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Description  |
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TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates generally to a telecommunications system, and more
particularly to telephone call routing in a telecommunications system.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Many companies are segregated into specialized groups, business units, or
functional units each having trained agents and specialized operations
centers functioning independently to manage incoming calls. Call routing
staff within these specialized units carefully observe the number of calls
coming into each call center, the time each agent remains on line with a
caller, the completion rate for a service being provided, and other items
important to profitability. Call routing staff determine how incoming
traffic will be routed in the telephone network.
Most people who call such a segregated company are not familiar with that
company's structure and organization. For instance, it is unlikely that
the potential customer knows that sales are handled by one group having a
first telephone number while service is handled by another group having a
second telephone number, or that service might actually be handled by
different groups having different telephone numbers depending upon, for
example, the date of purchase or the product model purchased. Consumers
often dial a number associated with one major department or business unit
while actually being interested in speaking with a representative from a
different department.
Decision making logic for routing telephone calls within a company can be
modeled as a tree structure or other database structure. The number of
services provided by many companies causes call routing decisions to be
extremely complex. Incoming calls have numerous potential destination
branches.
To help insure that each call is correctly routed, many companies utilize
call prompting, which can be performed by call routing staff or within the
telephone network, to prevent misdirected calls. Callers are asked if they
are calling for sales, billing, repair, etc., with associated responses
entered using the telephone keypad or voice commands detected by speech
recognition.
Call prompting reduces the number of misdirected calls. However, the caller
is often instructed by staff or the prompting system to hang up and dial
another number associated with the division or service truly desired. The
caller is often annoyed at having to place more than one call, or if the
caller is unable to understand the prompting instructions well enough to
dial the correct number the second time, such an instruction could cause a
company to lose valuable good will and numerous business clients. Also,
highly trained call processing agents should be prevented from spending
time on a call that has been sent into their office but cannot actually be
properly processed there and to which they can add no special value.
It should be noted that information affecting call routing may change on a
regular basis. Such information may be generated as a result of (a) adding
or deleting locations to which a call can be routed, (b) the addition or
deletion of equipment in the telephone network, or (c) equipment problems
or emergencies within the switching network, or at called locations. For
example, during an emergency, incoming telecommunications traffic for
various offices of a company might be rerouted by call processing agents.
This is because changes to decision making routing databases caused by
emergencies often do not provide enough time for multiple departments to
coordinate.
Information affecting call processing can also come from an intended call
recipient, as in the case when the subscriber takes a trip and wants to
send calls to a colleague or alternate number; or, it can come from the
caller, as in the case when it is determined that the caller wishes to be
connected with a particular business division or service; or, that he
wishes to send a fax or data. Such call processing information can also
come from the telephone network, e.g., when a new network control point is
added to the telephone network, or when an update is performed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
We have recognized that without human intervention, heretofore an incoming
call cannot be restarted after it has been determined that the originally
dialed number is not associated with the actual destination desired by a
caller when the databases for routing the calls to the originally dialed
number and the actual desired destination do not have access to the data
records containing the routing logic for direction to the available
department.
An advance in the art of processing telephone calls is achieved, in
accordance with the principles of the invention, by automatically
restarting a voice or data telephone call during processing in a
telecommunications network when it is determined, before the telephone
call is routed to a destination or service, that the originally dialed
number is not associated with the desired or appropriate destination for
the telephone call. By restarting it is meant that the telephone call is
routed using new call destination information as if the call was just
received at the switch. Such destination information may be expressed as a
translatable telephone number.
In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, a telephone call which may be
carrying voice, data, or a combination thereof, is presented to a
switching system of the telephone switching network. The switch stores
information describing the call, e.g., dialed number and calling number,
and queries a database, such as a network control point (NCP) to determine
where to route the telephone call. In response to the query and the call
descriptive information stored at the switch, a data record in the
database is accessed to provide logic for routing the call to a
destination in the telephone network.
Routing logic for the destination number in the accessed data record, or
provided by an updatable control routine stored in one or more other
databases, determines that (a) the call should be directed to a
destination corresponding to a different telephone number than the one
dialed, or (b) that a different database record of one or more other
databases should be accessed. This determination can, for example, be
based upon: a caller listening to prompts and selecting an option by
entering data designed to discriminate misdirected callers; a potential
call recipient selecting a feature or service to activate or change
routing of telephone calls; or, a network traffic management system or
disaster recovery system determining that the call routing information
will not result in a call completion, or an expeditious, satisfactory call
completion.
A destination code is returned to the querying switch. In accordance with
an aspect of the invention, the destination code may be (a) an identifier
of a destination to which the call can be routed, or (b) a telephone
number or identifier corresponding to a callable station not corresponding
to the originally-dialed number and to which the call cannot be directly
routed without further translation. If the destination code is a
destination to which the call can be routed, the switch operates to
complete the call routing process. If the destination code is not one to
which the switch can directly route the call, a command to restart the
call is sent to the querying switch. Restarting the telephone call uses
the new destination code, such as a new telephone number, to route the
telephone call as if the call was just received at the querying switch.
