USING SEMANTIC PROCESSING FOR CUSTOMER SUPPORT

• US 20180012232A1
• Filed: 06/30/2017
• Published: 01/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Asapp, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Asapp, Inc.
• Inventors: Sehrawat, Vicky, Shaev, Jason, Biswal, Punyashloka, Dillmann, Brian, Hackman, Joseph, Henry, Shawn, Sapoznik, Gustavo
• Granted Patent: US 10,083,451 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/30 Semantic analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/35 Discourse or dialogue representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 3/04 Architecture, e.g. interconnection topology
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 3/042 Knowledge-based neural networks; Logical representations of neural networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 3/08 Learning methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/01 Dynamic search techniques; Heuristics; Dynamic trees; Branch-and-bound
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1053 Employment or hiring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/01 Customer relationship services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/016 After-sales
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/18 Commands or executable codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42382 Text-based messaging services in telephone networks such as PSTN/ISDN, e.g. User-to-User Signalling or Short Message Service for fixed networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5141 Details of processing calls and other types of contacts in an unified manner unified messaging in packet-switching networks H04L51/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5183 Call or contact centers with computer-telephony arrangements

Abstract

A third-party company may assist other companies in providing customer support to their customers. The third-party company may provide software to a computer of a customer service representative to present a user interface to assist the customer service representative in responding to customer requests. Third-party company may also send update data to the computer of the customer service representative to cause a portion of the user interface to be updated, where the update data is determined using an intent of a message received from a customer. A message received from the customer may be processed to determine the intent of the message, a template may be obtained using the intent, and the update data may be generated by rendering the selected template. The update data may then be transmitted to the computer of the customer service representative to cause a portion of the user interface to be updated.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for a third-party company to assist companies in providing customer support to their customers, the method performed by one or more servers of the third-party company and comprising:

receiving authentication information of a first customer service representative from a first device, wherein the first customer service representative assists customers of a first company;

updating a data store of customer service representatives using the authentication information of the first customer service representative, wherein the data store of customer service representatives comprises information about a plurality of customer service representatives;

transmitting software to the first device to cause the first device to present a user interface to allow the first customer service representative to assist customers of the first company;

receiving identifying information of a first customer from a second device;

receiving a first message from the second device seeking support from the first company;

retrieving, from a server of the first company, company data, wherein the company data comprises information about at least one of the first customer or the first company;

selecting an intent of the first message from a plurality of possible intents by performing semantic processing of the first message;

selecting the first customer service representative using the data store of customer service representatives;

selecting a template from a plurality of templates using the selected intent, wherein the selected template is associated with one or more intents;

generating update data by rendering the template using the company data, wherein the update data comprises information about an update to a portion of the user interface presented to the first customer service representative;

transmitting the update data to the first device, wherein the update data causes the software running on the first device to update a portion of the user interface presented by the first device;

receiving from the first device, event data corresponding to an input of the first customer service representative at the first device; and

transmitting a second message to the second device using the event data.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first message is received during a customer support session between the first customer and the first customer service representative.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein updating the data store of customer service representatives comprising indicating that the first customer service representative is available to assist customers.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the identifying information of the first customer comprises an IP address.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, comprising, before selecting an intent of the first message:

determining that clarification of the first message is needed from the first customer;

transmitting a request for clarification to the second device;

receiving a response to the request for clarification from the second device; and

selecting the intent using the response to the request for clarification.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1:

wherein generating the update data comprises including a placeholder for delayed data that is not available at the time of generating the update data; and

the method comprises;

obtaining the delayed data,

generating second update data using the delayed data, and

transmitting the second update data to the first device, wherein the second update data causes the software running on the first device to present the delayed data to the first customer service representative.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the update data includes an identifier of the placeholder, the second update data includes the identifier of the placeholder, and the software running on the first device presents the delayed data using the identifier.

