Dynamic Phone Number Mapping for Context Retrieval
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for providing human assistance in e-commerce settings, such as call centers, face challenges in retrieving context data for users who call without a known phone number or have blocked CallerID, limiting the ability to display relevant information to agents.
Innovation Solution
A system that dynamically allocates PSTN telephone numbers or invite codes associated with web session identifiers, allowing context information to be retrieved and displayed to call center agents, enabling co-browsing and improved user assistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If CallerID-based identification is used to retrieve user context data, then context information can be displayed for known users, but no context data can be retrieved when CallerID is unknown or blocked
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a telephone number mapping system that acts as an intermediary between the CallerID and the user context data. Instead of directly using CallerID to retrieve context, the system maps the called telephone number to a user identifier, which then retrieves the context data. This intermediary mapping mechanism allows context retrieval even when CallerID is unknown or blocked, as the mapping is based on the telephone number being called rather than the caller's identification.
2Adaptability or versatility
If dynamic telephone number allocation is implemented, then context information can be retrieved for all users regardless of CallerID status, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal telephone number mapping system that serves multiple functions: it maps telephone numbers to user identifiers for context retrieval, supports both known and unknown CallerID scenarios, and works with both static and dynamically allocated telephone numbers. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require separate systems for different identification scenarios, thereby managing complexity while maintaining high adaptability.
Data Source
AI summary
A technique for providing context information for a PSTN phone call originating from an user includes dynamically selecting a phone number (or invite code or combination thereof) from among a pool of available phone numbers; displaying the selected phone number to the user in a web page; receiving context information corresponding to the user; receiving an incoming phone call on the dynamically selected phone number, connecting the incoming call to an outgoing call to the call center, and providing the context information to a computer corresponding to an agent to whom the outgoing call is connected. The context information may include a web page viewed by the user, and may be sufficient to provide a co-browsing capability. The technique may be utilized with or without session based web pages and may be performed by a sever that serves web page content to the user or a third party service provider.