KR20010056679A - Escort browsing apparatus and method using the cti system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An EB(Escort Browsing) system using a CTI(Computer Telephony Integration) system and a method thereof are provided to offer a server-based EB system which can easily not only be implanted into a CTI system in operation but also add various relevant services. CONSTITUTION: In a CTI system composed of a PSTN(301), an exchange(302), a CTI server(303), a database server(304) and a consultation room(305), an EB system consists of a client computer(306), a counselor computer, an EB server(307), and a web server(309). The client computer(306) and the counselor computer use software for EB while using a web browser like a netscape navigator or an Internet explorer as it is. The EB server(307), acquiring information stored in the database the CTI server(303) uses, transfers it as basic information necessary for a counselor to execute EB. Also the EB server(307) constructs the database of information for the locations and contents of basic web documents and provides it to the counselor. The EB server(307) is interworked with the CTI system so as to manage the browser states of the client computer and the counselor computer. The web server(309), constructed on the Internet(308) connecting the client computer(306) and the counselor computer, provides web associated information.

Description

Escort browsing apparatus and method using CTI system {ESCORT BROWSING APPARATUS AND METHOD USING THE CTI SYSTEM}

The present invention relates to a technology for implementing Escort Browsing (EB) in a computer telephony integration (CTI) system, and particularly to establish a EB server for convenient consultation, and to make it suitable for transplantation into a CTI system. An escort browsing device and method using the system.

Integrating the ease-of-use of the phone and the various information processing functions of the computer, the CTI system has been developed for a variety of purposes, including corporate guidance, product guidance and sales. In particular, in recent years, such as telecommunications sales, e-commerce, the web can be used directly, or the company's product promotion and guidance materials have been posted on the web. In such a system, the counselor needs to consult with the customer and provide such information directly to the customer, if necessary, using the CTI system.

1 is a block diagram of a CTI system according to the prior art. When the customer in need of consultation calls the CTI system using the telephone TEL1, the customer is connected to the counselor through the public telephone network 101, the switch 102 of the CTI system, and the telephone TEL2 of the counseling room 105.

Thereafter, the customer and the counselor proceed with a consultation by telephone. At this time, the counselor retrieves the necessary information from the CTI server 103 or the database server 104 through the computer 105A, prepares related data, and uses the same. Talk to the customer by voice. In some cases, the client hears and responds to what the agent is saying, or does the work as the counselor tells him.

However, since the CTI service exchanges information using only voice, the amount and type of information that can be transmitted is extremely limited. In particular, when there is a lot of information on the Internet as it is present, it is often necessary to show or deliver it directly to customers, but the conventional CTI system could not process this in real time.

To address this deficiency, some CTI systems employ escort browsing service technology. Escort Browsing allows a consultant to consult and automatically display a web document containing the information the customer needs in the customer's web browser. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, when the agent's browser 202 is directly connected to the customer's browser 201 through a Java applet or the like, when the address of a desired web document is delivered, the browser is displayed on the browser.

As described above, in the conventional CTI system such as the former, since only the voice is used to exchange information, there is a defect that cannot provide more diverse and more information to the customer in real time. While the latter CTI system, such as the latter, can provide more information to customers in various forms than the former, it has been difficult to port escort browsing services to the CTI system or add various related services.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a server-based escort browsing system that can be easily ported to a currently operating CTI system and that can easily add various related services.

1 is a block diagram of a CTI system according to the prior art.

2 is an explanatory diagram of an escort browsing service according to the related art.

Figure 3 is an exemplary block diagram of an escort browsing apparatus using a Citi system according to the present invention.

4 is a detailed block diagram of the escort browsing server in FIG.

5 is a block diagram of an escort browsing module built in a user computer in FIG.

6 is a signal flowchart of an escort browsing service access method according to the present invention;

7 is a signal flow diagram of an escort browsing service method according to the present invention.

*** Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings ***

301: public telephone network 302: exchange

303: CTI Server 304: Database Server

305: consultation room 306: customer computer

307: Escort Browsing Server 308: Internet

309: web server

In the escort browsing method using the CTI system for achieving the object of the present invention, when a customer requests escort browsing by inputting his or her information and an agent ID through the CTI system, the user software sends the information and ID to the escort browsing server. A first process of transmitting the information to the counselor and receiving the information from the escort browsing server to the user management module; The user management module requests the agent information to the CTI server and the customer information to the database server, and then establishes a communication connection between the customer and the agent, and the user management module informs the escort browsing software of the agent that the escort browsing is started. 2 course; Enter the location of the web document that the agent wants to share, or select the link of the web document to go to the document, read the document from the agent's browser and display it on the screen, and the current browser in the escort browsing software of the agent. Transmitting a location of the web document displayed on the escort browsing server; The escort browsing software of the agent delivers the location of the web document to the escort browsing server, the escort browsing module delivers the location of the web document to the customer's escort browsing software, and then stores the current escort browsing consultation information through the DB server access module. The client's escort browsing software consists of a fourth step of reading the web document from the browser.

3 is an exemplary block diagram of an escort browsing device using a Citi system to achieve the object of the present invention. As shown therein, a public telephone network (PSTN) for communication connection between a customer's telephone TEL1 and a CTI system is shown. 301; An exchanger 302 for selectively connecting a plurality of customer telephones connected to the public telephone network 301 and a telephone TEL2 of a consultation room 305; A CTI server 303 and a database server 304 for providing various kinds of information required by the counselor; The counselor consists of a counselor's office 305 which calls the customer through the telephone TEL2 and retrieves the relevant information by using the CTI server 303 and the database server 304 on the computer 305A when necessary. A CTI system comprising: a customer computer 306 and an agent computer 305A using software for escort browsing while using a web browser such as Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer; It acquires the information stored in the database used by the CTI server 303 and delivers it as basic information for escort browsing by the agent, and provides the information to the counselor by making a database of the information and location of the basic web document, An escort browsing server 307 linked with the CTI system to manage a browser state of a customer and an agent; It is composed of a web server 309 which is provided on the Internet 308 to which the customer computer 306 and the counselor computer 305A are connected to provide web-related information. A detailed description with reference to FIGS. 4 to 7 is as follows.

As shown in FIG. 3, the CTI-based escort browsing system according to the present invention is constructed around an escort browsing server 307 interworking with the CTI system. Each computer 306, 305A corresponding to a user system, which is a system of a customer and an agent, uses a web browser, such as Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer, with the software installed therein. You will use software for escort browsing that is built with add-on software such as -in, ActiveX, and Java applet.

By implementing a server-based escort browsing system, it is possible to add escort browsing services without changing the existing CTI server system. In addition, the escort browsing server 307 also obtains information stored in a database used by the CTI server 303, and serves as a basic information for the counselor to perform escort browsing.

In addition, the information on the location and content of the basic web document that can be used for consultation can be made into a database and provided to the counselor as needed. In addition, the contents of the consultation through escort browsing can be recorded and used later, and can be extended to 1: 1, 1: N, and N: N connections for the management of counselors and customers.

In addition, since the escort browsing server 307 can manage the browser status of the customer and the agent, an electronic blackboard function for displaying a point synchronization or a point or line directly on the counterpart browser as an improved service. Makes it easy to implement

The customer or counselor creates a program in the form of a browser's add-on software, Plug-in, ActiveX, or Java applet, so that they do not have to use a separate program for escort browsing. This allows the user to use an escort browsing service while using a normal web browser. Therefore, the use of system resources can also be reduced.

As a result, the CTI-based escort browsing system according to the present invention according to the present invention may be embedded in the escort browsing server 307 connected to the CTI server 303 and the browser of a customer or an agent, as described above. It consists of user software, which consists of the plug-in of Netscape Navigator or ActiveX of Internet Explorer. The functions of each part are described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5 as follows.

