Method and apparatus for teleworking from remote terminals
AssigneeBritish Telecommunications public limited company
InventorLaurence J. Booton
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A teleworking facility is provided with a Computer/Telephony Integration ontroller connected to a private automatic branch exchange (PABX) and arranged to select an available one of a set of terminals to receive the identity of a teleworking agent requesting work (or select the identity of a teleworking agent to be offered work), and to command an automatic call distribution (ACD) system to record the teleworking agent's identity in association with the identity of the selected terminal. When the controller detects that the ACD system has connected an incoming call to the selected terminal, it commands the PABX to make an outgoing external call to the teleworking agent at the recorded remote terminal and to join the two calls in conference mode.
Claims21
A method of teleworking in association with a call center having an automatic call distribution (ACD) suite comprising a switching system and an ACD system, these systems being specifically designed for use with a work force of only local agents, and the method comprising the prior step of assigning a predetermined set of local terminals of the switching system for teleworking use, and comprising the steps of:
- recording in association with the identity of a teleworking agent who is to be made operational the network terminal number of a remote terminal at which the teleworking agent is to work;
- selecting an available one of said predetermined set of local terminals and associating its identity with the identity of said teleworking agent;
- commanding the ACD system to include the identity of said teleworking agent and the associated terminal identity in a table of operational agents and the respective terminals at which they are working;
- detecting when the ACD system allocates said selected terminal for the switching system to make a connection between said selected terminal and an external line circuit which is involved in an external first call;
- and, in response to said detecting:
- retrieving said network terminal number;
- commanding the switching system to make an external second call to said network terminal number;
- commanding the switching system to mark said selected terminal as being in an off-hook state;
- and
- commanding the switching system to join said external second call to said external first call.
A call control apparatus for use in a call center having an automatic call distribution (ACD) suite comprising an ACD system and a switching system arranged to make and receive external calls and having an associated plurality of local terminals, these systems being specifically designed for use with a work force of only local agents, the call control apparatus being arranged:
- to receive the identity of a teleworking agent who is to be made operational and the identity of the network terminal number of a remote terminal at which the teleworking agent is to work, and to record these two associated identities;
- to select an available one of a predetermined set of said local terminals and to associate the identity of said selected terminal with the recorded identity of said teleworking agent;
- to command the ACD system to include the identity of said teleworking agent and the associated terminal identity in a table of operational agents and respective associated terminals;
- to detect when the ACD system allocates said selected terminal for the switching system to make a connection between said selected terminal and an external line circuit which is involved in an external first call;
- and in response thereto:
- to retrieve said network terminal number;
- to command the switching system to make an external second call to said network terminal number;
- to command the switching system to mark said selected terminal as being in an off-hook state;
- and
- to command the switching system to join said external second call to said external first call.
A method of teleworking from remote terminals using a system designed for use with only local terminals, comprising:
- associating a network terminal number of one of the remote terminals with the identity of a teleworker using that remote terminal and associating one of the local terminals with the identity of the teleworker;
- and
- detecting when the local terminal associated with the identity of the teleworker is allocated for connection to a call involving a first external line circuit, and, in response to the detecting:
- using the network terminal number for the remote terminal used by the teleworker to make a call to that remote terminal;
- and
- joining the call involving the first external line circuit to the call to the remote terminal used by the teleworker.
A call control apparatus for providing teleworking capability from remote terminals usable with a system designed for use with only local terminals, the call control apparatus being configured to:
- associate a network terminal number of one of the remote terminals with the identity of a teleworker using that remote terminal and associating one of the local terminals with the identity of the teleworker;
- and
- detect when the local terminal associated with the identity of the teleworker is allocated for connection to a call involving a first external line circuit, and, in response thereto:
- to use the network terminal number for the remote terminal used by the teleworker to make a call to that remote terminal;
- and
- to join the call involving the first external line circuit to the call to the remote terminal used by the teleworker.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.