METHOD FOR CONTROLLING PERSONAL NUMBER SERVICE

Abstract: A method for implementing a contactability service, in which method a contactability number is defined for the person to be contacted and at least two contactability chains are created, in each of which there is at least one response location. The contactability chains are connected to the contactability number in a call control system (3, 4) in such a way that calls made to the contactability number at each moment can be routed to the response locations in a manner defined by a single active contactability chain. In the invention, a data communications link is created between the call control system (3, 4) and the access surveillance system (1, 2) used by the person to be contacted, and at least two states of the access surveillance system (1, 2) concerning the person to be contacted are defined to indicate each contactability chain for the person to be contacted. If, after this, the call control system (3, 4) is set to receive, by means of the data communications link, data from the access surveillance system (1, 2) indicating the state of the access surveillance system (1, 2) to define the contactability chain, the contactability chain indicated by the data received at each time can be set in the call control system (3, 4) to be the active contactability chain.

Description: METHOD FOR CONTROLLING PERSONAL NUMBER SERVICE The present invention relates to a method, according to the preamble to Claim 1, for implementing a contactability service and a method, according to the preamble to Claim 9 for changing the active contactability chain in a contactability service. Methods of this kind of can be used in connection with the contactability systems offered in a telephone system. In most such contactability services, the customer, such as the person to be contacted, provides the tele-operator with at least one contactability chain, according to which calls, made to the call number connected to the contactability service, are connected to telephone connections. The contactability chain can incorporate, for example, 1 - 5 telephone numbers. A call made to the call number of the person to be contacted is first connected to the first number in the contactability chain, and, if the first number does not respond within a set time, the call is connected to the second number in the contactability chain. If there is no response from the second number either, the call is connected down the chain. This procedure continues until the call has been connected to the final number in the chain, which is usually set to be the number of an answering machine or answering service. The connection of the call down the chain naturally also stops, if the call is answered, or if the A-subscriber terminates the call. In its simplest form, a contactability chain has only a single response location. To allow the customer to be able to exploit the contactability service as fully as possible, it is usual to define more than one, for example, two or three contactability chains for the contactability service. In this way, the customer's contactability chains can be designed so that, for example, one contactability chain is designed for working time spent at the workplace, another for work trips, and a third for leisure time. Though several contactability chains can be linked to a single call number, only one of the contactability chains can be active for connecting calls made to the call number. Indeed, the intention is to control the contactability service in such a way that the most suitable contactability chain for each situation is selected as the active chain. According to the state of the art, connections between the contactability chains, i.e. changing one active contactability chain to another, take place by, for instance, calling a certain service number, in which, after possible password verification, the contactability chain to be valid from the moment in question onwards is defined by audio-frequency keying-in. It has also been possible to change between the contactability chains using time control, so that a change from one contactability chain to another is always made at a predetermined moment. A drawback in the state of the art is it is relatively difficult to change the active contactability chain by means of a telephone subscriber connection. For this reason, the person to be contacted may not necessarily be bothered to change the contactability chain, for example, should she or he leave the workplace. If the person to be contacted has to change the active contactability chain only on very rare occasions, the method can be easily forgotten. In such cases, it is easy to forget to switch the contactability chain back to the normal one, so that calls may be routed to the wrong connection for several days. Even time control of the contactability service is not a good solution to these problems. The invention is intended to create an entirely new type of contactability service, in which the contactability chain that is active can be changed automatically, without a separate contactability chain changing procedure. The invention is based on the creation of a data communications link between the contactability service and the access surveillance system of the organization of the customer of the contactability service, by means of which the state, in the access surveillance system, of the person to be contacted, i.e. the customer, can be transmitted to the contactability service. At least two contactability chains are created in the contactability service for each call number, i.e. contactability number. One contactability chain is then set to correspond to each state of