JP2002064639A - Call-recording system for business for replying by telephone, and voice-recording board used by call- recording system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a call-recording system for business for replying by telephone and a voice-recording board used by the system that can easily search for and reproduce target recorded voice data by storing the call attribute information of PBX (1), client information (2), and recorded voice data of replying call details (3) while they are related one another, performing business processing by business application software and recording processing of call details in parallel, and further can temporarily and automatically stop recording arbitrarily or under specific conditions to an unneeded call part. SOLUTION: The call-recording system consists of a private branch telephone switchboard connected to a telephone line network, a plurality of telephone terminals 10 connected to the private branch telephone switchboard, a reply server 4, a plurality of reply server clients 8 connected to the reply server, and a voice-recording board fitted to the expansion slot of the reply server client.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a CTI (ComputerTel) for a call center (telephone response center).
The present invention relates to a telephone call recording system suitably used in an ephony integration (computer telephone communication integration) system and a voice recording board mounted in an expansion slot of a personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as a PC) used for constructing the system.

[0002]

2. Related Art Conventionally, a telephone response system for a call center has been known as PBX (Private Branch Exc.).
change: private branch exchange) and a plurality of telephones connected to the PBX.
It collects voice data directly from a PBX or a telephone and records and accumulates it in a call recording device. Therefore, when it is necessary to retrieve and reproduce the recorded voice data of the call content later, the searchable condition items are limited to the communication attribute information (caller telephone number, call start time, etc.) from the PBX. Therefore, it is very difficult to search for the target recorded voice data.

In recent years, telephone service systems for call centers have shifted from the above-mentioned conventional system in which telephone service is performed using only a PBX and a telephone to a CTI system in which telephone service is performed in cooperation with a PC.
(See, for example, JP-A-11-74975,
See JP-A-98252, JP-A-11-284740, JP-A-2000-115254, and the like. )

The basic configuration of a CTI system is a CTI-compatible PBX connected to a telephone line network, a plurality of telephone terminals (extension telephones) connected to the PBX, and a response server (referred to as a CTI server). In some cases) and the response server is connected to a LAN (Local Area Network).
k), a plurality of clients (PC terminals) connected by k), and other auxiliary devices (routers, gateways, various servers, etc.) are provided as needed.

In the CTI system, a customer's name, address,
A customer information database consisting of records having items such as telephone numbers, customer numbers, past reception dates and times, and past transaction contents is managed by a reception server. This customer information database is stored in a client (PC terminal) operated by an operator. ) Is available.

The basic operation of the CTI system is as follows. When a call is received from an outside line (call), the PBX automatically distributes the call to the extension telephones in charge of each operator as appropriate, Information (caller telephone number, call start time, etc.) is notified to the client (PC terminal) of the reception server, and based on the communication attribute information notified from the PBX, the client reads the information from the customer information database of the reception server. The corresponding customer information can be searched and extracted, and the customer information can be displayed on the screen of the client.

As described above, in the CTI system, various information can be appropriately referred to by the client (PC terminal) operated by the operator in cooperation with the telephone response by the operator's telephone call, and the telephone response is more flexible and prompt. Can perform business.

However, even in such a CTI system, the recorded voice data of the contents of the call is still transmitted to the call recording device to the extent that the communication attribute information (caller telephone number, call date / time, etc.) from the PBX is added. At present, it is vaguely stored and stored, and since it is not related to customer information, it is not easy to retrieve and reproduce the target recorded voice data later.

However, it is not possible to simply associate customer information with recorded voice data. This is because, in a normal call recording device, voice data is simply accumulated in a time series and stored, so that it is difficult to make an ex-post association with customer information.

Therefore, it is necessary to associate customer information with recorded voice data in advance and store and store the data. In other words, the call from the start to the end of the call is temporarily recorded, the recorded voice data is correlated with the corresponding customer information in the customer information database, and then stored and stored. They will be stored in association with each other.

However, in the daily work of the call center,
At all times, an operator waits for tens to hundreds of telephones to perform telephone service, and the volume of voice data is extremely enormous. Therefore, it is substantially impossible to centrally manage the recording process, the association process, and the storage process by the reception server or another server.

On the other hand, when the recording process from the start to the end of the call is performed by the client (PC terminal),
Since the time of one call for a telephone response sometimes exceeds one hour, the client (P
C terminal) CPU and memory of the main body are occupied,
The business application software of the CTI system necessary for performing the original telephone answering service may become inoperable or defective, which may hinder the telephone answering service.

In addition, it is uneconomical to mount a high-performance CPU and a large-capacity memory in each of tens to hundreds of clients (PC terminals) installed in a call center. Even if a large-capacity memory is installed, the burden still remains on the CPU and memory of the client (PC terminal) body, and the operation of the CTI system application software for business becomes unstable, and It is something that can not tolerate.

[0014] Furthermore, the conventional call recording device is basically a full call recording format (a format in which all calls are recorded consistently from the start to the end of a call), so that there is a need for silence parts and unimportant conversations. Even the call part without the voice is all recorded, which is a waste of the storage medium.

[0015]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and has PBX call attribute information (caller telephone number, call date, call time, etc.), customer information ( Name, address, phone number, customer number,
It is possible to search and record the target recorded voice data easily by correlating and storing the past response person, past transaction contents, past response history, etc.) and recorded voice data of the received call contents. It is reproducible and can be realized with an inexpensive client PC terminal without burdening the processing capability of the client PC terminal. Business processing by the business application software of the CTI system, and voice data recording of call contents Telephone response that can be processed smoothly and in parallel without any trouble, and for unnecessary call parts, recording can be paused manually or automatically under predetermined conditions to prevent recording. It is an object of the present invention to provide a business call recording system and a voice recording board used in the system.

[0016]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problems, a telephone answering call recording system according to the present invention comprises a private branch exchange connected to a telephone network, and a private branch exchange connected to the private branch exchange. A plurality of telephone terminals, a service server,
The service server is characterized by comprising a plurality of service server clients connected to the service server and a voice recording board mounted in an expansion slot of the service server client.

That is, the response server client (PC
A voice recording board for recording voice data of the telephone call content is attached to the expansion slot of the terminal), and the voice recording board records the voice content. It enables recording of call contents without any load.

[0018] The response server client responds to the recorded voice data generated by the voice recording board.
It is preferable to assign a call recording number.

It is preferable that the customer service server stores customer information and a customer service history including a call recording number assigned to recorded voice data.

Preferably, the system further includes a voice storage server for storing and storing the recorded voice data. In the case of a relatively small call center, the answering server may also serve as the voice storage server, and in that case, the voice storage server may not be provided.

Preferably, the voice storage server stores communication attribute information, recorded voice data, and a call recording number assigned to the recorded voice data.

That is, the communication attribute information from the PBX (caller's telephone number, call start time, call end time, answering person number, etc.) and the contents of the call recorded by the voice recording board built in the answering server client. The recorded voice data is combined with a call recording number, which is a unique indicator assigned to the recorded voice data, so as to be stored and stored.

It is more preferable that the system further include a voice search / playback client having a search / playback function of the recorded voice data stored and stored in the voice storage server, since the convenience of search and playback is improved. .
It should be noted that the response server client may also have the function of the voice search / playback client.

Next, the voice recording board used in the telephone recording system for telephone response business of the present invention is a voice recording board mounted in an expansion slot of a response server client, and comprises an analog / digital conversion circuit and a storage capacity. Is 3
It is characterized by comprising a semiconductor memory for voice recording of 2 MB or more, an external input / output circuit, and a voice recording processing control circuit.

The voice recording board of the present invention is generally a type of PC peripheral device called an expansion board, and similar devices include a sound board or an audio board.

The difference between the voice recording board of the present invention and a general sound board or audio board is as follows.
Since there is no need to generate music or voice, a sound source circuit and a voice reproduction circuit are not necessary. Also, an A / D conversion circuit for converting an analog call into a digital signal and recording is required. D
A / A conversion circuit is not required, and the contents of the telephone call are recorded and stored continuously for about one hour.
And that a memory capacity of 32 MB or more is required.

[0027] It can be said that the call duration of one telephone call at the call center can be more than one hour.
Since 80% of them end a call within one hour, it can be said that there is no hindrance to business performance if the recordable time is at least about one hour. Therefore, in the voice recording board of the present invention, it is necessary to secure a recording time of at least about one hour.

In this case, the required memory capacity varies depending on the digital recording method.
In a CM (Pulse Code Modulation: pulse code modulation) method, a sampling frequency of 8 KHz,
When recording as a digital signal of 8 bits (1 byte) per word and a monaural channel, about 1 second of voice can be recorded in a memory having a capacity of 8 KB. One hour is 3600 seconds. In this case, the memory capacity necessary for one hour of recording is 3600 seconds × 8 KB = 28800 KB (28.
8 MB). Generally, a semiconductor memory such as a DRAM is 8 MB, 16 MB, 32 MB, 64 MB, 96 M
B, since it is manufactured and sold in units of storage capacity such as 128 MB, if the memory is 32 MB or more, the recordable time can be secured for one hour or more.

In the example of the digital recording system described above, the case of the PCM system has been described. However, the ADPCM (Adaptive)
Differential Pulse Code Mo
duration) method, in which case PCM
Compared with the method, the data volume can be reduced with the same sound quality, so that the memory space can be used effectively. In addition, MP3
The data amount may be reduced by using an audio data compression technique such as the (MPEG Audio Layer 3) standard.

The above-mentioned digital recording method is an example of a case where all calls are recorded (a format in which recording is performed consistently from the start to the end of a call). Since unnecessary call parts such as inconsequential conversations are possibly included, the memory of the voice recording board is wasted and the storage medium (such as a hard disk) of the voice storage server is wasted. Therefore, it is important not to record such unnecessary call portions. In this respect, the voice recording board of the present case is an extension board built in the reception server client (PC terminal), and therefore, the reception is not performed. Server client software
The control by the program is easy, and the recording of the unnecessary call part can be manually arbitrarily or automatically stopped under predetermined conditions.

The storage capacity of the semiconductor memory for voice recording is more preferably 64 MB or more. The above PC
In the case of the M system digital recording, the memory capacity is 1 second per 8 KB, so if it is 64 MB (64000 KB), 64000 KB / 8 KB = about 133 minutes (8000 minutes).
Seconds), and the possible recording time is extended.

The semiconductor memory for voice recording is a DRAM.
(Dynamic Random-Access Mem
ory) is preferable from the viewpoint of cost per storage capacity.

The voice recording processing control circuit is an LSI circuit for controlling and calculating the voice recording processing. This voice recording processing control circuit has a separate CPU operable independently of the CPU of the response server client (PC terminal) body.
It is preferred that Since the CPU serving as the voice recording processing control circuit only needs to be able to perform relatively simple control and calculation of the voice recording processing, an 8-bit CPU or a 16-bit CPU can be employed.
As U, for example, Zilog (ZiLOG, In)
c. ) Or 808 from Intel Corporation.
For example, an 8086 microprocessor manufactured by Intel Corporation, a V30 microprocessor manufactured by NEC Corporation, or the like can be used as the 16-bit CPU.

In recent years, the price of high-performance CPUs has also been reduced, and a higher-performance CPU can perform control and calculation in higher-speed voice recording processing.
High-performance CPU such as 2-bit CPU and 64-bit CPU
May be adopted. In this case, 32 bits C
As PU, for example, 80386, 8 manufactured by Intel Corporation
0486 microprocessor, etc.
As a 4-bit CPU, for example, Intel Pe
ntium microprocessor and AMD (Adva)
nsced Micro Device, Inc. ) Made of K
5, a K6 microprocessor or the like can be used. Also,
Of course, other high performance CPUs other than the above examples may be employed. That is, what is essential is to select and use an optimal CPU as appropriate in a balance between price and performance.

It should be noted that a PCI bus or an ISA bus is preferably used as an expansion slot for mounting the voice recording board of the present invention on a response server client (PC terminal).

