EP1038385A1 - System and method for integrating voice on network with traditional telephony - Google Patents
System and method for integrating voice on network with traditional telephonyInfo
- Publication number
- EP1038385A1 EP1038385A1 EP98951923A EP98951923A EP1038385A1 EP 1038385 A1 EP1038385 A1 EP 1038385A1 EP 98951923 A EP98951923 A EP 98951923A EP 98951923 A EP98951923 A EP 98951923A EP 1038385 A1 EP1038385 A1 EP 1038385A1
- Authority
- EP
- European Patent Office
- Prior art keywords
- voice
- call
- telephony
- network
- message
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Withdrawn
Links
Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
- H04M7/00—Arrangements for interconnection between switching centres
- H04M7/009—Arrangements for interconnection between switching centres in systems involving PBX or KTS networks
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
- H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
- H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
- H04M3/50—Centralised arrangements for answering calls; Centralised arrangements for recording messages for absent or busy subscribers ; Centralised arrangements for recording messages
- H04M3/51—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
- H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
- H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
- H04M3/56—Arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
- H04M7/00—Arrangements for interconnection between switching centres
- H04M7/12—Arrangements for interconnection between switching centres for working between exchanges having different types of switching equipment, e.g. power-driven and step by step or decimal and non-decimal
- H04M7/1205—Arrangements for interconnection between switching centres for working between exchanges having different types of switching equipment, e.g. power-driven and step by step or decimal and non-decimal where the types of switching equipement comprises PSTN/ISDN equipment and switching equipment of networks other than PSTN/ISDN, e.g. Internet Protocol networks
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
- H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
- H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
- H04M3/50—Centralised arrangements for answering calls; Centralised arrangements for recording messages for absent or busy subscribers ; Centralised arrangements for recording messages
- H04M3/51—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
- H04M3/523—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing with call distribution or queueing
- H04M3/5237—Interconnection arrangements between ACD systems
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04Q—SELECTING
- H04Q3/00—Selecting arrangements
- H04Q3/58—Arrangements providing connection between main exchange and sub-exchange or satellite
- H04Q3/62—Arrangements providing connection between main exchange and sub-exchange or satellite for connecting to private branch exchanges
- H04Q3/625—Arrangements in the private branch exchange
Definitions
- the invention is a method for integrating voice on network with
- VON voice on network
- a PBX is to deliver VON calls to a gateway device which converts VON call
- Calls from a packet network carry useful information relating
- caller - whether the dialogue is audio, video, or web interactive.
- call centers must formalize the interaction and routing of calls.
- a caller also needs to be able to deliver messages and
- gateways strip out voice content and separate it from other
- Link Server (LS). Calls are delivered to the link server as either
- the LS inputs the calls and
- the desktop PC program running on a desktop PC.
- the desktop PC program synchronizes the display of the incoming calls with messages received from the LS.
- VON call handling can include web interaction with the caller before or instead of a
- Agent or LS system can also offer a callback
- a switchhook transfer can be used to transfer the call held in
- switch link can be used to force completion of the call to the agent.
- the decoding is performed in a server, for example at
- the LS can coordinate the passage
- connection can be moved from point to point in
- the call center When decoding occurs at the LS, the LS must have resource cards
- One such card is that supplied by the
- Fusion cards decode/encode voice
- Microsystems also has a card which contains a TCP/IP protocol stack.
- TCP/IP protocol stack on the card is optimized for packet passing from and
- the solution is scaleable
- the TCP/IP stack is running in the operating system of the PC.
- One of the benefits of this invention is allowing bridge technology to
- VON VON
- the data network could be determined by query and response time across the
- client server telephony system such as that described in
- example is personalized call coverage.
- a caller from traditional telephony A caller from traditional telephony
- connection reaching a voice card on a PC can be given instructions
- FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a telecommunication according to
- FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of an LS gateway device according
- FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of the software architecture
- FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of an LS gateway device according
- FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of the software architecture
- FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of the message flow a point-to-point
- FIG. 8 is a schematic representation of a voice card according to a
- FIG. 9 is a schematic representation of call distribution message flow
- FIG. 10 is a schematic illustration of message flow for call
- FIG. 11A is a schematic illustration of WCP registration according to
- FIG. 1 IB is a schematic illustration of call distribution using an SLPP
- FIG. 12 is a schematic representation of a routing table according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
- FIG. 13 is a flow chart for message filtering according to a preferred
- Fig 1 is a schematic illustration of a telecommunications system 10
- System 10 is
- PBX Private Branch Exchanges
- CO Central Office
- PBXs 104a and 104b are preferably conventional
- Telecommunication system 10 also carries out voice telephony premise switches.
- Telecommunication system 10 also carries out voice telephony premise switches.
- LAN local area networks
- LS Link Servers
- gateways 103a and 103b Connected to network
- 115a are data communications gateways 116a and 114a. These allow the
- LAN 115 to pass packets of information to either the public internet 118 or a
- tandem 125 can be connected to the Internet 118 through a link server 105c.
- Web server 123 is connected to the LAN 115a to accept web
- server (not shown) can also be attached to LAN 115b in like manner.
- Attached to the data networks shown are various communications gateways and VON gateways (103a, 103b, and 119). Remote telephony networks are
- PBXs are connected to CO 100.
- PSTN switched telephone network
- CO central office
- Intranet 122 or voice calls placed to the company from the public data
- Voice calls from data communications networks can be converted to a
- gateway devices such as gateway device 103a. These voice calls can enter
- the data communications network either from other gateways, such as
- Workstations equipped with telephony voice cards for example workstation
- the workstations can be any type of workstations 112a, equipped with voice card 110a.
- the workstations can be any type of workstations
- Control of signaling for standard telephony is contained in either the
- signaling bits e.g., in Tl or El
- Such a protocol might involve change of bit value in an
- Tl A-bit signaling states communicated through Tl A-bit signaling. These states are part of a higher layer protocol of signaling, for instance E&M in the Tl trunking
- LS 105a In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, LS 105a
- FIG. 4 the major components of LS 105a are described.
- LS 105a contains
- Switch link control is
- switch link control commands over serial line 107 to a serial port 206 on PBX 104a.
- Such control is well-known to those skilled in the art.
- VON sources originating from VON sources are also presented to the users by the same
- agent local user in this example selects a call from the queue for
- the link server may become the local user to
- FIG. 7 illustrates schematically call setup message flow for a VON
- a SETUP message is sent from PC 112 to PC
- WCP 451 handles the incoming
- the CONNECT message carries a transport channel
- this is a TCP/IP socket
- the socket address is the repository and source of voice packets
- Packets are moved to and from the socket by software in the driver for the voice card 110a. Packet
- Voice card 110a converts packets to analog audio
- a user e.g. , an
- agent can add a conversation from another input to a conversation being
- voice card 110a handles voice instructions.
- voice card 110a handles voice instructions.
- voice card 110a handles voice instructions.
- voice card 110a handles voice instructions.
- voice card 110a handles voice instructions.
- card 110a has interfaces shown in FIG. 8. Other voice cards in the system
- a local Phone interface 421 may
- Code running in the WCP process 451 sends commands to the DSP through a shared memory 429 (not shown) to
- the line interface 422 is put in an off hook condition
- dial tone is detected, and touch tones are generated by the DSP 430.
- call input on line interface 422 can be conferenced into the VON
- More calls can be added to the conference call. These calls can be
- the switch-hook can be added by passing control information to the voice card, for example voice card 110a, to perform a switch-hook transfer.
- the switch-hook can be added by passing control information to the voice card, for example voice card 110a, to perform a switch-hook transfer.
- a feature code such as a conference dial code
- a VON party can be added as well. TO add a VON party a VON call
- PBX is limited to the number of callers the PBX will support. Adding VON
- voice card such as voice card 110a on PC 140.
- voice card 110a on PC 140.
- the present invention allows versatility in telephony call control.
- a telephony call can be added to the conference by using a Switch Link Proxy Process (SLPP).
- SLPP Switch Link Proxy Process
- the SLPP 406 process executes on an LS, such as LS 105a.
- the SLPP 406 process receives messages through message router 405 (FIGs. 3 and 5) to affect call control in
- SLPP 406 also receives messages from
- PBX 104a and passes them to WCP 451 processes in the workstations.
- WCP 451 registers with message router 405
- message router 405. Message router 405 forwards the LOGIN message to
- Figure 11 shows how a call is placed from WCP 451 by sending an
- the ORIG message is an origination message. This call may be added to the
- DISCONNECT message through SLPP 406 to message router 405, which forwards the DISCONNECT message to WCP 451.
- WCP 451 then ends the call from the workstation software's point of view. Any screens, displays, etc are reset to show the call is finished.
- Incoming calls may be answered and added to the conference by
- PBX 104a are controlled or monitored through messages passed between the
- Switch link 107 is shown
- switch link 107 can be implemented using a number of communication methods, including
- CCP 450 sends
- DTMF or a digital signaling information used in Tl or digital handset.
- switch linkl07 If a switch link such as switch linkl07 is used, rather than direct
- the transfer is accomplished by messages sent from the CCP 450 process to the SLPP 406 process to the PBX.
- Link Server 105a can be used to set up calls from either the
- LS gateway 105a can be used to set
- remote VON user processes 402 and passing connect messages back to LS
- Figure 9 shows how LS 105a can answer, queue, and distribute a call
- a SETUP message is passed to a Network Call Control
- NCCP Network Control Process 400 in LS 105a from WCP 451 in PC 111.
- LS 105a sends a
- ANNOUNCE message is broadcast through the message router 405 to all
- WCP 451 processes such as WCP 451 executing on PC 140.
- WCP 451 processes displays calls to agents at these workstations in a
- NCCP 400 is now able to
- the WCP 451 process responds with a RELEASE
- Web server 401 can also play an important part in VON.
- VON call For example, a remote user browsing a web site
- VON desires to establish a VON call to a person or to a call center in a company.
- FIG. 10 In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, illustrated in FIG. 10,
- Web server 401 passes this information and other information about the User 402 entered during
- This queue information is then passed to the User 402 in a
- the NCCP 400 process sends an ANNOUNCE message through the message
- Router 405 to all the WCP 451 processes such as WCP 451 executing on PC 111.
- a user corresponding to one of the WCP 451 processes selects the call.
- NCCP 400 sends an ANSWER
- the WCP 451 process electing to take the call takes the CSCTA value from
- WCP 451 in PC 111 sends a
- the present invention also applies to other media routing.
- message router 405 needs to contain message ports to
- Link servers register with
- the filter criteria can be agent specific, call-type and/ or
- Message router 405 must keep a table containing remote router ID's
- FIG. 12 shows entries in an example routing table 1201. Referring to FIG. 12,
- routing table 1201 preferably contains four fields: remote route ID, remote
- the remote router ID identifies
- the remote port number corresponds to the port number of the remote
- filter type is the filter criteria to filter out message of a specific type.
- filter value is the value associated with the filter type for more specific
- Filtering can be preformed with respect to the sender
- the filter can affect message prior to their sending
- the purpose of the filter is to keep network traffic between message routers to a minimum, but is not necessary to practice the present invention.
