Telephonic communications – Audio message storage – retrieval – or synthesis – Voice message synthesis
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-30
2004-12-14
Foster, Roland (Department: 2645)
Telephonic communications
Audio message storage, retrieval, or synthesis
Voice message synthesis
C379S210010, C379S221050, C379S265020, C370S352000, C709S217000, C705S007380, C705S002000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06831966
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates generally to telecommunications call center technologies and, more particularly, to a system for supporting multiple organization subscribers to network based interactive voice response (IVR), automated call distributor (ACD), and related call center technologies deployed on a common platform having seamless interfaces to switched circuit and Internet Protocol (IP) networks.
BACKGROUND ART
Telecommunications call center technologies include an interactive voice response (IVR) unit and an automated call distributor (ACD) for enabling communications between a caller and an organization. An IVR automates telephone based “self help” tasks by giving a caller access to information and by receiving information from the caller. An IVR allows communication between the caller and the organization without having the caller directly communicate with a human agent of the organization. By automating the retrieval and processing of information for a caller having access to a telephone or personal computer (PC) an IVR gives data a voice and adds intelligence to a telephone call from the caller. An IVR uses recordings of human or computerized voice to communicate to callers on behalf of an organization. For instance, an IVR for an organization such as a bank would have recordings for communicating with a caller such as “Thank you for calling the bank. Push one on your touch tone telephone for savings account information. Push two on your touch tone telephone for checking account information.” In response, a caller communicates with the IVR to select the appropriate response by pressing the appropriate number on a touch tone telephone or PC. Based on the callers response, the IVR uses recordings to present different menus to the caller and the caller presses the appropriate numbers on the touch tone telephone or PC to work through the menus to obtain the desired information. An IVR may be automated speech recognition (ASR) enabled to allow the caller to speak a response rather than manipulate a key pad on a touch tone telephone or PC. In general, an IVR allows the caller to access information in the organization's database and to receive that information either verbally via a touch tone telephone through a telephone network such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or on a PC via an Internet Protocol (IP) data network such as the Internet.
An ACD distributes incoming calls from callers to agents of an organization to enable the callers to speak directly with the agents. In operation, an ACD recognizes and answers an incoming call from a caller, looks in a database for instructions on what to do with the call, based on the instructions the ACD sends the call to a recording such as “Your call is being transferred to the next available agent”, and then transfers the caller to an agent for the caller to speak directly with the agent. The ACD may take information from the caller and pass this information to the agent to speed the communication between the caller and the agent. The ACD may also select an agent for the caller based on the information submitted by the caller to ensure that the appropriate agent communicates with the caller.
A problem with typical telecommunications call center technologies such as IVR and ACD is that organizations set up and maintain their own call centers. This is expensive and inefficient as each organization deploys and maintains separate call centers. What is needed is a system for supporting multiple organization subscribers to network based IVR, ACD, and related call center technologies deployed on a common platform having seamless interfaces to switched circuit and Internet Protocol (IP) networks.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system for supporting multiple subscribers to network based call center technologies deployed on a common platform.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a system for supporting multiple subscribers to a network based Interactive Voice Response (IVR) unit.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system for supporting multiple subscribers to a network based Automated Call Distributor (ACD).
In carrying out the above objects and other objects, the present invention provides a call center system for enabling communication between callers and subscribers. The system includes a public switched telephone network (PSTN) and a virtual call center operable to receive calls from callers via the PSTN. The virtual call center performs Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and Automated Call Distributor (ACD) functions to the callers on behalf of subscribers of the virtual call center for enabling communication between the callers and the subscribers. The virtual call center performs IVR and ACD functions to callers on behalf of each subscriber based on a service level agreement between each subscriber and the virtual call center. The virtual call center performs IVR functions associated with a subscriber for a caller to access information from the subscriber and to provide information to the subscriber. The virtual call center performs ACD functions associated with the subscriber to connect the caller with an agent of the subscriber.
Preferably, the system includes a service level agreement database operable with the virtual call center for storing the service level agreement of each subscriber with the virtual call center. The system may include a local database operable with the virtual call center for storing rules for the IVR and ACD functions of each subscriber. The virtual call center performs the IVR and ACD functions to the callers on behalf of the subscribers based on the rules of the IVR and ACD functions.
Preferably, a remote database is operable with the virtual call center for storing information regarding each subscriber. The virtual call center performs IVR functions associated with each subscriber for a caller to access information regarding a subscriber from the remote database. The remote database is operable with the virtual call center for storing information provided by the caller to the subscriber.
Preferably, the virtual call center includes a call management unit, a multi-tenant framework, a voice response unit, an applications server, and data network interfaces. The call management unit has telephony ports for enabling connection of calls from the PSTN made by callers to the virtual call center for enabling communication between the callers and the subscribers. The call management unit connects a call from the PSTN made by a caller to the virtual call center by allocating a telephony port to the call. The availability of the telephony ports of the call management unit for calls made by callers to a subscriber is based on the service level agreement of the subscriber with the virtual call center.
The voice response unit is operable for playing voice recordings to the callers on behalf of a subscriber for providing information to the caller regarding the subscriber. The voice response unit receives information from the caller in response to the caller responding to the voice recordings.
The call management unit forwards to the multi-tenant framework access information regarding the caller and the multi-tenant framework uses the access information to identify the subscriber whom the caller is calling. The multi-tenant framework compares the service level agreement of the subscriber whom the caller is calling to the current use of the call management unit by the subscriber to determine whether to instruct the call management unit to accept or reject the call from the caller to the subscriber. The access information regarding the caller may include automatic number identification (ANI) information and dialed number identification service (DNIS) information.
The multi-tenant framework forwards information regarding the caller to the applications server. The applications server performs IVR and ACD functions to the caller on behalf of a subscriber based on the service level a
Corlett Renata
Ford Terri
Reynolds Jim
Siegel-Jacobs Karen
Stevenson Craig
Brooks & Kushman P.C.
Elahee Shafiul Alam
Foster Roland
Qwest Communications International Inc.
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