Teleservices computer system, method, and manager application for integrated presentation of concurrent interactions with multiple terminal emulation sessions

• US 5,974,135 A
• Filed: 06/11/1997
• Issued: 10/26/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Harrah's Operating Company Incorporated (Caesars Entertainment, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Harrah's Operating Company Incorporated (Caesars Entertainment, Inc.)
• Inventors: Breneman, Reed B., Romeo, John P., Burks, James B., Rowe, Bruce C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wolinsky, Scott
• Application Number:
  US08/872,882
• Time in Patent Office: 867 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265, 379/266, 379/309, 379/142, 379/211, 379/201, 379/93.23, 379/93.17, 370/351, 370/352, 370/401
• US Class Current: 379/265.04
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A teleservices system, workstation configuration, and teleservices manager application provide for integrated concurrent interactions with various host computer systems, an automatic call management system, and Internet/intranet servers. The teleservices system includes an automatic call distributor and call management system, a customer database system, various host systems providing terminal emulation based access, a hypermedia server with hypermedia data on multiple properties, host computer systems, or business locations. The teleservices workstation configuration includes a telephone server application that interfaces to the call management system, a patron server program that interfaces to the customer database system, and a configuration database that stores configuration for configuring each agent'"'"'s workstation to access various ones of the host computer systems, and identifying various ones of the properties for which the agent provides services. The teleservices workstation manager application controls and interfaces with the telephone server program, the patron server program, and the configuration database. Among other functions, the teleservices workstation manager automatically retrieves customer data from the customer database in response to receiving a telephone number for an incoming telephone call, automatically configures itself to provide terminal emulation sessions for various ones of the host computer systems and properties that the agent is authorized to service, and dynamically selects and retrieves hypermedia data for various ones of such properties. The various data sources are presented through an integrated user interface, and the agent is able to efficiently transfer information between the various systems.

Claims

1. A teleservices computer system for a teleservice center having an automatic call distributor (ACD) that receives customer calls, the teleservices computer system providing an integrated presentation of information from multiple diverse computer systems, comprising:

a first configuration database containing configuration information for each of a plurality of users, the configuration information specifying for each user, user identification information, and host identification information identifying at least one of a plurality of host computer systems to be accessed by the user through a terminal emulation session; and

a teleservices application, comprising;

a telephony control module that interfaces the teleservices application to the ACD, to receive from the ACD a telephone number of a customer call received at the ACD;

a database interface to a customer database of customer data, that automatically provides the telephone number of the customer call received from the telephony control module to the customer database to retrieve customer data associated with the telephone number;

a browser interface to a hypermedia server containing hypermedia data associated with individual ones of a plurality of host computer systems, that provides the host identification information of the at least one host computer system to be accessed by the user to the server and that receives the hypermedia data associated with the identified host computer systems;

a terminal emulation module providing a plurality of user selectable terminal emulation sessions to the host computer systems, that receives the identification information of each host computer system to be accessed by the user, and that automatically establishes a terminal emulation session with each identified host computer system by automatically logging in the user with the user identification information in the configuration database; and

wherein the system provides services for a plurality of properties and a customer call is serviced with respect to at least one property, and wherein the teleservices application interfaces with a call purpose database to record a purpose for the customer call, each purpose identifying a property associated with the customer call and at least one action taken by the user with respect to the customer call and the property.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an integrated user interface that displays through a plurality of user selectable display screens the hypermedia data received from the hypermedia server, at least one of the plurality of terminal emulation sessions, and the telephone number and associated customer data for the customer call.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the teleservices application provides selected customer data retrieved from the customer database to at least one of the host computer systems for which there is a terminal emulation system.

4. The teleservices system of claim 1, wherein the first configuration database is located on a centralized computer system, the system further comprising:

a second configuration database, located on a same computer workstation as the teleservices application, and providing a replicated copy of the first configuration database, the teleservices application accessing the first or second configuration databases depending on availability of the databases on a network.

