Patent · US Expired

Virtualized computer telephony integrated link for enhanced functionality in call centers

US6434231B1 · kind B1 · utility

78Cited by
9References
2Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJan 5, 2000
Grant dateAug 13, 2002
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 5, 2020

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04M2242/22
  • WIPO fieldTelecommunications
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A telephony call center has agent workstations having telephones connected to station-side ports of a telephone switching apparatus adapted to receive and switch conventional telephone calls to the telephones, and also computer platforms connected on a local area network (LAN). A processor also connected on the LAN has a wide area network (WAN) port and is adapted to receive and distribute computer-simulated telephone calls from the WAN to computer platforms at the agent stations. At individual agent stations the telephone and computer platform is connected by a Telephone Application Programming Interface (TAPI)-compliant bridge. Status of calls of both types at agent workstations is communicated to a network-level router by the processor having a WAN connection, which may also receive computer-simulated calls. The router may then make routing decisions based on agent status relative to both kinds of calls.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.