Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
379880040 | Voice controlled message management | 77 |
20080212748 | Voice Communications Menu - Methods and systems are described for providing a telecommunications services menu accessible via a voice interactive system, such as a voice services node. A subscriber accesses a voice communications menu by accessing a voice services node. The voice services node queries a customer profile database to obtain a list of telecommunications services available to the subscriber. At the voice services node, a voice prompt is constructed for providing the subscriber a voice menu of the available services. After the subscriber receives the voice prompt of menu items, the subscriber may select a service from the provided menu. | 09-04-2008 |
20080226042 | Systems and Methods for Enabling a User to More Easily Navigate an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Menu - In one aspect, the present invention provides a system and method for enabling a user to more easily navigate an IVR menu by, for example, displaying to the user a visual representation of the IVR menu. | 09-18-2008 |
20080247518 | WEB COMMUNICATING DEVICE FUNCTIONED AS BRIEFING CONTROLLER - The invention discloses a web communicating device, within which a web communicating function and a briefing controller function are coexisted, and a central processing unit is provided for processing the voice signal of a web communication and the control signal of a briefing controller is a way, such that a priority choice may be made for handling either mode in time; according to the invention, an online communication may be made by dialing a keypad to receive an agreement of the counter part, and the message may be further displayed on a display by changing the voice frequency through a voice control module; under a briefing mode, the briefing page may be controlled by the keypad, one key of which can make a lighting module emit visible light, in the meantime, the coming communication being hold or rejected through a preset function. | 10-09-2008 |
20080247519 | METHOD FOR DIALOG MANAGEMENT - A spoken dialog system and method having a dialog management module are disclosed. The dialog management module includes a plurality of dialog motivators for handling various operations during a spoken dialog. The dialog motivators comprise an error handling, disambiguation, assumption, confirmation, missing information, and continuation. The spoken dialog system uses the assumption dialog motivator in either a-priori or a-posteriori modes. A-priori assumption is based on predefined requirements for the call flow and a-posteriori assumption can work with the confirmation dialog motivator to assume the content of received user input and confirm received user input. | 10-09-2008 |
20080267365 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND SOFTWARE FOR A SPEECH-ENABLED CALL ROUTING APPLICATION USING AN ACTION-OBJECT MATRIX - A system, method and software for facilitating a speech-enabled call routing application using an action-object matrix is disclosed. In operation, a natural language user utterance may be evaluated to identify an action and object available in an action-object matrix indicating transactions or operations available to a user. Depending upon the contents of the natural language user utterance, additional prompts and/or a disambiguation dialogue may be effected to elicit an available action-object combination selection from the user. Following identification of an action-object combination from the natural language user utterance, the action-object matrix may cooperate with a look-up table to identify an appropriate use routing destination. Following identification of an appropriate routing destination, the user connection may be routed to a service agent or module configured to facilitate the user selected transaction as indicated by the action-object combination. | 10-30-2008 |
20080273674 | COMPUTER GENERATED PROMPTING - A method and apparatus for generating appropriate confirmatory prompts in a speech-enabled, interactive computer system. The method can be incorporated in an interactive voice response system that includes receiving an input audio stream over a voice channel from a users, performing keyword recognition on received input audio as subsequent input audio is being received, and prompting the user with an acknowledgement of the keyword or keywords as subsequent input audio is being received. In another aspect of the method, the volume of the speech input can be continuously monitored. In a further aspect of the method, recognition results and associated confidence values can be combined to select different confirmatory prompts, and the volume is tailored to be the same as, louder than or quieter than the volume of the speech input, so that different types of confirmation can be automatically generated to produce a natural speech-enabled interface. | 11-06-2008 |
20080279348 | SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING TELEPHONIC VOICE RESPONSE INFORMATION RELATED TO ITEMS MARKED ON PHYSICAL DOCUMENTS - A system to telephonically access information related with items printed on a physical document. Items marked on the physical document or on any other physical surface is touched with a finger. The system includes a touch foil placed over (or under) the document, for reading the coordinates of selected marked items, a telephone set for receiving the coordinates of the items selected by the user and for dialing to an interactive voice response (IVR) service used for accessing and retrieving selected hyperlinked documents from the web through a documents proxy server, for converting retrieved documents to synthesized speech, and for providing to the user through the telephone network, the selected documents that have been converted into speech. | 11-13-2008 |
20080285728 | DYNAMICALLY RECONFIGURABLE DISTRIBUTED INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE SYSTEM - The present invention is a computer system and method that manages connections between one or more data network interfaces and one or more phone interfaces. A manager process, running on a computer system having both data and phone network interfaces, receives one or more telephone calls from one or more users over one of the phone interfaces and than accesses one or more profiles associated with each of the users. These profiles have one or more service identifiers and one or more interactive response agent (IRA) identifiers associated with the respective user. A menu of the service identifiers is presented to the user. The system then looks up an agent address of one of the IRAs that is associated with the service identifier selected by the user from the menu and establishes a session with the associated IRA. Having done this a two-way communication with the associated IRA occurs during the session. In this communication, the IRA is capable of passing information to the system from one or more application servers to which the IRA is connected over one or more data networks. | 11-20-2008 |
20080304632 | System and Method for Obtaining In-Use Statistics for Voice Applications in Interactive Voice Response Systems - Systems and methods are provided for obtaining statistics from the use of a voice application. More particularly, the invention may comprise an interception engine that is configured to receive a document from an IVR application server and inject a marker(s) into the document, and pass the document on to an IVR browser. The interception engine is further configured to receive a response document from the IVR browser, remove the marker results, and pass the document on to the IVR application server. The marker results are used to create statistical information useful in the analysis of the operation of the voice application in the IVR system. In an exemplary embodiment, the markers are used in connection with a map of the call flow of the voice application. | 12-11-2008 |
