Abstract:
Systems and methods for incorporating video into voice-only call centers are provided. These systems and methods incorporate video by separating the video from the audio portion of incoming calls, routing the audio through the voice-only system to an agent telephone, routing the video separately from the audio to an agent terminal, and re-joining the video with the audio for outgoing portions of the call.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE(S) TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     The present application claims the benefit of provisional application 60/635,656, filed on Dec. 13, 2004, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The present invention relates to video telephone communications. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for incorporating video in voice-only call centers.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     With the widespread ownership of computers capable of making video telephone calls over the Internet, as well as the introduction of so-called third generation (3G) cellular telephones, it has become desirable to provide customer service centers with the ability to receive and send video that is part of calls to the centers.  
         [0004]     One problem with adding video capability to call centers is that many companies have already invested significant sums of money in non-video-capable call center equipment and those companies are not eager to replace that equipment with new equipment.  
         [0005]     Thus, it is desirable to provide a mechanism through which video can be implemented in call centers while retaining existing call center equipment.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     In accordance with the present invention, systems and methods for incorporating video into voice-only call centers are provided. These systems and methods incorporate video by separating the video from the audio portion of incoming calls, routing the audio through the voice-only system to an agent telephone, routing the video separately from the audio to an agent terminal, and re-joining the video with the audio for outgoing portions of the call.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0007]     The invention is described below in more detail in connection with the following figures in which like references refer to like parts throughout and in which:  
         [0008]      FIG. 1  is a high-level block diagram of a prior art telephone call center system;  
         [0009]      FIG. 2  is a high-level block diagram of a system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0010]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart of a process for receiving video calls in connection with certain embodiments of the present invention;  
         [0011]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram showing voice and video signals in a system in accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention; and  
         [0012]      FIG. 5  is a block diagram of a system in accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention in which buffers are used to synchronize the audio and video signals. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0013]     Turning to  FIG. 1 , a high-level block diagram of a prior art system  100  is shown. As illustrated, a doctor, investor, customer etc. may connect to a call center  104  for professionals, banks, order centers, etc. using a voice-only telephone  102  via a public switched telephone network  106 . The call is received at private branch exchange (PBX)—automatic call director (ACD) equipment  108 . The call may be connected to interactive voice response (IVR) system  110  to provide information or to route the call to an agent. PBX/ACD may then route the call to one of agent telephones  112 . Computer telephony integration (CTI) equipment  114  may instruct the PBX/ACD as to how the call should be routed and provide data from database  116  to the corresponding agent terminal  118 . As can be seen, call center  104  provides no functionality for video calls.  
         [0014]     A system  200  that provides video capability in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention is shown in  FIG. 2 . As illustrated, a customer may receive a call from, or place a call to, a customer service center using a video enabled telephone  202 . Video enabled telephone  202  may be any suitable telephone with video and audio capability. For example, telephone  202  may be a third-generation ( 3 G) mobile telephone, a personal computer having video and audio capabilities and running software such as MICROSOFT NETMEETING, video conferencing equipment, etc. The call may be made using the H.323, SIP, or any other suitable protocol or connection method. The combined voice and video signal  204  is transmitted between telephone and call center  206  using any suitable transmission network such as wire and/or wireless telephone networks, cable television networks, and any IP network (e.g. the Internet).  
         [0015]     At the call center, the call may be received or placed by split and merge unit  208 . The voice and video parts of the call may then be split for incoming portions of the call, and merged for outgoing portions of the call at split and merge unit  208 . Video part  210  is transmitted to, and received from, video processor  212 , and may be in an H.323, SIP, or analog form, or in any other suitable protocol or connection method. Voice part  214  is transmitted to, and received from, voice-only call center equipment  216 , and may be in an H.323, SIP, or analog form, or in any other suitable protocol or connection method.  
         [0016]     Split and merge unit  208  may be any suitable hardware and/or software for receiving or placing calls, and splitting and merging video part  210  and voice part  214  as described herein. For example, split and merge unit  208  may be implemented using a multipoint control unit (MCU) (available from Radvision, Inc., Fairlawn, N.J., or any other suitable source) configured with one video and voice call, one voice only call, and one video only call connected as described above. If desired split and merge unit  208  may additionally be used to provide a video stream or file, or logo, screensaver, or avatar, to the call, perform voice recognition functions, and/or combine video part  210  and/or voice part  214  with other media. For example, a video clip (or longer video content) may be presented to a customer with an image of a call center agent displayed in a picture-in-picture type display in a corner of the customer&#39;s display screen. In such case, the split and merge unit  208  may combine the two video signals.  
         [0017]     Video processor  212  may be any suitable equipment for connecting video part  210  to an agent&#39;s display terminal  218  via an agent&#39;s video signal  220  and may include logic for transmitting and receiving video signals in any known format using any known codec and directing the signals to a selected terminal  218  based on control information  222  from equipment  216 . In certain embodiments, processor  212  may independently determine which agent to route video signal  220  to by operating a similar algorithm to the algorithm used to select agents on equipment  216 . Processor  212  may also perform any suitable processing on video part  210 .  
         [0018]     Voice-only call center equipment  216  may be any suitable equipment such as an ASPECT CTI on top of a Tadiran ACD, a GENESYS CTI and an ALCATEL OMNIPIX ACD, etc. Equipment  216  preferably connects voice part  214  to agent&#39;s telephone  226  via audio signal  224 . Equipment  216  may also select which agent is connected to which customer, provide interactive voice response (IVR) functions, provide information to, and receive information from, the agent&#39;s terminal  218  via screen populate signal  228 , etc.  
         [0019]     Terminal  218  may be any suitable equipment for sending and receiving video signals, and may also include the capability to allow the agent to see and modify data relating to the customer. Similarly, telephone  226  may be any suitable equipment for sending and receiving agent&#39;s audio signal  224  as is known in the art.  
         [0020]      FIG. 3  illustrates a process  300  for receiving a video call at a call center in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. As shown, process  300  begins by a customer placing a video call to a call center at step  302 . As described in connection with  FIG. 2 , this call may be placed using any suitable device. As step  304 , the call is received and the video and audio for the inbound portions of the call are split by split and merge unit at the call center. This same function merges the video and audio for outbound portions of the call. Next, at optional step  306 , the customer may receive a multimedia stream and/or an IVR menu. At step  308 , the voice portion of the call is routed to an ACD. The ACD then determines to which agent the call will be routed at step  310 . This routing may be based on responses to an IVR menu or any other suitable consideration. Next, the voice portion of the call is routed to the determined agent at step  312 , the video portion is routed to the agent at step  314 , and corresponding data is routed to the agent at step  316 . Obviously steps  312 ,  314 , and  316  may be performed concurrently or in any suitable order. Finally, at step  318 , the call connection is established.  
         [0021]      FIG. 4  illustrates how voice and video signals may be separated in certain embodiments of the present invention. As shown, system  400  includes a video enabled telephone  202 , split and merge unit  208  and video processor  212 , voice-only call center equipment  216 , agent telephone  226 , and agent terminal  218  as described above in connection with  FIG. 2 . A video telephone call signal  4 , which may include a video portion, an audio portion, and a data collaboration portion, may come in from telephone  202  to split/merge mechanism  402  (which may be any suitable mechanism for splitting and merging audio and video). Telephone call signal  4  may be separated into any number of desired signals. For example, telephone call signal  4  may be separated into an audio signal  1  and a video signal  2 . The audio signal  1  may then be sent via audio select and mix circuit  404  to ACD/PBX  406  to agent telephone  226 . The video signal  2 , which may contain both the video portion and the data collaboration portion of the telephone call signal  4 , may be sent via video select and switch circuit  408  and video processing unit  410  to terminal  218 . Alternatively, telephone call signal  4  may be separated out into three different signals and sent to agent telephone  226  and agent terminal  218  in a suitable manner.  
         [0022]     Audio select and mix circuit  404  determines whether audio from streaming interface  412  (which may be connected to any suitable source of streaming content) and/or ACD/PBX  406  is connected to telephone  202 , and may be any suitable hardware and/or software. Video select and switch circuit  408  determines to which agent to connect the video signal and may also connect the signal to streaming interface  412  so that video may be provided to telephone  202 , and may be any suitable hardware and/or software. Video processing unit  410  may perform any suitable or necessary processing on the video signal for connecting telephone  202  to terminal  218  and/or streaming interface  412 . As shown, unit  410  may be bypassed if appropriate.  
         [0023]     As can also be seen, a control signal  3  is passed between ACD/PBX  406 , CTI  416 , and application management module  414 . This control signal may indicate to ACD/PBX  406 , CTI  416 , and module  414  which agent is connected to the call and information about the caller. In response to the information, CTI  416  may then provide corresponding data  5  about the customer to terminal  218 , and module  414  may determine how circuits  404  and  408  connect the audio and video signals.  
         [0024]     As shown in  FIG. 5 , it may be desirable and/or necessary to use buffers  502  and  504  to compensate for different audio and video delays in the components of a system  500  so that the audio and video signals are synchronized. For example, buffer entity  502  may impose a delay on the path between split/merge mechanism  402 , audio select and mix circuit  404 , ACD/PBX  406 , and agent phone  226  so that it matches the delay on the path between split/merge mechanism  402 , video select and switch circuit  408 , video processing unit  410 , and agent terminal. Additionally or alternatively, buffering entity  504  may impose a delay in its path. In this way, the video and voice paths can be kept in synchronization. This buffering may be controlled on a call-by-call basis, or may be controlled on any other suitable basis.  
         [0025]     Although the present invention is described herein a being between a customer and a customer service center, it should be apparent that the present invention could be implemented for use between any suitable sets of parties. For example, the invention could be used to facilitate calls between potential customers and sales representatives, between people being polled and polling organizations, employees and their employers, etc.  
         [0026]     Also, although the present invention is described above in connection with a two-way video signal, the present invention may be implemented with video in only one direction. For example, the video signal may only be provided from the agent to the customer when telephone  102  does not include a video camera. As another example, the video signal may only be provided from the customer to the agent when the customer wishes to show something to the agent (e.g., damaged products). As yet another example, the video signal may only be provided to the customer and include a screensaver image, a logo image, an avatar, a streaming content such as a video clip showing a commercial for the agent&#39;s company, or any other desired video signal.  
         [0027]     Although the present invention has been described above in connection with specific illustrative embodiments, it should be understood that the invention may be implemented using various alternate features and that the invention is limited only by the claims which follow.