GB2481450A

GB2481450A - Trust establishment in service provision calls

Info

Publication number: GB2481450A
Application number: GB1010732.4A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Craig Scott
Original assignee: NETCALL TELECOM Ltd
Current assignee: NETCALL TELECOM Ltd
Priority date: 2010-06-25
Filing date: 2010-06-25
Publication date: 2011-12-28
Anticipated expiration: 2030-06-25
Also published as: WO2011161270A1; EP2586187A1; GB2481450B; GB201010732D0

Abstract

In response to a service event such as an overdue credit card bill, a notification message including an identifying code is sent to a user terminal 40-144 requesting that it call an associated service provision system 100. Via the user terminal, a calling party calls a trust establishment system 190 and supplies it with the identifying code, in response to which the trust establishment system retrieves an associated stored token and transmits this token to the calling party during the telephone call in order to establish the calling party's trust of a service provision system on behalf of the service provision system. The telephone call is passed from the trust establishment system to the service provision system for further processing, after the stored token has been transmitted to the calling party. The identifying code is preferably uniquely associated with the calling party and may have been transmitted to the calling party prior to the telephone call. The stored token may have been recorded or selected by the calling party prior to the telephone call, hence the calling party may establish trust with the called party by recognising the stored token. In a particular embodiment, the token is an audio sample of a spoken word or expression which the calling party has recorded at the trust establishment system for association with a particular service which involves the exchange of sensitive information, eg a banking or credit card service.

Description

*::r: INTELLECTUAL . .... PROPERTY OFFICE Application No. GB 1010732.4 RTM Date:21 October 2010 The following term is a registered trademark and should be read as such wherever it occurs in this document: Facebook Intellectual Property Office is an operating name of the Patent Office www.ipo.gov.uk Method and apparatus for conducting a service provision call

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for conducting a service provision call from a calling party to a called party.

Background of the Invention

Methods and apparatus are known for conducting a service-provision telephone call from a calling party to a called party.

Such service-provision telephone calls may typically be made by a calling party to a called party in response to a notification received by the calling party that relates to personal and/or sensitive information of the calling party such as a bank account, credit card, hospital appointment, etc. of the calling party. Such notifications typically indicate that the calling party should contact the called party using a telephone number given in the notification in order to discuss the personal and/or sensitive information.

The calling party cannot typically verify the authenticity of such notifications or the identity of the called party in subsequent service-provision telephone calls and so may not wish to make those telephone calls.

If the calling party does make such telephone calls the calling party risks divulging personal and/or sensitive information to a fraudulent party that is impersonating another called party.

Although in the prior art the calling party may to attempt to verify the telephone number given in a notification message using for example a telephone directory and/or resources on the Internet, such a verification process is time consuming and may be at risk of exposing the user to further incorrect and/or fraudulent information, particularly on the Internet.

The present invention aims to address the issues associated with prior art systems.

Summary of the Tnvention

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of operating a trust establishment system during at least part of a service-provision telephone call originally made from a calling party to a called party, comprising: receiving an identifying code after the telephone call has been established; retrieving, on the basis of the identifying code, a stored token; transmitting the stored token from the trust establishment system to the calling party during the telephone call in order to establish the calling party's trust of a service provision system on behalf of the service provision system; and passing the telephone call from the trust establishment system to the service provision system for further processing, after the stored token has been transmitted to the calling party.

By operating a trust establishment system according to the above method trust may be established between one or more calling parties and one or more service provision systems in a plurality of service-provision telephone calls received simultaneously and/or consecutively over time.

The identifying code is preferably uniquely associated with the calling party and may have been transmitted to the calling party prior to the telephone call. The identifying code may have been generated in response to a service event detected by the service provision system and may be uniquely associated with that service event. The method offers flexibility in terms of the type of identifying code used.

By transmitting the stored token to the calling party in the service-provision telephone call the trust establishment system may establish the calling party's trust of a service provision system. The stored token may have been recorded or selected by the calling party prior to the service-provision telephone call, hence the calling party may establish trust with the called party by recognising the stored token.

By passing on the service-provision telephone call to a service provision system for further processing the method allows further processing of personal and/or sensitive information once the trust establishment system has established trust on behalf of the service provision system.

In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of operating a service provision system during at least part of a service-provision telephone call originally made from a calling party to a called party, the method comprising: receiving the telephone call from a trust establishment system; and processing the telephone call at the service provision system after the telephone call is received from the trust establishment system, wherein the telephone call is received from the trust establishment system after the trust establishment system has established the calling party's trust of the service provision system on behalf of the service provision system by transmitting a stored token to the calling party, the stored token being retrieved on the basis of an identifying code provided by the calling party.

By operating a service provision system according to the above method the service provision system can readily make use of a trust establishment system in order to operate a service provision telephone call without the need for significant trust establishment resources within the service provision system itself.

In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of conducting at least part of a service-provision telephone call from a calling party to a called party, comprising: receiving a notification message comprising a notification identifier; placing a telephone call from the calling party; transmitting the notification identifier from the calling party in the telephone call; receiving at the calling party a stored token transmitted from a trust establishment system during the telephone call in order to establish the calling party's trust of a service provision system; and further processing the telephone call by interaction with the service provision system at the calling party after the stored token has been received from the trust establishment system.

By receiving at the calling party a stored token that has been selected by the calling party prior to the telephone call and notification message, the calling party may establish trust with a service provision system in the telephone call, prior to conducting further processing in relation personal and/or sensitive information of the calling party.

In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a trust establishment system for conducting at least part of a service-provision telephone call from a calling party to a called party, the trust establishment system comprising: means for receiving an identifying code after the telephone call has been established; means for retrieving, on the basis of the identifying code, a stored token; means for transmitting the stored token from the trust establishment system to the calling party during the telephone call in order to establish the calling party's trust of a service provision system on behalf of the service provision system; and means for passing the telephone call from the trust establishment system to the service provision system for further processing, after the stored token has been transmitted to the calling party.

Such a trust establishment system may be provided by a third party separate to the service provision system. The trust establishment system may allow trust to be established between one or more calling parties and one or more service provision systems in a plurality of service-provision telephone calls received simultaneously and/or consecutively over time. The trust establishment system may thus facilitate the provision of trust establishment services in service-provision telephone calls for existing service provision systems.

By providing means for transmitting the stored token to the calling party and means for passing the telephone call to the service provision system for further processing, the calling party's trust of the service provision system may be established by the trust establishment system without the audio sample being accessed and (potentially) compromised by the service provision system.

In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a service provision system for conducting at least part of a service-provision telephone call originally made from a calling party to a called party, the system comprising: means for receiving the telephone call from a trust establishment system; and means for processing the telephone call at the service provision system after the telephone call is received from the trust establishment system, wherein the telephone call is received from the trust establishment system after the trust establishment system has established the calling party's trust of the service provision system on behalf of the service provision system by transmitting a stored token to the calling party, the stored token being retrieved on the basis of an identifying code provided by the calling party.

One or more of such a service provision systems may thus utilise a trust establishment system in order to facilitate the provision of trust establishment services in service-provision telephone calls involving those service provision systems.

In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of operating a service provision system during at least part of a service-provision telephone call originally made from a calling party to a called party, the method comprising: receiving the telephone call from the calling party; retrieving an identifying code on the basis of an interaction with the calling party during the telephone call at the service provision system; retrieving a stored token from a trust establishment system, the stored token being retrieved on the basis of the identifying code; establishing the calling party's trust of the service provision system by transmitting the stored token to the calling party; and processing the telephone call at the service provision system after the stored token has been transmitted to the calling party.

By operating a service provision system according to the above method a service provision system can utilise third party resources provided by a trust establishment system in order to operate a service provision telephone call more effectively.

In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a service provision system for conducting at least part of a service-provision telephone call originally made from a calling party to a called party, the system comprising: means for receiving the telephone call from the calling party; means for retrieving an identifying code on the basis of an interaction with the calling party during the telephone call at the service provision system; means for retrieving a stored token from a trust establishment system, the stored token being retrieved on the basis of the identifying code; means for establishing the calling party's trust of the service provision system by transmitting the stored token to the calling party; and means for processing the telephone call at the service provision system after the stored token has been transmitted to the calling party.

One or more of such a service provision systems may utilise third party resources provided by a trust establishment system in order to facilitate the provision of trust establishment services in service-provision telephone calls involving those service provision systems.

Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments of the invention, given by way of example only, which is made with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 schematically illustrates the components of a system for conducting a service-provision telephone call from a calling party to a called party in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 illustrates steps performed by the components of the system shown in Figure 1 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 3 schematically illustrates the components of a system for conducting a service-provision telephone call from a calling party to a called party in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 4 schematically illustrates the components of a system for conducting a service-provision telephone call from a calling party to a called party in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 5 schematically illustrates an alternative arrangement of the components of the system of Figure 1, Figure 3 or Figure 4 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description of the Invention

Figure 1 schematically illustrates the components of a system for conducting a service-provision telephone call from a calling party 140 to a called party, according to a first embodiment of the invention.

The calling party 140 may be one of several user terminals 140, 142, 144 provided in a service provision system 100 of a service provider. The service provision system 100 may be used by agents to provide services to a number of users, such as those using the user terminals 140, 142, 144.

The agent terminals 110, 112, 114 may each include a telephone connected within an internal telephone system provided in the service provision system 100. Telephone connections between the agent terminals 110, 112, 114 of the internal telephone system may be made via a private branch exchange (PBX). The PBX may allow telephone connections to be made between devices connected to a telephone network 130 and the agent terminals 110, 112, 114.

The telephone network 130 may include a public switched telephone network (PSTN), mobile cellular network, etc. Devices connected to the telephone network 130 that the agent terminals 110, 112, 114 may be connected to include the user terminals 140, 142, 144 which may be telephony devices associated with users of the service provision system 100, and a trust establishment system 190.

The internal telephone system of the service provision system 100 in this embodiment includes a communications network allowing Voice over Internet Protocol (V0IP) connections to be established between the agent terminals 110, 112, 114 and the PBX. The agent terminals 110, 112, 114 of the service provision system 100 may be configured to receive call control commands from other devices connected to the communications network of the internal telephone system. These call control commands may conform to a protocol such as the Session Tnitiated Protocol (SIP).

The internal telephone system of the service provision system 100 may include an automatic call distributor (ACD) 120 that is connected to or is included within the PBX. The ACD 120 may allow calls received by the internal telephone system from the telephone network 130 to be distributed to the agent terminals 110, 112, 114. This may allow, for example, users who wish to contact the service provision system 100 to be automatically connected to a free agent that is using an agent terminal 110, 112, 114.

Each agent terminal 110, 112, 114 may also include an agent computer.

Each agent computer may be connected to an internal communications network of the service provision system 100 via a network interface, and may be able to communicate with a user database 160 via the internal communications network.

Each agent computer may be configured to access information in the user database 160 relating to users of the service provision system 100 and to provide this information to an agent using the agent computer in a graphical user interface.

The user database 160 may be hosted in the service provision system 100 on one or more computer servers and may be connected to the internal communications network of the service provision system 100.

The user database 160 may include information relating to each user of the service provision system 100. The information stored in relation to each user may include the name of the user, a service provision system user identifier (SPS user identifier) that uniquely identifies the user within the service provision system 100, and a trust establishment system user identifier (TES user identifier) that uniquely identifies the user within the trust establishment system as described in greater detail below. The SPS user identifier may be an account number or similar that identifies an account the user has with the service provision system 100. The information stored in relation to each user may also include user authentication information such as a usemame and/or password that the user may need to provide to the service provision system 100 to prove his identity, billing details, products and/or services that the user has ordered, previous enquiries the user has made, and the user's contact details including telephone number(s), email address, and postal address.

The user database 160 may be configured to link the SPS user identifier used to uniquely identify each user within the user database 160 (and the service provision system 100 in which the user database 160 is included) and the TES user identifier used to uniquely identify each user within the trust establishment system 190 and translate between them. The user database may therefore offer flexibility in terms of user identifiers.

The internal telephone system of the service provision system 100 may include a computer telephony integration (CTT) server that is connected to each agent computer of each agent terminal, e.g. 110, 112, 114 via the internal communications network of the service provision system 100. The CTI server may also be connected to the ACD 120 and/or PBX via the internal communications network.

When a telephone call from the telephone network 130 is received by the ACD 120, the ACD 120 may transfer the telephone call to a free agent terminal e.g. 110, 112, 114. If no agents are available the ACD 120 may queue the telephone call until an agent is available.

The ACD 120 may receive calling line identifier (CLI) data and/or dialled number identification service (DNTS) data when a telephone call is received from the telephone network 130. This data may be transmitted to the CTI server when the ACD 120 transfers a telephone call to a free agent terminal 110, 112, 114. The ACD 120 may also transmit to the CTI server information relating to which agent terminal 110, 112, 114 the telephone call has been transferred to. The CTI server may then transmit the CLI data and/or DNIS data to the agent computer of the agent terminal 110, 112, 114 to which the telephone call was transferred, so that the agent computer may use this information to display information in relation to the telephone call in a graphical user interface.

The user database 160 may be connected to a user management service via the internal communications network of the service provision system 100.

The user management service 165 may be one or more computer servers configured to monitor the user database 160 and/or to allow the monitoring of the user database 160 by agents of the service provision system 100. The user management service 165 and/or an agent using the user management service 165 may be configured to detect service events in relation to the users for whom information is stored in the user database 160, as is described in greater detail below.

In response to detecting a service event in relation to a user the user management service 165 may request an electronic notification service 180 to contact the user in relation to the service event. The electronic notification service 180 may be configured to send a notification message via a suitable data communications link (not shown) in order to contact a user as is described in greater detail below.

The electronic notification service 180 is in this embodiment provided within the service provision system 100. The electronic notification service 180 may be connected via the internal communications network of the service provision system 100 to the user management service 165 and the user database 160. The electronic notification service 180 may also be connected to a trust database 170 of a trust establishment system 190 via the communications network 155. The communications network 155 may include the Internet and/or a secure communications network over the Internet such as a Virtual Private Networking (VPN) connection over the Internet.

Additionally, the electronic notification systems (e.g. 180) of a plurality of service provision systems e.g. 100, 102, 104 may be configured to communicate with the trust database 170 of the trust establishment system 190 via communications networks similar to communications network 155.

The trust establishment system 190 in this embodiment includes an interactive voice response (IVR) unit 150 that is able to detect and respond to voice and dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signals received in telephone calls to which it is connected.

The IVR 150 may be connected to the telephone network 130 and may be configured to place and receive telephone calls using the telephone network 130. In order to place and receive telephone calls using the telephone network the IVR 150 may include or be connected to a PBX and/or ACD.

The IVR 150 is in this embodiment configured to receive telephone calls from user terminals 140, 142, 144 that are made by users in response to the receipt of notification messages from the electronic notification services (e.g. 180) included within the service provision systems 100, 102, 104. The IVR 150 is configured to establish trust between a calling party (a user terminal) and a service provision system e.g. 100, 102, 104 in a telephone call before the call is transferred for further processing by that service provision system, as is described in greater detail below.

The IVR 150 may include a network interface for communicating with other devices via a communications network (or networks). This communications network is in this embodiment a local area network (LAN) of the trust establishment system 190. The IVR 150 uses the network interface to access the trust database 170.

The trust database 170 contains trust establishment information relating to users of a plurality of different service provision systems (e.g. 100, 102, 104).

The trust database 170 may include a user table that stores information relating to each user for whom trust establishment information is stored in the trust database 170. Each entry in the user table may relate to a single user and includes a trust establishment system user identifier (TES user identifier) that uniquely identifies the user within the trust establishment system 190, trust authentication information such as a usename and password that the user may use in order to access the user information and trust establishment information held in relation to the user in the trust database, and the user's contact details including telephone number(s), email address, and postal address for use in contacting the user when necessary.

The trust database 170 may include information provided by users for use in establishing trust between one or more service provision systems (100, 102, 104) and each user. The trust database 170 may include a trust table that stores trust establishment information that relates to one or more relationships of trust, where each relationship of trust is between one user and one service provision system 100. Each entry in the trust table may relate to a relationship of trust between a user and one or more service provision systems (e.g. 100, 102, 104) and may include the TES user identifier that uniquely identifies the user within the trust establishment system 190, one or more service provision system user identifiers (SPS identifiers) that uniquely identify the user within the one or more service provision systems, one or more service provider identifiers that uniquely identify the one or more service provision systems, and a stored token selected by the user for use in establishing trust between the one or more service provision systems and the user. Each stored token may have been created by the user and as such may be uniquely associated with the user in the trust database. In this embodiment, a single stored token is related to, and transmitted on behalf of, a plurality of different service providers to the same user.

The trust database 170 may be able to use the trust table to translate between the TES user identifiers used to uniquely identify users within the trust establishment system 190 and the SPS user identifiers used to uniquely identify users within different service provision systems 100, 102, 104. For example each service provision system 100, 102, 104 may use a different SPS user identifier for the same user who has one TES user identifier in the trust establishment system 190, and the trust database may be able to use the trust table to link these different user identifiers together and translate between them.

The trust database 170 may therefore offer flexibility in terms of user identifiers.

The trust database 170 may also comprise a service provision system table that stores information relating to each service provision system (e.g. 100, 102, 104) for which trust establishment information is stored in the trust database 170. Each entry in the service provision system table may relate to a service provision system (e.g. 100, 102, 104) and include information such as the service provider identifier that uniquely identifies the service provision system, one or more telephone numbers associated with the service provision system, service provision system authentication information that the service provision system may use in order to access the information held in relation to the service provision system in the trust database 170, and service provision system contact details for use in contacting the service provision system when necessary.

A user registration system 175 may be provided within the trust establishment system 190 that can access the trust database 170 and provide a registration user interface. The user registration system 175 may be one or more computer servers configured to access the trust database 170 via a communications network. Alternatively the user registration system 175 could be the same one or more computer servers that host the trust database 170.

The registration user interface may allow users to register to use the trust establishment system 190 and provide stored tokens for use with service provision systems (e.g. 100, 102, 104). The user may be provided with an account with the trust establishment system 190 as a result of registering. Each user that registers to use the trust establishment system 190 may be allocated a unique TES user identifier, and both the account of the user with the trust establishment system 190 and that user may be associated with the TES user identifier.

The registration user interface may allow users to enter a token that may be received by the user registration system 175. Once a token has been received from a user by the user registration system 175 via the registration user interface, data corresponding to the token may be stored as a stored token. The stored token may for example be transmitted to the trust database 170 for storage therein by the user registration system 175.

The registration user interface may allow users to enter a token and associate the token with a selected service provision system (e.g. 100, 102, 104).

The service provision system (e.g. 100, 102, 104) may then use the stored token to establish the user's trust of the service provision system in service provision telephone calls made by the user.

The registration user interface may allow a user to uniquely associate a stored token with the user's TES user identifier in the trust database 170, so that the stored token could be used by all the service provision systems (e.g. 100, 102, 104) that may be associated with the user in the trust database 170.

The registration user interface may alternatively allow a user to associate each stored token that the user has entered with one or more service provision systems (e.g. 100, 102, 104). Thus for example the same stored token could be used by the service provision systems 100, 102, 104 of the plurality of different service provision system, or a different stored token could be used by the service provision systems 100, 102, 104, or a combination of both, in order to establish a user's trust of each service provision system in service provision telephone calls received from the user. If a user's stored token is to be associated with a particular service provision system (e.g. 100), in the trust database 170 the stored token may be entered into an entry in the trust table of the trust database indicating that the TES user identifier of that user, SPS user identifier used by that service provision system to identify that user, and service provider identifier are associated with the stored token.

A service provision system (e.g. 100, 102, 104) may have users who have not associated a stored token held in the trust database 170 with the service provision system. The service provision system (e.g. 100, 102, 104) may send new user information to the trust database 170 and/or user registration system 175 to indicate that the service provision system has a user that may wish to enter a token and/or associate a stored token with the service provision system so that the stored token may used be during telephone calls received from the user in order to establish the user's trust of the service provision system.

The new user information may include the SPS user identifier that uniquely identifies the new user within the service provision system 100 and/or a service provider identifier that uniquely identifies the service provision system (e.g. 100, 102, 104). The user registration system 175 may allow the user to link the SPS identifier provided in the new user information to an account the user has with the trust establishment system 190 and so link the SPS identifier and service provider identifier to the user's TES identifier that is used to identifiy an account of the user with the trust establishment system 190. This link may be stored as an entry in the trust table of the trust database 170 as described above.

If the user does not yet have an account with the trust establishment system 190 he may first register with the registration user interface before linking the SPS identifier provided in the new user information to his account as above.

A service provision system (e.g. 100, 102, 104) may send messages to users who have not associated a stored token held in the trust database 170 with the service provision system, in order to request that they use the registration user interface to enter a stored token and associate it with the service provision system. These messages may be sent via email, text messages, telephone calls, or as postal messages. These messages may appear on a website provided by the service provision system (e.g. 100, 102, 104) over the Internet. These messages may include a SPS user identifier that uniquely identifies the user and/or a service provider identifier that uniquely identifies the service provision system (e.g. 100, 102, 104), and these identifiers may need to be entered by the user when using the user registration system in order to associate a stored token of the user with the service provision system.

The registration user interface provided by the user registration system may include a telephony user interface that may be accessed in registration telephone calls between users and the telephony user interface. In order to provide the telephony user interface the user registration system 175 may include an interactive voice response (IVR) unit that is able to detect and respond to voice and dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signals received in registration telephone calls between the telephony user interface and users.

In a registration telephone call between a user and the telephony user interface, the user may be required to provide trust authentication information to the telephony user interface in order for the user to be granted access to the information stored in relation to the user in the trust database 170. The IVR unit of the user registration system 175 may then, through one or more IVR options, allow the user to enter a new token, edit stored tokens, and/or create and edit associations between stored tokens and service provision systems (e.g. 100, 102, 104).

A new token in the form of a received token may be received from the user as an in-call audio signal during a registration telephone call, in response to the user selecting to enter a new token via IVR options. The in-call audio signal may include the user speaking a vocal message such as for example "Hello, you can trust this telephone call", and/or may include other memorable and recognisable voices and/or sounds the user chooses to provide. The audio signal may be stored as a stored token that is an audio sample.

The registration user interface provided by the user registration system may include a graphical user interface. The graphical user interface provided by the user registration system 175 may be provided over a communications network, such as the Internet, to which the user registration system 175 is connected via a network interface.

The graphical user interface may be in the form of one or more web pages that may allow the user to enter a new token for submission to the user registration system 175, edit stored tokens, and/or create and edit associations between stored tokens and service provision systems (e.g. 100, 102, 104).

These web pages may be at least partially generated by the user registration system 175 using information stored in the trust database 170. In order to use the graphical user interface provided by the user registration system 175, the user may be required to provide trust authentication information to the graphical user interface in order for the user to be granted access to the information stored in relation to the user in the trust database 170.

A new token in the form of a received token may alternatively, or in addition, be received as textual input entered by the user using the graphical user interface. The textual input may include a message such as for example "Hello, you can trust this telephone call", and/or may include other memorable and recognisable messages and/or words the user chooses to enter. The textual input may be stored as a stored token that is an audio sample obtained from converting the textual input to speech using a text to speech converter in the user registration system 175 or trust database 170. The textual input may alternatively be stored as a stored token that is text that may later be converted to an audio sample prior to transmission to a calling party using a text to speech converter in the trust database 170 or the IVR 150.

A new token in the form of a received token may be received from the user as an audio file uploaded to the user registration system 175 using the graphical user interface. The audio file may include audio signals of the user speaking a message, and/or may include audio signals of other memorable voices and/or sounds the user chooses to provide. The audio file may be stored as a stored token that is an audio sample.

The registration user interface provided by the user registration system 175, may allow the user to enter a user selection corresponding to a stored token. The user selection may include a service provision system (e.g. 100, 102, 104) with which the stored token is to be associated in the trust database 170.

The user selection corresponding to a stored token that is received from a user via a registration user interface may be stored by the user registration system as data identifying said stored token in the trust database 170. The registration user interface may thus allow the user to select a stored token to be associated with a service provision system (e.g. 100, 102, 104). The stored token could be a token that was previously entered by the user, or alternatively it could be one of a plurality of pre-defined tokens provided by the user registration system 175 and/or trust database 170. These pre-defined tokens could be pre-defined audio samples. An association between a user, service provision system (e.g. 100, 102, 104) and a stored token may be stored in the trust table of the trust database 170 as described above.

Once a user has selected a stored token for use in establishing the user's trust of a service provision system (e.g. 100, 102, 104) during a telephone call from the user to the service provider, an agent of that service provider may interact with the user using the service provision system.

The trust establishment system 190 may be arranged to establish a plurality of calling parties' (e.g. 140, 142, 144) trust of a plurality of different respective service provision systems (e.g. 100, 102, 104) on behalf of each of the service provision systems respectively. In the exemplary embodiments of the invention described below a single service-provision telephone call between a calling party and a service provision system is described, however it should be understood that the trust establishment system 190 may be configured to handle a plurality of such calls from different calling parties to different service provision systems (e.g. 100, 102, 104) both simultaneously and consecutively over time.

Figure 2 illustrates steps that may be performed by the components of the system shown in Figure 1 in order to conduct a service-provision telephone call from a calling party to a called party, according to the first embodiment of the invention.

Initially a service event may be detected in relation to a user of the service provision system 100 (step 200). A service event may be detected for a user by the user management service 165 and/or an agent using the user management service 165. A service event may be detected as a result of analysis by the user management service 165 of information stored in the user database 160. For example, a service event may be detected in response to the user management service 165 detecting that a user has an overdue bill in relation to an account, or that the user has an upcoming appointment with the service provision system 100 (or the service provider to which it belongs), or that the user has placed an order with the service provision system 100, etc. When a service event is detected in relation to a user, the user management service 165 may send a request for a notification message to be transmitted to the user (step 202). The user management service 165 may request that the electronic notification service 180 send such a notification message to a user in response to the user management service 165 detecting a service event.

The user management service 165 may request that the electronic notification service 180 send a notification message to a user by transmitting a user identifier of the user to the electronic notification service 180. The user identifier of the user that is transmitted could be the SPS user identifier or the TES user identifier. The user management service 165 may also transmit information relating to the service event to the electronic notification service 180.

The electronic notification service 180 may then receive the user identifier and information relating to the service event (if transmitted) from the user management service 165. The electronic notification service 180 may use the user identifier to access the user's contact details held in the user database 160. The electronic notification service 180 may then use the user's contact details in order to send a notification message to the user (step 204). The notification message may include a text message, voice message, email, and/or letter sent to a user address (or user addresses) held in the user contact details.

The notification message may contain an identifying code. The identifying code may be a notification identifier generated by the electronic notification service 180 in response to receiving the user identifier and information relating to the service event from the user management service 165.

The notification identifier may uniquely identify the detected service event and/or the user to which that service event relates. The notification identifier may contain at least a portion of information relating to the service provider identifier of the service provision system 100 in order to differentiate the notification identifier from those generated by electronic notification systems (e.g. 180) of other service provision systems e.g. 102, 104.

The notification message may request that the user make a telephone call in relation to the service event using a telephone number provided in the notification message. The notification message may request that the user provide the identifying code in the telephone call. The notification message may contain at least a portion of the service event information, in order to inform the user of why a telephone call to the service provision system has been requested.

The electronic notification service 180 may store the identifying code and information relating to the service event in the user database 160. The electronic notification service 180 may relate the identifying code to the SPS user identifier and the information relating to the service event in the user database 160.

The electronic notification service 180 may also transmit the identifying code, the user identifier to which the identifying code relates, and the service provider identifier of the service provision system 100 to the trust database 170 of the trust establishment system 190. The user identifier transmitted to the trust database 170 may be the SPS user identifier or the TES user identifier. On receipt of these the trust database 170 may store the identifying code and associate it with the entry in the trust table of the trust database 170 identified by the user identifier and service provider identifier received.

The user may then place a telephone call to the trust establishment system 190 in response to receipt of the notification message. The telephone call may for example be placed using the user terminal 140. The telephone number used by the user to make the telephone call may have been included in the notification message and may correspond to a telephone number of the trust establishment system 190.

The IVR 150 of the trust establishment system 190 may then receive a telephone call via the telephone network 130 from a calling party (step 206).

The calling party may be a user using a user terminal, e.g. 140, to place the telephone call, and is henceforth referred to as the calling party 140. The trust establishment system 190 may be the called party in the telephone call. The telephone call may form at least part of a service provision telephone call in which an agent using the service provision system 100 provides services of the service provider to the calling party 140.

The trust establishment system 190 may then receive an identifying code from the calling party 140 after the telephone call has been established (step 208). The identifying code may be received from the calling party in the telephone call by way of Dual Tone Multiple Frequency (DTMF) signals. The IVR 150 of the trust establishment system 190 may be configured to receive the identifying code in the form of these DTMF signals. The IVR 150 may be configured to prompt the user to enter the identifying code when the telephone call is established.

Once the identifying code has been received from the calling party 140 the trust establishment system 190 may then retrieve a stored token on the basis of the identifying code (step 210).

In order to retrieve the stored token the TVR 150 may access the trust database 170. The WR 150 may transmit the identifying code to the trust database 170. The identifying code may be the notification identifier generated by the electronic notification service 180 in step 204. The trust database 170 may use the entry in the trust table associated with the identifying code in order to retrieve the stored token. The stored token is thus a stored token selected by the user for use in establishing trust between the user and the service provision system 100 that sent the identifying code. The trust database 170 may then transmit the retrieved stored token to the IVR 150.

The stored token may then be transmitted from the WR 150 of the trust establishment system 190 to the calling party 140 during the telephone call in order to establish the calling party's trust of the service provision system 100 on behalf of the service provision system (step 212).

The stored token may be a stored audio sample as described above.

Transmitting the stored token may comprise the IVR 150 playing back the stored audio sample in-call to the calling party 140.

The stored token may alternatively be text as described above.

Transmitting the stored token may then comprise the IVR 150 converting the text to an audio sample using a text to speech converter and playing back the audio sample in-call.

Thus the stored token that the calling party 140 previously selected may be played back to the calling party 140 in the service-provision telephone call.

The calling party 140 may then recognise the stored token and establish trust with the service provision system 100.

As, following the receipt of the stored token, the calling party 140 has established trust with the service provision system 100, the calling party 140 can trust that the telephone call is genuinely to the service provision system 100 and not to an impersonator of the service provision system 100.

The telephone call from the calling party 140 may then be passed on from the trust establishment system 190 to the service provision system 100 for further processing, after the stored token has been transmitted to the calling party (step 214).

The trust establishment system 190 may first determine the identity of the service provision system 100, 102, 104 to which the telephone call should be passed on the basis of at least part of the identifying code. To do this the IVR may transmit the identifying code to the trust database 170. The identifying code may be the notification identifier generated by the electronic notification service 180 in step 204. The trust database 170 may use the entry in the trust table associated with the identifying code in order to retrieve the service provider identifier associated with the notification identifier. The trust database may then access the service provision system table in the trust database 170 in order to retrieve telephone number of the service provision system 100 of the service provision system identified by the retrieved service provider identifier.

The telephone number of the service provision system 100 may then be transmitted to the IVR 150.

The telephone call from the calling party 140 may then be transferred from the trust establishment system 190 to the service provision system 100 by the IVR 150. The IVR 150 may instruct the telephone network 130 to transfer the telephone call to the telephone number of the service provision system 100, for example by transmitting DTMF signals to the telephone network 130 that indicate that the telephone call should be transferred and that indicate the telephone number that the telephone call should be transferred to.

The DTMF signals transmitted by the IVR 150 to the telephone network may also include the identifying code received by the IVR 150 from the calling party 140. The DTMF signals for the identifying code may be transmitted after those indicating the telephone number that the telephone call should be transferred to.

The service provision system 100 may then receive the telephone call (step 216). The telephone number of the service provision system 100 used to transfer the telephone call may correspond to that of the ACD 120 so that the telephone call is passed to the ACD 120 after the telephone call has been transmitted to the calling party 140.

The ACD 120 may then receive the identifying code in the telephone call. The ACD 120 may receive the identifying code as part of dialled number identification service (DNIS) data provided by the telephone network 130, along with the other DTMF signals used to transfer the telephone call.

The ACD 120 may then distribute the telephone call to one of the agent terminals 110, 112, 114 of the service provision system 100. An agent terminal e.g. 110 that is free may be selected to receive the call. The ACD 120 may then transfer the telephone call to the agent terminal 110. The ACD 120 may transmit the identifying code to the CTT server when the telephone call is transferred to the agent terminal 110, so that the CT server may then transmit the identifying code to the agent computer of the agent terminal. The agent computer may then display information from the user database 160 relating to the notification code in conjunction with the telephone call, such as for example information relating to the service event that was detected in step 200 by the electronic notification service 180.

The agent using the agent terminal 110 may then conduct further processing in relation to the service-provision telephone call that has been received (step 218). The further processing that may take place may include the agent collecting password data from the calling party 140.

The agent using the agent terminal 140 may interact with the calling party 140. For example the agent may prompt the calling party 140 to speak a password so that the agent may verify the calling party's identity. The agent may check that the password is correct by comparing it to user authentication information stored for the calling party 140 in the user database 160.

By passing on the telephone call for further processing after the stored token has been transmitted to the calling party 140, an agent of the service provision system 100 may provide services of the service provider during further processing of the telephone call from the calling party 140, after the calling party has established trust with the service provision system 100.

A second exemplary embodiment of the invention will now be described.

The second embodiment of the invention may proceed according to the first embodiment of the invention described above. However in the second embodiment the trust establishment system 190 may determine the identity of a service provision system (e.g. 100, 102, 104) to which the telephone call should be passed on the basis of a called party identifier received during call establishment.

As in the first embodiment the telephone number used by the user to make the telephone call to the trust establishment system 190 in step 204 may have been included in the notification message and may correspond to a telephone number of the trust establishment system 190. However in the second embodiment this telephone number may be reserved by the trust establishment system 190 for receiving telephone calls relating to the service provision system 100, rather than telephone calls relating to other service provision systems (e.g. 102, 104). The trust establishment system 190 may provide a plurality of telephone numbers for receiving service-provision telephone calls, with each telephone number reserved for receiving service-provision telephone calls in relation to a different service provision system 100, 102, 104.

In step 214 the IVR 150 may therefore determine the identity of the service provision system 100, 102, 104 to which the telephone call should be passed on the basis of a called party identifier received during call establishment. For example, the called party identifier may be dialled number identification service (DNS) data provided by the telephone network 130 indicating the telephone number used by the calling party to establish the service-provision telephone call. The IVR 150 may determine which of the plurality of telephone numbers for receiving service-provision telephone calls received the telephone call from the calling party 140, and hence which service provision system the telephone call relates to, using this DNIS data.

The IVR 150 may then transmit the service provider identifier of the service provision system (e.g. 100, 102, 104) to which the telephone call relates to the trust database 170 in order to retrieve telephone number of the service provision system 100. Alternatively the TVR 150 may store the telephone number of the service provision systems (e.g. 100, 102, 104) locally, for example in a lookup table, and access the telephone number of the service provision system 100 directly from this lookup table once the service provision system the telephone call relates to has been determined.

The second embodiment may otherwise proceed according to the first embodiment.

A third exemplary embodiment of the invention will now be described.

The third embodiment of the invention may proceed according to the first or second embodiment of the invention described above. However in order to pass on the service-provision telephone call for further processing the IYR 150 may establish a second telephone call to the service provision system 100 and bridge the second telephone call with the telephone call from the calling party 140, rather than transferring the telephone call from the calling party to the service provision system 100.

Once the identity of the service provision system to which the telephone call should be passed has been determined in step 214 the IVR may place a second telephone call to the telephone number of the service provision system via the telephone network 130.

The DTMF signals transmitted by the IVR 150 to the telephone network 130 to place the second telephone call may include the identifying code received by the IVR 150 from the calling party 140. The DTMF signals for the identifying code may be transmitted after those indicating the telephone number that the second telephone call should be placed to.

The service provision system 100 may then receive the second telephone call as if it were the service-provision telephone call, i.e. in accordance with step 216 of the first embodiment.

The IVR 150 may then bridge the second telephone call with the telephone call from the calling party 140. For example, the IVR 150 may instruct the PBX included within or connected to the IVR 150 to bridge the telephone call from the calling party with the second telephone call to the service provision system 100.

Further processing may then take place in the bridged telephone call in accordance with the first embodiment.

A fourth exemplary embodiment of the invention will now be described.

The fourth embodiment of the invention may proceed according to the first embodiment of the invention described above. However in the fourth embodiment the service provision telephone call may be made from the calling party to the service provision system 100, rather than to the trust establishment system 190.

The telephone number used by the user to make the telephone call in step 204 may have been included in the notification message and may correspond to a telephone number of the service provision system 100, rather than of the trust establishment system 190.

The ACD 120 may receive a telephone call via the telephone network from a calling party 140, rather than the IVR 150 of the trust establishment system 190 receiving the telephone call from the calling party 140. The service provision system 100 may be the called party in the telephone call. The telephone call may form at least part of a service provision telephone call in which an agent using the service provision system 100 provides services of a service provider to the calling party 140.

The ACD 120 may detect that the received telephone call is from a user.

For example, the ACD 120 may detect that the calling line identifier (CLT) data received from the telephone network 130 with the telephone call does not relate to a telephone number of the trust establishment system 190, and may therefore assume that the telephone call is from a user.

In response to detecting that the telephone call is from a user, the ACD may transfer the telephone call to the trust establishment system 190. The ACD 120 may instruct the telephone network 130 to transfer the telephone call to the telephone number of the trust establishment system 190, for example by transmitting DTMF signals to the telephone network 130 that indicate that the telephone call should be transferred and that indicate the telephone number that the telephone call should be transferred to.

The IVR 150 of the trust establishment system 190 may then receive the telephone call from the calling party 140 (transferred from the service provision system 100 via the telephone network 130) in accordance with step 206 of the first embodiment.

The fourth embodiment may then continue in accordance with the first embodiment from step 206 onwards, i.e. the IVR 150 of the trust establishment system 190 may receive the identifying code from the calling party 140 after the telephone call has been transferred to the trust establishment system 190, a stored token may be transmitted to the calling party in the telephone call, etc. However, in step 214 the IVR 150 may determine the identity of the service provision system to which the telephone call should be passed on the basis of call signalling accompanying the telephone call. For example, the call signalling accompanying the telephone call may be calling line identifier (CLI) data received from the telephone network 130 by the IVR 150 of the trust establishment system 190 that indicates the telephone number from which the telephone call has been transferred.

The IVR 150 may be configured to recognise a plurality of telephone numbers from which service-provision telephone calls may be transferred, with each telephone number corresponding to a different service provision system 100, 102, 104 in relation to which service provision telephone calls may be received. The TVR 150 may recognise that the telephone number from which the telephone call was transferred is one of the plurality of telephone numbers from which service-provision telephone calls may be transferred and may then transfer the telephone call to the telephone number from which the telephone call was transferred, i.e. the telephone call may be transferred back to the service provision system 100.

The telephone call may thus be transferred from the trust establishment system 190 to the service provision system 100 by the IVR 150 in accordance with the first embodiment, but using telephone number from which the telephone call was transferred as described above.

The service provision system 100 may then receive the telephone call in accordance with step 216 of the first embodiment, however the ACD 120 may detect that the received telephone call is from the trust establishment system 190 rather than from a user. For example, the ACD 120 may detect that the calling line identifier (CLI) data received from the telephone network 130 with the telephone call relates to a telephone number of the trust establishment system 190, and may therefore assume that the telephone call is from the trust establishment system 190.

The service provision system may then proceed in accordance with the remainder of step 216 and subsequent steps of the first embodiment.

Figure 3 schematically illustrates the components of a system for conducting a service-provision telephone call from a calling party 140 to a called party, according to a fifth embodiment of the invention. The system illustrated in Figure 3 is arranged in the same way as that of Figure 1 and the fourth embodiment, except that the service provision system 100 may include one or more computer servers that form a service provision system interactive voice response unit (SPS IVR) 125 that is able to detect and respond to voice and dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signals received in telephone calls to which it is connected. The SPS IVR 125 may be connected to the ACD 120 and/or PBX of the service provision system 100.

