AUTOMATED VOICE ASSISTANT PERSONALITY SELECTOR

• US 20190221225A1
• Filed: 01/12/2018
• Published: 07/18/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wells Fargo Bank NA (Wells Fargo & Company)
• Original Assignee: Wells Fargo Bank NA (Wells Fargo & Company)
• Inventors: Bricklin, Nathan Craig, Hansen, Gregory John, Kalaboukis, Chris Theodore, Khan, Adnan, McGinn, Kathleen E., Miller, Ryan Benjamin, Rhodriquez, Wairnola Marria
• Granted Patent: US 10,643,632 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/033 Voice editing, e.g. manipulating the voice of the synthesiser
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/22 Interactive procedures; Man-machine interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/003 Changing voice quality, e.g. pitch or formants
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/63 for estimating an emotional state

Abstract

Systems and techniques for automated voice assistant personality selector are described herein. A task may be identified that is to be completed by a user of a voice-enabled virtual assistant. A response may be output in connection with the task using a default personality for the voice-enabled virtual assistant selected based on the task. A task completion checkpoint may be determined for the task. It may be identified that the task completion checkpoint has not been reached. A personality profile of the user may be compared to personality data of a set of voice-enabled virtual assistant profiles corresponding to respective members of a set of available voice personalities for the voice-enabled virtual assistant. An escalation personality may be selected for the voice-enabled virtual assistant based the comparison and the task. Commands for facilitating user completion of the task may be transmitted via the voice-enabled virtual assistant using the selected escalation personality.

Claims

1. A system for virtual assistant personality escalation, the system comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory including instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations to;

identify, by a voice-enabled virtual assistant, a task to be completed by a user of the voice-enabled virtual assistant;

output, by the voice-enabled virtual assistant, a response in connection with the task using a default personality for the voice-enabled virtual assistant selected based on the task;

determine a task completion checkpoint for the task;

identify that the task completion checkpoint has not been reached;

compare a personality profile of the user to personality data of a set of voice-enabled virtual assistant profiles for the voice-enabled virtual assistant;

select an escalation personality for the voice-enabled virtual assistant based the comparison and the task; and

transmit commands to facilitate user completion of the task via the voice-enabled virtual assistant using the selected escalation personality.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising instructions to:

compare the personality profile of the user to personality profile data of other users who have completed the task;

identify another user with personality characteristics similar to the user based on the comparison, wherein the instructions to select the default personality for the voice-enabled virtual assistant based on the task include instructions to identify a successful personality profile used to output the task to the other user.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein a description of the task includes metadata indicating task completion checkpoints and associated time periods for checkpoint completion and identifying that the task completion checkpoint has not been reached includes identifying that the task completion checkpoint has not been completed by an associated time period for checkpoint completion.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising instructions to:

identify a group of escalation users that completed the task upon transmission of commands to facilitate completion of the task via the voice-enabled virtual assistant using the escalation personality;

extract a set of personality features from the group of escalation users; and

store the set of personality features in the personality data for the escalation personality, wherein the escalation personality is a member of the set of available voice personalities, and wherein the instructions to compare the personality profile of the user to the personality data of the set of voice-enabled virtual assistant profiles includes instructions to use the set of personality features.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the personality profile of the user includes demographic information of the user.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the personality profile of the user includes interaction history data collected from prior interactions between the voice-enabled virtual assistant and the user.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising instructions to:

segment the commands for facilitating user completion of the task into a first subset and a second subset;

select the default personality for the transmission the first subset to the user via the voice-enabled virtual assistant; and

select the escalation personality for the transmission the second subset to the user via the voice-enabled virtual assistant.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising instructions to:

identify a personality interaction routine for the task based on the task completion checkpoint, wherein the personality interaction routine includes instructions for facilitation of a discussion between the voice-enabled virtual assistant using the default personality and the voice-enabled virtual assistant using the escalation personality; and

output, via the voice-enabled virtual assistant, the discussion by alternation based on the personality interaction routine of the output using the default personality and the output using the escalation personality.

9. At least one machine readable medium including instructions for virtual assistant personality escalation that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations to:

identify, by a voice-enabled virtual assistant, a task to be completed by a user of the voice-enabled virtual assistant;

output, by the voice-enabled virtual assistant, a response in connection with the task using a default personality for the voice-enabled virtual assistant selected based on the task;

determine a task completion checkpoint for the task;

identify that the task completion checkpoint has not been reached;

compare a personality profile of the user to personality data of a set of voice-enabled virtual assistant profiles for the voice-enabled virtual assistant;

select an escalation personality for the voice-enabled virtual assistant based the comparison and the task; and

transmit commands to facilitate user completion of the task via the voice-enabled virtual assistant using the selected escalation personality.