- This additional step includes consulting the table first for
- Router 405 process. This filtering and table management is necessary in
- link servers 103a, 105a, 103b and 105b makes it possible to blend VON or media on network into the virtualized
- FIGs. 2 and 3 where calls from PBX 104a are
- Ethernet TCP/IP 202 card in the LS Gateway 103 Ethernet TCP/IP 202 card in the LS Gateway 103.
- Standard telephony card 200 DSP card 201, and Ethernet TCP/IP 202 card
- example Standard telephony card 200 is Natural Microsystems (NMS) ATI
- NMS's TX2000 IP router card convert standard telephony
- FIG. 13 is a flow chart representative of a process executed in by
- message router To send a message, message router begins in start step 1302, whereupon it
- step 1304 message router 405 receives a
- step 1312 else there is nowhere to send the message and it
- message router 405 checks filter type in step 1314 to determine if the
- receiver is a receiver of the correct type. If not, the router is finished and
- message router 405 stops processing the message and proceeds to done step
- message router 405 sends
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- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Signal Processing (AREA)
- Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
- Multimedia (AREA)
- Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
- Marketing (AREA)
- Data Exchanges In Wide-Area Networks (AREA)
Abstract
A link server (105a, 105b) is added to a traditional telecommunication system to allow seamless integration of voice on network ('VON') with traditional telephony. The link server accepts traditional telephony and voice on network calls. The link server can distribute the calls from a queue. The link server includes a voice card and network communication apparatus for acquiring VON data and either converting it to telephony data to forward calls to a PBX (104a, 104b), or forwarding calls directly to a desktop.
Description
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INTEGRATING VOICE ON NETWORK WITH TRADITIONAL TELEPHONY
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Patent Application
serial number 08/813,970, filed on March 3, 1997 (still pending), hereby
incorporated by reference in its entirety, which is a continuation of U.S.
Patent Application Serial No. 08/758,063, filed November 27, 1996 (still
pending), hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, which is a
continuation of U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 08/595,861, filed
February 6, 1996 (now abandoned) which is a divisional of U.S. Patent
Application Serial No. 08/450,268, filed May 25, 1995 (now U.S. Patent No.
5,557,668 (the "668 patent") which is a continuation of U.S. Patent
Application Serial No. 07/904,196, filed June 25, 1992 (now abandoned),
hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, and claims the benefit of
U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/059,285, filed September
17, 1997, hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Field of Invention
The invention is a method for integrating voice on network with
traditional telephony in a corporate network. In particular the invention
relates to person-to-person calls and local and virtual call centers.
Background of the Invention
The landscape of telephony is changing rapidly today. Traditional
telephony networks no longer carry all the telephone traffic to a business.
Some voice traffic is present today on public networks such as the Internet.
This is termed voice on network ('VON"). Blending VON traffic with
traditional telephone traffic presents difficult problems to corporations.
These problems are found in both person-to-person and call center
environments. Over time, a significant mix of voice traffic will shift to
packet network sources. This shift will create a significant need to bring
packet voice traffic into the existing telephony environments. For some years there will be a large market for adaptive rather than replacement
systems.
The technology for packetizing voice for sending on networks is well
known. Routing of packetized voice and the solution of inter- working of
packetized voice in traditional telephony environments is still an area in
need of significant innovation. A typical scheme for delivering VON calls to
a PBX is to deliver VON calls to a gateway device which converts VON call
traffic to Tl or analog. Output from this gateway looks like regular
telephony traffic to the PBX. This approach enjoys the benefit of simplicity.
Unfortunately much routing information and interactivity is lost in this
arrangement. Calls from a packet network carry useful information relating
to the caller and the caller's interests as well as history of interaction with a
company's data systems such as Web servers. This call-related information
is useful in forming accurate routing and meaningful dialogue with the
caller - whether the dialogue is audio, video, or web interactive.
Calls to individuals in a company typically need less of this type of
routing and interaction than calls to call centers. Due to the volume of calls
handled, call centers must formalize the interaction and routing of calls.
Individuals need routing and caller interaction but on a more dynamic basis.
For instance, an individual needs to get calls routed to their current location
- which may change. A caller also needs to be able to deliver messages and
receive delivery of messages meant for their ears only. Whether calls are
made to call centers or to individuals, there are significant ways to make
these interactions more sophisticated and more valuable when the call is
received through the network. However, this benefit is lost in conventional
system because gateways strip out voice content and separate it from other
call-related information.
As the shift to Voice on Network (VON) traffic occurs corporations
need ways to bring this traffic into their existing networks. For the next
several decades corporations will need a good way to handle both circuit
switched voice calls and VON calls. Ultimately, the choice to replace
existing infrastructure switching with all VON may occur. The same
infrastructure used to facilitate the coexistence of VON with circuit switched
voice needs to be capable of replacing circuit switched voice.
Summary of the Invention
The present invention solves problems associated with the prior art
the prior art by facilitating call routing through the PBX and the VON
through a Link Server (LS). Calls are delivered to the link server as either
traditional telephony (Tl, analog, digital handset, or CTI link) or as SETUP
messages in a VON call handling protocol. The LS inputs the calls and
handles them appropriately: telephony calls receive voice prompts and
responsive DTMF signals are collected, SETUP messages from VON
protocols are sent and Web page interactions are established. Ultimately,
whether the call is conventional telephony or VON, the processing required
to handle it is reduced to a message to a call processing system.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention the call processing system
is a call distributor such as that described in the '668 patent.
In alternate embodiments of the invention the LS places or tracks a
traditional telephony call in a PBX or ACD - passing status messages to a
program running on a desktop PC. The desktop PC program synchronizes the display of the incoming calls with messages received from the LS. For
traditional telephony calls this means display information relating to calls
being processed inside the PBX or ACD switching device. For VON calls
this means display information relating to calls being processed by the LS.
