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Apparatus and method for visually representing behavior of a user of an automated response system

  • US 7,039,166 B1
  • Filed: 03/04/2002
  • Issued: 05/02/2006
  • Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2001
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A method of visually representing user behavior within an interactive voice response (IVR) system of a call processing center, in which the IVR system generates user prompts, including a first prompt generated upon entry of a user into the IVR system, and subsequent prompts triggered by data inputted by a user or by internal processing of the IVR system that cause a branching in a call flow within the IVR system, said method comprising the steps of:

  • generating and storing a complete sequence of events within the IVR system for plural calls to the call processing center, the plural calls being recorded from end to end;

    modeling a call flow of the IVR system as a non-deterministic finite-state machine, such that a start state of the finite-state machine represents a first prompt of the IVR system, other states of the finite-state machine represent subsequent prompts at which a branching occurs in the call flow of the IVR system, exit conditions are represented as end states, and transitions of the finite-state machine represent transitions between call flow states triggered by data inputted by a user or by internal processing of the IVR system;

    providing the complete sequences of events for the plural calls to the finite-state machine to produce a two-way matrix of several counters, such that;

    for states with at least one child or subsequent state, there are provided state-transition counters, and for exit states, there are provided counters representing exit conditions from the IVR system, separating different levels of automation achieved; and

    visually representing data from the two-way matrix as a state-transition diagram having states representing IVR system prompts and arcs representing user responses to the prompts or actions initiated by the IVR system.

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