System for facilitating parallel data transfer from a wireless caller into a communications center

• US 20050286492A1
• Filed: 06/23/2004
• Published: 12/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Incorporated (Genesys Cloud Services Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Incorporated (Genesys Cloud Services Incorporated)
• Inventors: Kikinis, Dan, Perlmutter, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,010,092 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0048 where the text-based messaging service is a Short Message Service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/184 Messaging devices, e.g. message centre

Abstract

A system for identifying and interacting with callers has: a telephone switch for receiving and distributing incoming calls; a messaging server for sending or receiving messages and attachments; and, a software routine for identifying wireless callers and for matching them to messages in the messaging server. The system is characterized in that upon receiving a call the system attempts to identify the call to a caller and of the caller is not already known in the system or identified an automated message is generated and sent to the caller asking for the desired information. In one embodiment the caller sends a message when the call is placed to optimize identification.

Claims

1. A system for identifying and interacting with callers comprising:

a telephone switch for receiving and distributing incoming calls;

a messaging server for sending or receiving messages and attachments; and

,

a software routine for identifying wireless callers and for matching them to messages in the messaging server.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the telephone switch is one of a private branch exchange or an automated call distributor.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the messaging server generates and serves automated SMS messages.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the messaging server generates and serves automated e-mail messages.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the messaging server generates and serves automated session initiated protocol (SIP) messages.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the messaging server and the software routine execute on a single machine and the machine is one of an agent workstation or a telephony switch.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the telephone switch is connected at network level to another telephone switch using a data network separate from the telephone line.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the software routine is distributed to the switch.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the software routine is called only to interact with wireless callers identified by the system.

10. A software routine integrated with a CTI routine for determining the existence of knowledge about a caller associated with an incoming call from the point of a communications center comprising:

a first sub-routine for determining if a caller identification is known to the system; and

,

a second sub-routine for controlling an automated messaging server to interact with the caller.

11. The software routine of claim 10 wherein the CTI routine determines the number identity of the incoming call and if the call is from a wireless caller.

12. The software routine of claim 10 integrated with a CTI routine resident on a CTI processor.

13. The software routine of claim 10 integrated with a CTI routine resident on a server having access to a CTI processor.

14. The software routine of claim 10 further including a sub-routine or determining whether a call is from a wireless caller or not.

15. The software routine of claim 10 integrated with IP routing software.

16. A method for interacting with a caller at a point of access to a communications center including steps of

(a) receiving an incoming call;

(b) determining caller identification;

(c) determining if existing data is available about the identified caller;

(d) if data exists, retrieving the data associated with the identified caller; and

(e) routing the retrieved data along with the call.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein in step (a), the point of access is a local telephony switch in a telephone network.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein in step (a), the point of access is a central switch in a communications center.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein in step (a), the point of access is a web server.

20. The method of claim 16 wherein in step (b), determining caller identification is performed by a CTI software routine.

21. The method of claim 16 wherein in step (b), if identification cannot be determined, an automated message is generated and sent to the caller during the session, the message asking for caller identification.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the automated message is one of an SMS message, an SIP message, a PCS mail, or an e-mail message.

23. The method of claim 16 wherein in step (c) a database is searched based on the caller identification.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein if no data is found, an automated message is generated and sent to the caller, the message asking for input data.

25. The method of claim 16 wherein in step (d) the data is retrieved by an IP routing software routine.

26. The method of claim 16 wherein in step (e) the data is pushed from the database to the target of routing.

27. The method of claim 16 wherein in step (e) the data is pulled by the routing target, the target using a key previously generated and sent to the caller, the key subsequently sent to the routing target during the time of the call.

28. The method of claim 16 wherein in step (d) the data is an SMS message including any attachments queued in an agent station having connection with the caller, a caller providing the telephone number during interaction which is then used to access the message from queue.