JPH05191501A - Electronic exchange provided with call waiting queue function - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the service of high quality by reducing the uneasiness and irritation of a caller by means of clearly transmitting a state when a call is registered in a call waiting queue to the caller. CONSTITUTION:When the call is registered in a line queue and an extension queue, a waiting time estimation means 20a calculates the expected waiting time of the call from the registered position of the call and average call processing occupying time per call at that time. A waiting time notice control means 2Ob generates a sound message corresponding to notice message information in a waiting state including the expected waiting time, transmits it to a terminal on an origination-side and gives the sound notice of it.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic private branch exchange installed in, for example, an office or a business office, and in particular, executes an outgoing call from an extension terminal or an incoming call from a communication network in a call queue. The present invention relates to an electronic exchange having a function of waiting.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, various service functions have been introduced in electronic private branch exchanges. Among them, there is a camp-on function for waiting for an extension terminal or an office line to be available, and an equal incoming call distribution for efficiently distributing incoming calls ( ACD) function, etc. These functions are for efficiently using the resources of the exchange, and the calls are registered in a call queue generally called a queue so as to wait for the resources to be available.

However, in a conventional electronic private branch exchange equipped with this kind of function, when a call is queued, the caller is informed of, for example, tone, music, or congestion during the waiting period. By sending a message, it is notified that it is in a waiting state. For this reason,
Although the caller can recognize that he / she is busy, he / she cannot decide whether to wait as it is or call again after a while, which causes anxiety and annoyance. ..

[0004]

In the conventional electronic exchange having the call queue function as described above, when a call is registered in the call queue, it is difficult to understand the state of the call, which causes anxiety or annoyance. There is a problem that it becomes a cause.

The present invention has been made in view of this point, and its purpose is to make it possible to clearly convey the state to a calling party when a call is registered in a call queue. Is to provide an electronic exchange with a call queuing function that can provide a higher quality service by reducing the anxiety and irritation of the caller.

[0006]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides an electronic exchange having a call queue function for registering at least one of an outgoing call and an incoming call in a call queue and waiting for execution. A waiting time predicting means and a waiting time informing means are newly provided. And
The waiting time predicting means predicts the waiting time of the call based on the position of the call registered in the call queue in the call queue, and informs the waiting time of the information indicating the predicted waiting time. By means of means, it is sent to the calling side to be notified.

In the present invention, the waiting time predicting means has means for detecting an average call processing occupation time per call,
It is also characterized in that the waiting time of the call being registered is predicted based on the call processing occupied time detected by this means and the position in the call queue of the call registered in the call queue.

[0008]

As a result, according to the present invention, the waiting time of a call registered in the call queue is predicted and notified to the caller, so that the caller can check the status of his / her call in the call queue. It is possible to know clearly, and it becomes possible to make an appropriate decision whether to wait as it is or call again after a while. Therefore, the caller's anxiety and irritation can be reduced, and a higher quality service can be provided.

According to the present invention, the average call processing occupation time per call is detected, and based on the detection result and the position in the call queue of the call registered in the call queue, this Since the waiting time of the call during registration is predicted,
For example, as compared with the case where the call processing occupied time per call is registered in advance, it becomes possible to notify the caller of a more accurate waiting time according to the situation of the call processing at that time.

[0010]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described below based on examples.

FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram showing the configuration of an electronic private branch exchange according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 10 is a main body of the exchange, and the main body 10 of the exchange has a time switch (TS) 11
A line trunk group 12, an extension circuit group 13, and a voice synthesizing circuit 14 are provided. Line trunk group 1
2 has a plurality of line trunks TRK1 to TRKm,
These line trunks TRK1 to TRKm are line O
It is connected to a public communication network (not shown) via L1 to OLm. In addition, the extension circuit group 13 includes a plurality of extension circuits LC1.
To LCn, and these extension circuits LC1 to LCn are connected to extension terminals I such as telephones via extension lines IL1 to ILn, respectively.
T1 to ITn are connected. Further, the voice synthesizing circuit 14 generates a voice message by the voice synthesizing technique, and the voice message is selectively sent to the lines OL1 to OLm and the extensions IL1 to ILn via the interface 15 and the time switch 11.

