Call processing and subscriber registration systems and methods

• US 8,718,243 B1
• Filed: 08/29/2012
• Issued: 05/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: CallWave Communications, LLC
• Original Assignee: CallWave Communications, LLC
• Inventors: Trandal, David, Duva, Robert, Smith, Robert F., Day, John R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gauthier, Gerald
• Application Number:
  US13/598,432
• Time in Patent Office: 615 Days
• Field of Search: 379/35, 379/88.19, 379/210.01, 379/373.01, 379/142.02, 379/207, 379/265.01, 379/265.09, 379/266.01, 455/417, 455/426.1, 455/432.1, 455/433, 455/434, 455/435.1, 455/561, 455/404.1, 455/406, 455/412.1, 455/415, 709/206, 370/352, 705/14.4
• US Class Current: 379/88.19
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/103 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/104 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/401 wherein the services involve a main real-time session and one or more additional parallel real-time or time sensitive sessions, e.g. white board sharing or spawning of a subconference
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42153 by subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5166 in combination with interactive voice response systems or voice portals, e.g. as front-ends
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/533 Voice mail systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53383 Message registering commands or announcements; Greetings

Abstract

The present invention relates to telecommunications, and in particular, to systems and processes for processing telephone calls and providing telephony services. In one embodiment, a call processing system, compromises a first telephony interface configured to receive a call from a caller, a storage device configured to store a greeting, and a call answering system. The call answering system is configured to play the greeting in response to receiving the call, record a voice message from the caller, determine when the caller has completed recording the voice message, after determining that the caller has completed recording the voice message, play a prompt regarding the caller becoming a subscriber to call services provided by the call processing system, receive from the caller information used to establish a call services account, and establish a call services account for the caller.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

at least one computing device;

non-transitory memory storing program instructions, that when executed by the at least one computing device, are configured to cause the system to perform operations comprising;

receiving a first call from a caller, the first call intended for a user;

determining if a first parameter related to the caller is met based at least in part on caller identification information associated with the first call, wherein the first parameter is related to;

(a) whether a first prompt has been previously played with respect to a previous call associated with the caller identification information;

or

(b) a designation previously provided by the user with respect to the caller;

or

(c) whether the caller identification information is associated with a subscriber of a service provided by the system;

or

(d) any combination of (a), (b), or (c);

at least partly in response to determining that the first parameter is met, enabling a sales lead generation prompt to be played regarding a first subject to the caller;

at least partly in response to receiving an instruction from the caller provided at least partly in response to the sales lead generation prompt,

originating a second call to a call center; and

bridging the first call and the second call.

2. The system as defined in claim 1, the operations further comprising:

receiving information provided by the caller to an information recipient, at the call center; and

establishing an account for the caller using at least a portion of the received information.

3. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the first parameter is related to a number of times the sales lead generation prompt has been played to the caller.

4. The system as defined in claim 1, the operations further comprising:

populating an ANI field associated with the second call with a phone number obtained from an ANI field associated with the first call so that caller identification information can be presented to a call center agent.

5. The system as defined in claim 1, the operations further comprising automatically populating at least a portion of a first form using the caller identification information.

6. The system as defined in claim 1, the operations further comprising enabling the caller to be connected to a live agent at the call center.

22. The system as defined in claim 1, further comprising a call management subsystem and a router subsystem.

7. A computer-based method of processing a call, the method compromising:

at least partly in response to a first call from a caller intended for a user being received at a first system, the first call associated with signaling information;

obtaining caller identification information from the signaling information associated with the first call;

determining by a computer system if a sales lead generation prompt is to be played to the caller based on information related to at least one of the following;

(a) whether the sales lead generation prompt has been previously played with respect to a previous call associated with the caller identification information obtained from the signaling information;

or

(b) a designation previously provided by the user with respect to the caller;

or

(c) whether the caller identification information obtained from first call signaling information is associated with a subscriber of at least a first service;

or

(d) any combination of (a), (b), or (c); and

selectively enabling the sales lead generation prompt to be played to the caller in accordance with the determination.

