Telephone switching system and method for controlling incoming telephone calls to remote agents and for collecting and providing call data
First Claim
1. A telephone switching system for controlling communications between a caller and one of a plurality of agents, the telephone witching system comprising:
- an automatic call distributor for receiving an incoming telephone call from the caller and for selectively dialing a telephone number of the one of the agents;
an agent telephonic unit associated with the one of the agents for answering the incoming telephone call;
a telephone network connecting the agent telephonic unit to the automatic call distributor;
an agent computer terminal for receiving instructions from the one of the agents, for generating control signals representative of the instructions and for providing the control signals directly to a central processing unit within the automatic call distributor to subsequently control the incoming telephone call; and
a computer network for transmitting the control signals from the agent computer terminal to the automatic call distributor.
14 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A telephone switching system (100) including an automatic call distributor (102) for routing incoming telephone calls over a telephone network (116) to agent telephonic units (112, 114) is provided. Data relating to each of the incoming telephone calls is collected by the automatic call distributor (102), in particular a central processing unit (110). As each incoming telephone call is being routed to an agent telephonic unit (112, 114) over a telephone network (116), its associated data is substantially simultaneously transmitted over a computer network (126) to an agent computer terminal (122, 124). The agent located at the agent telephonic unit (112 or 114) which receives an incoming telephone call has first party call control via the associated agent computer terminal (122 or 124).
322 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A telephone switching system for controlling communications between a caller and one of a plurality of agents, the telephone witching system comprising:
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an automatic call distributor for receiving an incoming telephone call from the caller and for selectively dialing a telephone number of the one of the agents; an agent telephonic unit associated with the one of the agents for answering the incoming telephone call; a telephone network connecting the agent telephonic unit to the automatic call distributor; an agent computer terminal for receiving instructions from the one of the agents, for generating control signals representative of the instructions and for providing the control signals directly to a central processing unit within the automatic call distributor to subsequently control the incoming telephone call; and a computer network for transmitting the control signals from the agent computer terminal to the automatic call distributor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for controlling operation of an automatic call distributor comprising the steps of:
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receiving an incoming telephone call from a caller at the automatic call distributor; selectively dialing a telephone number of one of a plurality of agents; answering the incoming telephone call at an agent telephonic unit associated with the one of the agents; generating control signals by an agent computer terminal associated with the one of the agents, the control signals being representative of desired subsequent control of the incoming telephone call; transmitting the control signals over a computer network directly to a central processing unit within the automatic call distributor; and subsequently controlling the incoming telephone call based on the control signals. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification