Apparatus and method for detecting conversation interruptions in a telephonic switch
First Claim
1. In a telephonic swatch, an apparatus for detecting an interruption in a conversation between two participants during an incoming telephone call, said two participants including an agent and a caller, said interruption being detected when one of said participants begins talking while the other of said participants is talking, the apparatus comprising:
- a detection circuit for actuating an interruption when the agent and the caller are concomitantly talking; and
a reporting mechanism for reporting the interruption in response to the detection circuit detecting when the agent and the caller are concomitantly talking.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus 200 and method for detecting when an interruption occurs between an agent associated with a telephonic switch, such as an automatic call distributor 100, and a caller during an incoming telephone call. The automatic call distributor 100 routes incoming telephone calls generated by callers at external telephonic units 102 to agents located at agent telephonic units 106. Additional information concerning incoming telephone calls is displayed to the agents on agent terminals 118. The apparatus 200 includes a detection circuit 210 for detecting when an agent and a caller are concomitantly talking during an incoming telephone call. A caller audio signal detector 216 detects caller audio signals representative of the speech of a caller on a first bus 204 in the automatic call distributor 100. Similarly, an agent audio signal detector 222 detects agent audio signals representative of the speech of an agent on a second bus 208 in the automatic call distributor 100. When speech is simultaneously detected on both the first and second busses 204 and 208, an interruption has occurred. Detected interruptions may be reported to a supervisor via supervisor terminal 108 and/or to the agent via agent terminal 118.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. In a telephonic swatch, an apparatus for detecting an interruption in a conversation between two participants during an incoming telephone call, said two participants including an agent and a caller, said interruption being detected when one of said participants begins talking while the other of said participants is talking, the apparatus comprising:
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a detection circuit for actuating an interruption when the agent and the caller are concomitantly talking; and a reporting mechanism for reporting the interruption in response to the detection circuit detecting when the agent and the caller are concomitantly talking. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. In a telephonic switch for connecting an incoming role phone call from a caller to an agent, a method for detecting an interruption when the agent interrupts the caller or the caller interrupts the agent during the incoming telephone call, the method comprising the steps of:
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detecting an interruption when the agent and the caller are concomitantly talking during the incoming telephone call; and reporting the interruption in response to detecting when the agent and the caller are concomitantly talking. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
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13. In a telephonic switch for connecting an incoming telephone call from a caller to an agent, a method for detecting when the agent interrupts the caller during the incoming telephone call, the method comprising the steps of:
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detecting when the caller is talking during the incoming telephone call; subsequently detecting when the agent begins talking concomitantly with the caller; and reporting an interruption when the agent interrupts the caller. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. In an automatic call distributor, an apparatus for detecting an interruption in a conversation between two participants during an incoming telephone call, said two participants including an agent and a caller, said interruption being detected when one of said participants begins talking while the other of said participants is talking, the apparatus comprising:
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caller audio signal detector for detecting audio power of a caller audio signal; caller threshold means for establishing a caller threshold audio signal power; caller comparison means for comparing the caller threshold audio signal power and the detected audio power of the caller audio signal for determining whether the caller is talking based on the comparison; agent audio signal detector for detecting audio power of an agent audio signal; agent threshold means for establishing an agent threshold audio signal power; and agent comparison means for comparing the agent threshold audio signal power and the detected audio power of the agent audio signal for determining whether the agent is talking based on the comparison. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification