Automated assistance for customer care chats

• US 10,051,123 B2
• Filed: 02/03/2017
• Issued: 08/14/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: [24]7.ai, Inc.
• Original Assignee: [27]7ai Incorporated
• Inventors: Griesmer, Stephen J., Beattie, James Gordon, Cooke, Charles Richard, Hossain, Monowar, Lewis, Steven H., Rudman, Benjamin
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoque, Nafiz E
• Application Number:
  US15/424,729
• Publication Number:
  US 20170149973A1
• Time in Patent Office: 557 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/6418 Hybrid transport
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/551 Call history recording a computer conference H04L12/1831
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/558 Databases
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4933 with operator assistance
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5133 Operator terminal details
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5166 in combination with interactive voice response systems or voice portals, e.g. as front-ends
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention involve providing automated assistance to an agent operating an agent terminal. A database stores an automated assistance session comprising communications between at least one client terminal and at least one agent terminal during a communication session. The automated assistance session is restored in response to a connection being reestablished with the client terminal after the client terminal disconnects during the communication session. A client communication is received from the client terminal, and a plurality of statements is determined based on the client communication and the communications of the automated assistance session stored in the database. The statements are configured to be manually selected by an agent or automatically selected by an automated agent. The automated agent is engaged for automatically selecting one of the statements in response to a predetermined condition.

Claims

1. An apparatus for providing automated assistance to an agent, comprising:

a display;

a processor;

a database storing assistance sessions comprising communications between at least one client terminal and at least one agent terminal; and

a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations including;

receiving a client communication from a client terminal via a network;

determining a plurality of statements based on the client communication and the assistance sessions stored in the database, the plurality of statements being determined as predicted inquiries and replies to the client communication;

displaying the plurality of statements on the display, each of the plurality of statements configured to be manually selected by an agent or automatically selected by an automated agent;

receiving a selection of one of the plurality of statements that is automatically selected by the automated agent in response to a predetermined condition, wherein the predetermined condition includes any of;

an elapse of a predetermined period of time, and

an activity or inactivity of the agent; and

transmitting any of the plurality of statements selected by the automated agent to the client terminal via the network.

2. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the processor further performs operations including processing a previous agent communication that is previously received from the agent, and the plurality of statements is determined based on the client communication and the previous agent communication.

3. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the assistance sessions include dialogues between the agent and the client terminal, and the plurality of statements is determined based on the client communication and the dialogues.

4. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the automated agent is configured to automatically select the one of the plurality of statements based on a frequency of use of the plurality of statements.

5. The apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein the plurality of statements is displayed on the display in a list based on the frequency of a manual selection of a statement by one or more agents based on the client communication.

6. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the automated agent is configured to automatically select the one of the plurality of statements based on a history of a manual selection of the plurality of statements by one or more agents.

7. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to engage the automated agent for automatically selecting one of the plurality of statements in response to a content of the client communication satisfying the predetermined condition.

8. The apparatus as set forth in claim 7, wherein the predetermined condition includes an input being received from the agent.

9. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the plurality of statements is configured to be edited by the agent.

10. A method for providing automated assistance to an agent, comprising:

storing, in a database, assistance sessions comprising communications between at least one client terminal and at least one agent terminal;

receiving a client communication from a client terminal via a network;

determining, by a processor, a plurality of statements based on the client communication and the assistance sessions stored in the database, the plurality of statements being determined as predicted inquiries and replies to the client communication; and

causing the plurality of statements to be displayed, each of the plurality of statements configured to be automatically selected by an automated agent in response to a predetermined condition, wherein the predetermined condition includes any of;

an elapse of a predetermined period of time, and

an activity or inactivity of the agent; and

transmitting any of the plurality of statements selected by the automated agent to the client terminal via the network.

11. The method as set forth in claim 10, wherein an assistance session among the assistance sessions includes a previous agent communication, the previous agent communication being transmitted by the agent to the client terminal during the communication session, and

the plurality of statements is determined based on the client communication and the previous agent communication.

12. The method as set forth in claim 10, wherein assistance sessions include dialogues between the agent and the client terminal, and the plurality of statements is determined based on the client communication and the dialogues.

13. The method as set forth in claim 10, wherein the automated agent is configured to automatically select the one of the plurality of statements based on a frequency of a manual selection of a statement by one or more agents based on the client communication.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having an executable computer program for providing automated assistance that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform operations comprising:

storing, in a database, assistance sessions comprising communications between at least one client terminal and at least one agent terminal;

receiving a client communication from a client terminal via a network;

determining, by the processor, a plurality of statements based on the client communication and the assistance sessions stored in the database, the plurality of statements being determined as predicted inquiries and replies to the client communication; and

causing the plurality of statements to be displayed, each of the plurality of statements configured to be automatically selected by an automated agent in response to a predetermined condition, wherein the predetermined condition includes any of;

an elapse of a predetermined period of time, and

an activity or inactivity of the agent; and

transmitting any of the plurality of statements selected by the automated agent to the client terminal via the network.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 14, wherein

an assistance session among the assistance sessions include a previous agent communication, the previous agent communication being transmitted by the agent to the client terminal during the communication session, and

the plurality of statements is determined based on the client communication and the previous agent communication.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 14, wherein assistance sessions include dialogues between the agent and the client terminal, and the plurality of statements is determined based on the client communication and the dialogues.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as set forth in claim 14, wherein the automated agent is configured to automatically select the one of the plurality of statements based on a frequency of the manual selection of a statement by one or more agents based on the client communications.