Automatic call distributor having multiple audio sources

Claim 2

An automatic call distributor comprising: a plurality of gates for interconnecting incoming telephone calls from external callers with selected ones of a plurality of agents; a control computer for receiving the incoming telephone calls and for routing each of the incoming telephone calls to a selected one of the gates; a plurality of audio sources each of which generates a predetermined type of audio communication, each of the audio sources is connected to the control computer and is associated with at least one of the plurality of gates to automatically provide the predetermined type of audio communication to the incoming telephone calls routed through the at least one associated gate; and wherein the control computer detects when one of the telephone calls is placed on hold by one of the agents and activates one of the audio sources to provide an audio communication to the caller, the audio communication provided to the caller on hold being capable of being different than the predetermined type of audio communication associated with the at least one associated gate.

Claim 3

The automatic call distributor as claimed in claim 1 wherein the plurality of audio sources comprise a plurality of music sources each of which generates a predetermined type of music.

Claim 4

The automatic call distributor as claimed in claim 2 wherein the music sources are digital music generators.

Claim 5

The automatic call distributor as claimed in claim 2 wherein the control computer places an incoming telephone call in queue when all agents at the selected gate are unavailable and activates the music source associated with the selected gate to provide the predetermined music to the incoming telephone call, unavailable agents being unable to presently accept an incoming telephone call.

Claim 6

The automatic call distributor as claimed in claim 2 wherein the plurality of music sources comprises up to four music sources.

Claim 7

The automatic call distributor as claimed in claim 1 wherein the control computer comprises caller means for detecting telephone numbers called by the callers, and wherein the control computer routes the telephone calls based on the telephone numbers.

Claim 8

The automatic call distributor as claimed in claim 6 wherein the caller means uses dialed number identification system information to detect the telephone numbers.

Claim 9

The automatic call distributor as claimed in claim 1 wherein the control computer identifies a telephone trunk over which each of the telephone calls is transmitted and routes each of the telephone calls based on its identified telephone trunk.

Claim 10

An automatic call distributor comprising: a plurality of gates for interconnecting incoming telephone calls from external callers with selected ones of a plurality of agents; at least one music source each of which is associated with at least one of the plurality of gates to provide a predetermined type of music to incoming telephone calls routed through the associated at least one gate; and a control computer for receiving incoming telephone calls, for detecting information regarding the telephone calls, for routing at least one of the incoming telephone calls to selected ones of the plurality of gates based on the information, for placing an incoming telephone call in queue when all agents at the selected gate are unavailable, unavailable agents being unable to presently accept an incoming telephone call, for activating the music source associated with the selected gate to provide the predetermined music to the incoming telephone call, for detecting when an incoming telephone call is placed on hold and for activating one of the music sources to provide music to the call on hold, the music being provided to the incoming telephone call on hold capable of being different than the predetermined music provided the incoming telephone call in queue.

Claim 11

An automatic call distributor comprising: a plurality of gates for interconnecting incoming telephone calls from external callers with selected ones of a plurality of agents; at least one music source each of which is associated with at least one of the plurality of gates to provide a predetermined type of music to incoming telephone calls routed through the associated at least one gate; and a control computer for receiving incoming telephone calls, for detecting information regarding the telephone calls, for routing at least one of the incoming telephone calls to selected ones of the plurality of gates based on the information, for placing an incoming telephone call in queue when all agents at the selected gate are unavailable, unavailable agents being unable to presently accept an incoming telephone call, for activating the music source associated with the selected gate to provide the predetermined music to the incoming telephone call, for detecting when an incoming telephone call is placed on hold and for activating one of the music sources to provide music to the call on hold, the music being provided to the incoming telephone call on hold capable of being different than the predetermined music provided the incoming telephone call in queue.

Claim 12

The automatic call distributor as claimed in claim 9 wherein the music sources are digital music generators.

Claim 13

The automatic call distributor as claimed in claim 9 wherein the control computer comprises caller means for detecting telephone numbers called by the external callers.

Claim 14

The automatic call distributor as claimed in claim 11 wherein the caller means uses dialed number identification system information to detect the telephone numbers.

Claim 15

The automatic call distributor as claimed in claim 11 wherein the control computer identifies a telephone trunk over which each of the incoming telephone calls are transmitted and routes at least one of the incoming telephone calls based on the identified telephone trunk.

Claim 16

The automatic call distributor as claimed in claim 9 wherein the control computer identifies a telephone trunk group containing at least one telephone trunk over which each of the telephone calls is transmitted and routes at least one of the incoming telephone calls based on the identified telephone trunk group.

Claim 19

The method as claimed in claim 15 wherein the step of connecting a plurality of audio sources comprises the step of connecting a plurality of music sources to the plurality of gates, each of the music sources generating one of a plurality of types of music.

Claim 20

The method as claimed in claim 16 wherein the step of routing the incoming telephone call comprises the step of identifying a telephone number called by the external caller; and wherein the incoming telephone call is routed to one of the gates based on the telephone number.

Claim 21

The method as claimed in claim 17 wherein the step of identifying a telephone number comprises the step of using dialed number identification system information to identify the telephone number.

Claim 22

The method as claimed in claim 15 comprising the step of identifying a telephone trunk over which each of the telephone calls are transmitted, and wherein the step of routing the incoming telephone comprises the step of using the identified telephone trunk to route the telephone call.