Method and system for telephone wait user interface selection

• US 7,889,858 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2006
• Issued: 02/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Waters, Timothy Moffett, Gusler, Carl Phillip, Schatz, Harry, Hamilton, Rick Allen II
• Primary Examiner(s): Kuntz; Curtis
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, PHUNG HOANG JOSEPH
• Application Number:
  US11/477,154
• Publication Number:
  US 20070258577A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,693 Days
• Field of Search: 379/266, 379/269, 379/226.01, 379/266.04, 379/265.13, 379/203.01, 379/88.11, 705/1
• US Class Current: 379/266.01
• 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 3/42068 where the identifier is used to access a profile
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4285 Notifying, informing or entertaining a held party while on hold, e.g. Music On Hold

Abstract

In the method of the present invention, a customer of a service provider would be placed in hold while waiting to speak to a customer service representative. The method and system of the invention would recognize the telephone number of the caller using a “caller ID” system. If this call is the first time the caller has ever called, the caller would be presented with an audible listing of listening choices that would include but not be limited to the latest news, the weather (of the caller'"'"'s location), financial headlines, or a selection of music stations (via cable radio, for example). The caller would then speak or type his/her preference into the keypad and the selection would be played. If the caller does not like the selection, the caller can then speak another selection or type the new selection as many times as the caller prefers. The caller selection is recorded in a caller preference database. Finally, when the same customer calls one or more additional times, the system would retain the caller'"'"'s number and preferred listening selection, based on caller ID value. The listening selection would automatically be played on subsequent calls.

Claims

1. A method for creating a caller preference database for use in determining a listening preference of a caller, comprising the steps of:

receiving a call from the caller;

identifying the telephone number of the call;

determining whether it is necessary to place the caller in a hold queue;

determining whether the caller desires to hear listening options while in the hold queue;

when the caller desires to hear the listening options, determining whether the identified telephone number is currently in the database, and when the determination is that the identified telephone number is currently in the database, determining whether a listener with the identified telephone number currently in a listeners'"'"' record in the database desires to make changes to currently existing listener choices in the listeners'"'"' record and storing the changes in the listeners'"'"' record;

when the caller desires to hear the listening options and the identified telephone number is not currently in the database, creating a record for the identified telephone number, the record comprising fields for the area code of the identified telephone number, the identified telephone number, and the listening preference of the caller;

presenting the listening options to the caller;

detecting a listening option selected by the caller from the presented listening options;

recording the listening option selected by the caller in a caller listening preference field of the created record;

storing the created record in the database in a location based on the area code of the identified telephone number, the database having a set of sub-directories based on the exchange and extension code of the telephone numbers of callers and the listening options; and

repeating said steps for each newly identified telephone number of received calls.

2. A method for creating a caller preference database for use in determining a listening preference of a caller, said method comprising:

receiving a call from the caller to a service provider;

identifying the telephone number of the call;

presenting listening options to the caller while the caller is in the hold queue;

detecting a listening option selected by the caller from the presented listening options;

creating a record for the identified telephone number, the record comprising fields for the area code of the identified telephone number, the identified telephone number, and a listening preference of the caller;

recording the listening option selected by the caller in the field for the listening preference of the caller in the created record; and

storing the created record in the database in a location based on the area code of the identified telephone number, the database having a set of sub-directories based on the exchange and extension code of the telephone numbers of callers and the listening options.

3. The method of claim 2, said method further comprising:

determining that the call is the first call from the caller to the service provider,

wherein said presenting listening options to the caller while the caller is in the hold queue is performed in response to said determining that the call is the first call from the caller to the service provider.

4. The method of claim 2, said method further comprising:

repeating said receiving, said identifying, said placing, said presenting in response to said ascertaining, said detecting, said creating, said recording, and said storing for each newly identified telephone number of received calls.