the access surveillance system. After this, the state data of the access surveillance system can be received in the contactability service and a suitable contactability chain can be connected to be active, according to the changes reported by the access surveillance system. More specifically, the method according to the invention for implementing a contactability service is characterized by what is stated in the characterizing section of Claim 1. In turn, the method according to the invention for changing the active contactability chain in a contactability service is characterized by what is stated in the characterizing section of Claim 9 . Considerable advantages are gained with the aid of the invention. By means of the invention, the active contactability chain of a contactability service can be changed flexibly. The contactability chain changes automatically to the correct chain in connection with the control of the access surveillance system. This also improves the reliability of the control of the contactability service, as normally people are used to operate the access surveillance system correctly and certainly and lapses of memory are unusual. The invention also has preferred embodiments that offer several additional benefits. For example, a preferred embodiment of the invention using a WWW user-interface has the additional advantage that persons who can be contacted through the WWW user- interface can alter the settings of the contactability service from any location at all from where a data communications link can be made to the system. Because, in connection with the invention, the connection of the contactability chains can be implemented automatically, the person being contacted does not have to actively remember the contactability chains optimized for various situations and actively connect them. Thus the invention also allows the sensible implementation and use of contactability service embodiments incorporating even a very large number of personal contactability chains. In the following, the invention is examined with the aid of examples and with reference to the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 shows one method according to the invention and one system applicable to its use. Figure 2 shows one such system and method, by means of which a contactability service can be updated. The system of Figure 1 includes the central unit 2 of an access surveillance system and a connected access surveillance system with a terminal device 1. The system also includes a server 3 controlling the contactability service, as well as a telephone network Service Control Point (SCP) 4 with a related database 5. The system further includes data communications links formed between server 3 and central unit 2, and between server 3 and SCP 4. The data communications link is preferably a continuous connection, which can be implemented either as a modem connection or as a permanent data communications network connection. The system of Figure 1 can be used to change the active contactability chain of a personal contactability service, for example, by carrying out the following procedures: 11) The person to be contacted uses the terminal device 1 of the access surveillance system and changes her or his state in the access surveillance system, for example to check her or himself out of the workplace. Terminal device 1 then sends a signal concerning the change in the state data to the access surveillance system's central unit 2. 12) The central unit 2 transmits the state data change signal in turn to the server 3 controlling the contactability service. The signal to be sent contains at least the data required to identify the customer of the contactability service and her or his new state. Server 3 receives the change signal and updates the state data change in the control data of the correct customer. 13) If the state of the customer changes in such a way that the change also requires the active contactability chain to be changed, the server changes the correct contactability chain to become active by informing SCP 4 of the change. Server 3 then sends a call-routing change request to SCP 4. 14) SCP 4 sends confirmation of the change request to server 3. SCP 4 makes the requested changes in its call-routing data. Thus, the invention can be used to connect access surveillance to a contactability service in such a way that the validity of a person's contactability chains can be controlled automatically. This permits the reliable implementation of flexible and correctly-timed control of a contactability service. In the following, the behaviour of the invention will be examined with the aid of a simple example. The person to be contacted, i.e. a customer of the contactability service, arrives at work in the morning and, on arrival, checks her or himself into the workplace using terminal device 1 at the access surveillance point. At the same time, the person can, for example, also give the worktime monitoring system additional information, if required by the system. Checking-in not only activates the access surveillance system, but also a change in the person's state in the contactability service, for example, as shown in Figure 1. In this case, the person can activate the contactability chain intended for time normally spent at the workplace. Other contactability chains can be, for example, intended for worktime spent outside the workplace, for leave or sick leave, and for work trips and conferences. The contactability changes can be as follows, for example: When leaving the workplace to take care of work duties, the person checks her or himself out of the access surveillance system with a suitable code and, if