Point-of-presence call management center

• US 20010007589A1
• Filed: 02/27/2001
• Published: 07/12/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Incorporated (Genesys Cloud Services Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Callnet Communications
• Inventors: Uppaluru, Prem, Sundaram, Mukesh
• Granted Patent: US 6,445,784 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/211.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/35 virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42306 Number translation services, e.g. premium-rate, freephone or vanity number services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5166 in combination with interactive voice response systems or voice portals, e.g. as front-ends
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5237 Interconnection arrangements between ACD systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0033 Notification or handling of incoming calls by a computer
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/121 Details of network access arrangements or protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1245 where a network other than PSTN/ISDN interconnects two PSTN/ISDN networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/125 Details of gateway equipment

Abstract

A point-of-presence (POP) call center system capable of answering, servicing, queuing and routing of calls at local points of presence to reduce communications costs and enhance operational efficiency for toll-free inbound call centers. The POP call center system includes a set of point-of-presence call center gateways distributed at points of presence close to the point of call origination.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

redirecting a telephone call that is directed to a remote call center to a local call center;

automatically answering the redirected telephone call in the local call center to determine whether connection to the remote call center is necessary; and

bridging the redirected telephone call with a telephone connection in the remote call center via a telecommunication network adaptable to be coupled between the local call center and the remote call center if connection to the remote call center is necessary.

2. The method of

claim 1

further comprising signaling the remote call center via a data network between the local call center and the remote call center to request the telephone connection to be established in the remote call center if connection to the remote call center is necessary.

3. The method of

claim 1

wherein redirecting the telephone call from the remote call center to the local call center comprises translating a telephone number associated with the inbound telephone call to a translated number that terminates at the local call center.

4. The method of

claim 1

wherein bridging the redirected telephone call with the telephone connection in the remote call center comprises:

determining when the telephone connection in the remote call center is imminent;

and

forwarding the redirected telephone call to the remote call center via the communication network to be bridged with the telephone connection in the remote call center in response to determining that the telephone connection in the remote call center is imminent.

5. The method of

claim 4

wherein determining when the telephone connection in the remote call center is imminent comprises the local call center receiving a signal from the remote call center via a data network coupled between the local call center and the remote call center, the signal indicating that the telephone connection in the remote call center is imminent.

6. The method of

claim 4

further comprising storing an entry in a queue in the remote call center to indicate the request for the telephone connection to be established in the remote call center, and wherein determining when the telephone connection in the remote call center is imminent comprises determining when the entry in the queue in the remote call center has advanced to the head of the queue.

7. The method of

claim 1

wherein automatically answering the redirected telephone call in the local call center to determine whether connection to the remote call center is necessary comprises:

automatically answering the call using an automated call answering system; and

executing an interactive application in the automated call answering system to interact with a caller.

8. The method of

claim 7

further comprising downloading at least a portion of the interactive application from the remote call center to the local call center via a data network coupled between the local call center and the remote call center.

9. The method of

claim 1

wherein bridging the redirected telephone call with the telephone connection in the remote call center via a communication network comprises bridging the redirected telephone call with the telephone connection in the remote call center via a voice communication channel established over a data network coupled between the local call center and the remote call center.

10. A distributed telephone call servicing system comprising:

a remote call center configured to service telephone calls; and

a local call center configured to automatically answer telephone calls that have been redirected from the remote call center to the local call center, the local call center being further configured to determine, for each redirected telephone call, whether connection to the remote call center is necessary and, if connection to the remote call center is necessary, to bridge the redirected telephone call with a telephone connection in the remote call center via a communication network coupled between the local call center and the remote call center.

11. The system of

claim 10

further comprising a data network coupled between the local call center and the remote call center, the local call center being further configured to signal the remote call center via the data network to request the telephone connection to be established in the remote call center if connection to the remote call center is necessary.

12. The system of

claim 11

wherein the data network is a virtual private network that provides industry standard connection and transport protocols.

13. The system of

claim 11

wherein the data network between the local call center and the remote call center forms the communication network used to bridge the redirected toll free call with the telephone connection in the remote call center.

14. The system of

claim 11

further comprising a database of network addresses coupled to the local call center via the data network, the local call center being configured to access the database of network addresses to determine a network address of the remote call center in response to answering a telephone call that has been redirected from the remote call center to the local call center.

15. The system of

claim 14

wherein the local call center indexes the database of network addresses based on a phone number generated by translating a telephone number assigned to the remote call center.

16. The system of

claim 15

wherein the phone number generated by translating the telephone number assigned to the remote call center is a telephone number assigned to the local call center.

17. The system of

claim 10

wherein the local call center includes an automated call answering system that executes an interactive application to interact with respective callers of the redirected telephone calls.

18. The system of

claim 17

further comprising a data network coupled between the local call center and the remote call center, the local call center being further configured to download at least a portion of the interactive application from the remote call center via the data network.

