Abstract:
A system and method for receiving calls for a plurality of persons. The system receives an incoming telephone call at a communications host, such as a PBX, from a caller for called person and queries a database for a set of information regarding the called person. The database can include information for each individual supported by present invention. The system can then query the status of the called person&#39;s phone line and announce to the caller some information regarding the called person. The system then forwards the incoming telephone call, the status of the called person&#39;s phone line, and the set of information regarding the called person to a display screen of a human secretary, who then answers the incoming telephone call.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to telecommunications systems and methods, and more particularly, a system and method that incorporates computer software to all multiple individuals to share a human secretary without the caller being aware that the secretary is being shared. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Today&#39;s businesses are relying more and more on telecommunications systems to help manage their interaction with others. Customer service and the access to key employees often determine how a company is perceived. Businesses want to reduce their customer service costs by enabling their employees to maintain a maximum number of calls and reduce their idle time to a minimum. Conventional or prior art methods typically employ ACD (automatic call distribution) services or voice mail in conjunction with automated attendants. 
     Conventional ACD systems are designed to handle large volumes of calls and provide a necessary service to large businesses. ACD systems route incoming telephone calls to a pool of agents or to a specific agent based on the telephone number dialed by the customer, information entered by the customer, or the customer&#39;s phone number. In certain instances when all agents are busy, ACD systems can hold the call in a queue, prompt the caller to leave a voice message for a later call back, or redirect the call to another group of agents with a shorter queue time. Data on the number of calls and the length of wait can also be monitored in ACD networks to determine proper loading of agents. 
     Automated telephone answering systems have been employed by many small to mid-sized companies to off-load work from live operators to the callers. The caller enters information using touch tones or the caller&#39;s voice. The computer analyzes customer input information and completes certain commands. For instance, an automated attendant may be programmed to answer a call, “Thank You for calling company XYZ. If you know your party&#39;s extension please enter it now.” Once the extension has been entered the call will be connected to the party&#39;s line or voice mail. 
     For small businesses and companies with departments remotely located, the need for a full-time secretary to answer incoming phone calls may not be needed or may not be affordable. Employing an ACD system or an automated attendant may not be the best solution for these smaller businesses. First, ACD systems are designed to handle large volumes of calls for large businesses and consequently are expensive. Also, some conventional ACD systems and automated attendants have automated menus that are often an annoyance to customers and callers. Customers and callers may often find it difficult connecting with a live operator. Any negative feeling on the caller&#39;s behalf can have detrimental effects on how the company is perceived. 
     In addition to the impersonal nature of automated attendants and ACD systems, these systems do not access dynamic information regarding the called person and the caller. If the called person is unavailable, voice mail is activated. Information regarding the availability of the called person or an alternate means of contact is not available. Such information may be very helpful to the caller in the event called person is not available. In turn, disseminating information regarding the caller to called person may aid the called person with the needs of the caller. 
     Therefore, a need exists for an affordable telecommunication system designed specifically for small businesses. Such a system should maintain the personal feel of a human secretary while reducing the amount of idle time experienced by the human secretary. The system should also have access to information regarding the caller and the called person. This information should enable the: secretary and the called person to be of more assistance to the caller. Ultimately, such a system should preserve the personal feel of a live secretary, yet should be informative and cost-effective. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a telecommunications system and method for processing incoming telephone calls to a group of individuals at small businesses or remotely located sites that substantially eliminates or reduces disadvantages and problems associated with previously developed ACD systems and methods used for processing and distributing incoming telephone calls. 
     Specifically, the present invention is a system and method for receiving calls for a plurality of persons. The system receives an incoming telephone call at a communications host, such as a PBX, from a caller for a called person and queries a database for a set of information regarding the called person. The database can include information for each individual supported by present invention. The system can then query the status of the called person&#39;s phone line and announce to the caller some information regarding the called person. The system then forwards the incoming telephone call, the status of the called person&#39;s phone line, and the set of information regarding the called person to a display screen of a human secretary, who then answers the incoming telephone call. 
     The present invention provides an important technical advantage by enabling a small company to maximize personnel efforts by minimizing idle time. A small business, a group of small businesses, or a group of remotely located persons may share the cost of the human secretary. 
     Another important technical advantage is the present invention introduces the human secretary as the first line of interaction with the caller. Should the human secretary&#39;s line be busy, the caller has the option to hold for the secretary or be directly connected to the called person&#39;s line. Further, the present invention presents the human secretary as the personal secretary to the called person. Utilizing the present invention, the small business provides the appearance of more dedicated service to the caller. 
     Still another important technical advantage is the present invention provides the human secretary with information from a called-person database. This database provides information about the called person to the human secretary&#39;s display screen. The human secretary then uses the information regarding the called person when communicating with the caller. 
