Call processing and subscriber registration systems and methods

• US 20060126820A1
• Filed: 12/09/2004
• Published: 06/15/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CallWave Communications, LLC
• Original Assignee: FuzeBox, Inc.
• Inventors: Trandal, David, Smith, Robert F., Day, John R., Duva, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 7,409,048 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/373.10
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/103 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/104 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/401 wherein the services involve a main real-time session and one or more additional parallel real-time or time sensitive sessions, e.g. white board sharing or spawning of a subconference
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42153 by subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals
• 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 3/533 Voice mail systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53383 Message registering commands or announcements; Greetings

Abstract

The present invention relates to telecommunications, and in particular, to systems and processes for processing telephone calls and providing telephony services. In one embodiment, a call processing system, compromises a first telephony interface configured to receive a call from a caller, a storage device configured to store a greeting, and a call answering system. The call answering system is configured to play the greeting in response to receiving the call, record a voice message from the caller, determine when the caller has completed recording the voice message, after determining that the caller has completed recording the voice message, play a prompt regarding the caller becoming a subscriber to call services provided by the call processing system, receive from the caller information used to establish a call services account, and establish a call services account for the caller.

Claims

1. A method of processing a call at a call processing system, the method compromising:

receiving at a call processing system a first call from a caller, the first call intended for a user, the first call including associated signaling information;

obtaining caller identification information from the signaling information;

transmitting notification information to a computer associated with the user;

establishing a 2-way talk path between the call processing system and the caller;

playing a greeting to the caller;

recording a voice message from the caller;

determining when the caller has completed recording the voice message;

determining if a first parameter related to the caller is met based at least in part on information retrieved from a data store using the caller identification information;

based at least in part on the first parameter being met, playing a sales lead generation prompt;

receiving an instruction from the caller provided at least partly in response to the sales lead generation prompt;

based at least in part on the response, originating a second call to a call center;

bridging the first call and the second call;

receiving information from the caller at the call center; and

establishing an account for the caller using at least a portion of the received information.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first parameter is related to the number of times the sales lead generation prompt has been played to the caller.

3. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first parameter is related to a designation previously provided by the user with respect to the caller.

4. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first parameter is related to whether the caller is already a call processing system subscriber.

5. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first call was forwarded to the call processing system as a result of a forward call on busy, ring-no-answer, or do-not-disturb condition

6. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first call was connected directly to the call processing system.

7. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising automatically populating at least a portion of a first form using the caller identification information.

8. A method of processing a call, the method compromising:

receiving at a call processing system a first call from a caller, the first call intended for a user, the first call including associated signaling information;

playing a greeting to the caller asking the caller if the caller wants to record a message for the user;

playing a sales lead generation prompt to the caller;

receiving an instruction from the caller provided at least partly in response to the sales lead generation prompt;

at least partly in response to receiving the instruction, requesting information from the caller; and

recording requested information from the caller.

9. The method as defined in claim 8, further comprising:

recording a voice message from the caller for the called party during the first call; and

determining when the caller has completed recording the voice message prior to playing the sales lead generation prompt to the caller.

10. The method as defined in claim 8, further comprising providing call processing services for the caller based at least in part on the recorded information.

11. The method as defined in claim 8, further comprising connecting the caller to a call center live agent at least partly in response to the caller instruction.

12. The method as defined in claim 8, further comprising:

connecting the caller to an automated information gathering system at least partly in response to the caller instruction;

requesting that the caller verbally provide information to be used to set up a call services account;

recording the verbally provided information; and

transmitting at least a portion of the verbally provided information to a service person.

13. The method as defined in claim 8, further comprising accessing identification information associated with the caller, wherein prior to playing the sales lead generation prompt, accessing information indicating how many times the sales lead generation prompt has been played to the caller.

14. The method as defined in claim 8, further comprising accessing identification information associated with the caller, wherein prior to playing the sales lead generation prompt, accessing information indicating how the first call reached the call processing system.

15. The method as defined in claim 8, further comprising accessing identification information associated with the caller, wherein prior to playing the sales lead generation prompt, accessing a designation provided by the user related to the caller.

16. The method as defined in claim 8, further comprising accessing identification information associated with the caller, wherein prior to playing the sales lead generation prompt, accessing information indicating whether the caller is already a subscriber of a service provided by the call processing system.

17. The method as defined in claim 8, wherein the first call was forwarded to the call processing system as a result of a forward call on busy, ring-no-answer, or do-not-disturb condition

18. The method as defined in claim 8, wherein the first call was connected directly to the call processing system.

19. The method as defined in claim 8, further comprising automatically populating at least a portion of a first registration form using the caller identification information, wherein at least a portion of the requested information is manually entered into the registration form.

20. The method as defined in claim 8, further comprising:

recording a voice message from the caller during the first call; and

streaming the voice message to the user in substantially real time.

21. The method as defined in claim 8, further comprising:

initiating a second call to a call center; and

populating an ANI field associated with the second call with a phone number obtained from an ANI field associated with the first call so that caller identification information can be presented to a call center agent.

22. The method as defined in claim 8, further comprising:

receiving a second call with associated caller identification information from the caller;

based at least in part on the identification information, accessing information indicating many times the sales lead generation prompt has been played to the caller; and

based at least in part on the accessed information, determining whether to play the sales lead generation prompt to the caller again.

23. The method as defined in claim 8, further comprising:

receiving a second call with associated caller identification information from a second caller; and

based at least in part on the identification information, accessing information indicating whether a request has been made not provide sales lead generation prompts to the second caller; and

based at least in part on the accessed information, determining whether to play the sales lead generation prompt to the second caller.

24. The method as defined in claim 8, wherein the greeting has been selected by the user.

25. A call processing system, compromising:

a first telephony interface configured to receive a call from a caller;

a storage device configured to store a greeting; and

a call answering system configured to;

play the greeting in response to receiving the call;

record a voice message from the caller;

determine when the caller has completed recording the voice message;

after determining that the caller has completed recording the voice message, play a prompt regarding the caller becoming a subscriber to call services provided by the call processing system; and

receive from the caller information used to establish a call services account.

26. The call processing system as defined in claim 25, wherein the call answering system is further configured to establish a call services account for the caller.

27. The call processing system as defined in claim 25, further comprising a call center, wherein the caller information is received by a call center agent in substantially real time.

28. The call processing system as defined in claim 25, further comprising a client application configured to execute on a computer system associated with a user for whom the call was intended, wherein the call answering system streams the caller voice message to the client as the message is being recorded.

29. The call processing system as defined in claim 25, further comprising a database the stores a value related to the number of times the prompt has been played with respect to a telephone number associated with the caller.

30. The call processing system as defined in claim 25, further comprising an automated information gathering system used to prompt the caller for the information used to establish the call services account.

31. The call processing system as defined in claim 25, further comprising an email client used to transmit a voice file including the caller information to a call center.

32. The call processing system as defined in claim 25, further comprising a first instruction stored in computer readable memory configured to determine whether the call was forwarded to the call processing system.

33. The call processing system as defined in claim 25, further comprising a first instruction stored in computer readable memory configured to determine whether the a user for whom the call was intended has provided an indication that promotional prompts are not to be played to the caller.

34. The call processing system as defined in claim 25, further comprising a first instruction stored in computer readable memory configured to access identification information associated with the caller and to access information indicating whether the caller is already a subscriber of a service provided by the call processing system prior to playing the prompt

35. The call processing system as defined in claim 25, further comprising a first instruction stored in computer readable memory configured to access identification information associated with the caller and to automatically populate least a portion of a first form using the caller identification information.

36. A method of processing a call, the method compromising:

receiving at a call processing system a first call from a caller, the first call intended for a user;

playing a solicitation prompt to the caller during the first call, the prompt asking the caller to take a first action if the caller wants to subscribe to at least a first service;

at least partly in response to the first action, requesting account information from the caller;

recording the requested account information from the caller, wherein at least a portion of the account information is to be used to provide the at least first service to the caller; and

during the first call, recording a voice message from the caller for the called party.

37. The method as defined in claim 36, further comprising providing call processing services for the caller using recorded account information.

38. The method as defined in claim 36, further comprising connecting the caller to a call center live agent at least partly in response to the caller action.

39. The method as defined in claim 36, further comprising:

connecting the caller to an automated information gathering system at least partly in response to the caller action;

requesting that the caller verbally provide information to be used to set up an account;

recording the verbally provided information; and

transmitting at least a portion of the verbally provided information to a service person.

40. The method as defined in claim 36, further comprising accessing identification information associated with the caller prior to playing the prompt related to how many times the prompt has been played to the caller.

41. The method as defined in claim 36, further comprising accessing identification information associated with the caller prior to playing the prompt indicating whether the caller is already a subscriber of at the least first service.

42. The method as defined in claim 36, wherein the first call was forwarded to the call processing system as a result of a forward call on busy, ring-no-answer, or do-not-disturb condition.

43. The method as defined in claim 36, wherein the first call was connected directly to the call processing system.

44. The method as defined in claim 36, further comprising streaming the voice message from the caller to the user in substantially real time.

45. The method as defined in claim 36, further comprising:

initiating a second call to a call center; and

populating an ANI field associated with the second call with a phone number obtained from an ANI field associated with the first call so that caller identification information can be presented to a call center agent.

46. The method as defined in claim 36, further comprising:

receiving a second call from with associated caller identification information from the caller;

based at least in part on the identification information, accessing information indicating many times the prompt has been played to the caller; and

based at least in part on the accessed information, determining whether to play the prompt to the caller again.

47. The method as defined in claim 36, further comprising:

receiving a second call associated caller identification information from a second caller; and

based at least in part on the identification information, accessing information indicating whether a request has been made not provide solicitation prompts to the second caller; and

based at least in part on the accessed information, determining whether to play the solicitation prompt to the second caller.

48. A method of processing a call, the method compromising:

receiving at a call processing system a first call from a caller, the first call intended for a user, the first call including associated signaling information;

playing a greeting to the caller during the first call asking the caller if the caller wants to record a message for the user;

determining if a first parameter related to the caller is met based at least in part on information retrieved from a data store using the caller identification information;

based at least in part on the first parameter being met, playing a solicitation prompt to the caller during the first call;

receiving an instruction from the caller provided at least partly in response to the solicitation prompt;

at least partly in response to receiving the instruction, requesting information from the caller; and

recording requested information from the caller.

49. The method as defined in claim 48, wherein the first parameter is used to determine whether the playing of the solicitation prompt is enabled for the subscriber.

50. The method as defined in claim 48, wherein the first parameter is used to determine whether the playing of the solicitation prompt is enabled for a class of service associated with the user.

51. The method as defined in claim 48, wherein the first parameter is used to determine whether the playing of the solicitation prompt is enabled.

52. The method as defined in claim 48, further comprising determining whether the playing of the solicitation prompt is enabled for the time and/or for the day of the first call.

53. The method as defined in claim 48, further comprising determining whether a service person is available to process the caller prior to playing of the solicitation prompt.