JPH09321879A - Incoming call responding method for telephone - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the incoming call responding method of a telephone capable of quickly connecting an incoming call even when the plural telephone sets of the same priority are present by retrieving the telephone set corresponding to predetermined reception priority when the incoming call is present and connecting it to the telephone set of the longest incoming call waiting time when the plural telephone sets capable of responding are present. SOLUTION: The reception priority is predetermined for plural key telephone sets (telephone sets) 3 and registered to a storage part 5 by operating the telephone sets 3 or an input device 6. When the incoming call is present from an external line 1, a main control part 4 retrieves the telephone sets 3 corresponding to the reception priority registered in the storage part 5 and retrieves the telephone set 3 of the next order in the case that the retrieved telephone set 3 can not respond. The call is terminated to the telephone set 3 in the case that one telephone set 3 capable of responding is retrieved and the call is terminated to the telephone set 3 of the longest incoming call waiting time in the case that the plural telephone sets 3 capable of responding are present. Thus, this incoming call responding method of the telephone capable of quickly connecting the incoming call without any disturbance even when the plural telephone sets 3 of the same priority are present is obtained.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an incoming call answering method for a telephone, and more particularly to an ACD (Automatic Call Distributio).
The present invention relates to an incoming call answering method for a telephone that performs line distribution by preferentially answering an incoming call from the outside in a button telephone device equipped with an n: automatic incoming call distribution function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A key telephone system comprises a plurality of key telephones that can be accommodated and a control device for controlling communication by interposing between these telephones and an outside line. It has an indicator lamp for the medium line and a line hold button. In addition, the control device has a private telephone exchange function that exchanges and connects an external line to an extension telephone and extension telephones, and while holding the line during the call, the call from that telephone to another line or a call equivalent to a key telephone. In addition, it is equipped with various additional service functions such as call forwarding and calling at specified times.

As one of such service functions, there is an incoming call automatic distribution processor, which determines the order of responses in the order in which there is an incoming call from an external line, and automatically distributes them in the order of telephones with the longest waiting time for incoming calls. Incoming calls are evenly distributed by relay connection.

[0004]

However, since such an incoming call automatic distribution method is equally distributed to a large number of reception telephones, it is suitable when the corresponding capabilities of the reception telephones are almost equal. Although there is a distribution, if there is a significant difference in the ability to respond to each individual, it becomes an inappropriate distribution, and there is a problem that the work efficiency of the workplace does not improve. This is because the number of incoming calls received by a savvy responder who can respond quickly is approximately the same as that of an unskilled responder.

In order to solve such a problem, in the "incoming call answering system of an electronic button telephone device" of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-168193, a line button number is set for each incoming call telephone in correspondence with an incoming call priority number. It has been proposed to provide a means for storing the circuit button number for each button telephone, and to index the memory to select a circuit button according to the priority number to respond.

However, in such a configuration, it is necessary as a precondition to perform processing such that a plurality of incoming call priority numbers are not set on the same line button, and, for example, many telephones having the first incoming call priority number. This is a method of searching for and finding all the line buttons of the telephone, and thus has a drawback that the search time becomes long.

[0007] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to introduce an order of priority to an incoming call and answer the incoming call, and to distribute the number of incoming calls unevenly so as to be adapted to a workplace composed of a skilled person and an unskilled person. Another object of the present invention is to provide an incoming call answering method for a telephone that improves efficiency and shortens the time for searching a stored priority number.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the incoming call answering method for a telephone according to the present invention, the reception priority is predetermined and registered in the telephone, and when there is an incoming call, the registration is performed. It searches according to the order, and if the searched phone is unresponsive, it searches for the phone in the next order, and if there is one phone that can answer, it will be answered by answering that phone. When there are a plurality of different telephones, the telephone with the longest waiting time for incoming call is called.

Here, the reception priorities may be arranged in the order of higher reception priority to register the telephones, and the search may be performed by scanning sequentially from the higher reception priority to the lower direction. it can.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIG. 1 showing a button telephone device used in an embodiment of the present invention, this device has a plurality of button telephones 3, a plurality of external lines 1 and a button telephone 3. 2 interposed between the interface 2 and the external line 1, a main control unit 4 that obtains information from the interface 2 and controls it, and a storage unit 5 that stores control data necessary for controlling the main control unit 4. And the main control unit 4 and the storage unit 5
And an input device 6 for inputting control data.

The interface 2 has a relay for connecting and disconnecting the communication path. The main control unit 4 and the storage unit 5 include the functions of the control device and the ACD function described above, and the functions required for an incoming call response, which is a main feature of this embodiment. The input device 6 is not necessary when the priority number can be input from the key telephone 3.

In this embodiment, from the input device 6 or the key telephone 3, the priority order of the line to be connected is stored in the storage unit 5 in advance.

Referring to FIG. 2 showing the procedure for storing the registration code, the registration code is a priority order item 11 which defines the order from the first to the nth, and the telephone 3 corresponding to this order. The registration number item 12 and the current connection propriety item 13 are included. The current state in which the telephone 3 cannot receive a call due to a telephone call, a breakdown, or the like is entered as "1", and the call startable state is entered as "0". The information of the item 13 of this propriety is not inputted from the input device 6, but can be always inputted by the conventional function via the telephone 3 and the interface 2. Phone 3 is the priority
It is input by the button operation or the keyboard operation of the input device 6.

The telephone registration numbers are arranged in the order of priority. It is important to store in the storage unit 5 in such an arrangement, and it is indispensable for sequentially scanning and reading information from the first priority order to the nth order according to the direction 10. By doing so, it is not necessary to search all the telephone sets 3 in order to check the first rank. For a plurality of the same ranks such as the third rank, the upper and lower rows are successively stored.

When inputting the above-mentioned information, it is not necessary to input it according to the priority order, and the randomly input priority order information is changed again by the main control unit 4, and the program is arranged so that it is rearranged in a high-order order. It is processed. In this case,
It is preferable to arrange display devices for displaying the screen of FIG. 2 in parallel.

The main control section 4 scans the memory in the storage section 5 according to the direction 10 and starts a search. As soon as a telephone 3 that can start connection is found, scanning is stopped, and the telephone 3 and external line 1 that correspond
Make a connection with Therefore, the subordinates below the telephone 3 are not searched, and the useless time is not wasted. This effect becomes more remarkable as the number of key telephones increases.

If the connection availability is unknown,
It is preferable to skip this unknown line and proceed to the next rank without having to search again.

Referring to the flow chart of FIG. 3 showing the method of distributing incoming calls for the key telephone device in which the registration code of FIG. 2 is stored,
First, in step 20, an incoming call is detected, and the receiving telephone set 3 is searched by the scanning method in the order of high priority according to the registration code of FIG. 2 (step S21). Next, the judgment process S
If there is no respondable telephone in 22 (step S23), the next-ranked telephone is searched, but if there is a respondable telephone, it is determined in step S24 whether or not there are a plurality of responding telephones. In the case of, in step S25, a telephone having the longest waiting time for incoming call is searched for, and the telephone is called in step S26. In case of singular number, direct processing S2
Go to 6. The process A25 can use the conventional ACD function.

According to the present embodiment, even if there are a plurality of telephones having the same priority, there is no problem and the incoming call can be quickly connected by the scanning method described above.

In this embodiment, if the number of incoming calls is too high for the telephones with high priority, it is necessary to distribute them to the telephones with low priority. As one of the methods, there is a method of scanning odd-numbered priority from the highest priority and then scanning even-numbered priority from the highest priority. After this, we will return to the odd scanning. This method is adopted in this part as a process alternative to the process S21 of FIG.

This embodiment is a method of searching by scanning, but it is not limited to this, and a method of searching for all telephones in step S21 is also possible, and the priority code in that case. The initial value of is set in advance by system data or the like.

By adopting such an embodiment, a telephone receptionist who is familiar with work in the workplace receives a large number of times with a telephone having a high priority, while a telephone receptionist who is relatively unfamiliar is Since low-ranking telephones with a small number of incoming calls can be used, telephones can be distributed according to the capabilities of the receptionist.

In addition, since the receptionist of the duty is engaged in the high-ranking telephones, the receptionist of the hikae (sleeping) can allocate the telephones so that they can be accepted when the telephones overflow. Suitable reception for.

The above-described embodiment may be adopted in a predetermined time zone, and a switching means for returning to the ACD function in other time zones may be provided. Since it is possible to change the priority of distribution (connection) immediately without changing the system data, it is possible to distribute incoming calls that match the level of experience of the receptionist, etc., and each of the above-mentioned problems has been achieved.

[0025]

As described above, according to the incoming call answering method for a telephone of the present invention, it is possible to introduce an incoming call with a priority order and answer the call, and it is suitable for a workplace composed of a skilled person and an unskilled person. Therefore, it is possible to improve the work efficiency by allocating the number of incoming calls unevenly, and it is also possible to shorten the time for searching the stored priority number.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a key telephone device in which an embodiment of the present invention is adopted.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing registration codes such as a priority order according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 External line 2 Interface 3 Button telephone 4 Main control unit 5 Storage unit 6 Input device

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A reception priority is registered in advance in a telephone, and when an incoming call is received, a search is performed according to the registered priority. When the retrieved telephone is unresponsive, the telephone with the next priority is retrieved. In addition, when there is one answering phone, the call is received on that one phone, and when there are multiple answering phones, the call is received on the phone with the longest waiting time. A method of answering an incoming call of a telephone, which is characterized by: 2. The reception priority is arranged in the order of higher reception priority to register the telephones, and the search is performed by scanning sequentially from the higher reception priority to the lower direction. The incoming call answering method of the telephone described in.