Point-of-presence call center management system

• US 6,324,276 B1
• Filed: 11/03/1999
• Issued: 11/27/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Incorporated (Genesys Cloud Services Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Telera, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Uppaluru, Prem, Sundaram, Mukesh
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Harry S.
• Application Number:
  US09/433,636
• Time in Patent Office: 755 Days
• Field of Search: 379/201, 379/297, 379/211, 379/219, 379/220, 379/221, 379/222, 379/230, 379/265, 379/266, 379/309, 379/901, 379/201.01, 379/207.01, 379/211.01, 379/211.02, 379/212.01, 379/220.01, 379/221.01, 379/265.01, 379/265.02, 379/266.01, 379/266.04
• US Class Current: 379/220.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/35 virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42306 Number translation services, e.g. premium-rate, freephone or vanity number services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5166 in combination with interactive voice response systems or voice portals, e.g. as front-ends
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5237 Interconnection arrangements between ACD systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0033 Notification or handling of incoming calls by a computer
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1245 where a network other than PSTN/ISDN interconnects two PSTN/ISDN networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/125 Details of gateway equipment

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.

Claims

1. A method of handling an inbound toll free call that is directed to a remote call center, the method comprising:

redirecting the inbound toll free call from the remote call center to a local call center that is coupled to the remote call center via a data network;

responding to the redirected toll free call in the local call center by determining whether connection to the remote call center is necessary.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

signaling the remote call center via the data network to request a telephone connection to be established in the remote call center; and

bridging the redirected toll free call with the telephone connection in the remote call center via a long distance network when the telephone connection is established in the remote call center.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein bridging the redirected toll free call with the telephone connection in the selected one of the plurality of remote call centers comprises:

establishing a connection between the telephone connection in the remote call center and the long distance network; and

establishing a connection between the redirected toll free call in the local call center and the long distance network.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein responding to the redirected toll free call in the local call center includes servicing the redirected toll free call in the local call center before bridging the redirected toll free call with the telephone connection in the remote call center.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein servicing the redirected toll free call in the local call center comprises placing the redirected toll free call on hold in the local call center while awaiting the telephone connection to be established in the remote call center.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein signaling the remote call center via the data network to request a telephone connection to be established in the remote call center comprises signaling the remote call center via the data network to request an automated call distributor to establish a telephone connection to a call servicing agent.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the call servicing agent is a human call servicing agent.

8. The method of claim 2 wherein bridging the redirected toll free call with the telephone connection in the remote call center via a long distance network comprises placing a toll free long distance call from the local call center to the remote call center via the long distance network.

9. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

determining when the telephone connection in the remote call center is imminent; and

forwarding the redirected toll free call to the remote call center via the long distance network to be bridged with the telephone connection in the remote call center in response to determining that the telephone connection in the remote call center is imminent.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein determining when the telephone connection in the remote call center is imminent comprises the local call center receiving a signal from the remote call center via the data network, the signal indicating that the telephone connection in the remote call center is imminent.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising storing an entry in a queue in the remote call center to indicate the request for the telephone connection to be established in the remote call center, and wherein determining when the telephone connection in the remote call center is imminent comprises determining when the entry in the queue in the remote call center has advanced to the head of the queue.

12. The method of claim 2 wherein responding to the redirected toll free call in the local call center comprises servicing the redirected toll free call in the local call center with an automated call answering system that signals the remote call center via the data network to request that the telephone connection be established in the remote call center.

13. The method of claim 2 wherein responding to the redirected toll free call in the local call center comprises:

automatically answering the redirected toll free call using an automated call answering system; and

executing an interactive application in the automated call answering system to interact with a caller.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein redirecting the inbound toll free call from the remote call center to the local call center includes translating a toll free number associated with the inbound toll free call to a translated number that terminates at the local call center and wherein responding to the redirected toll free call in the local call center further comprises identifying the interactive application based on the translated number.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising downloading at least a portion of the interactive application from the remote call center to the local call center via the data network after identifying the interactive application.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein executing an interactive application to interact with the caller comprises executing an interactive voice response application that has been customized according to needs of the remote call center.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein executing an interactive application to interact with the caller comprises executing an interactive application that prompts the caller to input information useful for servicing the inbound toll free call.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein executing an interactive application that prompts the caller to input information comprises issuing a voice prompt to the caller prompting the caller to input the information.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein executing an interactive application that prompts the caller to input information comprises communicating a menu of choices to the caller and prompting the caller to select a choice from the menu.

20. The method of claim 13 further comprising downloading at least a portion of the interactive application from the remote call center to the local call center via the data network.

21. The method of claim 13 wherein executing the interactive application in the automated call answering system comprises accessing an application server in the business call center via the data network to obtain information useful for servicing the redirected toll free call.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the information useful for servicing the redirected toll free call includes at least one of a voice prompt, a menu, a message, a form, a script and data.

23. The method of claim 21 wherein executing the interactive application in the automated call answering system to interact with the caller includes receiving user-input from the caller and wherein accessing the application server in the business call center comprises supplying the user-input to the application server in the business call center via the data network to select the information useful for servicing the redirected toll free call.

