Method and apparatus for providing contextual information with telephone calls

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a method for propagating contextual data in an audio communication by storing the contextual data obtained from a calling party in an extensible mark-up language formatted text document. A telephone call between a first party and a second party is converted to a session initiation protocol based voice over internet protocol communication, and the stored text document is attached to session initiation protocol messages that control the voice over internet protocol communication. The document is attached to the signaling messages by embedding the text document in a session description payload associated with the session initiation protocol message. The attached document is propagated with the audio communication, including when the signaling messages are used to transfer the audio communication from the second party to a third party or to add one or more addition parties to the audio communication.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention is directed to the field of computer networks. More specifically, the present invention is directed to computer telephony, in particular Voice-over-Internet-Protocol. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Various businesses handle a large volume of phone calls from clients or customers. To facilitate the processing of this large volume of phone calls, many businesses utilize technologies such as call centers. In general, each call center contains the equipment and personnel necessary to manage and to process a large volume of inbound or outbound calls. Inbound call centers receive calls, for example via toll-free numbers, from customers looking to obtain information about the goods or services that a company sells, to purchase those goods or services and to obtain assistance. Therefore, the inbound call centers provide support for incoming sales and for customer service requests. Outbound call centers typically contain a large number ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010] Therefore, the present invention ties the contextual data to the call itself, allowing the call-specific contextual data to be transferred to any domain, including different domains running different applications from the original termination point domain without requiring access to a corporate database. Methods and systems in accordance with the present invention allow on-demand call transfer for customer relationship management (CRM) or other purposes, with appropriate contextual or other information coupled with the call to facilitate a near seamless customer experience. The present invention also enables loose integration of call centers via a decreased requirement for integration of applications and middleware.

Problems solved by technology

However, each operator must have access to the database, and difficulties with database performance, availability, synchronization schemes and access controls affect operator access to the necessary information.

In addition, when a call is transferred between administrative domains, e.g. from an initial call center to a distant call center, the problems associated with database access are exacerbated.

Current systems do not address situations where the caller dynamically provides data, for example details of a current problem, or current information to an operator.

Current telephone communication systems do not provide session specific contextual information across termination points of a telephone call, in particular when those termination points span administrative or application domains.

For example, when a telephone call is transferred from a first call center to a second call center, the contextual information is lost.

Images