Conversational telephone call distributor

• US 4,150,255 A
• Filed: 12/29/1977
• Issued: 04/17/1979
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/1977
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Peter F. Theis
• Original Assignee: Morgan Industries Incorporated
• Inventors: Theis, Peter F., Buchberger, Gregory
• Primary Examiner(s): Canney, Vincent P.
• Assistant Examiner(s): McElheny, Jr., Donald
• Application Number:
  US05/865,396
• Time in Patent Office: 474 Days
• Field of Search: 179/6 C, 179/6 R, 179/2 A, 179/1 HF, 179/100.1 VC, 179/18 B, 179/18 BE, 179/27 FH
• US Class Current: 379/84
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5166 in combination with interactive voice response systems or voice portals, e.g. as front-ends
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 379/909 Alternatives

Abstract

A call distributor for use with a plurality of telephone lines is described which includes an automatic telephone answering machine which interrogates the calling party with a prerecorded message and transmits the calling party'"'"'s response to this message to a recorder. The recorded response is then replayed to an operator who intercepts the call in order to converse with the calling party after auditing the recorded response. The call distributor of this invention thereby combines the flexibility of an operator assisted call distributor with the efficiency of automatic interrogation of the calling party.

Claims

1. A method for answering a call placed by a calling party on a telephone line comprising the steps of:

automatically answering the call;

automatically recording a voice message transmitted over the telephone line;

automatically placing the calling party on hold after the message has been recorded;

replaying the recorded voice message to an operator; and

interconnecting the calling party and the operator to enable the operator to converse with the calling party after the recorded voice message has been replayed, whereby the operator is familiarized with the call prior to conversing with the calling party.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the method further includes the step of automatically playing a prerecorded message to the calling party.

3. A telephone answering apparatus for answering calls on an incoming telephone line comprising:

means for automatically answering a call placed by a calling party;

means for automatically recording a voice message transmitted over the telephone line;

means for automatically placing the calling party on hold after the voice message has been recorded;

means for replaying the recorded voice message to an operator; and

means for interconnecting the operator and the calling party after the recorded voice message has been replayed, whereby the operator is familiarized with the call prior to conversing with the calling party.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 further including means for automatically playing a prerecorded message to the calling party.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 further including means for indicating to the operator whether the calling party is on the telephone line after the recorded voice message has been replayed.

6. A telephone answering apparatus for answering calls on a plurality of telephone lines comprising:

means for automatically answering a call on a first telephone line;

means for automatically recording an audio message transmitted over the first line by a first calling party;

means for placing the first calling party on hold after the audio message on the first line has been recorded;

means for replaying the recorded audio message to an operator;

means for determining whether the first calling party is on the first telephone line at a point in time following the initiation of the replay of the recorded audio message; and

means responsive to the determining means for identifying the first telephone line to the operator in the event the first calling party is on the first telephone line at the point in time.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the identifying means includes display means adapted to identify the first telephone line to the operator.

8. A telephone answering apparatus for answering calls on a telephone line comprising:

means for automatically answering the telephone line;

means for automatically recording a voice message transmitted over the telephone line by a calling party;

means for automatically placing the calling party on hold after the voice message has been recorded;

means for automatically generating an identification signal;

means for automatically recording the identification signal in association with the recorded voice message;

means for automatically storing the identification signal;

means for automatically altering the identification signal stored in the storing means following disconnection of the telephone line;

means for replaying the recorded voice message and the associated identification signal;

means for automatically receiving the associated identification signal from the replaying means and comparing the associated identification signal with the stored identification signal;

means responsive to the receiving means for automatically indicating whether the associated identification signal is stored in the storing means following the initiation of replay of the associated identification signal, whereby an operator is informed whether the calling party associated with the recorded voice message is on the telephone line at that time; and

means for interconnecting the operator with the calling party after the recorded voice message has been replayed.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the identification signal is recorded in association with the recorded voice message as a sequence of audio tones.