20090022284 | Method and Apparatus for Distributed Interactive Voice Processing - A distributed interactive voice processing system is disclosed that distributes IVR capabilities to one or more agent terminals associated with a call center. One or more agent terminals support the traditional functions of a live agent, as well as additional IVR capabilities to support the functions of a virtual or automated agent. A call management system manages the distributed IVR resources by monitoring the availability status of the live and automated IVR agents in the distributed interactive voice processing system and distributing telephone calls and other types of communications to the appropriate agents. The availability status of the automated IVR agents is based on estimated available CPU cycles on the agent terminal. A received call is routed to the extension on the agent terminal associated with the selected IVR channel. A VXML process associated with the selected IVR channel obtains the appropriate application software from a central voiceXML application server and executes the VXML page(s) to play the appropriate prompts from the IVR script to the caller and to collect DTMF or speech recognized inputs from the caller. The distributed design allows centralized application management while using distributed resources to provide improved IVR availability. | 01-22-2009 |
20090028302 | VOICEXML AND RULE ENGINE BASED SWITCHBOARD FOR INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE (IVR) SERVICES - Call routing systems and methods are provided. A particular routing method comprises decoding a message based on an incoming call to determine whether a live agent is required. When a live agent is not required, a destination interactive voice response (IVR) application is identified, a determination of whether the destination IVR application is VoiceXML capable is made, and the incoming call is sent to the destination IVR application when the destination IVR application is VoiceXML capable. When the destination IVR application is not VoiceXML capable, a determination of whether the destination IVR application is capable of supporting an external data interface is made, and incoming call session data is routed to the destination IVR application when the destination IVR application is capable of supporting the external data interface. An audio file including one or more dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) commands based on the incoming call session data is constructed and sent to the destination IVR application when the destination IVR application is not VoiceXML capable and is not capable of supporting an external data interface. | 01-29-2009 |
20090034694 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AN AUTOMATED DEPARTURE STRATEGY - A method and system for an automated departure strategy from an automated system includes a track engine and an error engine. The track engine allows for the tracking and storing of one or more utterances spoken by a caller in response to one or more prompts. In addition, the track engine classifies each of the utterances with a confidence level. The error engine determines when one of the utterances initiates an error condition and transfers the caller to an operator on the occurrence of the error condition. In addition to transferring the caller to the operator, the error engine plays to the operator an error utterance, causing the error condition, and a preceding utterance, preceding the error utterance. Furthermore, the error engine populates an operator screen with information provided by the caller in the utterances for utterances classified with a high level of confidence. | 02-05-2009 |
20090060148 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS TO CONNECT CONSUMERS TO INFORMATION - The present invention provides a method and apparatus for specifying and obtaining services through audio commands, resulting in a live conversation between a user and a selected service provider using an audio-transmission medium (the telephone). A service seeker locates a service provider by entering a keypad code corresponding to a field of service or by speaking the name of a profession, which is recognized by the system. The seeker can then specify, via voice or keypad entry, a price range, quality rating, language, and keyword descriptors of the service provider, such as a service provider code number. In response, the system offers currently available service providers. Once an available service provider is selected, the system connects the service seeker with the service provider for a live conversation. The system bills the seeker for the time spent conversing with the service provider and compensates the service provider accordingly. | 03-05-2009 |
20090067589 | Creating automated voice response menus for telecommunications services - A method for changing configuration settings of a telephony system comprises initiating a telephony configuration service, establishing service rights associated with a telephone number. a step for presenting one or more selectable options consistent with the service rights, at least one of which corresponds to a configuration setting change for a call-forwarding task. Additionally, the method includes a step for presenting one or more call-forwarding task options, a step for receiving a selection of at least one of the call-forwarding task options, a step for confirming the selection of at least one of the call-forwarding task options, and changing at least one configuration setting of a telephony system based at least in part upon a received selection of at least one of the call-forwarding task options. | 03-12-2009 |
20090074158 | METHOD FOR DESIGNING AN AUTOMATED SPEECH RECOGNITION (ASR) INTERFACE FOR A CUSTOMER CALL CENTER - A method of designing a customer interface for a service center, such as an automated speech recognition (ASR) self-service center. Customer activity to an existing service center is monitored, providing customer model, which includes a collection of customer tasks. These tasks are assigned to action-object pairs, which are further assigned to routing destinations. Dialog modules are designed, based on the customer model data, including disambiguation dialogs. | 03-19-2009 |
20090141871 | VOICE RESPONSE SYSTEM - A voice response system attempts to respond to spoken user input and to provide computer-generated responses. If the system decides it cannot provide valid responses, the current state of user session is determined and forwarded to a human operator for further action. The system maintains a recorded history of the session in the form of a dialog history log. The dialog history and information as to the reliability of past speech recognition efforts is employed in making the current state determination. The system includes formatting rules for controlling the display of information presented to the human operator. | 06-04-2009 |
20090141872 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RESUMING THE SESSIONS BETWEEN CLIENT DEVICE AND IVR SYSTEM - A method and apparatus for resuming a session between a client device and an IVR system in customer service. The method includes the following steps: reestablishing the session in customer service; determining whether there is status information of an abnormally terminated session corresponding to the reestablished session in customer service; retrieving the status information of the abnormally terminated session in customer service; and resuming the session between the client device and the IVR system in customer service according to the retrieved status information. | 06-04-2009 |
20090161838 | AUTOMATED MULTIMEDIA CALL CENTER AGENT - An automated multimedia call center device may receive a verbal request for information from a user device during a multimedia session between the automated multimedia call center device and the user device. The automated multimedia call center device may further obtain a group of recognition results for the verbal request using speech recognition, cause at least two recognition results of the group of recognition results to be visually displayed on the user device, receive selection of one recognition result of the at least two recognition results, perform a search using the selected one recognition result to obtain multimedia content, and provide the multimedia content to the user device. | 06-25-2009 |
