Invoking Call Pickup

The call pickup feature allows you to retrieve calls on hold in a park slot and to move calls from one phone to another. You invoke the call pickup feature from the phone you want to move the call to. You can move calls that are in either the (incoming) ringing state or the call hold state. To invoke call pickup, simply press the pickup softkey on the IP phone, and enter the extension number of the ephone-dn that has the call you want to move.

Call pickup is also often used in conjunction with paging. In this case, you place a call on hold, either at an extension or in a park slot, and then use the paging system to request that a coworker pick up the call you just parked. The park-and-pickup combination is a popular feature used in the retail store environment.

Pickup of a Ringing Extension

You can use the pickup softkey to move a call on a ringing extension on another phone to your phone. When you invoke call pickup, the Cisco CME system triggers a call forward from the phone with the ringing extension to your phone. Because the call pickup for a ringing extension uses the call forwarding mechanism, the general restrictions and considerations that apply to forwarded calls (forward on no-answer) also apply to calls for pickup on ringing. This means that the max-redirects limit set under telephony-service may affect the call pickup feature.

Pickup of a Call on Hold

You can use the pickup softkey to move a call that is on hold at an extension on another phone and move it to your phone. When you invoke call pickup, the Cisco CME system triggers a blind call transfer from the phone with the on-hold call to your phone. Because the call pickup for an on-hold call uses the call transfer mechanism, the general restrictions and considerations that apply to transferring calls also apply to calls for pickup on hold.

Pickup Groups

The group pickup feature operates in a manner similar to simple extension pickup. To use the group pickup feature, press the gpickup softkey and enter a pickup group number. You can use the group pickup feature to pick up any ringing call in a designated group of phones. You cannot use the group pickup feature to pick up calls that are on hold.

You can assign each phone in your Cisco CME system to a pickup group. You can have any number of pickup groups in your Cisco CME system.

If you create only a single pickup group in your Cisco CME system, you can pick up calls from within the single pickup group by simply pressing the gpickup softkey. If your Cisco CME system has only a single pickup group, there is no need to enter a pickup group number.

If you have more than one pickup group, you can pick up calls from within a phone's local pickup group by pressing the gpickup softkey followed by the star (*) key. This provides a shortcut instead of requiring you to enter the phone's own pickup group number.

To assign a phone to a specific pickup group, use the pickup-group command within the ephone configuration command mode, as shown in Example 5-32.

Example 5-32. Pickup Group Configuration

router#show running-config
ephone 1
 mac-address 000d.1234.ecfd
 button 1:10
 pickup-group 201

You can assign any number you want to the pickup group. In general, it's a good idea not to use pickup group numbers that are the same as extension numbers in your Cisco CME system. Also, it's a good idea for all your pickup group numbers to have the same number of digitsfor example, for all pickup groups to have three-digit numbers. If you do have pickup group numbers with varying digit lengths, make sure the leading digits of your pickup group numbers are different. For example, you cannot have a pickup group numbered as 20 and also have a pickup group numbered as 201.

Call Park

The Cisco CME call park feature allows you to create park slots to use as temporary holding locations for calls. You create park slots using the ephone-dn command and by setting the ephone-dn to operate in park-slot mode. Calls parked in a call park slot hear your Cisco CME system's music on hold.

You park calls by pressing the park softkey on your IP phone when the phone has a call in the connected state. Note that the park softkey is displayed on your phone only if you have created at least one park slot for your Cisco CME system. Also, you may need to press the more softkey one or more times on your IP phone to display the park softkey.

When you press the park softkey, the call is transferred to a park slot that has the number that most closely matches the extension number you used to answer the call. So if you are using extension 312 and you park a call from that extension, the call is parked in a park slot with a number ending in 12 if available. For example, if you create park slots with numbers 711, 712, 713, and 714, a call parked from extension 312 uses park slot 712 if possible. If no park slot with a matching number is available, any available park slot is used. You can use the Cisco CME extension-to-park slot association to create personal park slots for individuals who frequently use the park feature. There is no limit on the number of park slots you can create in your system other than the overall limit on the number of available ephone-dns.

When you park a call, the park-slot number selected is displayed on your IP phone's display. To retrieve a parked call, simply press the pickup softkey followed by the park-slot number. To retrieve the last call parked by your phone (or notified to your phone), simply press the pickup softkey followed by the star (*) key on the phone's keypad.

You can also park calls by pressing the transfer softkey and entering a park slot number as the destination for the blind transfer. This operation, called directed park, allows you to park calls to a specific slot. This is useful when you want to dedicate specific park slots for particular types of calls. For example, you might choose to park a call specifically for the sales department and then page the sales department for someone to pick up the call from the sales department park slot. To accommodate multiple calls for the same department, you can create multiple park slots with the same park-slot number. Calls are picked up from the park slot in first-in, first-out order.

You can also configure your park slots to provide a call parked on hold reminder at programmed intervals. By default, the call reminder goes to the phone that originally parked the call. You can also configure your park slots to send a reminder to a specific phone number as well as to the park originator, or instead of to the park originator. Example 5-33 shows a park-slot configuration.

Example 5-33. Park-Slot Configuration

router#show running-config
ephone-dn 102
 number 711
 park-slot timeout 30 limit 20 notify 310 only

This example creates a single park-slot instance with number 711. It sets the reminder interval to 30 seconds and configures 20 as the maximum number of reminders. As soon as the maximum number of reminders has been sent (after 20 * 30 = 600 seconds [10 minutes]), the call in the park slot is disconnected.

The reminder notifications are sent to all IP phones with extension 310. To send reminders to both the park originator and extension 310, simply omit the only keyword in the park-slot command.

If you create multiple park slots with the same number, remember to include the no huntstop command to allow the Cisco CME system to search for alternative park slots if the first instance with a particular number is in use.

You can use the ephone-dn secondary number to give your park slot two different extension numbers, as shown in Example 5-34.

Example 5-34. Park-Slot Configuration on the Secondary Ephone-dn

router#show running-config
ephone-dn 102
 number 711 secondary 700 
 no huntstop
 park-slot timeout 30 limit 20 notify 310 only
ephone-dn 102
 number 712 secondary 700 
 no huntstop
 park-slot timeout 30 limit 20 notify 310 only

This configuration allows you to use the directed park feature and transfer-park the call to 700. The IP phone display shows you the park-slot (primary) number that actually received the callin this case, 711 or 712. You can pick up the call by using the specific park-slot number (711 or 712), or you can get the first parked call from either park slot by performing a pickup using the shared secondary number, 700.

Note that after you have created your first park slot within your Cisco CME system, you need to reset or restart your IP phone(s) before the park softkey becomes visible on the phone. Because the call park mechanism uses the Cisco CME router's call transfer mechanism, you should ensure that your system is correctly configured for call transfer before attempting to use call park.

Customizing Softkeys