Apparatus and method for providing caller-specific data to agent station and for automatically launching corresponding application

• US 6,931,119 B2
• Filed: 08/30/2002
• Issued: 08/16/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Firstpoint Contact Technologies, LLC (Alvaria Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Electronics Commerce Technologies LLC
• Inventors: Denzonno, Anthony J., Shambaugh, Craig R., Sumner, Roger A., Beckstrom, Robert P., Michelson, Mark J., Power, Mark J., Hodson, Jeffrey D., Bonifazi, Carlo
• Primary Examiner(s): Deane, Jr., William J.
• Application Number:
  US10/231,623
• Publication Number:
  US 20040042612A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,082 Days
• Field of Search: 37926501-26514, 37926601-2661, 379/309
• US Class Current: 379/265.13
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/22 Automatic class or number identification arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42042 Notifying the called party of information on the calling party details within substation equipment H04M1/57, signalling details H04Q3/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42068 where the identifier is used to access a profile
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing

Abstract

A method and apparatus provides data to an agent station associated with a transaction processing system. The data corresponds to an incoming call routed from a caller through a communication network to the agent station, where the incoming calls are based on voice-mode communication and/or text-mode communication. The method includes the steps of receiving the incoming call from the communication network, obtaining caller-specific data corresponding to the incoming call, inspecting the caller-specific data to determine a specialty type corresponding to the incoming call, selecting an selected agent station based upon the determined specialty type and routing the incoming call to the selected agent station, transmitting the caller-specific data to the selected agent station, and automatically launching or maximizing an application on the selected agent station so that the application and corresponding call-specific data is available to the agent when the agent services the incoming call.

Claims

1. A method for providing data to an agent station associated with a transaction processing system, the data corresponding to an incoming call routed from a caller through a communication network to the agent station, the incoming call based on voice-mode communication and/or text-mode communication, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving the incoming call from the communication network;

obtaining caller-specific data corresponding to the incoming call, said caller-specific data obtained from a database accessed via an index or pointer derived from data contained in DNIS or ANI fields associated with the incoming call;

inspecting the caller-specific data to determine a specialty type corresponding to the incoming call;

selecting an agent station based upon the determined specialty type, and routing the incoming call to the selected agent station;

transmitting the caller-specific data to the selected agent station; and

automatically launching or maximizing an application on the selected agent station based on the specialty type so that the application and the corresponding call-specific data are available to the agent when the agent services the incoming call.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the caller-specific data corresponding to the incoming call is obtained from a database.

3. The method according to claim 2 wherein database is accessed by an index or pointer derived from data contained in a DNIS field associated with the incoming call.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the caller-specific data is obtained from a database containing data corresponding to the incoming call, and wherein data contained in an ANI field associated with the incoming call facilitates database access.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the caller-specific data is obtained from a database containing data corresponding to the incoming call, and wherein data contained in a DNIS field corresponding to the incoming facilitates database access.

6. The method according to claim 5 wherein the caller-specific data obtained from the DNIS field corresponds to data selected from the group of data consisting of account number, credit card number, social security number, name, and address.

7. The method according to claim 1 wherein the caller-specific data is contained in DNIS fields corresponding to the incoming call.

8. The method according to claim 7 wherein the data contained in the DNIS field directly specifies the specialty type.

9. The method according to claim 1 wherein the caller-specific data is provided by the caller in the form of a text message.

10. The method according to claim 1 wherein the caller provides the text message in response to a request from the agent, agent station, or a transaction processing system.

11. The method according to claim 2 wherein the specialty type is inferred based on data corresponding to the caller obtained from the database.

12. The method according to claim 2 wherein the specialty type is inferred based on prior call information associated with the caller, the prior call information contained in the database.

13. The method according to claim 9 wherein the specialty type is inferred based on data corresponding to the text message sent by the caller.

14. The method according to claim 1 wherein the caller-specific data is derive from the content of at least one of the voice-mode and text-mode communication.

15. The method according to claim 1 wherein the transaction processing system further includes

a voice response unit configured to request information from the caller;

a voice recognition device configured to recognize verbal responses provided by the caller in response to the request from the voice response unit, and convert said verbal responses into digital data; and

the digital data being provided to the agent station as the caller-specific data.

16. The method according to claim 15 wherein the caller-specific data corresponding to the incoming call is obtained from a database, and wherein the database is accessed by an index or pointer derived from said verbal responses.

17. The method according to claim 1 wherein the transmitted caller-specific data causes a corresponding application to be launched or maximized on an agent display screen.

18. A transaction processing system configured to route incoming calls from callers to agents corresponding to agent terminals associated with the transaction processing system, the incoming calls based on voice-mode communication and/or text-mode communication, the incoming calls routed from the caller to the agent terminal through a communication network, the system comprising:

a communication processor configured to facilitate sending and receiving at least one of the voice-mode and text-mode communications between the caller and the agent;

a plurality of agent terminals operatively coupled to the communication processor, each agent terminal having a display screen for displaying data;

a voice response unit accessible to the transaction processing system and configured to prompt the caller to provide requested caller-specific data to the transaction processing system;

a database having entries corresponding to a plurality of callers, the database accessible via an index derived from the caller specific data or from data contained in DNIS or ANI fields associated with the incoming call;

wherein a specialty type corresponding to the incoming call is determined based on the database entry, and the incoming call along with the caller-specific data is routed to a selected agent station based upon the determined specialty type, and wherein an application on the selected agent station is automatically launched or maximized based on the specialty type so that the application and the corresponding call-specific data is available to the agent when the agent services the incoming call.

19. The system according to claim 18 wherein the caller-specific data corresponding to the incoming call is obtained from a database.

20. The system according to claim 19 wherein the database is accessed by an index or pointer derived from data contained in a DNIS field associated with the incoming call.

21. The system according to claim 18 wherein the caller-specific data is obtained from a database containing data corresponding to the incoming call, and wherein data contained in an ANI field associated with the incoming call facilitates database access.

22. The system according to claim 18 wherein the caller-specific data is provided by the caller in the form of a text message.

23. The system according to claim 19 wherein the specialty type is inferred based on data corresponding to the caller obtained from the database.

24. The system according to claim 18 wherein the caller-specific data is derive from the content of at least one of the voice-mode and text-mode communication.

25. The system according to claim 18 wherein the transaction processing system further includes

a voice response unit configured to request information from the caller;

a voice recognition device configured to recognize verbal responses provided by the caller in response to the request from the voice response unit, and convert said verbal responses into digital data; and

the digital data being provided to the agent station as the caller-specific data.

26. The system according to claim 25 wherein the caller-specific data corresponding to the incoming call is obtained from a database, and wherein the database is accessed by an index or pointer derived from said verbal responses.

27. The system according to claim 18 wherein the transmitted caller-specific data causes a corresponding application to be launched or maximized on an agent display screen.

28. A transaction processing system configured to route incoming calls from callers to agents corresponding to agent terminals associated with the transaction processing system, the incoming calls based on voice-mode communication and/or text-mode communication, the incoming calls routed from the caller to the agent terminal through a communication network, the system comprising:

means for processing operatively the incoming calls configured to facilitate sending and receiving the voice-mode and/or the text-mode communications between the caller and the agent;

a plurality of agent terminals operatively coupled to the means for processing, each agent terminal having a display screen for displaying data;

means for prompting the caller to provide requested caller-specific data to the transaction processing system;

means for storing containing entries corresponding to a plurality of callers, the means for storing accessible via an index derived from the caller specific data;

wherein a specialty type corresponding to the incoming call is determined based on an entry in the means for storing, and the incoming call along with the caller-specific data is routed to a selected agent station based upon the determined specialty type, and wherein an application on the selected agent station is automatically launched or maximized based on the specialty type so that the application and the corresponding call-specific data is available to the agent when the agent services the incoming call.

29. The system according to claim 28 wherein the caller-specific data corresponding to the incoming call is obtained from the means for storing.

30. The system according to claim 29 wherein the means for storing is accessed by an index or pointer derived from data contained in a DNIS field associated with the incoming call.

31. The system according to claim 28 wherein the caller-specific data is obtained from the means for storing that contains data corresponding to the incoming call, and wherein data contained in an ANI field associated with the incoming call facilitates access of the means for storing.

32. The system according to claim 28 wherein the caller-specific data is provided by the caller in the form of a text message.

33. The system according to claim 29 wherein the specialty type is inferred based on data corresponding to the caller obtained from the means for storing.

34. The system according to claim 28 wherein the caller-specific data is derive from the content of at least one of the voice-mode and text-mode communication.

35. The system according to claim 28 wherein the transaction processing system further includes

a voice response unit configured to request information from the caller;

means for recognizing voice configured to recognize verbal responses provided by the caller in response to the request from the voice response unit, and convert said verbal responses into digital data; and

the digital data being provided to the agent station as the caller-specific data.

36. The system according to claim 35 wherein the caller-specific data corresponding to the incoming call is obtained from a database, and wherein the database is accessed by an index or pointer derived from said verbal responses.

37. The system according to claim 28 wherein the transmitted caller-specific data causes a corresponding application to be launched or maximized on an agent display screen.