Patent ID: 7206400

Claim:
In an automatic call distribution system adapted to connect a telephone call of a caller to one of a plurality of agents located at an agent station through a public switched telephone network (PSTN), a method of repopulating call information identifiers received from the PSTN, the method comprising the steps of: receiving the incoming telephone call from the PSTN; transferring the incoming call to a voice response unit (VRU); requesting, by the VRU, predetermined data from the caller; receiving, by the VRU, the requested predetermined data; overwriting at least a portion of the call information identifiers with transactional data corresponding to the caller, said transactional data defining repopulated data; selecting an agent of the plurality of agents to handle the telephone call based upon a business reason derived from the received predetermined data; the VRU transferring the incoming telephone call back to the automatic call distribution system from the VRU along with the repopulated data retained within the call information identifiers by dialing a telephone number of the selected agent or selected agent group using a hook transfer type of operation; routing the transferred call to the agent station of the selected agent; and displaying the repopulated data.