GB2381997A

GB2381997A - Telecommunications services apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2381997A
Application number: GB0226011A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Jeffrey Wilson
Original assignee: Intellprop Ltd
Current assignee: Intellprop Ltd
Priority date: 2001-11-07
Filing date: 2002-11-07
Publication date: 2003-05-14
Anticipated expiration: 2022-11-07
Also published as: GB0226011D0; GB0126750D0; GB2381997B

Abstract

A call connection equipment allows selective telephone communication between a user, a secretary and a third party. When an incoming call from a user is detected by a DTMF detector circuit 12 as being valid, the call is forwarded to a secretary or operator, chosen from a set of lists of at least one telephone number, the list being selected according to the calling line identity (CLI) of the incoming call. Call switches 10, 18 and 20 then allow selective connection between at least two of (i) the incoming call from the user, (ii) the secretary, and (iii) a third party whose telephone number may have been specified by the secretary.

Description

TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES APPARATUS This invention relates to telecommunications services apparatus for use with a telecommunications network.

As telephone networks strive to increase their average revenue per user (ARPU). services which enhance the usability of the telephone for the business executive are of particular interest. While in the office many of the telephone networks'key business customers will have access to a secretary or assistant. However while out of the office information is only accessible via the narrow and inconvenient interface which is the telephone keypad. Therefore whilst out of the office, for example in a car. the business executive is cut off from most of the assistance which would normally be provided by the familiar and intelligent assistant. The terms'secretary'and'assistant' are used interchangeably and refer to any person who takes on the role of assisting the user of this invention during a telephone call.

Many types of information service are now available via a telephone and new services continue to proliferate. The multitude of different telephone numbers and interface methods for services makes it impractical for most travelling business people to make good use of them. Even if knowledge of the access methods can be retained by an individual, usage of such services can be distracting and even illegal whilst driving a vehicle.

'Wildfire' (RTM). a telephony service introduced by Wildfire Communications Inc. is an example of an automated agent that provides a very simple kind of assistance. However-Wildfire' (RTM) does not make use of an intelligent human being but is merely a computer programme which uses voice recognition and therefore has a number of limitations.'Wildfire' (RTM) operates within a strict syntax and menu structure. By contrast a human secretary has vastly superior voice recognition

capability and language understanding and also the ability to search for previously unknown and undefined information.

Hands free telephone kits for vehicles are in common use. These allow drivers to conduct telephone conversations without constraining one hand to hold a telephone to the ear. Reading a telephone display in order to interact with a telephone while driving is clearly dangerous and in some countries illegal. However making a single key press in order to initiate a call can be regarded as no different to operating any other auxiliary vehicle switch. which can be done eyes up without the need to look at the handset. Therefore although hands free kits may be utilised to initiate calls which have been previously set up as speed dials more complex physical interactions with the telephone handset are undesirable. impractical or possibly dangerous.

Limited assistance for telephone calls is already available in several forms. For example directory enquiry services can now provide call completion to the retrieved number without further interaction by the user. Telephone bureau dictation services are also available. These examples of services provide single functions and not the wide scope of assistance that could be provided by a human secretary.

PABXs in principle allow an external call to be received by an extension. and for that extension to then make an outdialled call. which may be to an external number. and then for the three parties to be connected together in various permutations under the control of the extension. and for the extension to drop out leaving the two other parties connected. In principle this allows secretarial assistance to be used for the making of outdialled calls by a user who is calling in from an external line. However. the connecting together of external lines by a PABX is a practice which is vulnerable to fraud (since a local call may be made to the PABX. which can be programmed to transfer the call to a long distance or even international outdialled call. which is then charged to the owner of the PABX and not to the caller. ) Many companies therefore closely control or prevent the use of external to external connections. This would then

prevent the PABX from being used for secretarial assistance. However. even if external to external calls were allowed on a particular PABX, the CLI passed to the

recipient of the outdialled call would be that of the PABX and not that of the caller. so that any service requiring the original caller s CLI would not be useable. According to the invention there is provided a telecommunications services apparatus for use with a telecommunications network. the apparatus comprising: call receiving means for receiving an incoming call from a user of the system over the telecommunications network and for forwarding the incoming call to a pre-determined telephone number chosen from a set of lists of at least one telephone number. the list being selected according to the calling line identity of the incoming call; and call switching means for allowing selective connection between at least two of (i) the incoming call.

