Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
21s15os
FIELI) OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the field of
telephony, and in particular to a method of processing
incoming calls so as to automatically associate a stored
file with an incoming call.
BACKc;ROUND TO THE INVENTION
It has become commonplace in certain telephone
usage situations to have a computer used in association
with calls. For example, a PABX telephone operator may
have a computer which helps process an incoming call by
readily displaying a PABX local number to which the call
is to be transferred. A telephone operator of a
commercial establishment may have a computer bring up a
file of a calling party which has been identified when
the ~~all is answered. Telephone users may use a
computer to display a telephone directory, to
automatically dial outgoing calls, to compose and
tran;~mit electronic mail (E-mail) messages, etc.
In the past, an operator of a computer
inte~~rated with a telephone system (CTI) would ask a
calling party their name or telephone number, and type
it into the computer. The computer operator would then
control an application program to search a database and
to bring up a file associated with the calling party.
For .example, the file could contain data relating to
past sales to the customer, or a record of previous
communications with an enterprise, or a list of
equipment known to the enterprise to be used by the
caller, or the accounting records of the caller, etc.
However, once the call was answered, further
incoming calls would either be routed to another
operator, or, if the same operator placed the initial
call on hold and another call were answered, there was
no ability to call up a file associated with the other
call unless this were done manually by the operator. If
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the file associated with the other call were called up
manually, and if the file related to the first caller
were on the screen of the operator's computer, the
operator could get confused as to which file related to
which answered call. Further, there was no ability to
automatically obtain a file when the later call is
answered and provide it in the foreground for unambiguous
use by the operator.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention, files can be associated with calls, and
indications of call can be provided on a display of a
computer at the same time as a file associated with a
currently active call. A user can use a pointer such as
a mouse to select one call of several that may be
indicated on the display to make one call active and
place or maintain others on hold, and automatically have
a file associated with the active call available to the
user, e.g. in the foreground.
In accordance with an embodiment of the invention,
a method of processing incoming telephone calls is
comprised of receiving an incoming call, and routing it
to a called telephone, displaying an icon related to the
incoming call in an optically dominant manner on a
computer display of a computer associated with the called
telephone, simultaneously retrieving a file related to
the identity of a calling line of the incoming call from
the database, and providing foreground access to the file
to an operator of the computer.
In accordance with another embodiment, a method of
processing incoming telephone calls is comprised of
detecting an incoming call in a telephone server,
providing data relating to a calling or called party from
the server to a telephone application program in a
computer associated with the called party, directing a
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server from the telephone application program to ring the
telephone of a called party and transfer the call
thereto, simultaneously retrieving a file from a
database, by the telephone application program, and
displaying from the telephone application program an icon
related to the call in foreground on a display of the
computer, and providing access by the called party, to
said file.
In accordance with another embodiment, a method of
processing E-Mail message is comprised of receiving an
incoming message, and routing it to the computer of a
recipient party, displaying an icon related to the
incoming message in a dominant manner on a computer
display of a computer associated with the recipient
party, automatically retrieving a file related to an
identity of a transmitting party of the incoming message
from a database, and providing foreground access to the
file to an operator of the computer.
HRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE DRAWINGS
A better understanding of the invention will be
obtained by reading the description of the invention
below, with reference to the following drawings, in
which:
Figure 1 is a block diagram of a system by which
the present invention can be implemented,
Figure 2 is a block diagram used to illustrate the
inventive method in basic form,
Figure 3 is an illustration of a computer display
as may be used in an embodiment of the invention,
Figure 4 is a block diagram used to illustrate the
inventive method in more detailed form, and
Figure 5 is a flow chart of an embodiment of the
present invention.
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DETA:CLED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERED EMBODIMENTS
A person understanding the present invention
will recognize that various hardware platforms and
computer software could be used to implement the present
invention. However it is preferred that the present
invention be implemented using the structures described
in U.S. patent application serial number 08/367,821
filed January 3, 1995, entitled ADAPTIVE COMMUNICATION
SYSTEM, and U.S. patent application serial number
08/3:39,463 filed November 14, 1994, entitled LOCAL AREA
COMMiJNICATIONS SERVER SYSTEM. A basic architecure of
the :system described in U.S. Serial No.
08/3:39,463 is illustrated in Figure 1.