The electronic private branch exchange of this embodiment has a central control circuit 20 for controlling the entire exchange main body 10, and the central control circuit 20 has a time switch control circuit (TSC) via a bus 21. 22 and the line control circuit (O
LC) 23, extension control circuit (ILC) 24, call information management unit 25, and voice synthesis control circuit (VMC) 26, respectively, for connecting the maintenance terminal 30 to the central control circuit 20. External interface circuit (I
F) 26 is connected.

First of all, the time switch control circuit 22
Is the time switch 1 according to the instruction of the central control circuit 20.
1 to control the extension circuits LC1 to LCn and the extension circuits LC1 to LCn and the line trunks TRK1.
To TRKm and these extension circuits LC1 to L
Cn and line trunks TRK1 to TRKm and the voice synthesis circuit 14 are selectively connected.

The line control circuit 23 is provided for each line trunk TR.
It has a function of comprehensively controlling the incoming call detection and line capture / release operations in K1 to TRKm, and is provided with a memory that constitutes a line queue and a queue information management unit that manages this line queue. The position of the call registered in the line queue is detected by this queue information management unit.

The extension control circuit 24 includes extension circuits LC1 to LC1.
Originating in LCn ・ Detecting dial signal and capturing extension ・
It has a function of comprehensively controlling the release operation and the like, and is provided with a memory that constitutes an extension queue and a queue information management unit that manages this extension queue. The position of the call registered in the extension queue is detected by this queue information management unit.

The call information management unit 25 periodically calculates the average call processing occupation time per call for each line incoming call and extension outgoing call. The voice synthesizing control circuit 26 follows the voice synthesizing circuit 2 according to a voice message sending instruction such as a waiting time notification message supplied from the central control circuit 20.
6 generates a corresponding voice message and sends this voice message.

The central control circuit 20 is provided with, for example, a microcomputer as a main control section, and its functions are a waiting time predicting means 20a and a waiting time notification control means 2.
0b and new. Waiting time predicting means 20a
Calculates the expected waiting time for each call registered in the line queue and the extension queue. The predicted waiting time is calculated by calculating the call position in the queue detected by the queue information management unit, and This is performed based on the average call processing occupation time per call obtained by the call information management unit 25. The waiting time notification control means 22b creates message information for notifying information including the expected waiting time calculated by the waiting time predicting means 20a, and sends this message information to the calling side as character information or voice information. ..

Next, the waiting queue operation of the electronic private branch exchange configured as described above will be described according to the control procedure of the control system. In the standby state, the control system monitors the arrival of a call in step 2a as shown in FIG. Then, when the arrival of a call is detected in the line trunk group 12 or the extension circuit group 13 in this state, the control system determines in step 2b whether the type of the incoming call is a line incoming or an extension outgoing. ..

It is assumed that an incoming line call is made as shown in FIG. Then, the control system proceeds to step 2c to determine whether or not the extension of the call destination is free, and if so, shifts to the incoming call process. On the other hand, if it is not empty, the process proceeds to step 2d, where the above call is registered in the extension queue of the extension control circuit 24.

Now, when the call is registered in the extension queue in this way, the control system detects the registration position of this call in the extension queue by the queue information management unit in step 2e, and by the call information management unit 25 in step 2f. The average call processing occupancy time for each line incoming call is detected. Then, based on the detected call registration position and call processing occupied time, the central control circuit 20 calculates the expected waiting time for the call (step 2g), and then waits for the waiting state including the expected waiting time. The notification message information is created, and the voice synthesis control circuit 26 is instructed to send this notification message information (step 2h). Therefore, according to the control of the voice synthesizing control circuit 26, the voice synthesizing circuit 14 generates a voice message in accordance with the notification message information. After passing through each circuit, it is transmitted to the calling terminal via the public communication network as shown in FIG. As the voice message to be notified at this time, for example, "It is crowded right now. Please wait about 5 minutes." Therefore, the speaker of the calling terminal can clearly know the waiting state by this notification message, and this makes it possible to accurately determine whether to wait as it is, or to abandon the call once and call again after a while. It becomes possible to judge.