(ii) the pre-determined telephone number. and (iii) a further telephone number specified by a party at the pre-determined telephone number. the selected connection being established by signals from the pre-determined telephone number.

A preferred embodiment of this invention permits access to the full intelligent capabilities of a human secretary by dialling a single telephone number which can be programmed as a single key press on a mobile phone. For the hands free phone user in a vehicle this reduces the distraction to an absolute minimum.

The preferred embodiment allows secretarial assistance to be available so that the executive can make use of any of the facilities afforded by his telephone. Connection to an assistant or secretary can be pre-programmed onto a quick dial method which can be operated safely. such as a single key on the handset or steering wheel. All further

interaction with telephone directory services. dialling and possible service interactions are then handled by the assistant.

The preferred embodiment allows a business person. whilst out of the office. to make a call to a single number which connects the caller to his secretary or another assistant via a Call Connection Equipment. The telephone number of the Call Connection Equipment would typically be programmed as a single key speed dial on the user's mobile telephone. the first entry in the handset's phone book. or a button on a vehicle steering wheel would be arranged to initiate the required call. The Call Connection Equipment recognises the user by means of his calling line identity (CLI) and using an internal look up table completes the call from the user to lus secretary. Initially the call behaves identically to a direct call made to the secretary : however the secretary now has access to a number of additional functions. The secretary is able. for example. to: . connect the user to an audio information service w input DTMF keys on behalf of the caller connect the user to another colleague . read and discuss emails or documents with the user 'take dictation . play back voicemail 'make personal phone calls 'act on instructions from the user The key advantage of the preferred embodiment of this invention is that the complex operations are performed by the secretary. This makes access to a wide range of services a practical proposition whilst driving a vehicle.

During the entire process the secretary remains on line and is able to hear what the user hears and is at all times able to hear what the user says. The only exception is that

at any time if the user desires privacy he can press any key (or a specified key according to the implementation) on his telephone to disconnect the secretary (or to put the secretary on hold. again according to implementation). Therefore the only interactions with his telephone which the user must make when using this equipment are a single key-press (or other means such as voice activation) to initiate the'Connect Call'to his assistant, and a further key-press (or alternative means) to disconnect the call. Optional operations may be provided to allow disconnection or hold of the assistant. or to allow privacy by muting the audio path to one or more parties.

The role of'secretary'may in practice be performed by anyone who volunteers for the role. For example two work colleagues may agree that one plays the role of secretary while the other is driving etc. Thus the technique is not limited to'secretaries'in the normal sense. Some companies may wish to offer bureau services providing this assistant role.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, throughout which hke parts are referred to by like references. and In which : Figure l shows equipment according to a preferred embodiment of the invention in a connectivity state"b" ; Figure 2 shows the equipment in a connectivity state"c" : and Figure 3 shows the equipment in a connectivity state"d".

Referring to Figure 2 of the drawings, equipment according to a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown as providing selective communication between a user. a secretary and a third party. The equipment includes a first switch 10 providing suitable communication between the third party and the user. as well as the secretary, a

DTMF detect circuit 12 for DTMF detection of incoming calls. a call control circuit 14 responsive to the DTMF detect circuit 12 to control a hold switch 16 on the outgoing line to the secretary. and a second switch 18 and third switch 20 providing further switchable communication between the user. the secretary and the third party. A hold music circuit 22 is provided for switchable connection via the hold switch 16.

As will be described subsequently. Figures 1. 2 and 3 show the connectivity of the equipment in different states"b".-c"and"d". those parts which are not connected in each state not being shown.

