Annoucement system and method in a telephone call switching system
First Claim
1. An announcement system coupled to an automatic call distributor for playing recorded announcements during an incoming telephone call received from a public switch telephone network and routed by a telephonic switch of the automatic call distributor to an agent, the announcement system comprising:
- an interface circuit which receives the incoming call from the telephonic switch of the automatic call distributor and couples an audio portion of the incoming call to the agent;
an administrator system which receives call data about the incoming call through a separate connection with the telephonic switch; and
a personal computer coupled to the interface circuit and administrator system which couples a selected announcement of a plurality of recorded announcements stored within the personal computer to the incoming call based upon an announcement selection message transferred from one of the agent and administrator system, such personal computer further comprising;
a recording device for recording the plurality of announcements in a voice of the agent;
a storage device for storing the plurality of announcements within the personal computer;
a selection circuit for selecting one of the announcements based upon the announcement selection message; and
a playback system for playing the selected one of the announcements in the voice of the agent through the interface circuit from a driver circuit within the personal computer at substantially any time during the incoming telephone call.
16 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An announcement system 100 and method is provided which plays announcements recorded in the voice of an agent servicing a call routed by a telephonic switch 106 at substantially any time during the call. A call information circuit 136 detects information relating to the call, such as DNIS and ANI. This information is transmitted to a computer terminal 110 at which the agent is stationed and logged on. A CPU 120 may automatically select and play an announcement stored in a memory circuit 124 based on this information. Further, the agent may select and play an announcement at substantially anytime via an input device 112. The CPU 120 may select a particular announcement to play based on the time of day (morning, afternoon or evening) determined from a clock 130. An administrator system 128 permits an administrator to control the recording, storing and playing of announcements. In particular, the announcements may be stored in a remote storage medium 126 and downloaded to the memory circuit 124 when the agent logs in to the computer terminal 110. The administrator may draft scripts via a script circuit 132 which are read by the agent. The scripts are displayed to the agent via a script viewer 134.
37 Citations
22 Claims
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1. An announcement system coupled to an automatic call distributor for playing recorded announcements during an incoming telephone call received from a public switch telephone network and routed by a telephonic switch of the automatic call distributor to an agent, the announcement system comprising:
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an interface circuit which receives the incoming call from the telephonic switch of the automatic call distributor and couples an audio portion of the incoming call to the agent; an administrator system which receives call data about the incoming call through a separate connection with the telephonic switch; and a personal computer coupled to the interface circuit and administrator system which couples a selected announcement of a plurality of recorded announcements stored within the personal computer to the incoming call based upon an announcement selection message transferred from one of the agent and administrator system, such personal computer further comprising; a recording device for recording the plurality of announcements in a voice of the agent; a storage device for storing the plurality of announcements within the personal computer; a selection circuit for selecting one of the announcements based upon the announcement selection message; and a playback system for playing the selected one of the announcements in the voice of the agent through the interface circuit from a driver circuit within the personal computer at substantially any time during the incoming telephone call. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for playing recorded announcements during an incoming telephone call routed by a telephonic switch of an automatic call distributor to an agent comprising the steps of:
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recording announcements in a voice of an agent from a script dictated through an administrator system and displayed on a screen of a personal computer used by the agent; storing the announcements in a memory of the personal computer; selecting one of the announcements based upon announcement selection data forwarded to the personal computer from one of an agent'"'"'s keyboard and the administrator system; and playing the selected one of the announcements in the voice of the agent substantially any time during the incoming telephone call. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. An announcement system coupled to an automatic call distributor for playing recorded announcements during an incoming telephone call received from a public switch telephone network and routed by a telephonic switch of the automatic call distributor to the agent, such announcement system comprising:
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an interface circuit which receives the incoming call from the telephone switch of the automatic call distributor and couples an audio portion of the incoming call to the agent; an administrator system which receives call data about the incoming call through a separate connection with the telephonic switch; and a personal computer coupled to the interface circuit and administrator system which couples a recorded announcement of a plurality of recorded announcements stored in the personal computer to the incoming call through the interface circuit based upon an announcement selection message from one of the agent and administrator system. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22)
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Specification