WO1993019553A1

WO1993019553A1 - Arrangement in a call queuing system

Info

Publication number: WO1993019553A1
Application number: PCT/SE1993/000242
Authority: WO
Inventors: Lennart Nordstrand
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1992-03-25
Filing date: 1993-03-23
Publication date: 1993-09-30
Anticipated expiration: 1994-09-25
Also published as: SE9200920D0; SE9200920L; AU3911893A; SE469053B

Abstract

The invention relates to an arrangement in a call queuing system (11) included in a telecommunications system, with associated equipment for delivering messages by audio means over an established connection (6a) to the calling party (6), the call queuing system being arranged to store, in order of priority, each call occurring on established connections which wishes to establish voice contact with an engaged subscriber (2), telephonist or the like, the said equipment being adapted to provide information as a first message that calls are being queued and to deliver confirmation that calls are queued as a subsequent message. Elements (10) are arranged to add information to the said first message about the order number of the call and elements (10) are arranged to add information to the said subsequent message about the order number which is currently being served.

Description

TITLE OF THE INVENTION: Arrangement in a call queuing system

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an arrangement adapted to a call queuing system, and especially to a call queuing system included in a telecommunications system.

The invention is based on the fact that the said call queuing system will operate in conjunction with equipment associated with it in order, over an established connection, to be able to leave messages for the calling party by audio means and, generally, auto¬ matically.

The call queuing system is arranged to store in priority order each call occurring on established connec¬ tions which, via an initial coding, wishes to obtain voice contact with an engaged subscriber, telephonist or the like. The call queuing system of this type operates in accordance with the "first-in - first-out" principle. The invention is also based on the method known previously that the said equipment should be adapted to inform as a first message each call set up individually that calls are being queued and to inform as a subsequent audio message all queued calls that they are queued.

PRIOR ART

The call queuing system included in a tele¬ communications system, which operates in conjunction with an equipment for transferring audio information on one or more established connections in the above-mentioned manner has previously been known in a variety of dif¬ ferent illustrative embodiments.

In the case of a call set up to such a call queuing system, with associated equipment, it has been previously known to- have the equipment inform each calling party initially and individually by audio means that the telephone number or all telephonists are engaged and that all calls are therefore switched to a call queuing system. Such an individual audio message can be of the type "taxi, please wait".

It has also been previously known to inform all calling parties switched to the call queuing system during the waiting time jointly and at well adapted time intervals that they are still lined up in the call queuing system. A message can be added to this which gives an impression that forwarding to an idle tele¬ phonist will soon occur. Such a common audio message can be of the type

"you are switched to the taxi queue, it will soon be your turn" .

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

TECHNICAL PROBLEM Taking into consideration the prior art a^'s described above, one technical problem would be to create prerequisites for a rough estimate of the current length of the waiting time by means of simple measures.

Taking into consideration the prior art as described above, one technical problem would also be to be able to create such prerequisites, in a simple manner, that from a delivered audio message the calling party himself can form an impression or make an estimate of his current or each position in the call queuing system. It must also be considered to be a technical problem to be able to offer a possibility to be able to inform the or each calling party in a simple manner via a delivered audio message so that he himself can evaluate his own time-related movement in the call queuing system. Besides, it must be considered to be a technical problem to be able to realise that the above-mentioned technical problems can have a solution when elements or the like are assigned which will be arranged to add information to the said first individual message about an order number allocated to the call, and to arrange other elements or the like which will be arranged to add information to the said subsequent common message about the individually-related order number which is currently being served. With knowledge about his own order number and information about which order number is being served at the moment, the calling party himself can evaluate the advancement in the call queuing system and calculate or estimate from this the remaining waiting time.

It must also be considered to be a ^' technical problem to realise the significance of adding, with the aid of elements or the like, information to the said first individual message about the order number which is currently being served.

