Interactive queuing sytem for call centers

• US 5,444,774 A
• Filed: 01/03/1995
• Issued: 08/22/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: AT&T IPM Corp. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Friedes, Albert
• Primary Examiner(s): Matar, Ahmad
• Application Number:
  US08/367,663
• Time in Patent Office: 231 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265, 379/266, 379/84, 379/68, 379/70, 379/213, 379/214, 379/67, 379/201, 379/210-212
• US Class Current: 379/266.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/523 with call distribution or queueing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5237 Interconnection arrangements between ACD systems

Abstract

This invention relates to a system and a method for a) queuing a call when no attendants are available to service that call b) soliciting and collecting initial information from the caller while the call is in the holding queue c) querying a database using the collected initial information as search key(s) to retrieve additional information needed to service the call, and d) displaying the collected and/or retrieved information to the next available attendant, as the call is received by that attendant.

Claims

1. A method of completing a call placed by a caller and directed to a call center having attendants to answer incoming calls, said method comprising the steps of:

determining that no attendant is available to answer said call;

in response to unavailability of any attendant to answer said call, placing said call in a holding queue;

collecting information provided by said caller in response to a presentation of a logical sequence of prompting messages to said caller while said call is in said holding queue, said presentation accomplished through execution of at least two modules of a transaction script, wherein each module is associated with specific data to be solicited and collected from said caller;

retrieving additional information from a database using at least part of said collected information as a search key;

in response to a signal indicating availability of an attendant to answer said call, completing the collection of said data for the module currently being executed;

preventing the execution of any other module in said transaction script in order to gracefully terminate said collecting step; and

forwarding to said available attendant said call, and data associated with at least one element selected from a group of elements comprised of said collected information, and said retrieved information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said prompting messages are presented to said caller to solicit particular information from said caller, based on routing information associated with said call.

3. In a communication switching system comprised of a call center arranged to receive incoming calls from callers, a method of processing said calls comprising the steps of:

offering said callers an option to wait in a holding queue when said calls cannot be completed; and

while said callers are waiting in said queue, obtaining information from said callers in response to a presentation of a logical sequence of prompting messages, said presentation accomplished through execution of at least two modules of a transaction script, wherein each module is associated with specific data to be solicited and collected from a caller;

in response to a signal indicating availability of an attendant, completing the collection of said data for the module currently being executed in order to gracefully terminate said information obtaining step; and

routing said call and said obtained information to said available attendant.

4. A system of completing a call placed by a caller and directed to a call center having attendants to answer incoming calls, comprising:

means for determining that no attendant is available to answer said call;

means responsive to lack of an available attendant to answer said call, for placing said call in a holding queue

means for collecting information provided by said caller in response to a presentation of a logical sequence of prompting messages to said caller while said call is in said holding queue, said presentation accomplished through execution of at least two modules of a transaction script, wherein each module is associated with specific data to be solicited and collected from said caller;

means for retrieving additional information from a database using at least part of said collected information as a search key;

means responsive to a signal indicating availability of an attendant to answer said call, for completing the collection of said data for the module currently being executed in order to gracefully terminate said information collection; and

means for forwarding to said available attendant said call, and data associated with at least one element selected from a group of elements comprised of said collected information, and said retrieved additional information.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein said prompting messages are presented to said caller to solicit particular information from said caller based on routing information associated with said call.

6. A system of completing a call that is placed by a caller and that is destined for a call center staffed by a plurality of attendants, said system comprising:

means for determining availability of at least one attendant within a particular pool of such attendants assigned to service calls with characteristics of said call;

means for placing said call in a holding queue when no attendant within said pool is available;

means for collecting data from said caller while said call is in said holding queue, said collecting means including means for executing at least two modules of a transaction script, wherein each module is associated with specific data to be solicited and collected from said caller;

means for retrieving prestored information from a database using said collected data as search keys;

means responsive to a signal indicating the availability of an attendant within said pool, for completing the collection of said data for the module currently being executed in order to gracefully terminate said information collection; and

means for displaying said information or said data or both to said available attendant as the call is received by said available attendant'"'"'s telephone set.