Originating calls in a contact center either in a voice dialing mode or a text dialing mode

• US 10,135,978 B1
• Filed: 11/16/2016
• Issued: 11/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alvaria Cayman
• Original Assignee: Noble Systems Corporation
• Inventors: Koster, Karl H., Ouimette, Jason P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Deane, Jr., William
• Application Number:
  US15/352,656
• Time in Patent Office: 734 Days
• Field of Search: 37926509, 37926501-26514, 37926601-2661
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/12 Counting circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42042 Notifying the called party of information on the calling party details within substation equipment H04M1/57, signalling details H04Q3/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42382 Text-based messaging services in telephone networks such as PSTN/ISDN, e.g. User-to-User Signalling or Short Message Service for fixed networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5133 Operator terminal details
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5141 Details of processing calls and other types of contacts in an unified manner unified messaging in packet-switching networks H04L51/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5158 in combination with automated outdialling systems devices for signalling identity of wanted subscriber H04M1/26
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5183 Call or contact centers with computer-telephony arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0048 where the text-based messaging service is a Short Message Service

Abstract

A dialing list comprising call records can be processed by a call handling component(s) in a contact center in various dialing modes. A call record may be processed to originate a voice call, where the agent manually dials the call as a voice telephone call. In another embodiment, the call record can be processed to originate a SMS text call, where the agent also determines when the call originates. In each embodiment, the agent is presented with a graphical user interface tailored to the dialing mode. The dialing mode used may be defined by the dialing list the call record is retrieved from, information from within the call record itself, application of a rule, or input from the agent. Once the dialing mode is selected, it may be altered under certain conditions. When the call is originated, various compliance oriented tests, including calling windows and call attempts, are performed.

Claims

1. A method for originating a text call by an agent of a contact center comprising:

receiving at a text dialing processing system a call record from a dialing list of a calling campaign, wherein the dialing list comprises a plurality of call records and the call record is associated with an account comprising a wireless telephone number;

retrieving a call attempt counter and a call attempt counter threshold, both associated with the wireless telephone number;

determining whether the call attempt counter is equal to or less than the call attempt counter threshold; and

after determining the call attempt counter is equal to or less than the call attempt counter threshold;

displaying the wireless telephone number from the account to the agent using a graphical user interface (“

GUI”

) on a computer used by the agent, wherein the computer is separate from the text dialing processing system;

displaying a proposed message content for the text call to the agent on the GUI;

receiving an input from the agent requesting to originate the text call;

originating the text call to the wireless telephone number by the text dialing processing system in response to receiving the input from the agent; and

incrementing the call attempt counter after originating the text call.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second input from the agent interacting with the GUI, wherein the second input indicates to replace the proposed message content of the text call with an alternative message content selected from a menu of message contents;

indicating the alternative message content to the text dialing processing system, wherein the text call is originated having the alternative message content; and

originating the text call with the alternative message content.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the proposed message content is determined based on the account.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying an indication to alter a dialing mode of the text call to a voice dialing mode to the agent on the GUI.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a dialing mode of the text call is based on a dialing mode indicator associated with the dialing list.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the proposed message content of the text call is displayed to the agent on the GUI by the text dialing processing system sending the proposed message content to the computer used by the agent.

7. A method for originating a text call by an agent of a contact center based on processing a call record in a dialing list for a calling campaign, comprising:

receiving the call record by a text dialing component, wherein the call record is associated with an account and comprises a wireless telephone number;

displaying information of the account to the agent on a graphical user interface (“

GUI”

) of a computer used by the agent, wherein the computer is separate from the text dialing component and the information of the account comprises content of the text call that is determined in part by using the dialing list;

displaying the wireless telephone number to the agent on the GUI of the computer;

receiving input at the computer from the agent requesting to originate the text call;

sending the input from the computer to the text dialing component;

originating the text call to the wireless telephone number by the text dialing component in response to receiving the input; and

incrementing a call attempt counter associated with the wireless telephone number after originating the text call by the text dialing component.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising the steps, performed prior to originating the text call by the text dialing component, of:

determining a calling window for the call record;

determining the text call cannot be originated at a first current time based on the calling window being closed at the first current time;

queuing the text call for a subsequent origination; and

determining the text call can be originated at a second current time based on the calling window being open at the second current time prior to the subsequent origination.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

determining the content of the text call displayed on the GUI by the text dialing component based on the calling campaign.

10. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

determining a calling party number to use when originating the text call by the text dialing component based on the calling campaign.

11. A system for originating a text call in a contact center, comprising:

a text dialing component comprising a computer processor configured to;

receive a call record from a dialing list, the call record indicating a called party number;

ascertain a calling window for a called party associated with the call record based on at least one of a NPA-NXX of the called party number and a postal address of the called party;

determine the calling window for the called party is open based on a current time; and

after determining the calling window is open;

provide information to a computer used by an agent, the information comprising;

a content of the text call,

the called party number, and

a called party name associated with the called party;

originate the text call to the called party number in response to receiving an indication from the computer initiated by the agent to originate the text call; and

increment a call attempt counter associated with the called party after originating the text call; and

the computer used by the agent, wherein the computer is separate from the text dialing component and is configured to;

display to the agent the content of the text call, the called party number, and the called party name;

display to the agent a function icon to originate the text call to the called party number;

receive a selection of the function icon by the agent to originate the text call; and

provide the indication to the text dialing component in response to receiving the selection of the function icon by the agent thereby causing the text call to originate.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the text dialing component is further configured, prior to providing the information to the computer, to:

retrieve the call attempt counter;

determine a threshold call attempt value associated with the call record; and

determine that the call attempt counter does not exceed the threshold call attempt value.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the text dialing component is further configured to:

receive a request from the computer to switch a dialing mode of the call record to a voice dialing mode.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the text dialing component is further configured to:

ascertain the calling window for the called party is open based on the current time by determining a current location of the called party using one of the NPA-NXX of the called party number and the postal address of the called party.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that when executed cause a computer processor to:

receive a call record from a dialing list, the call record indicating a called party number to which a call is to be originated;

determine that the call to be originated is to be a text call;

ascertain a calling window for originating the text call to a called party based on a location of the called party determined using at least one of a NPA-NXX of the called party number and a postal address of the called party;

ascertain whether the text call can be originated within the calling window based on a current time and the location of the called party; and

after ascertaining the text call can be originated within the calling window;

provide text call origination information to display on an agent computer used by an agent, the text call origination information comprising;

a content of the text call,

the called party number, and

a called party name associated with the called party;

originate the text call in response to receiving an indication from the agent computer initiated by the agent to originate the text call; and

increment a call attempt counter associated with the called party number after originating the text call.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further configured to, prior to causing the computer processor to provide the text call origination information to the agent computer, cause the computer processor to:

retrieve the call attempt counter;

determine a threshold call attempt value associated with the call record; and

determine that the call attempt counter does not exceed the threshold call attempt value.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further configured to, prior to causing the computer processor to determine the call is to be originated as the text call, cause the computer processor to:

receive a request from the agent computer to switch a dialing mode of the call to a text dialing mode.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the computer processor to:

receive information from the agent computer editing the content of the text call after the text call origination information is provided to the agent computer.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the call record is associated with a calling campaign indicating the call record is to be associated with a text dialing mode.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further configured to:

receive a second call record from the dialing list, the second call record indicating a second called party number to which a second call is to be originated;

determine that the second call to be originated is a voice call;

ascertain a second calling window for originating the voice call to the second called party based on at least one of a second NPA-NXX of the second called party number and a second postal address of the second called party;

ascertain whether the voice call can be originated within the second calling window based a second current time; and

after ascertaining the voice call can be originated within the second calling window;

provide voice call origination information to the agent computer, wherein the voice call origination information comprises;

the second called party number, and

a second called party name associated with the second called party number.