20090202050 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DEEP DIALING PHONE SYSTEMS - An independent communications system (ICS) is used in a transaction between a waiting party and a queuing party, with the queuing party having a interactive voice response (IVR). The IVR includes multiple nodes and the ICS is adapted to connect to a particular node in the IVR. | 08-13-2009 |
20090207980 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EXTERNALLY MAPPING AN INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE MENU - An interactive voice response mapping system (IVRMS) is used in a transaction between a waiting party and a queuing party, with the queuing party having a queuing calling system (QCS), and the IVRMS adapted to communicate with the QCS and to build an IVR map of the QCS. | 08-20-2009 |
20090245482 | Accumulative Decision Point Data Analysis System for Telephony and Electronic Communications Operations - A system for generating usage statistics for a communications routing system from data generated at routing points and at end points of the system has a processor having access to the communications routing system for analyzing the data and generating the statistics, and a server having access to the processor for rendering the generated statistics into a format for display. The data used to generate the statistics includes routing path information for events routed through the communications routing system and optionally interaction histories recorded at certain routing points and end points in the communications routing system. | 10-01-2009 |
20090257566 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ACCESSING INFORMATION CONTENT WHILE HOLDING ON A TELEPHONE CALL - Systems and methods are introduced for accessing information content while holding on a telephone call. Instructions provide an automated message voice recognition menu selection system when a caller is placed on hold. A spoken voice recognition response unit associates a category context and, responsive to the user category selection, provides one or more information content titles representing information files including fractional samples of information content. Sales data and critic reviews of the information content via a streaming data page is uploaded into the user instance of the system. The streaming data page is a fractional, recognizable portion of a song. A context based artificial intelligence voice recognition systems further interacts with the user while holding on a telephone call subsequently playing at least a portion of a user selected title unless the user returns to the previous menu or terminates the service to complete the held call. | 10-15-2009 |
20090268883 | Dynamically Publishing Directory Information For A Plurality Of Interactive Voice Response Systems - Methods, apparatus, and products are disclosed for dynamically publishing directory information for a plurality of interactive voice response (‘IVR’) systems through an IVR directory service that include: providing a description of a web services publication interface for the IVR directory service; receiving, on behalf of one or more IVR systems, web services publication requests through the publication interface; determining, in response to the web services publication requests, directory information for each IVR system requesting publication; adding the directory information for each IVR system to an IVR system directory; generating a voice mode user interface to reflect the directory information for each IVR system added to the IVR system directory; and interacting, using the voice mode user interface, with a caller to identify a particular IVR system in dependence upon the IVR system directory and query information provided by the caller and to connect the caller with the identified IVR system. | 10-29-2009 |
20090268884 | USING AN IVR TO REMOTELY OPERATE SECURITY SYSTEMS - The inventive method for remotely maintaining and controlling a security system comprises using a device to communicate using voice capable technology with an IVR in a host facility, selecting an action from a plurality of actions provided by the IVR, performing the action on the security system, and receiving notification of performance of the action, wherein the host facility contacts the security system to perform the action. In one embodiment, the actions can control and/or monitor the security system. The method can further comprise creating an account with an identification code on the host facility, and validating the code on the IVR. The method can also include translating the selected action into a command, sending a message to a GSM device in the security system, and, in response to the message, establishing a GPRS session between the security system and the host facility, wherein the session performs the command. | 10-29-2009 |
20090310759 | METHOD FOR CONTENT-BASED PRIORITIZATION OF VOICE MESSAGES IN COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM - Answering machines and voice mailbox systems are normally provided in modern communications systems. When a communications subscriber is temporarily unreachable at the location of their fixed network telephone, incoming calls can be accepted by an answering machine and voice messages can be recorded. The drawback of this procedure is that messages containing important information cannot be promptly conveyed to the communications subscriber. During incoming voice messages, their content is evaluated with the aid of a speech recognition system. As a result, content-based prioritization of voice messages is made possible in a communications system and the receiver is notified of the incoming voice messages according to the prioritization. | 12-17-2009 |
20100002850 | METHOD AND SYSTEM TO MANAGE MULTIPLE IVRS - A method includes storing a profile associated with a user of a telephone and, based upon the profile, presenting the user with an option to search, browse, subscribe to, or bookmark content provided by a plurality of IVR content providers. | 01-07-2010 |
20100008479 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING COMMISSIONS FROM E-COMMERCE TRANSACTION ASSISTANCE - Methods and apparatuses are disclosed for generating commissions from e-commerce transaction assistance provided by a network-based text-to-speech (TTS) alert system. The network-based text-to-speech (TTS) alert system takes a user's textual and/or multimedia input from a user interface to schedule delivery of text-to-speech-converted information as a reminder call to a user once the user's desired time or an event for the reminder delivery is reached. If the delivered reminder call is associated with a particular e-commerce transaction, then the network-based text-to-speech (TTS) alert system is capable of taking a user feedback for authorization of the particular e-commerce transaction over an IVR interface during the reminder call or an online calendar interface. Once and if the user completes the authorization for the particular e-commerce transaction, the text-to-speech (TTS) alert system can charge and collect a sales and/or transaction commission from an e-commerce provider associated with the e-commerce transaction. | 01-14-2010 |
20100020946 | SECURE PAYMENT SERVICE AND SYSTEM FOR INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE (IVR) SYSTEMS - A secure payment method, system or computer readable medium for a merchant's interactive voice response system are disclosed. The merchant's interactive voice response system receives customer calls and requests a payment from the customer. The customer responds to the request by providing over a data network authentication information and payment amounts for a payment service. The payment service provides the customer with a token which is communicated to the merchant's interactive voice response system, and the merchant's interactive voice response system transmits the token back to the payment service. Upon validating the token, the payment service issues an electronic payment or payment information to the merchant. The merchant's interactive voice response system announces a successful payment to the customer. | 01-28-2010 |
