Telephonic communications – Centralized switching system – Call distribution to operator
Reexamination Certificate
1998-08-17
2001-07-10
Tsang, Fan (Department: 2645)
Telephonic communications
Centralized switching system
Call distribution to operator
C379S030000, C379S088170, C379S100050, C379S258000, C370S352000, C370S468000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06259785
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a system and method for providing automatic call distributor (ACD) functions in a data network environment and, more specifically, to a system and method for dynamically altering a location for mixing digital voice samples during ACD silent call monitoring.
ACD systems are employed in a wide range of customer service environments and provide ACD users with an economical and powerful means for providing customer service. Calls can be automatically routed to ACD agents who possess the skills required for a particular call. Management of a customer service department is facilitated by the ability of a manager or supervisor to monitor calls directed to agents and to analyze performance of the agents. The supervisor, utilizing a single terminal, is able to conveniently switch among different ACD agent calls and thereby directly monitor the job performance of a large number of ACD agents.
An example of an ACD for providing customer support for computers and peripheral devices might include a greeting which requires the customer to select from a choice of computer related questions regarding printer malfunctions, an inability to run particular applications on a computer, and software installation on a computer. The option which the customer selects causes the ACD system to transfer the call to a particular agent whose skills match the needs of the customer, as indicated by the selection. Once the call has been answered by an ACD agent, a supervisor can silently monitor the call to evaluate the agent's performance and make recommendations.
With the rapid development of computer network communications capabilities, many of the functions provided by an ACD system can now be performed in a distributed network environment. However, certain obstacles remain to providing effective ACD functionality in a distributed network environment. Specifically, the dominant protocols for voice-over-data-network telephony, for instance the H.323 standard of the International Telecommunication Union, do not provide an effective means for silently monitoring a call.
A voice-over-data-network call, for instance a telephony-over-LAN (TOL) call, includes a first voice data stream transmitted from an agent terminal to a customer terminal and a second voice data stream transmitted from the customer terminal to the agent terminal. One known method for enabling a supervisor terminal to monitor the call includes establishing a monitoring call between the agent terminal and the supervisor terminal. The agent terminal utilizes a digital signal processor (DSP) to mix voice samples from the first voice data stream with voice samples from the second voice data stream into a third voice data stream which is transmitted to the supervisor terminal over the monitoring call.
The processor requirements associated with mixing voice samples are substantial and can adversely affect other applications running on the agent terminal. Requiring all agent terminals to have sufficient DSP capabilities to mix the voice samples is often impractical, because of the cost associated with DSP resources required for mixing voice samples. The cost of the ACD system becomes significantly greater if each agent terminal must include the sample-mixing sophistication.
What is needed is a system and method for efficient silent monitoring of a voice-over-data-network call.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a system and method for efficient silent call monitoring of a first voice-over-data-network call. The system includes an agent terminal that is enabled to establish the first call and to cooperate with a supervisor terminal to establish a monitoring voice-over-data-network call, wherein a voice data mixing location for the monitoring call is dynamically alterable according to a level of available processor resources in the agent terminal. The first call includes first voice data transmitted from the agent terminal to a customer terminal and second voice data transmitted from the customer terminal to the agent terminal. In a monitoring session, it is important to transmit portions of the first and second voice data, which were simultaneously transmitted in the first call as a result of simultaneous statements, to a supervisor terminal in such a manner as to minimize transmission delay and to efficiently utilize network resources. To this end, the simultaneously transmitted first and second data portions are mixed either at the agent terminal if sufficient processor resources are available in the agent terminal, or at the supervisor terminal if insufficient resources are available in the agent terminal.
In a preferred embodiment, the system and method are practiced in a telephony-over-LAN environment, wherein the local area network (LAN) supports a distributed ACD system. The agent terminal is an ACD agent terminal which handles incoming calls from customers, such as from the customer terminal, and the supervisor terminal is utilized by an ACD supervisor to oversee ACD system operations by, for example, monitoring ACD calls. After the agent terminal and the customer terminal establish the first call, the supervisor terminal transmits a request to establish a monitoring session for the purpose of monitoring the agent's performance in handling the first call. Processor monitoring circuitry in the agent terminal determines whether the agent terminal has available to it a level of processor resources above a minimum threshold required for performing digitized voice data mixing. There is a preference in the system to assign the voice data mixing function to the agent terminal, if possible, to conserve network bandwidth and to avoid unnecessarily tying up network processor resources.
If sufficient processor resources are available to the agent terminal, the agent terminal cooperates with the supervisor terminal to establish a first monitoring call. The agent terminal inspects time stamps of data packets in the first call to determine if the time stamps indicate that a quantity of first voice data was transmitted from the agent terminal at the same time that a quantity of second voice data was transmitted from the customer terminal. If the first voice data was transmitted at the same time as the second voice data, this indicates that the agent and customer were talking simultaneously. A voice mixer, which is enabled upon detection of the processing resource level above the minimum threshold, integrates the simultaneously transmitted first and second voice data to form mixed voice data for transmission over the first monitoring call. For applications that include video transmissions, a voice/video mixer is utilized.
After the first monitoring call is established, the agent terminal's processor monitoring circuitry continues to monitor the level of available processor resources to determine if sufficient processor resources continue to be available to support the mixing capability for the monitoring call. The resources might fall below the minimum threshold because the agent terminal is required to run other applications which drain processor resources, or the processor requirements for the call might increase as the result, for example, of an addition of an agent video stream and a customer video stream to the first call.
If the available processor resource level in the agent terminal falls below the minimum threshold, the agent terminal determines whether sufficient network bandwidth is available to establish an auxiliary monitoring call. If sufficient bandwidth is available, the call control of the agent terminal establishes the auxiliary monitoring call, provides notification to the supervisor terminal to enable a voice/video mixer in the supervisor terminal, and then disables the agent terminal voice/video mixer. The agent call control transmits the unmixed first and second voice data over the first monitoring call and auxiliary monitoring call. In this manner, the agent terminal is able to continue the monitoring session despite falling below
Beyda William Joseph
Gheorghiu Florin M.
Shaffer Shmuel
Skrzynski Mark
Siemens Information and Communication Networks Inc.
Tsang Fan
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