System initiated dialog adjustment

• US 10,003,692 B2
• Filed: 10/20/2016
• Issued: 06/19/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Skiba, David, Klemm, Reinhard, Tendick, Patrick, Erhart, George W., Ju, Wen-Hua
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, QUYNH H
• Application Number:
  US15/298,914
• Publication Number:
  US 20180115643A1
• Time in Patent Office: 607 Days
• Field of Search: 37926509, 37926601, 379309
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2061 Language aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5141 Details of processing calls and other types of contacts in an unified manner unified messaging in packet-switching networks H04L51/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5175 Call or contact centers supervision arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0042 where the data service is a text-based messaging service H04M7/0054 takes precedence

Abstract

Text-based automated customer service agents provide an attractive contact center interaction for may customer-agent communications. However, the “say anything” nature of text may result in additional problems not encountered in prompted interactions. A single misunderstanding or error may cause an automated communication to fail, however, by providing micro-tasks to a human agent, an automated communication may be maintained longer with benefit of a human agent'"'"'s input. A lack of progress towards completion of a work item may cause the communication to be routed to a human agent and/or a different channel (e.g., voice, email, etc.). Accordingly, a micro-task or an opt-out operation may be provided to maintain the communication with an automated agent for as long as possible but yet provide improved customer service when necessary.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a network connection;

a processor to;

access a communication between a customer of a contact center and an automated agent of the contact center and wherein the communication is associated with a work item of the contact center, and wherein the communication comprises a plurality of messages utilizing a text communication channel;

provide, as a component of the communication, at least one of the plurality of messages as a query message selected to obtain an expected response message from the customer that addresses at least a portion of the work item;

determine that progress is not being made upon determining that at least one of the plurality of messages is a received response message comprising an out of context message;

upon determining that the communication is not progressing towards resolution of the work item, initiating an alternative communication comprising at least one of an alternative agent or an alternative communication channel; and

wherein the at least one of the plurality of messages comprises a query to solicit an expected response message from the customer to answer the query and the processor determines that progress is not being made based upon the received response message failing to provide an answer to the query.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor further executes a process comprising the automated agent.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein, the query comprises a request to identify an action associated with the work item and, the communication is determined to not be progressing upon the response message failing to identify the action associated with the work item.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the response message from the customer comprises a free-form response.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor determines that progress is being made upon determining the out of context messages comprises redirecting the communication to a different work item.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor determines that progress is being made upon further determining the out of context messages comprises a response to a currently unasked query associated with the work item.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein, determining the communication is not progressing, further comprises the processor performing one or more of (a) a sentiment of the communication, (b) a language analysis, (c) an intent analysis, or (d) a domain analysis.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein, upon determining the communication is not progressing, the processor performs one or more of (a) moving the communication to an alternative channel comprising a live agent, (b) logging the customer as an uncooperative person, (c) providing a warning dialog cautioning the customer to resume progress of resolution of the work item, or (d) providing a justification for why the information requested by the query is needed.

9. A system, comprising:

a network connection;

a processor to;

access a first communication between a customer of a contact center and an automated agent of the contact center and wherein the first communication is associated with a work item of the contact center, and wherein the first communication comprises a plurality of messages utilizing a text communication channel;

receiving a response message, of the plurality of messages, from the customer;

in response to determining that the response message comprises a nonsensical response, initiating a branch communication comprising presenting at least one of the plurality of messages to a human agent, receiving a response from the human agent, and processing the response from the human agent as the response message from the customer;

receiving a subsequent response message, of the plurality of messages, from the customer; and

in response to determining that the subsequent response message comprises a subsequent nonsensical response, initiating a subsequent branch communication comprising presenting at least one of the plurality of messages to a subsequent human agent, receiving a subsequent response from the human agent, and processing the subsequent response from the human agent as the subsequent response message from the customer.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the response from the human agent provides a processing cue to the automated agent and is absent any response to the customer.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein, upon receiving the response from the human agent, the processor terminates the branch communication.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein, upon receiving a signal from the human agent, the processor terminates the first communication.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the response message is a first message of the plurality of messages.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the response from the human agent comprises a language identification.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor processes the combination of the response from the human agent and the response message as the response message.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the human agent comprises an agent allocated to providing the response from the human agent and, upon providing the response from the human agent, is allocated to another work item.

17. The system of claim 9, wherein the human agent and the subsequent human agent are the same person.

18. A system, comprising:

a network connection;

a processor to;

access a first communication between a customer of a contact center and an automated agent of the contact center and wherein the first communication is associated with a work item of the contact center, and wherein the automated communication comprises a plurality of messages utilizing a text communication channel;

providing, as a component of the plurality of messages, a query message selected to obtain an expected response message from a customer that addresses at least a portion of the work item;

receiving a response message, in response to the query message, from the customer;

in response to determining that the received response message comprises an intent to opt-out of the first communication and initiate a subsequent interaction, selecting an opt-out mode, transferring the work item to a second communication between the customer and a second agent, and terminating the first communication;

receiving a subsequent response message, of the plurality of messages, from the customer; and

in response to determining that the subsequent response message comprises a subsequent nonsensical response, initiating a subsequent branch communication comprising presenting at least one of the plurality of messages to a human agent, receiving a subsequent response from the human agent, and processing the subsequent response from the human agent as the subsequent response message from the customer.