Procedure and Mechanism for Managing a Call to a Call Center

Abstract

In a method procedure for managing a caller's call to a call center with a call center agent, an agent is defined to receive the call and identified as the responsible agent for an incident assigned to the call. A relationship is created between the responsible agent and the incident. Then a token is generated that allows the relationship to be addressed without containing any individual connection or personal data for the responsible agent. The token is made available for the caller so the token can be activated when the caller resumes contact with the call center. The token causes the caller to be connected to the responsible agent or a proxy if the token is activated when contact is resumed.

1 - 14 . (canceled) 
     
     
         15 . A method for managing communication between a caller and a call center, comprising
 assigning a call center agent to receive a first call from a caller;   creating a relationship between the call center agent and an incident associated with the first call;   generating a token during the first call so that personal information of the call center agent and contact information for the call center agent are not included in the token;   transmitting the generated token to a caller terminal for storage of the token, the token being a data structure storable in non-transitory memory of the caller terminal, the token configured to be activated to initiate resumption of contact between the caller and the call center agent in which voice communication is exchangeable between the caller and the call center agent or the caller and a proxy of the call center agent; and   connecting the caller with the agent or the proxy of the agent in a second call in response to activation of the token by the caller, the second call occurring after the first call.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the token is a cookie for storage on the memory of the caller terminal. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the cookie is received from the caller terminal when the caller terminal calls the call center to initiate the second call. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the token is a first short message service (“SMS”) message, the method comprising the call center receiving from the caller terminal a second SMS as a reply to the first SMS message. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the second SMS message triggers a call back from the call center to the caller terminal to establish the second call between the caller and the agent. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the token is a character string in a form that can be seen or heard. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the token identifies a phone number that is selectable to initiate the second call and connect to the agent. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 15 , comprising communicating information on the incident to the agent upon activation of the token during the second call. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 15 , comprising invalidating the token when the incident is marked as closed; the invalidating of the token occurring in response to one of: input received from the agent and a selected time period expiring. 
     
     
         24 . A method for managing communication between a caller and a call center, comprising
 assigning a call center agent to receive a first call from a caller;   creating a relationship between the call center agent and an incident associated with the first call;   generating a token during the first call so that personal information of the call center agent and contact information for the call center agent are not included in the token, the generating of the token comprising:   prompting the caller to save a voice sample, wherein the voice sample comprises a passphrase specified to the caller, and   saving the stored voice sample together with a link to the token at the call center; and   making the token available to be activated to initiate resumption of contact between the caller and the call center agent in which voice communication is exchangeable between the caller and the call center agent or the caller and a proxy of the call center agent by an activation process comprising:
 requesting the passphrase from the caller when contact is resumed by the caller via a second call occurring after the first call, and 
 selecting a link to the token at the call center during the second call when a passphrase spoken by the caller during the second call matches the passphrase of the voice sample to establish (i) a direct connection between the agent and the caller for the second call or (ii) a direct connection between the proxy and the caller for the second call; and 
   connecting the caller with the agent or the proxy in the second call in response to activation of the token by the caller.   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , comprising communicating information on the incident to the agent upon activation of the token during the second call. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 24 , comprising invalidating the token when the incident is marked as closed; the invalidating of the token occurring in response to input received from the agent. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 24 , comprising invalidating the token when the in response to a pre-selected time period expiring. 
     
     
         28 . A communication system comprising:
 a call center communicatively connectable to a caller terminal;   the call center configured to:
 assign a call center agent to receive a first call from the caller terminal; 
 create a relationship between the call center agent and an incident associated with the first call; 
 generate a token during the first call so that personal information of the call center agent and contact information for the call center agent are not included in the token; 
 transmit the generated token to the caller terminal for storage of the token, the token being a data structure storable in non-transitory memory of the caller terminal, the token configured to be activated to initiate resumption of contact between a caller of the caller terminal and the call center agent in which voice communication is exchangeable between the caller and the call center agent or the caller and a proxy of the call center agent; and 
 connect the caller terminal with the agent or the proxy of the agent in a second call in response to activation of the token, the second call occurring after the first call. 
   
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein the token is a cookie for storage on the memory of the caller terminal. 
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 29 , comprising the caller terminal, the caller terminal configured such that the cookie is sent from the caller terminal to the call center when the caller terminal calls the call center to initiate the second call in response to activation of the cookie. 
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein the token is comprised of a first short message service (“SMS”) message. 
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 31 , comprising the caller terminal, the caller terminal configured to send a second SMS message in response to the first SMS message to activate the token and trigger a call back from the call center to the caller terminal to establish the second call between the caller and the agent. 
     
     
         33 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein the token is a character string in a form that can be seen or heard. 
     
     
         34 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein the token identifies a phone number that is selectable to initiate the second call.