5. The method of claim 2, said method further comprising:

after said storing the created record, receiving a second call from the caller;

identifying the telephone number of the second call;

determining that it is necessary to place the caller in a hold queue;

determining that the caller desires to hear listening options while in the hold queue;

in response to said determining that the caller desires to hear listening options while in the hold queue, determining that the identified telephone number is currently in the stored record in the database; and

in response to said determining that the identified telephone number is currently in the stored record in the database, playing a listening activity in the receiver of the caller while the caller is in the hold queue, said listening activity based on the recorded listening option.

6. A physically tangible computer readable storage medium storing computer-readable program instructions configured to be executed in a data processing system to implement a method for creating a caller preference database for use in determining a listening preference of a caller, said method comprising:

receiving a call from the caller to a service provider;

identifying the telephone number of the call;

presenting listening options to the caller while the caller is in the hold queue;

detecting a listening option selected by the caller from the presented listening options;

creating a record for the identified telephone number, the record comprising fields for the area code of the identified telephone number, the identified telephone number, and a listening preference of the caller;

recording the listening option selected by the caller in the field for the listening preference of the caller in the created record; and

storing the created record in the database in a location based on the area code of the identified telephone number, the database having a set of sub-directories based on the exchange and extension code of the telephone numbers of callers and the listening options.

7. The medium of claim 6, said method further comprising:

determining that the call is the first call from the caller to the service provider, wherein said presenting listening options to the caller while the caller is in the hold queue is performed in response to said determining that the call is the first call from the caller to the service provider.

8. The medium of claim 6, said method further comprising:

repeating said receiving, said identifying, said placing, said presenting in response to said ascertaining, said detecting, said creating, said recording, and said storing for each newly identified telephone number of received calls.

9. The medium of claim 6, said method further comprising:

after said storing the created record, receiving a second call from the caller;

identifying the telephone number of the second call;

determining that it is necessary to place the caller in a hold queue;

determining that the caller desires to hear listening options while in the hold queue;

in response to said determining that the caller desires to hear listening options while in the hold queue, determining that the identified telephone number is currently in the stored record in the database; and

in response to said determining that the identified telephone number is currently in the stored record in the database, playing a listening activity in the receiver of the caller while the caller is in the hold queue, said listening activity based on the recorded listening option.

10. A data processing system, comprising a computer and a physically tangible computer readable storage medium storing computer-readable program instructions configured to be executed by the computer to implement a method for creating a caller preference database for use in determining a listening preference of a caller, said method comprising:

receiving a call from the caller to a service provider;

identifying the telephone number of the call;

presenting listening options to the caller while the caller is in the hold queue;

detecting a listening option selected by the caller from the presented listening options;

creating a record for the identified telephone number, the record comprising fields for the area code of the identified telephone number, the identified telephone number, and a listening preference of the caller;

recording the listening option selected by the caller in the field for the listening preference of the caller in the created record; and

storing the created record in the database in a location based on the area code of the identified telephone number, the database having a set of sub-directories based on the exchange and extension code of the telephone numbers of callers and the listening options.

11. The data processing system of claim 10, said method further comprising:

determining that the call is the first call from the caller to the service provider,

wherein said presenting listening options to the caller while the caller is in the hold queue is performed in response to said determining that the call is the first call from the caller to the service provider.

12. The data processing system of claim 10, said method further comprising:

repeating said receiving, said identifying, said placing, said presenting in response to said ascertaining, said detecting, said creating, said recording, and said storing for each newly identified telephone number of received calls.

13. The data processing system of claim 10, said method further comprising:

after said storing the created record, receiving a second call from the caller;

identifying the telephone number of the second call;

determining that it is necessary to place the caller in a hold queue;

determining that the caller desires to hear listening options while in the hold queue;

in response to said determining that the caller desires to hear listening options while in the hold queue, determining that the identified telephone number is currently in the stored record in the database; and

in response to said determining that the identified telephone number is currently in the stored record in the database, playing a listening activity in the receiver of the caller while the caller is in the hold queue, said listening activity based on the recorded listening option.