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Verbally interactive telephone interrogation system with selectible variable decision tree

  • US 4,320,256 A
  • Filed: 11/27/1979
  • Issued: 03/16/1982
  • Est. Priority Date: 11/27/1979
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. In a verbally interactive telephone interrogation system comprising a two-way telephone subscriber network including a telephone caller means and a telephone message routing means operatively connected to said telephone caller means for selectively connecting said telephone caller means to a remote message transmission means having an associated telephone number in response to provision of a unique dialing code from said telephone caller means corresponding to said associated telephone number;

  • said telephone caller means comprising telephone reception means for receiving audio messages over said two-way telephone subscriber network;

    signal generator means for selectively transmitting a plurality of unique signal outputs over said two-way telephone subscriber network, and keyboard means operatively connected to said signal generator means for selecting the unique signal outputs to be transmitted over said two-way telephone subscriber network, said keyboard means comprising a plurality of selection keys each of which corresponds to a different associated signal output transmittable by said generator means in response to selection thereof;

    the improvement comprising signal discriminator and track selection means operatively connected to said telephone message routing means for enabling reception of said transmitted signal outputs from said telephone caller means when said telephone caller means is connected thereto via said telephone message routing means; and

    multitrack message reproduction means for selectively transmitting an audio message to said telephone caller means telephone reception means in response to selection by said telephone caller means keyboard means, said remote message transmission means comprising said multitrack message reproduction means, said multitrack message reproduction means comprising a multitrack magnetic storage medium for providing a selectible reproducible conversational responsive audio message to a particular primary reproducible interrogatory message from a plurality of different selectible audio messages stored thereon and a multitrack audio playback means for selectively transmitting said audio messages from said storage medium to said selectively connected telephone reception means, said storage medium comprising a plurality of coextensive audio tracks having audio information stored thereon for audio playback therefrom, said signal discriminator and track selection means discriminating said received output signals transmitted from said caller means, each of said plurality of tracks having a unique associated track selection signal corresponding to one of said transmittable signal outputs, said selectively connected signal discriminator and track selection means selecting one of said plurality of audio tracks for playback by said playback means in response to reception and discrimination of the signal output corresponding thereto, said information being stored on each track in a plurality of reproducible information segments, each of said segments comprising a complete message reproducible directly in response to selective playback of said track upon which said segments are stored, at least one of said tracks stored information comprising primary interrogatory messages and associated multiple choice selectible derivative secondary interrogatory containing messages related in content to a particular primary interrogatory message, at least a plurality of said other tracks comprising derivative secondary interrogatory containing messages related in real time and content to said one track primary interrogatory messages and corresponding to said multiple choice selectible derivative secondary interrogatory containing messages, each of said plurality of other tracks comprising a different derivative secondary interrogatory containing message, said plurality of other tracks further comprising associated multiple choice selectible responsive messages related in real time and content to each of said plurality of derivative secondary interrogatory containing messages, only one of said plurality of other tracks comprising a unique selectible responsive message to a particular one of said real time related derivative secondary interrogatory messages, said derivative secondary interrogatory messages being chain linked in content to a particular primary interrogatory message for forming a caller selectible decision tree for ultimately directing said telephone caller to an ultimate branch on said selected decision tree, said stored primary and derivative secondary interrogatory messages and said associated responsive messages being spatially related to each other along said storage medium tracks in real time and further related in content to one another for providing a transitional derivative response to said primary interrogatory message dependent on the track selected and the real time of selection for providing a conversational real time transitional environment said primary interrogatory message comprising a plurality of multiple choice selectible different interrogatory messages each comprising a different category of question, each of said different categories of questions being associated with a different one of said plurality of other tracks, said secondary derivative categories messages corresponding to said different interrogatories of questions whereby a plurality of different interrogatories are simultaneously selectible, in a variable decision tree format, said associated responsive messages comprising a common set of responsive messages for each of said different selectible secondary derivative interrogatory messages, whereby said ultimate selectable decision tree branch is dependent upon the responses to said primary and secondary interrogatory messages comprising said selectable decision tree.

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