving a transfer request from a first customer serving terminal, an IM user terminal allocated to the first customer serving terminal to a second customer serving terminal according to the transfer request, and send a transfer instruction to the IM message forwarding unit 802. IM message forwarding unit 802 is further adapted to forward, after receiving the transfer instruction from transfer unit 804, subsequent IM messages from the IM user terminal to the second customer serving terminal. The transfer server may further include routing information recording unit 805. The routing information recording unit 805 is adapted to record routing information of an IM message. The IM message forwarding unit 802 is further adapted to forwarding an IM message from an IM user terminal to a customer serving terminal based on the routing information recorded by the routing information recording unit 805. The receiving unit 801 may further include data packet encapsulation unit 8011 and data packet analyzing unit 8012. The data packet encapsulation unit 8011 is adapted to encapsulate a conventional IM system data packet that an IM user terminal sends to a customer serving terminal into a data packet format specified by both the transfer server and the customer serving terminal, and send the encapsulated conventional IM system data packet to the IM message forwarding unit 802. The data packet analyzing unit 8012 is adapted to analyze a data packet sent from the customer serving terminal, convert the data packet into a data packet format designated by an IM server according to an analysis result, and send the converted data packet to the IM message forwarding unit 802. IM message forwarding unit 802 is further adapted to forward the data packet from the data packet encapsulation unit 8011 to a customer serving terminal, and forward the data packet from data packet analyzing unit 8012 to the IM server. The data packet encapsulation unit 8011 is further adapted to add a customer serving system data packet header, which includes information of the customer serving terminal, and corresponding data packet tail to the conventional IM system data packet that the IM user terminal sends to the customer serving terminal, and send the conventional IM system data packet with the customer serving system data packet header and corresponding data packet tail to the IM message forwarding unit 802. The data packet analyzing unit 8012 is further adapted to analyze the header of the data packet sent from the customer serving terminal, and forward the data packet to the IM message forwarding unit 802 according to the header. It can be seen from the above technical solution that, in the IM-based customer serving system and method, a transfer server is adopted to forward IM messages between IM user terminals and customer serving terminals. Thus, the costs are far lower than that of conventional telephone-based customer serving system. The costs of an enterprise for the customer serving system are also lowered, thus the IM-based customer serving system and method are both suitable for both small entities and large enterprises. Different from the telephone-based customer serving system in which each representative can serve only one customer simultaneously, customers and customer serving staffs in the embodiments of the present invention communicate with each other through IM user terminals and customer serving terminals, therefore each customer serving terminal is able to serve multiple customers simultaneously. In addition, the IM message can be a multimedia message, therefore embodiments of the present invention is able to provide multimedia customer service to improve customer's experience. Since Internet is widely used at present and its costs are lower than telephone, the costs of customers for using the customer serving system can be greatly reduced. On the other hand, IM messages are mainly based on text, and text information can be stored or used for data analysis. The foregoing descriptions are only preferred embodiments of this invention and are not for use in limiting the protection scope thereof. Any changes and modifications can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of this invention and therefore should be covered within the protection scope as set by the appended claims. WE CLAIM: 1. An Instant Messaging (IM)-based customer serving system, comprising: a transfer server and at least one customer serving terminal; wherein the at least one customer serving terminal shares an IM account; the transfer server is adapted to receive an IM message sent from an IM user terminal to the IM account, select a customer serving terminal from the at least one customer serving terminal, forward the IM message to the customer serving terminal selected, and forward a reply IM message from the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal; and the customer serving terminal is adapted to receive the IM message forwarded by the transfer server, send the reply IM message to the transfer server according to the IM message. 2. The IM-based customer serving system of claim 1, comprising: a customer serving manager, adapted to manage the at least one customer serving terminal by setting rights for the customer serving terminal, or by alerting a customer serving terminal to current matters to be processed according to state recorded of the customer serving terminal. 3. The IM-based customer serving system of claim 1, comprising: a storage apparatus, adapted to store a user profile of the IM user terminal and/or message history betv/een the IM user terminal and the customer serving terminal, and provide the user profile and/or message history stored for the customer serving terminal; the customer serving terminal comprises means for receiving the user profile and/or message history provided by the storage apparatus. 4. The IM-based customer serving system of claim 1, wherein the transfer server comprises a queue logic unit and an IM message forwarding unit: wherein the queue logic unit is adapted to allocate an IM user terminal to one of the at least one customer serving terminal according to pre-defined queue logic; and the IM message forwarding unit is adapted to ibrward an IN'l message sent from the IM user terminal which is allocated to the customer serving terminal to the customer serving terminal according to an allocation result of the queue logic unit. 5. The IM-based customer serving system of claim 1 or 4, wherein the transfer server comprises: a transfer unit, adapted to transfer, after receiving a transfer request from the customer serving terminal, subsequent IM messages sent from an IM user terminal which is allocated to the customer serving terminal to a second customer serving terminal according to the transfer request. 6. The IM-based customer serving system of claim 1, wherein the transfer server comprises: a routing information recording unit, adapted to recording routing information of the IM message, send the IM message from the IM user terminal to the customer serving terminal according to the routing information, and/or send the reply IM message from the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal according to the routing information. 7. The IM-based customer serving system of claim 1, wherein the customer serving terminal comprises a data packet encapsulation unit, and the transfer server comprises a data packet analyzing unit; wherein the data packet encapsulation unit is adapted to encapsulate a conventional IM system data packet that the customer serving terminal sends to the IM user terminal into a data packet format specified by the customer serving terminal and the transfer server, and send the encapsulated conventional IM system data packet to the transfer server; and the data packet analyzing unit is adapted to analyze the conventional IM system data packet sent from the customer serving terminal, convert the conventional IM system data packet into a data packet format designated by an IM server according to an analysis result. 8. The !M-based customer serving system of claim 1. wherein the customer serving terminal comprises a data packet analyzing unit, and the transfer server comprises a data packet encapsulation unit; wherein the data packet analyzing unit is adapted to analyze a data packet sent from the transfer server, convert the data packet into a conventional IM system data packet according to an analysis result; and the data packet encapsulation unit is adapted to convert the conventional IM system data packet that the IM user terminal sends to the customer serving terminal into a data packet format specified by the transfer server and the customer serving terminal. 9. The IM-based customer serving system of claim 1, wherein the customer serving terminal comprises a data packet encapsulation unit, and the transfer sever comprises a data packet analyzing unit; wherein the data packet encapsulation unit is adapted to generate a conventional IM system data packet including an IM system protocol header and corresponding data packet tail according to an IM system protocol, add a customer serving system data packet header including information of the customer serving terminal and corresponding data packet tail to the conventional IM system data packet; and the data packet analyzing unit is adapted to analyze a header of a data packet sent lorm the customer serving lerminai, forward the dala packet to an JM server according to the header. 