Automatic call distribution with intersubnetwork customer information transfer system and method

• US 5,469,504 A
• Filed: 11/10/1994
• Issued: 11/21/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Firstpoint Contact Technologies, LLC (Alvaria Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: David L. Blaha
• Inventors: Blaha, David L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Matar, Ahmad
• Application Number:
  US08/337,572
• Time in Patent Office: 376 Days
• Field of Search: 379/94, 379/96, 379/265, 379/266, 379/210, 379/211, 379/212, 379/214, 379/201
• US Class Current: 379/265.11
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5237 Interconnection arrangements between ACD systems

Abstract

An automatic call distributor (10) with a plurality of subnetwork switches (14A, 14B) for interconnecting agent units (18A, 18B) with customer telephonic units (15) of an external telephonic network (16) and a host data base computer for storing customer information obtained from agents (18A, 18B) of all the subnetworks (11A, 11B) with an intersubnetwork transfer system for transferring customer information stored in the host data base computer and obtained from an agent (18A, 18B) of one of the networks (11A, 11B) to a display terminal (22B, 22A) of an agent (18B, 18A) of another one of the subnetworks (11B, 11A) by the method (FIG. 4) of conveying call identification information (FIG. 3) including both subnetwork switch port identification and subnetwork trunk identification to the host data base computer (12) for association with the stored customer information and to the other subnetwork (11B, 11A) during an intersubnetwork transfer.

Claims

1. In an automatic call distributor having a plurality of interconnecting subnetworks, each with an automatic call distributor subnetwork switch and an associated group of telephonic agent units for receiving customer calls from customer telephonic units of an external telephonic network, and a single host data base computer for storing customer information received from groups of display terminals respectively associated with the telephonic agent units of the plurality of different subnetworks, the improvement being an intersubnetwork customer information transfer system, comprising:

means, apart from the external telephonic network, for internally transferring a customer call from one agent unit of one of the plurality of subnetworks to another agent unit of another one of the plurality of subnetworks including information identifying the one agent unit via an internal intertandem trunk line connected between the automatic call distributor switch of the one subnetwork and the automatic call distributor switch of the other subnetwork; and

means responsive to the identifying information of the one agent unit transferred by said internally transferring means between the switch of the one subnetwork and the switch of the other subnetwork for enabling the single host database computer to convey stored customer information obtained at the one agent unit and stored in the single host data base computer to the display terminal associated with the other agent unit of the other subnetwork to which the customer call is transferred for display.

2. The automatic call distributor of claim 1 in which said means for enabling the single host database computer to convey stored customer information includes

means for providing a call origination identification code indicating the identity of the one agent unit including the identity of the associated subnetwork of the one agent unit, and

means for transmitting the call origination identification code from one subnetwork of the one agent unit to the subnetwork of the other agent unit to which the customer call is transferred.

3. The automatic call distributor of claim 2 in which the means for enabling the single host database computer to convey stored customer information includes

means for sending the call origination identification code to the single host data base computer in response to the call being originally received at the one agent unit, and

means at the other subnetwork switch for providing to the single host data base computer the call origination identification code of the one agent transferring the code to enable conveyance of the stored customer information to the display terminal of the other agent unit to which the call is being transferred.

4. The automatic call distributor network of claim 2 in which

each of the subnetwork switches has a plurality of ports to which the agent units are connected, and

said identification code includes identification of both the one subnetwork and the other subnetwork and the port of the one subnetwork to which the one agent is connected.

5. The automatic call distributor of claim 2 in which said transmitting means includes

means for conveying to the single host data base computer the call origination identification code of the one agent unit automatically in response to the call being originally received by the one agent unit;

and

said single host data base computer includes means responsive to receipt of the call origination identification code for associating the stored customer information with the one agent unit in the single host data base computer.

6. The automatic call distributor network of claim 2 in which said transmitting means includes

means for inserting the call origination identification code into an intertandem protocol, and

means for sending the intertandem protocol over the intertandem trunk interconnecting the one subnetwork with the other subnetwork from the one subnetwork to the other subnetwork.

7. The automatic call distributor of claim 6 in which

each of the subnetworks has a subnetwork memory, and

the stored customer information conveyance enabling means includes

means for extracting the call origination identification code from the intertandem protocol, and

means for saving the extracted call origination identification code in the subnetwork memory of the other internal subnetwork for conveyance to the single host data base computer.

8. The automatic all distributor of claim 1 in which the means for enabling the single host database computer to convey stored customer information includes means for sending to the single host database computer a call origination identification code via an X.25 communication protocol.