5. The teleservices application of claim 1, further comprising:

a telephony control panel that provides telephony control over at least two telephone line extensions between the ACD and the teleservices application.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the configuration database further comprises:

for data entry fields on selected screen displays of applications of the plurality of host computer systems, information defining screen locations and data entry formats for the data fields, to enable the terminal emulation module to transfer data between the data entry fields of a screen display and either data fields of another screen display or data fields of the customer database.

7. A teleservices computer system for a teleservice center having an automatic call distributor (ACD) that receives customer calls, the teleservices computer system providing an integrated presentation of information from multiple diverse computer systems, comprising:

a first configuration database containing configuration information for each of a plurality of users, the configuration information specifying for each user, user identification information, and host identification information identifying at least one of a plurality of host computer systems to be accessed by the user through a terminal emulation session; and

a teleservices application, comprising;

a telephony control module that interfaces the teleservices application to the ACD, to receive from the ACD a telephone number of a customer call received at the ACD;

a database interface to a customer database of customer data, that automatically provides the telephone number of the customer call received from the telephony control module to the customer database to retrieve customer data associated with the telephone number;

a browser interface to a hypermedia server containing hypermedia data associated with individual ones of a plurality of host computer systems, that provides the host identification information of the at least one host computer system to be accessed by the user to the server and that receives the hypermedia data associated with the identified host computer systems;

a terminal emulation module providing a plurality of user selectable terminal emulation sessions to the host computer systems, that receives the identification information of each host computer system to be accessed by the user, and that automatically establishes a terminal emulation session with each identified host computer system by automatically logging in the user with the user identification information in the configuration database;

a search function that automatically receives a telephone number of a customer call transferred or conferenced to a user and provides the telephone number to the database interface for retrieving from the customer database system customer data corresponding to the telephone number; and

a select form that automatically displays a list of customers corresponding to the telephone number in response to the customer database system retrieving the list of customers.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

an integrated user interface that displays through a plurality of user selectable display screens the hypermedia data received from the hypermedia server, at least one of the plurality of terminal emulation sessions, and the telephone number and associated customer data for the customer call.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the teleservices application provides selected customer data retrieved from the customer database to at least one of the host computer systems for which there is a terminal emulation system.

10. The teleservices system of claim 7, wherein the first configuration database is located on a centralized computer system, the system further comprising:

a second configuration database, located on a same computer workstation as the teleservices application, and providing a replicated copy of the first configuration database, the teleservices application accessing the first or second configuration databases depending on availability of the databases on a network.

11. The teleservices application of claim 7, further comprising:

a telephony control panel that provides telephony control over at least two telephone line extensions between the ACD and the teleservices application.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the configuration database further comprises:

for data entry fields on selected screen displays of applications of the plurality of host computer systems, information defining screen locations and data entry formats for the data fields, to enable the terminal emulation module to transfer data between the data entry fields of a screen display and either data fields of another screen display or data fields of the customer database.

13. A teleservices computer system for a teleservice center having an automatic call distributor (ACD) that receives customer calls, the teleservices computer system providing an integrated presentation of information from multiple diverse computer systems, comprising:

a first configuration database containing configuration information for each of a plurality of users, the configuration information specifying for each user, user identification information, and host identification information identifying at least one of a plurality of host computer systems to be accessed by the user through a terminal emulation session, the first configuration database including for each user, property identification information identifying at least one property that the user is authorized to service, each property associated with at least one host computer system; and

a teleservices application, comprising;

a telephony control module that interfaces the teleservices application to the ACD, to receive from the ACD a telephone number of a customer call received at the ACD;

a database interface to a customer database of customer data, that automatically provides the telephone number of the customer call received from the telephony control module to the customer database to retrieve customer data associated with the telephone number;

a browser interface to a hypermedia server containing hypermedia data associated with individual ones of a plurality of host computer systems, that provides the host identification information of the at least one host computer system to be accessed by the user to the server and that receives the hypermedia data associated with the identified host computer systems; and