10. The IM-based customer serving system of claim 1, wherein the customer serving terminal comprises a data packet analyzing unit, and the transfer server comprises a data packet encapsulation unit; wherein the data packet analyzing unit is adapted to analyze a header of a data packet received, removes the header from the data packet to obtain a conventional IM system data packet according to an analysis result; and the data packet encapsulation unit is adapted to add a customer serving system data packet header including information of the customer serving terminal and corresponding data packet tail to a conventional IM system data packet that the IM user terminal sends to the customer serving terminal. 11. The customer serving system of claim 1, wherein the transfer server stands alone from an IM server of an IM system or resides in the IM server. 12. An Instant Messaging (IM)-based customer serving method, comprising: sharing, by at least one customer serving terminal, an IM account; receiving, by a transfer server, an IM message sent from an IM user terminal to the IM account, selecting a customer serving terminal from the at least one customer serving terminal, forwarding the IM message to the customer serving terminal selected, and forwarding a reply IM message from the customer serving terminal to the IM u.ser terminal. 13. The IM-based customer serving method of claim 12, comprising: storing a user profile of the IM user terminal and/or message history between the IM user terminal and the customer serving terminal; and returning data according to an access request after receiving the access request from the customer serving terminal. 14. The IM-based customer serving method of claim 12, comprising: allocating, by the transfer server before forwarding the IM message to the customer serving terminal, the IM user terminal to a selected customer serving terminal according to pre-defined queue logic, and forwarding subsequent IM messages from the IM user terminal to the selected customer serving terminal. 15. The IM-based customer serving method of claim 12 or 14, comprising: sending, by the transfi^r server before forwarding the IM message to the customer serving terminal, subsequent IM messages from the IM user terminal allocated to the customer serving terminal to another customer serving terminal when receiving a transfer request from the customer serving terminal. 16. The IM-based customer serving method of claim 12. comprising: recording, by the transfer server, routing information of the IM message, sending the IM message from the IM user terminal to the customer serving terminal according to the routing information, and/or, sending the reply IM message from the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal according to the routing information. 17. The IM-based customer serving method of claim 12, comprising: encapsulating, by the transfer server before forwarding the IM message to the customer serving terminal, a data packet carrying the IM message into a data packet format specified by the transfer server and the customer serving terminal; generating, by the customer serving terminal, a conventional IM system data packet according to the reply IM message according an IM system protocol, and converting the data packet into a data packet format specified by the transfer server and the customer serving terminal; and converting, by the transfer server, the data packet carrying the reply IM message from the customer serving terminal into a data packet format designated by an IM server. 18. The IM-based customer serving method of claim 12, comprising: adding, by the transfer server before forwarding the IM message to the customer serving terminal, a customer serving system data packet header including information of the customer serving terminal and corresponding data packet tail to a data packet carrying the IM message; generating, by the customer serving terminal, a conventional IM system data packet according to the reply IM message according to an IM system protocol, adding a data packet header and corresponding data packet tail to the conventional IM system data packet according to the IM system protocol, and adding a customer serving system data packet header and corresponding data packet tail to the data packet according to information of the customer serving terminal; and removing, by the transfer server, the customer serving system data packet header and corresponding data packet tail after receiving the data packet from the customer serving terminal, and converting the data pacl<_et into a data packet format designated by an im server.> 19. .A. transfer server, comprising; a receiving unit and an Instant Messaging (IM) message forwarding unit; wherein the receiving unit is adapted to receive an IM message sent from an IM user terminal to an IM account and/or a reply IM message from a customer serving terminal; and the IM message forwarding unit is adapted to forwarding the IM message from the IM user terminal to one of at least one customer serving terminal which shares the IM account, and forwarding the reply IM message of the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal. 20. The transfer server of claim 19, comprising: a queue logic unit, adapted to allocate the IM user terminal to the customer serving terminal according to pre-defined queue logic and a queue instruction sent from the receiving unit, and inform the IM message forwarding unit of an allocation result; the IM message forwarding unit is adapted to forward the IM message from the IM user terminal which is allocated to the customer serving terminal to the customer serving terminal according to the allocation result of the queue logic unit; and the receiving unit is adapted to send the queue instruction to the queue logic unit according to the IM message that the IM user terminal sends to the customer serving terminal. 21. The transfer server of claim 19, comprising: a transfer unit, adapted to transfer, after receiving a transfer request from the customer serving terminal, the IM user terminal allocated to the customer serving terminal to a second customer serving terminal according to the transfer request. and send a transfer instruction to the IM message forwarding unit; and the !M message forwaiding unit is adapted to forward, after receiving the transfer instruction from the transfer unit, subsequent IM messages from the IM user terminal to the second customer serving terminal according to the transfer instruction. 22. The transfer server of claim 19, comprising: a routing information recording unit, adapted to record routing information of the 1N4 message; and the iM message forwarding unit is adapted to forward the IM message from the IM user terminal to the customer serving terminal according to the routing information recorded in the routing information recording unit, and/or forward the reply IM message from the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal according to the routing information recorded in the routing information recording unit. 23. The transfer server of claim 19, wherein the receiving unit comprises a data packet encapsulation unit and a data packet analyzing unit; wherein the data packet encapsulation unit is adapted to encapsulate a conventional IM system data packet that the IM user terminal sends to the customer serving terminal into a data packet format specified by the transfer server and the customer serving terminal, and send the encapsulated conventional IM system data packet to the IM message forwarding unit; the data packet analyzing unit is adapted to analyze a data packet sent from the customer serving terminal, and convert the data packet into a data packet format designated by an IM server according to an analysis result and send the converted data packet to the IM message forwarding unit; and the IM message forwarding unit is adapted to forward the encapsulated conventional IM system data packet sent from the data packet encapsulation unit to the customer serving tenninal, and forward the data packet sent from the data packet analyzing unit to the IM server. 24. The transfer server of claim 19, wherein the receiving unit comprises a data packet encapsulation unit and a data packet anal}'zing unit; the data packet encapsulation unit is adapted to add a customer serving system data packet header including information of the customer serving terminal and corresponding data packet tail to a conventional IM system data packet that the IM user terminal sends to the customer serving terminal, and send the conventional IM system data packet to the IM message forwarding unit; the data packet analyzing unit is adapted to analyze a header of a data packet sent from the customer serving terminal, and send the data packet to the IM message forwarding unit according to the header; and the IM message forwarding unit is adapted to forward the conventional IM system data packet to the customer serving terminal according to the customer serving system data packet header included in the conventional IM system data packet that the IM user terminal sends to the customer serving terminal, and forward the data packet sent from the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal according to the header of the data packet.