20100054431 | OPTIMIZED METHOD TO SELECT AND RETRIEVE A CONTACT CENTER TRANSACTION FROM A SET OF TRANSACTIONS STORED IN A QUEUING MECHANISM - A system and method to select and retrieve contact center transactions from a set of transactions stored in a queuing mechanism. The system includes an interactive voice response system configured to accept at least one call and dynamically populate a web form with call data associated with the at least one call. The system also includes a queuing engine configured to allow a call agent to access the call data prior to the at least one call being connected to the call agent. | 03-04-2010 |
20100061528 | Systems and methods for structured voice interaction facilitated by data channel - A voice channel connection and a data channel connection are established with a structured voice interaction system. Navigation information for and provided by the structured voice interaction system is received over the data channel connection. The data channel navigation information is coordinated with navigation information provided by the structured voice interaction system over the voice channel connection. | 03-11-2010 |
20100061529 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING SERVICE INTERACTIONS - An interactive voice and data response system that directs input to a voice, text, and web-capable software-based router, which is able to intelligently respond to the input by drawing on a combination of human agents, advanced speech recognition and expert systems, connected to the router via a TCP/IP network. The digitized input is broken down into components so that the customer interaction is managed as a series of small tasks performed by a pool of human agents, rather than one ongoing conversation between the customer and a single agent. The router manages the interactions and keeps pace with a real-time conversation. The system utilizes both speech recognition and human intelligence for purposes of interpreting customer utterances or customer text, where the role of the human agent(s) is to input the intent of caller utterances, and where the computer system—not the human agent—determines which response to provide given the customer's stated intent (as interpreted/captured by the human agents). The system may use more than one human agent, or both human agents and speech recognition software, to interpret simultaneously the same component for error-checking and interpretation accuracy. | 03-11-2010 |
20100074421 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PERFORMING AUTOMATED TELEMARKETING - A method for performing automated telemarketing is disclosed. The method includes receiving potential customer data that includes a telephone number; initiating a telephone call to the telephone number using an auto-dialing technology; receiving notification that the potential customer has answered the telephone call; sending a verbal greeting to the potential customer in response to receiving the notification; conversing with the potential customer using speech recognition technology, the conversing including receiving a message from the potential customer; and updating the potential customer data responsive to the message received from the potential customer. | 03-25-2010 |
20100086108 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR USING CONVERSATIONAL BIOMETRICS AND SPEAKER IDENTIFICATION/VERIFICATION TO FILTER VOICE STREAMS - A method implemented in a computer infrastructure having computer executable code having programming instructions tangibly embodied on a computer readable storage medium. The programming instructions are operable to receive an audio stream of a communication between a plurality of participants. Additionally, the programming instructions are operable to filter the audio stream of the communication into separate audio streams, one for each of the plurality of participants, wherein each of the separate audio streams contains portions of the communication attributable to a respective participant of the plurality of participants. Furthermore, the programming instructions are operable to output the separate audio streams to a storage system. | 04-08-2010 |
20100091954 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ROBUST EVALUATION OF THE USER EXPERIENCE IN AUTOMATED SPOKEN DIALOG SYSTEMS - A single, subjective numerical rating to evaluate the performance of a telephone-based spoken dialog system is disclosed. This CE rating is provided by expert human listeners who have knowledge of the design of the dialog system. Different human raters can be trained to achieve a satisfactory level of agreement. Furthermore, a classifier trained on ratings by human experts can reproduce the human ratings with the same degree of consistency. More calls can be given a CE rating than would be possible with limited human resources. More information can be provided about individual calls, e.g., to help decide between two disparate ratings by different human experts. | 04-15-2010 |
20100111269 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VOICE ACTIVATED PROVISIONING OF TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES - A system and method for provisioning communications services. A remote device controlled by a user is linked with a provisioning system. A verbal selection of a menu associated with a library is received for performing one or more actions within the provisioning system. One or more verbal commands associated with the menu are received. A determination is made of an action within the library associated with the one or more verbal commands. The action associated with the one or more verbal commands is performed in the provisioning system to provision the communications services. | 05-06-2010 |
20100128854 | Method and System for Routing and Recording Call Information - A method comprises receiving a plurality of voice sessions and creating a unique identifier for each of the plurality of voice sessions, wherein each identifier is unique for the duration of its associated voice session. The method also includes assigning the unique identifiers to the associated voice session, and creating a unique data session for each voice session. The method further includes assigning the unique identifier of each voice session to the data session associated with its voice session. The method also includes receiving a plurality of voice sessions and a plurality of data sessions at a manager, and matching one of the plurality of received voice sessions with its associated data session based at least in part on the unique identifier. The method further includes communicating the matched voice session and data session to one of a plurality of agents. | 05-27-2010 |
20100158210 | PERSONALIZED INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE SYSTEM - An interactive voice response process that permits an intelligent interactive voice system to communicate with a caller includes receiving a call and connecting the caller with the system. The process also includes identifying the caller, determining if the caller is a first time caller or a repeat caller, and interactively communicating with the caller in accordance with an interactive script. For each first time caller, the process establishes a personal profile of the caller from information gathered from the caller. The process then develops a predictive personalized interactive communication dialog for future calls from the caller based on information gathered from the caller during the interactive communication and stored in the caller's personal profile. | 06-24-2010 |
