Method and system for call queueing and customer application interaction

• US 7,110,524 B2
• Filed: 08/07/2001
• Issued: 09/19/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Qwest Communications International Incorporated (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Qwest Communications International Incorporated (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rupe, Jason, Tegan, Earl
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan, Wing
• Assistant Examiner(s): LE, KAREN L
• Application Number:
  US09/923,984
• Publication Number:
  US 20030031309A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,869 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265.01, 379/265.02, 379/265.11, 379/265.1, 379/266.01
• US Class Current: 379/265.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2011 Service processing based on information specified by a party before or during a call, e.g. information, tone or routing selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/523 with call distribution or queueing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5235 Dependent on call type or called number [DNIS]

Abstract

A system and method provide for the processing and routing of incoming calls for a call center. The system is specially configured such that incoming calls are prioritized and placed in a virtual queue if it is determined that a live call attendant is not available. While in the queue, the system is further configured such that the caller may initiate and participate in various interactive functions while simultaneously maintaining their priority position in the virtual call queue.

Claims

1. A system for processing telephone calls comprising:

a communications network interface device configurable for receiving and proceasing of at least one incoming telephone call and providing access to at least one interactive application;

a queuing application in connection with the network interface which is configured to determine a priority number for the at least one incoming telephone call, to place, according to the priority number, placement of the at least one incoming telephone call in a call queue and to simultaneously hold the at least one incoming telephone call in the call queue while the at least one incoming telephone call is simultaneously hosted in the communications network interface;

said communications network interface device being further configured to provide access to one or more of the at least one interactive applications while the at least one telephone call is in the call queue; and

a call distributing apparatus in connection with at least one communications network interface which is configured to route the at least one incoming call to a designated destination according to the priority number,

wherein the priority number is further determined from monitoring the one or more interactive applications accessed.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the destination is a customer telephone system which supports call attendants.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of;

the communications network interface, the queuing application, the call distributing apparatus;

are resident on customer premise equipment (CPE).

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the communications network interface Is configured on voice response unit (VRU) interfaced with the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the queuing application is configured on a network based application server.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the call distributing apparatus is configured on an automatic call distributor (ACD).

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the ACE) routes the at least one incoming call to a customer PBX system over data network.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the routing priority number is further determined based on at least one of:

terms of the caller'"'"'s service contract with the organization, size of order, whether long distance charges apply, availability of local call attendants, or the availability of language specific call attendants.

9. A method for call processing in a call center comprising the steps of:

receiving at least one incoming telephone call over a communications network;

collecting information relating to the at least one telephone call;

presenting at least one interactive audio menu which includes options for being placed in a queue in order to speak with a selected customer service representative, accessing one or more interactive applications while waiting in the queue and accessing only the interactive applications;

upon affirmative selection for being placed in the queue, assigning a routing priority number for routing the at least one telephone call to the selected customer service representative based on the collected information; and

positioning the at least one telephone call in the queue based on the routing priority number; and

presenting an option to be routed to the selected customer service representative upon occurrence of a detected event;

wherein the routing priority number is determined from monitoring the interactive applications selected during the at least one telephone call.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the detected event comprises at least one of:

a change in an availability status for the selected customer service representative, completion of one of the interactive applications, and a received indication from the at least one telephone call.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the priority number is further determined based on at least one of:

terms of the caller'"'"'s service contract with the organization, size of order, whether long distance charges apply, availability of local call attendants, or the availability of language specific call attendants.