After the notification message is transmitted, the control system monitors in step 2i whether or not a predetermined time (for example, 1 minute) has elapsed after the notification message is transmitted, and at step 2j, the call destination is reached. It is repeatedly monitored whether or not the extension of is free. Then, after a certain period of time elapses without the extension being vacant, the process returns to step 2e to re-detect the call position in the extension queue at that time, and
In step 2f, the average call processing occupation time is detected, and in step 2g, the expected waiting time at the present time is calculated from these detected values. Then, the notification message information including the newly calculated expected waiting time is created, and the voice message is sent to the calling terminal as shown in FIG. As the voice message notified at this time, for example, "please wait about 2 minutes later" is used. That is, when the waiting time is long, the speaker of the calling terminal is notified of the progress of the waiting time.

When it is confirmed in step 2j that the extension of the call destination is free, the control system shifts to the call receiving process.
That is, as shown in FIG. 3, an incoming signal is sent to the extension of the called party and a pseudo ring back tone (RBT) is sent to the calling terminal. When the extension terminal makes an off-hook response in this state, the extension terminal and the calling terminal are connected via the time switch 11.

On the other hand, when a call is transmitted from one of the extension terminals IT1 to ITn, for example IT1, to the line, the waiting queue control is performed as follows. That is, the control system proceeds to step 2k to determine whether or not there is a vacant line, and if so, shifts to a transmission process for the network. On the other hand, if there is no available line, the process proceeds to step 21 and the above call is registered in the line queue of the line control circuit 23.

Now, when the call is registered in the line queue in this way, the control system detects the registration position of this call in the line queue by the queue information management unit in step 2m, and further, by the call information management unit 25 in step 2n. The average call processing occupancy time for each extension outgoing call is detected. Then, based on the detected call registration position and call processing occupied time, the central control circuit 20 calculates the expected waiting time of the call (step 2o), and then the waiting state including the expected waiting time is calculated. The notification message information is created, and the voice synthesis control circuit 26 is instructed to send this notification message information (step 2p). Therefore, according to the control of the voice synthesizing control circuit 26, the voice synthesizing circuit 14 generates a voice message in accordance with the notification message information. After passing through each of the circuits, the signal is transmitted to the extension terminal which is the caller via the extension IL1 as shown in FIG. An example of a voice message notified at this time is "It's crowded right now.
Please wait about 3 minutes. Is used. Therefore, the speaker of the extension terminal IT1 can clearly know the waiting state by this notification message, and by this, it is possible to appropriately determine whether to wait as it is, or to reissue the call after abandoning the call once. It becomes possible to judge.

Further, after sending the above-mentioned notification message, the control system monitors in step 2q whether or not a fixed time (for example, 1 minute) has elapsed after the notification message is sent out, and at the step 2r, the line OL1. ~ It is repeatedly monitored whether OLm is empty. And the lines OL1 to OL
When a certain period of time elapses while m is not empty, the process returns to step 2m to detect the position of the call in the line queue at that time again, the average call processing occupation time is detected in step 2n, and these are processed in step 2o. The expected waiting time at the present time is calculated from the detected value. Then, the notification message information including the newly calculated expected waiting time is created, and the voice message is displayed as shown in FIG.
Send to T1. As the voice message notified at this time, for example, "please wait about one minute later" is used. That is, when the waiting time is long, the speaker of the extension terminal is notified of the progress of the waiting time.