Operation of the preferred Call Connection Equipment will now be described. The user will programme the telephone number of the Call Connection Equipment into his mobile phone so that it can be accessed in a convenient manner. for example a single key press. or as the first entry in the phone book etc. A preferred method of operation of this invention when used with a vehicle-mounted hands-free telephone is to use two buttons easily accessible to the user. e. g. mounted on the steering wheel. identified as &num; and END. although alternative arrangements may be used. Preferably when the &num; button is pressed for more than a pre-defined time. then It is arranged that a preprogrammed number will be dialled. This number may be programmed to be that of the Call Connection Equipment which implements the present invention. If the &num; button is pressed for a shorter time. then an alternative operation may be invoked such as sending a DTMF &num; tone whilst in a call. which may be in turn used by the Call Connection Equipment to signal for example the user's desire to place on hold or disconnect the secretary according to implementation. The END key could be used to terminate the call. (More than one call may be in progress at the same time if the handset and network support this. in which case the END key could be used to terminate the currently active call.) Alternatively. keys on the telephone keypad may be used instead of connected buttons as described above.

By a registration process which may be automated or manual the Call Connection Equipment will be programmed with a look up table which matches the CLI of the user with a list of telephone numbers to be dialled in preferential order to access the secretary. Preferably self registration would be used. whereby the user dials a telephone number and is connected to a registration service that is associated with the Call Connection Equipment. He may then interact with the service for example by DTMF and/or voice in order to specify the onward dialling number that the Call Connection Equipment should use in order to connect to the assistant. The registration service may then store the CLI and the onward number in a table for subsequent lookup by the Call Connection Equipment. preferably using a hashing technique to allow the compact storage of this data.

From the user's point of view. dialling the Call Connection Equipment provides direct access to his secretary. (See Figure l). In the preferred embodiment when the Call Connection Equipment dials the secretary. it will briefly announce to the secretary. via voice processing equipment (not shown) that this is a'Connect Call'session and then connect the user to the secretary.

Once the call is connected the user may preferably press the &num; key or button as described above in order to put on hold. or disconnect the secretary. Alternatively. any key or a different specified key or keys may be used for this or an alternative purpose.

Multiple keys could be defined for different functions. but preferably, the interface for the user should be kept as simple as possible.

The secretary is able to instruct the Call Connection Equipment to perform various telephony functions. such as making and disconnecting calls. via the DTMF detect circuit 12 and the call control circuit 14. The secretary may also make use of the mute key on their telephone to prevented unwanted audio or office noise from passing into a conversation between the user and a third party. The secretary uses DTMF key-presses to instruct the Call Connection Equipment. however it is necessary to distinguish

between DTMF tones which are intended for the Call Connection Equipment. and those which are used for other purposes. such as for controlling a voice mail system.

There are many ways to do this.

The preferred embodiment uses the key * from the secretary to indicate to the Call Connection Equipment that previous DTMF tones received from the secretary should be discarded. This allows mis-dialled digits for example to be corrected and a dialling sequence re-started. Preferably. once a Connect Call is in progress between the user and a secretary. the Call Connection Equipment will initially attempt to interpret DTMF key presses from the secretary as a third party telephone number which is to be dialled. This number should preferably be terminated by a &num; from the secretary indicating that the number is complete. The Call Connection Equipment may or may not perform any interpretation or checking on the validity of numbers to be dialled.

CLI passed during outdialled calls should preferably be that of the user and not the secretary. so that the assisted call appears to be a direct call from the user.

Preferably once a number has been successfully outdialled by the Call Connection Equipment. further DTMF key presses from the secretary will be ignored by the Call Connection Equipment. This permits DTMF to be used by the secretary to interact with any third party service on behalf of the user. If the user requires a further outdialled call to be made by the secretary. then he may end the call. and initiate a new session.

For example. in order to place an outdialled call to number 01234 567890. the secretary would press the sequence 01234 567890 &num;. Following detection of the &num; command. the system would then dial the third party specified. and conference together audio from the three parties. This would normally be achieved by providing audio to each party formed from a weighted sum of audio from the other two parties.

