Abstract:
In a call center with automatic answering, the availability of an agent is verified in order to prevent open connections when the agent unexpectedly leaves his or her station and fails to give proper notice. Verification may be provided by sensing speech activity of the agent when greeting a calling party or in response to an incoming-call signal. In other embodiments, verification may be provided by checking an audio device allocated to the agent, for example checking whether the agent is wearing his or her headset, or whether the headset is operably connected to the call center.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention applies to the field of telecommunication, and more particularly to a method for answering calls incoming to a telephone call center.  
         BACKGROUND  
         [0002]    Telephone call centers are now widely used to provide services in both the commercial and governmental sectors. A commercial enterprise may use a call center to take orders, arrange appointments, provide warranty registration or helpdesk advice, and the like. A governmental office may use a call center to coordinate requests from citizens for emergency services such as fire fighting or police intervention. Such commercial enterprises and governmental offices may own and manage their own proprietary call centers, or they may contract the services of vendors who specialize in call centers.  
           [0003]    Timeliness in answering incoming calls often has acute importance, as is self evident in the case of emergency calls to police departments. Further, the terms of contracts between commercial enterprises and call center vendors often specify average or maximum times that incoming calls may not exceed while lingering in a call center queue before being answered by an agent.  
           [0004]    Timeliness specifications may be transgressed when an agent leaves his or her call center station without giving proper notice, which notice requires overt action by the agent to inform the call center routing algorithm that the agent will be unavailable. Calls continue to be routed to that agent despite his or her absence. In manual-answer call centers, these calls go unanswered, of course, and increase the average-time-to-answer for the call center. In principle, such unanswered call may also violate maximum-time-to-answer specifications. In practice, they always annoy customers and clients; in the extreme, they may have dire consequences when emergencies are involved. To minimize the increase in average-time-to-answer in manual-answer call centers, and to satisfy maximum-time-to-answer specifications, calls that are not answered after a predetermined number of rings are returned to queue, to be assigned to another agent.  
           [0005]    In contrast to a manual-answer call center, an automatic-answer call center does not ring calls to agents. Instead, an automatic-answer call center, which is sometimes called a forced-answer call center, selects an agent on record as being available, assigns a call from the queue to the agent, and automatically answers the call for the agent (i.e., establishes a connection between the agent and the calling party automatically). Relative to manual call answering, automatic call answering provides a better average-time-to-answer for call centers, and provides more responsive service to callers.  
           [0006]    When an agent leaves his or her station in an automatic-answer call center without giving proper notice, however, an incoming call may still be routed to the agent and answered automatically, even though the agent is not actually present to serve the calling party. When this happens, an unchecked open connection is established. The open connection has all the adverse consequences of an open connection in a manual-answer call center. Unlike a manual-answer call center, however, an automatic-answer call center has no way of minimizing the damage caused by such an open connection by returning the call to queue.  
           [0007]    Thus there is a need to provide a method for processing calls in call centers with automatic answering that preserves the responsiveness of automatic call answering, but which also provides the return-to-queue safeguards of manual call answering.  
         SUMMARY  
         [0008]    The present invention provides a method for processing calls in call centers with automatic answering that offers both the responsiveness of automatic call answering and the return-to-queue safeguards of manual call answering.  
           [0009]    In one embodiment, an agent is alerted to an incoming call by a signal, for example by a zip tone or a whisper command, which the agent is expected to respond to orally. A speech processor then checks for responsive speech activity. If responsive speech activity of the agent is detected, the agent is presumed to be available for the call, in which case the call is answered automatically for the agent. If responsive speech activity is not detected, the agent is presumed to be unavailable, and the call is returned to queue for servicing by another agent.  
           [0010]    In another embodiment, a call is assigned to an agent and answered automatically. A speech processor then checks for speech activity following the automatic answering of the call, for example the speech activity that is expected to occur when the agent greets the calling party. If responsive speech activity of the agent is detected, the agent is presumed to be available. If responsive speech activity is not detected, the agent is presumed to be unavailable, and the call is returned to queue for servicing by another agent.  
           [0011]    In still another embodiment of the invention, the call center checks an audio device allocated to the agent in order to determine whether the agent is available. For example, the check may ascertain whether the agent is wearing a headset, and is therefore presumably available for an incoming call, or may ascertain whether the headset is operably connected to the call center. If the agent is determined to be available, the call is assigned to the agent and answered automatically. If the agent is determined to be unavailable, the call is returned to queue for servicing by another agent.  
           [0012]    In yet another embodiment of the invention, an incoming call is assigned to an agent and answered automatically. The call center then checks an audio device allocated to the agent in order to determine whether the agent is available, as described above. If the agent is determined to be unavailable, the call is returned to queue for servicing by another agent.  
           [0013]    These and other aspects of the invention will be more fully appreciated when considered in light of the following drawings and detailed description. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]    [0014]FIG. 1 is a block diagram that shows an exemplary call center configuration according to the present invention.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 2 is a flow chart that shows aspects of a method according to the invention for processing calls wherein an agent is signaled before a call is answered automatically.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 3 is a flow chart that shows aspects of a method according to the invention for processing calls wherein a call is answered automatically without explicit signaling.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 4 is a flow chart that shows aspects of a method according to the invention for processing calls wherein an audio device allocated to an agent is checked to verify the presence of the agent before a call is answered automatically.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 5 is a flow chart that shows aspects of a method according to the invention for processing calls wherein a call is automatically answered and an audio device allocated to an agent is checked to verify the presence of the agent after the call is answered automatically.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0019]    The present invention provides a method for processing calls in call centers with automatic answering that preserves the responsiveness of automatic call answering, but which also provides the return-to-queue safeguards of manual call answering.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 1 shows an exemplary call center configuration according to the present invention. The configuration of FIG. 1 is illustrative rather than limiting of the invention, however, and is intended to serve as a vehicle for the discussion of the inventive method that follows.  
         [0021]    As shown in FIG. 1, a calling party  100  may access a call center  120  over a telephone network  110 . The telephone network  110  may be a conventional wireline public switched telephone network. The invention is not limited in this way, however, and applies as well when other kinds of networks are employed, including voice-over-IP networks, cellular telephone networks, satellite networks, emergency networks, private corporate networks, and the like.  
         [0022]    The call center  120  includes a telephone interface  121  to the telephone network  120 . Incoming calls are accepted by the telephone interface  121  and recorded in a call queue  122  while awaiting service. Agents  190 A- 190 N are available to the call center  120  to service the call from the calling party  100 , and the call center  120  selects agents to service the queued calls. If an agent is available when an incoming call arrives, the incoming call may be noted in the call queue  122 , but need not linger before being serviced—it is not necessary that every call literally be queued. A switch  123  connects the telephone interface  121  to the agents  190 A- 190 N so that the agents  190 A- 190 N can service calls, and selects agents and routes calls to the selected agents according to the occupancy of the call queue  122  and the status of the agents  190 A- 190 N.  
         [0023]    Status of the agents  190 A- 190 N is kept by an agent status record  124 . When an agent is known to be busy servicing a call, or when the agent has given proper notice of unavailability, the status of that agent is listed as “unavailable” in the agent status record  124 . At the end of a call, or upon receiving notice that an agent has returned to his or her station after an absence, the status of that agent is changed to “available” in the agent status record  124 .  
         [0024]    As shown in FIG. 1, speech processors  130 A- 130 N may be connected to the agent-side ports of the switch  123 , so that the speech processors  130 A- 130 N may process speech received from the agents  190 A- 190 N. The speech processors  130 A- 130 N may include speech recognition capabilities, speaker recognition capabilities, energy detectors, threshold activity detectors, and so forth, according to particular embodiments of the invention.  
         [0025]    The agents  190 A- 190 N are allocated audio devices  180 A- 180 N, for communication with the agent-side ports of the switch  123 . The audio devices  180 A- 180 N may be, for example, microphones, earphones or other earpieces, headsets each having an earphone and a microphone, and the like. Connections between the audio devices  180 A- 180 N and the switch  123  may be wired and/or wireless. A wireless connection may be supported by a pair of wireless transceivers—an agent-side transceiver connected to the associated audio device, and a switch-side transceiver connected to the switch  123 .  
         [0026]    The audio devices  180 A- 180 N may be monitored by checking apparatus  181 A- 181 N as shown in FIG. 1, which may be used according to various embodiments of the invention, as explained further below, to verify that an agent listed as available in the agent status record  124  is actually present and able to service a call, has not departed from his or her station without giving proper notice, and does not have a faulty audio device. For convenience, FIG. 1 shows the checking apparatus  181 A- 181 N as being internal to the call center  120  cabinet. This is illustrative rather than limiting, however, as the checking apparatus  181 A- 181 N may be located as well with the audio devices  180 A- 180 N, or may be partly located within the call center  120  cabinet and partly located with the audio devices  180 A- 180 N.  
         [0027]    When the audio device  180 A allocated to agent  190 A has a wireless connection with the switch  123 , the checking apparatus  181 A for the audio device  180 A may measure a characteristic of a wireless signal received by the switch-side transceiver that supports the wireless connection. The agent  190 A may be presumed to have left his or her station or to have faulty equipment (for example, the agent-side transceiver may have failed) when signal strength falls below a predetermined level, when bit-error or frame-error rates exceed predetermined levels, when bit or frame synchronization is lost, and so forth.  
         [0028]    A number of ways may be employed to check the audio device  180 A when the connection between the switch  123  and the audio device  180 A is wired. For example, the physical connection may employ a jack having a switch that is operated by inserting a phone plug into the jack. If the state of the switch indicates that the plug is not inserted into the jack, the agent  190 A may be presumed to be away form his or her station, or to have faulty equipment (for example, the fault may lie in improper insertion of the plug into the jack). In this example, the checking apparatus  181 A may be circuitry that determines the state of the switch.  
         [0029]    Other kinds of checking apparatus  181 A- 181 N may measure properties of the agents  190 A- 190 N, to determine whether the agents  190 A- 190 N are actually in physical possession of the audio devices  180 A- 180 N. For example, a spring-loaded support used to position and hold a headset on an agent&#39;s head may include a switch that is activated when the spring is flexed to allow the agent to place the headset on the head, so that the switch indicates whether the agent is wearing the headset. In other cases, a headset may include equipment for sensing changes in temperature, impedance, or capacitance that occur when the headset is put on or when the agent is wearing the headset, or for detecting motion or particular orientations when the headset is worn or put on, or when a microphone boom is extended from a retracted position for use, and so forth.  
         [0030]    It is not necessary that embodiments of the invention use both the speech processors  130 A- 130 N and the checking apparatus  181 A- 181 N, although some embodiments may use both. Rather, some embodiments of the invention do not rely upon the checking apparatus  181 A- 181 N, whereas other embodiments do not rely upon the speech processors  130 A- 130 N.  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 2 shows aspects of a method according to the invention for processing calls, wherein an agent is signaled before a call is answered automatically for the agent. As shown in FIG. 2, the call center  120  receives an incoming call from the calling party  100  (step  200 ). The call is recorded in the call queue  122  to await an available agent (step  210 ). The switch  123  selects an agent whose status is listed as “available” in the agent status record  124 , for example the agent  190 A, to service the call (step  220 ). The status of the selected agent  190 A is changed to “unavailable” in the call status record  124 , and the selected agent  190 A is signaled (step  230 ). Signaling may be, for example, by a whisper command or a zip tone, as mentioned above.  
         [0032]    The speech processor associated with the selected agent, for example speech processor  130 A associated with the selected agent  190 A, then checks for speech activity to determine whether the selected agent  190 A responds to the signal (step  240 ). In one embodiment of the invention, the speech processor  130 A may include speech recognition apparatus that recognizes at least one word spoken by the selected agent  190 A in response to the signal. For example, the signal might be a whisper command “incoming call,” to which the agent would respond either “ready” or “no,” which responses would be distinguished by the speech processor  130 A and acted on accordingly by the call center  120 . In other embodiments, the speech processor  130 A may determine the presence or absence of speech activity by the selected agent  190 A, for example by measuring the electrical signal generated by the speech of the selected agent  190 A to determine its energy, amplitude, spectral components, or any other property whose presence or absence is indicative of the presence or absence of speech.  
         [0033]    If the speech processor  130 A determines that the agent  190 A is not ready to accept the incoming call, as indicated by the recognized response of the selected agent  190 A or by the absence or presence of electrical signals indicating speech activity, the call is again put in queue (step  210 ), i.e., returned to queue. Otherwise (i.e., the speech processor  130 A determines that the agent  190 A is ready to accept the incoming call), the call is assigned to the selected agent  190 A for servicing (step  250 ), and the call is answered automatically for the agent (step  260 ). At the end of the call, the status of the agent  190 A is changed to “available” in the agent status record  124 , indicating that the agent  190 A may take another incoming call (step  270 ).  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 3 shows aspects of a method according to the invention for processing calls wherein a call is answered automatically without explicit signaling. As shown in FIG. 3, the call center  120  receives an incoming call from the calling party  100  (step  300 ). The call is recorded in the call queue  122  to await an available agent (step  310 ). The switch  123  selects an agent whose status is listed as “available” in the agent status record  124 , for example the agent  190 A (step  320 ). The call is assigned to the selected agent  190 A, and the status of the selected agent  190 A is changed to “unavailable” in the call status record  124  (step  330 ). The call is then answered automatically for the selected agent  190 A (step  340 ).  
         [0035]    Once the call is answered, the speech processor associated with the selected agent  190 A, for example speech processor  130 A associated with the selected agent  190 A, then checks for speech activity to determine whether the selected agent  190 A responds to the call (step  350 ). In one embodiment of the invention, the speech processor  130 A may include speech recognition apparatus that recognizes at least one word spoken by the selected agent  190 A addressed to the calling party  100 , for example a word in a phrase used by the agent  190 A to greet the calling party  100 . In other embodiments, the speech processor  130 A may determine the presence or absence of speech activity by the selected agent  190 A, for example by measuring the electrical signal generated by the speech of the selected agent  190 A to determine its energy, amplitude, spectral components, or any other property whose presence or absence is indicative of the presence or absence of speech.  
         [0036]    If the speech processor  130 A determines that the selected agent  190 A is not responsive to the incoming call, the agent  190 A is disconnected (step  360 ), and the call is again put in queue (step  310 ), i.e., returned to queue for assignment to another agent. Otherwise (i.e., the speech processor  130 A determines that the agent  190 A is responsive to the call), the connection with the selected agent  190 A is maintained until the call ends, at which time the status of the agent  190 A is changed to “available” in the agent status record  124 , indicating that the agent  190 A may take another incoming call (step  370 ).  
         [0037]    [0037]FIG. 4 shows aspects of a method according to the invention for processing calls wherein an audio device assigned to an agent (for example, a headset) is checked to verify the presence of the agent before a call is answered automatically. As shown in FIG. 4, the call center  120  receives an incoming call from the calling party  100  (step  400 ). The call is recorded in the call queue  122  to await an available agent (step  410 ). The switch  123  selects an agent whose status is listed as “available” in the agent status record  124 , for example the agent  190 A, to service the call (step  420 ). The status of the selected agent  190 A is changed to “unavailable” in the call status record  124  (step  430 ).  
         [0038]    The audio device  180 A allocated to the selected agent  190 A is then checked, using the checking apparatus  181 A associated with the audio device  180 A, to determine whether the selected agent  190 A is available to respond to the incoming call (step  440 ). As explained above, this determination may be based on measurements of a signal characteristic of a wireless transceiver; proper seating of an audio plug into a jack; headset sensor data including the state of status switches, motion or orientation detectors; properties of the selected agent  190 A such as body temperature, impedance or capacitance to ground or across a headset; and so forth.  
         [0039]    If the checking apparatus  181 A determines that the agent  190 A is not available to respond to the incoming call, the call is again put in queue (step  410 ), i.e., returned to queue. Otherwise (i.e., the checking apparatus  181 A determines that the agent  190 A is available to accept the incoming call), the call is assigned to the selected agent  190 A for servicing (step  450 ), and the call is answered automatically for the agent  190 A (step  460 ). At the end of the call, the status of the agent  190 A is changed to “available” in the agent status record  124 , indicating that the agent  190 A may take another incoming call (step  470 ).  
         [0040]    [0040]FIG. 5 shows aspects of a method according to the invention for processing calls wherein a call is automatically answered for an agent, and an audio device allocated to the agent (for example, a headset) is then checked to verify the presence of the agent after the call is answered. As shown in FIG. 5, the call center  120  receives an incoming call from the calling party  100  (step  500 ). The call is recorded in the call queue  122  to await an available agent (step  510 ). The switch  123  selects an agent whose status is listed as “available” in the agent status record  124 , for example the agent  190 A, to service the call (step  520 ). The call is assigned to the selected agent  190 A, and the status of the selected agent  190 A is changed to “unavailable” in the call status record  124  (step  530 ). The call is then answered automatically for the agent (step  540 ).  
         [0041]    Once the call is answered, the audio device  180 A allocated to the selected agent  190 A is then checked, using the checking apparatus  181 A associated with the audio device  180 A, to determine whether the selected agent  190 A is available to respond to the incoming call (step  550 ). As explained above, this determination may be based on measurements of a signal characteristic of a wireless transceiver; proper seating of an audio plug into a jack; headset sensor data including the state of status switches, motion or orientation detectors; properties of the selected agent  190 A such as body temperature, impedance or capacitance to ground or across a headset; and so forth.  
         [0042]    If the checking apparatus  181 A determines that the agent  190 A is not available to respond to the incoming call, the selected agent  190 A is disconnected (step  560 ), and the call is again put in the call queue (step  510 ), i.e., returned to queue for assignment to another agent. Otherwise (i.e., the checking apparatus  181 A determines that the agent  190 A is available to respond to the incoming call), the connection with the selected agent  190 A is maintained until the call ends, at which time the status of the agent  190 A is changed to “available” in the agent status record  124 , indicating that the agent  190 A may take another incoming call (step  570 ).  
         [0043]    From the preceding description, those skilled in the art will now appreciate that the present invention provides a method for processing calls in call centers with automatic answering that offers both the responsiveness of automatic call answering and the return-to-queue safeguards of manual call answering. The foregoing description is illustrative rather than limiting, however, and the invention is limited only by the claims that follow.