FR2740287A1 - Teleworker monitoring system - Google Patents

Abstract

The system includes a videotex terminal (2) and a processor (3) with a removable memory e.g. a PCMCIA memory card (50). The memory card facilitates the storing and sorting of information. A telephone handset (4) can also be included. The processor is connected to a telephone socket (5) on a telephone line (6) which is linked to the telephone network (R) via an interface (31). The interface includes a call detector (310) and a connection cable (32). The remote terminal can be connected to a central computer installation (S) via the telephone network.

Description

"Method for supervising remote action operations, remote action system implementing
this process, and associated remote control station "
DESCRIPTION
The present invention relates to a method for supervising remote action operations. It also relates to a remote control system implementing this method, as well as an associated remote control station.

 teleaction is currently experiencing an important development because of the great flexibility and the advantages it provides both to telactors and to employers. Telactors can freely manage their working time, while employers do not have to bear the cost of renting and maintaining premises.

 For paging operations to be well managed and profitable for a person in charge of a paging network, it is important that he has an effective tool for organizing and controlling paging operations. In practice, a person in charge of a teleaction company must periodically provide each teleactor with a set of operations to be carried out in a given period, and at the end of this period, recover the results of the operations carried out by each teleactor, analyze them , evaluate the volume and quality, and in return pay each teleactor.

 Thus, in the field of telephone marketing and surveys, there are already teleaction systems organized around a central site equipped with IT and telecommunications means, and a set of teleaction sites equipped with terminals and telephone sets. . The teleaction sites can be connected to the central site via a telecommunication network, for example the public switched network, with the possibility of downloading prospecting sheets and of a telecollection of the results obtained in each local site.

A less cumbersome and less costly solution consists in equipping each teleaction site with a videotex terminal such as a Minitel or equivalent equipment, connected to a local telephone line, and periodically providing each teleactor with a material support of information containing by example of prospecting sheets. The prospection results obtained by the teleactors are then stored in these material supports then returned to the central site to be treated and evaluated there. A particularly advantageous hardware medium consists of a memory card of the PCMCIA type having the format of a credit card. I1 is then provided a memory card reader device associated with the
Minitel. This mode of organization of the teleaction, if it has the major advantage of requiring only a modest material investment and low maintenance cost and of making the teleactor independent of the central site, currently has the disadvantage not to allow online control by the central site manager of the operations actually performed by each teleactor. This lack of control makes it difficult to assess telework and makes possible fraud.

French patent FR 2626428 discloses a device for measuring the quality of service of operators. This device comprises a housing comprising a microcomputer, a high impedance interface for connection to the lines to be supervised and an interface for connection to the telephone network. This device can be interrogated remotely using a terminal
Videotex, for example of the Minitel type, and is intended to process data relating to telephone communications entering a facility, in particular the duration of rings, the number of calls with and without answer, off-hooks and the duration of communications.

 Such a device, intended for the monitoring of operators of enterprise standards to ensure that the persons calling this standard wait for a normal delay, necessarily processes all of the calls and call attempts made on a line or trunk. lines and therefore does not ensure any selectivity of control. However, in the case of local teleaction sites, the telephone lines used by the teleactors, which are generally their personal lines, are of a mixed nature: certain communications are private and therefore do not interest the business manager, while others are professional in nature and may be subject to monitoring and evaluation.

it is for this reason that the quality measurement device disclosed in the aforementioned document could not be used in a process for supervising remote action operations.

 The object of the invention is to solve this problem by proposing a supervision method which allows effective control of teleaction operations, without however interfering in the private field of use of the telephone lines of the teleactors.

 It is a process for supervising remote action operations carried out on local remote action sites, these remote action operations comprising a set of telephone calls to be carried out according to instructions previously transmitted from a central site to each local site on a physical data medium, the results of these calls being then stored on this physical medium and then returned to the central site for processing.

According to the invention, the supervision method comprises:
- detection of calls and call attempts made as part of these remote action operations,
- an acquisition of control data, in particular of a temporal nature, relating to the detected calls, and
a storage of this control data on the physical data medium, this control data then being processed after return to the central site of said physical data medium.

 Thus, with the supervision method according to the invention, only the calls made within the framework of remote action operations are detected and controlled. Furthermore, the results of the remote control operations and the corresponding control data are stored together on the same physical medium, preferably a memory card of the PCMCIA type. The operator of the teleaction network can then process these control data in order to quantitatively assess the work performed by each teleactor. In addition, each teleactor is independent in its action, being completely disconnected from the central site.

 In a preferred form of implementation of the method according to the invention in a local teleaction site equipped with a videotex terminal and a telephone set, the method further comprises an automatic dialing of telephone numbers controlled from the terminal videotex.

 According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a remote control station comprising a videotex terminal connected to a telephone line of a telecommunications network and to a telephone set, implementing the supervision method according to the invention, characterized in that it further comprises a control and storage device comprising removable storage means and control and processing means, this control and storage device being connected to the videotex terminal by peri-computer connection means , and call detection means connected, on the one hand, to the telephone line, and on the other hand, to the control and storage device.

 In a practical embodiment of a remote control station according to the invention, the control and processing means of the control and storage device are arranged to receive in interrupt mode a call detection signal emitted by the call detection means.

 Preferably, the call detection means are arranged within a telephone interface box connected to the telephone socket.

 A particularly embodiment of the removable storage means consists in using memory cards of the PCMCIA type having a capacity making it possible to store 200 to 400 prospect sheets per teleactor.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, there is proposed a remote control system implementing the method according to the invention, comprising:
on a central site, a central control and processing station, in particular a microcomputer,
and on each local remote control site, a remote control station according to the invention, this station connected via a telephone line to a telecommunications network.

 According to the invention, the central control and processing station comprises means for writing remote action instructions on removable storage media, these removable storage media then being broadcast to remote action stations, and means for reading and for collect on the removable storage media returned to the central site, on the one hand the results of remote action operations carried out at each remote control station and, on the other hand, control data corresponding to these operations.

 Furthermore, the central control and processing station is preferably arranged to produce, from the results of operations and control data, statistics relating to the activity of each teleactor.

Other features and advantages of the invention will appear in the description below. In the appended drawings given by way of nonlimiting examples:
- Figure 1 is a block view of a
teleaction according to the invention;
- Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a
call detection device implemented in
a remote control station according to the invention; and
- Figure 3 illustrates an embodiment of a
control and storage device implemented
in a station according to the invention.

 We will now describe, with reference to the aforementioned figures, an embodiment of a remote control station according to the invention within a remote control system, at the same time as the process for supervising remote control operations implemented in the remote control stations according to the invention.

A remote control station 1 according to the invention comprises, with reference to FIG. 1, a videotex terminal 2, for example a Minitel 2, a processing control device 3 including a reader 40 of removable media of saved memory, for example a memory card
PCMCIA 50, the purpose of which is to add to the functionalities of the Minitel storage and sorting information capacities, and a telephone set 4. The control and storage device 3 is connected to a telephone socket 5 associated with a line 6 of a telecommunication network R by means of an interface box 31 including a call detection device 310 and a first connection cabal 32. The videotex terminal 2 and the telephone set 4 are also connected to the socket 5 respectively, on the one hand by an ordinary telephone connector 21 mounted in a nest with the interface box 31 designed for this purpose and by a second connection cable 22, and on the other hand by another ordinary telephone connector 41 also mounted in pull-out. It goes without saying that the order of connection of the three aforementioned elements can be absolutely arbitrary, provided that one has connectors allowing a pull-out assembly. all of the remote control operations carried out on the remote control stations according to the invention are managed from a central site S comprising a computer station which can optionally be connected to the telecommunications network R via a telephone line
R for download.

The control and storage device 3, which will be described in more detail below, integrates, in addition to the PCMCIA card read / write function, the functions of application manager 33, videotex monitor 34 and line management 35. The videotex terminal 2 conventionally includes a plug module
Scart 24, screen-keyboard management modules 25 and a telephone module 23.

 The interface box 31 disposed between the telephone socket 5 of the line 6 and the control and storage device 3 comprises, with reference to FIG. 2 which illustrates a particular exemplary embodiment, a call detection device 310. This call detection device 310, equipped in parallel on the line with a component 312 for protection against overvoltage, includes a Reed relay 311, the closing of which has the effect of applying to the primary of a detection transformer 314 the line voltage and generate, by a detection circuit 315 of conventional structure connected to the secondary of the transformer 314, a first logic voltage detection signal which, combined within NAND AND logic gates 316 with a second logic closing signal controlled by the detection relay 311, provides a call detection signal RX2. In the example described in FIG. 2, the detection logic signal is at a high logic level when a communication is in progress on the telephone line, and at a low logic level in off-hook mode. The call detection device 310 receives an unregulated DC supply voltage VNR supplied by the control and storage device 3 by the connection cabal 32.

A conversion module 317 delivers from this unregulated voltage DC voltages VCC, VDD intended respectively for supplying the integrated circuits and the electronic circuits.

The control and storage device 3 comprises, within an independent box, a central unit 37, for example a microcontroller 80C32 from the Company
Intel, a permanent memory of EPROM type 39 intended to contain the control and storage programs, a working memory of RAM type 38, a read / write device 40 of PCMCIA card comprising mechanical means 41 for receiving a PCMCIA card containing a saved memory 510, and interface circuits 343, 35 with the videotex terminal 2 and the interface box 31 respectively via connection means 340, 341; 350, 351, for example of the DIN type. A conversion circuit 36 is also provided for supplying, from an external source of direct voltage 360 connectable by connection means 361, 362, for example of the Jack type, a voltage Regulated VCC intended to supply the integrated circuits of the control and storage device 3, and an unregulated direct voltage VNR in particular intended to be transmitted to the call detection device 310. A first interface circuit 35 is provided for receiving the call detection signal
RX2 emitted by the call detection device 310 and apply it to an interrupt input of the microcontroller 37. a second interface circuit 343 is provided for ensuring communication between the microcontroller 37 and the terminal 2 by exchanging signals TXD and RXD communication using known modes of communication.

The control and storage device 3, which is connected to the Minitel 2 by a Scart 344 socket, has the following functionalities:
- a personal selection of a file received,
- a visualization of each prospecting sheet contained in the memory card,
- a record of the contact results: period, date, callback time, various tracking codes, recording of the answers to the questions asked, and
- management of telephone calls.

 We will now describe an example of a process for organizing a remote action network in which the supervision method according to the invention is implemented, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3.

The person in charge of a teleaction network prepares from a central site S for each teleactor a memory card 501-504, for example a card of the type
PCMCIA, which can contain several hundred prospecting cards. These memory cards can either be preloaded on the central site S then transmitted to the teleactors by mail, or downloaded via the telecommunications network R. PCMCIA type memory cards have the advantage of being able to be handled, transported or posted very easily.

 Upon receipt of a PCMCIA card transmitted by the central site S, the teleactor powers up its teleaction station 1, and inserts this card into the reader 41 of the control and storage device 3. Appears on the screen of his terminal, a home page indicating to the teleactor the nature of the telephone call operations he will have to perform.

 The control and storage device 3 has been previously programmed to perform an automatic dialing of a call number selected by the teleactor. When the line is taken, the call detector device 310 generates an RX2 signal which causes an interruption of the microcontroller 37. An interruption program is then executed in order to acquire time information relating to the call in progress : for example, the instant of call, the duration of the call, the instant of end of call. Thus, with each operation carried out by the teleactor, there is associated a set of control data which are stored in the PCMCIA card at the same time as the results of the operation. At the end of a teleaction campaign, the manager can then process, in addition to the results of the teleaction operations, the control data which will make it possible to validate these operations and finely assess the work carried out by the teleactor.

At the more general level of a remote action network, the remote action system according to the invention is intended for:
- record the work carried out by each teleactor, allow cross-checking of information such as the total numbers of calls, the qualification results and the duration of each call, and produce ratios which will determine the value of the teleactor, of the arguments or the target chosen for an operation;
- transfer interview results to a central database, avoiding subsequent entries; and
- allow the person in charge of the teleaction network to judge, on receipt of the memory card used by a telepractor, the quality of each teleaction, without any delay which would, for example, be caused by an IT department.

 Of course, the invention is not limited to the examples which have just been described and numerous modifications can be made to these examples without departing from the scope of the invention. Thus, many other configurations of the control and storage device and of the call detection arrangement can be provided. In addition, other mass media can be envisaged in place of the PCMCIA cards, depending on the storage capacity needs. Beyond the practical example described of making a teleaction station according to the invention implementing a Minitel, one can very well envisage other embodiments using other videotex terminals.

Claims (10)

RBVENDICATIONS  1. Method for supervising remote action operations carried out on local remote action sites, these remote action operations comprising a set of telephone calls to be carried out according to instructions previously transmitted from a central site (S) to each local site on a physical medium removable data (50, 501-503), the results of these calls being then stored on this removable physical medium (50, 501-503) then returned to the central site (S) for processing there,  characterized in that it includes:  - detection of calls and call attempts made during these paging operations,  - an acquisition of control data, in particular of a temporal nature, relating to the detected calls, and  - Storage of this control data on the physical data medium (50), this control data then being processed after return of said physical data medium (50) to the central site (S).  2. Supervision method according to claim 1, each local teleaction site being equipped with a videotex terminal (2) and a telephone set (4), characterized in that it further comprises an automatic dialing of telephone numbers. telephone controlled from the videotex terminal (2).  3. Teleaction station (1) comprising a videotex terminal (2) connected to a telephone line (6) of a telecommunications network (R) and to a telephone station (4), implementing the method of supervision according to the moon of the preceding claims, characterized in that it further comprises a control and storage device (3) comprising removable storage means (50) and control and processing means (37-39), this control device and storage (3) being connected to the videotex terminal (2) by peri-computer connection means (342, 344), and call detection means (310) connected, on the one hand, to the telephone line (6), and secondly, to the control and storage device (3).  4. Remote control station (1) according to claim 3, characterized in that the control and processing means (37-39) of the control and storage device (3) are arranged to receive in interrupt mode (INT ) a call detection signal (RX2) emitted by the call detection means (310).  5. Remote control station (1) according to one of claims 3 or 4, characterized in that the call detection means (310) are arranged within a telephone interface box (31) connected to the telephone line socket (5) (6).  6. Remote control station (1) according to one of claims 3 to 5, characterized in that the call detection means (310) are supplied with electrical energy from the control and storage device (3).  7. Remote control station according to one of claims 3 to 5, characterized in that the removable storage means (50) comprise a type memory card PCMCIA.  8. Remote control system implementing the method according to one of the preceding claims, comprising:  on a central site (S), a central control and processing station (70), in particular a microcomputer,  and on each local remote control site, a remote control station (1) according to one of claims 3 to 7, each remote control station (1) being connected to a telephone line (6) of a telecommunications network (R) ,  characterized in that the central control and processing station (70) comprises means (71) for writing remote action instructions on removable storage media (501-503), these removable storage media (501-503) being then sent to teleaction stations (1), and means (71) for reading and for collecting, on the removable storage media returned to the central site (S), on the one hand the results of teleaction operations carried out in each remote control station (1) and, on the other hand, control data corresponding to these remote control operations.  9. Remote control system according to claim 8, characterized in that the central control and processing station (70) is arranged to produce, from the results of operations and control data, statistics relating to the activity of each teleactor.  10. Remote control system according to one of claims 8 or 9, characterized in that the central control and processing station (70) is connected by a telephone line (7) to the telecommunications network (R) and is furthermore arranged to download removable storage media on local remote action sites.