Callback processing of interactive voice response requests

• US 20070280460A1
• Filed: 06/06/2006
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Koch, Robert A., Harris, Isaiah
• Granted Patent: US 8,107,610 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/201.10
• 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 3/5231 with call back arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5238 with waiting time or load prediction arrangements

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods and devices for processing a call to a call distribution point. In this regard, one embodiment of such a method, among others, can be broadly summarized by the following steps: receiving a request from a caller to the call distribution point; parsing the request for information included in the request indicating the nature of the request; assigning a call recipient to service the request based on the information obtained in the parsing step; and acknowledging receipt of the request to the caller and providing an estimate of time before the assigned call recipient will be able to service the call. Other methods and devices are also provided.

Claims

1. A method of processing a call to a call distribution point, comprising:

receiving a request from a caller to the call distribution point;

parsing the request for information included in the request indicating the nature of the request;

assigning a call recipient to service the request based on the information obtained in the parsing step; and

acknowledging receipt of the request to the caller and providing an estimate of time before the assigned call recipient will be able to service the call.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the parsing step includes parsing the request for at least one keyword and the assigning a call recipient step is implemented based on the keyword recognized in the parsing step.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting volume level of call to further indicate the nature of the request.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

forwarding a copy of the request to the assigned call recipient.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the request is parsed for keywords to make a determination of an issue that the caller would like resolved, wherein the call recipient is assigned based upon this determination.

6. The method claim 1, further comprising:

announcing a name of the call recipient assigned to service the caller to the caller.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prompting the caller to provide a contact address where the call recipient is to call back the caller.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the call recipient is assigned based on a relative queue size of the recipient in comparison to other candidates for handling the call.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the estimate of time based on the number of calls in the assigned call recipient'"'"'s queue, a categorization of a nature of each call in the queue, and the average amount of time that a call of each respective categorization takes.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a contact address from a pre-stored caller profile where the assigned call recipient is to call back the caller at the contact address.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the profile contains a plurality of contact addresses that are organized in accordance with a time of day that each is preferred to be used in a call back.

12. A computer readable medium having a program for processing a call to a call distribution point, the program having instructions for performing the steps of:

receiving a request from a caller to the call distribution point;

parsing the request for information included in the request indicating the nature of the request;

assigning a call recipient to service the request based on the information obtained in the parsing step; and

acknowledging receipt of the request to the caller and providing an estimate of time before the assigned call recipient will be able to service the call.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the parsing step includes parsing the request for at least one keyword and the assigning a call recipient step is implemented based on the keyword recognized in the parsing step.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 12, the program further comprising the step of:

detecting volume level of call to further indicate the nature of the request.

15. The computer readable of claim 12, the program further performing the step of:

forwarding a copy of the request to the assigned call recipient.

16. The computer readable of claim 12, wherein the request is parsed for keywords to make a determination of an issue that the caller would like resolved, wherein the call recipient is assigned based upon this determination.

17. The computer readable of claim 12, the program further performing the step of:

announcing a name of the call recipient assigned to service the caller to the caller.

18. The computer readable of claim 12, the program further performing the step of:

prompting the caller to provide a contact address where the assigned call recipient is to call back the caller.

19. The computer readable of claim 12, wherein the call recipient is assigned based on a relative queue size of the call recipient in comparison to other candidates for handling the call.

20. The computer readable of claim 12, the program further performing the step of:

determining the estimate of time based on the number of calls in the assigned call recipient'"'"'s queue, a categorization of a nature of each call in the queue, and the average amount of time that a call of each respective categorization takes.

21. The computer readable of claim 12, the program further performing the step of:

obtaining a contact address from a pre-stored caller profile where the assigned call recipient is to call back the caller at the contact address.

22. The computer readable medium method of claim 21, wherein the profile contains a plurality of contact addresses that are organized in accordance with a time of day that each is preferred to be used in a call back.