Intelligent call redirection
First Claim
1. A method for handling redirection of a call involving a calling party station to an external service provider (ESP) for subsequent call processing, comprising the steps of:
- determining whether the calling party station has pre-selected an ESP for the subsequent call processing;
if the calling party station has pre-selected an ESP, redirecting the call to the pre-selected ESP;
if the calling party station has not pre-selected an ESP, prompting a caller at the calling party station to select an ESP and, redirecting the call to the selected ESP, wherein the determining step occurs before detection of a redirection trigger and the prompting step occurs after detection of the redirection trigger.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An intelligent method is disclosed for handling call redirection to an external service provider (ESP) for subsequent call processing. In one embodiment, a network database (30) is queried to determine whether the calling party station (5) has pre-selected an ESP for subsequent call processing. In the event that the calling party station has pre-selected an ESP, the call is automatically redirected to the pre-selected ESP; no caller input is required. If, however, the calling party station has not pre-selected an ESP, an announcement is played to the calling party offering a menu of available ESPs. To accept the offer, the caller must explicitly respond to the offer using, e.g., DTMF signaling. The call is then redirected on a per-call basis in accordance with the calling party'"'"'s selection.
40 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for handling redirection of a call involving a calling party station to an external service provider (ESP) for subsequent call processing, comprising the steps of:
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determining whether the calling party station has pre-selected an ESP for the subsequent call processing;
if the calling party station has pre-selected an ESP, redirecting the call to the pre-selected ESP;
if the calling party station has not pre-selected an ESP, prompting a caller at the calling party station to select an ESP and, redirecting the call to the selected ESP, wherein the determining step occurs before detection of a redirection trigger and the prompting step occurs after detection of the redirection trigger. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for handling redirection of a call involving a calling party station to an external service provider (ESP) for subsequent call processing, comprising the steps of:
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determining whether the calling party station has pre-selected an ESP for the subsequent call processing;
determining whether the calling party station has disabled the subsequent call processing on calls made from the calling party station;
determining whether the called party station has disabled the subsequent call processing on calls made to the called party station;
when the calling party station has pre-selected an ESP, redirecting the call to the pre-selected ESP;
when the calling party station has not pre-selected an ESP, prompting a caller at the calling party station to select an ESP and, redirecting the call to the selected ESP; and
when either the calling party station or the called party station has disabled the subsequent call processing, not performing the prompting step and the redirecting steps on the call. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for handling redirection of a call involving a calling party station and a called party station to a voice messaging provider, comprising the steps of:
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transmitting call origination information to a database to determine whether the calling party station has pre-selected a voice messaging provider;
receiving a response from the database indicating whether the calling party station has pre-selected a voice messaging provider;
detecting a busy or ring-no-answer condition on the call;
when the calling party station has pre-selected a voice messaging provider, automatically redirecting the call on busy or ring-no-answer to the voice messaging provider;
when the calling party station has not pre-selected a voice messaging provider, prompting a caller at the calling party station on busy or ring-no-answer to select a voice messaging provider for the call;
monitoring the call for the caller'"'"'s selection of a voice messaging provider;
redirecting the call in accordance with the caller'"'"'s selection of a voice messaging provider.
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17. A method for handling redirection of a call involving a calling party station to an external service provider (ESP) for subsequent call processing, comprising the steps of:
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determining whether the calling party station has pre-selected an ESP for the subsequent call processing;
detecting a call progress redirection trigger; and
upon detection of the call progress redirection trigger;
if the calling party station has pre-selected an ESP, redirecting the call to the pre-selected ESP;
if the calling party station has not pre-selected an ESP, prompting a caller at the calling party station to select an ESP and, redirecting the call to the selected ESP. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification