With reference to
A person of skill in the art will appreciate that the configuration of
With reference to
In operation, upon receipt of an incoming call from the PSTN to one of the IP phones 5, it is conventional for call control software within iPBX 1 to send a message containing CLID information for display on the phone. However, as discussed in greater detail below, according to an aspect of the present invention, call control sends a message to the phone containing relevant call information (e.g. in a proprietary application such as a MiNET message, SIP or similar mechanism) for display in an abbreviated format (such as a label “Tanya Tilden 592-7423” on a self-labeling line button 21). The information may also displayed in full on the main display 23 of the phone when selected by an application within the phone (the “more info service” discussed in greater detail below), as shown within stippled line box 22 illustrated in
Turning to
If the phone is capable of displaying label information on its line buttons 21 (or a phone proxy is available for doing so), then call control creates one or more further messages (step 35) using CLID information (e.g. OLI—Originating Line Identity (Name & Number)) and/or TLI—Terminating Line Identity (Name & Number), button DN (e.g. 4532), telephone DN (e.g. 3410). Moreover, according to an alternative embodiment the phone 5 (or phone proxy) may obtain additional information regarding the OLI and/or TLI via an additional message exchange with the contact information server 11 (e.g. an initial greeting, order status and purchase history), and display such additional information within a graphical window 22 on the main phone display 23 as shown in
The call information is then sent as a message from the iPBX 1 to the phone 5 (step 37) or relevant proxy (step 36). The call information message is, according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, an Application Interface message (e.g. a message sent in accordance with the Mitel proprietary MiNET messaging protocol), with the format set forth in Table A, as follows:
Upon receipt of the call information from iPBX 1, the label of the associated line button 21 at phone 5 is updated to display an abbreviated form of the call information using self-labeling keys such as provided, for example, on Mitel 5330, 5340, 5325 and Web telephones of Mitel Networks Corporation. However, if an information update is indicated in the message (step 39), an information update procedure is executed as discussed in greater detail below with reference to
With reference to
Preferably, the information is displayed on a self-labeling button 21. Optionally, an ellipsis or icon indication may be displayed in addition to, or instead of, the abbreviated call information in order to indicate availability of additional call related information (steps 47 and 48). The indication may also be provided in the call processing display area 23 and/or by illuminating the associated button 21 with a different colour (i.e. via an indicator LED).
As shown in
The “more info service” presents a dialog window or similar mechanism 22 that uses more of the telephone appliance display than is normally available, as shown in
Selecting a line button when additional call information is available (step 55) causes call control to prepare additional information to display (step 58), using information associated with the selected button 21 (i.e. information obtained from contact server 11, as discussed above) and, optionally, user preferences. Next, the dialog window 22 is updated to present all available call related information (i.e. the initial call related information displayed on the line button 21 as well as additional information such as called number, whether or not the call was attendant handled, important information concerning the topic of the call, a greeting (e.g. “Fine Widget VIP Support. How can we help?), etc. Additional call information that may be included and presented by the “more info service” includes, but is not limited to: call forwarding/redirection history, language of the incoming caller (if available), dialog to use when answering the call (e.g. “Hello, Mr. Johnston, your car is ready”).
In the event the Call Into Type indicates ‘obsolete’ information (step 43), the portion of the telephone display for the associated self labeling key 21 is restored to its initial condition (step 61 of
The present invention has been described with respect to a preferred embodiment. Other embodiments, variations and applications of the invention are possible. For example, as discussed above, the relevant call information can be stored and displayed on behalf of the telephone appliance by a proxy application (within the PBX or by a PC based application) instead of an application within the telephone appliance. A touch screen telephone (e.g. Mitel 5235) may also present a selectable icon (e.g. a question mark in a circle) such that touching the icon initiates the “more info service”. Likewise, the selectable icon may be programmed to support dismissal of the service. A telephone appliance that does not support self labeling keys can use the call processing display area 23 to present call information displayed by the “more info service”. The “more info service” may also be initiated by pressing a ‘Superkey’ button such as found on Mitel telephone appliances, followed by a line button with additional call information. The principles of the present invention may also be applied to the presentation of non-call associated information (e.g. ACD threshold alerts and queue status).
The many features and advantages of the invention are apparent from the detailed specification and, thus, it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such features and advantages of the invention that fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation illustrated and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
06114731.0 | May 2006 | EP | regional |