8. A system for a third-party company to assist companies in providing customer support to their customers, the system comprising:

at least one server computer comprising at least one processor and at least one memory, the at least one server computer configured to;

receive authentication information of a first customer service representative from a first device, wherein the first customer service representative assists customers of a first company;

update a data store of customer service representatives using the authentication information of the first customer service representative, wherein the data store of customer service representatives comprises information about a plurality of customer service representatives;

transmit software to the first device to cause the first device to present a user interface to allow the first customer service representative to assist customers of the first company;

receive identifying information of a first customer from a second device;

receive a first message from the second device seeking support from the first company;

retrieve, from a server of the first company, company data, wherein the company data comprises information about at least one of the first customer or the first company;

select an intent of the first message from a plurality of possible intents by performing semantic processing of the first message;

select the first customer service representative using the data store of customer service representatives;

select a template from a plurality of templates using the selected intent, wherein the selected template is associated with one or more intents;

generate update data by rendering the template using the company data, wherein the update data comprises information about an update to a portion of the user interface presented to the first customer service representative;

transmit the update data to the first device, wherein the update data causes the software running on the first device to update a portion of the user interface presented by the first device;

receive from the first device, event data corresponding to an input of the first customer service representative at the first device; and

transmit a second message to the second device using the event data.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the update data comprises structured data.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the second device:

presents a web page retrieved from a server of the first company, wherein the web page includes a user interface for requesting customer support; and

the web page causes the first message to be transmitted to the one or more servers of the third-party company.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the first customer authenticates with a server of the first company to obtain authentication credentials and the identifying information comprises the authentication credentials.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one server computer is configured to:

obtain a second template using the selected intent;

create second update data comprising information about a portion of a user interface to present to the first customer using the second template and the company data; and

transmit the second update data to the second device, wherein the second update data causes software running on the second device to update a portion of the user interface presented by the second device.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the second device is configured to update the user interface presented by the second device by updating user interface elements using an API of an operating system of the second device.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the company data comprises a name of the first customer, account status of the first customer, services received by the first customer, information relating to the selected intent, or information about a state of services provided by the first company.

15. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform actions comprising:

receiving authentication information of a first customer service representative from a first device, wherein the first customer service representative assists customers of a first company;

updating a data store of customer service representatives using the authentication information of the first customer service representative, wherein the data store of customer service representatives comprises information about a plurality of customer service representatives;

transmitting software to the first device to cause the first device to present a user interface to allow the first customer service representative to assist customers of the first company;

receiving identifying information of a first customer from a second device;

receiving a first message from the second device seeking support from the first company;

retrieving, from a server of the first company, company data, wherein the company data comprises information about at least one of the first customer or the first company;

selecting an intent of the first message from a plurality of possible intents by performing semantic processing of the first message;

selecting the first customer service representative using the data store of customer service representatives;

selecting a template from a plurality of templates using the selected intent, wherein the selected template is associated with one or more intents;

generating update data by rendering the template using the company data, wherein the update data comprises information about an update to a portion of the user interface presented to the first customer service representative;

transmitting the update data to the first device, wherein the update data causes the software running on the first device to update a portion of the user interface presented by the first device;

receiving from the first device, event data corresponding to an input of the first customer service representative at the first device; and

transmitting a second message to the second device using the event data.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15 wherein selecting an intent from the plurality of possible intents comprises selecting a node of a graph, wherein each node of the graph corresponds to an intent of the plurality of intents.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16, wherein selecting an intent from the plurality of possible intents comprises traversing the graph from a starting node of the graph, and wherein each node of the graph is associated with a classifier.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, the actions comprising:

retrieving fourth-party data from a server operated by fourth-party company; and

wherein generating the update data comprises using the fourth-party data retrieved from the server operated by the fourth-party company.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, the actions comprising:

retrieving, from a server of the first company, second company data, wherein the second company data is retrieved after the first company data; and

generating the update data using the second company data.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein selecting the first customer service representative comprises using at least one of the selected intent or the company data.