System and method for operating a highly distributed interactive voice response system
First Claim
1. A method of directing calls in a telephone network comprising the steps of:
- receiving a call at a remote location, wherein said remote location is remote with respect to a central location in data communication therewith;
if routing information for said call sufficient for completion of desired directing of said call can be determined at said remote location in response to an interaction between a caller and said remote location, then directing said call to a desired extension in accordance with said interaction; and
if said routing information for said call sufficient for completion of desired directing of said call cannot be determined at said remote location in response to said interaction, then providing data associated with said call, including data obtained in response to said interaction, to said central location for interaction between the remote location and the central location, said central location being in data communication with a plurality of remote locations including said remote location, and determining automatically at said central location, from said interaction, routing information sufficient for completion of desired directing of said call which remains at said remote location.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method of directing calls is disclosed for a telephone network having remote locations. The remote locations receive incoming calls and attempt to route the calls using a basic call director. If the remote location cannot route the call, then data, such as a recorded spoken utterance, is provided to a central system. The central system then attempts to automatically determine how to route the call using the data from the remote location. If the central system is unable to automatically determine the routing information, then the data is provided to an operator who attempts to determine how to route the call. Finally, a caller can be connected directly to the operator, if the operator is not able to determine routing information from the provided data alone.
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Citations
48 Claims
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1. A method of directing calls in a telephone network comprising the steps of:
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receiving a call at a remote location, wherein said remote location is remote with respect to a central location in data communication therewith; if routing information for said call sufficient for completion of desired directing of said call can be determined at said remote location in response to an interaction between a caller and said remote location, then directing said call to a desired extension in accordance with said interaction; and if said routing information for said call sufficient for completion of desired directing of said call cannot be determined at said remote location in response to said interaction, then providing data associated with said call, including data obtained in response to said interaction, to said central location for interaction between the remote location and the central location, said central location being in data communication with a plurality of remote locations including said remote location, and determining automatically at said central location, from said interaction, routing information sufficient for completion of desired directing of said call which remains at said remote location. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A remote call director system for a telephone network in which a plurality of said remote call director systems are linked to a central system, wherein callers are first connected to said remote system and wherein calls are directed by said remote call director system using information provided by said callers, said remote call director system comprising:
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means for interacting with said callers to thereby gather routing information, wherein said interacting means comprises a small vocabulary voice recognition system; means for independently determining call directing information using said routing information; means for directing said calls using said directing information; and means for providing at least a portion of said gathered routing information to said central system, disposed at a location separate from said remote call director system, for interaction between the central system and the remote call direction system when said determining means is unable to determine call directing information, wherein said providing means does not provide said at least a portion of said gathered routing information to said central system when said determining means is able to determine call directing information. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A central system for a telephone network in which a plurality of remote systems are linked to said central system, wherein callers are first connected to one of said remote systems and wherein calls remain at said remote system and are directed by said remote system using information provided by said central system, said central system comprising:
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means for receiving routing data from each said remote system for an interaction between said central system and said remote system, wherein said data is associated with a particular call, wherein at least a portion of said routing data has been utilized by an associated said remote system in an interaction between said remote system and said particular call to determine directing information before being accepted by said central system; means for determining directing information for said particular call using at least a portion of said accepted routing data, wherein said determining means provides more complex directing information determining than utilized by said associated remote system with respect to said routing data; and means for providing said directing information to said remote system associated with said particular call. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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Specification