Arrived call receiving system for supporting reception services using telephone and receiving method therefor

• US 6,418,217 B1
• Filed: 08/11/1997
• Issued: 07/09/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Ukon, Shinichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoosain, Allan
• Application Number:
  US08/908,011
• Time in Patent Office: 1,793 Days
• Field of Search: 379/67.1, 379/88.01, 379/88.2, 379/112, 379/113, 379/221, 379/265, 379/266, 379/273, 379/209, 379/260, 379/261, 379/262, 379/263, 379/265.01, 379/265.09, 379/265.11, 379/266.01, 379/88.19, 379/88.21, 379/88.23, 379/207.05, 379/207.08, 379/207.15, 379/209.01, 379/210.01, 379/214.01, 709/202, 709/204, 709/226, 709/227
• US Class Current: 379/210.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/22 Automatic class or number identification arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• 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 3/5231 with call back arrangements

Abstract

An arrived call receiving system including a caller'"'"'s number automatic recognition unit for extracting and recognizing a phone number included in an arrived call, an automatic answering unit for confirming by the caller whether the recognized phone number is correct and recognizing a reply from the caller, as well as conducting necessary processing according to the contents of the recognized reply, a caller'"'"'s information storage unit and a caller'"'"'s information data base for storing the phone number of the caller obtained by the caller'"'"'s number automatic recognition unit, and a caller automatic call-up unit for reading the phone number of the caller stored in the caller'"'"'s information data base to automatically call up the caller according to instructions of an operator.

Claims

1. An arrived call receiving system for automatically answering a call and obtaining necessary information to support reception services using the telephone, comprising:

caller'"'"'s number recognizing means for extracting and recognizing a phone number of a caller included in the arrived call;

automatic answering means for confirming by said caller whether the phone number recognized by the said caller'"'"'s number recognizing means is correct or incorrect and recognizing a reply to the confirmation from said caller, as well as conducting necessary processing according to the contents of the recognized reply;

storage means for storing the phone number of said caller obtained by said caller'"'"'s number recognizing means according to a result of the processing by said automatic answering means and stored in a data base; and

automatic caller call-up means responsive to operator'"'"'s instructions for reading the phone number of said caller stored in said storage means to call up said caller,

wherein all calls arriving at said call receiving system are answered by said automatic answering means for a call back at a later time and each said call is disconnected and reconnected to said caller by said automatic caller call-up means before any said call is handled by a live operator of said arrived call receiving system.

2. The arrived call receiving system as set forth in claim 1, wherein

said automatic answering means generating signals

when a reply from said caller indicates that a phone number recognized by said caller'"'"'s number recognizing means is correct, sends the phone number recognized by said caller'"'"'s number recognizing means to said storage means, and

when the reply from said caller indicates that the phone number recognized by said caller'"'"'s number recognizing means is incorrect, demands input of a right phone number of said caller and upon recognizing the received phone number, again confirms by the caller whether the recognition result is correct.

3. The arrived call receiving system as set forth in claim 1, wherein

said automatic answering means further comprising:

automatic voice answering means for sending a predetermined message to give voice guidance to said caller,

tone recognizing means for recognizing the contents of tone signals input by said caller, and

voice recognizing means for recognizing the contents of voice response input by said caller.

4. The arrived call receiving system as set forth in claim 1, wherein

said automatic answering means further comprising:

automatic voice answering means for sending a predetermined message to give voice guidance to said caller,

tone recognizing means for recognizing the contents of tone signals input by said caller, and

voice recognizing means for recognizing the contents of voice response input by said caller, wherein

said automatic answering means generating signals for

when receiving the phone number of said caller from said caller'"'"'s number recognizing means, to send a message to said caller for confirming whether said phone number is correct or incorrect,

when in a recognition result obtained by said tone recognizing means or said voice recognizing means, a reply from said caller indicates that the phone number recognized by said caller'"'"'s number recognizing means is correct, to send a message demanding that the caller should hang up once to wait for a receptionist to call back to perform reception services, and

when a recognition result obtained by said tone recognizing means or said voice recognizing means, the replay from said caller indicates that the phone number recognized by said caller'"'"'s number recognizing means is incorrect, to send a message to said caller demanding input of the correct phone number.

5. The arrived call receiving system as set forth in claim 1, further comprising

line connecting means for connecting a line between said caller and an operator when said caller answers a call made by said caller automatic call-up means.