     The option of including a caller database in the present invention provides yet another technical advantage. The caller database provides information to the human secretary at the human secretary&#39;s display screen. The human secretary then disseminates the information regarding the caller to the called person verbally or through the called person&#39;s display screen. 
     Another technical advantage of the present invention is that the telephone number of the called person is not only forwarded to the human secretary, but it is also used by the system to establish a connection towards the called person. Since the human secretary has to deal with a plurality of called persons, it can be expected that the human secretary may confuse the numbers of the called persons. Therefore, a simple means, like a one-button transfer, helps to prevent a connection to the wrong called person. For instance, pressing a specific button would always connect to the correct called person. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     For a more complete understanding of the present invention and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals indicate like features and wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a step diagram illustrating the main features of the an embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a flow diagram for the embodiment of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the main features of a second embodiment of the present invention; and 
     FIG. 4 is a flow diagram for the second embodiment of FIG.  3 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Preferred embodiments of the present invention are illustrated in the FIGS., like numerals being used to refer to like and corresponding parts of the various drawings. 
     The present invention provides a system and method for receiving telephone calls for a plurality of persons that can be remotely located or located within the same building. The system is implemented in such a manner that the caller is not necessarily made aware that the human secretary is shared between companies or employees. 
     FIG. 1 is a step diagram including the main components of the present invention  10 . An incoming telephone call  14  is received at a communications host, such as PBX  16 , from a caller  12 . The PBX  16  contains the Generic Secretary software program  28  stored on a memory device. The PBX  16  may also include a processor to execute the Generic Secretary software program  28 . The Generic Secretary Software program  28  controls the process of the present invention. A called-person database  22  is accessed by the Generic Secretary software program  28  on the PBX  16  to determine if the called person  26  uses the human secretary  18 . The called-person database  22  is a database that can store information regarding the called person  26  such as the called person&#39;s employer and address or the called person&#39;s work schedule. The called-person database  22  may be stored in memory on the PBX  16  or stored in memory on a peripheral device accessible by the PBX  16 . The called person  26  is among a group of individuals using the human secretary  24 . The human secretary  18  receives information from the called-person database  22  through the Generic Secretary software program  28  on the PBX  16 . The human secretary  18  can optionally receive information from a caller database  20  through the Generic Secretary software program  28  on the PBX. The caller database  20  may store information regarding the caller  12  such as the caller&#39;s company and position. The caller database  20  may be stored in memory at the PBX  16  or stored in memory on a peripheral device accessible by the PBX  16 . 
     FIG. 2 represents a flow diagram  30  illustrating the overall process for one embodiment of the present invention. At step  32 , the caller  12  calls the called person  26 . At step  34 , the incoming telephone call  14  is analyzed at a communications host, such as PBX  16 , by the Generic Secretary software program  28  which accesses a called-person database  22  to determine if the called person  26  is a member of a group of individuals  24  using the human secretary  18 . If the called person  26  does not use the human secretary  18 , the incoming telephone call  14  is processed solely by the PBX  16  at step  36 . If the called person  26  does use the human secretary  18 , the called person&#39;s number can be stored at step  38 . Based on the called person&#39;s phone number, the Generic Secretary software program  28  may access additional information about the called person  26  stored on the called-person database  22  at step  40 . At step  40 , the status of the called person&#39;s phone line can also be verified by the Generic Secretary software program  28  to determine if the called person&#39;s phone line is busy. At step  42 , the status of the human secretary&#39;s line can optionally be verified prior to forwarding the incoming telephone call  14  at step  44 . If the human secretary&#39;s line is busy, the status of the called person&#39;s line can be verified at step  64 . If the called person&#39;s line is busy, the caller  12  may be queried at step  68  to either hold for the human secretary  18  or be forwarded to the called person&#39;s voicemail. If the caller  12  chooses to hold for the human secretary  18 , the status of the secretary&#39;s line can be repeatedly checked at step  42  until the human secretary&#39;s line is no longer busy. If the caller  12  decides not to hold for the human secretary  18 , the called person&#39;s voicemail can be activated at step  72  and the call may end at step  74 . If it is determined at step  64  that the called person&#39;s phone line is not busy, the incoming telephone call  14  can be forwarded to the called person  26 . It can be determined at step  66  if the called person  26  is available to answer the incoming telephone call  14 . If the called person  26  is not available to answer the incoming telephone call  14 , the called person&#39;s voicemail can be activated at step  72  and the incoming telephone call  14  may end at step  74 . If the called person  26  is available to answer the incoming telephone call  14 , the called person  26  may answer the incoming telephone call  14  and then the incoming telephone call  14  may end at step  74 . 
