GB2329298A - Visually displaying computer telephony options at caller's telephone device - Google Patents
Visually displaying computer telephony options at caller's telephone device Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- GB2329298A GB2329298A GB9719709A GB9719709A GB2329298A GB 2329298 A GB2329298 A GB 2329298A GB 9719709 A GB9719709 A GB 9719709A GB 9719709 A GB9719709 A GB 9719709A GB 2329298 A GB2329298 A GB 2329298A
- Authority
- GB
- United Kingdom
- Prior art keywords
- options
- computer
- telephony
- telephone
- caller
- 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- Withdrawn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
- H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
- H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
- H04M3/487—Arrangements for providing information services, e.g. recorded voice services or time announcements
- H04M3/493—Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
- H04M2201/00—Electronic components, circuits, software, systems or apparatus used in telephone systems
- H04M2201/38—Displays
-
- 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
- H04M3/42314—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers in private branch exchanges
- H04M3/42323—PBX's with CTI arrangements
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04Q—SELECTING
- H04Q1/00—Details of selecting apparatus or arrangements
- H04Q1/18—Electrical details
- H04Q1/30—Signalling arrangements; Manipulation of signalling currents
- H04Q1/44—Signalling arrangements; Manipulation of signalling currents using alternate current
- H04Q1/444—Signalling arrangements; Manipulation of signalling currents using alternate current with voice-band signalling frequencies
- H04Q1/45—Signalling arrangements; Manipulation of signalling currents using alternate current with voice-band signalling frequencies using multi-frequency signalling
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Signal Processing (AREA)
- Telephonic Communication Services (AREA)
Abstract
Method and apparatus to allow the options (figure 4) provided by an auto-attendant 50 to be presented on a display of a caller's telephone device (32, figure 2) thus allowing the caller to select the required option without having to navigate through the verbal option menus provided by the conventional system. When a request for computer telephony options has been detected, the option menu is transmitted to the telephone display and the caller can select the desired option. The auto-attendant 50 is conditioned in accordance with the option selected and the call may be directed to the appropriate telephone 52. The request for options may be in the form of a sequence of DTMF signals and the options may be transmitted as text in ASCII that has been encoded via DTMF signals. The options are presented as text on the display (32, figure 2) and the caller may select the desired option either by entering a sequence of DTMF signals or by generating the sequence by highlighting and selecting the option using a mouse pointer or keyboard. The telephone device may be a telephone connected to a computer (figure 2) or may be a telephone with a built-in screen and DTMF receiver.
Description
METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PRESENTING COMPUTEIR-TELEPHONY OPTIONS
Field Of Tbe Invention
The present invention relates to telephony and in particular to a method and system for presenting computer-telephony options.
Baclceround Of The Invention
Many businesses make use of computer-telephony systems having auto-attendants to answer incoming telephone calls. When an incoming telephone call is received, the auto-attendant presents the caller with a variety of options via dialogue. The caller after listening to the dialogue can select the desired option by pressing the appropriate touch-tone key. To facilitate use, thc dialogue is arranged in a convenient and logical manner consistent with knowledge of hum psychology.
These computer-telephony systems save money by allowing a caller to direct their own telephone call without requiring the assistance of an employee of the business. Although this benefit exists it is ofrt by the many options typically presented to callers and the fact that the options are conveyed by voice making thc process slow and crror pronc. If a caller makes a mistake, the caller often must listen to many seconds of repeat dialogue resulting in caller fiustration. Accordingly, improvements to computer-telephony systems ofthis nature are desired.
It is therefore an object ofthe present invention to provide a novel method and system for presenting computer-telephony options.
Summat Of The Invention According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided in a computer-ttlephony system having an auto-attendant to answer incoming telephone calls, a method of presenting computer-telephony options to a telephone having an associated display after a telephone call has been answered, said method comprising the steps of:
monitoring said telephone to detect a request for computcr-tclcphony options,.
transmitting said computer-telephony options to said telephone for presentation on said display upon detection of said request;
monitoring said telephone to detect selection of one or more of said computer-telephony options; and
conditioning said auto-attendant in accordance with said one or more selected options.
In a preferred embodiment, the request for computcr-telephony options is in the form of a sequence of DTMF signals generated by the telephone. It is also preferred that the computer-telephony options are presented on the display as text. In one embodiment, the text is transmitted from the computer-telephony system to the telephone via text encoded DTMF signals. In one embodiment, the selection of the one or more computer-telephony options is made via a sequence of DTMF signals or by highlighting text presented on the display.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a communications system comprising:
at least one telephone having an associated display; and
a computer-telephony system having an auto-attendant to answer incoming telephone calls, said computer-telephony system including means for monitoring said at least one telephone to detect a request for computcr-telepbony options; means for trrrnsmitting said computer-telephony options to said at least one telephone for presentation on said display upon detection of said request; means for monitoring said at least one telephone to detect selection of one or more of said computer-telephony options; and means for conditioning said auto-attendant in accordance with said one or more selected options.
The present invention provides advantages in that a caller does not have to wait until all options are presented verbally by the auto-attendant. Instead, the caller can request the computer-tclephony system to transnit the complete menu of options for presentation on the display associated with the telephone allowing the caller to select one or more desired computcr-telephony options without having to navigate through the auto-attendant dialogue.
Brief Descrintion Of The Drawing An embodiment of the prcscnt invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a schematic of a communications system including a computer-telephony system having an auto-attendant and a plurality of remote user locations;
Figure 2 is a schematic of one of the user locations of Figure 1 including a telephone having an associated display;
Figure 3 is a schematic of the computer-telephony system shown in
Figure l; Figure 4 is an illustration of computer-telephony options presented by the computer-telephony system of Figure 3; and
Figure 5 is a table of DTMF commands to which the computertelephony system of Figure 3 responds.
Detailed Desenpffon Of The Preferred Embodiment
Referring now to Figure 1, a communications system is shown and is generally indicated to by reference numeral 10. Communications system 10 includes a colT puter-telephony system 12 connected to a public switched tcl cphone network (PSTN) 14 via a trunk connection 16. A plurality of remote user locations 20 are also connected to the PSTN 14 via trunk connections 22 and include telephones to allow callers to establish telephone calls with the computer-telephony system 12 over the
PSTN 14.
Figure 2 better illustrates one of the user locations 20. As can be seen, the user location 20 includes a personal computer 30 having a monitor 32, a keyboard 34 and a mouse pointer 36 operating in a well known manner. A tclcphone 38 is connected to the personal computer 30 by way of a universal serial bus (USB) 40.
USB 40 includes a l2Mbit/s serial interface running over a 4 wire bus with an associated software stack supporting peripheral connectivity to the personal computer 30. A DTMF signal receiver 42 is also included in the personal computer 30 as well as software to convert DTMF signals to text fbr display on the monitor 32.
Computer-telephony system 12 is best illustrated in Figure 3 and is typically located at the premises of a business. As can be seenv computer-telephony system includes an auto-attendant 50 to answer incoming telephone calls received from user locations 20 over the PSIN 14 and to direct the incoming telephone calls to an appropriate telephone 52. As is well known the auto-attendant 50 presents a caller with the options via dialogue and prompts the caller to select options by pressing appropriate keys on a touch-tone telephone. A DTMF signal receiverlgenerator 54 within the auto-attendant detects pressed keys so that the auto-attendant 50 can process the incoming call in the manner selected by the caller. In addition to the abovedescribed conventional operation, the auto-attendant 50 also transmits the complete menu of options to the caller for display on the monitor 32 upon receipt of a request from the caller as will be described.
Figure 4 illustrates the menu of options 60 available through the autoattendant 50 which is normally presented to a caller through dialogue. As can be seen, in the first branch of the menu 60, a caller has the following options:
(i) selecting the language the dialogue is to be presented (either
English or French) by pressing a "l" or "2";
(ii) requesting transmission of the menu of options 60 for display by pressing the D1MP signal sequence "* * ** *"; or (iii) requesting connection to an operator by pressing "0".
If the caller selects the language of the dialogue, the auto-attendant 50 enters a second branch and the caller is presented with more options via dialogue.
Specifically, the caller has the following options:
(i) selecting sales by pressing a "1";
(ii) selecting complaints by pressing a "2"
(iii) selecting accounting by pressing a "3"; or (iv) requesting connection to an operator by pressing "0".
If one of options (ii) to (iv) is selcctcd, thc auto-attendant 50 directs the incoming telephone call to the appropriate telephone 52 so that the incoming telephone call is answered by the proper party. If option (i) is selected, the caller is presented with more options as follows:
(i) selecting North America by pressing "1";
(ii) selecting Europe by pressing "2"; or
(iii) requesting connection to an operator by pressing "0".
Once one of these options has been selected, the autoattendant 50 directs the incoming telephone call to the appropriate telephone 52. This operation ofthe autoattendant 50 is conventional.
If the caller requests transmission of the menu 60 for display by pressing the DTMF signal sequence "*****", the auto-attendant 50 transmits the menu as text in ASCII that has been encoded via DTMF signals to thc uscr location 20. Since DX encodes digits 0 to F in hexadecimal and since ASCII encodes text letters as hexadecimal numbers from 00 to FF, each ASCII term is represented by 2 DThfF signals. When the user location receives the string of DTMF signals, the
DTMF receiver 42 in the personal computer 30 detects the DTMF signals. Software executed by the personal computer 30 in turn convcrts the DTMF signals back into
ASCII and presents the menu as text on the monitor 32 so that the caller has all of the available options visible.
When the caller wishes to select an option, the caller enters a start of item sequence of DTMF signals of the form "###**". Following this, the caller enters the DTMF signals corresponding to the desired level and branch in the menu.
For example, ifthe caller wants to select European sales in English from the menu 60, the caller enters the DTMF signal sequence "01, 01, 02" corresponding to thc mcnu options "1" for English, "1" for Sales and "2" for Europe, Once this is completed, thc caller enters an end of item sequence of DTMF signals of the form "# # # #".
The caller can alse pause a session by entering the DTMF signal sequence "####*" as as well as end a session by entering the DIMP signal sequence trr#s Alternatively, the caller can highlight and select the desired option using the mouse pointer 36 or keyboard 34. In this case, the personal computer 30 generates the appropriate DTMF signal sequence.
When the auto-attendant 50 receives the DTMF signals from the user location, they are detected by the DTMF receiver generator 54. The auto-attendant in turn processes the DTMF signals and processes the caller's selected options so that the caller is directed to the appropriate telephone 52 in the desired manner. As will be appreciated, a caller requesting the menu for display can select from the menu without having to listen to the dialogue of the auto-attendant 50 associated with the various levels and branches of the menu.
Although the mcou 60 has been described as being transmitted to the user location as ASCII text encoded via DTMF signals, those of skill in the art will appreciate that any conventionai modem standard can be used to transmit the menu from the computer-telephony system to the personal computer.
In addition, although the user locations have been described as including a telephone connected to a personal computer via a USB, it will be appreciated that the user locations can include telephones with built in displays and
DTMF receivers to allow the text encoded DTMF signals to be decoded and displayed as text.
Those of skill in the art will also appreciate that variations and modifications may be made to the present invention without departing & om the spirit and scope thereof as defined by the appended claims.
Claims (13)
1. In a computer-telephony system having an auto-attendant to answer incoming telephone calls, a method of presenting computer-telephony options to a telephone having an associated display after a telephone call has been established, said method comprising the steps of:
monitoring said telephone to detect a request for computer-telephony options;
transmitting said computer-telephony options to said telephone for presentation on said display upon detection of said request;
monitoring said telephone to detect selection of one or more of said computer-telephony options; and
conditioning said auto-attendant in accordance with said one or more selected options.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein said request is in the form of a predetennined sequence of DTMF signals.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein said computer-telephony options are presented on said display as text
4. The method of claim 3 wherein said text is transmitted from said computer-telephony system as text encoded DTMF signals.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein said text encoded DTMF signals represent AS CU,
6. The method of claim 2 wherein the selection of said one or more options is made via a sequence of DTMF signals.
7. The method of claim 2 wherein the selection of said one or more computer-telephony options is made by highlighting computcr-telephony options presented on said display.
8. The method of claim 2 wherein the selection of said one or more computer-telephony options is made by highlighting computer-telephony options presented on said display and'our by a sequence ofDTMF signals.
9. A communications system comprising:
at least one telephone having an associated display; and
a computer-telephony system having an auto-attendant to answer incoming telephone calls, said computer-telephony system including means for monitoring said at least one telephone to detect a request for computer-telephony options; means for transmitting said computer-telephony options to said at least one telephone for presentation on said display upon detection of said request; means for monitoring said at least one telephone to detect selection of one or more of said computer-telephony options; and means for conditioning said auto-attendant in accordance with said one or more selected options.
10. A communications system as defined in claim 9 wherein said means for monitoring includes a DTMF signal detector to detect a predetermined sequence of
DTMF signals.
11. A commwiications system as defined in claim 10 wherein said computer-telephony system transmits said computer-telephony options as text.
12. A communications system as defined in claim 11 wherein said text is transmitted in the form of text encoded DTMF signals.
13. A communications system as defined in claim 10 wherein said selection detection means includes a DTMF signal detector to detect DTMF signals generated by said at least one telephone.
Priority Applications (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB9719709A GB2329298A (en) | 1997-09-16 | 1997-09-16 | Visually displaying computer telephony options at caller's telephone device |
| CA 2246174 CA2246174A1 (en) | 1997-09-16 | 1998-08-31 | Method and system for presenting computer-telephony options |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB9719709A GB2329298A (en) | 1997-09-16 | 1997-09-16 | Visually displaying computer telephony options at caller's telephone device |
Publications (2)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| GB9719709D0 GB9719709D0 (en) | 1997-11-19 |
| GB2329298A true GB2329298A (en) | 1999-03-17 |
Family
ID=10819169
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB9719709A Withdrawn GB2329298A (en) | 1997-09-16 | 1997-09-16 | Visually displaying computer telephony options at caller's telephone device |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| GB (1) | GB2329298A (en) |
Cited By (8)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WO2000059194A1 (en) * | 1999-03-31 | 2000-10-05 | British Telecommunications Plc | Computer telephony integration |
| WO2000076192A1 (en) * | 1999-06-08 | 2000-12-14 | Aplio, Societe Anonyme | Method and system for accessing, via a computerised communication network such as internet, a multimedia voice server |
| WO2001078364A1 (en) * | 2000-04-07 | 2001-10-18 | Nokia Corporation | Answering service giving different messages depending on user profile selected by called subscriber and/or identify of calling subscriber |
| GB2336503B (en) * | 1998-04-17 | 2003-07-23 | Mitel Corp | System for item selection in a telephony auto-attendant |
| US9959889B2 (en) | 2013-03-12 | 2018-05-01 | Serenity Data Security, Llc | Hard drive data destroying device |
| US10556240B2 (en) | 2015-07-02 | 2020-02-11 | Serenity Data Security, Llc | Product verification for hard drive data destroying device |
| US10926298B2 (en) | 2015-07-02 | 2021-02-23 | Serenity Data Security, Llc | Hard drive dismantling system |
| US11167384B2 (en) | 2015-07-02 | 2021-11-09 | Serenity Data Security, Llc | Hard drive non-destructive dismantling system |
Citations (5)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WO1992010900A1 (en) * | 1990-12-13 | 1992-06-25 | Alheim Curtis C | Interactive telephone communication system for hearing-impaired person |
| WO1994021077A1 (en) * | 1993-03-10 | 1994-09-15 | Momentum, Inc. | Telecommunication device and method for interactive voice and data |
| GB2291763A (en) * | 1993-04-15 | 1996-01-31 | Bellsouth Corp | System for communicating with an adsi-compatible telephone via a service circuit node |
| WO1996024215A1 (en) * | 1995-01-30 | 1996-08-08 | Radish Communications Systems, Inc. | Voice and visual data communications switching using a voice response unit |
| US5583922A (en) * | 1990-09-27 | 1996-12-10 | Radish Communication Systems, Inc. | Telecommunication system for automatic switching between voice and visual data communications using forms |
-
1997
- 1997-09-16 GB GB9719709A patent/GB2329298A/en not_active Withdrawn
Patent Citations (5)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US5583922A (en) * | 1990-09-27 | 1996-12-10 | Radish Communication Systems, Inc. | Telecommunication system for automatic switching between voice and visual data communications using forms |
| WO1992010900A1 (en) * | 1990-12-13 | 1992-06-25 | Alheim Curtis C | Interactive telephone communication system for hearing-impaired person |
| WO1994021077A1 (en) * | 1993-03-10 | 1994-09-15 | Momentum, Inc. | Telecommunication device and method for interactive voice and data |
| GB2291763A (en) * | 1993-04-15 | 1996-01-31 | Bellsouth Corp | System for communicating with an adsi-compatible telephone via a service circuit node |
| WO1996024215A1 (en) * | 1995-01-30 | 1996-08-08 | Radish Communications Systems, Inc. | Voice and visual data communications switching using a voice response unit |
Cited By (14)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB2336503B (en) * | 1998-04-17 | 2003-07-23 | Mitel Corp | System for item selection in a telephony auto-attendant |
| US6628758B1 (en) | 1998-04-17 | 2003-09-30 | Mitel Corporation | System for item selection in a telephony auto-attendant |
| US6807264B1 (en) | 1999-03-31 | 2004-10-19 | British Telecommunications Public Limited Company | Computer telephony integration |
| WO2000059194A1 (en) * | 1999-03-31 | 2000-10-05 | British Telecommunications Plc | Computer telephony integration |
| WO2000076192A1 (en) * | 1999-06-08 | 2000-12-14 | Aplio, Societe Anonyme | Method and system for accessing, via a computerised communication network such as internet, a multimedia voice server |
| FR2794924A1 (en) * | 1999-06-08 | 2000-12-15 | Aplio Sa | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ACCESSING A MULTIMEDIA VOICE SERVER VIA AN INTERNET COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORK |
| WO2001078364A1 (en) * | 2000-04-07 | 2001-10-18 | Nokia Corporation | Answering service giving different messages depending on user profile selected by called subscriber and/or identify of calling subscriber |
| US7203297B2 (en) | 2000-04-07 | 2007-04-10 | Nokia Corporation | Answering service giving different messages depending on user profile selected by called subscriber and/or identity of calling subscriber |
| US7295662B2 (en) | 2000-04-07 | 2007-11-13 | Nokia Corporation | Answering service giving different messages depending on user profile selected by called subscriber and/or identity of calling subscriber |
| US9959889B2 (en) | 2013-03-12 | 2018-05-01 | Serenity Data Security, Llc | Hard drive data destroying device |
| US11107495B2 (en) | 2013-03-12 | 2021-08-31 | Serenity Data Security, Llc | Laser destruction system for hard drives |
| US10556240B2 (en) | 2015-07-02 | 2020-02-11 | Serenity Data Security, Llc | Product verification for hard drive data destroying device |
| US10926298B2 (en) | 2015-07-02 | 2021-02-23 | Serenity Data Security, Llc | Hard drive dismantling system |
| US11167384B2 (en) | 2015-07-02 | 2021-11-09 | Serenity Data Security, Llc | Hard drive non-destructive dismantling system |
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| GB9719709D0 (en) | 1997-11-19 |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 732E | Amendments to the register in respect of changes of name or changes affecting rights (sect. 32/1977) | ||
| WAP | Application withdrawn, taken to be withdrawn or refused ** after publication under section 16(1) |