a terminal emulation module providing a plurality of user selectable terminal emulation sessions to the host computer systems, that receives the identification information of each host computer system to be accessed by the user, and that automatically establishes a terminal emulation session with each identified host computer system by automatically logging in the user with the user identification information in the configuration database, wherein the teleservices application dynamically selects or establishes terminal emulation sessions with the host computer systems associated with a user selected one of the properties.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

an integrated user interface that displays through a plurality of user selectable display screens the hypermedia data received from the hypermedia server, at least one of the plurality of terminal emulation sessions, and the telephone number and associated customer data for the customer call.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the teleservices application provides selected customer data retrieved from the customer database to at least one of the host computer systems for which there is a terminal emulation system.

16. The teleservices system of claim 13, wherein the first configuration database is located on a centralized computer system, the system further comprising:

a second configuration database, located on a same computer workstation as the teleservices application, and providing a replicated copy of the first configuration database, the teleservices application accessing the first or second configuration databases depending on availability of the databases on a network.

17. The teleservices application of claim 13, further comprising:

a telephony control panel that provides telephony control over at least two telephone line extensions between the ACD and the teleservices application.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the configuration database further comprises:

for data entry fields on selected screen displays of applications of the plurality of host computer systems, information defining screen locations and data entry formats for the data fields, to enable the terminal emulation module to transfer data between the data entry fields of a screen display and either data fields of another screen display or data fields of the customer database.

19. A teleservices manager application, in a teleservice center having an automatic call distributor (ACD) that receives customer calls, comprising:

a module that automatically establishes a plurality of terminal emulation sessions with a plurality of host computer systems that a user is authorized to access;

a module that receives a telephone number of an incoming customer call, and provides the telephone number to a customer database system to retrieve customer data of at least customer having the telephone number;

a module that selectively displays hypermedia data associated with one of a plurality of properties that the user is authorized to service; and

a user interface that displays the customer data of the customer having the telephone number concurrently with at least one of the terminal emulation sessions.

20. A teleservices computer system for a teleservice center having an automatic call distributor (ACD) that receives customer calls, the teleservices computer system providing an integrated presentation of information from multiple diverse computer systems, comprising:

a configuration database containing configuration information for each of a plurality of users, the configuration information specifying for each user, user identification information, host identification information identifying at least one of a plurality of host computer systems to be accessed by the user through a terminal emulation session, and property identification information for at least one of a plurality of properties that the user is authorized to service; and

a teleservices application, comprising;

a telephony control module that interfaces the teleservices application to the ACD, to receive from the ACD a telephone number of a customer call received at the ACD;

a database interface to a customer database of customer data, that automatically provides the telephone number of the customer call received from the telephony control module to the customer database to retrieve customer data associated with the telephone number;

a browser interface to a hypermedia server containing hypermedia data associated with individual ones of the plurality of properties, that provides location data for a property selected by the user to the hypermedia server and that receives and displays the hypermedia data associated with the location data;

an interface to the configuration database for retrieving the property information and location data for the hypermedia data associated with the selected property; and

a terminal emulation module providing a plurality of user selectable terminal emulation sessions to the host computer systems, that receives the identification information of each host computer system to be accessed by the user, and that automatically establishes a terminal emulation session with each identified host computer system by automatically logging in the user with the user identification information in the configuration database.

21. A computer implemented method of providing concurrent interactions in a teleservices system, comprising:

establishing for a user a plurality of terminal emulation sessions with a plurality of host computer systems, according to stored associations between user identification information and host computer system identification information, and displaying at least one of the terminal emulation sessions to the user;

receiving a telephone number of a customer call, and providing the telephone number to a customer database system to retrieve customer data of at least one customer associated with the telephone number, and displaying the customer data of at least one customer concurrently with the displayed terminal emulation session;

storing for each of a plurality of users, at least one property for which the user is authorized to provide services;

receiving a user selection of one of the properties; and

displaying a hypermedia document associated with the user selected property.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

in response to the user selected property, displaying a terminal emulation session of a host computer system associated with the selected property.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

receiving a transferred customer call from another user;

providing the telephone number of the transferred customer call to the customer database system to retrieve customer data of at least one customer corresponding to the telephone number of the transferred customer call; and

displaying customer data of at least one customer concurrently with a displayed terminal emulation session.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

in response to the user selected property, displaying a terminal emulation session of a host computer system associated with the selected property.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

providing the displayed customer data to a host computer system associated with the currently displayed terminal emulation session.