When it is confirmed in step 2r that the line is free, the control system performs the calling process. That is,
As shown in FIG. 4, a transmission signal is sent to the public communication network. Then, the dial tone DT is sent from the public communication network to the extension terminal IT1, and when the speaker who confirms the dial tone DT performs the dial operation, the dial signal is sent to the public communication network through the electronic private branch exchange. The public communication network captures the destination terminal corresponding to the dial signal and sends the incoming signal, and also sends a ring back tone (RBT) to the extension terminal IT1 on the calling side. Then, in this state, when the callee terminal responds by going off-hook, the callee terminal and the extension terminal are connected via the public communication network, and thereafter, the speaker of the extension terminal IT1 is the intended callee terminal. It becomes possible to talk with the speaker.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when a call is registered in the line queue and the extension queue, the waiting time predicting means 2a causes the call registration position and the average per call at that time. The expected waiting time of the call is calculated from the specific call processing occupation time, and the waiting time notification control means 22b sends the notification message information of the waiting state including the estimated waiting time to the calling terminal by a voice message to notify it. The notification of the calling terminal allows the speaker of the calling terminal to know the waiting state more concretely, so that the speaker of the calling terminal should wait as it is, or abandon the call once and call again after a while. It is possible to accurately determine whether or not to do it. Therefore, the caller's anxiety and irritation can be reduced, and a higher quality service can be provided.

In this embodiment, as described above, the average call processing occupation time per call at each time is detected,
Since the waiting time of the call during registration is predicted based on the detection result and the position in the call queue of the call registered in the call queue, for example, the call processing occupation time per call is fixed in advance. It is possible to notify the caller of a more accurate waiting time, as compared with the case where the caller is registered in advance.

Further, according to the present embodiment, when the waiting time is long, the expected waiting time is calculated at every certain time and the calling terminal is notified, so that the speaker of the calling terminal waits. It is possible to know the progress of the condition, which can further reduce the anxiety and anxiety of the caller.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above embodiment, the notification message information including the expected waiting time is notified to the caller as a voice message. However, when the calling terminal is provided with a display capable of displaying character information such as a liquid crystal display. Has
The notification message information may be transmitted as character information and displayed on the transmitting terminal.

Besides the analog line, a digital line such as an ISDN line may be applied as the type of the transmission line of the line and the extension, and the waiting time predicting method in the waiting time predicting means and the waiting time notification control. The control procedure and control contents of the means, the configuration of the exchange main body, the contents of the notification message, and the like can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0033]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, in an electronic exchange having a call queue function for registering at least one of an outgoing call and an incoming call in a call queue and waiting for execution, Prediction means and waiting time notification means are newly provided, and the waiting time prediction means predicts the waiting time of this call based on the position in the call queue of the call registered in the call queue. By transmitting the information indicating the predicted waiting time to the calling side by the waiting time notifying means to notify the calling side, when the call is registered in the call queue, the state of the calling party can be clearly stated. Therefore, it is possible to provide an electronic exchange having a call queuing function capable of reducing caller's anxiety and frustration and providing higher quality service.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic private branch exchange according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart showing a control procedure and control contents of a waiting queue process by a control system of the exchange shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining waiting time prediction / notification processing at the time of line incoming in the exchange shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a waiting time prediction / notification process when an extension call is made in the exchange shown in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Exchanger body, 11 ... Time switch (TS), 1
2 ... Line trunk group, 13 ... Extension circuit group, 14 ... Voice synthesis circuit, 15 ... Interface, 20 ... Central control circuit,
20a ... waiting time predicting means, 20b ... waiting time notification control means, 21 ... bus, 22 ... time switch control circuit (T
SC), 23 ... Line control circuit (OLC), 24 ... Extension control circuit (ILC), 25 ... Call information management unit, 26 ... Voice synthesis control circuit (VMC), 27 ... External interface circuit, 31 ... Maintenance terminal, OL1-OLm ... Line, TRK
1-TRKm ... line trunk, IL1-ILn ... extension,
LC1 to LCn ... extension circuits, IT1 to ITn ... extension terminals.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An electronic exchange having a call queue function for registering at least one of an outgoing call and an incoming call in a call queue and waiting for execution, in a call queue of a call registered in the call queue. A waiting time predicting means for predicting the waiting time of this call based on the position in the inside, and a waiting time for sending information indicating the waiting time predicted by the waiting time predicting means to the calling side to inform the calling side. An electronic exchange having a call queuing function, characterized in that it is provided with time notification means. 2. The waiting time predicting means has means for detecting an average call processing occupation time per call, and the call processing occupation time detected by this means and the calls registered in the call queue. 2. The electronic switching system with call queuing function according to claim 1, wherein the waiting time of the call during registration is predicted based on the position of the call in the call queue.