Besides, it is a technical problem to be able to create such prerequisites that a calling party can initiate his wish, via a coding which differs from dialling, either to be currently queued or that such queuing is not desired since the calling party has decided to ring on a later occasion.

It must also be considered to be a technical problem to be able to realise the significance which lies in having a calculating equipment continuously evaluate the expected waiting time and in such evaluated informa¬ tion being included in the first individual message.

SOLUTION To be able to solve one or more of the above technical problems, the present invention provides an arrangement in a call queuing system included in a telecommunications system, which cooperates with an associated equipment, to be able to deliver an individual message to the calling party about a queue situation by audio means and automatically over an established connec- tion, the call queuing system being arranged to store, in order of priority, each call occurring on established connections which wishes to obtain voice contact with an engaged subscriber, telephonist or the like, the said equipment^•being adapted to provide as a first individual message information that calls are being queued and as a subsequent common message to all waiting calls in the call queuing system a confirmation that calls are queued.

In such an arrangement, the present invention assigns elements or the like which will be arranged to be able to add information to the said first individual message about the order number of the call and elements or the like are arranged to add information to the said subsequent common messages about the order number which is currently being served.

As proposed embodiments falling within the scope of the invention it is assigned that information about the order number which is currently being served is added to the said first individual message.

It is also assigned that a calling party can initiate, via coding which differs from dialling, the request to become currently queued or to forgo the said queuing, for example by the calling party deciding to ring later.

Finally, it is assigned that an expected waiting time will be evaluated via a time-calculating equipment and information or time determined thereby can be included in the first message.

ADVANTAGES

The arrangement provided according to the inven¬ tion has succeeded, by simple means, in providing each queued calling party with a possibility of evaluating the length of the remaining waiting time periodically during the waiting time.

That which can be primarily considered to be characterizing of an arrangement in accordance with the present invention is specified in the characterizing part of the subsequent Patent Claim 1.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

In the text which follows, an embodiment proposed presently and showing the significant characteristics of the present invention will be described in greater detail with reference to the_. attached drawing, in which: Figure 1 shows a telephone exchange with associated voice generator and number allocator in accor¬ dance with the present invention in block diagram form, and Figure 2 shows a more detailed configuration of the operation required of an arrangement according to the invention in block diagram form.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED EMBODIMENT

Having regard to Figure 1, a private branch exchange is thus diagrammatically shown with the reference designation 1. To simplify matters, a switching device belonging to the telephonist has been given the reference designation 2, a calling telephone set has been given the reference designation 3 and it is accepted that between these devices 2, 3, an established line 3a, 2a is located for exchanging calls or other communication.

In addition, the private branch exchange 1 is provided with a central controller 8 intended for detec¬ ting and controlling the function in the exchange.

To obtain an understanding of the present inven¬ tion, it is sufficient to describe the private branch exchange and its control functions in an extremely summary way.

A further prerequisite for the present invention is that incoming calls from a calling party, intended for an idle telephonist or the like can be queued during such time intervals when the telephonist or all telephonists are engaged.

It is then assumed that during the said call, via line 3a, 2a, further calls come in via a line 4 from a subscriber set and via a line 5 from another subscriber set, which wish to be connected to the engaged tele- phonists. These calls are queued in a call queuing system 11.

In this switching phase, the description fol¬ lowing will illustrate principles of the invention when a further calling party 6 dials up a call to the still- engaged telephonist 2 via a line 6a, and there are two earlier calls from calling parties waiting via the call queuing system 11.

Having regard to Figure 1, it is illustrated that, in order to be able to produce a function according to the invention, it is required that a voice generator 10 (or similar element) , adapted to be able to combine together different individual messages to each one of the calling parties and common messages to all the queued calling parties 4, 5, operates in conjunction with the exchange 1.

Furthermore, a code-receiving equipment, not shown, is provided for offering to a calling party to transfer in coded form, via his telephone set 6, a message for controlling and feeding own information into the system.