Full Text

IM-BASED CUSTOMER SERVING SYSTEM, CUSTOMER SERVING METHOD AND TRANSFER SERVER
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to customer serving system and customer serving method fields, and more particularly, to an Instant Messaging (IM)-based customer serving system, an IM-based customer serving method and a transfer server.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Customer serving centers, also referred to as Call Centers, currently enable customers to communicate with an enterprise. Traditional Call Centers mainly adopt telephone for communication with customers, i.e., customers can get services from an enterprise through dialing a uniform telephone number. Combination of telephone system and computer system gives birth to Computer Telecommunication Integration (CTI) technique. The CTI technique can provide various services by taking advantage of the closely associated telephone system and computer system, such as self-service consulting service, telephone bank service, e-business service, and so on.
FIG.1 is a schematic illustrating a typical customer serving system according to the prior art.
In FIGl, Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) is a circuit-switched global voice communication network and is a collection of all circuit-switched telephone networks. Private Branch Exchange (PBX) is mainly used for exchanging calls between local telephone line users within an enterprise. Meanwhile, the PBX allows the local users to share certain amount of external telephone line resources. The PBX is mainly adopted for using less telephone lines. The PBX is owned and operated by the enterprise instead of the telephone company. The PBX generally includes: a telephone trunk rooted in the PBX, a computer located between inside and outside of the PBX and performing memorizing, managing and switching, and network lines inside the PBX, etc. Interactive Voice

Response (IVR) is an application software capable of interacting with a customer by receiving a voice input or keyboard input of a telephone and returning a proper responses. The IVR is generally embedded in large-scale application environments where accessing of databases is necessary. Other devices are all familiar and will not be described herein. The working flow of a t>'pical customer serving system shown in FIGl is as follows. A customer dials a customer service number of an enterprise. The call is forwarded to a customer serving system of the enterprise via the PSTN. At first, the customer is served by the IVR through the CTl. The CTI will perform a certain processing procedure according to information inputted by the customer. If the customer selects staff service, the CTl will transfer the call to a representative via the PBX for providing staff service.
The above procedure is the core procedure of a telephone-based customer serving system. Meanwhile, many subsidiary functions, e.g., voice recording, searching, quality management, process management, scheduling, etc., are developed based on the core procedure, which may assist the telephone customer serving system. In addition, services such as Email and Voice over IP (VoIP) can also be provided through the Internet.
However, the above CTl-based customer serving system is rather huge in size and costs are high. Enterprises usually can not afford such high costs. Although simplified editions are also available and devices can be integrated, such system is still beyond the grasp of most small enterprises due to the high costs. In addition, the telephone-based customer serving system also has deficiencies. For example, customers have to pay high communication fees. In addition, since telephone has a nature of exclusiveness. i.e. one representative can serve only one customer simultaneously, which forms an inevitable bottle neck for the telephone-based customer serving system. Furthermore, the nature of telephone determines that only voice interaction can be adopted and multimedia interaction is not available.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention provide an Instant Messaging (IM)-based customer serving system, an IM-based customer serving method, and a

transfer server, so as to reduce the costs of the customer serving system.
According to the above embodiments, technical schemes of the present invention are as follows.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, an IM-based customer serving system is provided. The IM-based customer serving system includes a transfer server and at least one customer serving terminal; wherein the transfer server is adapted to receive an IM message sent from an IM user terminal, forward the IM message to a customer serving terminal selected, and forward a reply IM message from the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal; and the customer serving terminal is adapted to receive the IM message forwarded by the transfer server, send the reply IM message to the transfer server according to the IM message.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, an IM-based customer serving method is provided. The IM-based customer serving method includes: receiving, by a transfer server, an IM message sent from an IM user terminal, forwarding the IM message to a customer serving terminal, and forwarding a reply IM message from the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal.
According to still another embodiment of the present invention, a transfer server is provided. The transfer server includes: a receiving unit and an Instant Messaging (IM) message forwarding unit; wherein the receiving unit is adapted to receive an IM message from an IM user terminal and/or a reply IM message from a customer serving terminal; and the IM message forwarding unit is adapted to forwarding the IM message from the IM user terminal to the customer serving terminal, and forwarding the reply IM message of the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal.
It can be seen from the above technical solution that, a transfer server is employed in the IM-based customer serving system of the present invention. In operation, the transfer server receives an IM message from an IM user terminal and

forwards the \M message to a customer serving terminal. The customer serving terminal processes the IM message from the IM user terminal and replies to the IM message. The transfer server forwards the reply IM message from the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal. By utilizing the transfer server, a plurality of customer serving terminals is enabled to share one IM account, so as to work for the customer serving system. By using the IM-based customer serving system and the IM-based customer serving method, the costs can be far lower than that of traditional telephone-based customer serving system, thus the costs of enterprises for the customer serving system can be reduced. Therefore, the IM-based customer serving system can not only adopted by large companies but also by small entities.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG.1 is a schematic il!u,si;rating a structure of a typical customer serving system according to the prior art.
FIG.2 is a schematic illustrating a structure of an IM-based customer serving system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG.3 is a flow chart illustrating a processing flow of a customer serving system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG.4 is a schematic illustrating a queue logic unit in a transfer server according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG5A is a schematic illustrating a process of a customer serving terminal sending an IM message according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG.5B is a schematic illustrating a process of a transfer server forwarding an IM message from a customer serving terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG.6A is a schematic illustrating a process of a transfer server forwarding an IM message received from a customer.
FIG.6B is a schematic illustrating a process of a customer serving terminal receiving and processing an IM message from a customer according to an

embodiment of the present invention.
FIG.7 shows formats of messages exchanged between a customer serving terminal, a transfer server and an IM server according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG.8 is a schematic illustrating a structure of a transfer server according to an embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention v/ill be described hereinafter in detail with reference to embodiments to make the technical solution and merits thereof clearer.
Instant Messaging (IM) is an application widely used on the Internet. It is also a most convenient way for communication. IM provides multimedia communications such as text, voice and visual communication and costs little. In the present invention, the IM is applied to the customer serving field to not only lower the costs for enterprises but also bring brand-new experiences to customers. Customers will have better experiences and customer serving efficiency can be improved due to the multimedia communication manners provided by IM messages, such as voice and visual communications.
When applying IM to the customer serving field, a customer communicates with a customer serving terminal through an IM user terminal. Compared with traditional Call Center, an enterprise needs a uniform IM account instead of a telephone number. When establishing a connection between an IM user terminal and a customer serving terminal, the connection between the IM account of the IM user terminal and the JM account for customer serving of the enterprise is firstly established. Then the connection is routed to a customer serving terminal connected with the customer serving IM account. Compared with traditional Call Center, the structure of such customer serving system is greatly simplified due to the Internet having advantages in system structure. The IM user terminal may be an IM tool or an IM client in other forms.
The above is a general idea of the present invention. The present invention

