Telephone transaction support system

• US 6,169,787 B1
• Filed: 06/12/1997
• Issued: 01/02/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Fujita, Hisashi, Shimada, Takashi, Akita, Kiyofumi, Idei, Shigeru
• Primary Examiner(s): Weaver, Scott L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hoosain, Allan
• Application Number:
  US08/873,720
• Time in Patent Office: 1,300 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88.01, 379/74, 379/201, 379/210, 379/212, 379/214, 379/90.01, 379/91.01, 379/93.02, 379/91.02, 379/93.05, 379/93.12, 379/34, 379/260-267, 380/24, 380/25, 380/49, 705/23, 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 379/91.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/382 using authorisation codes or passwords
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42221 Conversation recording systems at the subscriber's set H04M1/656
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42323 PBX's with CTI arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/12 for working between exchanges having different types of switching equipment, e.g. power-driven and step by step or decimal and non-decimal

Abstract

A telephone transaction support system includes a transaction register unit for registering, in a database, contents of a transaction requested by a customer over a telephone, and a deciding unit for deciding on an approval support unit among a plurality of approval support units at random, the approval support unit being used to approve contents of a transaction, whereby the approval support unit decided on at random is used to approve the transaction registered in the database. A telephone transaction support system which supplies to an operator information regarding a transaction in a conversation with a customer over a telephone includes a detecting unit for detecting an actual state of service of an operator dealing with the customer based on the information supplied thereto, and an estimate data generating unit for generating estimate data based on the actual state of the service of the operator detected by the detecting unit.

Claims

1. A telephone transaction support system comprising:

transaction register means for registering, in a database, contents of a transaction requested by a customer over a telephone; and

deciding means for deciding on an approval support unit among a plurality of approval support units at random using random number processing, said approval support unit being used to approve contents of a transaction, whereby said approval support unit decided on at random, by random number processing, is used to approve the transaction registered in said database.

2. The telephone transaction support system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:

conversation recording means for recording, in said database, contents of a conversation with the customer over the telephone in the transaction under a condition in which the contents of the conversation correspond to the transaction, whereby the contents of the transaction registered in said database are compared with the contents of the conversation when the transaction is approved using said approval support unit decided among the plurality of approval support units at random.

3. The telephone transaction support system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:

unit registration means for registering, in said database, information identifying said approval support unit decided on by said deciding means under a condition in which the information corresponds to transactions, whereby the transactions which should be approved by said approval support unit are retrieved from said database based on the information identifying said approval support unit.

4. The telephone transaction support system as claimed in claim 3, wherein each of the plurality of approval support units has retrieval means for retrieving the contents of the transaction to be approved from said database based on the information identifying the approval support system;

and

output means for outputting the contents of the transaction retrieved by said retrieval means, whereby the contents of the transaction output by said output means are approved by the approver.

5. The telephone transaction support system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:

table storage means for storing a table indicating relationships between the plurality of approval support units and approvers using the plurality of approval support units, wherein each approval support unit is identified by a corresponding approver indicated in said table.

6. The telephone transaction support system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of approval support units has reading means for reading the contents of the transaction to be approved from said database;

and

output means for outputting the contents of the transaction read out from said database by said reading means, whereby the contents output by said output means are approved by the approver.

7. The telephone transaction support system as claimed in claim 2, wherein each of the plurality of approval support units has reading means for reading the contents of the transaction to be approved and the contents of the conversation corresponding to the transaction from said database;

first output means for outputting the contents of the transaction read out from said database by said reading means; and

second output means for outputting the contents of the conversation read out from said database, whereby the contents of the transaction output by said first output means and the contents of the conversation output by said second output means are compared with each other so that the contents of the transaction are approved by the approver.

8. The telephone transaction support system as claimed in claim 6, wherein each of the plurality of approval support units further has output control means for controlling contents of the conversation output by said second output means in accordance with an approval level of the transaction to be approved, the approval level of the transaction being decided based on a predetermined rule.

9. A recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to performs a process for supporting approval of a transaction requested from a customer over a telephone, said program comprising:

first program code means for registering, in a database, contents of a transaction requested by the customer over the telephone; and

second program code means for deciding on an approval support unit among a plurality of approval support units at random using random number processing, said approval support unit being used to approve contents of a transaction, whereby said approval support unit decided at random, by random number processing, is used to approve the transaction registered in said database.

10. The recording medium as claimed in claim 9, wherein said program further comprises:

third program code for recording, in said database, contents of a conversation with the customer over the telephone in the transaction under a condition in which the contents of the conversation correspond to the transaction, whereby the contents of the transaction registered in said database are compared with the contents of the conversation when the transaction is approved using said approval support unit decided among the plurality of approval support units at random.

11. The recording medium as claimed in claim 9, wherein said program further comprises:

fourth program code means for registering, in said database, information identifying said approval support unit decided on by said deciding means under a condition in which the information corresponds to transactions, whereby the transactions which should be approved by said approval support unit are retrieved from said database based on the information identifying said approval support unit.

