Point-of-presence call center management system
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of handling a toll free call that is directed to a remote call center, the method comprising:
- redirecting the toll free call from the remote call center to a local call center;
automatically answering the redirected toll free call in the local call center to determine whether connection to the remote call center is necessary; and
bridging the redirected toll free call with a telephone connection in the remote call center via a long distance network adaptable to be coupled between the local call center and the remote call center if connection to the remote call center is necessary.
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Abstract
A point-of-presence (POP) call center system capable of answering, servicing, queuing and routing of calls at local points of presence to reduce communications costs and enhance operational efficiency for toll-free inbound call centers. The POP call center system includes a set of point-of-presence call center gateways distributed at points of presence close to the point of call origination that are connected by a virtual private network to premises call center gateways at business locations where the call centers reside.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method of handling a toll free call that is directed to a remote call center, the method comprising:
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redirecting the toll free call from the remote call center to a local call center; automatically answering the redirected toll free call in the local call center to determine whether connection to the remote call center is necessary; and bridging the redirected toll free call with a telephone connection in the remote call center via a long distance network adaptable to be coupled between the local call center and the remote call center if connection to the remote call center is necessary. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A distributed toll free call servicing system comprising:
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a remote call center for servicing toll free calls; a local call center to automatically answer toll free calls that have been redirected from the remote call center to the local call center, the local call center being configured to determine, for each redirected toll free call, whether connection to the remote call center is necessary and, if connection to the remote call center is necessary, to bridge the redirected toll free call with a telephone connection in the remote call center via a long distance network coupled between the local call center and the remote call center. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A distributed toll free call servicing system comprising:
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a remote call center for servicing toll free calls; a plurality of local call centers that are distributed within respective service regions to automatically answer toll free calls that originate within the service regions, each of the toll free calls being redirected from the remote call center to one of the plurality of local call centers selected according to the service region from which the toll free call originated, the selected one of the plurality of local call centers being configured to determine, for each redirected toll free call received, whether connection to the remote call center is necessary and, if connection to the remote call center is necessary, to bridge the redirected toll free call with a telephone connection in the remote call center via a long distance network between the local call center and the remote call center. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A telephone call handling system comprising:
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a telephony switch to receive toll free calls that have been redirected to the call handling system by a local switched telephone network; a computer telephony server coupled to the telephony switch to detect when a redirected toll free call is received in the telephony switch and to automatically answer the redirected toll free call to determine whether connection to a remote call center is necessary, the computer telephony server being configured to bridge the redirected toll free call with a telephone connection in the remote call center via a long distance network adaptable to be coupled between the local call center and the remote call center if connection to the remote call center is necessary. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30)
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Specification