Telecommunications system and method for automatic call recognition and distribution

• US 6,480,599 B1
• Filed: 03/30/1999
• Issued: 11/12/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Sheahan, Christopher, Ainslie, Gordon D.
• Primary Examiner(s): TIEU, BENNY QUOC
• Application Number:
  US09/214,499
• Time in Patent Office: 1,323 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265-1-2, 379/266-1-2, 379/309, 379/219, 379/220.01, 379/221-1-2, 379/207-1-2, 379/52, 379/88-1-, 379/93.01, 370/270
• US Class Current: 379/265.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• 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 3/5166 in combination with interactive voice response systems or voice portals, e.g. as front-ends
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/527 Centralised call answering arrangements not requiring operator intervention

Abstract

A telecommunications system connects callers in a telecommunications network to call destinations and provides different services. A telephone call receiving node includes an interactive response unit adapted to interrogate a caller to determine caller and service information identifying the caller and the type of service required by the caller, and adapted to determine an appropriate call destination for each call. A call processing center is adapted to communicate remotely with the call receiving node and arranged to receive and process the caller and service information received from the call receiving node, and to connect a telephone call received from the call receiving node to an appropriate call destination for the service required as determined by the processing of the received caller and service information.

Claims

1. A telecommunications system for connecting callers in a telecommunications network to a plurality of call destinations providing different services for the callers, comprising:

a call receiving node to receive telephone calls from callers, said call receiving node including an interactive response unit adapted to interrogate a caller to determine caller and service information identifying the caller and the type of service required by the caller, and adapted to determine an appropriate call destination for each call; and

a remotely located call processing center adapted to communicate remotely with the call receiving node and arranged to receive and process the caller and service information received from said call receiving node thereby acting to liberate the call receiving node for other incoming telephone calls while the call processing center connects a telephone call, forwarded from the call receiving node, to an appropriate call destination for the service required by the caller as determined by the processing, within the call processing center, of said received caller and service information.

2. A telecommunications system according to claim 1, wherein the interactive response unit of the call receiving node is arranged to communicate with a customer service database when interrogating a caller to determine whether or not the type of service required by the caller is available to be accessed from the call processing center.

3. A telecommunications system according to claim 1, wherein the data and the caller and service information are sent from the call receiving node to the remote call processing center over a telecommunications network.

4. A telecommunications system according to claim 1, wherein the interactive response unit comprises an interactive response device which recognizes text messages generated by a teletypewriter (TTY) and which provides response messages using TTY codes.

5. A telecommunications system according to claim 1, wherein the interactive response unit comprises an interactive voice response module containing pre-stored voice response messages and internal programs for generating appropriate voice response messages to interrogate a caller.

6. A telecommunications system according to claim 5, wherein the interactive voice response module is arranged to recognize dual tone modulation frequency (DTMF) coded messages produced by a touch telephone in reply to pre-recorded voice questions generated by the interactive voice response modules.

7. A telecommunications system according to claim 5, wherein the call receiving node further includes an automatic speech recognition module arranged to recognize a caller'"'"'s speech replies to the interactive voice response module and wherein the voice response messages are generated by the interactive voice response module in response to the voice replies from the caller which are recognized by the speech recognition module.

8. A telecommunications system according to claim 1, wherein the call processing center includes an automatic call distributor adapted to transfer telephone calls received from the call receiving node to appropriate call handling agents of a service provider as determined by the processing of said received caller and service information.

9. A telecommunications system according to claim 1, wherein the call processing center includes, or is in communication with, at least one customer information database, associated with a service provider, containing information about customers of the service provider, and the call processing center is arranged to retrieve information about a customer from the customer information database prior to or simultaneously with the call processing center forwarding the telephone call to an appropriate call destination.

10. A telecommunications system according to claim 1, wherein the call receiving node includes, or is adapted to communicate with, a customer service database containing service data identifying the services of particular service providers, which services are available to be accessed from the call processing center.

11. A telecommunications system according to claim 1, wherein the call receiving node further includes an automatic speech recognition module arranged to recognize a caller'"'"'s speech replies to the interactive voice response module.

12. A telecommunications apparatus comprising:

a call receiving node to receive a telephone call from a caller including;

(i) an interactive voice response module adapted to interrogate the caller to determine caller and service information identifying the caller and the type of service required by the caller,

(ii) an automatic speech recognition module arranged to recognize a caller'"'"'s speech responses to the interactive voice response module; and

(iii) an interface adapted to communicate with a remotely-located call processing center for forwarding said caller and service information to said call processing center where the call processing center connects the telephone call, forwarded from the call receiving node, to an appropriate call destination for the service required by the caller as determined by processing, within the call processing center, said forwarded caller and service information thereby acting to liberate the call receiving node for other incoming telephone calls.

13. A telecommunications system apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the call receiving node is connected to a customer service computer.

14. A telecommunications system according to claim 13, wherein the customer service computer contains a database of service data identifying the services of a plurality of service providers.

15. A telecommunications system or apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the customer service computer includes an automatic speech recognition program or an interactive voice response program and one or more messages which correspond to particular services available for downloading to the call receiving node.

16. A telecommunications system according to claim 13, wherein the customer service computer includes information about services which can enable the call receiving node to handle service requests from callers without having to first transfer the calls to the remote call processing center.

17. A telecommunications system according to claim 13, wherein the customer service computer is located remotely from the call receiving module so that an automatic speech recognition program or an interactive voice response program and one or more messages used at the call receiving node can be remotely loaded and remotely updated and adjusted from the customer service computer.

18. A telecommunications system according to claim 13, wherein the call receiving node may communicate with the remotely located customer service computer by a datalink, wherein the datalink is a switched broadband access link.

19. The telecommunications system of claim 18, wherein the datalink is a broadband access link.

20. A method for connecting a caller in a telecommunications system to one of a plurality of call destinations providing different services, said method comprising:

receiving an incoming telephone call from a caller at a call receiving node;

interrogating the caller by interactive response procedures to determine caller and service information about the caller and a type of service required by the caller;

forwarding the telephone call and the caller and service information to a remotely-located call processing center;

receiving and processing the forwarded caller and service information at the call processing center, thereby acting to liberate the call receiving node for other incoming telephone calls; and

connecting the telephone call, forwarded by the call receiving node to the call processing center, to an appropriate call destination in accordance with the processing of the caller and service information.

21. A method for connecting a caller in a telecommunications system to one of a plurality of call destinations providing different services, said method comprising:

receiving an incoming telephone call from a caller at a call receiving node;

interrogating the caller by interactive voice response procedures using automatic speech recognition to determine caller and service information identifying the caller'"'"'s identity and the type of service required by the caller;

forwarding the caller and service information to a remotely-located call processing center;

receiving and processing the forwarded information at the call processing center, thereby acting to liberate the call receiving node for other incoming calls; and

connecting the call, forwarded by the call receiving node to the call processing center, to an appropriate call destination in accordance with the processing of the caller and service information.