Technique for providing a telecommunication service including information assistance
First Claim
1. A method for providing a user with telecommunication service including information assistance, comprising:
- establishing, for the user, a call connection to a called party;
monitoring the call connection for a predetermined signal initiated by one of the user and the called party;
allowing access to the information assistance upon a detection of the predetermined signal;
determining call charges as a function of a duration of the call connection, regardless of the number of accesses to the information assistance during the call connection; and
providing data concerning the call charges for billing the user.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A user of an enhanced telecommunications service in accordance with the invention may invoke information assistance while the user is connected to a destination party. The information assistance may include, for example, a concierge-type service feature whereby the user may make restaurant reservations, purchase goods and services, etc. with an operator'"'"'s assistance. In accordance with an aspect of the invention, a first information assistance center which receives a concierge request from a user also provides information concerning fulfillment of the request to the user, even though the request may be fulfilled by an agent in a second information assistance center, located in a different region than the first information assistance center. In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the operators who handle a user'"'"'s calls may be rated by the user in terms of their performance. The user'"'"'s calls may subsequently be assigned to those operators preferred by the user, as reflected by the user'"'"'s rating thereof. In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, subscribers to third party services who have no relationship with the provider of the concierge-type service may take advantage of the service through the respective third party services.
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Citations
71 Claims
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1. A method for providing a user with telecommunication service including information assistance, comprising:
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establishing, for the user, a call connection to a called party;
monitoring the call connection for a predetermined signal initiated by one of the user and the called party;
allowing access to the information assistance upon a detection of the predetermined signal;
determining call charges as a function of a duration of the call connection, regardless of the number of accesses to the information assistance during the call connection; and
providing data concerning the call charges for billing the user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 28)
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9. A method for providing a concierge-type service, comprising:
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receiving, by a first agent in a first facility in a first geographic region, a request for fulfillment of a concierge request from a user;
conveying said concierge request to a second facility in a second geographic region;
assigning a second agent in said second facility to attempt to fulfill the concierge request; and
assigning a third agent in said first facility to contact the user with information regarding said attempt to fulfill the concierge request. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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29. A method for providing a concierge-type service comprising:
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receiving, by a first agent in a first facility in a first geographic region, a concierge request from a user;
conveying said concierge request to a second facility in a second geographic region;
assigning a second agent in said second facility to attempt to fulfill the concierge request;
assigning said first agent to contact the user with information regarding said attempt to fulfill the concierge request if said first agent is available; and
assigning said second agent to contact the user with information regarding said attempt to fulfill the concierge request if said first agent is not available.
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30. A method for providing a concierge-type service comprising:
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receiving, by a first agent in a first facility, a concierge request in a first geographic region from a user;
conveying said concierge request to a second facility which is closer to the first geographic region than said first facility;
assigning a second agent in said second facility to attempt to fulfill the concierge request; and
assigning a third agent in a third facility to contact the user with information regarding said attempt to fulfill the concierge request, wherein said third facility is closer to the user'"'"'s geographic region than said second facility. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33)
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34. A method for distributing an incoming call to one of a plurality of agents comprising:
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(a) receiving an incoming call from a caller;
(b) determining an identity of the caller before the caller is connected to any one of said plurality of agents;
(c) determining, from information stored about the caller, if the caller prefers one or more of said plurality of agents; and
(d) if the caller prefers one or more of said plurality of agents, connecting the caller to a selected one of the preferred agents. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
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48. A method of selecting one or more of a plurality of agents of a service provider which a subscriber to said service provider prefers, comprising:
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(a) receiving an incoming call from the subscriber;
(b) selecting one of said plurality of agents to which the subscriber should be connected;
(c) connecting the subscriber to the agent selected in step (b);
(d) receiving a rating of the agent selected in step (b) from the subscriber;
(e) repeating steps (a) through (d) a plurality of times;
(f) selecting said one or more of the plurality of agents which the subscriber prefers as a function of the agent ratings received from the caller in step (d). - View Dependent Claims (49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61)
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62. A method for providing a concierge-type service by a concierge provider comprising:
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receiving a first request for a concierge-type service from a user having a relationship with the concierge provider;
the concierge provider storing preference information associated with the user based on the relationship;
accessing selected preference information in response to the first request;
supplementing said first request with the selected preference information;
receiving a second request for a concierge-type service from a third party service provider, the second request being initiated by a subscriber to the third party service provider, the subscriber having no relationship with the concierge provider;
providing information concerning fulfillment of the first request to the user; and
and providing information concerning fulfillment of the second request to the third party service provider. - View Dependent Claims (63)
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64. A system for providing a user with telecommunication service including information assistance, comprising:
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a mechanism for establishing, for the user, a call connection to a called party;
a device for monitoring the call connection for a predetermined signal initiated by one of the user and the called party, access to the information assistance being allowed upon a detection of the predetermined signal; and
a processor for determining call charges as a function of a duration of the call connection, regardless of the number of accesses to the information assistance during the call connection, data concerning the call charges being provided for billing the user. - View Dependent Claims (65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71)
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Specification