The fifth embodiment may proceed according to the fourth embodiment, however when the ACD 120 of the service provision system 100 receives a telephone call and detects that this telephone call is from a user as described in the fifth embodiment, the ACD 120 may transfer the telephone call to the SPS IVR 125, rather than to the trust establishment system 190.

The SPS IVR 125 of the service provision system 100 may then receive an identifying code from the calling party 140. The identifying code may be received from the calling party in the telephone call by way of Dual Tone Multiple Frequency (DTMF) signals. The SPS IVR 125 may be configured to receive the identifying code in the form of these DTMF signals. The SPS IVR may be configured to prompt the user to enter the identifying code when the telephone call is established.

Once the identifying code has been received from the calling party 140 by the SPS IVR 125, the SPS IVR 125 may instruct the telephone network 130 to transfer the telephone call to the telephone number of the trust establishment system 190, for example by transmitting DTMF signals to the telephone network 130 that indicate that the telephone call should be transferred and that indicate the telephone number that the telephone call should be transferred to.

The DTMF signals transmitted by the SPS IVR 125 to the telephone network 130 may also include the identifying code received by the SPS IVR 125 from the calling party 140. The DTMF signals for the identifying code may be transmitted after those indicating the telephone number that the telephone call should be transferred to.

The IVR 150 of the trust establishment system 190 may then receive the telephone call from the calling party 140 (transferred from the service provision system 100 via the telephone network 130) in accordance with the fourth embodiment.

However, the IVR 150 of the trust establishment system 190 may detect that the telephone call has been transferred from a service provision system 100, 102, 104 using call signalling accompanying the telephone call. For example, the call signalling accompanying the telephone call may be calling line identifier (CLI) data received from the telephone network 130 by the IVR 150 of the trust establishment system 190 that indicates the telephone number from which the telephone call has been transferred.

The IVR 150 may be configured to recognise a plurality of telephone numbers from which service-provision telephone calls may be transferred, with each telephone number corresponding to a different service provision system 100, 102, 104 in relation to which service provision telephone calls may be received. The IVR 150 may recognise that the telephone number from which the telephone call was transferred is one of the plurality of telephone numbers from which service-provision telephone calls may be transferred.

In response to detecting that the telephone call has been transferred from a service provision system 100, 102, 104, the TVR 150 may then receive the identifying code in the telephone call. The IVR 150 may receive the identifying code as part of dialled number identification service (DNIS) data provided by the telephone network 130, along with the other DTMF signals used to transfer the telephone call. The identifying code may therefore be received by the trust establishment system 190 from the service provision system 100 after the telephone call has been established with the service provision system (i.e. after the telephone call from the calling party 140 was first received by the service provision system 100).

The trust establishment system 190 may then retrieve a stored token on the basis of the identifying code in accordance with step 210 of the first embodiment, except that the identifying code was received from the service provision system 100 as described above.

The fifth embodiment may otherwise proceed in accordance with the fourth embodiment.

A sixth exemplary embodiment of the invention will now be described.

The sixth embodiment of the invention may proceed according to the fourth embodiment of the invention or the fifth embodiment of the invention. However in the sixth embodiment the trust establishment system 190 determines an identity of a service provision system 100, 102, 104 to which the telephone call should be passed on the basis of information passed to the trust establishment system 190 from the service provision system 100.

The information for determining an identity of a service provision system 100, 102, 104 passed to the trust establishment system 190 from the service provision system 100 may be passed as DTMF signals transmitted by the ACD 120 (i.e. when the sixth embodiment is operating in accordance with the fourth embodiment) or the SPS IVR 125 (i.e. when the sixth embodiment is operating in accordance with the fifth embodiment) to the telephone network 130 when the service provision system 100 transfers the telephone call to the trust establishment system 190.

The IVR 150 of the trust establishment system 190 may then receive the information for determining an identity of a service provision system 100, 102, 104 as part of dialled number identification service (DNIS) data provided by the telephone network 130, along with the other DTMF signals used to transfer the telephone call.

Alternatively the information for determining an identity of a service provision system 100, 102, 104 passed to the trust establishment system 190 from the service provision system 100 may be passed from the ACD 120 or the SPS IVR 125 (as appropriate) via a communications network (e.g. communications network 155) between the ACD 120 or the SPS IVR 125 (as appropriate) and the WR 150. In this case the information for determining an identity of a service provision system 100, 102, 104 may be passed to the trust establishment system 190 when the service provision system 100 transfers the telephone call to the trust establishment system 190.

The information for determining an identity of a service provision system 100, 102, 104 may be the service provider identifier of the service provision system 100 from which the telephone call is being transferred.

When the sixth embodiment is operating in accordance with the fifth embodiment, the information for determining an identity of a service provision system 100, 102, 104 may alternatively be the identifying code received by the SPS IVR 125 from the calling party 140.

In order to determine the identity of the service provision system 100, 102, 104 to which the telephone call should be passed the IVR 150 may transmit information for determining an identity of a service provision system 100, 102, 104 to the trust database 170.

If the information for determining an identity of a service provision system 100, 102, 104 is a service provider identifier, the trust database 170 may access the service provision system table in the trust database 170 in order to retrieve the telephone number of the service provision system 100 identified by the service provider identifier.

Alternatively if the information for determining an identity of a service provision system 100, 102, 104 is an identifying code i.e. a notification identifier generated by the electronic notification service 180 in step 204, the trust database 170 may use the entry in the trust table associated with the identifying code in order to retrieve the service provider identifier associated with the notification identifier. The trust database 170 may then access the service provision system table in the trust database 170 in order to retrieve the telephone number of the service provision system 100 identified by the retrieved service provider identifier.

In either case the telephone number of the service provision system 100 may then be transmitted by the trust database 170 to the IVR 150.

The telephone call may then be transferred from the trust establishment system 190 to the service provision system 100 by the WR 150 in accordance with the fourth or fifth embodiment, as appropriate, but using telephone number of the service provision system 100 received from the trust database 170 as described above.

The sixth embodiment may otherwise proceed in accordance with the fourth or fifth embodiment, as appropriate.

Figure 4 schematically illustrates the components of a system for conducting a service-provision telephone call from a calling party 140 to a called party, according to a seventh embodiment of the invention. The system illustrated in Figure 4 is arranged in the same way as that of Figure 1 and the first embodiment, except that the service provision system 100 may include one or more computer servers that form an interactive voice response (TVR) unit 450 that is able to detect and respond to voice and dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signals received in telephone calls to which it is connected.

The IVR 450 may be connected to the ACD 120 of the service provision system 100 and may be configured receive telephone calls from the telephone network 130 that are passed to it from the ACD 120.

The IVR 450 may be configured to receive telephone calls from user terminals 140, 142, 144 that are made by users in response to the receipt of notification messages from the electronic notification services included within the service provision systems 100, 102, 104. The TVR 450 may be configured to establish trust between a calling party (at a user terminal) and the service provision system 100 in a telephone call before the calling party is transferred for further processing.

The IVR 450 may include a network interface for communicating with other devices via a communications network (or networks). This communications network may be a local communications network of the service provision system 100. The IVR 450 may be connected to the user database 160 via this communications network. The IVR 450 may also be connected to the trust database 170 of the trust establishment system 190 via the communications network 155.

In the seventh embodiment the service provision telephone call may be made from the calling party to the service provision system 100, rather than to the trust establishment system 190.

The ACD 120 may thus receive a telephone call via the telephone network 130 from a calling party 140, rather than the trust establishment system receiving the telephone call from the calling party 140. The service provision system 100 may be the called party in the telephone call. The telephone call may form at least part of a service provision telephone call in which an agent using the service provision system 100 provides services of the service provider to the calling party 140.

In response to receiving a telephone call from the calling party, the ACD may transfer the received telephone call to the IVR 450.

The IVR 450 may then operate in the same way as the IVR 150 of Figure 1 and the first embodiment in steps 206 to 212, i.e. it may retrieve an identifying code on the basis of an interaction with the calling party during the telephone call, retrieve a stored token from a trust establishment system, the stored token being retrieved on the basis of the identifying code, and establish the calling party's trust of the service provision system 100 by transmitting the stored token to the calling party. However in contrast to the IVR 150 of Figure 1, the IVR 450 of the service provision system 100 may use the communications network to communicate with the trust database 170 when necessary.

