System and method for enhanced computer telephony integration and interaction

• US 20050047395A1
• Filed: 08/29/2003
• Published: 03/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Boyle, Michael, Gupta, Anoop, Narin, Attila, Jancke, Gavin, Cadiz, Jonathan Jay
• Granted Patent: US 7,697,506 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42272 whereby the subscriber registers to the terminals for personalised service provision
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42323 PBX's with CTI arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5125 with remote located operators
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5183 Call or contact centers with computer-telephony arrangements

Abstract

An enhanced computer telephony integration system that facilitates the interaction and integration of a private branch exchange (PBX) with a client computer on a computer network. An enhanced telephony (ET) server connects to the PBX and to all running instances of an ET client on a user'"'"'s computers. The ET server acts as a proxy between the ET clients and the PBX. The ET clients register with the ET server for a certain telephone extension. The ET server then can forward telephone action requests (such as placing a telephone call) from the registered ET clients to the PBX servicing the telephone extension. Moreover, the ET server can relay telephone events (such as an incoming call) from the PBX to all registered clients. The ET server facilitates seamless integration of telephone and personal computer features to provide a rich user-controlled computer-telephone integration for a user.

Claims

1. An enhanced computer telephony integration system, comprising:

an enhanced telephony server connected to a computer network;

an enhanced telephony client in communication with the enhanced telephony server via the computer network; and

a private branch exchange in communication with the enhanced telephony server;

wherein the enhanced telephony server facilitates requests from the client to the private branch exchange and relays telephone events from the private branch exchange to the client.

2. The enhanced computer telephony integration system of claim 1, further comprising a translation module residing on the server that translates lower-level data that the private branch exchange understands into higher-level data that the client understands.

3. The enhanced computer telephony integration system of claim 2, further comprising a switch database that facilitates translation by the translation module.

4. The enhanced computer telephony integration system of claim 3, wherein the switch database contains a list of telephone extensions serviced by the private branch exchange.

5. The enhanced computer telephony integration system of claim 3, wherein the switch database contains information about a physical connection of an extension serviced by the private branch exchange.

6. The enhanced computer telephony integration system of claim 3, wherein the information in the switch database includes PBX-specific parameters used by the translation module to perform the translation.

7. The enhanced computer telephony integration system of claim 6, wherein the translation module extracts the PBX-specific parameters from the lower-level data to translate the lower-level data into higher-level data.

8. The enhanced computer telephony integration system of claim 5, wherein the information includes at least one of:

(a) port number;

(b) cabinet number;

(c) shelf number;

(d) card identification;

(e) circuit identification.

9. The enhanced computer telephony integration system of claim 3, wherein the switch database contains user groups for each extension serviced by the private branch exchange.

10. A method using an enhanced telephony server to facilitate interaction between a client and a private branch exchange (PBX), comprising:

registering the client with the enhanced telephony server to correlate a telephone extension serviced by the private branch exchange with the client;

translating telephone requests from the client into lower-level data understandable by the private branch exchange; and

translating telephone events of the telephone extension at the private branch exchange into higher-level data understandable by the client.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein translating telephone requests from the client into lower-level data further comprises obtaining PBX-specific parameters from a switch database needed for the private branch exchange to understand the telephone requests.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein translating telephone events of the telephone extension at the private branch exchange into higher-level data further comprises obtaining PBX-specific parameters from a switch database to convert the PBX-specific parameters into the higher-level data.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein registering further comprises sending the enhanced telephony server the telephone extension and the client'"'"'s network contact information.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising having the enhanced telephony server unregister the client if at least one of the following occurs:

(a) the client is no longer reachable;

(b) the client has not updated its registration after a certain time period.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the time period is approximately one hour.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising generating an enhanced telephony enterprise directory containing employees of the enterprise and their employee information, wherein the enhanced telephony enterprise directory resides on the enhanced telephone server.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising normalizing and indexing the enhanced telephony enterprise directory such that the directory may be searched quickly.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising performing a reverse telephone number lookup using the enhanced telephony enterprise directory to determine the identity of an incoming caller.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising performing a search of the enhanced telephony enterprise directory upon request from the client.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising authorizing requests from the client to use another telephone extension using the enhanced telephony enterprise directory.

21. The method of claim 10, further comprising transferring user data for the client to a second client upon request so that a direct virtual connection may be established between the client and the second client.

22. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining a state of the telephone extension.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising informing another client of the state of the telephone extension using the enhanced telephony server.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising making recommendations based on the state of the telephone extension.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising determining that the state of the telephone extension is “

off hook” and

making recommendations based on the state.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising recommending at least one of:

(a) a caller call back at a later time;

(b) the caller check a user'"'"'s calendar information for times when the user may be availability.

27. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method recited in claim 10.

28. A computer-implemented process for using an enhanced telephony server to control a telephone extension, comprising:

receiving a request for a telephone action from a client associated with the telephone extensions, the client in network communication with the server;

translating the telephone action into lower lever data that is understandable by a private branch exchange servicing the telephone extension; and

executing the telephone action on the private branch exchange as requested.

29. The computer-implemented process as set forth in claim 28, further comprising authenticating the requesting client by having the client present credentials to the server.

30. The computer-implemented process as set forth in claim 28, further comprising generating an enhanced telephony enterprise directory that contains names and information of enterprise personnel and authorized extensions for the client.

31. The computer-implemented process as set forth in claim 30, further comprising performing a lookup in the enhanced telephony enterprise directory to determine whether the client has requested an authorized extension.

32. The computer-implemented process as set forth in claim 28, further comprising ensuring that the client has registered with the server such that the telephone extension is associated with the client.

33. A method for notifying a client using an enhanced telephony server in network communication with the client of a telephone event at an extension associated with the client, comprising:

receiving the telephone event from a private branch exchange servicing the telephone extension;

using a switch database to determine telephone event parameters;

using the telephone event parameters to perform a reverse telephone number lookup; and

using the reverse telephone number lookup to notify each client registered for the telephone extension.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the switch database contains private branch exchange information about each telephone extension serviced by a private branch exchange.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein performing a reverse telephone number lookup further comprises:

generating an enhanced telephony enterprise directory containing enterprise personnel name and contact information; and

determining an identify of an incoming caller using the enhanced telephony enterprise directory.

36. The method of claim 33, wherein the telephone event parameters include the telephone extension and the type of telephone event.

37. One or more computer-readable media having computer-readable instructions thereon which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement the method of claim 33.

38. An enhanced computer telephony integration system, comprising:

a plurality of enhanced telephony servers in communication with a computer network;

a plurality of enhanced telephony clients in communication with at least one of the plurality of enhanced telephony servers through the computer network such that each of the plurality of enhanced telephony clients is serviced by at least one of the plurality of enhanced telephony servers; and

a plurality of private branch exchanges in communication with the at least one of the plurality of enhanced telephony servers such that each of the plurality of enhanced telephony servers services at least one of the plurality of enhanced telephony clients and at least one of the plurality of private branch exchanges so as to facilitate requests from a client to a private branch exchange and relay telephone events from the private branch exchange to the client.