A server 1, which may be connected to the public
switching network 3, is connected to a local area
network (LAN) 5 or asynchronous transfer mode (ATM)
network. A computer 9 such as a desktop computer is
also connected to the LAN or ATM network 5. Station
apparatus such as a telephone 7, but which could be a
headset, a handset or a wireless device, is in
communication with the server. Alternatively, the
station apparatus (which will henceforth be referred to
as a telephone), can be connected to or be in
communication with a telephone interface circuit in a
computer 9.
A memory in the computer contains a telephone
application program. In accordance with an embodiment
of tile invention, a further memory is in communication
with the computer, e.g. via the network 5, which further
memory stores a database 11. In this specification,
the 'term database will be used as being synonymous with
the :Further memory. The database stores files which the
user would want to use, upon receiving incoming calls.
For example, the files could contain personal profiles
of callers, stored data describing matters to be
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discussed with individual callers, accounting data
relai~ing to individual callers, etc.
Operation of the invention in accordance with
one embodiment of the invention is as follows, with
reference to Figure 2. Arrowed lines associated with
bracl~eted capital letters represent process steps
associated with particular apparatus. When a call is
received from the public network, (A), the CTI server 1
tran:afers the call to telephone 7 (B) . It
simu:Ltaneously or immediately before or after
tran:aferring the call provides data to the computer 9 as
to the identity of the calling and called lines. The
idenl;.ity of the calling line can be obtained from the
data transferred from a remote switching system via
trunks in the public switched network or via a separate
data line.
The computer 9, using the identity of the
calling line, accesses database 11, and retrieves a file
(if :it exists) which is associated with the calling
line. The computer also places an icon in foreground on
the display of the computer which relates to the call,
and makes the file which has been retrieved from the
database available for use by an application program
used in conjunction with answering the call. For
example, the application program could display the data
in the database.
Tools for creating the display, the icons, for
involking the icons as active, and for enabling resulting
operation of the application programs are well known to
persons skilled in the art. For example, in the event
that the computer used is the Apple Macintosh, a tool
that can be used is Hypercard, as described in the text
"The Complete Hypercard Handbook", by Danny Goodman,
copyright 1987, pblished by Bantam Books Inc. In the
event that the computer is an IBM compatible personal
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computer using a Windows 3.1 operating system, a tool
that can be used is the programming techniques described
in the text "Programming Windows 3.1", by Charles
Petzold, copyright 1992, published by Microsoft Press.
Figure 3 illustrates a display 13 of the
personal computer during the processing of several
calls. For example assume that two calls have come in,
and are on on hold. A first call was a conference call
betwcaen two parties and the local user, which results in
l0 the application program displaying a conference call
icon 15 on the display. A second call was a single
party call, which results in the application program
displaying a normal call icon 17 on the display. The
icons are preferably transparent over the display of
another application program in progress, such as a word
proc~assing file.
Now a third call is made, i.e. an incoming call.
The application places an icon 19 in foreground on the
display. At the same time it retrieves a file relating
to the incoming call from the database. When the user
invokes the icon by clicking on it using a pointing
device, or by some other means such as by hitting a key
on the keyboard of the computer or by voice command, the
file retrieved from the database is placed on the screen
for 'viewing by the user.
Alternatively, the data contained in the file
can lbe used by the application program. For example, if
the data in the file represents accounts receivable, the
application program may analyze the data and as a result
generate a display message such as "account balance
nil", or "$550.00 overdue 5 months, further balance
owing $350.00", etc. Voiced messages or control
messages could also or alternatively be generated as a
result of the data stored in the file of the database
related to the incoming call. For example, the file
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could contain data indicating the existance of
part:icular bandwidth or particular apparatus used by the
call:ing party. The application program could invoke
particular apparatus as a result of analyzing the file
and cause the computer to automatically connect
additional or substitute channels between the called and
the calling parties, such as a high data rate modem, a
video channel, etc.
Rather than having the data appear on the
display after activating an icon, the application
program could instead immediately provide the file data
of the new call on the display.
It should be noted that files relating to each
of the calls have been retrieved from the database 11
and are available to the user. The retrieved files are
retained in a local memory in the computer 9 after
retrieval from the database, as long as an icon relating
to a call is displayed on the display 13. By clicking
on any icon, the user informs the application program of
the :icon, i.e. the call, that should be made active. As
a re;~ult, the application program places the call in
progress on hold (with others that may be on hold), and
makes the call relating to the clicked icon active, and
places the file relating to that call on the screen.
The clicked icon is also preferably displayed with
dominance, for example with a strong or distinctive
color or shading, with bold or thick lines, etc.
