Method for eliminating telephone hold time
First Claim
1. The method of prioritizing incoming calls and arranging for such incoming calls to be connected to a receiving party for voice contact at a later time, consisting of the steps of:
- a. the caller temporarily establishing a communication connection with the receiving party;
b. automatically establishing a priority code, if the incoming call does not already have a priority code;
c. automatically establishing a place on the queue of incoming callers based on the priority code;
d. automatically establish a time to reconnect;
e. forwarding to the caller said established time to reconnect and, if not previously supplied, a priority code to the caller;
f. breaking the communication connection; and
g. automatically reminding the caller of the time for the caller to initiate reconnection to the receiving party.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method, which may be carried through a computer and its modem, is used to minimize the telephone time necessary to establish direct voice contact with the computer technician or other service provider and to provide information to the technician about the computer system and program. When contact is made through the modem with the information provider'"'"'s PBX, the caller'"'"'s computer would send a signal, indicating whether this is a reconnect or a new contact. If the customer support telephone line is for a number of programs or if there are different queues for different problems, a dialog box can be used to supply the necessary information to select the appropriate queue. The telephone system would provide an indication of the current wait time for the particular product or problem taking into account not only the open lines currently in the queue, but other callers who will be calling back at an appropriate time. The caller will then be informed of length of the wait and that the caller can (1) have the caller'"'"'s computer automatically call back at the appropriate time without losing the place in line if the caller has a telephone connection to his/her modem; (2) call back on a telephone not connected to the modem with a priority number which will position the caller in the queue, if a caller does not have a handset attached to his/her modem; or (3) continue to hold.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. The method of prioritizing incoming calls and arranging for such incoming calls to be connected to a receiving party for voice contact at a later time, consisting of the steps of:
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a. the caller temporarily establishing a communication connection with the receiving party; b. automatically establishing a priority code, if the incoming call does not already have a priority code; c. automatically establishing a place on the queue of incoming callers based on the priority code; d. automatically establish a time to reconnect; e. forwarding to the caller said established time to reconnect and, if not previously supplied, a priority code to the caller; f. breaking the communication connection; and g. automatically reminding the caller of the time for the caller to initiate reconnection to the receiving party. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. The method of prioritizing incoming calls and arranging for such incoming calls to be connected to a receiving party for voice contact at a later time, consisting of the steps of:
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a. the caller temporarily establishing a communication connection with the receiving party; b. automatically establishing a priority code; c. automatically establishing a place on the queue of incoming callers based on the priority code; d. automatically establish a time to reconnect; e. forwarding to the caller said established time to reconnect; f. breaking the communication connection; and g. automatically reminding the caller of the time for the caller to initiate reconnection to the receiving party. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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Specification