This is standard and well known conferencing technique. The third party call might be

an automated service such as voice mail. in which case full interaction with the service may be performed by the secretary during the conferenced call.

It would also be possible to support more than three parties in a call using this technique. although a more complex syntax for DTMF interaction by the secretary would be required than the simple case described above.

Alternative methods are possible, for example by invoking a more complex syntax for DTMF input by the secretary which would allow calls to be dialled and/or disconnected at will by the secretary while the user remains connected without requiring the user to do anything and for entered telephone numbers to be distinguishable from other types of interaction. One way to do this would be to delimit telephone numbers to be dialled. for example by preceding them with ** (which also discards any previously received but incomplete telephone number) and terminating them with &num;. Instead of ** an alternative key or sequence could be used. For example. on an assistant handset with additional keys such as DTMF keys A. B. C and D that are not in use for ordinary services. one of these keys could be used which would be detected by the Call Connection Equipment but ignored by other equipment.

If the secretary disconnects. the system could inform the user by an audio prompt and then the system could call the secretary back when the user presses for example the &num; button or another key. This would allow the secretary to be released temporarily if the user anticipates a long conversation with a third party.

If the option for the user to be able to place the secretary on hold is implemented. then whilst on hold it may be desirable for the secretary to be played hold audio or music to confirm that a call is still in progress. While unmuted. regular beeps could be inserted into the path to the user to notify him that audio is being monitored by the secretary.

Alternatively. every time the user invokes the hold or unhold function. the system could indicate the effect by a tone or audio prompt. e. g.'secretary muted.'

If the user disconnects the call by hanging up his telephone, then the secretary could receive an audio announcement prior to cleardown. even if the audio path was previously muted. so that the secretary knows the Connect Call has finished.

The system can be described by a number of'connection states'denoted a. b. c etc which define the audio path summations and connections which are provided by the system when in these states. Transitions from one state to another are effected by the commands entered by the secretary, and by parties hanging up. At all times the CCE is monitoring the user's audio and the secretary's audio for DTMF tones.

For the preferred basic implementation where the first terminated number entered by the secretary is dialled and subsequent DTMF is ignored the connection states could be as follows:

State Connectivity Action Next state a (idle) None Incoming call from user b b (dialling) user > secretary < tel. no > &num; from secretary c secretary > user &num;from secretary b < 0 or more digits > * from b secretary. (* key discards an) previous digits) user hangs up a c (3-way) user+secretary > third part) user hangs up a user+third party > secretary secretary+third party > user user presses &num; to disconnect d secretary d (private) user > third party user hangs up a third party > user Table 1 State Transitions

In the drawings. Figure ! shows the equipment connectivity in state"b". Figure 2 shows the connectivity in state c. and Figure 3 shows the connectivity in state"d" The state transition table above does not show the effect of the secretary hanging up and being called back by a key-press from the user. This feature represents a simple and obvious extension to the transition table for one skilled in the art.

It would also be possible to use different commands or DTMF keys to initiate state changes. and to also vary the connectivity used in each state. It is possible that some users would prefer to have the secretary remain connected during the outdialled call

for example so that a record of the conversation can be made. while others would prefer the secretary to disconnect once a call was in progress to a third party, and to be recalled at the end. It may also be desirable to give the user control over disconnection of the third party. Such considerations may make it desirable to have more or different states than shown in the preferred embodiment.

In the event of the call to the user being inadvertently dropped, for example due to adverse signal reception. it may be possible for the Call Connection Equipment to automatically seek to re-establish the call. However this depends on the equipment being able to distinguish user-selected disconnection from inadvertent disconnection.

If the network is capable of providing this information then this could be an optional feature of the equipment.

AN EXAMPLE SESSION The following presents a possible Connect Call session.