20100166158 | Method for Analysing an Interactive Voice Response System - Methods for analysing an interactive voice response (IVR) system are disclosed. In the methods, prompts are issued from the IVR system and user input made in response to the prompts from the IVR system is received. One method involves displaying the prompts issued by the IVR system to an operator; and receiving input data from the operator, the data defining whether any change to the IVR system is recommended and/or any recommended changes to the IVR system. Another method involves detecting the occurrence of an unexpected event by comparing the user input against a predefined set of rules, each rule being associated with one or more of the unexpected events; and taking a predefined action in response to the detection of one or more of the unexpected events. | 07-01-2010 |
20100172480 | USING A COMPLEX EVENTS PROCESSOR (CEP) TO DIRECT THE HANDLING OF INDIVIDUAL CALL SESSIONS BY AN INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE (IVR) SYSTEM - Event data messages can be provided by an interactive voice response (IVR) system to a complex events processor (CEP). The event data messages can include a Stream_ID and a series of textual elements. The Stream_ID can uniquely identify a call session between a caller and the IVR system. The series of textual elements can represent speech input provided by the caller. The CEP can create a text string from the series of textual elements of event data messages having the same Stream_ID. The text string can inherit the Stream_ID of the event data messages. The CEP can utilize user-defined business rules to process the text string. When the CEP issues an action message, the Stream_ID of the text string can be appended to the action message sent to the IVR system. The IVR system can modify the call session associated with the Stream_ID of the action message accordingly. | 07-08-2010 |
20100177876 | CLIENT SURVEY SYSTEMS AND METHODS USING CALLER IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION - An automatic call distribution system includes a first software control module and a caller identification device for capturing caller identification information associated with an incoming call, a call agent station in communication with the automatic call distribution system, and an interactive voice response system in communication with the automatic call distribution system. The interactive voice response system administers a survey to a caller associated with the caller identification information. In response to receiving the incoming call, a transaction is completed between the caller and a call agent. Upon completion of the transaction, the call agent asks the caller to take part in the survey and seeks permission of the caller to use the caller's caller identification information in the survey. Upon obtaining consent from the caller, the call is routed by the automatic call distribution system from the call agent to the interactive voice response system to initiate the survey. | 07-15-2010 |
20100183126 | IN-BAND SIGNALING IN INTERACTIVE COMMUNICATIONS - Architecture that employs a combination of in-band signaling (e.g., DTMF) with speech recognition to deliver usability improvements. The in-band signaling allows the user to indicate to the system when a barge-in operation is occurring and/or when to start listening to subsequent speech input and optionally, when to stop listening for further speech input. The in-band signaling can be utilized during a telephone call and using wireline and wireless telephones. Moreover, the architecture can be incorporated at the platform level requiring little, if any, application changes to support the new mode of operation. | 07-22-2010 |
20100202598 | Integrated Voice Navigation System and Method - An integrated voice navigation system | 08-12-2010 |
20100215155 | Dynamic multiple server IVR strings - The present invention teaches a multiple server based interactive voice response (IVR) system in which individual IVR strings on an index computer are associated with connections to external servers, the IVR system index computer accessible by each individual IVR string's self-identification telephone number either from Dialed Number Identification Service (DNIS) information, Automatic Number Identification (ANI) service information, item ID information provided by a caller or a combination thereof. When a call is received to the IVR system index computer, it uses DNIS, ANI and/or item ID information to route the call to string information (outgoing messages, menu options, etc) which might be located the index computer or on a clientele computer. In embodiments, the client business might be able to easily access the information associating options to messages and the message files themselves and change their IVR string without technical support. | 08-26-2010 |
20100215156 | STRUCTURAL DATA TRANSMISSION METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE SYSTEM - A structural data transmission method for an interactive voice response comprises the following steps: converting structural data provided by an interactive voice response server to an input program executed by a communication device; downloading the input program to the communication device; encoding the input data provided by the input program into a transmission instruction and transmitting the encoded instruction to an interactive voice response server; and decoding the encoded instruction received by the interactive voice response server. | 08-26-2010 |
20100220842 | Method and System for Timed Interaction with an Interactive Voice Response System - Provided are methods and systems associated with interactive voice response (“IVR”) systems that control the amount of time a user interacts with the system. According to the invention, an IVR system utilizes a timer or series of timers to determine how long a user has been interacting with the IVR system. When threshold events occur, the IVR system will analyze the status of the call and may switch the user to a predefined destination, such as to an operator queue, directly to a live operator, or to another designated navigation point in the IVR navigation structure. In this manner increasing the efficiency of manner in which the IVR system interacts with a caller. | 09-02-2010 |
20100246782 | Picture Phone Interactive Voice Response System and Method - Disclosed is a simplified interactive solution for providing access to back-end services. A communication is established from a communication device to a processing system. The processing system receives a picture from the communication device. The user is presented with tasks (services to perform on the picture) on an IVR menu in an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. The user responds by choosing a task to perform on the picture. The task is then performed on the picture. Some of the tasks that can be performed are to generate postcards/greeting cards based on pictures. These can be combined with other services such as photo processing services/delivery services to provide a rich set of services to the user. | 09-30-2010 |
20100278318 | System and Method for Detecting Emotions at Different Steps in a Communication - The system and method establish a communication with a first party. A first emotion is detected during a first step during the communication. Steps in the communication can include: establishing a call, waiting in a queue, talking with an agent, communicating with an IVR system, and the like. A second emotion is detected at a different step in the communication. Alternatively, the first and second emotions are detected in two different but related communications. The detection of the first and/or second emotion determines how to process the communication. Examples of processing a communication can include routing the communication differently, selecting a different script for an agent, selecting a different agent, and the like. In addition, the communication can also be processed differently based on other additional parameters. | 11-04-2010 |