     After the information regarding the called person  26  has been extracted from the called-person database  22 , the incoming telephone call  14 , the status of the called person&#39;s phone line, and the information from the called-person database  22  can be forwarded to the human secretary  18  at step  44 . At step  46 , an announcement can be played or dictated by the human secretary  18  to the caller such as, “You have reached       at       Company.” At step  48 , the human secretary  18  may answer the incoming telephone call  14  and may prompt the caller  12  for information. At step  50 , any available information about the caller  12  from the caller database  20  may be pulled by the Generic Secretary software program  28  and presented to the human secretary  18 . The human secretary  18 . may see information on the human secretary&#39;s display screen regarding the company of both the caller  12  and the called person  26 . Information on the screen may also include a schedule for the called person  26 . The Generic Secretary software program  28  may provide the human secretary  18  with a one-button transfer to connect the caller  12  with the called person  26  or to connect the human secretary  18  to the called person  26 . The one-button transfer allows the human secretary  18  to serve multiple called persons  26  without confusing multiple telephone numbers. If the called person&#39;s line is busy, the caller  12  may be placed on hold by the human secretary  18  at step  52 . At step  54 , it can be determined whether the called person  26  is available to answer the incoming telephone call  14 . If the called person  26  is not available to answer the incoming telephone call  14 , the human secretary  18  may prompt the caller  12  to determine if the caller  12  wants the called person&#39;s voicemail at step  56 . If the caller  12  does want the called person&#39;s voicemail, it may be activated at step  58  and the incoming telephone call  14  may end at step  74 . If the caller  12  does not want the called person&#39;s voicemail, the incoming telephone call  14  may end at step  74 . At step  54 , if the called person  26  is available to answer the incoming telephone call  14 , any information regarding the caller  14  may be forwarded to the called person  26  at step  60 . This information may be forwarded by the human secretary  18  to the called person  26  by phone or to the called person&#39;s display screen. At step  62 , the called person  26  may answer the incoming telephone call  14  and the incoming telephone call  14  may end at step  74 . 
     In the event that the called person&#39;s line is busy at step  51 , the caller  12  may be presented with at least a portion of the information about the called person  26  from the called-person database  22  by the human secretary  18  at step  55 . At step  56 , the human secretary  18  may prompt the caller to determine if the caller  12  wants the called person&#39;s voicemail. If the caller  12  does not want the called person&#39;s voicemail the incoming telephone call  14  may end at  74 . If the caller  12  does want the called person&#39;s voicemail, the called person&#39;s voicemail may be activated at  58  and then the call may end at  74 . 
     An additional embodiment of the present invention  10  would allow the incoming telephone call  14  to be forwarded to a number other than the number of the called person  26 . Therefore in step  55  of FIG. 2, if the called person  26  was not available to receive the incoming telephone call  14 , but a forwarding number was presented in the information from the called-person database  22 , the human secretary  18  may relay the forwarding number to the caller  12  or forward the incoming telephone call  14  to the forwarding number directly. 
     FIG. 3 presents another embodiment  11  of the present invention. The items of FIG. 3 are identical to those in FIG. 1 with the exception that the human secretary  18  in FIG. 1 is replaced by a plurality of human secretaries  19  in FIG.  3 . 
     A more detailed description of the embodiment  11  shown in FIG. 3 is illustrated in FIG.  4 . FIG. 4 represents the flow diagram  80  for the overall process of the embodiment  11 . At step  82 , the caller  12  calls the called person  26 . At step  84 , the incoming telephone call  14  is analyzed at a communications host, such as PBX  16 , by the Generic Secretary software program  28  which accesses a called-person database  22  to determine if the called person  26  is a member of the group of individuals  24  using a group of human secretaries  19 . If the called person  26  does not use the group of human secretaries  19 , the incoming telephone call  14  is processed solely by the PBX  16  at step  86 . If the called person  26  does use the group of human secretaries  19 , the called person&#39;s number can be stored at step  88 . Based on the called person&#39;s phone number, the Generic Secretary software program  28  accesses information about the called person  26  stored on the called-person database  22  at step  90 . At step  90 , the status of the called person&#39;s phone line can also be verified by the Generic Secretary software program  28 . At step  92 , the status of each phone line of the plurality of human secretaries can be verified by the Generic Secretary software program  28 . If all of the human secretaries&#39; phone lines are busy, the status of the called person&#39;s line can be verified at step  114 . If the called person&#39;s line is busy, the caller  12  is queried at step  118  to either hold for one of the plurality of human secretaries  18  or be forwarded to the called person&#39;s voicemail. If the caller  12  chooses to hold for one in the, group of human secretaries  18 , the status of the group of human secretaries&#39; phone lines is repeatedly checked at step  92  until at least one in the plurality of human secretaries&#39; phone lines is no longer busy. If the caller  12  decides not to hold for one in the group of human secretaries  18 , the called person&#39;s voicemail may be activated at step  122  and the incoming telephone call  14  may end at step  124 . If it is determined at step  114  that the called person&#39;s phone line is not busy, the incoming telephone call  14  can be forwarded to the called person  26 . It may be determined at step  116  if the called person  26  is available to answer the incoming telephone call  14 . If the called person  26  is not available to answer the incoming telephone call  14 , the called person&#39;s voicemail can be activated at step  122  and the incoming telephone call  14  may end at step  124 . If the called person  26  is available to answer the incoming telephone call  14 , the called person  26  may answer the incoming telephone call  14  at step  120  and then the incoming telephone call  14  may end at step  124 . 
     If, when verifying the status of the group of human secretaries&#39; phone lines, it is determined that at least one phone line of the group of human secretaries is not busy, the incoming telephone call  14 , the status of the called person&#39;s phone line, and the information from the called-person database  22  may be forwarded to one of the group of human secretaries  18  at step  94 . The incoming telephone call  14 , the status of the called person&#39;s phone line, and the information from the called-person database  22  may be forwarded to one in the group of human secretaries  18  based on availability or the length of time since that one in the group of human secretaries  18  received an incoming telephone call. At step  96 , an announcement can be played or dictated by the human secretary  18  to the caller such as, “You have reached       at       Company.” At step  98 , the human secretary  18  may answer the incoming telephone call  14  and prompt the caller  12  for information. At step  100 , any available information about the caller  12  may be pulled from the caller database  20  by the Generic Secretary software program  28  and presented to the human secretary  18 . The human secretary  18  may see information on the human secretary&#39;s display screen regarding the company of both the caller  12  and the called person  26 . Information on the screen may also include a schedule for the called person  26 . If the called person&#39;s line is busy at step  101 , the caller  12  may be placed on hold by the human secretary  18  at step  102 . The Generic Secretary software program  28  may provide the human secretary  18  with a one-button transfer to connect the caller  12  with the called person  26  or to connect the human secretary  18  to the called person  26 . The one-button transfer allows the human secretary  18  to serve multiple called persons  26  without confusing multiple telephone numbers. At step  104 , it may be determined whether the called person  26  is available to answer the incoming telephone call  14 . If the called person  26  is not available to answer the incoming telephone call  14 , the human secretary  18  may prompt the caller  12  to determine if the caller  12  wants the called person&#39;s voicemail at step  106 . If the caller  12  does want the called person&#39;s voicemail, the called person&#39;s voicemail may be activated at step  108  and the incoming telephone call  14  may end at step  124 . At step  104 , if the called person  26  is available to answer the incoming telephone call  14 , any information regarding the caller  12  may be forwarded to the called person at step  110 . This information may be forwarded by the human secretary  18  to the called person  26  by phone or to the called person&#39;s display screen. At step  112 , the called person  26  may answer the incoming telephone call  14  and the incoming telephone call  14  may end at step  124 . 
     In the event that the called person&#39;s line is busy at step  101 , the caller  12  may be presented with at least a portion of the information about the called person  26  from the called-person database  22  by the one of the plurality of human secretaries  18  at step  105 . At step  106 , the human secretary  18  may prompt the caller to determine if the caller  12  wants the called person&#39;s voicemail. If the caller  12  does not want the called person&#39;s voicemail, the incoming telephone call may end at  124 . If the caller  12  does want the called person&#39;s voicemail, the called person&#39;s voicemail may be activated at  108  and then the call may end at  124 . 
     An additional embodiment of the embodiment  11  would allow the incoming telephone call  14  to be forwarded to a number other than the number of the called person  26 . Therefore in step  105  of FIG. 4, if the called person  26  was not available to receive the incoming telephone call  14 , but a forwarding number was presented in the information from the called-person database  22 , the human secretary  18  could relay the forwarding number to the caller  12  or forward the incoming telephone call  14  to the forwarding number directly. 
     An important benefit of the present invention  10  is that the human secretary  18  is presented as the first line of interaction with the caller  12 . Should the human secretary&#39;s line be busy, the caller  12  has the option to hold for the human secretary  18  or be directly connected to the called person&#39;s phone line or voice mail. 
     Still another important benefit of the present invention is that the present invention provides the human secretary  18  with information from a calledperson database  22 . This database provides information about the called person  26  to the human secretary&#39;s display screen. The human secretary  18  can then disseminate the information regarding the called person  26  to the caller  12 . Additionally, the present invention has the option of a caller database  20 . This database may provide the human secretary  18  with valuable information about the caller  12  to forward to the called person  26 . 
     The present invention presents the human secretary  18  as the personal secretary to the called person  26 . Utilizing the present invention a group of called persons  24  such as a small business or a group of remotely located persons can provide the appearance of more dedicated service to the caller  14 . 
     The present invention also has the option of having a group of human secretaries  19  servicing a group of individuals  14 . This reduces or eliminates any hold time the caller  12  may experience. 
     Although the present invention has been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as described by the appended claims.