Intelligent and automatic calling process

• US 8,472,613 B1
• Filed: 11/03/2006
• Issued: 06/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Pan, James J., Black, James D., Khuc, Minh
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Quynh H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Asanbayev, Oleg
• Application Number:
  US11/556,475
• Time in Patent Office: 2,426 Days
• Field of Search: 379/266.1, 379/355.06, 379/201.01, 379/40, 379/355.02, 379/355.05
• US Class Current: 379/355.06
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2749 Automatic dialling or redialling systems, e.g. on off-hook or redial on busy
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/53 Generation of additional signals, e.g. additional pulses
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/56 Arrangements for indicating or recording the called number at the calling subscriber's set
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/424 Arrangements for automatic redialling at the subscriber's set H04M1/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/432 Arrangements for calling a subscriber at a specific time, e.g. morning call service
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/44 Additional connecting arrangements for providing access to frequently-wanted subscribers, e.g. abbreviated dialling at the subscriber's set H04M1/27; automatic redialling H04M3/424

Abstract

Ways for facilitating an automated calling process are described. An embodiment includes receiving a start indication to start recording events associated with a call process, starting a timing reference, receiving data provided by a user, storing information suitable to reproduce the received data based on the timing reference, and repeating the receiving step and the storing step until a stop indication to stop recording events is received. Redialing can occur without user intervention by retrieving a first indication of an information-providing event associated with a dialing process, providing data to satisfy the information-providing event, determining whether a subsequent information-providing event is to be expected, waiting for a correct time or for a prompt to provide additional data to satisfy the subsequent information-providing event, providing additional data to satisfy the subsequent information-providing event, and without user interaction, repeating the determining, waiting, and providing steps until the call is connected or until there is no additional data to provide.

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon for facilitating a method of automating a call process, the method comprising:

receiving a start indication to start recording events associated with a process of initiating and placing an outgoing call by a user, wherein the start indication is provided by the user, and further wherein the start indication is provided locally or remotely;

starting a timing reference that tracks time from the beginning of the process;

receiving data associated with the events (“

event data”

), wherein the event data is provided by a user in response to the events as the events occur during the process of initiating and placing the outgoing call, wherein the event data includes a voice recording associated with one of the events, and wherein receiving event data provided by the user includes receiving one or more of data that indicates a series of dialed digits or a video recording;

storing information suitable to reproduce the received event data according to a timeline based on the timing reference, wherein storing the information includes storing a relative position of the event data on the timeline, wherein storing information suitable to reproduce the received event data includes one or more of;

(A) storing the event data,

(B) storing a representation of the event data, and

(C) storing an identifier that identifies the event data;

repeating the receiving step and the storing step until a stop indication to stop recording events is received, wherein stored information associated with multiple events is sequenced at time intervals according to the timeline such that the stored information is suitable to reproduce the received event data for automatically performing the process of initiating and placing the outgoing call, wherein reproducing the received event data includes reproducing the voice recording associated with the one of the events; and

wherein when the outgoing call is connected, confirming that the outgoing call is still connected by periodically providing a stimulus that contemplates a response, wherein

(A) when the response is received to the stimulus, periodically providing the stimulus until the outgoing call is ended by the user, and

(B) when the response is not received to the stimulus, determining that the user is prematurely disconnected from the outgoing call, identifying a proper trace file, and automatically facilitating a redialing process wherein the stored information suitable to reproduce the received event data for automatically performing the process of initiating and placing the outgoing call is used to automatically facilitate the redialing process.

2. The media of claim 1, wherein starting the timing reference includes starting a clock.

3. The media of claim 1, wherein storing information suitable to reproduce the received event data includes one or more of:

storing the event data;

storing a representation of the event data; and

storing an identifier that identifies the event data.

4. The media of claim 1, further comprising receiving an automatic-dialing indication that initiates a redialing process.

5. The media of claim 4, wherein the redialing process includes retrieving the information stored in claim 1 to automatically contact an entity that normally requires user interaction without user interaction.

6. The media of claim 4, wherein the redialing process includes:

receiving an indication to begin a dialing process;

retrieving a first indication of an information-providing event associated with the dialing process, wherein the information-providing event corresponds to a previously-recorded event;

providing the event data associated with the previously-recorded event to satisfy the information-providing event;

determining whether a subsequent information-providing event is to be expected;

waiting for a correct time to provide additional data to satisfy the subsequent information-providing event;

providing additional data to satisfy the subsequent information-providing event; and

repeating the determining, waiting, and providing steps until the call is connected or until there is no additional data to provide.

