Telephone call processing modifications related to call acceptance for an incoming call received at a contact center
View Patent ↗Modifications to the call acceptance process in a call handler allows determination of how to process a call before the call is answered. In one embodiment a call handler receives an incoming call notification message that include call related information, such as the calling and called telephone numbers. A call acceptance timer is started after the incoming call notification message is received. Prior to accepting the call, the call handler uses the call related information to ascertain an appropriate queue and an available agent in that queue. If an appropriate agent is available, the timer is stopped, the call is accepted, and the call is routed to the appropriate agent. If an agent is not available, then upon expiry of the timer, the call is accepted and an announcement may be played to the calling party, while awaiting for an agent to become available.
1. A method for processing an incoming call comprising a voice call at a call handler in a contact center wherein the incoming call originates from a calling party and wherein the call handler is configured to play an announcement, the method comprising:
receiving a call establishment request at an interface with a carrier offering the incoming call to the call handler;
starting a call acceptance timer in the call handler after receiving the call establishment request, wherein expiry of the call acceptance timer causes the call handler to send a call acceptance message to the carrier thereby accepting the incoming call;
determining no agents are available to be connected to the incoming call for speaking with the calling party;
playing the announcement by the call handler to the calling party;
detecting in the call handler an event comprising an earlier occurrence of one of:
an agent is available to accept the incoming call prior to an expiry of the call acceptance timer, and
the expiry of the call acceptance timer occurring prior to the agent becoming available to accept the incoming call;
sending the call acceptance message over the interface to the carrier accepting the incoming call in response to detecting the event.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the announcement is played by the call handler to the calling party in response to determining no agents are available.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the incoming call is directed to a toll-free telephone number routed to the call handler.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the announcement informs the calling party that no agents are currently available.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining no agents are available to be connected to the incoming call for speaking with the calling party is based on determining no agents associated with a particular queue are available, and further comprising:
associating the calling party to the queue based on a calling party number indicated by the incoming call.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein a Q.931-based Integrated Services Digital Network (“ISDN”) CALL PROCEEDING message is sent by the call handler prior to playing the announcement.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the call acceptance messages is an ISDN CONNECT message.
8. A system for processing an incoming call to a contact center from a calling party, comprising a computer processor configured to:
receive a call establishment request from a carrier at the contact center, wherein the call establishment request includes a telephone number dialed by the calling party;
determine no agents are available to be connected to the incoming call for speaking with the calling party;
play an announcement by the call handler to the calling party;
start a call acceptance timer in response to receiving the call establishment request, wherein expiry of the call acceptance timer causes a call acceptance message to be sent to the carrier accepting the incoming call, wherein the call acceptance timer expires in response to an event comprising an earlier occurrence of:
a passage of pre-determined amount of time, and
an agent from a group of one or more agents becoming available prior to the passage of the pre-determined amount of time;
determine that none of the group of one or more agents are available to accept the incoming call and the expiry of the call acceptance timer has occurred; and
send the call acceptance message to the carrier thereby accepting the incoming call.
9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the announcement is played by the call handler to the calling party in response to determining no agents are available.
10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the incoming call is directed to a toll-free telephone number routed to the call handler.
11. A system for processing an incoming call in a contact center from a calling party, comprising a computer processor configured to:
receive at the contact center a call establishment request from a carrier on a signaling interface, wherein the call establishment request includes a telephone number dialed by the calling party;
determine no agents are available to connect to the incoming call;
play an announcement to the calling party indicating no agents are available;
start a call acceptance timer after receiving the call establishment request, wherein expiry of the call acceptance timer causes a call acceptance message to be sent on the signaling interface to the carrier accepting the incoming call;
detect an event comprising an earlier occurrence of one of:
an agent of the group of one or more agents is available to accept the incoming call prior to an expiry of the call acceptance timer, and
the expiry of the call acceptance timer has occurred prior to the agent becoming available to accept the incoming call; and
send the call acceptance message to the carrier on the signaling interface accepting the incoming call, after detecting the event.
12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the event comprise the agent of the group of the one or more agents becomes available to accept the incoming call prior to expiry call acceptance timer.
13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the announcement is provided to the calling party prior to sending the call acceptance message.
14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the message sent to the carrier to accept the incoming call is a Q.931-based ISDN CONNECT message.
15. The system of claim 12 , wherein a PROGRESS message is sent after the SETUP message.
16. The system of claim 12 , wherein an ALERTING message is not sent prior to sending the call acceptance message.
17. The system of claim 11 , wherein the call establishment request is a SIP-based INVITE message.
18. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that when executed cause a computer processor to:
receive a call establishment request on a signaling interface with a carrier at a contact center for an incoming call comprising a voice call, wherein the call establishment request includes a telephone number dialed by a calling party;
determine no agents from a group of a plurality of agent are available to connect to the incoming call;
play an announcement to the calling party;
start a call acceptance timer after receiving the call establishment request, wherein expiry of the call acceptance timer causes a call acceptance message to be sent to the carrier on the signaling interface accepting the incoming call, wherein the call acceptance timer expires upon an earlier occurrence of:
a passage of a predefined amount of time, and
an agent from the group of the plurality of agents becoming available prior to the passage of the predefined amount of time;
determine the expiry of the call acceptance timer occurred prior to the agent from the group of the plurality of agents becoming available to accept the incoming call; and
send the call acceptance message to the carrier on the signaling interface thereby accepting the incoming call.
19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the call acceptance timer expires upon the agent from the group of the plurality of agents becoming available prior to the passage of the predefined amount of time.
20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18 , further comprising instructions that when executed cause the computer processor to:
after completion of playing the announcement, connect the incoming call to the agent after determining the agent from the group of the plurality of agents is available to accept the incoming call.