necessary, enters additional information in the worktime monitoring system. Checking-out then activates an update in the contactability system, for example, according to Figure 1, when the contactability chain intended for worktime spent outside the workplace is set to be active. In the example in the table above, this means that calls are routed according to the 'Away from work' chain, i.e. that calls made to the call number are first routed to the person's mobile phone. If the call is not answered, the call is next routed to the secretary and then to the voice mail. According to the previous example, the final response location is often defined to be voice mail. In this case, the call can be routed, for example, to an audio response unit (IVR, Interactive Voice Response), which plays a predetermined message and possibly also records a message left by the caller to the person to be contacted. An access surveillance system can be exploited in an advanced way, in connection with the invention, to control voice mail. Thus, several different messages for different situations can be placed in the voice mail, the message placed at any one time being selected on the basis of the information contained in the access surveillance system. In such a system, a person trying to make contact can therefore be told the reason why the person sought cannot be contacted at the moment. Specific messages can be recorded for situations such as the following: the person to be contacted is on leave, the person to be contacted is on a business trip, the person to be contacted is at lunch, and the person to be contacted is in a meeting. Technically, the selection of a suitable message for each call routed to the voice mail can be implemented, for example, so that access surveillance system 2 or server 3 controlling the contactability service has a telecommunications link to the audio response unit and uses this telecommunications link to define the message to be active at a specific time. The audio response unit then retrieves the defined message from the recording. Alternatively, the definition of the type of message can be sent to the audio response unit in a signal message to be sent together with the call to be routed, in which case a separate telecommunications will not necessarily be required. It is also possible to arrange an individual telephone number for each separate message, so that the telephone number of the voice mail in the contactability chain is changed to correspond to the current situation. The number of contactability chains available in connection with the invention is not restricted. For example, there can be two, three, or more contactability chains. The number of phone numbers, i.e. response locations, included in the contactability chains is also not restricted. The contactability chains may contain one or more response locations. Thus, in this application, a contactability chain also refers to an individual response location, which is used in the system in the same way as a longer contactability chain. Although in principle a contactability chain can be any length at all, very long chains, of more than five response locations, are generally not used in practice, because the call is often terminated before it reaches the end of the chain. The number and length of the contactability chains can also vary for different people using the same contactability service. In addition, the same person may have several contactability chains of different length while even the number of her or his contactability chains can be increased or reduced. Thus, the invention makes it possible to define one's own contactability chains even for rare situations. Such contactability chains for rare situations can be switched on, for example, by an access surveillance or worktime monitoring check-in/out that differs from a normal one. Such check-in/out alternatives may be, for instance, Leave (+ period of time), Work Trip (+ period of time), Sick Leave (+ period of time). In special cases, the contactability chain can also be switched on through the control service for the contactability chains, without a change signal obtained from the access surveillance. It should be noted that there may be more check-in/out codes in the access surveillance system than the number of the person's contactability chains. There may also be more contactability chains than check-in/out codes. However, from the point of view of the operability of the system, it is preferable for each check-in/out code of the access surveillance system to be set to correspond to some specifically defined contactability chain. If there are more check-in/out codes, several different check- in/out codes of the person to be contacted can be set to correspond to the same contactability chain or chains. If such check-in/out codes, which do not correspond to any contactability chain at all, are left in the system for a customer of the contactability service, a contactability chain that is totally unsuitable for the prevailing situation may remain active when such check-in/out codes are used. It is only possible to set a single check-in/out code to correspond to a single contactability chain at any one time, because the active contactability chain must be defined specifically. If there are more contactability chains than check-in/out codes, some of the contactability chains will remain outside the control of the access surveillance. Chains remaining outside the control of the access surveillance can, if desired, be activated, for example, through the control system of the contactability service. Besides a check-in/out code, other control conditions can also be connected to the system. In such cases, a single check- in/out code can correspond to more than one contactability chain, but not at one time. One such example is a system, in which the activation of the contactability chain is affected not only by the check-in/out code, but also by the time of day. Thus a certain check-in/out code could be set to correspond, for example, to one contactability chain in the morning and to another at all other times. In systems serving large organizations, the system must also take into account the physical location of the access surveillance system terminal device 1 being used. If checking-in/out takes place in some other unit of the organization than that in which the permanent workplace of the person checking-in/out is located, it may be necessary to connect some other contactability chain to be active than the chain that would be activated if the person were to activate the same check-in/out code at the terminal device 1 in her or his own workplace. In this case, checking-in, for example, on the terminal device 1 of one's own workplace will activate a contactability chain, in which the telephone number of the person's office is first, but checking in at another facility of the same organization will activate a contactability chain, in which the number of the person's mobile phone is first. If necessary, a delay can also be programmed into the system, for changes of certain contactability chains. This will be necessary, for example, if the terminal device 1 of the access surveillance system is located far from the office of the person to be contacted. In such cases, activation of the contactability chain routing calls to the office, for example, can be slightly delayed, to give the person time to get to his or her office. In connection with the invention, the change of state can thus be set to alter to set the active contactability chain either essentially in real time or after a set delay. The invention can also be applied advantageously in an access surveillance system without an access surveillance system terminal device 1 , of the kind described above, operated by manual stamping. In such an access surveillance system, instead of a terminal device 1 requiring keying-in, it is possible to use operating devices carried by persons, which interact automatically with detection devices connected to the access surveillance system. It is certainly also possible to combine both features in an access surveillance system, i.e. to use both a terminal device 1 as described in the previous examples and portable operating devices. The operating device carried by persons linked to the access surveillance system may be, for example, a smart card, such as a chip card. One very suitable operating device is the person's mobile phone, which can act as an operating device in the access surveillance system, either independently or through an accessory fitted to it. The task of the detection devices of the access surveillance system, is, in turn, to detect the operating devices carried by persons and to notify the access surveillance system of their observations relating to each operating device. Detection can be arranged, for example, by means of electromagnetic interaction. Particularly suitable electromagnetic waves are radio waves, such as microwaves, and infrared waves. Thus, it is eminently possible to use, for example, so-called Bluetooth technology in connection with our invention. In that case, the operating device carried by a person within the sphere of the access surveillance system, for example, a mobile phone or a piece of clothing incorporating a smart device, uses Bluetooth technology to communicate with the detection device of the access surveillance system. In such an embodiment, it is possible to place detection devices in every room in a facility and create a highly advanced and automatic contactability service, by means of which calls can be routed to the required person, with exceptional precision. The invention can also be applied in such a way that the data to be sent from the access surveillance system 1, 2 to the system 3 controlling the contactability service is not sent in an actual state-data form. Thus, the system can be set to operate so that central unit 2 of the access surveillance system converts the state-data into other such pointer data, which commands system 3 controlling the contactability service to activate the desired contactability chain. Thus, in some embodiments, central unit 2 of the access surveillance system may also call the contactability chains using, for example, a name or sequence number. The method according to the invention for implementing a contactability service can thus, in general, be applied in a method, in which a contactability number is defined for the person to be contacted and at least two contactability chains are created, in each of which there is at least one response location. In such a method, the contactability chains are connected to the contactability number in the call control system 3, 4, in such a way that calls made at any moment to the contactability number can be routed to the response locations in a manner defined by a single active contactability chain. When the invention is applied, in addition to the procedures described above, a data communications link is also created between the call control system 3, 4 and the person to be contacted, and at least two states of the access surveillance system 1, 2, concerning the person being contacted, are defined to each indicate one contactability chain for the person to be contacted. If, after this, the call control system 3, 4 is set to receive data, transmitted from the access surveillance system 1, 2, through a data communications link, to indicate the state of the access surveillance system 1 , 2, for defining the contactability chain, the contactability chain indicated at each moment by the data received can be set as the active contactability chain in the call control system 3, 4. The actual definitions and alterations to the response locations of the contactability chains, or the correspondences of the access surveillance state codes and contactability chains, can be made for individual users by means of, for example, a WWW user- interface, dual tone multi-frequency dialling, or SMS/UUS messages. Definitions can also be made from one centre, using, for example the access surveillance system or an external control system. The system can also be designed in such a way that, as described above, it is also possible to change the contactability chain that is active at the moment in question, independently of the prevailing access surveillance check-in/out code. If the contactability service is updated using a telephone, the system controlling the contactability service must identify the customer making the call to the control number and access the customer's contactability chains from its memory. The identification of the customer must also be verified, for example, using a password. In a preferred embodiment, customer identification is implemented by giving each customer of the contactability service her or his own contactability service control number. In this case, the controlling system already knows on the basis of the B-subscriber number, who the person making contact should be and a sufficient procedure is to access this customer's data from the memory and verify her or his identity. Such a system significantly reduces the load on the control system, compared to the normal manner of carrying out corresponding customer searches, i.e. a procedure, in which only a single control number is used and customers calling this number are identified on the basis of, e.g., a user name. In the case of a single control number, the system would have to be loaded with a search database and a large number of database searches. Using an individual contactability service control number for each contactability number also brings the advantage, from the customer's point of view, that identification takes place already from the B-subscriber number and the customer need not enter separate codes for identification. Programming through a WWW (World Wide Web) user-interface can, on the other hand, be made using nearly any terminal device connected to the Internet data network. The updating procedure based on a WWW user-interface is described in greater detail in the following example. According to Figure 2, a WWW-based or similar user-interface can be used to update the contactability chains of a contactability service in a system including a terminal device 7 used by the customer, a public data net 6 such as the Internet, to which terminal device 7 can be connected, a server 3, connected to the public data network 6, of the contactability service provider, a telephone network SCP device 4 connected to server 3, and a database 5 connected to SCP device 4. If a WWW user-interface is used to update the contactability chains of a contactability service in a method according to Figure 2, the following procedures are carried out: 21) The customer uses terminal device 7 to contact the website of the control service of the contactability service. 22) The control service identifies the customer. 23) Server 3 provides the customer with her or his personal contactability chains for viewing. 24) The customer alters her or his contactability chains as desired. 25) The customer sends the altered contactability chains to server 3. 26) Server 3 checks that the alterations are permitted, then sends an update request for the contactability chains to SCP 4. 27) SCP 4 sends confirmation of reception of the update request to server 3. SCP 4 updates the contactability chains. 28) Server 3 informs the customer that an update request for the changes made by her or him has been sent to SCP 4. Embodiments of the invention, differing from those disclosed above, can also be envisaged within the scope of the invention. For example, the control operations carried out in the SCP described above can be carried out in an IP device or external server, instead of in the SCP. In principle, the contactability chain can also be implemented in such a way that two parallel connections are located in a single response location of the contactability chain, in which case the call will ring simultaneously in both connections. The invention can also be applied in such a way that, for example, calls coming to the call number of a small or medium-sized company are routed to certain telephone numbers, depending on which persons are present at the workplace, according to the company's access surveillance system. This type of embodiment can be used, for instance, in a small company, in which it is wished to receive, if possible, all calls made to the company's number, as long as at least one employee is present at the workplace. In this case, the system could operate in such a way that, when an employee comes to work at the weekend and checks her or himself into the access surveillance system, calls made to the company's call number are routed to this employee, instead of to the automatic answering device. When the workplace become empty again, calls are once again routed to the automatic answering device. The essential part of the invention is that information collected by the access surveillance system is used to control the contactability service.

Claims: Claims: 1. A method for implementing a contactability service, in which method a contactability number is defined for the person to be contacted, - at least two contactability chains, each containing at least one response location, are created for the person to be contacted, in the call control system (3, 4), the contactability chains are connected to the contactability number in such a way that calls made to the contactability number at each moment can be routed to a response location or response locations in a manner determined by the single active contactability chain, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that - a data communications link is created between the call control system (3, 4) and the access surveillance system (1, 2) used by the person to be contacted, at least two states of the access surveillance system (1, 2) concerning the person to be contacted are defined to each indicate one contactability chain for the person to be contacted, and - the call control system (3, 4) is set to receive, through a data communications link, data from the access surveillance system (1, 2) for defining the contactability chain indicated by the state of the access surveillance system (1, 2), and the contactability chain indicated by the data received is set to be active. 2. A method according to Claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the data communications link between the call control system (3, 4) and the access surveillance system (1, 2) is a continuous-operation link, for example, a modem link or a permanent data communications link. 3. A method according to Claim l or2, characterized in that each state of the access surveillance system (1, 2), concerning the person to be contacted, is defined to indicate a single contactability chain for the person to be contacted, in such a way that there are at least two such contactability chains, which are indicated by one or more states of the access surveillance system (1,2). 4. A method according to one of Claims 1-3, characterized in that the states of the access surveillance system (1, 2) are defined to indicate contactability chains in the call control system (3, 4) and the call control system (3, 4) is set to receive, from the access surveillance system, the access surveillance system (1,2) state-data concerning the person to be contacted. 5. A method according to one of Claims 1-4, characterized in that the call control system (3, 4) is set to receive another control signal of the active contactability chain, such as a control signal to be sent over a public data network, and to define the most recently received signal at any time, either a state-data signal or another control signal, to indicate a contactability chain as being active. 6. A method according to one of Claims 1-5 characterized in that at least one state of the access surveillance system (1, 2) is defined to indicate, in a variable manner, the contactability chain for the person to be contacted, in such a way that a control function, which is dependent on, e.g., the time of day, is defined, and - a state of the access surveillance system (1, 2) is defined to indicate a contactability chain, in such a way that the specific contactability chain indicated is defined according to the value of the control function. 7. A method according to one of Claims 1-6, characterized in that a condition is defined, the realization of which depends, e.g., on the manner of using the access surveillance system (1,2), and if the defined condition is realized in a situation in which the active contactability chain is being changed, a predetermined delay takes place before the contactability chain indicated by the received data is activated. 8. A method according to one of Claims 1-7, characterized in that at least one response location in the contactability chain is defined to be voice mail, the message played by which, or at least part of the contents of the message, is selected according to the state of the access surveillance system (1,2). 9. A method for changing the active contactability chain in a contactability service, in which the person to be contacted has at least two contactability chains, in each of which there is at least one response location, characterized in that a request to change the active contactability chain is sent from the access surveillance system (1,2), used by the person to be contacted, to the system (3) controlling the contactability service. 10. A method according to Claim 9, characterized in that the request to change the active contactability chain contains data to identify both the customer of the contactability service and the contactability chain that is to be activated for the customer. 11. A method according to Claim 9 or 10, characterized in that, for changing the contactability chain a detection device connected to the access surveillance system is used to monitor the surroundings of the detection device, an operating device carried by a person to be contacted is detected with the aid of the detection device, the contactability chain is changed on the basis of the detection. 12. A method according to Claim 11, characterized in that the operating device carried by a person to be contacted is detected at a distance, on the basis of electromagnetic waves emitted by the operating device, for example, by means of Bluetooth technology. 13. A method according to Claim 11 or 12 characterized in that the operating device carried by a person to be contacted is a mobile telephone. 14. The use of an access surveillance system to control a contactability service.

Inventors: HYNNINEN ARI, JAUHIAINEN JUHA-PEKKA, HYNNINEN, ARI, JAUHIAINEN, JUHA-PEKKA
Applicants: HELSINGIN PUHELIN OYJ, HYNNINEN ARI, JAUHIAINEN JUHA PEKKA, HELSINGIN PUHELIN OYJ - HELSINGFORS TELEFON ABP, HYNNINEN, ARI, JAUHIAINEN, JUHA-PEKKA
Application year: 1999
Main classification: H04M3
IPC codes: H04M3, H04M7, H04Q3