First, the operation of the escort browsing server 307 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4.

Communicate with user software built into user computer 306 for escort browsing. At this time, the communication module 401 interprets URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) delivered from the user software or user information and delivers the corresponding module for processing, or the escort browsing server 307 transmits information to be delivered to the user software. Pass through.

The user management module 404 establishes and manages a relationship between a user who performs escort browsing, that is, an agent and a customer. In general, 1: 1 communication connection is used to connect the user and the agent who are currently calling through CTI.In the case of 1: N communication connection where one agent is counseling to multiple customers due to the expansion of escort browsing. B. In the case of N: N communication connection, the user is managed so that the data can be delivered exactly where desired.

When the web document to be escorted is opened in the agent's software, the URL is transferred to the escort browsing server 307, where the escort browsing module 405 receives the URL and provides the escort to the user who receives the escort. In addition, the escort browsing module 405 also manages information on URLs shared by the counselor and the customer. This makes this information available when developing escort-browsing supplementary services such as document location synchronization.

The CTI server connection module 403 obtains information on an agent for escort browsing service connection, or attempts a communication connection with the CTI server 303 to obtain information about a customer and obtains necessary information therefrom.

The database server connection module 402 attempts a communication connection with the database server 304 to obtain information necessary for consultation and obtains and records necessary information. This information may include the location and content of basic web documents required for consultation as well as personally identifiable information and past consultation information. In addition, in the consultation process through escort browsing, it is possible to store the contents necessary later in the database server (304).

The add-on service module 406 is a module for extending the escort browsing service. The additional service module 406 may add an enhanced service related thereto by using the functions and information of the module currently provided by the escort browsing server 307.

Meanwhile, the operation of the escort browsing user software built in the user computer 306 will be described with reference to FIG. 5.

First, the communication module 501 is a module for communicating with the escort browsing server 307, and its basic functions are the same as those of a conventional server.

The escort browsing module 502 in the user software for the agent serves to convey the URL of the web document that the agent is viewing to the escort browsing server 307. In addition, the escort browsing module 502 in the user software for the customer serves to read the web document of the URL delivered by the escort browsing server 307 to be displayed in the browser.

The supplementary service module 503 is a module for receiving escort browsing-related supplementary services that extends the function of the escort browsing server 307.

Since user software is add-on software included in a browser, not only a user interface but also a browser interface module for exchanging information with the browser is required. In addition, the interface is configured differently because there is a difference in function of the user software depending on whether the customer or the agent. For example, a customer needs an interface to enter his or her information for escort browsing, basically a content that he wants to consult, and a screen to view the URL delivered by the agent. The agent needs an interface to inform the server of his / her status, a screen showing the customer's information from the server, and input a location of a web document to be escorted. The user interface / browser interface 504 is constructed by such a necessity, and these interfaces may be constructed by directly inputting and processing the user software or by receiving and processing contents input through a browser. .

Meanwhile, a method of performing actual escort browsing using the escort browsing server 307 and user software implemented as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

First, as shown in FIG. 6, in a state in which a customer connects a call path with a counselor through the CTI system, escort browsing is requested by inputting his information and an agent ID through the user interface / browser interface 504. (SA1, SA2)

Thereafter, the user's user software delivers the customer's information (IP, etc.) and the agent's ID to the agent on the escort browsing server 307, and the communication module 401 of the escort browsing server 307 receives the information and manages the user. To module 404. (SA3, SA4)

Accordingly, the user management module 404 requests the agent information from the CTI server 303, requests the customer information from the database server 304, and then establishes a communication connection between the customer and the agent. (SA5-SA7)

Thereafter, the user management module 404 of the escort browsing server 307 informs the escort browsing software of the counselor that the escort browsing is started through the communication module 401. (SA8)

After the escort browsing service connection process is performed as described above, as shown in FIG. 7, the escort browsing service is started.