In a queuing system calls from both sources are intermixed. Agents
are able to see the source of calls and handle them appropriately. VON call
handling can include web interaction with the caller before or instead of a
full voice connection. The Agent or LS system can also offer a callback
option to the caller over traditional telephony equipment when a better
grade of voice quality is desired. Whatever the interaction, the result
generally leads to a completed call to an agent. Traditional telephony calls
are transferred or completed to the agent through the actions of the
coordinated efforts of the agent desktop software and the LS and the PBX.
For example, a switchhook transfer can be used to transfer the call held in
the LS to the agent. Alternately, a message passed to the PBX/ACD via a
switch link can be used to force completion of the call to the agent. VON call
sources are passed the network address of the agent's PC (e.g., the IP
address) so that a point-to-point connection can be established between the
agent's PC and the VON call source.
For VON calls, the packetized voice must be decoded from the
network. Preferably the decoding is performed in a server, for example at
the LS or at the agent's PC. Regardless, the LS can coordinate the passage
of the call to the agent. It may also perform an intermediate step of
performing a voice connection to the caller to play prompts or audio
messages while the caller is in queue before the connection is passed finally
to an agent. In this way the connection can be moved from point to point in
the call center.
When decoding occurs at the LS, the LS must have resource cards
which perform the decoding function. One such card is that supplied by the
Natural Microsystems Fusion product. Fusion cards decode/encode voice
to/from the network on DSP's dedicated to each voice path. National
Microsystems also has a card which contains a TCP/IP protocol stack. The
TCP/IP protocol stack on the card is optimized for packet passing from and
to this DSP card as well as to and from a data network. This is required to
make the solution independent of the microprocessor and operating system
of the LS (i.e., the solution is scaleable).
When decoding occurs at the desktop, resources are in a voice card similar to the QX2000 board made by Natural Microsystems. This card
decodes/encodes packets from/to the network. In one embodiment of the
invention the TCP/IP stack is running in the operating system of the PC.
This is workable since only one call path and one card are present in the PC
(scaleability is not an issue).
One of the benefits of this invention is allowing bridge technology to
be built between existing switching and data network communications
features. Because the device at the desktop is fully capable of VON and
standard telephony both types of communications can be processed on a per-
call basis. It is necessary in this model to have conferencing capabilities on the card in the PC. Conferencing at the desktop is made considerably
simpler than centralized conferencing since both conversations meet at the
desktop. Centralized conferencing of VON and traditional telephony would
require VON to be converted to traditional telephony and passed into a
switch. This is undesirable for reasons discussed above.
Local conferencing makes control software much simpler since there
is no resource shared by multiple users. The usual data structures, linked
lists, audit programs, race conditions, and other timing conditions and
software logic are unnecessary. Overall control of the conference is
maintained by the single user at the PC. Resources are dedicated to this
user so no sharing is necessary. Conference setup and teardown information
comes from a single source - the local PC. The result is reduced complexity
plus the ability to bridge VON calls with traditional telephony.
The VON capabilities of the card at the desktop make it ideal for
decoding voicemail messages delivered through data communication
methods such as attached e-mail. Putting VON, a traditional telephony
interface and bridging capabilities onto a single card makes it possible to
create workgroup and wide area features which transcend the feature set of
the traditional telephony switch. This makes it possible to create enhanced
features and cost reduced capabilities not offered or possible from the
traditional switch. An example of this is long distance calling. An
originated call from the desktop could be placed through the traditional
telephony switch or over the network depending on cost of connection or
quality of connection. Companies with high bandwidth intranets can use
them for voice - either routinely or as a backup. Choice of voice path over
the data network could be determined by query and response time across the
network or by query to and positive response from a network traffic server.
When this Voice on Network and Traditional Telephony (VON/TT)
device is part of a client server telephony system such as that described in
the '668 patent still more capabilities and functions are available. An
example is personalized call coverage. A caller from traditional telephony
connection reaching a voice card on a PC can be given instructions
programmed by the user which could include alerting, e-mail, transfer,
forward, or conversion to VON for transfer or forward to other users in the
system.
These and other objects of the present invention are described in
greater detail in the detailed description of the invention, the appended
drawings and the attached claims.
Brief Description of the Drawings
FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a telecommunication according to
a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of an LS gateway device according
to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of the software architecture
executing in the LS gateway device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of an LS gateway device according
to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of the software architecture
executing in the LS gateway device according to a preferred embodiment of
the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of the message flow a point-to-point
call setup for a VON call.
FIG. 8 is a schematic representation of a voice card according to a
preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a schematic representation of call distribution message flow
according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 10 is a schematic illustration of message flow for call
distribution using a web server according to a preferred embodiment of the
present invention.
FIG. 11A is a schematic illustration of WCP registration according to
a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 1 IB is a schematic illustration of call distribution using an SLPP
according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 12 is a schematic representation of a routing table according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 13 is a flow chart for message filtering according to a preferred
embodiment of the present invention.
Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments
Fig 1 is a schematic illustration of a telecommunications system 10
according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. System 10 is
composed of Private Branch Exchanges (PBX) 104a and 104b connected to
Central Office (CO) switches, 100 and 120, and desktop telephones 108a,
108b and 113a and 113b. PBXs 104a and 104b are preferably conventional
voice telephony premise switches. Telecommunication system 10 also
includes local area networks ("LAN") 115a and 115b and Link Servers ("LS")
105a and 105b as well as gateways 103a and 103b. Connected to network
115a are data communications gateways 116a and 114a. These allow the
LAN 115 to pass packets of information to either the public internet 118 or a
private intranet 122. In addition, a tandem 125 can be connected to the Internet 118 through a link server 105c.
Web server 123 is connected to the LAN 115a to accept web
interactions from the local and wide area network connections. A web
server (not shown) can also be attached to LAN 115b in like manner.
Attached to the data networks shown are various communications gateways
and VON gateways (103a, 103b, and 119). Remote telephony networks are
tied together using leased private facilities 124 and standard telephones
attached to central offices ("CO") such as CO 100.. PBXs are connected to
the public switching network via Tl or other standard telephony
communications methods 101a and 101b.
The description of the preferred embodiment is from the perspective
of the "a-side" or left side of FIG. 1. It would be apparent to those skilled in
the art that the description applies to any system having an architecture
similar to that shown on the left side of FIG. 1, including the "b-side" or
right side of FIG. 1.
Voice telephony traffic enters the switching environment of the PBX
104a from many sources. Ultimately these are either from the public
switched telephone network ("PSTN") via central office ("CO") 100, private
facilities connected 124 to other private switches (e.g., PBX 104a through
CO 120), voice calls placed within the company's own data communications
Intranet 122, or voice calls placed to the company from the public data
communications Internet 118.
Traditional telephone voice connections reach individuals or groups
within the corporation by the signaling and address information passed
through telephony interfaces such as Tl or PRI, both of which are well-
known in the art. Alerting and display of calls to users in the corporation is
accomplished through desktop instruments such as analog phone 108a or
multibutton digital display phone 113a.
Voice calls from data communications networks can be converted to a
traditional voice telephony interface and be presented to enter PBX 104a via
gateway devices such as gateway device 103a. These voice calls can enter
the data communications network either from other gateways, such as
public network gateway 119 and private network gateway 103b, or from
Workstations equipped with telephony voice cards, for example workstation
112a, equipped with voice card 110a. The workstations can be any
computer, for example PCs, which can be configured to perform the
functions described in the present specification. Such PCs are well-known to
those skilled in the art and will not be described further. In addition, voice
calls can enter the data communications network from the tandem switch
125 through the LS gateway 105c.
Control of signaling for standard telephony is contained in either the
voice band as tones passed between devices, out-of-band in associated
signaling bits (e.g., in Tl or El), or in messages contained in a separate data
channel (e.g., in ISDN or SS7). Regardless of the telephony technology
chosen it is preferable that devices use standard protocols for
communication. Such a protocol might involve change of bit value in an
associated signaling bit in a Tl channel. On-hook and off -hook are examples
of states communicated through Tl A-bit signaling. These states are part of
a higher layer protocol of signaling, for instance E&M in the Tl trunking
world. In any case, software controlling call processing on switching devices
interprets the signaling bit values through time as indications of state
changes in telephony protocol. Where messages are available for building
telephony protocols call processing state changes are driven by messages
and field values within these messages. ISDNs Q.931 message protocol,
hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, is an example of such a
message driven protocol.
In the VON telephony standard, message passing protocols exist for
building telephony call processing software. The H.323 specification, hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, is an example of such a protocol.
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, LS 105a
coordinates input from switches and VON sources. This coordination results
in seamless presentation of telephony and VON calls to users. Referring to
FIG. 4, the major components of LS 105a are described. LS 105a contains
both standard telephony hardware such as Tl, analog handset, or digital
handset telephony interface hardware 200 as well as DSPs 201, Ethernet
cards 202, and switch link control capabilities 203. Switch link control is
accomplished by sending switch link control commands over serial line 107 to a serial port 206 on PBX 104a. Such control is well-known to those
skilled in the art. Coordination of traditional telephony call traffic to users
through such a server is described in the '668 patent.
Users handle call traffic through their telephony interface software running on their desktop workstations. Calls are presented to their
software via messages between the LS and Workstation. These messages
can also reflect call processing status of calls presented to the server. Calls
originating from VON sources are also presented to the users by the same
messages to their telephony interface software.
In standard telephony a call is delivered to a user via a switch-hook
transfer, a sequence of signaling messages or signaling bit changes over
time accompanied by DTMF tones or by messages to the switching system
through a switch link. In VON, call setup is accomplished via messages
passed between originating VON processes (remote processes in this
example) and the local VON user. In both technologies the link server helps
match the remote user to the local user. For example, in a call center the
local user may not be known until the call exits the queue (e.g., when the
agent (local user in this example) selects a call from the queue for
processing). Thus, for a time the link server may become the local user to
play messages and collect in-band information from the remote user.
FIG. 7 illustrates schematically call setup message flow for a VON
call according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. This
message flow is similar to that described in details of the H.323 message processing, which is available from the International Telecommunications
Union's: "Draft Recommendation H.323: VISUAL TELEPHONE SYSTEMS
AND EQUIPMENT FOR LOCAL AREA NETWORKS WHICH PROVIDE A NON_GUARANTEED QUALITY OF SERVICE," hereby incorporated by
reference in its entirety. The two endpoints communicate directly with each
other. In the present example, a SETUP message is sent from PC 112 to PC
140 over network 115a. Messages are sent via the message router 405. A
call control process in the workstation, WCP 451, handles the incoming
SETUP message. In response, PC 140 sends a CALL PROCEEDING
message and an ALERTING message to PC 112. To establish the voice
connection through the network a CONNECT message is sent from PC 140
back to PC 112. The CONNECT message carries a transport channel
address to which PC 140 can connect to begin communications. In a
preferred embodiment of the present invention this is a TCP/IP socket
address. For example, in the H.323 standard this is an H.245 Control
Channel Transport Address.