will be described hereinafter with reference to an embodiment for facilitating those skilled in the ait to understand and implement the present invention.
F1G.2 is a schematic illustrating a structure of an IM-based customer serving system. As shown in FIG.2, the customer serving system includes at least one transfer server and a plurality of customer serving terminals. The transfer server can be connected with the customer serving terminals through the Internet or through a local area network. The customer serving terminals may be connected with each other through the Internet or through a local area network.
In FIG2, the transfer server is mainly adapted to receive an IM message from an IM user terminal, forward the IM message to one of the customer serving terminals, and forward a reply IM message of the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal through an IM server after the customer serving terminal processes and replies to the IPv^ message. As such, the forwarding of an IM message is completed. The customer serving terminal is mainly adapted to process the IM message from the IM user terminal and reply to the IM message.
FIG.3 is a flow chart illustrating a processing flow of the customer serving system shown in F1G2. As shown in FIG.3, the processing flow of the customer serving system mainly includes the following steps.
In step 101, an IM user terminal establishes a connection with an IM server through the Internet and acquires a customer serving IM account of an enterprise. The IM user terminal sends an IM message to the customer serving IM account through the Internet. This step corresponds to the procedure of dialing a customer serving number in conventional telephone-based customer serving system. The IM message may be a text message or a multimedia message.
In step 102, after receiving the IM message sent by the IM user terminal, the IM server forwards the IM message to a transfer server of the customer serving system according to the customer serving IM account in the IM message. One customer serving IM account generally corresponds to one transfer server, whereas one transfer server may serve one or more customer serving IM accounts. When a

transfer server serves more customer serving IM accounts, the customer serving IM accounts may be owned by one enterprise or by multiple enterprises.
In step 103, the transfer server performs scheduling analysis according to certain logic and allocates the IM message to one of the customer serving terminals.
As shown in FIG.4, the transfer server may also include a queue logic unit, adapted to allocate IM messages sent from IM user terminals to customer serving terminals according to pre-defined queue logic. The following example explains the process of the queue logic unit allocating the IM messages. The queue logic unit maintains a number of queues in the transfer server. Each queue consists of IM user terminals which have established connections with the customer serving IM account. Each customer serving terminal of the customer serving IM account usually corresponds to one of the queues, and different customer serving terminals corresponds to different queues. When an IM user terminal of a queue sends an IM message to the transfer server, the transfer server forwards the IM message to the customer serving terminal corresponding to the queue. When a new IM user terminal establishes a connection with the customer serving IM account and sends an IM message to the transfer server, the transfer server adds, according to recorded or acquired state of each customer serving terminal, e.g. busy grade, and/or service type, and/or the number of IM user terminals in the queue, the new IM user terminal to a queue to allocate the new IM user terminal to a customer serving terminal and sends the IM message to the selected customer serving terminal. The transfer server may allocate IM usertenninals among the customer serving terminals according to other pre-detlned queue logics, e.g., allocating averagely, allocating randomly, etc. Each queue may have a maximum length. The maximum length may be set or modified by the customer serving terminal corresponding to the queue, so as to set a maximum number of IM user terminals that the customer serving terminal can serve simultaneously. When the number of IM user terminals in the queue reaches the maximum number, the transfer server will not add new IM user terminal into the queue, thereby stop allocating new IM user terminals to the customer serving terminal.

In step 104. the transfer server forwards the IM message from the IM user terminal to the customer serving terminal to which the IM user terminal is allocated.
The above process of steps 101 to 104 gives an example for the process of an IM user terminal sending an IM message to the customer serving system. An exemplary process of the customer serving system sending an IM message to the IM user terminal will be described through steps 105 to 107 hereinafter.
In step 105, the customer serving terminal processes the IM message received, replies to the IM message by sending a reply IM message to the transfer sever.
In step 106, the transfer server forwards the reply IM message to the IM server serving the transfer server on the Internet.
In step 107, the IM server forwards the reply IM message to the IM user terminal according to a conventional IM message forwarding procedure.
In the above process, for a customer, the customer serving IM account has no difference with an ordinary IM account. In embodiments of the present invention, the IM user terminal communicating with the IM-based customer serving system is also the same with communicating with a conventional IM user terminal and does not require modification. Therefore, the IM-based customer serving system is easy to be implemented. The customer serving terminals of the customer serving system may be IM tools or other forms of IM clients, and only features in that the plurality of customer serving tenninals share the same IM account at the same time and provide functions related to customer serving. In general, the customer serving system of the present invention does not require modifications to conventional IM servers and IM user terminals, and merely requires a transfer server and a plurality of customer serving terminals to be added to the customer serving system. The transfer server can be regarded as an IM client when it logs on the IM system. But the transfer server distributes all messages received to the customer serving terminals and forwards messages replied by the customer serving terminals to the IM user terminals of the customers. For the IM server, the transfer server is merely

an ordinary IM account accessing the IM server with the customer serving IM account. Therefore, the !M-based customer serving system has little impact on the customer serving terminal and the IM server, thus can be developed and deployed easily, which is one of the reasons for the low costs of the IM-based customer serving system.
Still referring to FIG2. the customer serving system may further include a customer serving manager, adapted to manage the customer serving terminals in the customer serving system, e.g., managing the number of the customer serving terminals, names and working time of the customer serving terminals, etc. The customer serving manager may adopt the following manner for managing the customer serving terminals: the customer serving manager sets rights for each customer serving terminal, or alerts a customer serving terminal to current important matters to be processed according to status recorded of the customer serving terminal.
Further, the customer serving terminals in the customer serving system may share information with each other. The information shared may include message history and/or user profiles. In other words, no matter which IM user terminal communicates with which customer serving terminal, other customer serving terminals are able to visit the message history communicated and the user profile of the IM user terminal. Each customer serving terminal may directly share its message history and/or user profiles with other customer serving terminals. But this kind of sharing makes it hard to perform data maintenance. Therefore, in other embodiments of the present invention, the customer serving system may further include a shared database. The shared database stores user profiles of IM user terminals, IM messages exchanged between the IM user terminals and the customer serving terminals. And each customer serving terminal can access this database for the shared data. The database may stand alone from the transfer server with user profiles and message history being acquired from the transfer server and stored into the database by the customer serving terminals. The database may also reside in the transfer server with user profiles and message history being stored into the database

