Inbound telephony orchestrator for hangout-based contact center platform
First Claim
1. A server system for providing virtual hangouts supporting connectivity with conventional client devices, the server system comprising:
- a signaling unit connected to a conventional phone network and configured to receive a conventional inbound phone call from a conventional phone client through the conventional phone network, the signaling unit configured to transform conventional phone signals received from the conventional phone client into an internet protocol (IP) phone signal stream;
a web server configured to receive audio content from one or more IP-based client devices over an IP network; and
a memory storing instructions that when executed implement;
a contact center bell application connected to the signaling unit, the contact center bell application configured to produce a phone call identifying signal including identifying information particular to the conventional inbound call;
a particular reflector corresponding to a virtual hangout, the particular reflector being one of a plurality of reflectors, wherein each reflector of the plurality of reflectors corresponds to a different virtual hangout, the particular reflector being capable of connecting with the contact center bell application to receive IP phone signal streams, the particular reflector further capable of combining the IP phone signal streams with at least one other multimedia signal stream and broadcasting combined multimedia signals in a real-time session to particular client devices corresponding to the virtual hangout; and
a contact center manager application connected to the contact center bell application, the contact center manager application configured to;
(a) receive the phone call identifying signal, wherein the identifying information particular to the conventional inbound call phone call identifying signal includes a dialed number that is dialed by the conventional phone client,(b) process the phone call identifying signal to determine, based on the dialed number and a rules engine, whether the conventional inbound phone call needs a new virtual hangout room or whether the conventional inbound phone call should be joined to an existing virtual hangout room,(c) receive, from a room manager application, an identification signal based on a result of determining whether the conventional inbound phone call needs a new virtual hangout room or whether the conventional inbound phone call should be joined to an existing virtual hangout room, and(d) transmit to the contact center bell application the identification signal that identifies the particular reflector associated with the virtual hangout,wherein the contact center bell is further configured to establish a connection between the signaling unit and the particular reflector associated with the virtual hangout based on the identification signal so that the IP phone signal streams are received by the particular reflector, combined with the at least one other multimedia signal streams, and broadcast to the particular client devices corresponding to the virtual hangout, wherein the at least one other multimedia signal streams includes at least one data stream of audio content that originated at a conventional phone client over the conventional phone network and at least one data stream of audio content that originated at an IP-based client over an IP network.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method are provided for receiving inbound conventional calls and establishing real-time interconnectivity in a multimedia production environment. The system may include: a signaling unit; a contact center bell application, a particular reflector associated with a virtual hangout, and a contact center manager application. The system may further include a room manager application. The method may include: transmitting a call request to the integration unit, wherein call information corresponding to the call request is sent to the contact center manager; and connecting to the communications session, which corresponds to a virtual hangout identification received by the integration unit from the contact center manager based on the call information.
23 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A server system for providing virtual hangouts supporting connectivity with conventional client devices, the server system comprising:
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a signaling unit connected to a conventional phone network and configured to receive a conventional inbound phone call from a conventional phone client through the conventional phone network, the signaling unit configured to transform conventional phone signals received from the conventional phone client into an internet protocol (IP) phone signal stream; a web server configured to receive audio content from one or more IP-based client devices over an IP network; and a memory storing instructions that when executed implement; a contact center bell application connected to the signaling unit, the contact center bell application configured to produce a phone call identifying signal including identifying information particular to the conventional inbound call; a particular reflector corresponding to a virtual hangout, the particular reflector being one of a plurality of reflectors, wherein each reflector of the plurality of reflectors corresponds to a different virtual hangout, the particular reflector being capable of connecting with the contact center bell application to receive IP phone signal streams, the particular reflector further capable of combining the IP phone signal streams with at least one other multimedia signal stream and broadcasting combined multimedia signals in a real-time session to particular client devices corresponding to the virtual hangout; and a contact center manager application connected to the contact center bell application, the contact center manager application configured to; (a) receive the phone call identifying signal, wherein the identifying information particular to the conventional inbound call phone call identifying signal includes a dialed number that is dialed by the conventional phone client, (b) process the phone call identifying signal to determine, based on the dialed number and a rules engine, whether the conventional inbound phone call needs a new virtual hangout room or whether the conventional inbound phone call should be joined to an existing virtual hangout room, (c) receive, from a room manager application, an identification signal based on a result of determining whether the conventional inbound phone call needs a new virtual hangout room or whether the conventional inbound phone call should be joined to an existing virtual hangout room, and (d) transmit to the contact center bell application the identification signal that identifies the particular reflector associated with the virtual hangout, wherein the contact center bell is further configured to establish a connection between the signaling unit and the particular reflector associated with the virtual hangout based on the identification signal so that the IP phone signal streams are received by the particular reflector, combined with the at least one other multimedia signal streams, and broadcast to the particular client devices corresponding to the virtual hangout, wherein the at least one other multimedia signal streams includes at least one data stream of audio content that originated at a conventional phone client over the conventional phone network and at least one data stream of audio content that originated at an IP-based client over an IP network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method performed by a conventional phone client for integrating a conventional inbound phone call into a communications session within a multimedia production environment including a contact center manager, an integration unit, and a reflector, the method comprising:
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transmitting a call request to the integration unit, wherein call information including a dialed number that is dialed by the conventional phone client is sent to the contact center manager, wherein the contact center manager is configured to determine, based on the dialed number and a rules engine, whether the inbound phone call needs a new virtual hangout room or whether the inbound phone call should be joined to an existing virtual hangout room, and receive from a room manager application a virtual hangout identification based on a result of determining whether the inbound phone call needs a new virtual hangout room or whether the inbound phone call should be joined to an existing virtual hangout room; and connecting to the communications session, which corresponds to the virtual hangout identification received by the integration unit from the contact center manager based on the call information, wherein connecting to the communications session includes receiving audio content that includes a consolidated audio stream converted to a format compatible with the conventional phone client, wherein the consolidated audio stream includes audio content from a plurality of data streams received and processed by the reflector, wherein the data streams received by the reflector correspond to the virtual hangout identification, and wherein the plurality of data streams includes at least one data stream of audio content that originated at a conventional phone client over a conventional phone network and at least one data stream of audio content that originated at an Internet Protocol (IP)-based client over an IP network. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium within a communications server having computer-executable instructions for integrating conventional phone calls into virtual hangouts within a multimedia production environment, the computer-executable instructions, when executed by a processor, causing a contact center bell application to perform the steps of:
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receiving call information corresponding to an incoming conventional phone call from a conventional phone client; sending the call information including a dialed number that is dialed by the conventional phone client to a contact center manager, wherein the contact center manager is configured to determine, based on the dialed number and a rules engine, whether the incoming conventional phone call needs a new virtual hangout room or whether the incoming conventional phone call should be joined to an existing virtual hangout room, and receive from a room manager application a virtual hangout identification based on a result of determining whether the incoming conventional phone call needs a new virtual hangout room or whether the incoming conventional phone call should be joined to an existing virtual hangout room; receiving the virtual hangout identification from the contact center manager; transmitting a data stream received from a signaling unit to a reflector, wherein the data stream includes call content of the incoming conventional phone call; receiving a plurality of data streams from the reflector, wherein the plurality of data streams includes at least one data stream of audio content that originated at a conventional phone client over a conventional phone network and at least one data stream of audio content that originated at an Internet Protocol (IP)-based client over an IP network; consolidating a set of the plurality of processed data streams received from the reflector into a consolidated audio stream; and
,transmitting the consolidated audio stream to the signaling unit. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification