JPH0591194A - Automatic dialing control system for telephone set - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the job efficiency of automatic dialing by starting automatic dialing to a succeeding dial destination before the end of job processing with respect to a preceding destination by estimating the reply time of the succeeding dialing destination under the monitor of the actual job processing progress state. CONSTITUTION:A host computer 7 outputs an instruction to start automatic dialing to a succeeding dialing destination to the private branch of exchange 1 based on data relating to an average reply time of a dial destination in a database for destination management information when the job processing progress state reaches a prescribed state before the end of the job based on the information of a job processing progress status, the job state of the operator in the database for the operating state of a telephone set 2 while estimating the average reply time of the succeeding dial destination. Thus, the private branch of exchange 1 estimates the average reply time for a succeeding dialing destination to start the automatic dialing to the succeeding dialing destination when the progress state of the job processing in progress at present reaches a prescribed state before the end state of the job.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic call control system for telephones, and more particularly to an automatic call control system for telephones that sequentially makes automatic calls to a plurality of destinations by automatic dialing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an automatic call control system for telephones used for telephone-related dunning work, questionnaire work, and other calling-related telephone work, there are an automatic call system that automatically dials by a private branch exchange and an automatic dialing system that uses automatic dialing. There is known a predictive call system which automatically detects later that the other party of the automatic call has responded and distributes and connects this to the acceptable telephone among the telephones connected to the private branch exchange.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned auto call system, when the business processing for one destination is completed, the automatic transmission to the next destination is started. Until the other party at the automatic call destination answers, the telephone becomes idle and the automatic call work efficiency decreases.

On the other hand, in the predictive call system, it is possible to make an automatic call in advance before the business processing for one callee is completed. The idle time of the telephone due to the waiting time before answering is shortened, and the efficiency of automatic calling work is improved. In this case, however, the automatic transmission timing needs to be set appropriately so that if the other party of the automatic transmission responds after the automatic transmission, this is immediately distributed to the telephones that can receive the call.

Conventionally, this automatic transmission timing is set by
Average call work time (average call time required for telephone work), average post-processing work time (average value required for post-processing such as call result input and data reduction), and average response, which are the statistical values of management information. It is set by empirical consideration by the system administrator based on the time (the average value of the time during which the calling party responds).

However, in reality, the automatic call timing is properly set based on the statistical value of the management information as described above due to the fluctuation of the call work time and the post-processing work time with the calling party due to the skill of the operator on the calling side. It is difficult for a system administrator with high experience to set it.

The present invention has been made by paying attention to the above-mentioned problems in the conventional automatic transmission control system for a telephone, which minimizes the idle time of the terminal and maximizes the operating rate of the system. In order to drive the vehicle automatically, the automatic transmission timing is automatically set appropriately regardless of fluctuations in the call work time with the other party and the post-processing work time due to the skill of the calling party operator, etc. It is intended to provide an automatic outgoing call control system for a telephone that allows it to be made.

[0008]

According to the present invention, the above-mentioned objects are connected to a private branch exchange so that a terminal having a telephone function for making outgoing calls and a computer can be connected for data communication, and automatic dialing is performed by automatic dialing. In the automatic call control system for telephones, the computer is provided with a database regarding the response time of the callee, the progress of the business process by the terminal is notified to the computer as status information, and the response time of the callee of the database is related. A feature is that the automatic transmission to the next destination is started when the progress status of the business process based on the status information reaches a predetermined state before the completion state of the response time of the next destination based on the data. Achieved by an automatic call control system for telephone calls.

Incidentally, the terminal with a telephone function referred to here is
A telephone with a built-in computer, a combination of a desktop computer body and a display such as a CRT and a telephone, a combination of a laptop personal computer with a display and a telephone, and a display with a telephone function Means a computer.

[0010]

According to the above-mentioned structure, the automatic transmission to the next destination is performed before the completion of the business processing to the last destination by anticipating the response time of the next destination while monitoring the actual progress of the business processing. It is started, so that the state in which the response from the other party of the next destination is made immediately after the completion of the business processing to the last destination, and the business processing to the next destination is performed immediately after the completion of the business processing to the last destination. Will be able to get started.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an automatic call control system for a telephone according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 indicates a digital private branch exchange,
The private branch exchange 1 has a plurality of telephones 2 for originating telephone business.
Are connected by an extension 3.

The private branch exchange 1 has an automatic dialing function by means of automatic dialing, is connected to the public telephone network 5 by a line 4, and is automatically dialed by automatic dialing to provide a telephone 2 on the premises.
Via the public telephone network 5 are selectively connected to telephones 6 of external customers.

In the private branch exchange 1, a host computer 7 is connected to an RS-232 via a computer interlocking interface.
They are communicably interconnected by a transmission line 8 by a serial interface such as C. Host computer 7
May be an office computer, a file server, or the like, and controls the private branch exchange 1 such as collecting management information and controlling automatic dialing.

The host computer 7 is connected to an external storage device 9 such as a hard disk unit that stores a database of management information of destinations of customers and the like and a database of operating conditions of each telephone 2 as a file.

The database of destination management information stored in the external storage device 9 has data fields of name, telephone number, and average response time for each destination, as illustrated in FIG. The average response time in this database is updated for each destination by learning based on previous response records.

Each telephone 2 stored in the external storage device 9
As shown in FIG. 3, the database of the operating status of 1 has data fields of the telephone number of the telephone 2, the duty operator name, the operator's work status, and the business process progress status. The work state includes leaving the operator, reception, and post-processing. When leaving the telephone, the telephone 2 is in a state in which the call cannot be accepted due to the absence of the operator (duty operator) in charge, engaging in other business work, or the like. Shows the state that the operator in charge can accept calls.
Post-processing indicates that the operator in charge is carrying out post-processing work such as inputting call results and organizing data after a call. The business process progress status includes a telephone call service according to a predetermined procedure for each business process, post-processing of each item in the post-process, and registration thereof.

Each of the telephones 2 is provided with a terminal 1 through a transmission line 10 by a serial interface such as RS-232C.
1 are communicatively interconnected. The terminal 11 may be a personal computer or the like, and the computer main body 12, the keyboard 13, and the display 1 such as a CRT.
4 and.

The terminal 7 notifies the host computer 7 via the private branch exchange 1 of this as status information each time the oreputer sits, leaves, or changes in the work processing progress status. In this case, the status information of the seated or left seat of the orepet is notified to the host computer 7 by the operator pressing the designated key of the keyboard 13 of the terminal 11, and the status information indicating the transition of the business processing progress status is The host computer 7 is automatically notified by a key operation of the keyboard 13 of the terminal device 11 by the operator accompanying the execution of the item in the call operation or the post-processing operation according to the procedure determined in advance.

The status information of the terminal 11 as described above notified to the host computer 7 is overwritten in the data fields of the working status and the business process progress status of the database of the operating status of each telephone 2 stored in the external storage device 9. And update this to the latest information.

The host computer 7 uses the data relating to the average response time of the destinations in the database of the destination management information as described above, and expects the average response time of the next destination, and stores it in the database of the operating status of the telephone 2 described above. At the time when the business processing progress status based on the information on the operator's work status and business processing progress status at a predetermined state before the completion status, a command to start automatic transmission to the next destination is set up The data is output to the exchange 1.

As a result, the private branch exchange 1 expects the average response time of the next call destination, and when the progress status of the work processing currently in progress reaches a predetermined state before the completion state, the next call origination is made. Start automatic call to the destination.

In this case, according to the work status and the business process progress status in the database of the operating status of the telephone 2, the completion point of the business process currently in progress is watched for the progress of the business process currently in progress. As a result, an automatic call to the next callee is made during post-processing or registration of the item corresponding to the time when the time based on the average response time of the next callee is subtracted from the estimated time of completion of this business process. It will be started in advance.

For the time based on the average response time of the next destination, the average response time is multiplied by a predetermined safety factor (a real number of 1 or less) in consideration of safety, and the average response time is a predetermined multiple of the average response time. It may be the minimum value of the response time without being detracted from by subtracting the standard deviation of time and further by the average response time.