12. A recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to perform a process for supporting approval of a transaction requested by a customer over a telephone using a database in which contents of the requested transaction are recorded, said program comprising:

reading program code means for reading out the contents of the transaction which should be approved from said database; and

output control program code means for causing an output unit to output the contents of the transaction read out from said database, wherein approval of the transaction is performed by random number processing.

13. A recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to perform a process for supporting approval of a transaction requested by a customer over a telephone using a database in which contents of the requested transaction and contents of a conversation with the customer over the telephone in the transaction are recorded, said program comprising:

reading program code means for reading out the contents of the transaction which should be approved and the contents of the conversation in the transaction from said database;

first output control program code means for causing a first output unit to output the contents of the transaction read out from said database; and

second output control program code means for causing a second output unit to output the contents of the conversation read out from said database, wherein approval of the transaction is performed by random number processing.

14. The recording medium as claimed in claim 13, wherein said second output control program code means has a control program code means for controlling contents of the conversation output by said second output unit in accordance with an approval level of the transaction to be approved, the approval level of the transaction being decided based on a predetermined rule.

15. A recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to perform a process for supporting approval of a transaction request by a customer over a telephone using a database in which contents of the requested transaction and information identifying the computer performing the process under a condition in which the transaction corresponds to the information identifying said computer, said program comprising:

retrieval program code means for retrieving the contents of the requested transaction to be approved from said database based on the information identifying said computer; and

output control program code means for causing an output unit to output the retrieved contents of the requested transaction, wherein approval of the transaction is performed by random number processing.

16. A telephone transaction support system supplying to an operator information regarding a transaction in a conversation with a customer over a telephone, comprising:

detecting means for detecting an actual state of service of an operator dealing with the customer based on the information supplied thereto, the actual state of service including a reaction of the customer to an operator'"'"'s offer and a response of the operator to the reaction of the customer; and

estimate data generating means for generating estimate data based on the actual state of service of the operator detected by said detecting means, wherein approval of the transaction is performed by random number processing.

17. The telephone transaction support system as claimed in claim 16 further comprising:

total data generating means for totaling the estimate data generated by said estimate data generating means and obtaining a total estimate data.

18. The telephone transaction support system as claimed in claim 17 further comprising:

determination means for determining, based on the total estimate data, whether service of the operator to the customer is proper; and

informing means for informing the operator of a determination result obtained by said determination means when said determination means determines that the service of the operator to the customer is not proper.

19. The telephone transaction support system as claimed in claim 17 further comprising:

total data storage means for storing the total estimate data generated by said total data generating means under a condition in which the total estimate data corresponds to the operator; and

means for reading out the total estimate data from said total data storage means and outputting the total estimate data corresponding to the operator.

20. The telephone transaction support system as claimed in claim 16 further comprising:

estimate data storage means for storing the estimate data generated by said estimate data generating means under a condition in which the estimate data corresponds to the operator; and

means for reading out the estimate data from said estimate data storage means and outputting the estimate data corresponding to the operator.

21. A telephone transaction support system, comprising:

a register storing contents of a transaction requested by a customer over a telephone; and

a decision unit deciding on an approval support unit among a plurality of approval support units at random using random number processing, said approval support unit being used to approve the stored transaction.

22. A method of supporting telephone transactions, comprising:

storing contents of a transaction requested by a customer over a telephone; and

deciding on an approval support unit among a plurality of approval support units at random using random number processing, said approval support unit being used to approve the stored transaction.

23. A telephone transaction support system comprising:

a plurality of reception terminals receiving a request of a transaction from a customer over a telephone; and

a plurality of approval terminals approving contents of the transaction received by the reception terminals, wherein each of the reception terminals comprises;

transaction register means for registering, in a database, the contents of the transaction requested by the customer over the telephone; and

deciding means for deciding one of the approval terminals at random using random number processing, said one of the approval terminals being used to approve the contents of the transaction registered in the database.

24. A telephone transaction support system comprising:

a plurality of reception terminals receiving a request for a transaction from a customer over a telephone;

a plurality of approval terminals approving contents of the transaction received by the reception terminals; and

a database storing the contents of the transaction, said database being accessible by the reception terminals and the approval terminals, wherein each of the reception terminals comprises;

transaction register means for registering, in the database, the contents of the transaction requested by the customer over the telephone; and

deciding means for deciding on one of the approval terminals at random using random number processing, said one of the approval terminals being used to approve the contents of the transaction registered in the database, said deciding means storing the contents for the transaction in the database in relation to said one of the approval terminals, wherein each of the approval terminals comprises display means for retrieving and displaying the contents of the transaction stored in the database.

25. A reception terminal apparatus used in a telephone transaction support system comprising:

a plurality of reception terminals receiving a request for a transaction from a customer over a telephone; and

a plurality of approval terminals approving contents of the transaction received by the reception terminals, wherein each of the reception terminals comprises;

an approval terminal table registering the approval terminals that are usable to approve the contents for the transaction;

transaction register means for registering, in a database, the contents of the transaction requested by the customer over the telephone; and

deciding means for deciding on one of the approval terminals at random using random number processing from among the approval terminals registered in the approval terminal table upon completion of registration of the contents of the transaction, said one of the approval terminals being used to approve the contents of the transaction registered in the database.