SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THE AUTOMATIC SELECTION OF INTERFACES

• US 20080240406A1
• Filed: 03/26/2008
• Published: 10/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Concentrix CVG Customer Management Delaware LLC (Synnex Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Convergys Corporation
• Inventors: Akula, Vasudeva Rao, Issar, Sunil
• Granted Patent: US 8,139,755 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/265.09
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/251 where a voice mode or a visual mode can be used interchangeably
• 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

Abstract

The automatic selection of interfaces can result in the optimization of interaction between entities. Such selection of interfaces can be applied specifically in the context of interactive voice response systems, and can allow the interface presented to a caller to be optimized based on factors including the caller'"'"'s usage of the system.

Claims

1. A computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions for selecting an interface presented to a caller during an interaction between the caller and an interactive voice response system, wherein the computer executable instructions comprise:

(a) one or more detection modules operable to determine one or more outputs associated with the interaction, wherein at least one of the detection modules comprises a usage detection module operable to determine a user level for the caller;

(b) a selection logic operable to select one of a plurality of available interfaces; and

(c) an interface selection engine in communication with the one or more detection modules and the selection logic, wherein the interface selection engine is operable to switch the interface presented to the caller to the one of a plurality of available interfaces based on the one or more outputs provided by the detection modules and the selection logic.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the available interfaces include:

(a) a standard interface; and

(b) a specialized interface.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 2, wherein the standard interface is a standard speech interface, and the specialized interface is an advanced speech interface.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the one or more detection modules further comprise a security detection module.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the interface selection engine communicates with the one or more detection modules and the selection logic during the interaction and automatically switches the interface in real time to the one of a plurality of available interfaces.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the user level is determined by comparing the time to reach a specified marker during the interaction, with the time to reach the specified marker during one or more previous interactions.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the user level is determined by comparing the time spent on one or more dialogs within a call script during the interaction, with the time spent on one or more dialogs within the call script during one or more previous interactions.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the user level is determined by comparing the number of failures during the interaction, with the number of failures during one or more previous interactions.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the user level is determined by comparing the response of the caller to a benchmark.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the benchmark involves the caller providing one or more unspecified commands.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the benchmark involves the caller providing one or more terse responses.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the user level is determined based on members selected from the group consisting of a time to reach a specified marker during the interaction, a time spent on one or more dialogs within a call script during the interaction, a number of failures during the interaction, one or more unspecified commands provided by the caller, one or more terse responses provided by the caller, and combinations thereof.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the interaction is between a user and a multimodal interface system.

14. A system for automatically switching an interface associated with an interactive voice response system comprising:

(a) an interface selection engine;

(b) a selection logic; and

(c) a usage detection module, wherein the usage detection module produces one or more outputs relating to a caller'"'"'s usage that are accepted by the interface selection engine;

wherein the interface selection engine comprises a software module operable to select one of a plurality of available interfaces according to the one or more outputs and the selection logic, and

wherein the interface selection engine automatically switches the interface to the one of a plurality of available interfaces selected.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein the user level is determined based on members selected from the group consisting of a time to reach a specified marker during the interaction, a time spent on one or more dialogs within a call script during the interaction, a number of failures during the interaction, one or more unspecified commands provided by the caller, one or more terse responses provided by the caller, and combinations thereof.

16. The system according to claim 14,

wherein the usage detection module comprises a user level output having an average user level state, a below average user level state, and an advanced user level state, and

wherein the selection logic selects:

(a) a robust interface when the usage detection module indicates the below average user level state;

(b) a specialized interface when the usage detection module indicates the advanced user level state; and

(c) a standard interface when the usage detection module indicates the average user level state.

17. The system according to claim 14 operable with a multimodal interface system.

18. A method in a computer system for selecting an interface presented to a caller during an interaction between the caller and an interactive voice response system, wherein the method comprises the steps of:

(a) determining one or more outputs associated with the interaction, wherein the one or more outputs include a usage level;

(b) selecting one of a plurality of available interfaces according to the one or more outputs associated with the interaction; and

(c) switching the interface presented to the caller to the one of a plurality of available interfaces selected, wherein the switching occurs automatically during the interaction.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the available interfaces include:

(a) a standard interface; and

(b) a specialized interface.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the available interfaces further include a robust interface.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the user level is determined based on members selected from the group consisting of a time to reach a specified marker during the interaction, a time spent on one or more dialogs within a call script during the interaction, a number of failures during the interaction, one or more unspecified commands provided by the caller, one or more terse responses provided by the caller, and combinations thereof.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein steps (a) through (c) are repeated during the interaction.