When restarted, the switch initiates call processing responsive to the
received destination code and the stored information descriptive of the
call. Such processing can include: (a) further queries to (i) an NCP, (ii)
an adjunct, or (iii) customer premises databases; or, (b) rerouting of the
call to another switch, passing along information that has been stored.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
In the drawing:
FIG. 1 shows a representation of a telephone call routed from a local
exchange carrier through an interexchange carrier to a destination;
FIG. 2 shows a representation of a telecommunications system for restarting
a telephone call in a telephone network in accordance with the principles
of the invention;
FIG. 3 shows a representation of a database in the telecommunications
system depicted in FIG. 2 in accordance with the principles of the
invention; and
FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of an exemplary process for restarting a telephone
call in a telephone network in accordance with the principles of the
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
In accordance with the principles of the invention, a telecommunications
system is configured to automatically restart a voice or data telephone
call within the telephone network as the call is processed in the
telephone network when it is determined that the originally dialed number
is not associated with the caller's actual desired final destination. By
restarting it is meant that the telephone call is routed as if the call
was just received at the switch using new call destination information.
The determination may be based on analyzing call identifier information,
which means information describing the call such as calling number, caller
entered information, e.g., a caller entered character or a voice input,
calling equipment type, and dialed number. The determination may also be
made based on messages or data received by the database relating to
operational conditions of the switching network, or data relating to and
describing a destination, such as equipment type or services and features
available.
Telephone service in the United States is provided by interconnecting
carriers. The initial carrier providing telephone service is typically a
local exchange carrier (LEC). The subsequent carrier is often an
interexchange telephone carrier.
When subscriber 20 to local telephone service from local exchange carrier
(LEC) 22 initiates a long-distance call, the call is generally routed
through LEC 22, over switched interexchange communication network 24
providing long distance voice and data services, and ultimately through
LEC 26 which has as one of its subscribers terminating subscriber 28, as
shown in FIG. 1. A business customer's communications equipment can also
be connected directly to the interexchange network, such equipment is
denoted "customer premises equipment" (CPE).
Referring to FIG. 2, switched interexchange network 24 includes
interconnected interexchange switches 32, 33, such as 4ESS electronic
switching systems from AT&T. Each interexchange switch is capable of
serving a number of LECs or CPEs. LEC 34 connects an originating calling
station 35 that has dialed a particular telephone number to switch 32.
Similarly, LEC 36 is coupled for receiving the telephone call from switch
32 and completing the call to intended station 37. A switch can similarly
support customer premises equipment.
A Common Channel Signaling (CCS) System, which includes logical CCS
connections 38, 39, 40, and 41 couples interexchange network 24 to a
number of databases, such as, for example, Network Control Points (NCP)
47, 48, 49, and 50. NCPs and other databases support services and features
provided to subscribers and callers in the telephone network, such as
"800" toll-free long distance calling.
Referring to FIG. 3, database 51 (such as NCP 47 in FIG. 2) includes (a)
processor 52, which operates under the control of an operating system
program 54 stored in program memory 56, and (b) a datalink controller 58
which operates to transmit and receive messages external to database 51.
Data-base 51 also includes main storage memory 68.
Main storage memory 68 contains translation data 70, which may include
logic trees or other routing logic, used to translate a telephone number
accompanying a query into a destination code upon receipt of the query.
The destination code may be (a) an identifier of a destination to which
the call can be routed, or (b) a telephone number or identifier
corresponding to a callable station not corresponding to the
originally-dialed number and to which the call cannot be directly routed
without further translation, in accordance with the principles of the
invention. If the destination code is a destination to which the call can
be routed, the switch operates to complete the call routing process.
Various paths and branches in the logic trees may indicate routing and
processing to be implemented under special circumstances, or indicate
instructions and prompting to be implemented in response to the call
identifier information. Some such paths of the logic tree, when followed,
may ultimately require a restarting of the call.
Logic tree and other data records stored in main storage memory 68 (FIG. 3)
can be updated and/or augmented in response to (a) changing call traffic
patterns, (b) emergencies and equipment failures, (c) changes in protocol
or provisioning, or (d) a predetermined schedule. The destination code is
generated as a result of following the logic tree and other data records.
Thus, the need to restart particular calls can be specified in the routing
logic in response to communications from outside of the database. The
communications are entered through the datalink controller 58 (FIG. 3) in
main storage memory 68.
Call identifier information is stored and continuously maintained at the
one of network switches 32, 33 (FIG. 2) that is routing the call. Any
NCPs, adjuncts, and CPE databases accessed during the routing process, can
determine that a call should be restarted, in accordance with an aspect of
the invention, and, if so, what telephone number should be used when the
call is restarted.
