ACD multimedia customer contact routing with delay announcements
First Claim
1. A method of routing multimedia calls within an automatic call distributor system having a automatic call distributor coupled to the public switched telephone network and a host coupled to the Internet, such method comprising the steps of:
- the host providing an Internet caller with a conversational webpage that includes a first softkey for selecting an off-line conversation and a second softkey for selecting a real-time conversation;
the host receiving an Internet call from the Internet caller through the Internet based upon activation by the Internet caller of one of the first and second softkeys;
the host requesting an agent assignment for handling the Internet call from the automatic call distributor coupled to the public switched telephone network; and
the host transferring the Internet call to a terminal of the agent assigned by the automatic call distributor.
16 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus are provided for routing multimedia calls within an automatic call distributor system having a automatic call distributor coupled to the public switched telephone network and a host coupled to the Internet. The method includes the steps of receiving an Internet call from an Internet caller by the host through the Internet, requesting an agent assignment for handling the Internet call from the automatic call distributor coupled to the public switched telephone network and transferring the Internet call to a terminal of the agent assigned by the automatic call distributor.
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Citations
41 Claims
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1. A method of routing multimedia calls within an automatic call distributor system having a automatic call distributor coupled to the public switched telephone network and a host coupled to the Internet, such method comprising the steps of:
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the host providing an Internet caller with a conversational webpage that includes a first softkey for selecting an off-line conversation and a second softkey for selecting a real-time conversation; the host receiving an Internet call from the Internet caller through the Internet based upon activation by the Internet caller of one of the first and second softkeys; the host requesting an agent assignment for handling the Internet call from the automatic call distributor coupled to the public switched telephone network; and the host transferring the Internet call to a terminal of the agent assigned by the automatic call distributor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A system for routing multimedia calls within an automatic call distributor system having a automatic call distributor coupled to the public switched telephone network and a host coupled to the Internet, such apparatus comprising:
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means within the host for providing an Internet caller with a conversational webpage that includes a first softkey for selecting an off-line conversation and a second softkey for selecting a real-time conversation; means within the host for receiving an Internet call from the Internet caller through the Internet based upon activation of one of the first and second softkeys; means within the host for requesting an agent assignment for handling the Internet call from the automatic call distributor; and means within the host for transferring the Internet call to the agent assigned by the automatic call distributor. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A system for routing multimedia calls within an automatic call distributor system having a automatic call distributor coupled to the public switched telephone network and a host coupled to the Internet, such apparatus comprising:
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a conversational webpage provided by the host to an Internet caller that includes a first softkey for selecting an off-line conversation and a second softkey for selecting a real-time conversation; the host adapted to receive an Internet call from the Internet caller through the Internet based upon activation of one of the first and second softkeys; an agent processor operating from within the host and adapted to request an agent assignment for handling the Internet call from the automatic call distributor; and a routing processor adapted to transfer the Internet call to a terminal of the agent assigned by the automatic call distributor. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A method of routing multimedia calls within an automatic call distributor system having a automatic call distributor coupled to the public switched telephone network and a host coupled to the Internet, such method comprising the steps of:
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the host providing an Internet caller with a conversational webpage that includes a first softkey for selecting an off-line conversation and a second softkey for selecting a real-time conversation; the host receiving an Internet call from the Internet caller through the Internet based upon activation by the Internet caller of one of the first and second softkeys; requesting an agent assignment from the automatic call distributor; and queuing the Internet call in a common call queue along with other calls received through the public switched telephone network based upon a time of arrival. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A method of routing multimedia calls within an automatic call distributor system having an automatic call distributor coupled to the public switched telephone network and a host coupled to the Internet, such method comprising the steps of:
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the host providing an Internet caller with a conversational webpage that includes a first softkey for selecting an off-line conversation and a second softkey for selecting a real-time conversation; the host receiving an Internet call from the Internet caller through the Internet based upon activation of one of the first and second softkeys; requesting an agent assignment for handling the Internet call from the automatic call distributor; and transferring the Internet call to the agent assigned by the automatic call distributor.
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41. A method of displaying information to a caller of an automatic call distributor, such method comprising the steps of:
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the host providing the caller with a conversational webpage that includes a first softkey for selecting an off-line conversation and a second softkey for selecting a real-time conversation; the host receiving a request for a real-time conference from the caller based upon activation of the second softkey; the host sending a call request to the automatic call distributor for an agent to handle the real-time conference; and the host presenting graphical information to the caller as the caller waits for setup of the real-time conference.
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Specification