Method and System for Call Processing

• US 20090097634A1
• Filed: 10/16/2007
• Published: 04/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Gupta, Himanshu, Ojha, Amitabh, Mohania, Mukesh Kumar, Nambiar, Ullas Balan
• Application Number:
  US11/872,881
• Publication Number:
  US 20090097634A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/265.09
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/357 Autocues for dialog assistance
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5183 Call or contact centers with computer-telephony arrangements

Abstract

A method and system for call processing to assist call center agents at a call center, where a call in the form of an unstructured voice signal is received from a caller at the call center, the received call is transcribed into readable text data, and keywords are identified in the readable text data to determine a context for the voice signal based on the identified keywords, based on the context identifying and extracting matching entities from a data store, and presenting the extracted entities and possible new queries to the call center agent based on the set of most relevant entities.

Claims

1. A method for assisting call center agents in real-time, the method comprising

receiving as input an unstructured voice signal from a caller;

transcribing the unstructured voice signal into readable text data;

identifying keywords in the readable text data;

determining a context for the voice signal based on the identified keywords;

identifying and extracting matching entities with the context from a data store; and

presenting the extracted entities to the call center agent.

2. The method of claims 1, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein transcribing unstructured voice signal further comprises

segmenting the unstructured voice signal into a sequence of terms or keywords;

and

retaining only terms or keywords that are relevant to the context by filtering unwanted terms or keywords.

3. The method of claim 1, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein the data store is a repository.

4. The method of claim 3, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein the repository is a structured or an unstructured database.

5. The method of claim 1, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, further comprising:

forming new queries based on the entities; and

suggesting the new queries to the call center agent to be provided as response to the caller.

6. The method of claim 5, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, further comprising:

refining the extracted context of the conversation based on the entity presented to the call center agent.

7. The method of claim 1, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein the entities include information selected from a group consisting of relational data, tabular data, audio/video data, and graphical data.

8. A system for guiding a call center agent in real-time conversation between the call center agent and a caller to the call center, the call center agent coupled to the caller over a network, the system comprising:

receiving means for receiving and recognizing an unstructured voice signal of the caller;

transcribing means for transcribing the unstructured voice signal into readable text data;

processing means for identifying keywords in the readable text data and determining a context for the voice signal based on the identified keywords;

the processing means further configured for identifying and extracting matching entities with the context from a data store; and

presenting means for presenting the extracted entities to the call center agent.

9. The system of claims 8, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein the transcribing means is configured to segment the unstructured voice signal into a sequence of terms or keywords, and retain only terms or keywords that are relevant to the context by filtering unwanted terms or keywords.

10. The system of claim 8, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein the data store is a repository.

11. The system of claim 10, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein the repository is a structured or an unstructured database.

12. The system of claim 8, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein the processing means is further configured to form new queries based on the extracted entities, and suggest the new queries to the call center agent which are provided as response to the caller.

13. The system of claim 12, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein the extracted context of the conversation is refined based on the entity presented to the call center agent.

14. The system of claim 8, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein the entities include information selected from a group consisting of relational data, tabular data, audio/video data, and graphical data.

15. The system of claim 8, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein the transcribing means is an automated speech recognition component.

16. The system of claim 8, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein receiving means, transcribing means, processing means and presenting means are components of a server, the call center agents are coupled to the server via a switch and the server configured to route the call of the caller to the call center agent.

17. A computer program product comprising a computer program instructions stored on a computer-readable storage medium, which when executing on a computer system are configured to perform the steps of

receiving as input an unstructured voice signal from a caller;

transcribing the unstructured voice signal into readable text data;

identifying keywords in the readable text data wherein transcribing further includes

segmenting the unstructured voice signal into a sequence of terms or keywords; and

retaining only terms or keywords that are relevant to the context by filtering unwanted terms or keywords;

determining a context for the voice signal based on the identified keywords;

identifying and extracting matching entities with the context from a data store; and

presenting the extracted entities to the call center agent.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein the data store is a repository, which is a structured or an unstructured database.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein said steps further comprise:

forming new queries based on the entities;

suggesting the new queries to the call center agent to be provided as response to the caller; and

refining the extracted context of the conversation based on the entity presented to the call center agent.

20. The computer program product comprising a data signal which includes the unstructured voice signal from a caller is transmitted over a network and received at a call center is configured to perform the steps of:

receiving as input an unstructured voice signal from a caller;

transcribing the unstructured voice signal into readable text data;

identifying keywords in the readable text data wherein transcribing further includes

segmenting the unstructured voice signal into a sequence of terms or keywords; and

retaining only terms or keywords that are relevant to the context by filtering unwanted terms or keywords;

determining a context for the voice signal based on the identified keywords;

identifying and extracting matching entities with the context from a data store; and

presenting the extracted entities to the call center agent.