20100284522 | INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE (IVR) SYSTEM CALL INTERRUPTION HANDLING - Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to interactive voice response (IVR) system session management and provide a method, system and computer program product for call interruption handling in an IVR data processing system. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for call interruption handling in an IVR data processing system can include detecting a call interruption of a telephone call between a caller and an IVR system during an established IVR session for the caller. The method also can include saving state information for the established IVR session in connection with the caller in response to detecting the call interruption. The method further can include determining a call back number for the caller and initiating a call back of the caller from the IVR system using the call back number of the caller thereby re-establishing an IVR session for the caller. Finally, the method can include restoring the saved state information for the re-established IVR session for the caller. | 11-11-2010 |
20100296638 | COMMUNICATION DEVICE WITH AUTOMATIC RESPONDING FUNCTION AND AUTOMATIC RESPONDING METHOD THEREOF - A communication device with a voice automatic responding function, which stores a phone number and response data inputted by an input module as an automatic responding data is illustrated in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. When the user executes the automatic responding unit, the communication device dials the phone number to communicate with a voice service system server. After the call is connected, the communication device sequentially sends each of the response codes after an interval, thus automatically completing the voice responding process. | 11-25-2010 |
20100310057 | CHANGING REDIRECTION INFORMATION FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS DEVICES VIA A VOICEMAIL SYSTEM OR CALL HANDLING SERVER - A system and method for updating call redirection information and other communication redirection information. The system is integrated with and accessed by a subscriber via a voicemail system or call handling server. The system may present one or more options to a subscriber to provide call redirection information. The subscriber may provide call redirection information, such as an alternate number, via an interactive voice response (IVR) component of the voicemail system or call handling server. The subscriber may also access the system and provide call redirection information via a voicemail system or call handling server web interface, a user-selectable menu on the subscriber's telecommunications device, and so on. The system communicates with other components in a telecommunication network to provide the call redirection information and enable calls to a telecommunications device to be appropriately redirected or deflected. | 12-09-2010 |
20110051908 | TARGET CONTENT DISTRIBUTION FOR TELEPHONE CALLS - Embodiments of the invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to content delivery over a telephone call and provide a method, system and computer program product for delivering targeted content to a caller during call processing of an inbound telephone call. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for delivering targeted content to a caller during call processing of an inbound telephone call can include receiving a telephone call from a caller in a call handling system and identifying a telephone number for the telephone call from information contained in the telephone call. The method also can include determining a location corresponding to the telephone number and matching the determined location to content stored in a data store of content. Finally, the method can include retrieving the matched content from the data store of content, and delivering the matched content to the caller. | 03-03-2011 |
20110069821 | System for Creation and Dynamic Management of Incoming Interactions - A communications center system includes unsolicited inbound transaction traffic for routing to agents, one or more channels engaging visitors to the communication center other than interaction with a live agent, a profiling function for gathering information about the visitors to the communications-center, during the time the visitors are engaged in other than interaction with a live agent, a ranking function for ranking the visitors as to desirability for interaction, according to the information gathered, and an invitation function for sending invitations to transact to the visitors according to the ranking. The system monitors agent availability and the unsolicited inbound transaction traffic, and manages the invitation function to balance total traffic with agent availability. | 03-24-2011 |
20110069822 | AUTOMATIC CREATION OF COMPLEX CONVERSATIONAL NATURAL LANGUAGE CALL ROUTING SYSTEM FOR CALL CENTERS - A call routing system is created by receiving a set of initial target classes and a corresponding set of topic descriptions. Non-overlapping semantic tokens in the set of topic descriptions are identified. A set of clear target classes from the non-overlapping semantic tokens and the initial target classes is identified. Overlapping semantic tokens from the set of topic descriptions are identified. A set of vague classes is identified from the overlapping semantic tokens and the initial target classes. A set of disambiguation dialogues and a set of grammar prompts is generated according to the overlapping and non-overlapping semantic tokens. The call routing system is then created based on the set of clear target classes, the set of vague target classes, and the set of disambiguation dialogues. | 03-24-2011 |
20110075819 | CUSTOMER SUPPORT CENTER WITH VIRTUAL WORLD ENHANCEMENTS - A customer support system enhanced with virtual world features to make the support experience more interactive and pleasant. The system includes a web user interface for web-based customers and an optional voice interface for voice-based customers, a support server and a virtual world component for enhancing the interaction between a customer and the support center. A routing server with virtual world targets route the customer to appropriate support center contacts in the virtual world. The virtual world targets include a “Greeter” avatar for greeting and prompting the customer with support-related questions. The customer is routed to a “CSR” avatar once support information is obtained. Other avatars like “Expert” avatars, “Advisor” avatars, and “Friend” avatars may also join the support session to assist the customer on specific support items, depending on the customer needs. | 03-31-2011 |
20110110502 | REAL TIME AUTOMATIC CALLER SPEECH PROFILING - A computer-implemented method, system, and computer program product for recognizing a voice input to an interactive voice recognition system is presented. An initial caller voice input is received from a caller. In response to determining that the initial caller voice input is a computer-unintelligible voice input that does not match any entry from a lexicon of known voice inputs, the caller is prompted to transmit a secondary input to clarify the computer-unintelligible voice input. The secondary input is utilized to match the computer-unintelligible voice input with a specific known voice input from the lexicon of known voice inputs. The lexicon of known voice inputs is then updated with the computer-unintelligible voice input. | 05-12-2011 |
20110116609 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR NAVIGATION OF A DIALOGUE SYSTEM - In one embodiment, the present disclosure is a method and apparatus for navigation of a dialogue system. In one embodiment, a method for facilitating navigation of a menu of a dialogue system includes encoding data including information for navigating the menu in a machine-readable data structure and outputting the machine-readable data structure. | 05-19-2011 |
