Mci Communications Corporation

Mci Worldcom, Inc.

Samuel R Mullins

Sarah A Miller

Timothy E Darland

Patrick Lutwitze

Christopher P Tofanelli

Glenn E Highland

Robert F Galgano, Jr

Tivis C Mobberley

Duraisamy Gunasekar

Jesse E Peterson

Arunachalam Venkatraman

Randall P Ethier

Rick L Groene

Doug Reiman

Kenneth J Fischer

A system for routing telephone calls to operator consoles based on the type of call so that an appropriate operator can handle the call. The system comprises an Automated Call Distributor (ACD), adjunct processor nodes, and a call routing distribution system. The ACD receives calls, offers the calls to an adjunct processor node, receives instructions on routing the calls from the adjunct processor node, and routes the calls based on the received instructions. The ACD has links through which the calls are offered and the instructions on call routing are received. Each adjunct processor node is connected to the ACD through the links. The adjunct processor node receives call routing specifications from the call routing distribution system, receives the offered calls, determines to which operator console (or group of operator consoles) the offered call should be routed based on the call routing specifications, and provides an indication of the determined operator console to the ACD through a link as routing instructions. Each link of the ACD is connected to two adjunct processor nodes so that if one adjunct processor node fails, the ACD can receive instructions from the other adjunct processor to which a link is connected. The call routing distribution system inputs call routing specifications and distributes the call routing specifications to the adjunct processor nodes so that each adjunct processor node has the same call routing specification.

Intelligent services network adjunct processor

Method and apparatus allow a caller to contact a called party with a collect call whether or not the called station is answered or is busy. When the caller dials a collect call access code, the call is routed to a messaging platform which collects the call information and attempts to complete the call. If there is no answer or if the called station is busy, the messaging platform retains control of the call and automatically prompts the caller to enter a name and a message to be delivered to the called party. After the name and message have been entered, the caller is given a confirmation number, if desired, which allows the caller to determine whether the called party has received the message. The messaging platform repeatedly attempts to deliver the message by calling the called party. Upon the call being answered, the messaging platform identifies the caller and prompts the called party to accept or refuse the collect message. If the called party accepts the message, the messaging platform plays it and the called party is charged for the message.

Method and system for automated collect call messaging

A communication network call traffic management system includes a plurality of special resource devices, at least one telephone switch connected to a telecommunications network, a switch control interface, a plurality of application platforms, a control network, and a call traffic manager. The telephone switch has a plurality of telephone switch ports with each switch port being associated with a special resource device. Each special resource device detects user-selectable information contained in a telephone call. The call traffic manager uses initial call information to allocate a special resource device, control the switch to direct the telephone call to a switch port that is associated with the allocated special resource device, and allocate a first application platform for interacting with the telephone call. At any point during the telephone call, the call traffic manager can interact with the telephone switch and/or the application platform to dynamically reallocate a new special resource device and/or a new application platform necessary to service the call.

Communication network call traffic manager

Growing community of inventors

Iowa City, IA, United States of America

Samuel R Mullins