The socket address is the repository and source of voice packets
carried to and from the Voice card 110a in the PC 140. Packets are moved to and from the socket by software in the driver for the voice card 110a. Packet
movement is performed by a method known to those skilled in the art of
device driver design. Voice card 110a converts packets to analog audio
signal for presentation to a standard telephone or headset 301. The voice
card also takes input from telephone 301 (see FIG. 4) and converts it to
packets for passing to the socket address. Voice card 110b in PC 112a
performs similar functions to enable two way VON voice conversation.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention a user (e.g. , an
agent) can add a conversation from another input to a conversation being
handled by a voice card, for example voice card 110a. . Preferably, voice
card 110a has interfaces shown in FIG. 8. Other voice cards in the system
preferably have a similar configuration. A local Phone interface 421 may
connect to a Tip and Ring or digital telephone interface such as ISDN BRI.
Outgoing and/or incoming calls can be handled from this interface. In this
example an outgoing call is placed. Code running in the WCP process 451 sends commands to the DSP through a shared memory 429 (not shown) to
place an outgoing call. The line interface 422 is put in an off hook condition,
dial tone is detected, and touch tones are generated by the DSP 430. The
call input on line interface 422 can be conferenced into the VON
conversation through conferencing software stored in a DSP memory 431
(not shown) and run on DSP 430. It would be within the knowledge of those
skilled in the art of DSP programming techniques to program DSP 430 with
the required audio mixing and conferencing software so that a VON
conversation can be conferenced as described above.
More calls can be added to the conference call. These calls can be
either VON or telephony calls. For example, an additional telephone caller
can be added by passing control information to the voice card, for example
voice card 110a, to perform a switch-hook transfer. The switch-hook
transfer command is followed by the dialing of a dial-string, which may
include a feature code such as a conference dial code, to the PBX. This
action will add on a telephony caller to the conference call.
A VON party can be added as well. TO add a VON party a VON call
is placed as described in the VON call origination message descriptions.
Adding the established VON call to the conference is accomplished through
conference circuit control on the card.
Adding parties to a conference via telephony devices, such as the
PBX, is limited to the number of callers the PBX will support. Adding VON
parties to a conference is limited by the processing power of the DSP on the
voice card such as voice card 110a on PC 140. Each VON party's voice
stream must be decoded to a PCM data stream. This data can then be
mixed or otherwise signal processed. Once processed this data must be
encoded back to network ready form (for example G723.1 compressed
format, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety).
The present invention allows versatility in telephony call control. For
example, in the conference call example discussed above, a telephony call can be added to the conference by using a Switch Link Proxy Process (SLPP
406) executing on an LS, such as LS 105a. The SLPP 406 process receives messages through message router 405 (FIGs. 3 and 5) to affect call control in
the telephony network by sending control messages to PBX 104a. This
interface is bi-directional. That is, SLPP 406 also receives messages from
PBX 104a and passes them to WCP 451 processes in the workstations.
These messages are used to both monitor devices in the switch and cause
device control actions.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the SLPP 406
must maintain a map table of circuit identifiers in PBX 104a to the WCP
451 process ID's. This map is created at initialization of the WCP 451
software by the local user. The map creation process is illustrated in FIG.
11 A. Referring to FIG. 11A, WCP 451 registers with message router 405
and the SLPP 406 when it is initialized by sending a LOGIN message to
message router 405. Message router 405 forwards the LOGIN message to
the SLPP 406 process so it can make a map entry. The PBX circuit ID must
be known to the WCP 451 process at initialization time. This is entered into
WCP 451 by the installer. Message router 405 sends a REGISTER-OK
(confirmation) message back to WCP 451 when registration is successfully
completed.
Figure 11 shows how a call is placed from WCP 451 by sending an
ORIG message through message router 405 to the SLPP 406 to PBX 104a.
The ORIG message is an origination message. This call may be added to the
conference by configuring the voice card 110 through the software driver
interface discussed above. When the call is completed the PBX sends a
DISCONNECT message through SLPP 406 to message router 405, which
forwards the DISCONNECT message to WCP 451. WCP 451 then ends the call from the workstation software's point of view. Any screens, displays, etc are reset to show the call is finished.
Incoming calls may be answered and added to the conference by
selection from a list of queued calls presented through the LS 105a in a
manner described in the '668 patent. Calls are either held at the LS 105 in
ports on standard telephony cards 200 or held in PBX 104a. Calls held in
PBX 104a are controlled or monitored through messages passed between the
LS 105a and the PBX 104a over switch link 107. Switch link 107 is shown
in FIG. 4 as a serial port interface to a serial card 206 in the PBX. It would
be apparent to those skilled in the art that switch link 107 can be implemented using a number of communication methods, including
Ethernet or TCP/IP socket connections.
To move a call from the LS 105a which is held on a port at a
telephony interface card 200 an ACCEPT message from WCP 451 in PC 112
is sent to the CCP 450 process controlling the call. CCP 450 sends
commands to the card 200 to cause a transfer of the call to the line 109
connected to the card 110 in PC 112. The telephony interface card 200 then
passes signaling information to the PBX - this could be switchhook flash and
DTMF or a digital signaling information used in Tl or digital handset.
If a switch link such as switch linkl07 is used, rather than direct
control by the telephony interface card the signaling scenario is the same.
Messages between WCP 451 and CCP 450 processes are the same.
However, the transfer is accomplished by messages sent from the CCP 450 process to the SLPP 406 process to the PBX.