by the transfer server. Besides being stored in the form of a database, the message history and/or the user profiles may also be stored in other forms, such as in the form of notepads.
In addition, it is also allowed to transfer workloads between the customer serving terminals, i.e. a customer serving terminal may transfer an IM user terminal it current serves to another customer serving terminal. There are various ways for transferring an IM user terminal between customer serving terminals. For example, customer serving terminal C queries the states of other customer serving terminals recorded and/or acquired by the transfer server, and selects customer serving terminal D and starts the transfer operation according to the states of the other customer serving terminals. The transfer server transfers the IM user terminal currently served by customer serving terminal C to customer serving terminal D when the transfer is triggered. Or, the transfer server may query the states of other customer serving terminals recorded and/or acquired by the transfer server when a transfer is triggered by customer serving terminal C, and selects customer serving terminal D according to a pre-defined rule, and transfers the IM user terminal currently served by customer serving terminal C to customer serving terminal D. Or, after receiving information of the IM user terminal transferred from customer serving terminal C, customer serving terminal D may determine whether to accept this IM user terminal according to a transfer response operation of a customer serving staff and/or a transfer rule pre-dei1ned in cusLoiner serving terminal D. If customer serving terminal D determines not to accept the IM user terminal, the transfer server may send a transfer failure message to customer serving terminal C after receiving a transfer response trigger. The transfer server may record and/or acquire the state of a customer serving terminal in the following manner: a customer serving terminal may set or modify the state of the customer serving terminal according to information configured by a customer serving staff, and inform the transfer server of the state. Or, the customer serving terminal may determine the state of the customer serving terminal based on trigger events of being logged on. the number of JM user terminals currently served by the customer serving terminal and the amount of information exchanged between the IM user

terminals and the customer serving terminal, and inform the transfer server of the state. Or. the transfer server may determine the state of each customer serving terminal based on trigger events of the customer serving terminal being logged on, the number of IM user terminals currently served by the customer serving terminal and the amount of information exchanged between the customer serving terminal and the IM user terminals.
An example will be given hereinafter to explain the transfer of an IM user terminal between customer serving terminals. According to embodiments of the present invention, a customer serving terminal requests the transfer server to transfer an IM user terminal currently served by the customer serving terminal to another customer serving terminal. According to the request, the transfer server forwards subsequent IM messages sent from the IM user terminal to the another customer serving terminal. Specifically, during the transfer, customer serving terminal A may query whether there is a customer serving terminal B which is currently idle and may accept the transfer. If there is, the transfer can be started; otherwise, the transfer will not be started. If the transfer can be started, customer serving terminal A sends a transfer command to the transfer server informing the transfer server to transfer the IM user terminal to customer serving terminal B. The transfer server adjusts the queues, transfers the IM user terminal from the queue of customer serving terminal A to the queue of customer serving terminal B. in subsequent process, the transfer server will forward all IM messages from the IM user terminal to customer serving terminal B.
The customer serving system may require other functions, e.g. functions for setting enterprise numbers, for setting IDs of customer serving terminals, for statistics and for monitoring, and many other accessorial functions, etc. Since the customer serving system is completely based on IM tools, the development, maintenance and implementation of these functions are relatively simple and the costs is very low. In addition, the transfer server may be a stand alone entity, or be integrated in an IM server of an existing IM system. Thus, the enterprises only have to provide a plurality of customer serving terminals for providing the IM-based

customer serving. As such, the costs can be reduced to the lowest.
Various manners can be adopted for forwarding IM messages between an IM server, a transfer server and a customer serving terminal. FIG5A is a schematic illustrating a process of a customer serving terminal sending an IM message according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG5B is a schematic illustrating a process of a transfer server forwarding an IM message from a customer serving terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.6A is a schematic illustrating a process of a transfer server forwarding an IM message received from a customer. FIG.6B is a schematic illustrating a process of a customer serving terminal receiving and processing an IM message from a customer according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG7 shows formats of messages exchanged between a customer serving terminal, a transfer server and an IM server according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG5A and F1G5B, the process of sending an IM message from a customer serving terminal to an IM user terminal is as follows.
In step 201, before sending an IM message, which conforms to a conventional IM system protocol, to an IM system, a customer serving terminal firstly generates a conventional IM system data packet body, i.e. a data packet body conforming to the first format shown in FIG7, according to the conventional IM system protocol.
In step 202 to step 203. the customer serving terminal adds a data packet header 2 and corresponding data packet tail to the conventional IM data packet body according to the conventional IM system protocol. The data packet at this stage can generally be recognized by the conventional IM system. But the data packet is not ready for being transmitted to the transfer server yet, because the transfer server not only requires the data packet to provide information of the conventional IM system, but also requires information of the customer serving system, e.g. routing information, signaling number, timing with the transfer server, the protocol used between the customer serving terminal and the transfer server, etc. Therefore, the customer serving terminal further adds a customer serving system header and corresponding data packet tail to the data packet, i.e. data packet header

1 and the corresponding data packet tail as shown in the first format in FIG.7.
In step 204. the customer serving terminal sends the data packet including the data packet header 1 and corresponding data packet tail, the data packet header 2 and corresponding tail to the transfer server.
In step 205 to step 206, after receiving the data packet from the customer serving terminal, the transfer server performs a first analysis on the data packet, i.e. acquiring customer serving system information, signaling number, etc. from the customer serving system data packet header, then determines whether to forward the data packet according to the signaling number. If the transfer server determines to forward the data packet, a second analysis will be performed to analyze the conventional IM system protocol header, i.e. data packet header 2.
In step 207, the transfer sever analyzes the conventional IM system protocol header, i.e. data packet header 2, to determine a target IM user terminal and records the routing information. The routing information is recorded for forwarding subsequent IM messages received from the IM user terminal to the customer serving terminal. The routing information may alternatively be recorded when forwarding an IM message received from the IM user terminal to the customer serving terminal, so that the transfer server is able to forward an IM message replied by the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal according to the routing information.
In step 208 to step 209. after determining the target IM user terminal, the transfer server removes the customer serving system data packet header and corresponding data packet tail, i.e. removes the data packet header 1 and corresponding data packet tail. Thus, the remaining packet is a conventional IM system data packet including only data packet header 2 and corresponding data packet tail. The transfer server may need to do a few modifications to data packet header 2 and corresponding data packet tail in order to make the data packet meet the requirement of the conventional IM system. Finally, the transfer server sends the conventional IM system data packet which meets the requirement of the conventional IM system and includes data packet header 2 and corresponding data