20110116610 | User Profile Based Speech To Text Conversion For Visual Voice Mail - Messages in a message system are converted from one format to another format in accordance with preferred message formats and/or conditions. Message formats can include text messages, multimedia messages, visual voicemail messages, and/or other audio/visual messages. Based on conditions such as recipient device location or velocity and a preferred message format a message can be converted into an appropriate transmission format and transmitted and/or communicated to the recipient in its appropriate format (e.g., text, multimedia, audio, etc. . . .). | 05-19-2011 |
20110170673 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR GLOBALLY PORTABLE INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE (IVR) SYSTEMS - A server receives a customer service request and customer identification information associated with the customer service request. A home location of the customer is identified based, at least in part, on the customer identification information. An interactive voice response application is selected based, at least in part, on the home location. The selected interactive voice response application is provided to a voice portal, wherein the voice portal services the customer service request. | 07-14-2011 |
20110188644 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING IVR SYSTEM REQUESTED DATA - A method and electronic device for storing and transmitting response data in an interactive voice response (IVR) system session are provided. Response data, such as a credit card number, system access code or password may be stored in the device. During an IVR session, the response data may be selected, retrieved and transmitted to respond to an IVR request. Content protection may be used to control access to the response data and to allow access to the response data if an IVR session is established. | 08-04-2011 |
20110216890 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING INFORMATION AND ADVERTISING CONTENT IN A TELEPHONE SYSTEM - A method for operating a directory assistance process adapted to provide a targeted message to incoming callers totally or substantially free of one or more 411-type directory assistance calling charges. The method includes receiving a phone call from an incoming caller and receiving a voice based request for information associated with directory assistance from the caller. The method also includes determining phone number information in response to the request through one or more first databases and identifying a phone number associated with the incoming caller using a caller identification process. The method further includes querying at least one database to ascertain a match between the phone number associated with the incoming caller and at least one of a plurality of identifiers in the at least one database, determining at least one message, transmitting the determined message to the incoming caller, and transmitting the phone number information to the incoming caller. | 09-08-2011 |
20110228915 | Interactive Flowgraph for Analyzing Caller Utterances - A method is disclosed for associating a caller utterance with corresponding elements of a flowgraph that depicts a voice-response system. Thus, an analyst who selects an element in a flowgraph receives immediate access to those utterances—and only those utterances—that are associated with the selected element. The analyst can easily listen to the utterances and review statistics associated with them. The utterances are stored, retrieved, and presented in a systematic and organized way. In some embodiments in accordance with the present invention, an utterance is associated with the link between two events in the voice-response system. In some alternative embodiments, an utterance is associated with other data, including, but not limited to: the event that precedes it; the event that follows it; the telephone number of the caller. | 09-22-2011 |
20110293077 | PROCESS-INTEGRATED TREE VIEW CONTROL FOR INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE DESIGN - An Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system design approach is provided employing a dynamic form that evolves automatically as the user enters content, in order to provide visual guidance relative to possible subsequent steps in the IVR system. The dynamic form follows a tree-view structure for the responses. The IVR content may be entered directly into the tree-view structure in an ad hoc manner, which provides a streamlined experience to the user compared to segmented building blocks. | 12-01-2011 |
20120020466 | System And Method For Identifying Audio Command Prompts For Use In A Voice Response Environment - A system and method for identifying audio command prompts for use in a voice response environment is provided. A signature is generated for audio samples each having preceding audio, reference phrase audio, and trailing audio segments. The trailing segment is removed and each of the preceding and reference phrase segments are divided into buffers. The buffers are transformed into discrete fourier transform buffers. One of the discrete fourier transform buffers from the reference phrase segment that is dissimilar to each of the discrete fourier transform buffers from the preceding segment is selected as the signature. Audio command prompts are processed to generate a discrete fourier transform. Each discrete fourier transform for the audio command prompts is compared with each of the signatures and a correlation value is determined. One such audio command prompt matches one such signature when the correlation value for that audio command prompt satisfies a threshold. | 01-26-2012 |
20120027184 | PROVIDING CALLER-SPECIFIC INFORMATION - A method may include receiving a call from a caller and interacting with the caller, via an interactive voice response (IVR) unit, to identify first information associated with a reason for the call. The method may also include accessing a database storing second information associated with the caller, identifying third information to be provided to the caller based on the stored second information and providing the third information to the caller prior to forwarding the call to an agent. | 02-02-2012 |
20120045042 | MULTI-TIERED MEDIA SERVICES FOR GLOBALLY INTERCONNECTING BUSINESSES AND CUSTOMERS - A multi-tiered communication system for minimizing communication latency for a caller in a remote location who initiates contact with a local data center. The system includes a local data center located in a first location including one or more Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR) functions that are configured for use with a caller who initiates contact with the local data center. The system also includes a remote media server located in a second location. The remote media server is configured to route an incoming call from the caller to the local data center, to route one or more IVR messages to the caller and to connect the caller with an agent for real-time communication. The agent is located in one of the second location or a third location that is substantially closer to the second location than the first location. Having the local data center in the first location enables the IVR message to be received by the caller after a period of expected delay and having the remote media server in the second or third location enables the real-time communication between the caller and the agent to be within an acceptable latency. | 02-23-2012 |
20120045043 | MEANS FOR DIRECTING A CALLER THROUGH AN INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE SYSTEM AND OF MAKING USE OF PRERECORDED PRECATEGORIZED SCRIPTS - An apparatus, computer program product, method and system are disclosed for manually guiding inbound callers through an IVR system, then sequentially playing prerecorded, precategorized scripts, or audio dialogs, to the caller in accordance with the steps of a sales method governing the categorization of the scripts. Certain embodiments of the present invention include substitute means of collecting, conferencing, routing, and managing inbound callers in and out of IVR platforms. | 02-23-2012 |