In addition to the point-to-point calls that are discussed above, Web
server 123 or Link Server 105a can be used to set up calls from either the
VON domain or the telephony domain. LS gateway 105a can be used to set
up VON calls or even queue VON calls by taking SETUP messages from
remote VON user processes 402 and passing connect messages back to LS
105a. Figure 9 shows how LS 105a can answer, queue, and distribute a call
in a call center. A SETUP message is passed to a Network Call Control
Process (NCCP) 400 in LS 105a from WCP 451 in PC 111. LS 105a sends a
CONNECT message back to PC 111 so as to answer the call. The LS 105a
may now play messages to PC 111 via the VON voice path. At this time an
ANNOUNCE message is broadcast through the message router 405 to all
WCP 451 processes such as WCP 451 executing on PC 140. Software in
WCP 451 processes displays calls to agents at these workstations in a
manner similar to that described in the '668 patent. An agent wishing to
take the call will select it through the WCP 451 user interface. When an
agent selects a call for processing from the queue, an ACCEPT message is
generated and sent back to NCCP 400. The ACCEPT message a Call
Signaling Channel Transport Address (CSCTA). NCCP 400 is now able to
distribute the call. It passes a FACILITY message back to the WCP 451
process in PC 111 to inform this process of the intent to change the
destination of the call. The WCP 451 process responds with a RELEASE
COMPLETE message back to the LS 105a to end this call. The WCP 451
process next sends a SETUP message to PC140. A CONNECT message is
returned to complete the transfer of the call. When the call is completed, PC
140 can send a RELEASE COMPLETE message to PC 111 to end the call.
In VON, Web server 401 can also play an important part in
distribution of a VON call. For example, a remote user browsing a web site
desires to establish a VON call to a person or to a call center in a company.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, illustrated in FIG. 10,
information including the CSCTA of the user is passed from a User 402 to
the Web Server 401 in a REQUEST message. Web server 401 passes this information and other information about the User 402 entered during
interactions in the Web Server 401 to the NCCP 400 process running on LS
105 in a WEB REQUEST message. Data regarding the call handling time,
such as position in queue, is passed back to the Web Server as a stream of
DATA (See HTTP 1.1 Proposed Standard RFC 2068, hereby incorporated by
reference in its entirety, as an example of Web and Browser interaction
messaging). This queue information is then passed to the User 402 in a
RESPONSE message from the Web server. After the DATA message is sent
the NCCP 400 process sends an ANNOUNCE message through the message
Router 405 to all the WCP 451 processes such as WCP 451 executing on PC
111. A user corresponding to one of the WCP 451 processes selects the call.
Upon selecting the call, an ACCEPT message is sent from the WCP process
requesting the call to the NCCP 400. NCCP 400 sends an ANSWER
message to all the WCP 451 processes to manage their call list information. The WCP 451 process electing to take the call takes the CSCTA value from
this message and other address information of the USER 402 and sends a
SETUP message directly to it. The User 402 sends a CONNECT back to
complete call setup. When the call is complete, WCP 451 in PC 111 sends a
RELEASE COMPLETE message to user 402 to end the call.
The present invention also applies to other media routing. Although
the PBX and switching infrastructure this invention is designed to
supplement and enhance delivery of voice media, the VON call routing
discussed herein can be applied to video or data conferencing. One of the
key technologies leveraged by this invention is H.323 call control messaging.
This specification also allows other media extensions. Coordinating the
setup and tear-down of media sessions is perhaps a better way of describing
the capabilities of H.323. This invention makes it possible to blend this type
of media control with existing switching systems in either a single or multi-
center environment.
In addition the present invention applies to multi-center
environments. Servers in remote sites need to pass call processing messages
to effect a seamless control structure between local and remote agents. To
accomplish this, message router 405 needs to contain message ports to
remote message routers in remote link servers. Link servers register with
each other to enable a communication path between sites. Messages are
sent to a remote router executing on a remote link server to inform it of the
need to pass call processing messages based on certain filter criteria. For
example, the filter criteria can be agent specific, call-type and/ or
maintenance.. It would be apparent to those skilled in the art that other
filter criteria can be used.
Message router 405 must keep a table containing remote router ID's
(and their associated port ID) and message passing filter information. FIG.
12 shows entries in an example routing table 1201. Referring to FIG. 12,
routing table 1201 preferably contains four fields: remote route ID, remote
port number, filter type and filter value. The remote router ID identifies
with which remote message router message router 405 is in communication.
The remote port number corresponds to the port number of the remote
message router with which message router 405 is in communication. The
filter type is the filter criteria to filter out message of a specific type. The
filter value is the value associated with the filter type for more specific
message filtering. Filtering can be preformed with respect to the sender
and/or receiver. Thus, the filter can affect message prior to their sending
and/or upon their receipt. The purpose of the filter is to keep network traffic
between message routers to a minimum, but is not necessary to practice the present invention.
A ROUTER_LOGIN message sent between two Router 405 processes
results in an assignment of a port and initial entry in the table. A
ROUTER_SET message between two Router 405 processes places an entry
in the table which sets Filter Type and Value.
Entries in routing table 1201 are consulted when the Router 405
processes a message. Typical Router message processing is described in the
'668 patent. Processing of entries in this table constitute an additional step
to this processing. This additional step includes consulting the table first for
the presence of any Router ID's and checking message values against filter
values for a decision on whether to pass the message on to the remote
Router 405 process. This filtering and table management is necessary in
order to build linked multi-center communications systems. Without such a scheme the message traffic between the sites would grow exponentially -
severely limiting the number and size of remote centers which could be
linked together.
The addition of link servers and WCP processes makes it possible to
build virtual dialing plans and virtualize the communications addressing
and connectivity between diverse switching environments. Adding the
capabilities of NCCPs 400, voice cards such as voice cards 110a and 110b
and link servers such as link servers 103a, 105a, 103b and 105b makes it
possible to blend VON or media on network into the virtualized
communications described. In addition, a customer can migrate all
communications to the network devices LS 105 and PC 112 with voice card
devices. This is illustrated in FIGs. 2 and 3 where calls from PBX 104a are
passed to LS Gateway 103.