9. The automatic call distributor of claim 1 in which

the one subnetwork has a memory with a call connection message record, and

said means for enabling the single host database computer to convey stored customer information includes means for inserting a call origination identification code into the call connection message record in the memory of the one subnetwork.

10. In an automatic call distributor having a plurality of interconnecting subnetworks, each with an automatic call distributor subnetwork switch and an associated group of telephonic agent units for receiving customer calls from customer telephonic units of an external telephonic network, and a single host data base computer for storing customer information received from groups of display terminals respectively associated with the telephonic agent units of the plurality of different subnetworks, the improvement being a method of transferring stored customer information between display terminals of different subnetworks, comprising the steps of:

internally transferring, by means apart from the external telephonic network, a customer call from one agent to another;

sending information identifying the one agent unit via an internal intertandem trunk line connected between the automatic call distributor switch of one subnetwork and the automatic call distributor switch of another subnetwork when transferring the customer call between interconnecting subnetworks;

sensing whether the transferring of the customer call is between agents of different subnetworks; and

conveying customer information from the single host data base computer in response to the sensing of the customer call being transferred between different subnetworks to the display terminal associated with the other agent for display thereof when the call is internally transferred to the other agent unit associated with the automatic call distributor switch of the other subnetwork.

11. The stored customer information transferring method of claim 10 including the steps of

providing a call origination identification code indicating the identity of the agent units including the identity of the associated subnetworks of the agent units, and

transmitting the call origination identification code from one subnetwork of the one agent unit to the subnetwork of the other agent unit to which the customer call is transferred.

12. The stored customer information transferring method of claim 11 including the steps of

conveying the call origination identification code from the subnetwork of the other agent unit to the single host data base computer in response to the customer call being transferred to the other agent unit, and

providing to the single host data base computer the call origination identification code of the one agent transferring the call to enable conveyance for the stored customer information to the display terminal of the other agent unit to which the call is being transferred.

13. In an automatic call distributor network having a plurality of internal subnetworks wherein each internal subnetwork has its own associated subnetwork switch with each subnetwork switch having an associated central processing unit for controlling the switching operations at the subnetwork switches including selectively interconnecting customer calls from customer units of an external telephonic network with a plurality of agent units of the plurality of internal subnetworks respectively associated with the plurality of subnetwork switches, and a single host data base computer coupled with the plurality of internal subnetworks in which the single host data base computer stores customer information received from groups of display terminals respectively associated with the agent units of the plurality of internal subnetworks, the improvement being an intersubnetwork customer information transfer method, comprising the steps of:

establishing a call origination information code at one internal subnetwork identifying the agent unit and internal subnetwork switch in response to the agent unit receiving an original call at the internal subnetwork switch of the one internal subnetwork from the external network;

conveying the call origination identification code from the one internal subnetwork to the single host data base computer upon the agent unit receiving the original call;

transferring the call origination identification code with the original call when the original call is transferred from the one internal subnetwork to another internal subnetwork; and

using the call origination identification code at the other internal subnetwork to display the customer information at a terminal associated with another agent unit of the other subnetwork to which the original call is transferred.

14. The intersubnetwork customer information transfer method of claim 13 including the steps of

inserting the call origination identification code into an intertandem protocol, and

sending the intertandem protocol over an intertandem trunk interconnecting the one internal subnetwork with the other internal subnetwork from the one internal subnetwork to the other internal subnetwork.

15. The intersubnetwork customer information transfer method of claim 14 including the steps of

extracting at the other internal subnetwork the call origination identification code from the intertandem protocol,

saving the call origination identification code in a memory of the other internal subnetwork, and

sending the call origination identification code extracted from the intertandem protocol from the other internal subnetwork to the single host computer.

16. The intersubnetwork customer information transfer method of claim 13 in which the step of conveying the call origination identification code includes the step of sending the call origination identification code from the internal subnetwork to the single host computer via an X.25 communication protocol.

17. The intersubnetwork customer information transfer method of claim 13 including the step of inserting the call origination identification code into a trunk-agent connect record in a memory of the internal subnetwork.

18. The intersubnetwork customer information transfer method of claim 13 including the steps of

gathering customer information at a display terminal associated with the one agent unit,

sending the customer information from the display terminal of the one agent unit to the single host computer, and

storing the gathered customer information in the single host computer in association with the identity of the one agent unit.

19. The intersubnetwork customer information transfer method of claim 18 including the step of sending the customer information stored in the single host computer to a display terminal associated with the other agent unit in response to the original customer call being transferred from the one agent unit of the one internal subnetwork to the other agent unit of the other internal subnetwork.