Abstract:
The invention relates to a method for signaling and processing incoming calls for a call center. The invention further relates to a corresponding exchange and corresponding call center. According to the invention, incoming calls for the call center and the subscriber numbers of the callers are signaled to the call center by the exchange via an internet protocol link between the exchange and the call center.

Description:
CLAIM FOR PRIORITY 
     This application claims priority to International Application No. PCT/EP00/12607 which was published in the German language on Jun. 21, 2001. 
     TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to a method for signaling and processing incoming calls for a call center and/or to a switching center. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Call centers are used in particular for processing telephone requests, for example in administration centers, in insurance companies, in mail-oriented companies, and for home or direct banking. For this purpose, the call center has a group of employees, who are also referred to as agents and respond to the requests by telephone. For efficient processing of the telephone requests and answers, the agents are provided with appropriate technical equipment, such as PCs, via which they can access databanks with information, for example, about the caller. 
     One major aspect in a call center is the signaling of a telephone request or of an incoming call, as well as the subscriber access number or subscriber number of the caller. A further important aspect is the control of the signaled call, that is to say by way of example call acceptance and the setting up of a call connection, or else the passing on of calls to other agents with special knowledge if it is evident from the profile that that caller requires specialized advice. 
     Until now, incoming calls in call centers have been distributed by an automatic call distribution system (ACD) to the agents&#39; telephones or PCs for processing. The distribution has been carried out either via the call center&#39;s own telephone network or via the public telephone network, when the agents are located at different points. 
     Calls and subscriber numbers may be signaled, by way of example, via the ISDN D channel. If the agent has a PC with CIT (Computer Integration Telephony), then the incoming call and the subscriber number may also be signaled, by way of example, directly on the PC monitor. The agent can then use the subscriber number to check a caller profile from a databank, via his PC. The setting up of a call connection or the passing on of the call to a specialist agent is carried out by the agent himself, by means of the signaling techniques of the public digital ISDN telephone network. 
     However, ISDN is used to widely differing extents in different countries: while ISDN is now widely used in Europe and, in particular, in Germany, ISDN is less widely used, by way of example, in the USA. In contrast, the Internet Protocol is becoming ever more widely used and may now even be used for the transmission of (telephone) call signals, for example using the voice over IP format. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In one embodiment of the invention, there is a method for signaling and for processing incoming calls for a call center, which may be used in conjunction with telecommunications networks using analog signaling techniques, and to provide a correspondingly configured switching center as well as a corresponding call center. 
     In one embodiment of the method according to the invention, linking of a call center to a switching center occurs via an Internet Protocol connection, e.g. via a connection via which data is transmitted using the Internet Protocol. The switching center receives calls for the call center together with the subscriber number of a calling subscriber. The received calls are detected by the switching center as calls for the call center, and are signaled via the Internet Protocol connection to the call center together with the subscriber number. The call center in turn controls the signaled calls through the Internet Protocol connection via the switching center in that, for example, requests to set up a call connection are transmitted to the switching center, or a call is passed on to another subscriber connection, for example to another call center with experts. 
     The switching center may use the EWSD (German abbreviation for Electronic Digital Dialing System) switching system from the Siemens Company, or some other digital switching center, but requires an Internet Protocol interface, such as the EWSD InterNode for transmission via the Internet Protocol connection. 
     With the method according to the invention, the signaling information about incoming calls for the call center is advantageously available in the Internet Protocol and can thus be processed further directly in an Internet session in the call center, in particular largely automatically. Another advantage of the invention is that the signaling and control between the call center and the switching center take place independently of the protocol of the telephone or telecommunications network to which the switching center and the call center are connected. There is thus no need for ISDN, in order to use the method. The call center can itself process the signaling information in the Internet Protocol, for example passing it on via a computer network within the call center to an agent&#39;s PC, or else can pass it on via an Internet Protocol connection between a number of call centers directly to a specific call center in which, for example, there are experts with particular technical know-how in order to answer calls from specific subscribers. This passing-on process can advantageously be carried out via the world-wide Internet, so that the signaling information can be passed on to a call center in a foreign country. 
     However, the signaled information, such as the incoming call and subscriber number is preferably not just passed on, for example, to an agent, but is also evaluated automatically, directly in the call center. For this purpose, a (caller) profile which is associated with the subscriber number of an incoming call for the call center is loaded from a databank in the call center. This profile can then be output directly via an output device, in particular a monitor, for example at an agent&#39;s workstation. There is thus no need for the agent to manually search through a databank for a profile for a subscriber number. Particularly since the signaling is based on the Internet Protocol, processing by means of a specific program on the PC is simple, for example in an Internet browser with an appropriate plug-in. 
     The profile may also be evaluated automatically directly in the call center, thus taking over control of the call with which that subscriber number is associated. By way of example, the subscriber numbers of a major customer who has both simple questions as well as difficult technical questions can be used, after evaluation in which the profile is used to find out whether a caller requires general information or detailed technical information, in the call center which is connected to the switching center for passing on calls to a call center with appropriate technical experts. In this case, this means that the call center which is communicating with the switching center via the Internet Protocol connection carries out a type of (intelligent) switching function. 
     Widely different applications are feasible on the basis of the entries in a profile, for example even passing on customers of a software company, who have different maintenance contracts including a technical hotline, being passed on to call centers with different services, depending on the contract. A call center in which no agent is available can likewise automatically pass on an incoming call via the switching center to another call center. 
     In still another embodiment, call connections can also be set up between subscriber connections and a call center via the Internet Protocol connection between the call center and the switching center. The calls are then preferably transmitted directly via the Internet Protocol connection from the switching center to the call center, and vice versa, using the voice over IP (VolP) format. This is worthwhile as an alternative to a call connection via the conventional public telephone network between a subscriber and a call center. 
     Since the call data is available in the Internet Protocol in the call center, it is possible to distribute call data as widely as required via further Internet Protocol connections, and to distribute it worldwide, at low cost. By way of example, a company which operates call centers in foreign countries could pass calls relating to difficult technical problems via the Internet to experts in a central call center. This involves very little cost for a customer of a Company, since he just needs to call the appropriate central call center in his own country, from where he is connected either via the Internet or via some other long-distance data connection to experts in the Company&#39;s central call center. 
     In switching centers which are based on the EWSD digital switching system from the Siemens Company, it is possible, by way of example, to provide additional plug-in cards which have appropriate means for carrying out the method, as electronic circuits. The corresponding situation applies, of course, to private automatic branch exchanges (PABX) which are used, for example, in large Companies. If such a private automatic branch exchange in a large Company has means for carrying out the method, a Company call center can be linked directly to this extension via a company-internal network. By way of example, the company-internal network may be an Intranet, via which data is transmitted using the Internet Protocol. Incoming calls for the Company which are directed to the call center are then passed on directly from the private automatic branch exchange via the company&#39;s own network to the call center. 
     The switching center preferably has a transmission unit for transmission of calls using the voice over IP (Internet Protocol) format. This makes it possible to signal not only incoming calls for the call center but also the corresponding subscriber numbers, while calls between subscribers and a call center are also transmitted via the Internet Protocol connection between the call center and the switching center. 
     Finally, in one preferred embodiment of the switching center, a receiving unit is provided for reception of control information, so that, in particular, it is possible to set up and clear calls between a subscriber and a call center from the call center via the Internet Protocol connection between the call center and the switching center. In this embodiment, by way of example, the acceptance of a call by an agent is not controlled via a conventional public telephone line between the call center and the switching center, but directly via the Internet Protocol connection, and this may be done conveniently, by way of example, by an agent&#39;s PC which is linked to the computer network at the call center. 
     A computer is preferably provided in the call center, which is connected via an Internet Protocol connection to a switching center and, via this connection, receives signaling for calls detected for the call center, and the associated subscriber numbers. At the same time, this computer will pass on the received subscriber numbers to the databank server, which in turn searches for an appropriate (caller) profile for that subscriber number from a databank, and loads this profile. The profile may be transmitted directly to an agent&#39;s PC, on whose monitor it is then output. If the profiles are evaluated automatically, the databank server will preferably pass on the loaded profiles to an evaluation computer, in which evaluation rules are stored, on the basis of which the profile is evaluated, with appropriate actions being initiated. The actions control, in particular, the setting up or clearing of call connections, or the passing on of calls between the call center and the subscriber connection. 
     In summary, a high degree of automation of the signaling and processing of incoming calls for the call center is achieved not only by the method according to the invention but also by a corresponding switching center and the corresponding call center. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       An exemplary embodiment of the invention will now be described in the following text, in conjunction with the FIGURE, in which: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates subscriber connections connected to a switching center via the public telephone network. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     A large number of subscriber connections  2 ,  3  are connected to a switching center  4  via the public telephone network (PSTN: Public Switched Telephone Network). The subscriber connections  2  and  3  are analog connections, for which, in the case of outgoing calls from the subscriber connections, the subscriber number, e.g. the telephone number associated with that subscriber connection, is transmitted to the switching center  4 . 
     The switching center  4  is connected to a call center  1  via an Internet Protocol connection  5 . The switching center  4  has a detector  8  for detection of incoming calls for the call center  1 . In the one embodiment, the detector  8  compares the destination number transmitted from the calling subscriber connection with the telephone number associated with the call center  1  and, if the destination number corresponds to the telephone number of the call center  1 , passes on the subscriber number of the calling subscriber connection to a signaling unit  9 . The signaling unit  9  in turn transmits the subscriber number to an IP (Internet Protocol) transmission unit  10 , to which it signals an incoming call for the call center  1 . The IP transmission unit  10  “packs” the transmitted subscriber number and the signaling for an incoming call into the Internet Protocol, and transmits the corresponding data via the Internet Protocol connection  5  to the call center  1 . 
     The call center  1  receives the data in the Internet Protocol in a receiving unit  13  for signaling, which receiving unit  13  uses the received data in the Internet Protocol to decode the subscriber number and signaling for an incoming call. The receiving unit  13  then transmits the subscriber number to a search and loading unit  16 , which uses the transmitted subscriber number to generate a search instruction for a databank server  14 , and transmits this instruction to this databank server  14 . 
     The databank server  14  has a databank computer  15 , and a databank  6  connected to it. The databank computer  15  now uses the received search instruction to search the databank  6  for any profile which may be present relating to that subscriber number, that is to say for a data record. If a data record or a profile is found, the databank computer  15  transmits this data record or profile to the search and loading unit  16 , which in turn displays the data record or the profile on a monitor  7  at an agent&#39;s workstation in the call center. In parallel with this, the search and loading unit  16  transmits the data record or the profile to an evaluation unit  17 , in which rules for evaluation of profiles are stored. The evaluation unit  17  then uses the stored rules and the received profile or data record to determine control information relating to the setting up of a connection or the passing on of the corresponding call for the call center  1 . The determined control information is “packed” by the evaluation unit  17  into the Internet Protocol, and is transmitted via the Internet Protocol connection  5  to the IP transmission unit  10  in the switching center  4 . 
     The control information is evaluated by means of a receiving unit  12  for control information in the IP transmission unit  10 , and is further processed by the switching center  4 . The control information may relate, in particular, to the setting up of a call connection between the calling subscriber connection and an agent in the call center  1 . For this purpose, the call connection may be set up via the Internet Protocol connection  5  between the switching center  4  and the call center  1 . 
     The IP transmission unit  10  has a voice over IP unit  11 , which converts call signals to the voice over IP format for transmission via the Internet Protocol connection  5 . The call signals in the voice over IP format are then passed on, in the call center  1 , directly via the Internet to the agent&#39;s workstation. At the agent&#39;s workstation, the received data in the voice over IP format must be converted back to call signals, in order to make it possible to reproduce them via a loudspeaker. Conversely, the agent&#39;s speech must be converted via a microphone into electrical signals, which are in turn converted to the voice over IP format and are transmitted via the Internet and the Internet Protocol connection  5  from the call center  1  to the switching center  4 . In the switching center  4 , the voice over IP unit  11  converts the received data to call signals for transmission via the public telephone network to the calling subscriber connection. At the agent&#39;s workstation, apparatuses are provided for conversion of the voice over IP data to call signals for reproduction via a loudspeaker and, in the opposite direction, apparatuses are provided for conversion of the electrical call signals, which are supplied from a microphone, to voice over IP data. This may be either an Internet telephone, which is suitable for Internet telephony, or a PC with CIT functionality. 
     The embodiment of the invention is not restricted to the examples described above, and a large number of modified forms are likewise possible, which are within the scope of specialist knowledge. In particular, the invention need not be implemented exclusively via the Internet, but can be implemented in a general form on the basis of data networks with a suitable transmission protocol—in particular other IP networks.