Next, FIG. 4 shows an automatic dial processing procedure for each line in the automatic transmission control system having the above-mentioned configuration.
Will be explained.

When the operator is seated and the corresponding telephone 2 becomes ready for reception, the operator notifies the host computer 7 of this by operating a key on the keyboard 13 of the terminal 11.

The host computer 7 determines the time when the telephone 2 which can be accepted as described above occurs, and the business process progress status in the database of the operating status of the telephone 2 is determined by the average response time of the destination to be automatically transmitted next. When the status is changed to a predetermined status, an automatic dialing command having a destination telephone number and a calling line number is sent to the private branch exchange 1. The private branch exchange 1 analyzes this automatic dialing command, selects the designated line 4, and sends the designated telephone number to the public telephone network 5 by the automatic dial function.

When the public telephone network 5 calls the called party and the called party answers, the private branch exchange 1 automatically detects the answer from the line 4 by polarity reversal or the like, and notifies the host computer 7 of this.

When the host computer 7 receives the notification of the other party's response from the private branch exchange 1, it sends a command to the private branch exchange 1 to change the status of the telephone 2 to the call state, and also sends the script information of the other party of the call. To the terminal 11.

The private branch exchange 1 analyzes the command from the host computer 7, puts the corresponding telephone 2 into the calling state,
This is connected to the line 4 which responded. At this time, the script information of the callee is displayed on the display 14 of the corresponding terminal 11.

As a result, when the operator visually recognizes the script information displayed on the display 14 of the terminal 11 and responds from the telephone 2, the telephone becomes in a call state with the called party, and the operator performs a call task. After the call, post-processing work will be continued. As the business process progresses, the business process progress status of the telephone set 2 changes one after another, and the telephone set 2 or the terminal unit 1 changes at each transition.
1 notifies the host computer 7 of the current status.

FIG. 5 shows an example of automatic transmission timing in the automatic dialing process according to the above procedure.
In FIG. 5, the telephone 2 and the line 4 are shown as unique numbers with subscripts 1, 2, and 3, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 5, in consideration of the response time of the next destination, automatic transmission to the next destination is started before the completion of the business processing for the last destination, so that immediately after the completion of the business processing for the last destination. It will be understood that a state in which a response is made by the other party of the next destination can be obtained, and a state in which the business processing for the next destination can be started immediately after the completion of the business processing for the previous destination.

[0033]

As can be understood from the above description, according to the automatic call control system for a telephone according to the present invention, the response time of the next callee can be taken into consideration while monitoring the actual progress of business processing. The automatic call to the destination of the call is started before the completion of the business process for the previous destination, which allows the next party to respond immediately after the completion of the business process for the previous destination. Since the business processing for the next destination can be started immediately after the completion of the business processing for the destination of the call, the fluctuation of the call work time and the post-processing work time with the other party due to the skill of the operator on the calling side is concerned. Instead, the idle time of the terminal will be minimized, the system will operate at the highest utilization rate, and automatic dispatching work can be performed with high efficiency.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a telephone automatic transmission control system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the format of a database of destination management information used in the automatic telephone call origination control system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a format of a database of telephone operating conditions used in the automatic telephone call control system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a switching sequence of automatic call control in the automatic call control system for a telephone according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a time chart showing an example of automatic transmission timing in the automatic transmission control system for a telephone according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Private branch exchange 2 Telephone 5 Public telephone network 6 Telephone 7 Host computer 9 External storage device 11 Terminal

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An automatic call control system for a telephone in which a private branch exchange is connected to a terminal with a telephone function for outgoing calls and a computer so that data can be communicated, and an automatic call is made by automatic dialing. A database regarding the response time is provided, the progress of business processing by the terminal is notified to the computer as status information, and the response time of the next callee is expected based on the data regarding the response time of the callee of the database to obtain the status information. An automatic call origination control system for a telephone, characterized in that when the progress status of business processing based on the state reaches a predetermined state before the completion state, automatic transmission to a next destination is started.