Revertive calling automatic call distributor

• US 5,528,678 A
• Filed: 12/27/1993
• Issued: 06/18/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kaplan, Marc P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hofsass, Jeffery
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wolinsky, Scott
• Application Number:
  US08/173,845
• Time in Patent Office: 904 Days
• Field of Search: 379/201, 379/209, 379/230, 379/211, 379/212, 379/196, 379/207, 379/213, 379/202, 379/204, 379/205, 379/96, 379/309, 379/265, 379/92, 379/112, 379/220
• US Class Current: 379/265.11
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/22 Automatic class or number identification arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42042 Notifying the called party of information on the calling party details within substation equipment H04M1/57, signalling details H04Q3/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42306 Number translation services, e.g. premium-rate, freephone or vanity number services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5125 with remote located operators
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/523 with call distribution or queueing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5235 Dependent on call type or called number [DNIS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5237 Interconnection arrangements between ACD systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13072 Sequence circuits for call signaling, ACD systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13138 Least cost routing, LCR
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13524 cost management least cost H04Q2213/13138
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0029 Provisions for intelligent networking

Abstract

A cooperative network/premises-based automatic call distributor system and method is provided which minimizes networking costs associated with distributing calls to telemarketing agents in multiple locations, minimizes delays in providing desired services to callers, and improves the efficiency of telemarketing agents. A call directed to a telemarketing complex arrives at the network. The caller automatic number identification (ANI) and an identifying tag are forwarded via a data connection to a telemarketing agent management system which identifies an available and desired agent to service the call, and launches a call to the network location associated with the original caller, thus completing the connection. The telemarketing agent management system selects an appropriate agent based on data received from the telemarketing complex and from the network. Interactive queuing may also be performed by the network to provide additional information to assist call distribution and telemarketing agent response. In a further embodiment, the telemarketing agent management system may retrieve caller profile information while the revertive call is launched to the network location associated with the caller. In addition, telemarketing agents may be strategically assigned a priori to network switch locations resulting in superior call setup characteristics for certain calls.

Claims

1. A network assisted method for automatically distributing calls to a subscriber among a plurality of agent terminals of the subscriber, said subscriber identified by a telephone number which does not uniquely identify a particular one of said plurality of agent terminals, and each agent terminal associated with an outbound call management means for launching a call from the agent terminal in response to a signal received from a call management system which is operative in monitoring call traffic status information of said subscriber, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving at the network a first call directed to said subscriber from a calling party;

parking said first call at a network location;

transmitting from the network a signal indicative of said first call at the network location to said call management system in response to said first call;

receiving at the network a second call directed to the network from a designated agent terminal, said designated agent terminal selected and said second call being established according to a signal generated by said call management system in response to said signal indicative of said first call and transmitted to the outbound call management means associated with said designated party in order to launch the second call;

connecting said calling party with said agent terminal by bridging at the network the first call parked at the network location with said second call.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising, before said step of connecting, the step of checking if said first call remains in progress.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said signal from said call management system to said outbound call management means includes out-of-band signaling.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said signal indicative of said first call includes caller identification information.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein said caller identification information includes an automatic number identification code.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said signal indicative of said first call includes information indicating a destination in the network for said second call.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising, after receiving said first call from said calling party, the steps of signaling an information query to said calling party, and receiving information signals from said calling party in response to said information query.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein said signal indicative of said first call includes information from said information signals.

9. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the step of transmitting information from said information signals to said call management system.

10. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the step of said call management system, in response to said signal indicative of said first call, selectively retrieving additional stored information associated with the calling party.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising the step of said call management system providing said additional information to said designated agent terminal.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising predictive calls directed from said agent terminals to said network, wherein said predictive calls are initiated according to predictive-dialing techniques executed by said outbound call management means.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of providing a ringing signal to said designated agent terminal and a ringback signal to said caller in response to said outbound call management means receiving the signal transmitted thereto from said call management system.

14. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

before said receiving step, preassigning an agent terminal by receiving at the network a preassignment call from one of said agent terminals to the network, said preassignment call launched by said outbound call management means independently of said signal transmitted from said call management system to the outbound call management means; and

after said receiving step, connecting at the network said first call to one of said preassignment calls where said first call satisfies a predetermined condition.

15. A telecommunications network based system for automatically distributing calls to a subscriber among a plurality of agent terminals of the subscriber, said subscriber identified by a telephone number which does not uniquely identify a particular one of said plurality of agent terminals, said system comprising:

an outbound call management means associated with each of said agent terminals for controlling launching of calls from the agent terminals;

a network control means for receiving a first call directed to said subscriber from a calling party, parking said first call at a network location, and generating a first signal indicative of said first call at the network location in response to receipt of said first call;

a call management system for receiving information representing status of said subscriber agent terminals, for receiving said first signal from the network control means, and for generating in response to said first signal a second signal that is transmitted to the outbound call management means which responds to the second signal by launching a second call from a designated agent terminal to the network location; and

connecting means in said network responsive to said second call for connecting said calling party to said designated agent terminal by bridging said first call and said second call.

16. The system according to claim 15, wherein:

a group of said agent terminals are coupled to an automatic call distributor system which includes the outbound call management means associated with the group of agent terminals for launching a call from any one of the agent terminals of the group; and

wherein the automatic call distributor is coupled to said call management system by a first communication link means for communicating said second signal and said information representing status, and is coupled to the telecommunications network by a second communication link for communicating said second call.