packet tail to the IM server.
Through the above steps 201 to 209. a data packet conforming to the conventional IM system protocol and including an IM message is transmitted to the IM system successfully and can be recognized correctly. And for the IM system, the data packet received from the customer serving system has no difference with data packets received from inside of the IM system, and therefore, will be processed properly. When receiving the IM message sent from the customer serving system, the IM user terminal may directly reply to it when necessary. The reply IM message will then be forwarded to the customer serving terminal after being processed by the IM server and the transfer server.
Referring to FIG6A and FIG6B. the process of a customer serving terminal receiving an IM message sent by an IM user terminal from an IM server is as follows.
In step 301 to step 302, the transfer server receives a data packet, i.e. a conventional IM system data packet including an IM message, data packet header 2 and corresponding data packet tail from the IM system. The transfer server analyzes the header of the data packet and determines whether to forward the data packet to a customer serving terminal.
In step 303 to step 304, if the transfer server determines to forward the data packet, the transfer server delcrniiiies a Larget customer serving terminal to v/hich the data packet is foi-warded according to routing information carried in the conventional IM system data packet and routing information recorded.
in step 305 to step 306, the transfer server encapsulates the data packet by adding a customer serving system header 1 and corresponding data packet tail into the data packet, and forwards the encapsulated data packet to the destination customer serving terminal.
In step 307 to step 309, after receiving the data packet forwarded by the transfer server, the customer serving terminal firstly determines whether the data packet forwarded by the transfer server is a conventional IM system data packet

including data packet header 1 and corresponding data packet tail, data packet header 2 and corresponding data packet tail by analyzing the header of the data packet. If determining that the data packet is a conventional IM system data packet, the customer serving terminal removes the customer serving system header, i.e. data packet header 1, and corresponding data packet tail to obtain a conventional IM system data packet including an IM system protocol header, i.e. data packet header 2.
In step 310, the customer serving terminal performs service logic processing according to the conventional IM system data packet including the data packet header 2.
Through the above data organizing manner, data forwarding is implemented both inside the customer serving system and between the customer serving system and the conventional IM system are realized without affecting existing IM server and IM user terminals.
Besides the data organizing manners shown in FIG.5A, FIG5B, FIG6A and
FIG.6B, other communication protocols and data formats specified by both the customer serving system and the transfer server may also be used.
The transfer server encapsulates a conventional IM system data packet from the IM server into a specified data packet format, and sends the encapsulated data packet to a cuslorncr serving terrnina! according to the specified communication protocol. After receiving the encapsulated data packet from the transfer server, the customer serving terminal, analyzes the encapsulated data packet according to the specified data packet format to obtain the conventional IM system data packet, generates a reply IM message based on the conventional IM system data packet, generates a reply conventional IM system data packet according to the reply IM message, converts the reply IM system data packet into the data packet format specified by both the customer serving terminal and the transfer server, and sends the reply IM system data packet to the transfer server according to the specified communication protocol. The transfer server receives the reply data packet from the customer serving terminal, converts the data packet into a data packet format

designated by the IM server, and sends the data packet to the IM server.
Embodiments of the present invention also provide a transfer server. FIG.8 shows a structure of a transfer server according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG,8, the transfer server includes receiving unit 801 and IM message forwarding unit 802.
The receiving unit 801 is adapted to receive an IM message from an IM user terminal, and/or receive a reply IM message from a customer serving terminal. The IM message forwarding unit 802 is adapted to forward the IM message from the IM user terminal to the customer serving terminal, and forward the reply IM message of the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal.
The transfer server may further include queue logic unit 803. The queue logic unit 803 is adapted to allocate an IM user terminal to a customer serving terminal according to pre-defmed queue logic and a queue instruction from the receiving unit 801, and inform the IM message forwarding unit 802 of the allocation result. The IM message forwarding unit 802 is further adapted to forward an IM message sent by the IM user terminal allocated to the customer serving terminal to the customer serving terminal according to the allocation result of the queue logic unit 803. The receiving unit 801 is further adapted to send the queue instruction to the queue logic unit 803 according to the IM message received from the IM user terminal and destined for the customer serving terminal.
The transfer server may further include transfer unit 804. The transfer unit 804 is adapted to transfer, after receiving a transfer request from a first customer serving terminal, an IM user terminal allocated to the first customer serving terminal to a second customer serving terminal according to the transfer request, and send a transfer instruction to the IM message forwarding unit 802. IM message forwarding unit 802 is further adapted to forward, after receiving the transfer instruction from transfer unit 804, subsequent IM messages from the IM user terminal to the second customer serving terminal.
The transfer server may further include routing information recording unit

805. The routing information recording unit 805 is adapted to record routing information of an IM message. The IM message forwarding unit 802 is further adapted to forwarding an IM message from an IM user terminal to a customer serving terminal based on the routing information recorded by the routing information recording unit 805.
The receiving unit 801 may further include data packet encapsulation unit 8011 and data packet analyzing unit 8012. The data packet encapsulation unit 8011 is adapted to encapsulate a conventional IM system data packet that an IM user terminal sends to a customer serving terminal into a data packet format specified by both the transfer server and the customer serving terminal, and send the encapsulated conventional IM system data packet to the IM message forwarding unit 802. The data packet analyzing unit 8012 is adapted to analyze a data packet sent from the customer serving terminal, convert the data packet into a data packet format designated by an IM server according to an analysis result, and send the converted data packet to the IM message forwarding unit 802.
IM message forwarding unit 802 is further adapted to forward the data packet from the data packet encapsulation unit 8011 to a customer serving terminal, and forward the data packet from data packet analyzing unit 8012 to the IM server. The data packet encapsulation unit 8011 is further adapted to add a customer serving system data packet header, which includes information of the customer serving terminal, and corresponding data packet tail to the conventional IM system data packet that the IM user terminal sends to the customer serving terminal, and send the conventional IM system data packet with the customer serving system data packet header and corresponding data packet tail to the IM message forwarding unit 802. The data packet analyzing unit 8012 is further adapted to analyze the header of the data packet sent from the customer serving terminal, and forward the data packet to the IM message forwarding unit 802 according to the header.
It can be seen from the above technical solution that, in the IM-based customer serving system and method, a transfer server is adopted to forward IM messages between IM user terminals and customer serving terminals. Thus, the

costs are far lower than that of conventional telephone-based customer serving system. The costs of an enterprise for the customer serving system are also lowered, thus the IM-based customer serving system and method are both suitable for both small entities and large enterprises. Different from the telephone-based customer serving system in which each representative can serve only one customer simultaneously, customers and customer serving staffs in the embodiments of the present invention communicate with each other through IM user terminals and customer serving terminals, therefore each customer serving terminal is able to serve multiple customers simultaneously. In addition, the IM message can be a multimedia message, therefore embodiments of the present invention is able to provide multimedia customer service to improve customer's experience. Since Internet is widely used at present and its costs are lower than telephone, the costs of customers for using the customer serving system can be greatly reduced. On the other hand, IM messages are mainly based on text, and text information can be stored or used for data analysis.
The foregoing descriptions are only preferred embodiments of this invention and are not for use in limiting the protection scope thereof. Any changes and modifications can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of this invention and therefore should be covered within the protection scope as set by the appended claims.