There is also an order number allocator 15 which is on the one hand connected to the telephone exchange 1 and on the other hand connected to the voice generator 10. The number allocator 15 is intended to allocate an order number to each call intended for queuing and to evaluate which order number is currently switched through to the telephonist 2. The said call queuing system 11 is adapted to queue incoming calls to a telephonist in accordance with the principle "first-in - first-out" in a manner known per se.

Finally, a time-calculating circuit 20 is illus- trated in Figure 1, which is on the one hand connected to the telephone exchange 1 and on the other hand connected to the number allocator 15.

Every one of the above-mentioned elements has either been previously known or can be constructed by an expert in the field with guidance of the description following below, without using inventiveness.

The call queuing system 11 is arranged in a known manner to be able to store, in order of priority, each call occurring on established connections which wishes to obtain voice contact with an engaged subscriber, tele¬ phonist or the like.

The present invention is specially based on the equipment 10 being adapted to provide information, as a first individual message, that calls are being queued and to provide information about the queuing itself as a sub¬ sequent common or group-oriented message.

The invention provides a utilization of an element 15, an order number allocator, and this element 15 is arranged to add information to preferably each and every one of the said first individual messages about the current order number of the call. A second element 12 is arranged to add information to the said subsequent group- oriented messages about the order number which is currently being served.

The calling party can initiate, via coding, his wish to be currently queued or to refrain from such queuing in the case where the calling party intends to ring later. An expected waiting time is calculated via a time calculating equipment 20 for each received call and such information can be advantageously included in the first functional message.

The invention will be described in greater detail with reference to Figure 2.

The prerequisites specified in Figure 1 still apply in that a telephonist 2 is talking over a call connection to a subscriber 3 and that two earlier calls are waiting in the call queuing system 11 and that a further call is coming in from the subscriber 6.

When the control unit 8 has established that the telephonist 2 is engaged, the call is switched by switch¬ ing means 7 to the speech generator 10, a tape player or the like, at the same time as an order number is switched from the order number allocator 15.

The message can have the following content: "taxi, calls before, please wait, your order number is 4". The message is here an individual message.

If the calling party wishes to be queued, the call is moved to the call queuing system and the calling party knows that the allocated order number is 4.

After a predetermined time, the speech generator 10 delivers a message directed to all queued parties and switches current information about which order number is currently being served.

The message can then have the following content: "taxi, you are in a telephone queue, order number 1 is currently being served" . From this message, all queued parties can know' their position and can assume from this their waiting time.

The next common message can contain information that order number "3" is being served and all queued parties will know their new position.

The invention also includes a possibility of allowing the first individual message to include a message to the calling party that special coding can provide other functions. Coding is received in an element 16 and can mean that the telephonist will call up within a certain time or the like.

The invention is certainly not limited to the embodiments given by way of example above but can undergo modifications within the scope of the concept of the invention illustrated in the subsequent Patent Claims.

Claims

PATENT CLAIMS

1. An arrangement in a call queuing system included in a telecommunications system, with associated equipment for delivering a message by audio means via an estab- lished connection to the calling party, the call queuing system being arranged to store, in order of priority, each call occurring on established connections which wishes to establish voice contact with an engaged sub¬ scriber, telephonist or the like, the said equipment being adapted to provide information as a first message that calls are being queued and as a subsequent message to deliver confirmation that calls are queued, charac¬ terized in that elements are arranged to add information to the said first message about the order number of the call and in that elements are arranged to add information to the said subsequent message about the order numbe'r which is currently being served.

2. Arrangement according to Patent Claim 1, charac¬ terized in that information is added to the said first, an individual, message about the order number which is currently being served.

3. Arrangement according to Patent Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the calling party can initiate a specific request via coding.

4. Arrangement according to Patent Claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that the expected waiting time is evaluated via a time-calculating equipment and in that such information is included in the first individual message.

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