Automated call requests with status updates

• US 10,542,143 B2
• Filed: 06/13/2017
• Issued: 01/21/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Segalis, Eyal, Walevski, Daniel, Leviathan, Yaniv, Matias, Yossi
• Primary Examiner(s): Teshale, Akelaw
• Application Number:
  US15/621,897
• Publication Number:
  US 20170359464A1
• Time in Patent Office: 952 Days
• Field of Search: 37920101, 37914206, 37920103, 379 37, 379 42, 379 45, 379 8817, 37914201, 37914204, 37914205, 379188, 379189, 37920111, 37920713, 37920714, 37921002, 37921101, 379 8816, 379 8818, 379 8822, 379 8801
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/20 Natural language analysis semantic analysis of natural language G06F40/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/205 Parsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/56 Natural language generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/08 Text analysis or generation of parameters for speech synthesis out of text, e.g. grapheme to phoneme translation, prosody generation or stress or intonation determination
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/005 Language recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/1807 using prosody or stress
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/1815 Semantic context, e.g. disambiguation of the recognition hypotheses based on word meaning
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/222 Barge in, i.e. overridable guidance for interrupting prompts
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/227 of the speaker; Human-factor methodology
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/63 for estimating an emotional state
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/18 Automated outdialling systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42042 Notifying the called party of information on the calling party details within substation equipment H04M1/57, signalling details H04Q3/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42093 Notifying the calling party of information on the called or connected party
• 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 3/4936 Speech interaction details speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/58 Arrangements for transferring received calls from one subscriber to another; Arrangements affording interim conversations between either the calling or the called party and a third party substation line holding circuits H04M1/80
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/60 Semi-automatic systems, i.e. in which the numerical selection of the outgoing line is under the control of an operator

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, relating to synthetic call status updates. In some implementations, a method includes determining, by a task manager module, that a triggering event has occurred to provide a current status of a user call request. The method may then determine, by the task manager module, the current status of the user call request. A representation of the current status of the user call request is generated. Then, the generated representation of the current status of the user call request is provided to the user.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, from a user device and by an automated telephone call initiating system that (i) includes a task manager module and (ii) is configured to initiate telephone calls and conduct telephone conversations between a bot of the automated telephone call initiating system and recipients of the telephone calls, a request to perform a task that requires initiating a telephone call and conducting a telephone conversation between the bot of the automated telephone call initiating system and a recipient of the telephone call;

determining, by a task manager module of the automated telephone call initiating system, that a triggering event has occurred to provide a current status of the task that requires initiating the telephone call and conducting the telephone conversation between the bot of the automated telephone call initiating system and the recipient of the telephone call;

in response to the triggering event, determining, by the task manager module of the automated telephone call initiating system, the current status of the task that requires initiating the telephone call and conducting the telephone conversation between the bot of the automated telephone call initiating system and the recipient of the telephone call;

generating, by the automated telephone call initiating system, a representation of the current status of the task that requires initiating the telephone call and conducting the telephone conversation between the bot of the automated telephone call initiating system and the recipient of the telephone call; and

providing, for output to the user device and by the automated telephone call initiating system, the representation of the current status of the task that requires initiating the telephone call and conducting the telephone conversation between the bot of the automated telephone call initiating system and the recipient of the telephone call.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the trigger event is a user request for status.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the trigger event is an operator interaction to provide status to the user device after the operator has reviewed session information associated with the request to perform the task.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the trigger event is a status update event.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the representation of the current status is a visual representation.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the representation of the current status is an audible representation.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the representation of the current status of the task that requires initiating the telephone call and conducting the telephone conversation between the bot of the automated telephone call initiating system and the recipient of the telephone call includes:

determining a convenient time and method for delivering the current status to the user device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing, for output to the user device, a notification that there will be a delay in processing the request to perform the task.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the trigger event has occurred comprises:

determining that initiation of the telephone call has been delayed.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the trigger event has occurred comprises:

determining that the automated telephone call initiating system has initiated the telephone call, conducted the telephone conversation between the bot of the automated telephone call initiating system and the recipient of the telephone call, and completed the task that requires initiating the telephone call.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the trigger event is an operator interaction to provide status to the user device after the operator has reviewed session information associated with the request to perform the task.

11. A system comprising:

one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

receiving, from a user device and by an automated telephone call initiating system that (i) includes a task manager module and (ii) is configured to initiate telephone calls and conduct telephone conversations between a bot of the automated telephone call initiating system and recipients of the telephone calls, a request to perform a task that requires initiating a telephone call and conducting a telephone conversation between the bot of the automated telephone call initiating system and a recipient of the telephone call;

determining, by a task manager module of the automated telephone call initiating system, that a triggering event has occurred to provide a current status of the task that requires initiating the telephone call and conducting the telephone conversation between the bot of the automated telephone call initiating system and the recipient of the telephone call;

in response to the triggering event, determining, by the task manager module of the automated telephone call initiating system, the current status of the task that requires initiating the telephone call and conducting the telephone conversation between the bot of the automated telephone call initiating system and the recipient of the telephone call;

generating, by the automated telephone call initiating system, a representation of the current status of the task that requires initiating the telephone call and conducting the telephone conversation between the bot of the automated telephone call initiating system and the recipient of the telephone call; and

providing, for output to the user device and by the automated telephone call initiating system, the representation of the current status of the task that requires initiating the telephone call and conducting the telephone conversation between the bot of the automated telephone call initiating system and the recipient of the telephone call.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the trigger event is a user request for status.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the trigger event is a status update event.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the representation of the current status is a visual representation.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the representation of the current status is an audible representation.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein providing the representation of the current status of the task that requires initiating the telephone call and conducting the telephone conversation between the bot of the automated telephone call initiating system and the recipient of the telephone call includes:

determining a convenient time and method for delivering the current status to the user device.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

providing, for output to the user device, a notification that there will be a delay in processing the request to perform the task.

19. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a user device and by an automated telephone call initiating system that (i) includes a task manager module and (ii) is configured to initiate telephone calls and conduct telephone conversations between a bot of the automated telephone call initiating system and recipients of the telephone calls, a request to perform a task that requires initiating a telephone call and conducting a telephone conversation between the bot of the automated telephone call initiating system and a recipient of the telephone call;

determining, by a task manager module of the automated telephone call initiating system, that a triggering event has occurred to provide a current status of the task that requires initiating the telephone call and conducting the telephone conversation between the bot of the automated telephone call initiating system and the recipient of the telephone call;

in response to the triggering event, determining, by the task manager module of the automated telephone call initiating system, the current status of the task that requires initiating the telephone call and conducting the telephone conversation between the bot of the automated telephone call initiating system and the recipient of the telephone call;

generating, by the automated telephone call initiating system, a representation of the current status of the task that requires initiating the telephone call and conducting the telephone conversation between the bot of the automated telephone call initiating system and the recipient of the telephone call; and

providing, for output to the user device and by the automated telephone call initiating system, the representation of the current status of the task that requires initiating the telephone call and conducting the telephone conversation between the bot of the automated telephone call initiating system and the recipient of the telephone call.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the trigger event is a user request for status.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the trigger event is an operator interaction to provide status to a uccr the user device after the operator has reviewed session information associated with the request to perform the task.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the trigger event is a status update event.