System and Method for Speech-Enabled Call Routing

• US 20100232595A1
• Filed: 05/26/2010
• Published: 09/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Knott, Benjamin Anthony, Bushey, Robert R., Korth, Sarah
• Granted Patent: US 8,503,662 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/265.20
• 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 includes receiving speech of a call from a caller at a processor of a call routing system. The method includes using the processor to determine a first call destination for the call based on the speech. The method includes using the processor to determine whether the caller is in compliance with at least one business rule related to an account of the caller. The method includes routing the call to the first call destination when the caller is in compliance with the at least one business rule and routing the call to a second call destination when the caller is not in compliance with the at least one business rule.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving speech of a call from a caller at a processor;

using the processor to determine a first call destination for the call based on the speech;

using the processor to determine whether the caller is in compliance with at least one business rule related to an account of the caller;

routing the call to the first call destination when the caller is in compliance with the at least one business rule; and

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

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one business rule is related to payment of the account.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one business rule is related to an amount of time that a voice message box of the caller has been full.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second call destination allows the caller to come into compliance with the at least one business rule.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the call is a voice over internet protocol call.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first call destination comprises technical support.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first call destination comprises support for new services.

8. A method, comprising:

transforming speech of a call received from a caller into text using a processor;

converting the text into an object and an action using the processor;

determining, a first call destination based on the object and the action;

determining, whether the caller is in compliance with a first business rule related to an account of the caller; and

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

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first business rule is related to payment of the account.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the first business rule includes an indication of whether a length of time that a voice message box of the caller has been full is over a selected time.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the selected time is two months.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the second call destination allows the caller to take one or more actions that bring the caller into compliance with the first business rule.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising routing the call to the first call destination when the caller is in compliance with the first business rule.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining whether the caller is in compliance with one or more other business rules when the caller comes into compliance with the first business rule after routing the call to the second call destination; and

routing the call to the first call destination when the caller is in compliance with the one or more other business rules.

15. The method of claim 8, further comprising setting a future routing to the first destination when the call is routed to the second destination.

16. A system, comprising:

a processor;

a network interface to receive speech input of a call from a caller;

an action-object routing module executable by the processor to determine a first call destination based on the speech input; and

a business rule module executable by the processor to determine whether the caller is in compliance with a business rule related to payment of an account of the caller;

wherein the system routes the call to a second call destination when the caller is not in compliance with the business rule; and

wherein the system routes the call to the first call destination when the caller is in compliance with the business rule.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the second call destination is a call service department that facilitates compliance with the business rule.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the business rule module is further executable by the processor to determine whether the caller is in compliance with a second business rule related to an amount of time for a voice message box of the caller to be full, and wherein the system routes the call to a third call destination when the caller is not in compliance with the second business rule.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the call is received via a public telephone network.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the action-object routing module is configured to use a synonym table and a routing table.