摘要:
We have recognized that in the prior art, to insure that there is at least some communication between the calling and called parties, when the called party is unavailable to take a call, the calling party may be connected to an alternate destination, e.g., a voice messaging system, and the caller's telephone call is considered completed. If the called party thereafter becomes available, the called party is not connected to the caller's telephone call. However, in accordance with the principles of the invention, this problem is overcome by, in response to receipt of an indication that the called party is available for a caller's telephone call after the caller's telephone call has already been connected to an alternate destination, a) disconnecting the caller's telephone call from the alternate destination and, instead, b) connecting it the called party, thus interrupting the connection between the caller and the alternate destination. Optionally, a tone or announcement may be supplied to the caller to indicate that the called party will now be connected "live" to the caller.
摘要:
It is known in the prior art to, when a telephone customer is unavailable to take a call, page the customer, thereby notifying the customer that a telephone call is waiting. The customer may then call in to a meet-me bridge to be connected to the incoming telephone call. However, if the customer does not respond to the page in time, prior art systems provide for the calling party's call to be routed to an alternate destination, e.g., a voice messaging system. The calling party's telephone call is thereby considered completed. If the customer thereafter becomes available, the customer is not connected to the caller's telephone call even if the caller is still connected to the alternate destination. In accordance with the principles of the invention, this problem is overcome by, in response to receipt of the telephone call from the customer, a) disconnecting the caller's telephone call from the alternate destination and b) connecting the caller's telephone call with the customer's call substantially contemporaneous with receipt of the customer's call.
摘要:
With the advent of personal digital assistants (PDAs) having modems for information, e.g., facsimile and/or data, transmission over wireless connections, as well as the capability for voice communications, we have recognized that is possible to communicate with a person, wherever they are, in whatever form is desired. In order to do so in a manner that simulates the way a person at a fixed location having a separate telephone, fax machine and data modem would communicate, incorporate into a PDA is a) a receiver for a wireless actuation signal that indicates that a communication of some type is waiting for a called party; b) an outgoing connection origination unit that establishes a connection from the PDA to the waiting communication; c) a discriminator, which makes a determination as to the type of communication that is waiting; and d) a selection unit that routes the information signals received over the connection established by the PDA to an appropriate communication unit within the PDA, e.g., a fax modem, data modem, or voice communication unit, the appropriate communication unit being selected in response to the type of communication that was determined by the discriminator to be waiting. The PDA owner may optionally be alerted only when 1) an information transmission is successfully completed and the received information is waiting in the PDA for access by its owner, or 2) when a voice connection has successfully been established to the communication originator who continues to indicate a readiness to communicate.
摘要:
A call placed by a calling party from within the local office or campus area served by an intelligent PBX of a called party who is a subscriber to a personal reach service is held at that PBX for determination of whether the called party/subscriber is within or outside the local area served by the PBX. This determination is made using two-way paging technology through which a pager-carrying called party/subscriber is determined to be within the local area if the two-way pager carried by the called party/subscriber is registered within the area. If the called party/subscriber is determined to be within the local area, then a local page is broadcast to the called party/subscriber and a return call to the PBX by the called party/subscriber is bridged with the call being held from the calling party at the PBX. If the called party/subscriber is determined to be outside the local area, then the calling party's call is connected over the telephone network to the called party/subscriber's personal reach service network platform. A nationwide page is broadcast and a return call from the called party/subscriber to the network platform is bridged with the calling party's call to complete the connection between the calling and called parties.
摘要:
In a personal reach telephone service in which a calling party's telephone call to a personal reach telephone number of a called party/subscriber is bridged to a return call placed by the called party/subscriber in response to a page which indicates to the called party/subscriber the presence of a waiting call, a connection is established between a bridging and signaling unit associated with the interexchange network to which the calling party is directed, and the home PBX associated with the called party/subscriber. After establishing the connection between the bridging and signaling unit and the home PBX, a determination is made, using two-way paging technology, whether the pager associated with the called party/subscriber is registered within the local area covered by the home PBX. If the pager is registered in the local area, then the calling party's call is connected directly to the PBX and a local page is broadcast to the called party/subscriber. If the called party/subscriber responds to the local page by means of a return telephone call to the PBX, then the calling party's call and the called party/subscriber's return call are bridged together by the local PBX and the bridging and signaling equipment associated with the interexchange network is disconnected. If the pager associated with the called party/subscriber is not registered in the local area, then a nationwide page is broadcast and a return call to the bridging and signaling equipment associated with the network is bridged to the calling party's call.
摘要:
In a personal reach telephone service in which a calling party's telephone call to a personal reach telephone number of a called party is bridged to a return call placed by the called party in response to a page, a connection is established between bridging and signaling equipment associated with the interexchange network, to which the calling party's call is directed, and the home PBX associated with the called party. The called party, in responding to the page, and if local to the PBX, calls into his home PBX where this return call and the calling party's call are bridged together.
摘要:
A called party is alerted to the presence of a voice call on the Internet (110) by a page that is automatically transmitted to the called party's pager (120) upon initiation of the call by a calling party from his terminal (101) running Internet voice communications software and equipped with a microphone (102) and speaker (103). The page is transmitted in response to a message sent by a service provider (115) on the Internet, which receives from the calling party's terminal on the Internet, information for identifying the called party's pager. The called party, upon receiving the page, connects to the called party on the Internet through his home terminal (105) that is running that same voice communications software and is also equipped with a microphone (106) and speaker (107), or through any such similarly equipped portable or fixed terminal (125) at any location from which the Internet can be accessed. Alternatively, the called party can answer the call on the Internet with a standard station set (131) by calling an Internet-savvy platform (130), which converts the packetized voice signal of the calling party into an analog signal and the analog voice signal of the called party into packets for transmission on the Internet.
摘要:
In order to minimize the number of transmitters from which a page is transmitted in a Personal Reach System in which a subscriber is paged to alert him or her of a waiting telephone call, the subscriber's last known location, the time at her or she was located there, and the elapsed time since being located there, are used to determine an outer perimeter of the geographic area in which the subscriber is likely to be presently located. A page is then transmitted to the subscriber from those transmitters which cover that geographic area. If the elapsed time is more than a predetermined threshold, during which period the subscriber could have traveled anywhere, a nationwide page, rather than a localized page, is transmitted.
摘要:
An apparatus and method provide a database in a pager that contains menus that may be displayed on a pager display. A paging service sends a page including an identification to the pager. The pager receives the identification, retrieves a menu from the pager database and displays the menu. The pager responds to the page based on a selection selected from the displayed menu.
摘要:
Call center functions are provided to a plurality of remotely located customer service representatives (CSRs) via a data network, such as the Internet. Each CSR station includes a telephone and a computer. Separate log-in procedures for the computer and the telephone improve system security. Incoming calls are routed to an available CSR. A call control server provides call control pages that include a set of clickable commands (e.g., transfer, hold, conference, speed-dial buttons, and the like) and telephone digits to CSR computers that allow CSRs to remotely control telephone calls. A merchant server can also provide a merchant application page to CSR computers to allow CSRs to process customer calls.