Telephonic communications – With usage measurement – Call charge metering or monitoring
Reexamination Certificate
1998-07-13
2001-10-02
Kuntz, Curtis (Department: 2743)
Telephonic communications
With usage measurement
Call charge metering or monitoring
C379S212010, C379S115010, C379S125000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06298127
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed generally to call routing, and more particularly, to a system that efficiently transfers telephone calls and provides separate billing records for each leg of the call.
Many times in the business world, it becomes necessary to transfer a telephone call from one terminating party to another. This is quite common in call center applications that customers typically reach by dialing toll free numbers, such as telephone numbers beginning with 800 or 888. In these cases, an agent at one location may transfer a call to an agent at another location who can better assist the customer. During the transfer, agents may briefly confer in order to exchange information about the customer before one of the agents drops out. In other cases, an agent for one business transfers the customer to an agent for another business after the first transaction completes. For instance, an airline reservation agent may offer to transfer the customer to an agent of a car rental agency after the customer completes a ticket reservation.
While conventional techniques offer quick call transfers, they have several disadvantages. One disadvantage is that conventional techniques typically transfer calls from the terminating location. The new call is effectively hairpinned (or tromboned) through the first terminating switch to the second terminating switch. The first terminating switch remains in the call until the call completes. This leads to an inefficient use of telephone company facilities.
Another disadvantage from the inefficient transfer of the calls is difficulty in billing for telephone companies. In the case of an airline call that is transferred to a car rental agency, the telephone company providing the toll free service would like to charge the first portion of the 800/888 call to the airline and the second portion to the car rental agency. However, the telephone company has no direct knowledge of the transfer and, therefore, cannot easily produce separate billing records.
FIG. 1
is a block diagram of a conventional communications network that performs call transfers. Tandem switch
1100
interconnects a customer telephone
1200
with an agent terminal, such as agent terminal
1300
or
1400
, via the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).
Customer telephone
1200
connects to a local Private Branch Exchange (PBX) or Class
5
telephone switch, such as local switch
1210
, over a standard telephone line. Local switch
1210
connects to a Service Control Point (SCP)
1220
using a standard data connection. SCP
1220
contains directory numbers (DNs) for routing telephone calls through the network. Local switch
1210
also connects to tandem switch
1100
over the PSTN using facilities, such as a standard ISUP trunk.
The agent terminals might include a combination of a telephone and a personal computer, such as agent terminal
1300
, or simply a telephony-capable personal computer, such as agent terminal
1400
. Agent terminals
1300
and
1400
connect to tandem switch
1100
via the PSTN and respective local PBX or Class
5
telephone switches, such as local switches
1310
and
1410
.
Agent terminals
1300
and
1400
also connect to respective local Computer Telephony Integrated (CTI) servers
1320
and
1420
via standard data connections, such as Ethernet or X.25 data connections. Local CTI servers
1320
and
1420
are computers that contain a data connection, such as an Ethernet or X.25 data connection, to local switches
1310
and
1410
, respectively.
Tandem switch
1100
is a tandem level telephone switch connected to SCP
1120
and billing system
1140
. SCP
1120
contains DNs for routing telephone calls through the network. Billing system
1140
is a database that maintains billing records for telephone calls routed through tandem switch
1100
.
When a customer dials a toll free number on customer telephone
1200
to obtain service by an agent using agent terminal
1300
, for example, customer telephone
1200
transmits the telephone call to local switch
1210
. Local switch
1210
queries SCP
1220
, using a technology such as Signaling System
7
(SS
7
), to perform local toll free processing. Based upon data, such as the dialed digits, the calling number, etc., SCP
1220
directs local switch
1210
to route the call through the PSTN to tandem switch
1100
.
Upon receiving the call, tandem switch
1100
performs long distance SCP processing by querying SCP
1120
, using a technology such as SS
7
. Based upon data, such as the dialed digits, the calling number, the time-of-day, etc., SCP
1220
directs tandem switch
1100
to route the call through the PSTN to local switch
1310
.
In response, tandem switch
1100
connects customer telephone
1200
to agent terminal
1300
via local switch
1310
. Local switch
1310
also transmits call data, such as the calling number and the dialed digits, to local CTI server
1320
. Based on this data, CTI server
1320
populates the screen on agent terminal
1300
with information about the customer. The agent then converses with the customer and processes the call transaction.
If, during the course of call handling, the agent decides to transfer the call to a second agent, such as the agent using agent terminal
1400
, the agent uses agent terminal
1300
to send a transfer command to local switch
1310
either directly or indirectly via CTI server
1320
.
One way that local switch
1310
can complete the transfer is to route the call back into the PSTN. The call may very well route up to tandem switch
1100
and then back through the PSTN to agent terminal
1400
via local switch
1410
. Once the connection is established, the agents may briefly converse before agent terminal
1300
drops out. Alternatively, the first agent may not confer with the second agent at all and drop out before the second agent answers. However, no matter when agent terminal
1300
drops out of the call, all of the voice communication facilities remain in effect until the customer ends the call. In other words, local switch
1310
and the voice facilities to and from this switch remain part of the connection for the duration of the call.
In an alternative technique, the connection is completed through the PSTN without involving tandem switch
1100
. However, even if tandem switch
1100
is involved in the connection to agent terminal
1400
, the connection appears as a new call to tandem switch
1100
. Tandem switch
1100
does not recognize that the connection is merely a second leg to the original call.
In yet an another technique, private facilities are used to connect agent terminals
1300
and
1400
, instead of the PSTN. Private facilities are more likely to be used if both agents work for the same company instead of partner companies. However, in all these alternatives, all the voice communication facilities to and from local switch
1310
remain in use until the customer ends the call.
When the customer eventually places customer telephone
1200
on-hook and ends the call, tandem switch
1100
produces a billing record and sends it to billing system
1140
. The conversation time recorded in this billing record includes both the time that the customer spoke with the first agent, as well as the time that the customer spoke with the second agent. Tandem switch
1100
provides no information in the billing record that allows the telephone company to allocate the conversation time to each leg of the call.
As a result, a need exists to overcome the disadvantages of the conventional techniques and to provide cost efficient call transfers and accurate billing records.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Systems and methods consistent with the present invention address this need by extending a separate leg for each call from a network level switch to the terminating switches and providing separate billing records for each leg. This serves to minimize the use of voice facilities and solves the billing problems of the conventional techniques.
In accordance with the purpose of the invention as embodied and broadly describ
Barnie Rexford
Kuntz Curtis
Nortel Networks Limited
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