METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR ROUTING CALLS AT A CALL CENTER BASED ON SPOKEN LANGUAGES

• US 20120264395A1
• Filed: 11/12/2009
• Published: 10/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Bradburn, Travis L., Huber, Chester A., Parks, Jason J., Walper, Eric J., Kubicki, Scott A., Rymas, David
• Application Number:
  US13/509,183
• Publication Number:
  US 20120264395A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2061 Language aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5233 Operator skill based call distribution

Abstract

Various examples of a methods and systems are disclosed herein for routing calls at a call center based on spoken languages. In one example, a method includes, but is not limited to, receiving, by a call center, information indicating a request for assistance from a driver of a vehicle and information indicating one or more languages spoken by the driver. The call center automatically identifies an available advisor who speaks at least one language spoken by the driver. The call center automatically directs the request for assistance to the available advisor.

Claims

1. A method for routing calls at a call center based on spoken languages, the method comprising:

receiving, by a call center, an electronic signal containing a request for assistance from a driver of a vehicle, the electronic signal further containing an identification of one or more languages spoken by the driver;

automatically identifying, by the call center, an available advisor who speaks at least one of the one or more languages; and

directing the request for assistance to the available advisor.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of arranging a plurality of advisors in a queue, and wherein the step of identifying an available advisor comprises identifying the available advisor as an advisor who speaks at least one of the one or more languages spoken by the driver and who is positioned closest to a front of the queue.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of arranging a plurality of advisors in a plurality of queues, each queue relating to differing types of assistance provided by the call center, and wherein the step of identifying an available advisor comprises identifying the available advisor who is positioned closest to a front of a queue of the plurality of queues that corresponds to the request.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the information identifying the one or more languages includes information identifying a primary language spoken by the driver and a secondary language spoken by the driver, the method further comprising identifying an available advisor who speaks the secondary language spoken by the driver and wherein the step of directing the request comprises directing the request to the available advisor who speaks the secondary language spoken by the driver.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of identifying an available advisor comprises identifying an available advisor as an advisor who speaks a plurality of languages, one of which is a language spoken by the driver, and wherein the step of directing the request comprises directing the request to the available advisor who speaks the plurality of languages.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the information identifying the one or more languages includes information identifying a primary language spoken by the driver, and wherein the step of identifying an available advisor comprises identifying an available advisor as an advisor who speaks a primary advisor language and a secondary advisor language, wherein the secondary advisor language is the primary language spoken by the driver, and wherein the step of directing the request comprises directing the request to the available advisor who speaks the primary advisor language and the secondary advisor language.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the information identifying the one or more languages includes information identifying a primary language spoken by the driver and a secondary language spoken by the driver, wherein the step of identifying an available advisor comprises identifying the available advisor as an advisor who speaks a primary advisor language and a secondary advisor language, wherein the secondary advisor language is the secondary language spoken by the driver, and wherein the step of directing the request comprises directing the request to the available advisor.

8. A method for routing calls at a call center based on spoken languages, the method comprising:

receiving, by a call center, information indicating a request for assistance from a driver of a vehicle and information indicating one or more languages spoken by the driver;

automatically identifying, by the call center, a PSAP with responsibility for providing emergency services to the driver;

automatically determining, by the call center, one or more languages spoken at the PSAP;

automatically identifying, by the call center, an available advisor who speaks at least one of the one or more languages spoken by the driver and at least one of the one or more languages spoken at the PSAP; and

automatically directing the request to the available advisor.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the one or more languages spoken by the driver differ from the one or more languages spoken at the PSAP, wherein the step of automatically identifying an available advisor comprises identifying an available advisor who speaks a plurality of languages, one of which is one of the one or more languages spoken by the driver and another one of which is one of the one or more languages spoken by the PSAP.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the information identifying the one or more languages spoken by the driver includes information identifying a primary language spoken by the driver and a secondary language spoken by the driver, the method further comprising:

automatically identifying an available advisor who speaks the secondary language spoken by the driver,

wherein the step of automatically directing the request comprises directing the request to the available advisor who speaks the secondary language spoken by the driver.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of automatically determining one or more languages spoken at the PSAP includes automatically determining a primary PSAP language and a secondary PSAP language, the method further comprising:

automatically identifying an available advisor who speaks the secondary PSAP language,

wherein the step of automatically directing the request comprises automatically directing the request to the available advisor who speaks the secondary PSAP language.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein the information identifying the one or more languages spoken by the driver includes information identifying a primary language spoken by the driver and a secondary language spoken by the driver, and wherein the step of automatically determining one or more languages spoken at the PSAP includes determining a primary PSAP language and a secondary PSAP language, the method further comprising:

automatically identifying an available advisor who speaks the secondary language spoken by the driver and who speaks the secondary PSAP language,

wherein the step of automatically directing the request comprises automatically directing the request to the available advisor who speaks the secondary language spoken by the driver and who speaks the secondary PSAP language.

13. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of automatically determining a location of the vehicle, and wherein the step of automatically identifying a PSAP comprises automatically identifying a PSAP with responsibility for providing emergency services in a geographic area where the vehicle is located.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the step of automatically determining a location of the vehicle comprises obtaining a latitude and a longitude position of the vehicle from the request for assistance.

15. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of arranging a plurality of advisors in a queue and wherein the step of identifying an available advisor comprises identifying the available advisor as an advisor who speaks at least one of the one or more languages spoken by the driver and who speaks at least one of the one or more languages spoken at the PSAP who is positioned closest to a front of the queue.

16. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of arranging a plurality of advisors in a plurality of queues, each queue relating to differing types of assistance provided by the call center, and wherein the step of identifying an available advisor comprises identifying an advisor who is positioned closest to a front of a queue of the plurality of queues that corresponds to the request.

17. The method of claim 8 wherein the step of automatically determining the one or more languages spoken at the PSAP comprises electronically accessing information stored in a computer storage component.

18. The method of claim 8 wherein the step of automatically determining the one or more languages spoken by the driver comprises electronically parsing the request for assistance.

19. A system for routing calls based on spoken languages, the system comprising:

a call center housing communication equipment and computer equipment communicatively connected to one another; and

a plurality of advisors located within the call center,

wherein the communication equipment is configured to receive an electronic signal from a vehicle, the electronic signal containing information identifying a language spoken by a driver of the vehicle, and to automatically communicate the electronic signal to the computer equipment, and wherein the computer equipment is configured to automatically determine from the electronic signal the language spoken by the driver of the vehicle, to automatically identify an advisor of the plurality of advisors who speaks the language spoken by the driver of the vehicle, and to automatically route the request for assistance to the advisor.

20. The system of claim 19 further comprising a telematics unit mounted in the vehicle, the telematics unit being configured to electronically store the language spoken by the driver and to transmit the electronic signal to the call center.