A telephone caller dials a translatable telephone number for a business,
e.g., a toll-free "800" number. LEC 34 establishes a connection to switch
32 in the interexchange network 24 and passes the digits forming the
dialed "800" number to switch 32. Responsive to receipt of the digits,
switch 32 queries NCP 47 to determine the destination of the received call
and maintains call identifier information describing the call. The query
may include data which identifies (a) the network switch, (b) the
originally dialed telephone number, (c) other portions of the call
identifier information, and (d) a previously returned destination code. In
response to the query and the accompanying call identifier information,
the database, e.g., NCP 47, accesses a translation data record from
translation data 70 of FIG. 3, to retrieve a logic tree or other types of
call routing information. Then, the database uses the routing logic to
determine whether (a) the call should be routed based on the
originally-dialed number, or (b) the call should be restarted because (i)
it will be routed to a destination not actually desired, and therefore not
actually originally indicated by the caller, or (ii) a business or other
emergency necessitates restarting the call, in accordance with an aspect
of the invention.
In particular, in the absence of indications that the call will not be
completed to the desired destination, the voice or data telephone call is
routed according to the retrieved routing logic. If it is determined that
the call should be restarted to more appropriately service the caller, the
call is restarted so as to appear to the telephone network as though the
call was newly received without requiring any action by the caller.
Optionally, when restarted, the information collected previously during
the processing of the call may become part of the call identifier
information.
Switch 32 operates to process the voice or data telephone call in
accordance with the received destination code. Optionally, the destination
code can include an explicit command for the switch 32 to direct the call
to a subsequent switch 33 (FIG. 2) for further processing or restarting.
In that case, the first switch 32 routes the voice or data telephone call
to the subsequent switch 33 identified by the destination code, and passes
the destination code and the call identifier information to the second
switch 33. Upon receipt of the destination code and call identifier
information, which is stored and maintained in memory at the subsequent
switch 33, the second switch may operate to repeat the process carried out
by the first switch.
Those of ordinary skill in the art will note that the database(s) need not
be remote, that each database may be centrally located or located within a
switch, and that databases may be arranged at the convenience of the
implementer.
Any database which translates the telephone number of the call may respond
to data indicating that the route to the destination is blocked and
restart the call to retranslate the telephone number with the benefit of
the maintained call identifier information.
FIG. 4 shows an exemplary process for use in routing a call in accordance
with the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, a caller at a calling
station dials a telephone number or data network address in step 106. The
call is received at a network switch in step 108. The call identifier
information is stored in the network switch in step 110, which thereafter
maintains the call identifier information thereat. The network switch
queries a database for call routing information in step 112. The database
determines whether the call will be routed accurately by accessing a data
record for routing logic corresponding to the dialed number or data
network address in step 114. The routing logic retrieved may indicate
prompts or instructions relating to the voice or data telephone call in
accordance with an aspect of the invention. Using the call identifier
information responsive to any prompts, network status information, and any
other available information, the database decides whether the call will be
routed to the destination actually desired by the caller. If the decision
is yes, the database directs the network switch to route the call to the
destination retrieved from the database in step 116. If the decision is
no, then the database develops a command instructing the network switch to
restart the call within the telephone network using new call destination
information in step 118. The network switch receives the new call
destination information in step 120, and restarts the call in step 122.
This new method of routing calls in the telephone network enables a company
with more than one telephone number to direct an incoming call from a
dialed business division to another business division having a different
telephone number, even when each division has a respective particular
logic tree record stored in different, non-communicating databases
corresponding to their different telephone numbers. Importantly, this is
accomplished without requiring human intervention (a) to redirect the call
or (b) to instruct the caller to hang up and dial the different telephone
number; and, even though the business divisions and the databases for each
business division telephone number are geographically diverse.
Importantly, in accordance with an aspect of the invention, the data
resources of multiple, different, and often geographically dispersed
databases can be utilized to process a call. Multiple queries from one or
more network switches coupled throughout the network during changing
traffic routing conditions make the resources of multiple databases
available and accessible for routing calls to a useful destination.
Advantageously, a company with more than one translatable telephone number
can move an incoming call that is proceeding toward a particular division
based on processing that utilizes a logic record stored in a particular
database for the dialed telephone number to another company division
having a different telephone number and corresponding routing logic stored
in another database without having to instruct the caller to hang-up and
dial the different telephone number even when the various divisions and
the databases are geographically diverse. Consequently, callers receive
prompt and accurate service and companies subscribing to this
telecommunication service receive a higher percentage of calls directed to
an appropriate division.
The foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the invention. It will
thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise
various arrangements which, although not explicitly described or shown
herein, embody the principles of the invention and are thus within its
spirit and scope.
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