Patent ID: 7031997

Claim:
A consulting system for replying to an inquiry from a customer, comprising: a plurality of clerk terminals for use by an expert clerk to reply to said inquiry from said customer; and a connection management apparatus for managing connections, said connection management apparatus comprising: monitoring means for monitoring connective status of each of said clerk terminals, storage means for storing data related to an expert clerk corresponding a connectable expert clerk terminal, extraction means for extracting said data related to said expert clerk corresponding said connectable expert clerk terminal, and sending means for sending a list of said data related to said expert clerk corresponding to said connectable expert clerk terminal, to a terminal for use by said customer, so that said customer can select an expert clerk related to said connectable clerk terminal; wherein: each of said clerk terminals sends data showing that connection is possible to said connection management apparatus when connection with said terminal for use by said customer is ended, and said monitoring means of said connection management apparatus changes a connective status of said clerk terminal from “connected” to “connectable” based on said data showing connectable.