Voice-activated geographically based telephone routing system and method

• US 20030179862A1
• Filed: 02/14/2003
• Published: 09/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alaven Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Alaven Incorporated
• Inventors: Sierra, Juan F., Neville, Daniel E.
• Granted Patent: US 7,548,610 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/88.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/14 with services dependent on location where the service is an information service H04M2242/15; services independent of location H04M3/42229
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42229 Personal communication services, i.e. services related to one subscriber independent of his terminal and/or location diverting calls from one subscriber to another subscriber, i.e. two different subscriptions H04M3/54; selecting arrangements in intelligent networks H04Q3/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42306 Number translation services, e.g. premium-rate, freephone or vanity number services

Abstract

A method and system for determining, through voice recognition, the geographic location of the initiator of a telephone call for routing the call to one of a plurality of locations of a second party. The initiator dials a specified telephone number and is connected to a computer system. The system asks the initiator a series of questions and responses are digitized until a locational designator can be assigned to the initiator'"'"'s location and the call routed according to second party criteria. The locational designator correlates to a geographic designation, such as postal indicators (e.g., zip code, zip+4, postal code), major and minor civil divisions, latitude and longitude, geographic boundaries, political boundaries or second party service areas, sales territories, or delivery territories.

Claims

1. A method for routing a telephone call from an unknown geographic location to a recipient, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving a telephone call from the caller;

asking the caller one or more series of location-narrowing questions to obtain a verbal response, said one or more series of location-narrowing questions commencing with questions related to streets, roads and highways;

digitizing the verbal response to said one or more series of location-narrowing questions using voice recognition technology;

matching the verbal response of the telephone caller to a data base containing location-narrowing data until a locational designator of the geographic location of the telephone caller can be assigned;

determining the recipient of the call from a plurality of possible recipients based on the locational designator of the caller and one of a plurality of geographic territories; and

connecting the caller to the recipient.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

associating a locational designator with a client-defined geographic territory.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

defining one or more geographic territories according to client-defined criteria.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the caller selects the recipient of the call from a plurality of potential recipients offered by the client when more than one recipient satisfies client-defined criteria.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the geographic territory is a ZIP postal code.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the geographic territory is a ZIP+4 postal code.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the geographic territory is a postal-defined area.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the geographic territory is a geographic territory having pre-selected boundaries.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the geographic territory is a geographic territory having boundaries derived from client-defined criteria.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the geographic territory is selected from a plurality of geographic territories based on the dialed number and the locational designators.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the geographic territory is a sales area.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein the geographic territory is a delivery area.

13. The method of claim 8 wherein the geographic territory is delineated by client-defined criteria.

14. The method of claim 8 wherein the geographic territory is defined using geopolitical boundaries.

15. The method of claim 8 wherein the geographic territory is defined using intersections of other territories.

16. A system for routing a telephone call from an unknown geographic location to a recipient comprising:

means for receiving the telephone call from a caller;

one or more series of questions designed to narrow the geographic location of the caller according to the verbal response of the caller, said one or more series of location-narrowing questions commencing with questions related to streets, roads and highways;

an answer set containing sets of location-narrowing data in a decision tree for comparing a response of the caller to an answer set;

means for assigning a locational designator to the geographic location of the caller;

means for determining the recipient of the call from a plurality of possible recipients based on the locational designator of the caller and one of a plurality of geographic territories; and

means for connecting the caller to the recipient

17. The system of claim 16 further comprising the step of:

associating a locational designator with a client-defined geographic territory.

18. The system of claim 16 further comprising the step of:

defining one or more geographic territories according to client-defined criteria.

19. The system of claim 16 further comprising a selected geographical territory to which the telephone caller is assigned based on locational designator.

20. The system of claim 16 further comprising a selected geographical territory to which the telephone caller is assigned based on locational designator.

21. The system of claim 16 wherein the caller selects the recipient of the call from a plurality of potential recipients offered by the client when more than one recipient satisfies client-defined criteria.

22. The system of claim 16 wherein said assignment is based on client-defined criteria.

23. The system of claim 16 wherein the means for receiving the telephone call from the caller is a computer.

24. The system of claim 16 wherein the means for assigning a locational designator to the geographic location of the caller comprises a decision tree containing questions designed to produce one answer set at which point the locational designator can be assigned.

25. The system of claim 19 wherein the geographic territory is a ZIP postal code.

26. The system of claim 19 wherein the geographic territory is a ZIP+4 postal code.

27. The system of claim 19 wherein the geographic territory is a postal-defined area.

28. The system of claim 19 wherein the geographic territory is a geographic territory having pre-selected boundaries.

29. The system of claim 19 wherein the geographic territory is a geographic territory having boundaries derived from client-defined criteria.