After escort browsing begins, the agent enters the location of the web document that he or she wants to share, or selects a link to the web document to navigate to, and then reads the document in the agent's browser and displays it on the screen. On the other hand, the escort browsing software of the agent transmits the location of the web document currently displayed in the browser to the escort browsing server 307. (SB1-SB4)

The agent's escort browsing software then forwards the location of the web document to the escort browsing server 307 and the escort browsing module 405 of the server 307 passes the location of the web document to the customer's escort browsing software. (SB5, SB6)

Thereafter, the current escort browsing consultation information is stored through the DB server access module 402 of the escort browsing server 307, and the escort browsing software of the customer reads the corresponding web document from the browser (SB7, SB8).

As described in detail above, the present invention can be easily ported to a CTI system, and by creating a server-based escort browsing service system so that various related services can be easily added, the present invention overcomes the limitations of voice calls in an existing CTI system. There is an effect that can provide a large amount of information.

Claims (5)

In a CTI system where an agent talks to a customer and uses the CTI server 303 and database server 304 to retrieve relevant information and informs the customer, using a web browser, using software for escort browsing. A customer computer 306 and an agent computer 305A; It acquires the information stored in the database used by the CTI server 303 and delivers it as basic information for escort browsing by the agent, and provides the information to the counselor by making a database of the information and location of the basic web document, Escort browsing apparatus using a Citi system, characterized in that it comprises a escort browsing server 307 that is linked to the CTI system to manage the browser state of the customer and the agent. 5. The client computer (306) of claim 1, further comprising: a communication module (501) for communicating with the escort browsing server (307); An escort browsing module 502 for delivering a URL of a web document that an agent is viewing to the escort browsing server 307, and reading the web document delivered by the escort browsing server 307 and displaying it in a browser; An additional service module (503) for receiving escort browsing-related supplementary services that extends the function of the escort browsing server (307); It consists of a user interface / browser interface 504 that functions as an interface so that the agent can inform the server of his / her status, enter a screen showing the customer's information from the server, and display the location of the web document to be escorted. Escort browsing apparatus using a Citi system. The escort browsing server 307, when communicating with user software for escort browsing, interprets a URL or user information delivered by the user software, and transmits the information to be processed by the module or to the user software. A communication module 401 for transmitting a message through a network; A DB server connection module 402 for obtaining and recording necessary information by attempting a communication connection with the database server 304 to obtain information necessary for consultation; A CTI server connection module 403 for obtaining information about an agent for escort browsing service connection or for obtaining information necessary for the customer from the CTI server 303; A user management module 404 for establishing and managing a relationship of a user who performs escort browsing; An escort browsing module 405 for receiving a URL and providing it to a user who is escorted when opening a web document to be escorted by the agent's software, and managing information on a URL shared by the agent and the customer; Escort browsing apparatus using a Citi system, characterized in that configured as an additional service module (406) for extending the escort browsing service. The information recorded by the DB server connection module 402 includes information about a client's personal information, past counseling information, location and contents of basic web documents necessary for counseling, and contents necessary later in a counseling process through escort browsing. Escort browsing apparatus using a Citi system, characterized in that it is included. When the escort browsing is requested by inputting the customer information and the agent ID through the CTI system, delivering the information and the ID to the counselor, and the escort browsing server receives the information and delivers the information to the user management module; Requesting the agent information to the CTI server and the customer information to the database server, respectively, establishing a communication connection between the customer and the agent, and informing the escort browsing software of the agent that the escort browsing is started; Enter the location of the web document that the agent wants to share, or select the link of the web document to go to the document, read the document from the agent's browser and display it on the screen, and the current browser in the escort browsing software of the agent. Transmitting a location of the web document displayed on the escort browsing server; The escort browsing software of the agent delivers the location of the web document to the escort browsing server, the escort browsing module delivers the location of the web document to the customer's escort browsing software, and then stores the current escort browsing consultation information through the DB server access module. The escort browsing software of the customer is escort browsing method using a Citi system, characterized in that the fourth step of reading the web document in the browser.