Messages are passed to setup calls as described above. WCP 451
processes such as those running in workstation 112 receive and process
these messages as before with the exception of the voice path. Voice card
110 is configured in this scenario so that the voice path is performed by
packet delivery over the network between voice card 110 and a port on the
Ethernet TCP/IP 202 card in the LS Gateway 103. The combination of
Standard telephony card 200, DSP card 201, and Ethernet TCP/IP 202 card
are like those provided by Natural Microsystem's Fusion product. An
example Standard telephony card 200 is Natural Microsystems (NMS) ATI
24 card, DSP 201 card NMS's AG-RT Daughter card, Ethernet TCP/IP 202
card NMS's TX2000 IP router card. These cards convert standard telephony
signaling to packetized messages controllable by software such as that
described in this invention. The compression and coding schemes used on
these cards need to match those used at the PC 112 and Card 110.
FIG. 13 is a flow chart representative of a process executed in by
message router 405 prior to sending a message to a remote message router
according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. To send a
message, message router begins in start step 1302, whereupon it
immediately enters step 1304. In step 1304, message router 405 receives a
message to send. It then processes he message by router identification in
steps 1306 and 1308. If the message is for a remote message router, then it
continues in step 1312, else there is nowhere to send the message and it
ends in done step 1310. After determining where to send the message,
message router 405 checks filter type in step 1314 to determine if the
receiver is a receiver of the correct type. If not, the router is finished and
proceeds to done step 1310. Otherwise, the router checks the filter value to
determine if the receiver value is correct for the remote router. If not
message router 405 stops processing the message and proceeds to done step
1310. If the message has the correct filter value, message router 405 sends
the message to the remote router in step 1316.
The foregoing disclosure of embodiments of the present invention has
been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not
intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms
disclosed. Many variations and modifications of the embodiments described
herein will be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art in light of the above
disclosure. The scope of the invention is to be defined only by the claims appended hereto, and by their equivalents.
Claims
1. A system for blending a telephony call traffic with voice on network call traffic for distribution, comprising:
a link server to acquire the voice on network data;
a voice card located on said link server for processing said voice on
network data and the telephony data; and
a message router for sending control messages to said voice card to control said processing to distribute the voice on network data and the
telephony data.
2. The system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a public branch
exchange (PBX), wherein the telephony call is routed by said PBX to said
link server for processing with said voice on network data.
3. A method for blending telephony call traffic and voice on network call
traffic for distribution, comprising the steps of:
(a) acquiring the voice on network call traffic in a link server
(b) processing said voice on network call traffic and said telephony
data in a voice card in said link server; and
(c) sending control messages to the voice card to control said
processing to distribute the voice on network call traffic and the telephony
call traffic.
4. The method recited in claim 2, further comprising the step of routing
the telephony call traffic through a PBX to said link server for processing
with said voice on network traffic.
5. A system for distributing calls in a call center, comprising:
one or more agent computers, each agent computer operated by an
agent;
a link server to acquire the voice on network data coupled to said one
or more agent computers by a local area network (LAN);
a voice card located on said link server for processing said voice on
network data and the telephony data;
a message router for sending control messages to said voice card to
control said processing to distribute the voice on network data and the
telephony data to said one or more agents.
Applications Claiming Priority (3)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US5928597P | 1997-09-18 | 1997-09-18 | |
US59285P | 1997-09-18 | ||
PCT/US1998/019715 WO1999020032A1 (en) | 1997-09-18 | 1998-09-18 | System and method for integrating voice on network with traditional telephony |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
EP1038385A1 true EP1038385A1 (en) | 2000-09-27 |
Family
ID=22022009
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
EP98951923A Withdrawn EP1038385A1 (en) | 1997-09-18 | 1998-09-18 | System and method for integrating voice on network with traditional telephony |
Country Status (3)
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---|---|
EP (1) | EP1038385A1 (en) |
CA (1) | CA2303840A1 (en) |
WO (1) | WO1999020032A1 (en) |
Families Citing this family (7)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
DE19824161A1 (en) * | 1998-05-29 | 1999-12-02 | Siemens Ag | Method and telecommunications network for the exchange of data between at least two private branch exchanges |
AU2614801A (en) * | 1999-10-29 | 2001-06-06 | Telera | Virtual intelligent network for user interaction services |
WO2001078443A2 (en) * | 2000-04-06 | 2001-10-18 | Arialphone, Llc. | Earset communication system |
EP1374544A2 (en) * | 2000-11-28 | 2004-01-02 | Nortel Networks Limited | A component for processing ip telephony calls |
FR2824980B1 (en) * | 2001-05-15 | 2004-08-06 | C3T | MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT METHOD AND DEVICE |
DE10134925A1 (en) * | 2001-07-18 | 2003-02-13 | Tenovis Gmbh & Co Kg | Method for operating an IP telecommunications system and IP telecommunications system |
DE102004061512A1 (en) * | 2004-12-16 | 2006-06-29 | Deutsche Telekom Ag | Automated determination of processing instance involves determining processing instance(s), using routing algorithm capable of learning, suitable for processing ticket that has been produced within predefined period of time |
Family Cites Families (3)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
EP0647381B1 (en) * | 1992-06-25 | 1999-05-19 | Apropos Technology, Inc. | Call distributor |
US5546452A (en) * | 1995-03-02 | 1996-08-13 | Geotel Communications Corp. | Communications system using a central controller to control at least one network and agent system |
US5610910A (en) * | 1995-08-17 | 1997-03-11 | Northern Telecom Limited | Access to telecommunications networks in multi-service environment |
-
1998
- 1998-09-18 EP EP98951923A patent/EP1038385A1/en not_active Withdrawn
- 1998-09-18 CA CA002303840A patent/CA2303840A1/en not_active Abandoned
- 1998-09-18 WO PCT/US1998/019715 patent/WO1999020032A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
Non-Patent Citations (1)
Title |
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See references of WO9920032A1 * |
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