20120076279 | REAL-TIME ANALYTICS PAYMENT INFORMATION SCREENING - A method including receiving a voice call; analyzing speech in real-time to determine whether payment information is included in the voice call; omitting to record the voice call when it is determined that the voice call includes the payment information; and recording the voice call when it is determined that the voice call does not include the payment information. | 03-29-2012 |
20120163564 | USING A COMPLEX EVENTS PROCESSOR (CEP) TO DIRECT THE HANDLING OF INDIVIDUAL CALL SESSIONS BY AN INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE (IVR) SYSTEM - Event data messages can be provided by an interactive voice response (IVR) system to a complex events processor (CEP). The event data messages can include a Stream_ID and a series of textual elements. The Stream_ID can uniquely identify a call session between a caller and the IVR system. The series of textual elements can represent speech input provided by the caller. The CEP can create a text string from the series of textual elements of event data messages having the same Stream_ID. The text string can inherit the Stream_ID of the event data messages. The CEP can utilize user-defined business rules to process the text string. When the CEP issues an action message, the Stream_ID of the text string can be appended to the action message sent to the IVR system. The IVR system can modify the call session associated with the Stream_ID of the action message accordingly. | 06-28-2012 |
20130058466 | System and Method for Processing Speech - Systems and methods for processing audio are provided. The system may include a processor to convert an audio input received via a call to text. The processor may perform a comparison between a portion of the text to one or more phrases included in a table. The processor may also make a selection of at least one of a first object or a first action based on the comparison. The processor may further route the call based on the at least one of the first object or the first action | 03-07-2013 |
20130070911 | Adaptive Accent Vocie Communications System (AAVCS) - This invention allows a Voice System to adapt to the speaking accent of the user. This means that users of the system would automatically hear the voice messages played by the Voice System in the same accent that they are likely to be speaking in. The purpose of the invention is to permit more fluid, productive, user friendly and shorter interactions with IVR and other Voice Systems. | 03-21-2013 |
20130114801 | CUSTOMER-CONTROLLED RECORDING - A call-recording and retrieval system operates from a computerized server in a contact-center, the server executing software from a machine-readable medium. There is a data repository coupled to the computerized server, and an interface at the server enabled to monitor voice interaction between an agent of the contact center and a customer. The server is enabled to follow one or both of direct input from the customer in a monitored interaction and stored rules associated with the customer to record and playback voice interaction between the agent and the customer. | 05-09-2013 |
20130136243 | Method and Apparatus For Voice Interactive Messaging - An audio indication of a message recipient is received from a user who desires that a message be sent to the message recipient. The audio indication is analyzed to determine the recipient and searching an electronic database for an account of the recipient. Information is retrieved from the electronic account. The retrieved information indicates at one or more modes of message delivery to the recipient. An audio guide for the user based is constructed upon the retrieved information. The audio guide includes one or more audio prompts that are entirely customizable and not based upon a predetermined pattern. The user is sequentially prompted with the audio prompts to select at least one of the modes of message delivery. The message is constructed and sent to the recipient according to the selected mode of message delivery. | 05-30-2013 |
20130148794 | IVR RECORDING MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL - A computing device may receive a record order from a client device. The record order may include recording instructions for a communication session involving an interactive voice response recording system. The computing device may provide the record order to the interactive voice response recording system and, in response to providing the record order to the interactive voice response recording system, receive record metadata corresponding to the communication session and store the record metadata locally. The record metadata may include a storage location of record data corresponding to the communication session, and the record data may include a recording of the communication session. | 06-13-2013 |
20130294590 | Voice Response Apparatus and Method of Providing Automated Voice Responses with Silent Prompting - A voice response unit (VRU) includes a silent prompt feature in the form of an intentional delay inserted after a message is given to a caller, during which delay the caller may invoke alternative processing or interrupt current processing. If appropriate alternative or interrupt commands are not received during the delay period, then processing continues as provided in accordance with the previously played message. The duration of this silent prompt delay is carefully selected to provide sufficient response time for the caller to request alternative processing, while avoiding a perceptible or objectionable delay to the average caller not requiring alternative processing. | 11-07-2013 |
20130322609 | PROVIDING MISSED CALL AND MESSAGE INFORMATION - Information associated with messages and/or missed calls is provided to a subscriber. Calls received but not answered by the subscriber may be monitored. Each monitored call is classified as one of a missed call and a message. The monitored calls may be summarized based on a customizable rule set to create a summary. The summary is provided to the subscriber via, for example, a voice notification. | 12-05-2013 |
20140241514 | PERFORMING ACTIONS FOR USERS BASED ON SPOKEN INFORMATION - Techniques are described for performing actions for users based at least in part on spoken information, such as spoken voice-based information received from the users during telephone calls. The described techniques include categorizing spoken information obtained from a user in one or more ways, and performing actions on behalf of the user related to the categorized information. For example, in some situations, spoken information obtained from a user is analyzed to identify one or more spoken information items (e.g., words, phrases, sentences, etc.) supplied by the user, and to generate corresponding textual representations (e.g., via automated speech-to-text techniques). One or more actions may then be taken regarding the identified information items, including to categorize the items by adding textual representations of the spoken information items to one or more of multiple predefined lists or other collections of information that are specific to or otherwise available to the user. | 08-28-2014 |
20160165045 | EDGE INJECTED SPEECH IN ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS - Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for receiving an input from an agent during a call with a caller where the input directs one or more processors to inject a recorded statement in the agent's voice into the call, and where the recorded statement in the agent's voice is stored in a computer-readable file. Obtaining the recorded statement in the agent's voice based on data associated with the input and in response to receiving the input. And causing the recorded statement in the agent's voice to be inserted into a media stream of the call. | 06-09-2016 |