Network telephony interface systems between data network telephony and plain old telephone service including CTI enhancement in the data network
First Claim
1. A Computer-Telephony Integration (CTI) enhanced telephony system, comprising:
- a Data Network Telephony (DNT) call center at a first location, the call center having multiple agent stations with DNT-capable telephone apparatus connected on a local area network (LAN) to a Call-Center Data Router in turn connected to a data network capable of carrying DNT calls;
a CTI Server connected by a CTI link to the Call Center Data Router, the CTI server executing CTI applications;
a Network Data Router in the data network for routing data packets, the Network data router connected to a network CTI Server performing CTI applications; and
a computerized telephony bridge at a second location remote from the first location;
the computerized bridge comprising;
a trunk-line port and associated circuitry for receiving and placing Connection-Oriented/Switched Telephony (COST) telephone calls on a COST network;
a data network port and associated circuitry for receiving and placing Data Network Telephony (DNT) calls on the data network;
conversion circuitry for converting data dynamically between DNT and COST telephone calls; and
control routines receiving a first call from one of the COST and DNT networks, to place a call associated with the received call on the network other than the network on which the call is received, and to dynamically convert data between the associated calls;
wherein the Call Center CTI Server communicates over the data network with the Network CTI Server to provide CTI functions for calls routed at the Network Data Router.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A telephony call center system has Data Network Telephony (DNT)-capable telephone apparatus at agent stations connected on a Local Area Network (LAN), a data router at the call center connected on the LAN with a data port connected to a data network capable of transmitting Data Network Telephony (DNT) calls, and a Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) Server connected by a CTI link to the data router. A bridge unit is connected to the same data network at a remote (network) location by a data network port, and to a Connection Oriented/Switched Telephony (COST) network by a second port. The bridge unit further includes conversion circuitry for converting data dynamically between DNT and COST telephone calls, and control routines adapted to receive a first call from one of the COST and DNT networks, to place a call associated with the received call on the network other than the network on which the call is received, and to dynamically convert data between the associated calls. In a preferred embodiment the COST network is a Publicly-Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and the data network is the Internet. Also in a preferred embodiment the CTI Server in the call center communicates with a CTI server in the data network, which is in turn connected to a data router in the data network, providing CTI functionality such as pre-routing at network level based on information sent from a call center, and electing information from callers and providing the information related to a call to a call center where a call may be directed. In this embodiment a data network equivalent of a Service Control Point in a COST network is provided.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A Computer-Telephony Integration (CTI) enhanced telephony system, comprising:
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a Data Network Telephony (DNT) call center at a first location, the call center having multiple agent stations with DNT-capable telephone apparatus connected on a local area network (LAN) to a Call-Center Data Router in turn connected to a data network capable of carrying DNT calls;
a CTI Server connected by a CTI link to the Call Center Data Router, the CTI server executing CTI applications;
a Network Data Router in the data network for routing data packets, the Network data router connected to a network CTI Server performing CTI applications; and
a computerized telephony bridge at a second location remote from the first location;
the computerized bridge comprising;
a trunk-line port and associated circuitry for receiving and placing Connection-Oriented/Switched Telephony (COST) telephone calls on a COST network;
a data network port and associated circuitry for receiving and placing Data Network Telephony (DNT) calls on the data network;
conversion circuitry for converting data dynamically between DNT and COST telephone calls; and
control routines receiving a first call from one of the COST and DNT networks, to place a call associated with the received call on the network other than the network on which the call is received, and to dynamically convert data between the associated calls;
wherein the Call Center CTI Server communicates over the data network with the Network CTI Server to provide CTI functions for calls routed at the Network Data Router. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for implementing a data network telephony (DNT)-only call center, comprising steps of:
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(a) forming a call center of two or more agent stations at a first host location, each agent station having a Data Network Telephony (DNT) interface connected by a local area network (LAN) to a Call Center data router at the call center with a DNT port connecting to a data network capable of transmitting DNT telephony calls, the data router having an IP address;
(b) connecting a data network telephony (DNT) network to the DNT port at the router;
(c) connecting a first Computer-Telephony Integration (CTI) Server to the Call Center data router;
(d) connecting a second CTI server to a network data router in the DNT data network (e) connecting, remote from the first host location, a computerized bridge unit to the DNT network by a data network port and associated circuitry for receiving and placing Data Network Telephony (DNT) calls on the data network, the bridge unit having a trunk-line port and associated circuitry for receiving and placing Connection Oriented/Switched Telephony (COST) telephone calls on a COST network, conversion circuitry for converting data dynamically between DNT and COST telephone calls, and control routines receive a first call from one of the COST and DNT networks, to place a call associated with the received call on the network other than the network on which the call is received, and to dynamically convert data between the associated calls;
(f) receiving a call at the DNT data network data router; and
(g) processing the received call by CTI functions provided by the second CTI server in cooperation with the first CTI server. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A Computer-Telephony Integration (CTI) enhanced telephony system, comprising:
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a Data Network Telephony (DNT) call center at a first location, the call center having multiple agent stations with DNT-capable telephone apparatus connected on a local area network (LAN) to a Call-Center Data Router in turn connected to a data network capable of carrying DNT calls;
a CTI Server connected by a CTI link to the Call Center Data Router, the CTI server executes CTI applications; and
a Network Data Router in the data network for routing data packets, the Network data router connected to a network CTI Server performing CTI applications;
wherein the Call Center CTI Server communicates over the data network with the Network CTI Server to provide CTI functions for calls routed at the Network Data Router. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification