Automated assistance for customer care chats

• US 10,623,571 B2
• Filed: 07/10/2018
• Issued: 04/14/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: [24]7.ai, Inc.
• Original Assignee: [24]7.ai, Inc.
• Inventors: Griesmer, Stephen J., Beattie, Jr., James Gordon, Cooke, Charles Richard, Hossain, Monowar, Lewis, Steven H., Rudman, Benjamin
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoque, Nafiz E
• Application Number:
  US16/031,713
• Publication Number:
  US 20180324301A1
• Time in Patent Office: 644 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. A method for providing automated assistance to an agent, comprising:

receiving a client communication via a network;

engaging an automated agent in response to a predetermined condition, the predetermined condition including content of the received client communication and an elapse of a predetermined period of time;

determining, by the automated agent, a statement based on the client communication and assistance sessions stored in a database, the statement being determined as predicted inquiries and replies to the client communication; and

transmitting the statement selected by the automated agent to a client terminal via the network.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing the selected statement for display on a terminal associated with the agent.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein upon an interruption of a communication session via the network, the selected statement is stored in a communication dump and transmitted upon termination of the interruption.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

processing a previous agent communication that is previously received from the agent, wherein the statement is determined based on the client communication and the previous agent communication.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing assistance sessions comprising dialogues between at least one client terminal and at least one agent terminal, wherein the statement is determined based on the client communication and the dialogues.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the automated agent determines the statement based on a frequency of use within the stored assistance sessions.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the automated agent determines the statement based on a history of a manual selection of the statement by a particular agent.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined condition includes an input being received from the agent.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined condition includes an activity or inactivity of the agent.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the statement is configured to be edited by the agent.

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

receiving a client communication via a network;

engaging an automated agent in response to a predetermined condition, the predetermined condition including a content of the received client communication and an elapse of a predetermined period of time;

determining, by the automated agent, a statement based on the client communication, the statement being determined as predicted inquiries and replies to the client communication; and

causing the statement to be displayed for the agent, wherein the statement is configured to be edited by the agent.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

transmitting the statement to a client terminal via the network.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

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

14. The method of claim 13, wherein determining the statement is further based on the dialogues.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein any of the assistance sessions includes a previous agent communication, the previous agent communication being transmitted by the agent to the at least one client terminal during a communication session, and wherein a plurality of statements is determined based on the client communication and the previous agent communication.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the automated agent determines the statement based on a frequency of a manual selection of the statement by a particular agent.

17. 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:

receiving a client communication via a network;

engaging an automated agent in response to a predetermined condition, the predetermined condition including content of the received client communication and an elapse of a predetermined period of time;

determining, by the automated agent, a statement based on the client communication and assistance sessions stored in a database, the statement being determined as predicted inquiries and replies to the client communication; and

transmitting the statement selected by the automated agent to a client terminal via the network.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

causing the statement to be displayed for an agent, wherein the statement is configured to be edited by the agent.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

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

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein any of the assistance sessions include a previous agent communication, the previous agent communication being transmitted by an agent to the client terminal during a communication session, and wherein a plurality of statements is determined based on the client communication and the previous agent communication.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the assistance sessions include dialogues between an agent and the client terminal, and a plurality of statements is determined based on the client communication and the dialogues between the agent and the client terminal.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the automated agent determines the statement based on a frequency of use within the stored assistance sessions.

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

receiving a client communication via a network;

engaging an automated agent in response to a predetermined condition, the predetermined condition including content of the received client communication and an activity or inactivity of the agent;

determining, by the automated agent, a statement based on the client communication, the statement being determined as predicted inquiries and replies to the client communication; and

performing either of the following;

transmitting the statement selected by the automated agent to a client terminal via the network;

or

causing the statement to be displayed for the agent, wherein the statement is configured to be edited by the agent.