1. User calls Call Connection Equipment using a single key-press while driving to a meeting (Figure I).

After an initial conversation (Figure 2). the user asks the secretary to play back his voicemail. The secretary dials the voicemail number followed by &num;. The Call

Connection Equipment connects to the voicemail service (third party) and both the user and secretary listen to the voicemail. The secretary uses the normal DTMF keys appropriate to the voicemail service to interact with it.

3. The user decides that a voicemail message may be confidential, and presses &num; to

put the secretary on hold (Figure 3). The secretary receives hold music.

4. The user presses the disconnect button. and all three parties are disconnected.

If a call arrives on the Call Connection Unit, and the CLI cannot be found in the table. the call is rejected. However. it would be possible to play an audio message to the caller suggesting that they may have mis-dialled.

The service could also be used from fixed telephones or other terminals, allowing the benefit of secretarial assistance to be obtained at any location. for example at home. on a customer's premises. or in a hotel room.

Claims

CLAIMS 1 A telecommunications services apparatus for use with a telecommunications network, the apparatus comprising: call receiving means for receiving an incoming call from a user of the system over the telecommunications network and for forwarding the incoming call to a pre-determined telephone number chosen from a set of lists of at least one telephone number, the list being selected according to the calling line identity of the incoming call : and call switching means for allowing selective connection between at least two of (iv) the incoming call.

(v) the pre-determined telephone number, and (vi) a further telephone number specified by a party at the pre-determined telephone number. the selected connection being established by signals from the pre-determined telephone number.
2. Apparatus according to claim 1. wherein the call switching means is further operable to allow the selected connection to be established by signals from the user's incoming call.
3. Apparatus according to claim 2. wherein the call switching means is operable. upon receipt of a first signal in the user's incoming call. to put the party at the pre-determined telephone number on hold.
4. Apparatus according to claim 2 or claim 3. wherein the call switching means is operable, upon receipt of a second signal in the user's incoming call, to disconnect the call connection to the pre-determined telephone number.

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5. Apparatus according to claim 2. claim 3 or claim 4. wherein the call switching means is operable, upon receipt of a third signal in the user's incoming call. to disconnect the incoming call.
6. Apparatus according to any one of claim I to 5. wherein the pre-determined telephone number is an extension number of the apparatus.
7. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5. wherein the pre-determined telephone number is an external number to be outdialled by the apparatus.
8. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims. wherein the calling line identity passed to the further telephone number is the calling line identity of the incoming call.
9. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one of the lists has a main telephone number to which a call attempt is made. and at least one backup number to be called in the event of inability to connect to the main telephone number.
10. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims. including means for providing voice interaction.
11. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the call switching means is operable to interpret key-press signals from the pre- determined telephone number as the further telephone number to be called.
12. Apparatus according to claim 11. wherein key-press signals from the pre- determined telephone number specifying a further telephone number to be dialled are distinguished from key-press signals which may be utilised to

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activate other functions of the apparatus by one or more delimiter key-press signals.
13. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims. wherein the call switching means is operable, on the basis of information provided by the telecommunications network. to distinguish inadvertent call disconnection from other causes. and to redial the user in the event of inadvertent call disconnection.
14. Telecommunications services apparatus substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
15. In combination with telecommunications services apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims. equipment for initiating an incoming call to the apparatus. the equipment comprising first and second keys. respectively. for dialling the apparatus and establishing the incoming call. and for terminating the call.
16. A combination according to claim 15. wherein. in the equipment. if the first key is pressed for a time period less than a predetermined period. a characteristic signal is sent to the apparatus to initiate a different operation.
17. A combination according to claim 16. wherein the different operation involves putting the party at the pre-determined telephone number on hold.
18. A combination according to claim 16. wherein the different operation involves disconnecting the call connection to the pre-determined telephone number.

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19. A combination according to any one of claims 15 to 18. wherein the equipment operates in conjunction with a mobile telephone. such that the call to the apparatus is established over a mobile telephone network.
20. A combination according to claim 19. wherein the first and second keys are arranged to be mounted on the steering wheel of a vehicle.