10. The at least one machine readable medium of claim 9, further comprising instructions to:

compare the personality profile of the user to personality profile data of other users who have completed the task;

identify another user with personality characteristics similar to the user based on the comparison, wherein the instructions to select the default personality for the voice-enabled virtual assistant based on the task include instructions to identify a successful personality profile used to output the task to the other user.

11. The at least one machine readable medium of claim 9, wherein a description of the task includes metadata indicating task completion checkpoints and associated time periods for checkpoint completion and identifying that the task completion checkpoint has not been reached includes identifying that the task completion checkpoint has not been completed by an associated time period for checkpoint completion.

12. The at least one machine readable medium of claim 9, further comprising instructions to:

identify a group of escalation users that completed the task upon transmission of commands to facilitate completion of the task via the voice-enabled virtual assistant using the escalation personality;

extract a set of personality features from the group of escalation users; and

store the set of personality features in the personality data for the escalation personality, wherein the escalation personality is a member of the set of available voice personalities, and wherein the instructions to compare the personality profile of the user to the personality data of the set of voice-enabled virtual assistant profiles includes instructions to use the set of personality features.

13. The at least one machine readable medium of claim 9, wherein the personality profile of the user includes demographic information of the user.

14. The at least one machine readable medium of claim 9, wherein the personality profile of the user includes interaction history data collected from prior interactions between the voice-enabled virtual assistant and the user.

15. The at least one machine readable medium of claim 9, further comprising instructions to:

segment the commands for facilitating user completion of the task into a first subset and a second subset;

select the default personality for the transmission the first subset to the user via the voice-enabled virtual assistant; and

select the escalation personality for the transmission the second subset to the user via the voice-enabled virtual assistant.

16. The at least one machine readable medium of claim 9, further comprising instructions to:

identify a personality interaction routine for the task based on the task completion checkpoint, wherein the personality interaction routine includes instructions for facilitation of a discussion between the voice-enabled virtual assistant using the default personality and the voice-enabled virtual assistant using the escalation personality; and

output, via the voice-enabled virtual assistant, the discussion by alternation based on the personality interaction routine of the output using the default personality and the output using the escalation personality.

17. A method for virtual assistant personality escalation, the method comprising:

identifying, by a voice-enabled virtual assistant, a task to be completed by a user of the voice-enabled virtual assistant;

outputting, by the voice-enabled virtual assistant, a response in connection with the task using a default personality for the voice-enabled virtual assistant selected based on the task;

determining a task completion checkpoint for the task;

identifying that the task completion checkpoint has not been reached;

comparing a personality profile of the user to personality data of a set of voice-enabled virtual assistant profiles for the voice-enabled virtual assistant;

selecting an escalation personality for the voice-enabled virtual assistant based the comparison and the task; and

transmitting commands for facilitating user completion of the task via the voice-enabled virtual assistant using the selected escalation personality.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

comparing the personality profile of the user to personality profile data of other users who have completed the task;

identifying another user with personality characteristics similar to the user based on the comparison, wherein selecting the default personality for the voice-enabled virtual assistant based on the task includes identifying a successful personality profile used to output the task to the other user.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein a description of the task includes metadata indicating task completion checkpoints and associated time periods for checkpoint completion and identifying that the task completion checkpoint has not been reached includes identifying that the task completion checkpoint has not been completed by an associated time period for checkpoint completion.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

identifying a group of escalation users that completed the task upon transmission of commands for facilitating completion of the task via the voice-enabled virtual assistant using the escalation personality;

extracting a set of personality features from the group of escalation users; and

storing the set of personality features in the personality data for the escalation personality, wherein the escalation personality is a member of the set of available voice personalities, and wherein comparing the personality profile of the user to the personality data of the set of voice-enabled virtual assistant profiles uses the set of personality features.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the personality profile of the user includes demographic information of the user.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the personality profile of the user includes interaction history data collected from prior interactions between the voice-enabled virtual assistant and the user.

23. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

segmenting the commands for facilitating user completion of the task into a first subset and a second subset;

selecting the default personality for the transmitting the first subset the user via the voice-enabled virtual assistant; and

selecting the escalation personality for the transmitting the second subset to the user via the voice-enabled virtual assistant.

24. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

identifying a personality interaction routine for the task based on the task completion checkpoint, the personality interaction routine including instructions for facilitating a discussion between the voice-enabled virtual assistant using the default personality and the voice-enabled virtual assistant using the escalation personality; and

outputting, via the voice-enabled virtual assistant, the discussion by alternating, based on the personality interaction routine, output using the default personality and output using the escalation personality.