US 6,807,264 B1Granted

Computer telephony integration

AssigneeBritish Telecommunications public limited company

InventorLaurence J Booton

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Abstract

A CTI system in which a user profile contains a call-related feature table for holding the user's chosen timeout values for the facility “Divert To Mail After Timeout”. The call-related features are Name, Area Code, Time, and Route, and there is also provision for a Default value. The call-related features are ranked, and, for a incoming call to a called user, the CTI controller accesses that called user's profile, selects the highest ranking of the entries, e.g. Bob, and, using a CLI-to-name translation table, tries to find a match, i.e. is the incoming call from Bob. If there is a match, the associated timeout value is retrieved, and if there is no match, the Default timeout is retrieved. A countdown timer is started from the retrieved timeout value, and the current countdown value is displayed at the client of the called user to enable the called user to make a more informed decision about how and whether he will answer that call.

Claims22

Dependent claims

A method of operating a computer telephony integration (CTI) system comprising a switch and a CTI controller therefor, and plurality of user workstations, each workstation comprising a computer connected to the CTI controller and a telephone connected to the switch, the system storing, for each user of the system, a respective user-associated profile containing at least the identity of the computer at which the associated user is currently logged on to the CTI controller, the method comprising the steps of:

responding to receipt of an incoming call at the switch by retrieve from signalling data of that incoming call a called user identity;
accessing the profile associated with the called user to retrieve the identity of the computer at which the called user is currently logged on to the CTI controller;
sending an incoming call message in respect of the called user from the CTI controller to that computer;
and
responding to receipt of said incoming call message at that computer by displaying an indication that an incoming call has been received for the called user;
and the method being characterised by the steps of:
storing in each user-associated profile, a respective value for the length of time that an incoming call for the associated user is to be allowed to remain unanswered before routing the call to an answering facility, said value being referred to hereafter as a countdown value;
further responding to receipt of the incoming call by retrieving said countdown value from the profile associated with that called user;
starting a call-associated countdown from the retrieved countdown value;
and
further responding to receipt of said incoming call message at that computer by additionally displaying the current value of said call-associated countdown.

8 more elements

A computer telephony integration (CTI) system comprising a switch and a CTI controller therefor, and a plurality of user workstations, each workstation comprising a computer connected to the CTI controller and a telephone connected to the switch, wherein the CTI controller comprises:

means for storing, for users of the system, respective user associated profiles, each profile being arranged to store the identity of the computer at which the associated user is currently logged on to the CTI controller,
means for retrieving from signalling data of an incoming call retrieved at the switch a called user identity and for retrieving from the profile associated with the called user the identity of the computer at which the called user is currently logged on to the CTI controller;
and
means for sending an incoming call message in respect of the called user from the CTI controller to that computer;
and each said computer comprises means for responding to receipt of a said incoming call message by displaying an indication that an incoming call has been received for the called user;
the system being characterised by countdown means for counting down from a received value, and being characterised in that:
the storing means is arranged to store in each profile a respective value for the length of time that an incoming call for the associated user is to be allowed to remain unanswered before routing the call to an answering facility, said value being referred to hereafter as a countdown value;
the retrieving means is also arranged to retrieve said countdown value from the profile associated with that called user;
the sending means is arranged to send the retrieved countdown value to the countdown means to start a call-associated countdown;
and
the display means is arranged to receive from the countdown means the current value of said call-associated countdown and to display that current value.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.