8. The method as defined in claim 7, the method further comprising playing the sales lead prompt to the caller.

9. The method as defined in claim 7, the method further comprising:

receiving an instruction from the caller provided at least partly in response to the sales lead generation prompt;

at least partly in response to receiving the instruction, obtaining information provided by the caller; and

recording the obtained information from the caller.

10. The method as defined in claim 7, the method further comprising:

receiving an instruction from the caller provided at least partly in response to the sales lead generation prompt;

at least partly in response to receiving the instruction, obtaining information provided by the caller;

recording the obtained information from the caller; and

selectively providing call processing services for the caller based at least in part on the recorded information.

11. The method as defined in claim 7, the method further comprising:

recording a voice message from the caller for the user during the first call; and

determining when the caller has completed recording the voice message prior to the sales lead generation prompt being played to the caller.

12. The method as defined in claim 7, the method further comprising enabling the caller to be connected to a call center live agent at least partly in response to a caller instruction provided during or following the playing of the lead generation prompt.

13. The method as defined in claim 12, the method further comprising:

automatically populating a first portion of a first registration form using the caller identification information obtained from the signaling information; and

manually populating a second portion of the first registration form.

14. The method as defined in claim 7, the method further comprising:

connecting the caller to an automated information gathering system at least partly in response to a caller instruction provided following the playing of the lead generation prompt;

requesting that the caller verbally provide information to be used to set up a call services account;

recording verbally provided information from the caller; and

transmitting at least a portion of the verbally provided information to a service person.

15. The method as defined in claim 7, wherein, prior to playing the sales lead generation prompt, information is accessed indicating how many times the sales lead generation prompt has previously been played to the caller.

16. The method as defined in claim 7, the method further comprising:

recording a voice message from the caller during the first call; and

streaming the voice message to a terminal associated with the user in substantially real time.

17. The method as defined in claim 7, the method further comprising:

initiating a second call to a call center; and

populating an ANI field associated with the second call with a phone number obtained from an ANI field associated with the first call so that caller identification information can be presented to a call center agent.

18. The method as defined in claim 7, the method further comprising:

receiving a second call with associated caller identification information from the caller;

based at least in part on the caller identification information associated with the second call, accessing information indicating how many times the sales lead generation prompt has been played to the caller; and

based at least in part on the accessed information, determining whether to play the sales lead generation prompt to the caller again.

19. A system comprising:

at least one computing device;

non-transitory memory storing program instructions, that when executed by the at least one computing device, are configured to cause the system to perform operations comprising;

at least partly in response to a first call from a caller intended for a user being received;

determining if a sales lead generation prompt is to be played to the caller based at least in part on information related to at least one of the following;

(a) whether the sales lead generation prompt has been previously played with respect to a previous call associated with caller identification information obtained from signaling information;

or

(b) a designation previously provided by the user with respect to the caller;

or

(c) whether the caller identification information obtained from first call signaling information is associated with a subscriber of at least a first service;

or

(d) any combination of (a), (b), or (c); and

selectively enabling the sales lead generation prompt to be played to the caller in accordance with the determination.

20. The system as defined in claim 19, the operations further comprising:

connecting the caller to an automated information gathering system at least partly in response to a caller instruction provided following a playing of the lead generation prompt;

requesting that the caller verbally provide information to be used to set up a call services account;

recording verbally provided information from the caller; and

transmitting at least a portion of the verbally provided information to a service person.

21. The system as defined in claim 19, the operations further comprising:

initiating a second call to a call center; and

populating an ANI field associated with the second call with a phone number obtained from an ANI field associated with the first call so that caller identification information can be presented to a call center agent.

23. The system as defined in claim 19, further comprising a call management subsystem and a router subsystem.