6. An arrived call receiving method which automatically answers a call and obtains necessary information to support reception services using a telephone, comprising the steps of:

when a call arrives at said telephone, extracting and recognizing a phone number of a caller;

confirming by said caller whether the phone number recognized by said caller'"'"'s number recognizing step is correct and recognizing a reply to the confirmation from said caller, and processing according to the contents of the recognized reply;

storing the phone number of said caller obtained by a caller'"'"'s number recognizing step on a data base; and

reading the phone number of said caller stored in said data base according to operator'"'"'s instructions to automatically call up said caller, and

automatically connecting a line between said caller and an operator when said caller answers a call made at an automatic call-up step;

wherein all calls arriving at a call receiving system are answered by an extracting and recognizing step for a call back at a later time and each said call is disconnected and reconnected to said caller by said automatic caller call-up means before any said call is handled by a live operator of said arrived call receiving system.

7. The arrived call receiving method as set forth in claim 6, wherein

said automatic answering step further comprising the steps of:

when a reply from said caller indicates that a phone number recognized by said caller'"'"'s number recognizing step is correct, sending the phone number recognized by said caller'"'"'s number recognizing step for storing, and

when the reply from said caller indicates that the phone number recognized by said caller'"'"'s number recognizing step is incorrect, demanding input of a right phone number of said caller and upon recognizing the received phone number, again confirming by the caller whether the recognition result is correct.

8. The arrived call receiving method as set forth in claim 6, wherein

said automatic answering step comprising the steps of:

when the phone number of said caller is received from said caller'"'"'s number recognizing step, sending a voice message to said caller for confirming whether said phone number is correct or incorrect,

when a reply from said caller indicates that the phone number recognized by said caller'"'"'s number recognizing step is correct, sending a voice message demanding that the caller should hang up once to wait for a receptionist to call back to perform reception services, and sending the phone number recognized by said caller'"'"'s number recognizing step for storing, and

when the reply from said caller indicates that the phone number recognized by said caller'"'"'s number recognizing step is incorrect, sending a voice message demanding input of the correct number of said caller and after recognizing the received phone number, again confirming by the caller whether the recognition result is correct or not.

9. A computer readable memory which stores a control program for controlling an arrived call receiving system which automatically answers a call and obtains necessary information to support reception services using a telephone, said control program comprising the steps of:

when a call arrives at said telephone, extracting and recognizing a phone number of a caller of the arrived call included in the arrived call;

confirming by said caller whether the phone number recognized by said caller'"'"'s number recognizing step is correct and recognizing a reply to the confirmation from said caller, as well as conducting necessary processing according to the contents of a recognized reply;

storing in a data base the telephone number of said caller obtained by said caller'"'"'s number recognizing step according to a result of the processing by said automatic answering step; and

reading the phone number of said caller stored in said data base according to operator'"'"'s instructions to automatically call up said caller;

wherein all calls arriving at said call receiving system being answered by said extracting and recognizing step for a call back at a later time and each said call is disconnected and reconnected to said caller by said automatic caller call-up means before any said call is handled by a live operator of said arrived call receiving system.

10. The computer readable memory as set forth in claim 9, wherein

said control program of said automatic answering step further comprising the steps of:

when a reply from said caller indicates that a phone number recognized by said caller'"'"'s number recognizing step is correct, sending the phone number recognized by said caller'"'"'s number recognizing step for storing, and

when the replay from said caller indicates that the phone number recognized by said caller'"'"'s number recognizing step is incorrect, demanding input of a right phone number of said caller and upon recognizing the received phone number, again confirming by the caller whether the recognition result is correct.

11. The computer readable memory as set forth in claim 9, wherein

said control program of said automatic answering step comprising the steps of:

when the phone number of said caller is received from said caller'"'"'s number recognizing step, sending a voice message to said caller for confirming whether said phone number is correct or incorrect,

when a reply from said caller indicates that the phone number recognized by said caller'"'"'s number recognizing step is correct, sending a voice message demanding that the caller should hang up once to wait for a receptionist to call back to perform reception services, as well as storing the phone number recognized by said caller'"'"'s number recognizing in said data base, and

when the reply from said caller indicates that the phone number recognized by said caller'"'"'s number recognizing step is incorrect, sending a voice message demanding input of a right number of said caller and after recognizing the received phone number, again confirming by the caller whether the recognition result is correct or not.