Autonomous eclone

• US 7,089,280 B1
• Filed: 11/02/2001
• Issued: 08/08/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Satapathy, Durga Prasad, Distler, Peter H., Nelson, Tracy
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Philip B.
• Application Number:
  US10/005,493
• Time in Patent Office: 1,740 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/246, 709/229, 709204-206, 709223-225, 709/232, 709/245, 704/235, 704/260, 704/270.1, 704/275
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/527 Centralised call answering arrangements not requiring operator intervention

Abstract

An autonomous eclone (10) comprises a plurality of interface agents (15,20,25,30) operable to interact with a person; an expert system (35) operable to process a command originated by any of the agents (15,20,25,30); and a database (40) accessible by the expert system (35) and operable to store all available information associated with a user. The eclone (10) also comprises an input authenticator and classifier (45) operable to authenticate and classify the person; a command creator (50) operable to create the command based upon a request; an output action generator (55) operable to execute the command and relay a result to any of the agents (15,20,25,30); and an activity logger (60) operable to log the request and the result. The expert system (35) is essentially a collection of rules that define how the eclone (10) reacts to each request.

Claims

1. A system operable to represent a user of a plurality of message mediums and to independently respond to a person wishing to communicate with the user via an unattended one of said message mediums, the system comprising:

a plurality of interface agents each coupled to a respective message medium and each operable to detect an unattended message received from the person, convert the unattended message into a written request, append the request with an identifier for identifying the person wishing to communicate with the user, and relay a result to the person;

an authenticator operable to match the identifier with one of a plurality of known records, thereby authenticating the person;

a classifier operable to create, store, and retrieve a classification associated with each record;

a command creator operable to convert the request into a database query;

an expert system operable to modify the query by applying a collection of rules;

a database operable to store information relating to the user; and

an output action generator operable to access the database, execute the query thereby generating the result based on the information in the database, and relay the result to the interface agents.

2. The system as set forth in claim 1, at least one of the interface agents being further operable to convert the result into a synthesized speech response.

3. The system as set forth in claim 1, at least one of the interface agents being further operable to convert a spoken message into the written request.

4. The system as set forth in claim 3, at least one of the interface agents being further operable to generate a voice signature based upon the spoken message.

5. The system as set forth in claim 1, the interface agents being selected from the group consisting of an email agent, a telephone agent, a voice-mail agent, and a video-conference agent.

6. The system as set forth in claim 1, the information stored in the database being selected from the group consisting of email, word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, schedules, contracts, drawings, figures, telephone numbers, dates, names, records, notes, files, images, addresses, and personal data about the user.

7. A system operable to represent a user of a message medium and to independently respond to a message received from a person wishing to communicate with the user when the message medium is unattended by the user, the system comprising:

an interface agent operable to detect an unattended spoken message received from the person, convert the spoken message into a written request, generate a voice signature based upon the spoken message, append the request with an identifier for identifying the person wishing to communicate with the user, and convert a result into a verbal response;

an authenticator operable to match the identifier with one of a plurality of known records, thereby authenticating the person;

a classifier operable to create, store, and retrieve a classification associated with each record;

a command creator operable to convert the request into a database query;

an expert system operable to modify the query by applying a collection of rules;

an output action generator operable to execute the query generating and relaying the result to the interface agent; and

a database operable to store information which is accessed by the output action generator through executing the query.

8. The system as set forth in claim 7, the information stored in the database being selected from the group consisting of email, word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, schedules, contracts, drawings, figures, telephone numbers, dates, names, records, notes, files, images, addresses, and personal data about the user.