Response advisor for a call handling system

• US 7,978,826 B2
• Filed: 04/11/2007
• Issued: 07/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Christopher Michael Salafia, Jeremy Edward Turk, Philip M. Salafia
• Original Assignee: Christopher Michael Salafia, Jeremy Edward Turk, Philip M. Salafia
• Inventors: Salafia, Philip M, Turk, Jeremy Edward, Salafia, Christopher Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Ramakrishnaiah; Melur
• Application Number:
  US11/733,869
• Publication Number:
  US 20070189480A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,553 Days
• Field of Search: 379 37- 49, 340/505, 340/539.1, 340/539.13, 340/540, 340/5.61, 340/825.09, 340/573.1, 707/10, 705/8, 705/1, 705/9, 600/300, 600/301, 600/486
• US Class Current: 379/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/26 Government or public services business processes related to the transportation industry G06Q50/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/06 Recording class or number of calling , i.e. A-party or called party , i.e. B-party

Abstract

Systems and methods are presented for handling calls. In one embodiment of the invention, a call handling system is configured for handling a variety of emergency and/or non emergency related calls. The call handling system may enable recognition of and response to received call information. The call handling system comprises a call interface configured for receiving the call information. A processor is communicatively coupled to the call interface and configured for processing the call information to initiate a protocol. This protocol may, as it progresses, be used to generate data for use in a CAD system. The CAD system may subsequently dispatch responders based on the generated data. The call handling system includes an advisory component that recommends a type of dispatch and a risk assessment. The call handling system also includes a build component that allows for the generation of protocols.

Claims

1. A call handling system, comprising:

a call handler interface configured for receiving call information from a caller;

an advisory component communicatively coupled to the call handler interface to detect an event from the call information and generate one or more relative importance indicators based on at least a portion of the call information, wherein the advisory component provides the one or more relative importance indicators to a user of the call handling system via call handler interface;

a rules processing engine that provides a first protocol to direct the user in assisting the caller with a situation pertaining to the caller; and

a bridge component formed in the rules processing engine and having a detector that detects an event based on processed call information, the bridge component then initiates at least a second protocol based on a response to a previously initiated protocol.

2. The call handling system of claim 1, wherein the advisory component further provides a selection input to the user for accepting, refusing or amending the relative importance indicator.

3. The call handling system of claim 2, wherein the relative importance indicator includes a risk assessment of a situation pertaining to the caller.

4. The call handling system of claim 2, wherein the relative importance indicator includes a homeland security indicator.

5. The call handling system of claim 1, wherein the protocol includes at least one activity trigger used in initiating the advisory component.

6. The call handling system of claim 1, wherein the advisory component is further configured for receiving input from the user to change a response type.

7. The call handling system of claim 1, wherein the advisory component is communicatively coupled to the rules processing engine to provide activity triggering information to the rules processing engine, wherein the rules processing engine processes the activity triggering information to initiate another protocol.

8. The call handling system of claim 1, wherein the protocol includes one or more script modules, wherein each script module is relevant to a unique caller situation.

9. The call handling system of claim 8, wherein each of the one or more script modules includes one or more script elements, wherein the script elements include questions, statements, or procedures.

10. The call handling system of claim 1, further including a build component that generates one or more script modules.

11. The call handling system of claim 10, wherein the build component includes a test element configured for testing the generated one or more script modules.

12. The call handling system of claim 11, wherein the test element tests the generated one or more script modules by deploying a script module for operation within the call handling system while decoupling the call handling system from external computer aided dispatch systems.

13. The call handling system of claim 10, wherein the build component includes a publication component that provides accessibility to a generated script module by the call handling system.

14. The call handling system of claim 13, wherein the publication component provides version control of a generated script module.

15. The call handling system of claim 14, wherein the build component is configured for migrating the version control of a generated script module to at least one other script module.

16. The call handling system of claim 14, wherein the version control of the generated script module prevents inadvertent access to a previous version of a generated script module.

17. A call handling system, comprising:

a call handler interface component for receiving call information, wherein the call handling interface component includes a storage unit configured for storing one or more protocols used in directing a call handler to respond to a caller and a processor for processing the call information and populating a database with one or more terms based on the call information, wherein the one or more terms are cross referenced to the stored protocols to initiate at least one of the stored protocols;

a build component that configures rules that are input via the call handler interface to generate the one or more protocols, wherein the rules include advisory information and a relative importance of a protocol module and wherein a generated protocol has one or more modules configured from the rules;

a rules processing engine that provides a first protocol that directs assistance to a caller with a situation pertaining to the caller; and

a bridge component formed in the rules processing engine and having a detector that detects an event based on processed call information, the bridge component then initiating at least a second protocol based on a response to a previously initiated protocol.

18. The call handling system of claim 17, wherein the bridge element operably merges at least two of the stored protocols to generate a merged protocol.

19. A method of providing assistance to a caller, comprising:

processing first information, with a computer aided call handling system, from a caller, wherein the first information is determined based on a first response from the caller;

initiating a first protocol based on the first information, wherein the first protocol is configured for providing second information to the caller;

initiating an advisory component of the call handling system, wherein the advisory component provides a recommended response according to the first protocol;

providing the recommended response to a call handling system user for selection of the recommended response;

providing at least one of a statement, a question, and an instruction upon initiation of the first protocol;

processing third information based on a second response of the caller, wherein the third information is determined from said at least one of the statement, the question, and the instruction;

updating the recommended response based on the third information; and

initiating a bridge element based on the third information to initiate a second protocol.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising providing a dispatch recommendation to either or both of the call handling system user and a computer-aided dispatch system.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the third information includes a keyword.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein processing the first information includes extracting data from a user interface that includes one or more of:

a drop-down menu, a free text entry field, and a keyword selection menu.