7. An electronics device that utilizes the media of claim 1 to facilitate a method of automating a call process.

8. An electronics device that utilizes the media of claim 6 to facilitate an automatic-dialing process.

9. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon for facilitating a method of automating a call process, the method comprising:

receiving an indication to start recording events associated with a call process of initiating and placing an outgoing call by a user, wherein the indication to start recording events is provided by the user, and further wherein the indication is provided locally or remotely;

recognizing;

(A) a time duration free from a prompt from a called entity, as well as from user input,

(B) user input, wherein the user input includes receiving one or more of data that indicates a series of dialed digits or a video recording, and

(C) a prompt received from a called entity for user input,

wherein the prompt is recognized based on data received from the called entity;

when the time duration is identified, then storing an indication of the time duration;

when the user input is received then storing an indication of the user input;

when the prompt is recognized based on the data received from the called entity, then storing an indication that identifies the prompt as well as an indication of a response associated with the prompt;

repeating the recognizing step until an indication to stop recording is received, wherein the stored indications are suitable for automatically initiating and placing the outgoing call, and wherein the indication to stop recording includes an input from the user or an indication that no more data can be accepted; and

wherein when the outgoing call is connected, confirming that the outgoing call is still connected by periodically providing a stimulus that contemplates a response, wherein

(A) when the response to the stimulus is received, periodically providing the stimulus until the outgoing call is ended by the user, and

(B) when the response to the stimulus is not received, determining that the user is prematurely disconnected from the outgoing call, identifying a proper trace file, and automatically facilitating a redialing process wherein the stored indications suitable for automatically initiating and placing the outgoing call are used to facilitate the redialing process.

10. The media of claim 9, wherein the indication to start recording includes one or more of:

a voice initiation; and

feedback from a button press.

11. The media of claim 9, wherein the user input includes input received via one or more of:

a keypad;

a microphone; and

a camera.

12. The media of claim 9, wherein the indication of the user input includes the user input.

13. The media of claim 9, wherein the indication to stop recording is provided by an entity other than the user.

14. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon for facilitating a method of automating a call process by utilizing previous events associated with manually placing a call that have been recorded during a manual dialing process when the call was manually placed, the method comprising:

receiving an indication to begin a dialing process that reproduces the manual dialing process, wherein the indication to begin the dialing process is provided by a user, and further wherein the indication to begin the dialing process is provided locally or remotely;

accessing stored information that includes the previous events, wherein the previous events include actions and time durations that occurred during recording of the manual dialing process, wherein the time durations indicate relative positions of the actions along a timeline as they occurred during the manual dialing process, wherein the relative positions of the actions along the timeline are associated with information-providing events that are associated with the dialing process, and wherein the previous events include one or more of data that indicates a series of dialed digits or a video recording;

retrieving a first indication of an information-providing event associated with the dialing process;

providing one of the actions that is associated with the information-providing event to satisfy the information-providing event, wherein providing the one of the actions includes providing a previously-recorded voice response that was provided by a user during the manual dialing process;

determining whether a subsequent information-providing event is to be expected;

when the subsequent information-providing event is to be expected, retrieving one of the time durations from the set of stored information, wherein the time duration indicates an amount of time to wait before providing a subsequent action to satisfy the subsequent information-providing event;

waiting for the amount of time to elapse;

upon the amount of time elapsing, providing the subsequent action from the set of stored information to satisfy the subsequent information-providing event;

without user interaction, repeating the determining, waiting, and providing steps until the call is connected or until there is no additional data to provide; and

once the call is connected, confirming and periodically checking that the call is still connected, wherein confirming and periodically checking that the call is still connected includes;

(A) periodically providing a stimulus, wherein if a response to the stimulus is received, then determining that the call is still connected; and

(B) if the response to the stimulus is not received, then determining that the call has been prematurely disconnected, and identifying a proper trace file to facilitate an automatic redial process, wherein the stored information suitable for automatically initiating and placing the call is used to facilitate the automatic redial process.

15. The media of claim 14, wherein the information-providing event includes one or more of:

a prompt for information;

a time gap to receive dialed-digit information; and

a secondary data that supplements the provided additional data.

16. The media of claim 14, wherein when the call becomes prematurely disconnected, automatically reconnecting to a disconnected party.