US6480599B1 — Telecommunications system and method for automati…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 166 words

A telecommunications system for connecting callers in a telecommunications network to a plurality of call destinations providing different services for the callers, comprising: a call receiving node to receive telephone calls from callers, said call receiving node including an interactive response unit adapted to interrogate a caller to determine caller and service information identifying the caller and the type of service required by the caller, and adapted to determine an appropriate call destination for each call; and a remotely located call processing center adapted to communicate remotely with the call receiving node and arranged to receive and process the caller and service information received from said call receiving node thereby acting to liberate the call receiving node for other incoming telephone calls while the call processing center connects a telephone call, forwarded from the call receiving node, to an appropriate call destination for the service required by the caller as determined by the processing, within the call processing center, of said received caller and service information.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 166 words

A telecommunications system for connecting callers in a telecommunications network to a plurality of call destinations providing different services for the callers, comprising: a call receiving node to receive telephone calls from callers, said call receiving node including an interactive response unit adapted to interrogate a caller to determine caller and service information identifying the caller and the type of service required by the caller, and adapted to determine an appropriate call destination for each call; and a remotely located call processing center adapted to communicate remotely with the call receiving node and arranged to receive and process the caller and service information received from said call receiving node thereby acting to liberate the call receiving node for other incoming telephone calls while the call processing center connects a telephone call, forwarded from the call receiving node, to an appropriate call destination for the service required by the caller as determined by the processing, within the call processing center, of said received caller and service information.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 54 words

A telecommunications system according to claim 1 , wherein the interactive response unit of the call receiving node is arranged to communicate with a customer service database when interrogating a caller to determine whether or not the type of service required by the caller is available to be accessed from the call processing center.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 34 words

A telecommunications system according to claim 1 , wherein the data and the caller and service information are sent from the call receiving node to the remote call processing center over a telecommunications network.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 35 words

A telecommunications system according to claim 1 , wherein the interactive response unit comprises an interactive response device which recognizes text messages generated by a teletypewriter (TTY) and which provides response messages using TTY codes.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 37 words

A telecommunications system according to claim 1 , wherein the interactive response unit comprises an interactive voice response module containing pre-stored voice response messages and internal programs for generating appropriate voice response messages to interrogate a caller.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 43 words

A telecommunications system according to claim 5 , wherein the interactive voice response module is arranged to recognize dual tone modulation frequency (DTMF) coded messages produced by a touch telephone in reply to pre-recorded voice questions generated by the interactive voice response modules.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 64 words

A telecommunications system according to claim 5 , wherein the call receiving node further includes an automatic speech recognition module arranged to recognize a caller's speech replies to the interactive voice response module and wherein the voice response messages are generated by the interactive voice response module in response to the voice replies from the caller which are recognized by the speech recognition module.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 50 words

A telecommunications system according to claim 1 , wherein the call processing center includes an automatic call distributor adapted to transfer telephone calls received from the call receiving node to appropriate call handling agents of a service provider as determined by the processing of said received caller and service information.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 74 words

A telecommunications system according to claim 1 , wherein the call processing center includes, or is in communication with, at least one customer information database, associated with a service provider, containing information about customers of the service provider, and the call processing center is arranged to retrieve information about a customer from the customer information database prior to or simultaneously with the call processing center forwarding the telephone call to an appropriate call destination.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 46 words

A telecommunications system according to claim 1 , wherein the call receiving node includes, or is adapted to communicate with, a customer service database containing service data identifying the services of particular service providers, which services are available to be accessed from the call processing center.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 33 words

A telecommunications system according to claim 1 , wherein the call receiving node further includes an automatic speech recognition module arranged to recognize a caller's speech replies to the interactive voice response module.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 145 words

A telecommunications apparatus comprising: a call receiving node to receive a telephone call from a caller including: (i) an interactive voice response module adapted to interrogate the caller to determine caller and service information identifying the caller and the type of service required by the caller, (ii) an automatic speech recognition module arranged to recognize a caller's speech responses to the interactive voice response module; and (iii) an interface adapted to communicate with a remotely-located call processing center for forwarding said caller and service information to said call processing center where the call processing center connects the telephone call, forwarded from the call receiving node, to an appropriate call destination for the service required by the caller as determined by processing, within the call processing center, said forwarded caller and service information thereby acting to liberate the call receiving node for other incoming telephone calls.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 145 words