[0036]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the illustrated example is merely illustrative, and various modifications may be made without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. Needless to say, it is possible to make changes.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a device configuration of one embodiment of the telephone recording system for telephone service according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 denotes a private branch exchange (PB).
X), 4 is a response server (CTI server), 6 is a voice storage server, 8 is a response server client (PC terminal), 1
Reference numeral 0 denotes a telephone (telephone terminal), and reference numeral 12 denotes a voice search / playback client (PC terminal). The response server client 8 includes a voice control program 11 and a voice recording board 9. In the illustrated example, only one response server client 8 and one telephone 10 are provided, respectively. However, actually, according to the scale of the call center, etc.,
Dozens to hundreds of response server clients 8 and telephones 10 may be provided.

When there is a call (incoming call) from an outside line, the private branch exchange 2 transfers the extension to the telephone 10 of the operator in charge of the call, and sends additional data ( Caller's phone number, receptionist number, etc.).

At the telephone 10 to which the extension has been transferred from the private branch exchange 2, the operator in charge responds to the customer by telephone call, and the voice of the call is recorded via the audio output terminal into the voice recording built in the response server client 8. Transmit to board 9.

The service server client 8 operated by the operator retrieves the corresponding customer information from the service server 4 based on the additional data from the private branch exchange 2 and displays it on the screen. Also, the voice recording control program 11
An instruction is given to start recording audio data input from the telephone 10 to the audio recording board 9 via the audio output terminal.

When the telephone conversation with the customer is completed, the voice recording control program 11 instructs the voice recording board 9 to end the recording, and instructs the reception server 4 to record one voice. Notify additional data such as a call recording number assigned to each data, and further, to the voice storage server 6, record the voice data recorded in the memory of the voice recording board 9 and the recorded voice data. The assigned call recording number and other additional data (such as communication attribute information) are combined and transferred.

As described above, the voice storage server 6
Recorded voice data combined with the call recording number and other additional data is stored, and the call recording number is recorded as customer response history in the customer information of the reception server 4, so that the call recording number is used as a unique indicator. By intervening, the customer information of the response server 4 and the recorded voice data of the voice storage server 6 can be easily cross-referenced.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a circuit configuration of one embodiment of the voice recording board of the present invention. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 9 denotes an audio recording board, 22 denotes an analog / digital (A / D) conversion circuit, 24 denotes a memory, 26 denotes an external input / output (I / O) circuit, and 28 denotes a CPU (audio recording processing control circuit). is there.

When the voice of the call between the operator and the customer is input to the voice recording board 9, under the control of the CPU 28, the analog / digital conversion circuit 22 converts the input voice into an analog signal to a digital signal. It is recorded and stored in a memory 24 having a capacity.

At this time, since various calculations and controls in the digital recording system, for example, the PCM system, are performed in the CPU 28, the load of the recording process is not applied to the CPU and the memory of the PC terminal body. Further, the recorded voice data is recorded and stored in the memory 24 of the voice recording board 9, so that the memory of the PC terminal body is not occupied by the recorded voice data.

The external input / output circuit 26 controls input / output with the PC terminal body. Note that the connection between the voice recording board 9 of the present invention and the PC terminal body is based on the PCI bus standard or IS
An A-bus standard expansion slot is used.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the internal operation of the voice recording board of the present invention. In FIG. 3, 9a is a voice recording process control, 9b is a true / false determination of recording start / end,
9c is a speech voice A / D conversion, 9d is memory storage, 9e is voice data transfer, and 11 is a voice recording control program.

At the same time as the call voice is input to the voice recording board 9, the voice recording control program 11 notifies the voice recording board 9 of a recording start command. The control 9a is started. Voice recording processing control 9a by this CPU 28
Performs various calculations and controls such as sampling in various digital recording methods (such as the PCM method), and controls processing from the start to the end of recording.

When the voice recording is started by the voice recording process control 9a, the process branches to true (recording) in the true / false judgment 9b of the recording start / end, and then the A / D conversion circuit 22 converts the speech voice A / D. 9c, the call voice converted into a digital signal is stored in a memory 9d in the memory 24. During a call, since it is determined to be true (recording) in the true / false judgment 9b of recording start / end, the call voice is sequentially and continuously stored in the memory 9d.

When the call ends, the voice recording control program 11 notifies the voice recording board 9 of a command to end the recording. In response to this, the voice recording control 9a by the CPU 28 branches the true / false determination 9b of recording start / end to no (recording end). Then, the voice data stored in the memory 24 is transmitted to the voice storage server 6. For the transfer, the data is transferred to the sound recording control program 11 by the sound data transfer 9e.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the overall data flow in the telephone recording system according to the present invention.

When a call (incoming call) is made to the PBX 2 from an external line, the call is transferred to the telephone 10 by extension, and additional data (caller telephone number) is transmitted to the voice recording control program 11 of the response server client 8. Number, service person number, etc.).

In the voice recording control program 11, the call status is confirmed in the call start status acquisition 11a, and then, in the call information acquisition 11b, additional data on the call notified from the PBX 2 (caller telephone number) is transmitted. Number, reception staff number, etc.) and record start instruction 1
At 1c, a command to start recording to the voice recording board 9 is notified.

When the voice recording board is notified of the recording start command 11b from the voice recording control program 11, the voice recording processing control 9a is started, and the contents of the call are performed according to the procedure described in the description of FIG. Recording process. When the recording process is completed, the recorded voice data is transferred to the voice recording control program 11 in the voice data transfer 9e.

The voice recording control program 11 monitors the call disconnection state (end of call) in the call disconnection state acquisition 11d before the voice data transfer 9e from the voice recording board 9 is performed. When the call is disconnected, a recording end command to the voice recording board 9 is notified. Next, call recording number notification / customer additional information acquisition 11
In step e, the call recording number, which is a unique indicator of the disconnection (end of call) call, is notified to the answering server 4, and the answering server sends the customer information and additional information (past information) of the customer based on the customer information database 4a. , Etc.), which includes the call recording number of the customer.

When the voice recording processing is completed in the voice recording board 9 and the voice recording control program 11 receives the voice data transfer 9e from the voice recording board 9, the voice data acquisition 11f acquires the voice data. Then, in the voice data + additional data for search 11g, the voice data acquired from the voice recording board 9 and
The customer information and the additional information obtained from the response server 4 are combined with the additional data for search obtained by processing for the search, and then, the voice data + the additional data for search 11h is transmitted.
The voice data and the additional data for search are transferred to the voice storage server 6.

In the voice storage server 6, when the voice data and the search additional data from the voice recording control program 11 are transferred, the voice data + search additional data acquisition 6a
Then, the data is acquired and stored in the voice storage database 6c by the voice data + search additional data registration 6b.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a flow in the case where the stored voice data is searched for and reproduced by the telephone answering service call recording system of the present invention.
In FIG. 5, reference numeral 4 denotes a reception server, 8 denotes a PC terminal as a reception server client, 6 denotes a voice storage server, and 12 denotes a PC terminal as a voice search / playback client.

When it becomes necessary to refer to the voice data stored and stored in the voice storage database, the voice search / reproduction client (PC terminal) 12 performs a voice additional data search 12a to search for the data accompanying the voice data. By searching for additional data for use, target audio data can be found.

The search conditions at this time are as follows. In the customer information / customer response history search 8a of the response server client (PC terminal) 8, the customer of the response server 4 is determined by additional data (caller telephone number, response person number, etc.). The information database 4a is searched, and the obtained search results (corresponding customer information, customer response history, etc.) are acquired as search conditions in a search condition acquisition 8b, and the search conditions are retrieved by the voice search / playback client (PC terminal) 12. Voice additional data search 12
a may be used.

Voice search / playback client (PC terminal) 1
2 is obtained as voice data by voice data obtaining 12b,
The audio data reproduction 12c can reproduce the target voice of the call content.

The response server client (PC terminal) 8 and the voice search / playback client (PC terminal) 12
Of course, the PC terminal may be provided as a separate PC terminal, or may be provided as a PC terminal having both functions.

