Web service call flow speech components

• US 20040220810A1
• Filed: 04/29/2003
• Published: 11/04/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intervoice Limited Partnership
• Original Assignee: Intervoice Limited Partnership
• Inventors: Stark, Thomas, Ranganathan, Karthik, Leask, Gary M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,269,562 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/270.1
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/30 Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4938 comprising a voice browser which renders and interprets, e.g. VoiceXML

Abstract

A system and method is disclosed for exposing complete call flow speech components to users via Web services that are called by converged voice-Web server applications. The Web service call flow speech components may be accessed by application server pages resident on a Web server and accessible through either a telephony environment or a data network environment, such as the Internet. The Web service call flow speech objects automatically generate the appropriate speech access formatting into the corresponding server application page. By removing the speech component programming from development of the application server page, the representative embodiments expand the potential use of multimodal and or converged voice-Web applications and devices.

Claims

1. A multimodal application system comprising:

an application server page located on a Web server, said Web server accessible by a telephone client through a telephone server;

a speech-enabled Web service defining a call flow for completing a desired speech task;

a speech tag generator within said Web service for generating speech tags representing said call flow in a result of said Web service; and

a speech tag-compatible client-side runtime for displaying said result to said client application.

3. The multimodal application system of claim 1 wherein said client application resides on one or more of:

said telephone server; and

a computer client.

4. The multimodal application system of claim 1 further comprising:

a telephony interface for facilitating communication between said telephone client and said telephone server.

5. The multimodal application system of claim 4 wherein said telephone client accesses said telephony interface using one of:

a public switched telephone network (PSTN);

a private branch exchange (PBX); and

a mobile switching center (MSC).

6. The multimodal application system of claim 1 further comprising:

a speech server in communication with said telephone server for executing said speech tag-compatible client-side runtime.

8. The multimodal application system of claim 1 further comprising:

a dual use client, wherein said dual use client accesses said Web service through one of;

said telephone server; and

a data network.

9. The multimodal application system of claim 8 wherein said data network comprises an Internet.

10. The multimodal application system of claim 1 further comprising:

a multimodal client, wherein said multimodal client accesses said Web service through a data network.

11. The multimodal application system of claim 10 wherein said data network comprises an Internet.

12. The multimodal application system of claim 1 wherein said desired speech task comprises each interactive voice step for performing an interactive task.

13. The multimodal application system of claim 1 wherein said speech tags comprise at least one of:

speech application language tags (SALT); and

voice extensible markup language (VXML).

2. The multimodal application system of claim further comprising:

a Web service locator incorporated into said application server page for addressing a request for said speech-enabled Web service.

7. The multimodal application system of claim 2 wherein a developer requests to discover said Web service locator from said Web server.

14. A method for providing a call flow to a client, wherein said client accesses a Web-based application having no imbedded speech functionality, said method comprising:

providing call flow logic to a Web service;

generating speech indicators responsive to said call flow logic;

requesting said Web service from said Web-based application;

determining a path to said Web service from service indicators imbedded within said Web-based application;

executing said Web service responsive to said request;

returning a result from said executing to said Web-based application, wherein said result includes said speech indicators; and

presenting said result to said client.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said client is one or more of:

a telephony client; and

a multimodal client.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

accessing said Web-based application by said telephony client through a telephone server.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

accessing said telephone server by said telephony client through a telephony interface.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

accessing said Web-based application by said multimodal client through a data network.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein said data network comprises an Internet.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein said result is processed on a speech server for presentation to said telephony client.

21. The method of claim 15 wherein said result is processed on said multimodal client for presentation.

22. The method of claim 14 wherein said speech indicator comprises at least one of:

speech application language tags (SALT); and

voice extensible markup language (VXML).

23. A system for distributing a complete call flow to a client, wherein said client accesses a Web-based application having no voice functionality, said system comprising:

means for coding call flow logic into a Web service;

means for generating speech tags responsive to said call flow logic;

means for initiating said Web service from said Web-based application;

means for determining a location of said Web service from description language tags imbedded within said Web-based application;

means for executing said Web service responsive to said means for initiating;

means for presenting a result from said means for executing to said Web-based application, wherein said result includes said speech tags; and

means for displaying said result to said client.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein said client is one or more of:

a telephone client; and

a computer client.

25. The system of claim 24 further comprising:

means for accessing said Web-based application by said telephone client through a telephone server.

26. The system of claim 24 further comprising:

means for accessing said Web-based application by said computer client through an Internet.

27. The system of claim 24 wherein said result is processed on a speech processing server for presentation to said telephone client.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein said speech processing server is affiliated with a telephone server.

29. The system of claim 24 wherein said result is processed on said computer client for presentation.

30. The system of claim 23 wherein said speech tags comprise at least one of:

speech application language tags (SALT); and

voice extensible markup language (VXML).

31. A computer program product having a computer readable medium with computer program logic recorded thereon, said computer program product comprising:

code for defining a call flow in a Web service;

code for generating speech tags to implement said call flow on a client application;

code for calling said Web service from an application server page using description tags imbedded within said application server page;

code for executing said Web service responsive to said code for calling;

code for returning a result to said application server page, wherein said result includes said speech tags; and

code for displaying said result to said client application.

32. The computer program product of claim 31 wherein said client application originates from at least one of:

a telephone client; and

a computer client.

33. The computer program product of claim 32 further comprising:

code for communicating with said application server page by said telephone client through a telephony server.

34. The computer program product of claim 32 further comprising:

code for communicating with said application server page by said computer client through an Internet.

35. The computer program product of claim 32 further comprising:

code for processing said result on a speech processing server for presentation to said telephone client.

36. The computer program product of claim 35 wherein said speech processing server is affiliated with a telephone server.

37. The computer program product of claim 32 wherein said result is processed on said computer client for presentation.

38. The computer program product of claim 31 wherein said speech tags comprise at least one of:

speech application language tags (SALT); and

voice extensible markup language (VXML).

39. The computer program product of claim 31 wherein said call flow comprises:

code for interacting with a caller to obtain information;

code for interactively administering said code for interacting responsive to said information; and

code for interactively assisting said caller in providing said information.

40. A Web service for providing a complete call flow to a client application, said Web service comprising:

logic for defining said call flow;

a speech code generator for generating speech enabling indicators representing said call flow, said speech code generator operating responsive to said logic; and

a client-interface for receiving requests for said Web service and for returning results of executing said logic to said client application.

41. The Web service of claim 40 wherein said complete call flow comprises:

interactive steps for obtaining information from a caller;

interactive steps for administering said call flow; and

interactive steps for assisting said caller in providing said information.

42. The Web service of claim 40 wherein said speech enabling indicators comprise at least one of:

speech application language tags (SALT); and

voice extensible markup language (VXML).

43. The Web service of claim 40 wherein said client-interface includes a simple object access protocol (SOAP) interface.

44. The Web service of claim 40 wherein said results include said speech enabling indicators.