Interactive call processor to facilitate completion of queued calls

• US RE37,001 E
• Filed: 09/06/1996
• Issued: 12/26/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/1988
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Aspect Communications Corporation (Alvaria Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Aspect Telecommunications, Inc. (Alvaria Incorporated)
• Inventors: Morganstein, Sanford J., Mehta, Bakulesh A., Carleton, Robert, Klecka, Mark D., Krakau, Herbert B.
• Primary Examiner(s): WEAVER, SCOTT LOUIS
• Application Number:
  US08/709,133
• Time in Patent Office: 1,572 Days
• Field of Search: 379/67, 379/88, 379/89, 379/211, 379/212, 379/213, 379/214, 379/233, 379/265, 379/266, 379/309
• US Class Current: 379/67.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/487 Arrangements for providing information services, e.g. recorded voice services or time announcements
• 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 3/523 with call distribution or queueing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5238 with waiting time or load prediction arrangements

Abstract

Call processing apparatus for queuing calling parties waiting to be connected to a service position, and for calculating queue position data or wait time data and transmitting the queue data to the calling parties. The queued calling parties can also reach alternate destinations by inputting digit information for routing queued calling parties to such destinations.

Claims

1. A method for operating a call processor in conjunction with a telecommunication switching system which has no calling party queuing facilities to achieve automatic call distribution functions, comprising the steps of:

receiving by the call processor incoming calls from calling parties, which incoming calls are directed to the switching system;

receiving from the calling parties, by the call processor, destination information;

in response to each respective incoming call, requesting service of the switching system by the call processor;

in response to an acknowledgment of the respective requests for service by the switching system, transmitting by the call processor to the switching system the respective destination information;

determining by the call processor whether any of the respective destinations associated with the destination information are busy or unavailable;

for calling parties unserviced by an attendant, and who had input destination information associated with respective destinations determined by the call processor to be busy or unavailable, placing such unserviced calling parties in a queue; and

periodically transmitting destination information by the call processor to the switching system to determine whether or not a respective destination is busy or unavailable, and if a respective destination is available, causing a respective queued calling party to be connected by a speech path through the switching system to the available destination.

2. The method of claim 1, further including queuing in one queue the calling parties inputting destination information defining a common destination.

3. The method of claim 1, further including hook-flash signalling by the call processor to the switching system to request service thereof.

4. The method of claim 1, further including providing off-hook signals by the call processor to the switching system to request service.

5. The method of claim 1, further including forming different calling party queues for different destinations when said calling parties input destination information .[.association.]. .Iadd.associated .Iaddend.with plural busy or unavailable destinations.

6. The method of claim 1, further including analyzing by the call processor the destination information input by the calling parties to determine if the respective call is to a destination in which calling parties should be queued.

7. The method of claim 1, further including transmitting to the queued calling parties a message to input dialed information for disconnection from the queue, and in response to the input of the dialed information by a queued calling party, the call processor disconnects the calling party from the queue.

8. The method of claim 1, further including transmitting to the calling parties a message to input dialed information for placing a calling party on hold, and in response to the dialed information the call processor places the calling party inputting the dialed information in a queue. .Iadd.

9. A method for operating a telecommunication system comprising a call processor in conjunction with the telecommunication system, comprising the steps of:

configuring said call processor to process incoming calls from a plurality of calling parties, which incoming calls are directed to a switching system;

receiving from said calling parties, by said call processor, destination information;

configuring said switching system to identify to said call processor whether any of respective destinations associated with the destination information received from said calling parties are available;

for any of said calling parties unserviced by an attendant and who had input destination information associated with a respective destination determined by said call processor to not have an attendant available at that time, forming at least one calling party queue for each respective destination and placing any unserviced calling party in said at least one queue of said respective destination associated with said destination information input by said any unserviced calling party; and

periodically transmitting destination information by said call processor to said switching system to determine whether or not said respective destinations associated with said destination information input by said any unserviced calling parties are available, and if available, causing said respective queued unserviced calling parties to be connected to the available respective destinations, and if unavailable, causing at least one message relating to a parameter of said at least one queue to be transmitted to said respective queued calling parties, wherein said at least one message may be different for each of said respective queued unserviced calling parties..Iaddend..Iadd.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said at least one message relating to a parameter of said at least one queue comprises a wait time the respective queued unserviced calling party has in said at least one queue before being connected to said respective destinations..Iaddend..Iadd.11. The method of claim 9, wherein said at least one message relating to a parameter of said at least one queue comprises information referring to the respective queued unserviced calling party'"'"'s position in said at least one queue relative to said respective destinations..Iaddend..Iadd.12. A method for operating a telecommunication system comprising a call processor in conjunction with a switching system for allowing said switching system to process incoming telephone calls for connection to one of a plurality of destinations to which calling parties can be queued before being connected thereto, comprising the steps of:

receiving by said telecommunication system incoming calls from calling parties, wherein each of said incoming calls are directed to at least one desired destination of said plurality of destinations selected by each of said calling parties;

forming different calling party queues associated with said plurality of destinations;

determining by said telecommunication system whether said selected at least one desired destination is available;

for each of said incoming calls from calling parties trying to reach said selected at least one desired destination which are determined by said telecommunication system to not be available at that time, placing such unserviced incoming calls in one of said queues associated with said selected at least one desired destination;

calculating a busy status parameter for each of said incoming telephone calls which are queued in said queues;

transmitting at least one message to a said respective one of calling parties associated with said unserviced incoming calls in said queues, said at least one message having a content related to said busy status parameter..Iaddend.