Until now it was described that files are
retrieved which are associated with particular incoming
calling lines. This infers that each file can be looked
up by calling line identification. However it should be
noted that files can be made associative, e.g. they can
be looked up in association with the identity of calling
liners as well as the identity of called lines or with
any other criteria. For example, a file can be looked
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up in association with the identity of a called line as
well as the time of day, or day of the week, month or
year,, different files, or no files being retrieved from
the database depending on the time of day, or the
particular day of the week, month or year.
Particular files can be retrieved depending on
the :identity of the called party as well as the calling
line. For example, a particular file can be retrieved
from the database when a particularly identified calling
party calls one line, and a different file can be
retrieved when the same calling party calls a different
line. This could have application when different agents
are called, each of which having different approval
authority for a particular incalling client which has a
single database. Indeed, the application program,
analyzing the data stored in the file as well as the
identity of the called agent, could modify the data of
the :file which is displayed to that agent. A different
agent, having different approval authority, could have
at least some different data displayed.
It will be recognized that the files can be
displayed in separate resizable windows relating to each
of the calls, with the window containing the file
relating to the active call on top of the other windows.
In a variation of the above embodiment, calls
that are for other users can be displayed in other
places on the display, and calls that have different
priorities can be displayed either in a separate part of
the display or with distinctive colors than normal
caller. The priority of a call, and the color or
location on the display of a particular icon can be
established by indicating to the application program the
identities of incoming calls in association with
particular priorities, and by setting colors and/or
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display locations for calls relating to those
identities.
It should also be noted that for the case in
which the telephone is connected directly to the
computer, invoking an icon as active can not only bring
the file from the database to the foreground on the
display and have data in it processed by the application
program (if the application program can use the data),
and display the call icon in a dominant manner, but can
also perform connection of the telephone to the calling
party, placing another call, if one were in progress, on
hold.
Indeed, in the event the telephone is connected
directly to the server as shown in Figures 1 and 2, the
application program in the computer 9 can cause a
command to be sent to the server to ring the telephone 7
and connect it to the public network once answered after
the :icon relating to the call has been made active by
the user.
Rather than clicking on a call icon to make it
active, the user could alternatively drag its own icon
over the call icon to invoke a call to be active.
Figure 4 illustrates a preferred structure that
can be used to implement the invention in more detail.
The server contains a call control application program
21, which is linked to drivers 23. The server contains
MVIP circuits 24 which interface telephones such as
telephone 7 to the public network 3.
The computer 9 contains a telephone application
program 25 and screen display application program 27.
In operation, and with additional reference to
the process chart of Figure 5, the user establishes
phone numbers which are to be dealt with by its computer
9, using the telephone application program 25. For
example, the user could indicate to the application
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program that it is to respond only to calls to a single
telephone line identity. The telephone application
program 25 then downloads instructions to call control 21
(A) to monitor, for that application program, calls to
the single telephone identity.
When an incoming call arrives to the MVIP circuits
24, the drivers 23 pass this information to the call
control 21 (C), which detects the identities of the
incoming calling line and of the called line. The call
control passes this information to the telephone
application program 25 (D), which in turn directs the
call control (E) to transfer the call to the telephone 7.
The telephone application program 25 then,
using the identity of the calling line, the identities of
both the calling and calling lines, or other criteria
such as the time, day, etc., searches the database 11 for
a corresponding file. It retrieves the file e.g. via LAN
5 and invoking the screen application 27, displays the
retrieved file and an icon relating to the call on the
display of the computer as described earlier.
The call can then progress as described earlier,
with respect to answering the call, display of dominant
icon, display of files relating to the active call, etc.
It should be noted that the present invention is
not restricted for use with telephone calls, but can be
used for the receipt of other data such as E-mail
messages. In this case, message files can be stored in a
database in relation to calling and called party
identities, and icons can be displayed relating to each
message or relating to plural messages relating to each
party transmitting a message. Upon activating an icon,
the corresponding E-mail message or messages from a
single party can be placed in dominance on the screen.
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The invention can alternatively be used with a
single computer having a telephone application circuit
and database, and plural lines connected to the
application circuit, rather than using the particular
server-LAN architecture illustrated.
Retrieving a file in this specification should
be construed to include an E-mail message or application
program.
A person understanding this invention may now
conceive of alternative structures and embodiments or
variations of the above. All of those which fall within
the scope of the claims appended hereto are considered
to be part of the present invention.
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