19. A distributed telephone call servicing system comprising:

a remote call center configured to service telephone calls; and

a plurality of local call centers that are distributed within respective service regions, each configured to automatically answer telephone calls that originate within the local call center'"'"'s respective service region, each of the telephone calls being redirected from the remote call center to one of the plurality of local call centers selected according to the service region from which the telephone call originated, the selected one of the plurality of local call centers being configured to determine, for each redirected telephone call received, whether connection to the remote call center is necessary and, if connection to the remote call center is necessary, to bridge the redirected telephone call with a telephone connection in the remote call center via a communication network between the local call center and the remote call center.

20. The system of

claim 19

further comprising a data network interconnecting each of the plurality of local call centers with the remote call center, the selected one of the plurality of local call centers being further configured to signal the remote call center via the data network to request the telephone connection to be established in the remote call center if connection to the remote call center is necessary.

21. The system of

claim 20

wherein the data network is a virtual private network that provides industry standard connection and transport protocols.

22. The system of

claim 20

wherein the data network interconnecting the plurality of local call centers with the remote call center forms the communication network used to bridge the redirected toll free call with the telephone connection in the remote call center.

23. The system of

claim 19

wherein each of the plurality of local call centers includes an automated call answering system that executes an interactive application to interact with respective callers of the redirected telephone calls.

24. The system of

claim 23

further comprising a data network interconnecting each of the plurality of local call centers with the remote call center, at least one of the plurality of local call centers being configured to download at least a portion of the interactive application from the remote call center via the data network.

25. The system of

claim 19

wherein the service regions correspond to geographic regions.

26. The system of

claim 19

wherein the service regions are local access network service regions.

27. The system of

claim 26

wherein at least one of the local access network service regions is served by a wireless access network.

28. The system of

claim 26

wherein at least one of the local access network service regions is served by a data access network.

29. The system of

claim 26

wherein at least one of the local access network service regions is served by a digital subscriber line access network.

30. The system of

claim 19

wherein at least one of the service regions is served by a long distance access network.

31. A telephone call handling system comprising:

a telephony switch to receive telephone calls that have been redirected to the call handling system by a local access network;

a computer telephony server coupled to the telephony switch to detect when a redirected telephone call is received in the telephony switch and to automatically answer the redirected telephone call to determine whether connection to a remote call center is necessary, the computer telephony server being configured to bridge the redirected telephone call with a telephone connection in the remote call center via a communication network adaptable to be coupled between the local call center and the remote call center if connection to the remote call center is necessary.

32. The call handling system of

claim 31

wherein the communication network is a data network.

33. The call handling system of

claim 31

wherein the communication network is a wireless network.

34. The call handling system of

claim 31

wherein the computer telephony server is configured to issue a request to the remote call center to initiate a proxy call in the remote call center, the proxy call being a request for connection to a human operator that is managed within the remote call center without a long distance voice connection being established between the remote call center and the call handling system.

35. The call handling system of

claim 34

wherein the computer telephony server is further configured to receive communications via a data network indicating progress of the proxy call in the remote call center and wherein the computer telephony server is further configured to bridge the redirected telephone call with a telephone connection in the remote call center by bridging the redirected telephone call with the proxy call in response to detecting that the proxy call is about to be answered by a human operator.

36. A telephone call handling system comprising:

a local call center gateway communicatively coupled to an access network accessible by one or more end users;

an automated call distributor configured to queue inbound calls in a queue and to distribute the inbound calls in sequence to human operators as human operators become available; and

a computer telephony server coupled to the automated call distributor and configured to receive proxy call requests from a data network coupled to the local call center gateway, the computer telephony server further being configured to insert a proxy call in the queue and to notify the local call center gateway, via the data network, when the proxy call has advanced to a threshold point in the queue.

37. The telephone call handling system of

claim 36

wherein the threshold point in the queue is the head of the queue.

38. The telephone call handling system of

claim 36

further comprising a telephony switch to receive telephone calls from the local call center gateway via a communication network, and wherein the computer telephony server is further configured to connect a telephone call received from the local call center gateway via the communication network to the proxy call.

39. The telephone call handling system of

claim 36

wherein the computer telephony server is further configured to receive telephone calls from the local call center gateway via the data network and to connect such telephone calls to the proxy call.

40. The telephone call handling system of

claim 36

wherein the access network comprises a private network.

41. The telephone call handling system of

claim 40

wherein the private network is configured to support voice communication over IP.

42. The telephone call handling system of

claim 36

wherein the access network comprises a wireless network.

43. The telephone call handling system of

claim 36

wherein the access network comprises a long distance network.

44. The telephone call handling system of

claim 36

wherein the access network comprises a digital subscriber line network.

45. The telephone call handling system of

claim 36

wherein the access network comprises a data communication network.

46. The telephone call handling system of

claim 38

wherein the communication network comprises a wireless network.

47. The telephone call handling system of

claim 38

wherein the communication network comprises a long distance network.

48. The telephone call handling system of

claim 38

wherein the communication network comprises a digital subscriber line network.

49. The telephone call handling system of

claim 38

wherein the communication network comprises a data communication network.

50. The telephone call handling system of

claim 36

wherein the access network comprises a network that is partially a wireless network and partially a wired network.