WE CLAIM:
1. An Instant Messaging (IM)-based customer serving system, comprising: a
transfer server and at least one customer serving terminal; wherein
the at least one customer serving terminal shares an IM account;
the transfer server is adapted to receive an IM message sent from an IM user terminal to the IM account, select a customer serving terminal from the at least one customer serving terminal, forward the IM message to the customer serving terminal selected, and forward a reply IM message from the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal; and
the customer serving terminal is adapted to receive the IM message forwarded by the transfer server, send the reply IM message to the transfer server according to the IM message.
2. The IM-based customer serving system of claim 1, comprising:
a customer serving manager, adapted to manage the at least one customer serving terminal by setting rights for the customer serving terminal, or by alerting a customer serving terminal to current matters to be processed according to state recorded of the customer serving terminal.
3. The IM-based customer serving system of claim 1, comprising:
a storage apparatus, adapted to store a user profile of the IM user terminal and/or message history betv/een the IM user terminal and the customer serving terminal, and provide the user profile and/or message history stored for the customer serving terminal;
the customer serving terminal comprises means for receiving the user profile and/or message history provided by the storage apparatus.
4. The IM-based customer serving system of claim 1, wherein the transfer
server comprises a queue logic unit and an IM message forwarding unit: wherein
the queue logic unit is adapted to allocate an IM user terminal to one of the at

least one customer serving terminal according to pre-defined queue logic; and
the IM message forwarding unit is adapted to ibrward an IN'l message sent from the IM user terminal which is allocated to the customer serving terminal to the customer serving terminal according to an allocation result of the queue logic unit.
5. The IM-based customer serving system of claim 1 or 4, wherein the transfer
server comprises:
a transfer unit, adapted to transfer, after receiving a transfer request from the customer serving terminal, subsequent IM messages sent from an IM user terminal which is allocated to the customer serving terminal to a second customer serving terminal according to the transfer request.
6. The IM-based customer serving system of claim 1, wherein the transfer
server comprises:
a routing information recording unit, adapted to recording routing information of the IM message, send the IM message from the IM user terminal to the customer serving terminal according to the routing information, and/or send the reply IM message from the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal according to the routing information.
7. The IM-based customer serving system of claim 1, wherein the customer
serving terminal comprises a data packet encapsulation unit, and the transfer server
comprises a data packet analyzing unit; wherein
the data packet encapsulation unit is adapted to encapsulate a conventional IM system data packet that the customer serving terminal sends to the IM user terminal into a data packet format specified by the customer serving terminal and the transfer server, and send the encapsulated conventional IM system data packet to the transfer server; and
the data packet analyzing unit is adapted to analyze the conventional IM system data packet sent from the customer serving terminal, convert the conventional IM system data packet into a data packet format designated by an IM server according to an analysis result.

8. The !M-based customer serving system of claim 1. wherein the customer
serving terminal comprises a data packet analyzing unit, and the transfer server
comprises a data packet encapsulation unit; wherein
the data packet analyzing unit is adapted to analyze a data packet sent from the transfer server, convert the data packet into a conventional IM system data packet according to an analysis result; and
the data packet encapsulation unit is adapted to convert the conventional IM system data packet that the IM user terminal sends to the customer serving terminal into a data packet format specified by the transfer server and the customer serving terminal.
9. The IM-based customer serving system of claim 1, wherein the customer
serving terminal comprises a data packet encapsulation unit, and the transfer sever
comprises a data packet analyzing unit; wherein
the data packet encapsulation unit is adapted to generate a conventional IM system data packet including an IM system protocol header and corresponding data packet tail according to an IM system protocol, add a customer serving system data packet header including information of the customer serving terminal and corresponding data packet tail to the conventional IM system data packet; and
the data packet analyzing unit is adapted to analyze a header of a data packet sent lorm the customer serving lerminai, forward the dala packet to an JM server according to the header.
10. The IM-based customer serving system of claim 1, wherein the customer
serving terminal comprises a data packet analyzing unit, and the transfer server
comprises a data packet encapsulation unit; wherein
the data packet analyzing unit is adapted to analyze a header of a data packet received, removes the header from the data packet to obtain a conventional IM system data packet according to an analysis result; and
the data packet encapsulation unit is adapted to add a customer serving system data packet header including information of the customer serving terminal and

corresponding data packet tail to a conventional IM system data packet that the IM user terminal sends to the customer serving terminal.
11. The customer serving system of claim 1, wherein the transfer server stands
alone from an IM server of an IM system or resides in the IM server.
12. An Instant Messaging (IM)-based customer serving method, comprising:
sharing, by at least one customer serving terminal, an IM account;
receiving, by a transfer server, an IM message sent from an IM user terminal to the IM account, selecting a customer serving terminal from the at least one customer serving terminal, forwarding the IM message to the customer serving terminal selected, and forwarding a reply IM message from the customer serving terminal to the IM u.ser terminal.
13. The IM-based customer serving method of claim 12, comprising:
storing a user profile of the IM user terminal and/or message history between the IM user terminal and the customer serving terminal; and
returning data according to an access request after receiving the access request from the customer serving terminal.
14. The IM-based customer serving method of claim 12, comprising:
allocating, by the transfer server before forwarding the IM message to the customer serving terminal, the IM user terminal to a selected customer serving terminal according to pre-defined queue logic, and forwarding subsequent IM messages from the IM user terminal to the selected customer serving terminal.
15. The IM-based customer serving method of claim 12 or 14, comprising:
sending, by the transfi^r server before forwarding the IM message to the customer serving terminal, subsequent IM messages from the IM user terminal allocated to the customer serving terminal to another customer serving terminal when receiving a transfer request from the customer serving terminal.
16. The IM-based customer serving method of claim 12. comprising:

recording, by the transfer server, routing information of the IM message, sending the IM message from the IM user terminal to the customer serving terminal according to the routing information, and/or, sending the reply IM message from the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal according to the routing information.
17. The IM-based customer serving method of claim 12, comprising:
encapsulating, by the transfer server before forwarding the IM message to the customer serving terminal, a data packet carrying the IM message into a data packet format specified by the transfer server and the customer serving terminal;
generating, by the customer serving terminal, a conventional IM system data packet according to the reply IM message according an IM system protocol, and converting the data packet into a data packet format specified by the transfer server and the customer serving terminal; and
converting, by the transfer server, the data packet carrying the reply IM message from the customer serving terminal into a data packet format designated by an IM server.
18. The IM-based customer serving method of claim 12, comprising:
adding, by the transfer server before forwarding the IM message to the customer serving terminal, a customer serving system data packet header including information of the customer serving terminal and corresponding data packet tail to a data packet carrying the IM message;
generating, by the customer serving terminal, a conventional IM system data packet according to the reply IM message according to an IM system protocol, adding a data packet header and corresponding data packet tail to the conventional IM system data packet according to the IM system protocol, and adding a customer serving system data packet header and corresponding data packet tail to the data packet according to information of the customer serving terminal; and
removing, by the transfer server, the customer serving system data packet header and corresponding data packet tail after receiving the data packet from the

customer serving terminal, and converting the data pacl<_et into a data packet format designated by an im server.> 19. .A. transfer server, comprising; a receiving unit and an Instant Messaging
(IM) message forwarding unit; wherein
the receiving unit is adapted to receive an IM message sent from an IM user terminal to an IM account and/or a reply IM message from a customer serving terminal; and
the IM message forwarding unit is adapted to forwarding the IM message from the IM user terminal to one of at least one customer serving terminal which shares the IM account, and forwarding the reply IM message of the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal.
20. The transfer server of claim 19, comprising:
a queue logic unit, adapted to allocate the IM user terminal to the customer serving terminal according to pre-defined queue logic and a queue instruction sent from the receiving unit, and inform the IM message forwarding unit of an allocation result;
the IM message forwarding unit is adapted to forward the IM message from the IM user terminal which is allocated to the customer serving terminal to the customer serving terminal according to the allocation result of the queue logic unit; and
the receiving unit is adapted to send the queue instruction to the queue logic unit according to the IM message that the IM user terminal sends to the customer serving terminal.
21. The transfer server of claim 19, comprising:
a transfer unit, adapted to transfer, after receiving a transfer request from the customer serving terminal, the IM user terminal allocated to the customer serving terminal to a second customer serving terminal according to the transfer request. and send a transfer instruction to the IM message forwarding unit; and

the !M message forwaiding unit is adapted to forward, after receiving the transfer instruction from the transfer unit, subsequent IM messages from the IM user terminal to the second customer serving terminal according to the transfer instruction.
22. The transfer server of claim 19, comprising:
a routing information recording unit, adapted to record routing information of the 1N4 message; and
the iM message forwarding unit is adapted to forward the IM message from the IM user terminal to the customer serving terminal according to the routing information recorded in the routing information recording unit, and/or forward the reply IM message from the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal according to the routing information recorded in the routing information recording unit.
23. The transfer server of claim 19, wherein the receiving unit comprises a
data packet encapsulation unit and a data packet analyzing unit; wherein
the data packet encapsulation unit is adapted to encapsulate a conventional IM system data packet that the IM user terminal sends to the customer serving terminal into a data packet format specified by the transfer server and the customer serving terminal, and send the encapsulated conventional IM system data packet to the IM
message forwarding unit;
the data packet analyzing unit is adapted to analyze a data packet sent from the customer serving terminal, and convert the data packet into a data packet format designated by an IM server according to an analysis result and send the converted data packet to the IM message forwarding unit; and
the IM message forwarding unit is adapted to forward the encapsulated conventional IM system data packet sent from the data packet encapsulation unit to the customer serving tenninal, and forward the data packet sent from the data packet analyzing unit to the IM server.
24. The transfer server of claim 19, wherein the receiving unit comprises a

data packet encapsulation unit and a data packet anal}'zing unit;
the data packet encapsulation unit is adapted to add a customer serving system data packet header including information of the customer serving terminal and corresponding data packet tail to a conventional IM system data packet that the IM user terminal sends to the customer serving terminal, and send the conventional IM system data packet to the IM message forwarding unit;
the data packet analyzing unit is adapted to analyze a header of a data packet sent from the customer serving terminal, and send the data packet to the IM message forwarding unit according to the header; and
the IM message forwarding unit is adapted to forward the conventional IM system data packet to the customer serving terminal according to the customer serving system data packet header included in the conventional IM system data packet that the IM user terminal sends to the customer serving terminal, and forward the data packet sent from the customer serving terminal to the IM user terminal according to the header of the data packet.

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Patent Number

269772

Indian Patent Application Number

5577/CHENP/2009

PG Journal Number

45/2015

Publication Date

06-Nov-2015

Grant Date

05-Nov-2015

Date of Filing

22-Sep-2009

Name of Patentee

TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LIMITED

Applicant Address

ROOM 403, EAST BLOCK 2, SEG PARK, ZHENXING ROAD,FUTIAN DISTRICT, SHENZHEN CITY, 518044 GUANGDONG PROVINCE,

Inventors:

#	Inventor's Name	Inventor's Address
1	HUANG, KUI	ROOM 403, EAST BLOCK 2, SEG PARK, ZHENXING ROAD, FUTIAN DISTRICT, GUANGDONG PROVINCE, PRC SHENZHEN CITY, 518044
2	LIANG, FOMU	ROOM 403, EAST BLOCK 2, SEG PARK, ZHENXING ROAD, FUTIAN DISTRICT, GUANGDONG PROVINCE, PRC SHENZHEN CITY, 518044
3	LI, GUOQING	ROOM 403, EAST BLOCK 2, SEG PARK, ZHENXING ROAD, FUTIAN DISTRICT, GUANGDONG PROVINCE, PRC SHENZHEN CITY, 518044
4	DU, XIUXING	ROOM 403, EAST BLOCK 2, SEG PARK, ZHENXING ROAD, FUTIAN DISTRICT, GUANGDONG PROVINCE, PRC SHENZHEN CITY, 518044
5	DING, QIAN	ROOM 403, EAST BLOCK 2, SEG PARK, ZHENXING ROAD, FUTIAN DISTRICT, GUANGDONG PROVINCE, PRC SHENZHEN CITY, 518044

PCT International Classification Number

H04L12/58

PCT International Application Number

PCT/CN08/70597

PCT International Filing date

2008-03-27

PCT Conventions:

#	PCT Application Number	Date of Convention	Priority Country
1	200710088832.3	2007-03-28	China