24. The method of claim 21 wherein accessing the application server in the business call center to obtain information useful for servicing the redirected toll free call includes accessing the application server in the business call center multiple times to access the information in response to input from the caller.

25. The method of claim 13 wherein redirecting the inbound toll free call from the remote call center to the local call center includes translating a toll free number associated with the inbound toll free call to a translated number that terminates at the local call center and wherein responding to the redirected toll free call in the call center further comprises identifying the interactive application based on the translated number and downloading at least a portion of the interactive application from the remote call center after identifying the interactive application.

26. The method of claim 2 wherein signaling the remote call center via the data network to request a telephone connection to be established comprises signaling the remote call center to request a telephone connection to a human operator at the remote call center.

27. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

queuing the request for the telephone connection to a human operator in a queue within the remote call center;

advancing the request for the telephone connection toward the head of the queue as previously queued requests for telephone connections are serviced; and

establishing the telephone connection to the human operator in response to the request for the telephone connection reaching the head of the queue.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein bridging the redirected toll free call with the telephone connection in the remote call center comprises determining when the telephone connection in the remote call center has reached the head of the queue and, in response, forwarding the redirected toll free call to the remote call center via the long distance network to be bridged with the telephone connection in the remote call center.

29. The method of claim 2 wherein bridging the redirected toll free call with the telephone connection in the remote call center via a long distance network comprises bridging the redirected toll free call with the telephone connection in the remote call center via a voice communication channel established over the data network.

30. The method of claim 2 wherein the remote call center includes a plurality of call center gateways that are interconnected with the local call center via the data network, at least one of the plurality of call center gateways being a master call center gateway, and wherein signaling the remote call center via the data network comprises:

signaling the master call center gateway via the data network to request telephone call service;

the master call center gateway responding to the request for telephone call service by selecting one of the plurality of call center gateways appropriate to provide the telephone call service;

the master call center gateway communicating a value identifying the selected one of the plurality of call center gateways to the local call center; and

signaling the selected one of the plurality of call center gateways via the data network to request the telephone connection to be established in the remote call center.

31. The method of claim 1 wherein redirecting the inbound toll free call from the remote call center to the local call center comprises translating a toll free number associated with the inbound toll free call to a translated number that terminates at the local call center.

32. A method of servicing a long distance toll free call that is directed to a master remote call center of a plurality of remote call centers, the method comprising:

redirecting the long distance toll free call from the master remote call center to a local call center that is coupled to the master remote call center via a data network;

responding to the redirected toll free call in the local call center by determining whether connection to the remote call center is necessary.

33. The method of claim 32 further comprising:

signaling the master remote call center via the data network to request telephone call service;

responding to the request for telephone call service in the master remote call center by selecting one of the plurality of remote call centers appropriate to provide the telephone call service; and

bridging the redirected toll free call with a telephone connection in the selected one of the plurality of remote call centers via a long distance network.

34. The method of claim 33 further comprising:

the master remote call center communicating a value identifying the selected one of the plurality of remote call centers to the local call center; and

wherein bridging the redirected toll free call with the telephone connection in the selected one of the plurality of remote call centers via the long distance network comprises bridging the redirected toll free call with the telephone connection in the identified one of the plurality of remote call centers when the telephone connection is established in the identified one of the plurality of remote call centers.

35. The method of claim 33 wherein bridging the redirected toll free call with the telephone connection in the selected one of the plurality of remote call centers comprises establishing a connection between the telephone connection in the selected one of the plurality of remote call centers and the long distance network and establishing a connection between the redirected toll free call in the local call center and the long distance network.

36. The method of claim 35 wherein responding to the redirected toll free call in the local call center includes servicing the redirected toll free call in the local call center before bridging the redirected toll free call with the telephone connection in the selected one of the plurality of remote call centers.

37. The method of claim 32 wherein the one of the plurality of remote call centers appropriate to provide the telephone call service is the master remote call center.

38. The method of claim 32 further comprising:

the local call center signaling the identified one of the plurality of remote call centers via the data network to request a telephone connection to be established in the identified one of the plurality of remote call centers.

39. A method comprising:

redirecting a toll free call from a remote call center to a local call center;

signaling the remote call center via a data network between the local call center and the remote call center to request connection to a human operator at the remote call center; and

determining whether a connection to a human operator in the remote call center is necessary.

40. The method of claim 39 wherein redirecting the toll free call from the remote call center to the local call center comprises translating a toll free number associated with the toll free call to a translated number that terminates at the local call center.

41. The method of claim 39 further comprising:

bridging the redirected toll free call to the connection to a human operator at the remote call center via a long distance network between the local call center and the remote call center.

42. The method of claim 41 further comprising queuing the request for connection to a human operator in a queue and wherein determining when the connection to a human operator is imminent includes monitoring progress of the request for connection to a human operator in the queue to determine when the request for connection to a human operator reaches the head of the queue.

43. The method of claim 41 wherein bridging the redirected toll free call to the telephone connection in the remote call center via a long distance network comprises bridging the redirected toll free call with the telephone connection in the remote call center via a voice communication channel established over the data network.