Once the IVR 450 has transmitted the stored token to the calling party in accordance with step 212 of the first embodiment in order to establish the calling party's 140 trust of the service provision system 100, the IVR 450 may transfer the telephone call for further processing.

This further processing may include processing the telephone call at the service provision system 100, after the stored token has been transmitted to the calling party.

In order to do this the IVR 450 may transfer the telephone call back to the ACD 120 with instructions indicating that the ACD 120 should distribute the telephone call to one of the agent terminals 110, 112, 114 of the service provision system 100. The IVR 450 may also transmit to the ACD 120 the identifying code received from the calling party 140 in accordance with step 208, for example by using a CTI link between the IVR 450 and ACD 120, and/or by transmitting the identifying code via a communications network via which the TVR 450 and ACD 120 are connected.

The ACD 120 may then distribute the telephone call to one of the agent terminals 110, 112, 114 of the service provision system 100 in accordance with step 216 of the first embodiment.

The seventh embodiment may otherwise proceed according to the first embodiment.

An eighth exemplary embodiment of the invention will now be described. The eighth embodiment of the invention may proceed according to any preceding embodiment of the invention described above. However in the eighth embodiment the trust establishment system 190 may contain an electronic notification service 185 as shown in Figure 5, rather than the service provision system 100 containing an electronic notification service 180 as shown in Figure 1 (or Figure 3 or Figure 4, as appropriate).

The electronic notification service 185 may be connected to the user management service 165 of the service provision system 100 via the communications network 155. The electronic notification service 185 may also be connected to the user management service of other service provision systems e.g. 102, 104 via similar communications networks to communications networks 155. The electronic notification service 185 may provide the same service as the electronic notification service 180 of Figure 1 (or Figure 3 or Figure 4, as appropriate) for one or more service provision systems (e.g. 100, 102, 104) that use the trust establishment system 190. The electronic notification service 185 may also be connected to the trust database 170 in the trust establishment system via a communications network, which may be the local network of the trust establishment system 190.

In this embodiment, a user management service e.g. 165 may request that a notification message is sent to the user in accordance with step 202, except that the user management service 165 may request that the electronic notification service 185 send a notification message to a user by transmitting a user identifier of the user and the service provider identifier of the service provision system 100 to the electronic notification service 185. The user identifier of the user that is transmitted could be the SPS user identifier or the TES user identifier. The user management service 165 may also transmit information relating to the service event to the electronic notification service 185.

The electronic notification service 185 may then receive the user identifier and service provider identifier, as well as information relating to the service event (if transmitted) from the user management service 165. The electronic notification service 185 may use the user identifier to access the user's contact details held in the user table of the trust database 170.

The electronic notification service 185 may then use the user's contact details in order to send a notification message to the user in accordance with step 204, except that the identifying code that may be contained in the notification message may be a notification identifier generated by the electronic notification service 185 in response to receiving the user identifier and service provider identifier, as well as the information relating to the service event (if transmitted) from the user management service 165.

The electronic notification service 185 may transmit the notification identifier to the user management service 165. On receipt of the notification identifier the user management service 165 may store the notification identifier and information relating to the service event in the user database 160. The user management service 165 may relate the notification identifier to the SPS user identifier and the information relating to the service event in the user database 160.

The electronic notification service 180 may also transmit the identifying code, the user identifier to which the notification identifier relates, and the service provider identifier of the service provision system 100 to the trust database 170 in accordance with the first embodiment.

The eighth embodiment may otherwise proceed according to any proceeding embodiment.

The above embodiments of the invention offer flexibility in terms of the interaction needed between the trust establishment system 190 and a service provision system (e.g. 100, 102, 104) in order to conduct a service-provision telephone call. Tt will be appreciated that a single trust establishment system may be configured to simultaneously operate according to different embodiments of the invention described above in order to interact appropriately with different service provision systems (e.g. 100, 102, 104) appropriately.

The above embodiments are to be understood as illustrative examples of the invention. Further embodiments of the invention are envisaged, as follows.

In alternative embodiments of the invention the user database 160 could be hosted on the same computer server (or computer servers) as the user management service 165 and/or electronic notification service 180, rather than being hosted on separate computer servers.

The graphical user interface of the user registration system 175 may be provided within a social networking service, such as for example Facebook.

Stored tokens may be stored in relation to a user by a social networking service, such as Facebook. The user registration system 175 may allow a user to grant the trust establishment system 190 and/or one or more service provision systems (e.g. 100, 102, 104) access to one or more stored tokens held by the social networking service so that this one or more stored tokens may be used for establishing trust in service-provision telephone calls. The trust establishment system 190 and/or service provision systems (e.g. 100, 102, 104) may access the stored tokens held by the social networking service using a protocol for publishing and interacting with protected data, such as for example OAuth.

It will be appreciated that the user database 160 and trust database 170 are illustrative examples of methods for storing the information described.

Collecting password information during further processing of a service-provision telephone call may alternatively include the agent prompting the calling party 140 to enter password information as DTMF signals by using a keypad of the user terminal 140. This password information may be checked against the user authentication information in the user database 160 by the agent, agent terminal 110 and/or agent computer included in the agent terminal.

One or more actions performed by the agent in any of the above embodiments may be automated by the agent terminal (e.g. 110, 112, 114) and/or agent computer. Actions that require interaction with the called party such as collecting password information from the calling party may be performed by an IVR unit included in the agent terminal and/or agent computer.

In alternative embodiments of the invention the electronic notification service (180 or 185) may transmit to the user a notification message containing an identifying code that is the service provision system user identifier (SPS user identifier) of the user to which a service event relates, rather than generating a notification identifier and transmitting an identifying code that is a notification identifier. As described above a SPS user identifier may uniquely identify the user within a service provision system 100, 102, 104. The calling party may then enter the identifying code that is an SPS user identifier when prompted in the service-provision telephone call. The identifying code may then be received by the trust establishment system 190 and/or service provision system 100 as described above. The SPS user identifier may then be used to retrieve a stored token for transmission to the user from the trust database 170. The SPS user identifier may be uniquely associated with one TES user identifier and one service provider identifier within the trust table of the trust database 170.

In alternative embodiments of the invention the electronic notification service (180 or 185) may transmit to the user a notification message containing an identifying code that includes both the trust establishment system user identifier (TES identifier) of the user to which a service event relates and the service provider identifier generating the service event, rather than generating a notification identifier and transmitting an identifying code that is a notification identifier. As described above a TES user identifier may uniquely identify the user within the trust establishment system 190. The calling party may then enter the identifying code that includes both a TES identifier and a service provider identifier when prompted in the service-provision telephone call. The identifying code may then be received by the trust establishment system 190 and/or service provision system 100 as described above. Both the TES identifier and the service provider identifier may then be used to retrieve a stored token for transmission to the user from the trust database 170.

The above alternative embodiments of the invention may thus offer flexibility in terms of the type of identifying code that is transmitted to users in notification messages and subsequently received from the users in service-provision telephone calls. Different types of identifying code may be more appropriate in relation to different service provision systems and/or different service events. For example, a user receiving a notification message relating to a service event that is a hospital appointment may expect to receive a generated identifying code relating to the hospital appointment rather than an identifying code relating to an identity number, national insurance number or similar which the user may be suspicious of entering during a service-provision telephone call.

In another example a user receiving a notification message relating to a bank account may expect to receive an identifying code relating to the bank account rather than a generated identifying code that the user may not recognise and may therefore be suspicious of It is to be understood that any feature described in relation to any one embodiment may be used alone, or in combination with other features described, and may also be used in combination with one or more features of any other of the embodiments, or any combination of any other of the embodiments.

Furthermore, equivalents and modifications not described above may also be employed without departing from the scope of the invention, which is defined in the accompanying claims.