A telecommunications apparatus comprising: a call receiving node to receive a telephone call from a caller including: (i) an interactive voice response module adapted to interrogate the caller to determine caller and service information identifying the caller and the type of service required by the caller, (ii) an automatic speech recognition module arranged to recognize a caller's speech responses to the interactive voice response module; and (iii) an interface adapted to communicate with a remotely-located call processing center for forwarding said caller and service information to said call processing center where the call processing center connects the telephone call, forwarded from the call receiving node, to an appropriate call destination for the service required by the caller as determined by processing, within the call processing center, said forwarded caller and service information thereby acting to liberate the call receiving node for other incoming telephone calls.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 21 words

A telecommunications system apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the call receiving node is connected to a customer service computer.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 28 words

A telecommunications system according to claim 13 , wherein the customer service computer contains a database of service data identifying the services of a plurality of service providers.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 45 words

A telecommunications system or apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the customer service computer includes an automatic speech recognition program or an interactive voice response program and one or more messages which correspond to particular services available for downloading to the call receiving node.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 43 words

A telecommunications system according to claim 13 , wherein the customer service computer includes information about services which can enable the call receiving node to handle service requests from callers without having to first transfer the calls to the remote call processing center.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 59 words

A telecommunications system according to claim 13 , wherein the customer service computer is located remotely from the call receiving module so that an automatic speech recognition program or an interactive voice response program and one or more messages used at the call receiving node can be remotely loaded and remotely updated and adjusted from the customer service computer.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 34 words

A telecommunications system according to claim 13 , wherein the call receiving node may communicate with the remotely located customer service computer by a datalink, wherein the datalink is a switched broadband access link.

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 15 words

The telecommunications system of claim 18 , wherein the datalink is a broadband access link.

Claim 22

Independent Claim 137 words

A method for connecting a caller in a telecommunications system to one of a plurality of call destinations providing different services, said method comprising: receiving an incoming telephone call from a caller at a call receiving node; interrogating the caller by interactive response procedures to determine caller and service information about the caller and a type of service required by the caller; forwarding the telephone call and the caller and service information to a remotely-located call processing center; receiving and processing the forwarded caller and service information at the call processing center, thereby acting to liberate the call receiving node for other incoming telephone calls; and connecting the telephone call, forwarded by the call receiving node to the call processing center, to an appropriate call destination in accordance with the processing of the caller and service information.

Claim 23

Independent Claim 137 words

A method for connecting a caller in a telecommunications system to one of a plurality of call destinations providing different services, said method comprising: receiving an incoming telephone call from a caller at a call receiving node; interrogating the caller by interactive response procedures to determine caller and service information about the caller and a type of service required by the caller; forwarding the telephone call and the caller and service information to a remotely-located call processing center; receiving and processing the forwarded caller and service information at the call processing center, thereby acting to liberate the call receiving node for other incoming telephone calls; and connecting the telephone call, forwarded by the call receiving node to the call processing center, to an appropriate call destination in accordance with the processing of the caller and service information.

Claim 24

Independent Claim 134 words

A method for connecting a caller in a telecommunications system to one of a plurality of call destinations providing different services, said method comprising: receiving an incoming telephone call from a caller at a call receiving node; interrogating the caller by interactive voice response procedures using automatic speech recognition to determine caller and service information identifying the caller's identity and the type of service required by the caller; forwarding the caller and service information to a remotely-located call processing center; receiving and processing the forwarded information at the call processing center, thereby acting to liberate the call receiving node for other incoming calls; and connecting the call, forwarded by the call receiving node to the call processing center, to an appropriate call destination in accordance with the processing of the caller and service information.

Claim 25

Independent Claim 134 words

A method for connecting a caller in a telecommunications system to one of a plurality of call destinations providing different services, said method comprising: receiving an incoming telephone call from a caller at a call receiving node; interrogating the caller by interactive voice response procedures using automatic speech recognition to determine caller and service information identifying the caller's identity and the type of service required by the caller; forwarding the caller and service information to a remotely-located call processing center; receiving and processing the forwarded information at the call processing center, thereby acting to liberate the call receiving node for other incoming calls; and connecting the call, forwarded by the call receiving node to the call processing center, to an appropriate call destination in accordance with the processing of the caller and service information.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	2005-11-11	2006-05-13	2006-11-12	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	2009-11-11	2010-05-13	2010-11-12	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2013-11-11	2014-05-13	2014-11-12	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Telecommunications system and method for automatic call recognition and distribution

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