26. A computer implemented method of providing concurrent interactions in a teleservices system, comprising:

establishing for a user a plurality of terminal emulation sessions with a plurality of host computer systems, according to stored associations between user identification information and host computer system identification information, and displaying at least one of the terminal emulation sessions to the user;

receiving a telephone number of a customer call, and providing the telephone number to a customer database system to retrieve customer data of at least one customer associated with the telephone number, and displaying the customer data of at least one customer concurrently with the displayed terminal emulation session;

disconnecting the user from the customer call;

displaying a call purpose form for recording for the customer call at least one property associated with the customer call and at least one action taken by the user in response to the customer call; and

storing the recorded property and action in a call purpose database.

27. A computer implemented method of providing concurrent interactions in a teleservices system having an automatic call distributor (ACD) that receives customer calls, the method comprising:

automatically establishing a plurality of terminal emulation sessions with a plurality of host computer systems that a user is authorized to access;

receiving a telephone number of an incoming customer call, and providing the telephone number of the telephone call to a customer database system to retrieve customer data of at least customer having the telephone number;

selectively displaying hypermedia data associated with one of a plurality of properties that the user is authorized to service; and

displaying the customer data of the customer having the telephone number concurrently with at least one of the terminal emulation sessions.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

receiving a user selection of a property, and in response to the selected property, displaying a terminal emulation session of a host computer system associated with the selected property.

29. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

receiving a transferred customer call from another user;

providing the telephone number of the transferred customer call to the customer database system to retrieve customer data of at least one customer corresponding to the telephone number of the transferred customer call; and

displaying customer data of at least one customer concurrently with a displayed terminal emulation session.

30. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

providing the displayed customer data to a host computer system associated with the currently displayed terminal emulation session.

31. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

disconnecting the user from the customer call;

displaying a call purpose form for recording for the customer call at least at least one property associated with the customer call and at least one action taken by the user in response to the customer call; and

storing the recorded property and action in a call purpose database.

32. A method of providing an integrated presentation of information from multiple diverse computer systems, comprising:

storing configuration information for each of a plurality of users, the configuration information specifying for each user;

user identification information,

host identification information identifying at least one of a plurality of host computer systems to be accessed by the user through a terminal emulation session, and

property identification information for at least one of a plurality of properties that the user is authorized to service;

receiving a telephone number of a received customer call;

providing the telephone number of the received customer call to a customer database to retrieve customer data associated with the telephone number;

storing hypermedia data associated with location data of individual ones of the plurality of properties;

receiving a user selection of a property the user is authorized to access;

retrieving and displaying hypermedia data associated with location data for the user selected property;

providing a plurality of user selectable terminal emulation sessions to the host computer systems;

receiving the identification information of at least one of the host computer systems to be accessed by the user, and

automatically establishing a terminal emulation session with each identified host computer system by automatically logging in the user with the user identification information in the configuration information.

33. A computer program product for providing concurrent interactions in a teleservices system having an automatic call distributor (ACD) that receives customer calls, the method comprising:

program code means for automatically establishing a plurality of terminal emulation sessions with a plurality of host computer systems that a user is authorized to access;

program code means for receiving a telephone number of an incoming customer call, and providing the telephone number of the telephone call to a customer database system to retrieve customer data of at least customer having the telephone number;

program code means for selectively displaying hypermedia data associated with one of a plurality of properties that the user is authorized to service; and

program code means for displaying the customer data of the customer having the telephone number concurrently with at least one of the terminal emulation sessions.