Management and control of call center and office telephony assets

• US 20030165230A1
• Filed: 03/04/2002
• Published: 09/04/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Plantronics, Inc. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Reuss, Edward L.
• Granted Patent: US 7,376,123 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/265.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/22 Arrangements for supervision, monitoring or testing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5175 Call or contact centers supervision arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5183 Call or contact centers with computer-telephony arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/128 Details of addressing, directories or routing tables

Abstract

Call center and office telephony assets, including telephones, headsets, on-line indicators (OLI), and handset lifters, are managed and controlled over a network by a remote computer system. Each asset has associated therewith one or more network addresses, in some cases the network addresses mapped from an electronic identifier stored within the particular asset or determined by a proxy. In one embodiment, an asset'"'"'s network address is mapped from the asset'"'"'s unique media access control (MAC) address. The computer system communicates with the assets over the network to manage and control the assets.

Claims

1. A call center or office telephony asset for being managed over a network by a remote system, the asset comprising:

a memory storing an electronic identifier mappable to a network address;

a network connection adapted to communicate with a network; and

a network interface communicatively coupled to the network connection, the network interface adapted to communicate over the network with the remote system using the network address;

wherein the asset is at least one member selected from the group consisting of;

a headset, a component associated with a headset, and a device adapted to operatively couple to a headset.

2. The asset of claim 1, wherein the asset comprises at least one member selected from the group consisting of:

a headset, a headset adapter, an on-line indicator (OLI), and a handset lifter.

3. The asset of claim 1, wherein the asset comprises at least one member selected from the group consisting of:

a headset adapter, an on-line indicator (OLI), and a handset lifter.

4. The asset of claim 1, wherein the electronic identifier is a Media Access Control (MAC) address.

5. The asset of claim 1, wherein the network address is an IP address.

6. The asset of claim 1, wherein the network address is globally unique.

7. The asset of claim 1, wherein the network interface is adapted to communicate over the network using the Internet Protocol.

8. A call center or office telephony asset assembly for being managed over a network by a remote system, the assembly comprising:

an asset having an electronic identifier stored therein, the electronic identifier mappable to a network address;

a network interface communicatively coupled to the asset and adapted to communicatively couple with the remote system over a network using the network address; and

a management module, the management module operatively coupled to the asset for performing a management task thereon.

9. The assembly of claim 8, wherein the electronic identifier is a Media Access Control (MAC) address.

10. The assembly of claim 8, wherein the network interface is adapted to communicate over the network using the Internet Protocol.

11. The assembly of claim 8, wherein the asset is a headset or is adapted to operatively couple to a headset.

12. A call center or office telephony asset assembly for being managed over a network by a remote system, the assembly comprising:

an asset;

a proxy device operatively coupled to the asset, the proxy device having a network interface adapted to assign a network address for the asset and communicatively couple with the remote system over a network using the network address; and

a management module, the management module operatively coupled to the asset for performing a management task thereon.

13. The assembly of claim 12, wherein the asset is a headset or is adapted to operatively couple to a headset.

14. The assembly of claim 12, wherein the asset has an electronic identifier, and the network interface is adapted to determine the network address of the asset using the asset'"'"'s electronic identifier.

15. The assembly of claim 12, wherein the electronic identifier is a Media Access Control (MAC) address.

16. The assembly of claim 13, wherein the management module is located in the proxy device.

17. The assembly of claim 13, wherein the proxy device is a second call center or office telephony asset.

18. The assembly of claim 13, wherein the network interface is adapted to communicate over the network using the Internet Protocol.

19. A call center comprising:

a plurality of call center assets;

a plurality of network interfaces, each network interface associated with at least one asset and adapted to communicate over a network for the asset;

a central management system adapted to communicate with the network interfaces over the network to perform at least one management task related to the assets.

20. The assembly of claim 19, wherein each of the plurality of call center assets is a headset or is adapted to operatively couple to a headset.

21. The call center of claim 19, wherein a network interface is associated with two or more assets.

22. The call center of claim 19, wherein at least one of the assets comprises the network interface associated therewith.

23. The call center of claim 19, further comprising at least one proxy device, the proxy device comprising a network interface associated with at least one asset.

24. The call center of claim 19, wherein the management task comprises tracking utilization of one or more assets.

25. The call center of claim 19, wherein the management task comprises tracking the location of one or more assets.

26. The call center of claim 19, wherein the management task comprises tracking diagnostic information regarding one or more assets.

27. The call center of claim 19, wherein the management task comprises providing software or firmware updates for one or more assets.

28. A proxy device to facilitate the management of a call center or office telephony asset by a remote system, comprising:

a network interface adapted to communicatively couple to the remote system over a network, the network interface further adapted to assign an identifier to the asset, the identifier being mappable to a globally unique network address associated with the asset; and

a management module communicatively coupled to the network interface, the management module adapted to facilitate a management task for the asset in response to receiving a management instruction communication from the remote system that is associated with the asset'"'"'s globally unique network address.

29. The device of claim 28, wherein the management module is adapted to facilitate a management task management task by forwarding the management instruction to the asset.

30. The device of claim 28, wherein the management module is adapted to facilitate a management task management task by transmitting operational information regarding the asset to the remote system.

31. A method of addressing a call center or office telephony asset on a network, comprising:

determining a network address for the asset using an electronic identifier; and

using the network address to communicate with a remote system over a network;

wherein the asset is selected from the group consisting of;

a headset, an on-line indicator (OLI), and a handset lifter.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein determining the network address comprises using a Media Access Control (MAC) address associated with the asset.

33. A method of monitoring the utilization a call center or office telephony asset, comprising:

establishing communication with the asset over a network using a network address, the network address determined using an electronic identifier associated with the asset;

transmitting a request to the asset over the network; and

receiving a response to the request from the asset, the response indicating the utilization of the asset.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the asset is a telephone and the response indicates whether the telephone has an active call.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein transmitting comprises sending requests to the asset at predetermined intervals.

36. The method of claim 33, wherein the asset comprises a headset and the utilization includes whether the headset is coupled to a telephone line, the method further comprising:

routing telephone calls to the telephone line if the headset'"'"'s utilization indicates that the headset is coupled to the telephone line, otherwise routing telephone calls to another telephone line.

37. A method of determining the location of a call center or office telephony asset, comprising:

establishing communication with the asset over a network using a network address, the network address determined using an electronic identifier associated with the asset;

transmitting a message to the asset over the network, the message passing intermediate devices on the network;

receiving an echo message, the echo message including identification information associated with the intermediate devices; and

determining the location of the asset using the identification information of the intermediate devices.

38. A method of updating the software or firmware for one or more call center or office telephony assets, comprising:

establishing communication with the asset over a network using a network address, the network address determined using an electronic identifier associated with the asset; and

transmitting a software or firmware update to the asset over the network.

39. The method of claim 38, further comprising:

querying the asset for version information for the asset'"'"'s software or firmware; and

receiving a response from the asset, the response indicating the version information for the asset.

40. The method of claim 38, further comprising:

responsive to the version information'"'"'s being different that the update, re-transmitting the update to the asset over the network.

41. The method of claim 38, further comprising:

transmitting the update to a plurality of assets over the network.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein transmitting comprises broadcasting the update to a multicast network address associated with the plurality of assets.