Monitoring system

• US 6,950,505 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2001
• Issued: 09/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Care Monitoring 2000 Limited
• Original Assignee: Care Monitoring 2000 Limited
• Inventors: Jackson, Christian Moray, Longman, Peter George
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan, Wing F.
• Application Number:
  US10/433,225
• Publication Number:
  US 20040076276A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,397 Days
• Field of Search: 379/106.02, 379/106.01, 379/133, 379/134, 379/135, 379/136, 379/142.05, 379/142.15, 379/142.1, 379/140, 379/201.06, 379/201.07, 379/201.08, 379/913, 379/93.01, 705/7, 705/30, 705/32
• US Class Current: 379/106.02
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2016 Call initiation by network rather than by subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2072 Schedules, e.g. personal calendars
• 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 3/42102 Making use of the called party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42195 Arrangements for calling back a calling subscriber when the wanted subscriber ceases to be busy H04M3/48
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 379/913 Person locator or person-specific

Abstract

The invention concerns a monitoring system for monitoring incoming telephone calls routed through a call transference system, the system comprising an electronic processor and an associated database, the system being adapted to detect the originating number of the caller and the called number to which the incoming call was made before being transferred, to automatically generate a return call to any incoming call the originating and called numbers of which have been identified without answering the incoming call, and to store the time and date of an incoming call the number of which has been identified and data representing the number to which the incoming call was made.

Claims

1. A monitoring system for monitoring incoming telephone calls, including telephone calls with different called numbers, routed through a call system, the system comprising an electronic processor and an associated database, the system being adapted to detect the originating number of the caller and the called number to which the incoming call was made, to store the time and date of the incoming call the number of which has been identified and data representing the number to which the incoming call was made, and to identify the location of the caller corresponding to the originating number by comparing the data stored to information in the associated database and to identify the identity of the caller by coupling data representing the number to which the incoming call was made with the identified location of the caller.

2. A monitoring system according to claim 1 adapted to automatically generate a call in response to any incoming call the originating and called numbers of which have been identified without answering the incoming call.

3. A monitoring system for monitoring incoming telephone calls, including telephone calls with different called numbers, routed through a call transference system, the system comprising an electronic processor and an associated database, the system being adapted to detect the originating number of the caller and the called number to which the incoming call was made before being transferred, to store the time and date of an incoming call the number of which has been identified and data representing the number to which the incoming call was made, and to identify the location of the caller corresponding to the originating number and the identity of the caller corresponding to the called number.

4. A system according to claim 3, wherein the processor is adapted to compare the number of an incoming call with stored numbers so as to match the parameters of an incoming call with stored data to determine the origin of the call from which the call was made, and to compare the time and date of a matched number with a visit schedule stored on said database representing the expected times and dates at which callers should visit predetermined sites

and/or wherein said processor is adapted to generate data indicating matched numbers and indicating compliance or not of the times and dates of matched numbers with the visit schedule.

5. A system according to claim 3, adapted to compare the called number with a visit schedule of users stored in said data base so as to identify the caller.

6. A monitoring system according to claim 3 comprising a remote checking system for checking predetermined functionality of the monitoring system, the remote checking system being adapted to generate an alert message if the actual functionality of the monitoring system does not meet the predetermined functionality, wherein the remote checking system is adapted to call the electronic processor and to determine whether ring tones are detected.

7. A system according to claim 6, wherein the remote checking system is adapted to receive an incoming call generated by the monitoring system in response to a checking call from the remote checking system wherein the remote checking system is adapted to log outgoing checking calls and incoming response calls in a database.

8. A system according to claim 3, adapted to determine a type of event for an incoming call, such as a first call from the originating number of the call wherein the electronic processor determines the event based on the duration of the incoming call and/or number of rings before the caller hangs up.

9. A system according to claim 8, wherein the electronic processor compares the time of the incoming call and the previous call for a recognized caller or client against predetermined criteria in order to determine the nature the event.

10. A system according to claim 8, wherein if the last event was a departure event and the incoming call is within a predetermined time of the last event, the incoming call is nevertheless recorded as a departure event.

11. A system according to any of claim 8, wherein if the last event was not a departure event and the incoming call is within a predetermined time of a schedule departure time then the electronic processor determines the incoming call to be a departure event.

12. A system according to claim 3 adapted to store data representative of individual events for an identified caller and to generate reports based on the stored information related to the identified caller which is transmitted electronically to the caller.

13. A monitoring system according to claim 3 adapted to determine the type of event of a previous call for an incoming call the originating number of the caller of which call has been identified.

14. A system according to claim 3 configured to enable entry of event information manually in to the system and/or remotely using a telephone handset;

and configured to provide a caller with predetermined options to enter even information in response to predetermined prompts.

15. A system according to claim 14, comprising a schedule of identification codes for individual clients thereby enabling a caller to identify a client by entry of data representative of an appropriate identification code.

16. A monitoring system for monitoring incoming telephone calls according to claim 3, wherein the system is adapted to store data in the database representative of a type of event such as an arrival or departure event at the site of the originating number, adapted to determine the type of event of a previous call for a new incoming call the originating number of which has been detected thereby to process the new incoming call according to predetermined procedures dependent on the type of event of the previous call.

17. A system according to claim 3, comprising a call holding system which orders incoming calls in a queue based on predetermined criteria and wherein the queuing criteria depends on the area code of the incoming call and or the actual number of the incoming call.

18. A system according to claim 3 adapted to generate automatic reports to a customer in accordance with predetermined criteria and adapted to generate an alarm message to a customer in the event that predetermined criteria in relation to a scheduled event, such as lack of recordal of an arrival event beyond a predetermined time after a scheduled start time of a scheduled visit.

19. A monitoring system for monitoring incoming telephone calls so as to generate data regarding the location and occurrence of the incoming calls according to claim 3;

the electronic processor being connectable to a telephone line and adapted to respond to an incoming call to determine if the call has or has not Caller Line Identification (CLI) and if the original number dialled was a direct dial number such as a free call number to identify the direct dial number dialled so as to identify the identity and location of the incoming call; and

to generate a call in response to an incoming call without actually answering the call to hang up the return call after a predetermined number.

20. A system according to claim 3 comprising a display being configured to generate graphical representations of events recorded against scheduled visits, adapted to display one or more of the following:

customer identification, status in relation to a schedule visit, representations of an alarm generated upon failure to meet predetermined criteria, schedule visit information such as planned time and client identity, timed arrival event, timed departure event, duration of a visit, punctuality of the start event for a visit against the scheduled start time of the scheduled visit, duration of a completed visit, the caller identity, the expected caller identity for a scheduled visit, and or a graphical representation of the completeness of a visit such as actual duration of a visit versus planned duration of a scheduled visit.

21. A system according to claim 3, wherein if the identity of the caller cannot be identified, the system is adapted to answer the call and request additional information.

22. A monitoring system according to claim 3 wherein the return call is automatically generated after the incoming call has been terminated and the system is adapted to count between the number of rings before the incoming call was terminated so as to identify the incoming call as signifying arrival or departure, and/or wherein the automatically generated return call is of a limited number of rings, and is generated after the incoming call has been hung-up before being answered, and the system additionally includes the feature of continually ringing the return call if there is a message waiting for the incoming caller.

23. A system according to claim 3, adapted to generate automatic reports:

to a customer in relation to individual callers;

related to appropriate pay for an identified caller; and

/or to provide information in relation to duration of visits for an identified caller.