Employing speech recognition and key words to improve customer service

• US 7,058,565 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2001
• Issued: 06/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Waters, Timothy Moffett, Gusler, Carl Phillip, Hamilton, Rick Allen II
• Primary Examiner(s): McFadden, Susan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rivero, Minerva
• Application Number:
  US10/015,246
• Publication Number:
  US 20030115056A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,632 Days
• Field of Search: 704/275, 704/270, 379/88.01, 455/411
• US Class Current: 704/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence

Abstract

The invention comprises capturing a customer'"'"'s speech, recognizing a key word in the customer'"'"'s speech, searching a database, and retrieving information from the database. The retrieving is a real-time process, completed during a conversation involving the customer and a customer service representative. Examples include methods employing computerized speech recognition and key words to improve customer service, systems for executing methods of the present invention, and instructions on a computer-usable medium, or resident in a computer system, for executing methods of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for handling information used in customer service, said method comprising:

capturing a customer'"'"'s speech;

recognizing a key word in said customer'"'"'s speech;

based on said key word, searching a database;

retrieving information from said database, wherein said retrieving is completed during a conversation involving said customer and a customer service representative; and

providing said retrieved information to a customer service representative.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

initiating action, based on said keyword, to solve a problem affecting said customer.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of:

preparing an e-mail message,

preparing an order form,

preparing an address label, and

routing a telephone call.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said database contains one or more data elements selected from the group consisting of

customer name elements,

customer address elements,

telephone call-routing elements,

problem management elements,

product update elements,

order form elements,

and advisory bulletin elements.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein providing said retrieved information to a customer service representative includes:

identifying a plurality of actions that may be performed to address an issue raised by the customer during the conversation;

ranking actions within the plurality of actions based on a criteria to thereby generate a ranked list of actions for addressing the issue; and

outputting the ranked list of actions to the customer service representative.

21. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

requesting approval of the action from the customer service representative; and

stopping the action if the customer service representative does not provide approval of the action.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

initiating an action in the ranked list of actions;

requesting approval of the action from the customer service representative;

stopping the action if the customer service representative does not provide approval of the action;

removing the action from the ranked list of actions in response to stopping the action; and

revising the ranked list of actions in response to removing the action from the ranked list of actions.

23. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

performing a plurality of actions in the ranked list of actions in an order determined based on the ranking of actions in the ranked list of actions.

5. A method for handling information used in customer service, said method comprising:

receiving speech input from a customer;

performing speech recognition on said speech input to generate a text equivalent;

parsing said text to identify a key word;

searching for an occurrence of said key word in a database;

retrieving information from said database, wherein said retrieving is completed during a conversation involving said customer and a customer service representative; and

providing said retrieved information to a customer service representative.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said speech input is derived from a telephone conversation.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

initiating action, based on said key word, to solve a problem affecting said customer.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said initiating action includes performing one or more tasks selected from the group consisting of

preparing an e-mail message,

preparing an order form,

preparing an address label, and

routing a telephone call.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein said database contains one or more data elements selected form the group consisting of

customer name elements,

customer address elements,

telephone call-routing elements,

problem management elements,

product update elements,

order form elements,

and advisory bulletin elements.

10. A system for handling information used in customer service, said system comprising:

means for receiving speech input from a customer;

means for performing speech recognition on said speech input to generate a text equivalent;

means for parsing said text to identify a key word;

means for searching for an occurrence of said key word in a database;

means for retrieving information from said database, wherein said means for retrieving completes its operation during a conversation involving said customer and a customer service representetive; and

means for providing said retrieved information to a customer service representative.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein said speech input is derived from a telephone conversation.

12. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

means for initiating action, based on said key word, to solve a problem affecting said customer.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein said means for initiating action includes means for performing one or more tasks selected from the group consisting of

preparing an e-mail message,

preparing an order form,

preparing an address label, and

routing a telephone call.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein said database contains one or more data elements selected form the group consisting of

customer name elements,

customer address elements,

telephone call-routing elements,

problem management elements,

product update elements,

order form elements,

and advisory bulletin elements.

15. A computer-usable medium having computer-executable instructions for handling information used in customer service, said computer-executable instructions comprising:

means for receiving speech input from a customer;

means for performing speech recognition on said speech input to generate a text equivalent;

means for parsing said text to identify a key word;

means for searching for an occurrence of said key word in a database;

means for retrieving information from said database, wherein said means for retrieving completes its operation during a conversation involving said customer and a customer service representative; and

means for providing said retrieved information to a customer service representative.

16. The computer-usable medium of claim 15, wherein said speech input is derived from a telephone conversation.

17. The computer-usable medium of claim 15, further comprising:

means for initiating action, based on said key word, to solve a problem affecting said customer.

18. The computer-usable medium of claim 17, wherein said means for initiating action includes means for performing one or more tasks selected form the group consisting of

preparing an e-mail message,

preparing an order form,

preparing an address label, and

routing a telephone call.

19. The computer-usable medium of claim 15, wherein said database contains one or more data elements selected form the group consisting of

customer name elements,

customer address elements,

telephone call-routing elements,

problem management elements,

product update elements,

order form elements,

and advisory bulletin elements.