System and method for speech-enabled call routing

• US 20060153345A1
• Filed: 01/10/2005
• Published: 07/13/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sbc Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
• Inventors: Knott, Benjamin Anthony, Bushey, Robert R., Korth, Sarah
• Granted Patent: US 7,751,551 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/88.10
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 19/0204 using subband decomposition
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 19/265 Pre-filtering, e.g. high frequency emphasis prior to encoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/60 Medium conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4936 Speech interaction details speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/523 with call distribution or queueing

Abstract

A method of processing a call is disclosed. The method can transform speech input from a caller of a call into text and convert the text into an object and an action. The method determines a call destination based on the object and the action. The method can route the call to a destination when a caller is not in compliance with at least one business rule. The method can further route the call to the call destination when the caller is in compliance.

Claims

1. A method of processing a call comprising:

transforming speech input from a caller of a call into text;

converting the text into an object and an action;

determining a first call destination based on the objects and the action;

routing the call to a second call destination when the caller is not in compliance with at least one business rule.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising converting the text into a specific action and transmitting the specific action.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising converting the text into a specific object and transmitting the specific object.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising transmitting the specific object with the routed call.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning a confidence value to the action and the object.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning a confidence level to the action based on a probability that the action represents an intent of the caller, and assigning a confidence value to the object based on a probability that the object represents an intent of the caller.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the action is one of a verb and an adverb-verb combination.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising placing a caller in compliance with at least one business rule subsequent to routing the call to the second call destination and after the caller fulfills an obligation.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising routing the call based on the action and the object to the first call destination after placing the caller in compliance.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising routing a call based on a current destination.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising routing a call based on at least one of a current destination, a future destination, and a prior destination.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning a current routing destination variable to a destination.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising setting a current routing destination to the call routing destination after the call is routed.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising setting a prior routing destination to the current routing destination.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the current routing destination is set to the call routing destination as determined by a selected action-object pair.

16. A system comprising:

a call routing system having a processor, the call routing system configured to convert speech input from a caller into an object and an action;

an action-object routing module configured to determine a first destination for the call based on the object and the action;

wherein the call routing system routes the call to a second destination when the caller is not in compliance with at least one business rule.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the first destination is based on at least one of a selected action and a selected object.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the call routing system routes the call based on at least one of a current routing destination, a future routing destination and a prior routing destination.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the call routing system sets a future destination to the first routing destination.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the call routing system sets a current routing destination to the second destination.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein the call routing system sets a prior routing destination to the current destination after the call is routed to the second destination.

22. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor uses phonemes to convert the speech input into a textual format.

23. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor assigns a confidence level to the textual format.

24. The system of claim 16, further comprising a synonym table accessible to the processor.

25. A system comprising:

an acoustic model configured to accept speech input and to produce text at its output;

a semantic model responsive to the acoustic model to produce an action and an object in responsive to the text;

a call routing module responsive to the semantic model to provide a routing destination based on the action and the object; and

wherein the routing destination is determined based on at least one of a current routing destination, a future routing destination and a prior routing destination.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the routing destination is determined based on a selected action and a selected object.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the call routing module sets a future routing destination based on a selected action and a selected object.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the routing module sets a current routing destination to a routing destination after it is determined that the caller violates a business rule.

29. The system of claim 25, wherein the call routing module sets a prior routing destination to the current routing destination after the call is routed to the routing destination.