[0063]

As described above, according to the telephone recording system for telephone response business of the present invention and the voice recording board used in the system, the telephone attribute information of the PBX (caller telephone number, telephone date, telephone time, etc.). , Customer information (name,
Address, telephone number, customer number, past service representatives, past transactions, past service history, etc.), and recorded voice data Recorded voice data can be easily searched and reproduced, and can be realized with an inexpensive client PC terminal without burdening the processing capability of the client PC terminal.
The business process by software and the recording process of voice data of the call contents can be processed smoothly and smoothly in parallel,
Furthermore, for a call part that is not necessary, there is a remarkable effect that the recording can be temporarily stopped manually or automatically under predetermined conditions to prevent the recording.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a device configuration of one embodiment of a telephone answering business call recording system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a circuit configuration of one embodiment of a voice recording board of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an internal operation of the voice recording board of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an overall data flow in the telephone recording system for telephone service according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow in a case where the stored voice data is searched for and played back by the telephone answering service call recording system of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

2: Private branch exchange (PBX) 4: Response server 4,
a: customer information database, 6: voice storage server, 6
a: Acquisition of additional data for search, 6b: Registration of additional data for search, 6c: Voice storage database, 8: Response server client (PC terminal), 8a: Customer information / customer response history search, 8b: Acquisition of search condition, 9: Voice recording board, 9
a: Voice recording processing control, 9b: True / false judgment of recording start / end, 9c: Call voice A / D conversion, 9d: Memory storage, 9
e: voice data transfer, 10: telephone, 11: voice recording control program, 11a: call start information acquisition, 11b: call information acquisition, 11c: recording start command, 11d: call disconnection state acquisition, 11e: call recording Number notification / customer additional information acquisition, 11f: audio data acquisition, 11g: audio data + additional data for search, 11h: audio data + transfer additional data transfer, 12: audio search / playback client (PC terminal), 12a: audio Additional data search, 12b: audio data acquisition, 12c: audio data reproduction, 22: analog / digital (A / D) conversion circuit, 24: memory, 26: external input / output (I / O) circuit, 28: CPU.

Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5K015 AA01 AD01 AD02 AD05 AE01 AF05 AF07 GA01 5K024 AA72 AA76 BB05 CC01 CC09 DD01 DD02 EE01 EE09 FF03 FF06 GG01 GG03 GG05 GG10 GG12 5K049 AA02 AA18 BB01 BB19 FF01 BB19 BB04 FF40 GG11 GG12 KK02 KK12 KK13

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A private branch exchange connected to a telephone network, a plurality of telephone terminals connected to the private branch exchange, a reception server, a plurality of reception server clients connected to the reception server, And a voice recording board mounted in an expansion slot of the response server client. 2. The service server client according to claim 1, further comprising:
The telephone call recording system according to claim 1, wherein a telephone call recording number is assigned. 3. The customer service server according to claim 1, wherein the customer service server stores customer information and a customer service history including a call recording number assigned to the recorded voice data.
The telephone call recording system for the telephone response business described. 4. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an audio storage server for storing and storing the recorded audio data.
3. The telephone call recording system for telephone response business according to any one of 3. 5. The telephone according to claim 4, wherein said voice storage server stores communication attribute information, recorded voice data, and a call recording number assigned to said recorded voice data. Call recording system for business use. 6. A voice search / playback client having a search / playback function of recorded voice data stored and stored in the voice storage server.
The telephone call recording system for the telephone response business described. 7. A voice recording board mounted in an expansion slot of a service server client in the telephone service business call recording system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the voice recording board is an analog / digital conversion circuit and a storage capacity. Is 32M
A voice recording board comprising a semiconductor memory for voice recording of B or more, an external input / output circuit, and a voice recording processing control circuit. 8. The voice recording board according to claim 7, wherein a storage capacity of said semiconductor memory for voice recording is 64 MB or more. 9. The voice recording board according to claim 7, wherein said voice recording processing control circuit is a separate CPU operable independently of a CPU of the response server client body.