30. The system of claim 19 wherein the geographic territory is a sales territory.

31. The system of claim 19 wherein the geographic territory is delivery area.

32. The system of claim 28 wherein the geographic territory is defined using geopolitical boundaries.

33. The system of claim 28 wherein the geographic territory is defined using intersections of other territories.

34. A method for connecting a caller to a recipient, said recipient one of a plurality of possible recipients, using a dialed number specific to said recipients, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving a call from a caller to a system, said system having the ability to locate the point of origin of the call to determine the destination of the call from among a plurality of possible destinations;

classification of the type of communication device used by the caller as either stationary or non-stationary;

activating a logical script including questions designed to elicit a response from the caller;

eliciting at least one response from a caller to at least one question using voice recognition technology;

digitizing the at least one response using voice-recognition technology;

verifying the system has accurately understood the at least one response;

continuing the questions and answers until a locational designator has been determined;

substituting a locational designator in place of Automatic Number Identification (ANI);

correlating the caller'"'"'s locational designator to one of a plurality of possible client-defined territories;

identifying a telephone number associated with said one of a plurality of possible client-defined territories; and

connecting the caller to the telephone number associated with said one of a plurality of possible client-defined territories.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein the ANI is incomplete.

36. The method of claim 34 wherein the ANI indicates call origination from a non-stationary phone.

37. The method of claim 34 wherein the ANI is absent.

38. The method of claim 34 wherein the non-stationary classification indicates a wireless device.

39. The method of claim 34 wherein the non-stationary classification indicates a modem.

40. The method of claim 34 wherein the non-stationary classification indicates a call originating from a device other than a land-line phone.

41. The method of claim 34 wherein the system uses the number dialed by the caller and client-defined criteria to connect the call to the recipient.

42. The method of claim 34 wherein the assignment of a locational designator is determined in the background prior to operator intervention.

43. The method of claim 34 wherein the assignment of a locational designator is accomplished with the use of an electronic locational device.

44. The method of claim 43 wherein the electronic locational device is a GeoPositioning Satellite device.

45. The method of claim 43 wherein the electronic locational device is a vehicular locational device.

46. The method of claim 43 wherein the device provides locational information to the system.

47. The method of claim 43 wherein the device provides locational information to the caller, and the caller relays that information to the system.

48. The method of claim 34 wherein determining a caller'"'"'s locational designator can be integrated into a call flow of another system as a module.

49. A system for digitizing vocal responses comprising:

a voice recognition unit;

a call quality assurance module;

a configurable timer to wait for a response from the caller; and

a configurable number-of-attempts counter.

50. The system of claim 49, wherein the configurable timer has a configuration determined by client-defined criteria.

51. The system of claim 49, wherein the configurable number-of-attempts counter has a configuration determined by client-defined criteria.

52. The system of claim 51 further comprising of a configurable action to be performed in the event the caller cannot provide an intelligible answer.

53. The system of claim 49 wherein the voice recognition unit has the ability to listen for a spoken response from the caller.

54. The system of claim 49 wherein the voice recognition unit has the ability to digitize the spoken answer of the caller.

55. The system of claim 49 wherein the voice recognition unit has the ability to match the digitized answer to one of a plurality of possible anticipated answers as defined by the client.

56. The system of claim 49 wherein the voice recognition unit has the ability to assign a locational designator once client-defined criteria have been satisfied.

57. The system of claim 49 wherein the voice recognition unit has the ability to provide the locational designator to the call routing system.

58. A system for connecting a caller to a recipient, said recipient being one of a plurality of possible recipients, using a dialed number specific to said recipients, said system comprising:

means for substituting a locational designator in place of an Automatic Number Identification (ANI);

means for classification of the, type of communication device used by the caller as either stationary or non-stationary;

means for correlating the locational designator of the caller to one of a plurality of possible client-defined territories;

means for verifying the validity of a caller'"'"'s response.

59. The system of claim 58 wherein the ANI is incomplete.

60. The system of claim 58 wherein the ANI indicates call origination from a non-stationary phone.

61. The system of claim 58 wherein the ANI is absent.

62. The system of claim 58 wherein the non-stationary classification indicates a wireless device.

63. The system of claim 58 wherein the non-stationary classification indicates a modem.

64. The system of claim 58 wherein the non-stationary classification indicates a call originating from a device other than a land-line phone.

65. The system of claim 58 wherein the system uses the number dialed by the caller and client-defined criteria to connect the call to the recipient.

66. The system of claim 58 wherein the assignment of a locational designator is determined in the background prior to operator intervention.

67. The system of claim 58 wherein the assignment of a locational designator is accomplished with the use of an electronic locational device.

68. The system of claim 67 wherein the electronic locational device is a GeoPositioning Satellite device.

69. The system of claim 67 wherein the electronic locational device is a vehicular locational device.

70. The system of claim 67 wherein the electronic locational device provides locational information to the system.

71. The system of claim 67 wherein the electronic locational device provides locational information to the caller and the caller relays that information to the system.

72. The system of claim 58 wherein the means for correlating a caller'"'"'s locational designator can be integrated into a call flow of another system as a module.