Claims

Claims 1. A method of operating a trust establishment system during at least part of a service-provision telephone call originally made from a calling party to a called party, comprising: receiving an identifying code after the telephone call has been established; retrieving, on the basis of the identifying code, a stored token; transmitting the stored token from the trust establishment system to the calling party during the telephone call in order to establish the calling party's trust of a service provision system on behalf of the service provision system; and passing the telephone call from the trust establishment system to the service provision system for further processing, after the stored token has been transmitted to the calling party.
2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the trust establishment system is arranged to establish a plurality of calling parties' trust of a plurality of different respective service provision systems on behalf of each of the service provision systems respectively.
3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the called party is the trust establishment system, and comprising determining an identity of a service provision system to which the telephone call should be passed on the basis of a called party identifier received during call establishment.
4. A method according to claim 2, wherein the called party is the trust establishment system, and comprising determining an identity of a service provision system to which the telephone call should be passed on the basis of at least part of the identifying code.
5. A method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the identifying code is received from the calling party by the trust establishment system.
6. A method according to claim 2, wherein the called party is the service provision system, the method comprising receiving the telephone call from the service provision system and comprising determining an identity of a service provision system to which the telephone call should be passed on the basis of information passed to the trust establishment system from the service provision system.
7. A method according to claim 2, wherein the called party is the service provision system, the method comprising determining an identity of a service provision system to which the telephone call should be passed on the basis of call signalling accompanying the telephone call.
8. A method according to claim 6 or claim 7, wherein the identifying code is received by the trust establishment system from the service provision system after the telephone call has been established with the service provision system.
9. A method according to claim 6 or claim 7, wherein the identifying code is received by the trust establishment system from the calling party after the telephone call has been passed to the trust establishment system.
10. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the stored token is a stored audio sample, and wherein transmitting the stored token comprises playing back the stored audio sample in-call to the calling party in order to establish the calling party's trust of the service provision system.
11. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the stored token is uniquely associated with the calling party.
12. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the further processing of the service-provision telephone call comprises collecting password data from the calling party.
13. A method according to any preceding claim, comprising, prior to the service-provision telephone call, receiving a token from a user via a registration user interface, and storing data corresponding to the received token as the stored token.
14. A method according to claim 13, wherein the registration user interface is a telephony user interface and the received token is received from the user as an in-call audio signal during a registration telephone call.
15. A method according to claim 13, wherein the registration user interface is a graphical user interface and the received token is received from the user as textual input.
16. A method according to claim 13, wherein said registration user interface is a graphical user interface and the received token is received from the user as an audio file.
17. A method according to any of claims ito 12, comprising, prior to the service-provision telephone call, receiving a user selection corresponding to a stored token from a user via a registration user interface, and storing the received user selection as data identifiying the stored token.
18. A method according to any preceding claim, comprising passing the service-provision telephone call to an automatic call distributor in the service provision system after the stored token has been transmitted to the calling party.
19. A method according to any preceding claim, comprising transmitting a notification identifier to a user address associated with the calling party prior to the service-provision telephone call, and receiving the identifying code in the form of the notification identifier from the calling party.
20. A method according to claim 19, comprising receiving a user identifier and a service provider identifier prior to the telephone call, and in response generating the notification identifier.
21. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the identifying code is received from the calling party in the telephone call by way of Dual Tone Multiple Frequency (DTMF) signals.
22. Apparatus arranged to perform the method of any preceding claim.
23. A method of operating a service provision system during at least part of a service-provision telephone call originally made from a calling party to a called party, the method comprising: receiving the telephone call from a trust establishment system; and processing the telephone call at the service provision system after the telephone call is received from the trust establishment system, wherein the telephone call is received from the trust establishment system after the trust establishment system has established the calling party's trust of the service provision system on behalf of the service provision system by transmitting a stored token to the calling party, the stored token being retrieved on the basis of an identifying code provided by the calling party.
24. A method according to claim 23, wherein the method comprises passing the telephone call to the trust establishment system from the service provision system in order for the trust establishment system to establish the calling party's trust of the service provision system on behalf of the service provision system by transmitting the stored token to the calling party.
25. A method according to claim 24, wherein the method comprises retrieving the identifying code on the basis of an interaction with the calling party during the telephone call at the service provision system, before the telephone call has been passed to the trust establishment system, and transmitting the identifying code from the service provision system to the trust establishment system.
26. A method of conducting at least part of a service-provision telephone call from a calling party to a called party, comprising: receiving a notification message comprising a notification identifier; placing a telephone call from the calling party; transmitting the notification identifier from the calling party in the telephone call; receiving at the calling party a stored token transmitted from a trust establishment system during the telephone call in order to establish the calling party's trust of a service provision system; and further processing the telephone call by interaction with the service provision system at the calling party after the stored token has been received from the trust establishment system.
27. A trust establishment system for conducting at least part of a service-provision telephone call from a calling party to a called party, the trust establishment system comprising: means for receiving an identifying code after the telephone call has been established; means for retrieving, on the basis of the identifying code, a stored token; means for transmitting the stored token from the trust establishment system to the calling party during the telephone call in order to establish the calling party's trust of a service provision system on behalf of the service provision system; and means for passing the telephone call from the trust establishment system to the service provision system for further processing, after the stored token has been transmitted to the calling party.
28. A service provision system for conducting at least part of a service-provision telephone call originally made from a calling party to a called party, the system comprising: means for receiving the telephone call from a trust establishment system; and means for processing the telephone call at the service provision system after the telephone call is received from the trust establishment system, wherein the telephone call is received from the trust establishment system after the trust establishment system has established the calling party's trust of the service provision system on behalf of the service provision system by transmitting a stored token to the calling party, the stored token being retrieved on the basis of an identifying code provided by the calling party.
29. A service provision system according to claim 28, wherein the system comprises means for passing the telephone call to the trust establishment system from the service provision system in order for the trust establishment system to establish the calling party's trust of the service provision system on behalf of the service provision system by transmitting the stored token to the calling party.
30. A service provision system according to claim 29, wherein the system comprises means for retrieving the identifying code on the basis of an interaction with the calling party during the telephone call at the service provision system, before the telephone call has been passed to the trust establishment system, and transmitting the identifying code from the service provision system to the trust establishment system.
31. A method of operating a service provision system during at least part of a service-provision telephone call originally made from a calling party to a called party, the method comprising: receiving the telephone call from the calling party; retrieving an identifying code on the basis of an interaction with the calling party during the telephone call at the service provision system; retrieving a stored token from a trust establishment system, the stored token being retrieved on the basis of the identifying code; establishing the calling party's trust of the service provision system by transmitting the stored token to the calling party; and processing the telephone call at the service provision system after the stored token has been transmitted to the calling party.
32. A service provision system for conducting at least part of a service-provision telephone call originally made from a calling party to a called party, the system comprising: means for receiving the telephone call from the calling party; means for retrieving an identifying code on the basis of an interaction with the calling party during the telephone call at the service provision system; means for retrieving a stored token from a trust establishment system, the stored token being retrieved on the basis of the identifying code; means for establishing the calling party's trust of the service provision system by transmitting the stored token to the calling party; and means for processing the telephone call at the service provision system after the stored token has been transmitted to the calling party.
33. A method of conducting at least part of a service-provision telephone call originally made from a calling party to a called party, comprising: receiving an identifying code from the calling party after the telephone call has been established; retrieving, on the basis of the identifying code, a stored token; transmitting the stored token to the calling party during the telephone call in order to establish the calling party's trust, wherein the stored token is uniquely associated with the identifying code.*::r: INTELLECTUAL . ... PROPERTY OFFICE Application No: GB 1010732.4 Examiner: Mr Jared Stokes Claims searched: ito 33 Date of search: 21 October 2010 Patents Act 1977: Search Report under Section 17 Documents considered to be relevant: Category Relevant Identity of document and passage or figure of particular relevance to claims A -U52008/0198990A1 (Noldus et al.) A -U52008/0102819A1 (Bengtsson et al.) A -GB2426890A (SBC Knowledge) Categories: X Document indicating lack of novelty or inventive A Document indicating technological background and/or state step of the art.Y Document indicating lack of inventive step if P Document published on or after the declared priority date but combined with one or more other documents of before the filing date of this invention.same category.& Member of the same patent family E Patent document published on or after, but with priority date earlier than, the filing date of this application.Field of Search:Search of GB, EP. WO & US patent documents classified in the following areas of the UKCX Worldwide search of patent documents classified in the following areas of the IPC HO4M The following online and other databases have been used in the preparation of this search report EPODOC, WPI International Classification: Subclass Subgroup Valid From HO4M 0003/42 Oi/Oi/2006 Intellectual Property Office is an operating name of the Patent Office www.ipo.gov.uk