Telephonic communications – Centralized switching system – Call distribution to operator
Reexamination Certificate
1997-12-19
2001-04-03
Hong, Harry S. (Department: 2742)
Telephonic communications
Centralized switching system
Call distribution to operator
C379S106010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06212270
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to arrangements for customer access to a Telemetry Interface Gateway to read and send data during call set-up and call tear-down.
PROBLEM
Standard arrangements now exist for allowing a utility to access metering equipment or to control units such as air conditioning units over the telephone connection to a customer. The present arrangements have the disadvantage that they can only be used when the line is not busy, i.e., is not engaged in a communication unless expensive integrated data/voice modems are installed at both ends of the connection, or undesirably, when “barge-in” is invoked. Frequently, however, when a customer calls a utility, the customer's problems can be resolved by accessing the customer's metering equipment from the utility. For example, if the customer complains that his bill was much too high the previous month, the utility can access the electric meter to determine its present reading and thereby check to see if the bill was based on an erroneous reading. In other applications, a service bureau can perform diagnostic tests on customer appliances or download stored maintenance data. The problem of the prior art is that there are no low cost arrangements for allowing the utility or service bureau to access the customer's telemetering equipment without requiring the customer to first hang up and then be re-called after the automated reading has been executed, or to send someone to the customer's location to manually read the meter. In view of the high cost of handling customer communications, the inability to solve the problem immediately by accessing the metering equipment while a customer is still connected to a service representative is costly and is not really acceptable customer service. (For clarity, the term “utility” as used hereinafter includes a service bureau).
SOLUTION
The above problem is solved and an advance is made over the prior art in accordance with this invention, wherein in response to receiving a call for a particular directory number an alert signal is sent to activate a telemetering interface unit at the customer's premises, prior to establishing a voice connection to an agent and while the line is already in the off-hook state. Advantageously, this then permits the meter equipment at the customer's premises to be accessed prior to connecting an agent so that the agent can have access to up-to-date information while talking to the customer. Specific called directory numbers can be programmed for dedicated communication to either meters or control devices. In accordance with one preferred embodiment, a security dialogue takes place between the utility equipment and the telemetering interface to ensure that the utility is accessing correct customer premises equipment and that the customer has the correct equipment. The switch can provide a security function and filter returned data to assure that only authorized information is sent to the utility. This dialogue can be in accordance with the prior art. The computer which records the information obtained from the customer premises equipment causes the information to be displayed at the agent's position. If necessary and in order to take additional measurements or perform additional control actions, the agent causes another alert signal to be sent to activate the telemetering interface unit. In order to access the customer's premises equipment while the customer is still in the off-hook state and further dialogue between the customer and the agent can then take place. In accordance with one preferred embodiment, the incoming call is recognized at an automatic call distributor for the agents and the automatic call distributor causes the initial set of measurements to be performed; optionally, an announcement such as “We are testing your equipment” can be returned, or a specific identifying tone that is associated with “test in progress”. In an alternative arrangement, a switch of the public switched telephone network recognizes the telephone number, and causes the measurement connection to be established; an announcement would serve to warn the customer about the unusually long set-up time on the connection. A third alternative is to have customer premises equipment for recognizing the telephone number and automatically initiating the measurement connection through signals to the automatic call distributor.
Advantageously, using this arrangement a utility agent can talk to a customer about a problem with prior knowledge of the measurements most likely to be important for solving the problem and if necessary can obtain additional measurements all within a single call, reducing the likelihood of having to call the customer back.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5327488 (1994-07-01), Garland
patent: 5359641 (1994-10-01), Schull et al.
patent: 5369691 (1994-11-01), Cain et al.
patent: 5394461 (1995-02-01), Garland
patent: 5452343 (1995-09-01), Garland et al.
patent: 5535267 (1996-07-01), Schull
patent: 2166625 (1986-05-01), None
patent: 9212590 (1992-07-01), None
Garland Stuart Mandel
Smith David B.
Hong Harry S.
Lucent Technologies - Inc.
Ulrich Werner
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