Multi-modal communications method

• US 7,366,285 B2
• Filed: 01/20/2004
• Issued: 04/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: AT&T Labs Incorporated (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Labs Incorporated (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bhavsar, Vikram, Parolkar, Satish
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang; Fan
• Assistant Examiner(s): ELAHEE, MD S
• Application Number:
  US10/759,159
• Publication Number:
  US 20040148332A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,561 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88.17, 379/88.18, 379/88.11, 379/88.12, 379/88.19, 379/88.2, 379/88.21, 379/67.1, 379/76, 379/93.24, 379/265.01, 379/266.07, 379/265.09, 709/214, 709/227, 725/24, 705/10, 705/2, 370/395.2
• US Class Current: 379/88.17
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/401 wherein the services involve a main real-time session and one or more additional parallel real-time or time sensitive sessions, e.g. white board sharing or spawning of a subconference
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/053 remote terminal provisioning, e.g. of applets
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/1016 Telecontrol
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/553 Data upload
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42 Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers specially adapted for wireless communication networks H04W4/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/58 Arrangements for transferring received calls from one subscriber to another; Arrangements affording interim conversations between either the calling or the called party and a third party substation line holding circuits H04M1/80

Abstract

A method of collecting information is provided. The method includes sending an interactive text markup programming language script, using a session initiation protocol (SIP) message, to a communications device. The interactive script includes a first query and a second query that depends on a response to the first query. The method also includes receiving the response from the communications device. The response is based upon input from a user of the communications device.

Claims

1. A method of collecting information, comprising:

sending an interactive text markup programming language script, using a session initiation protocol (SIP) message, to a communications device, the interactive script including at least a first query and a second query that is presented based on a response to the first query; and

receiving the response to the first query and a response to the second query from the communications device, each of the response to the first query and the response to the second query being based upon input from a user of the communications device.

2. The method of collecting information of claim 1, wherein the received responses comprise information of at least one of a location of the communications device, a type of the communications device, a communications format used by the communications device, a communications mode desired by the user of the communications device, a personal identification of the user of the communications device, an account number of the user of the communications device, a password of the user of the communications device, billing information of the user of the communications device, the intent of the user of the communications device, a preferred language of the user of the communications device, and a question from the user of the communications device.

3. The method of collecting information of claim 1, wherein the received responses are a textual representation of one of a DTMF tone, VoiceXML and HTML speech tags.

4. The method of collecting information of claim 1, further comprising providing the response to a user of a recipient device.

5. The method of collecting information of claim 1, the response being additionally based upon information provided by the communications device.

6. A method of determining a final call destination for a user using a communications device, the method comprising:

sending an interactive text markup programming language script, using a session initiation protocol (SIP) message, from a call queue to the communications device, the interactive script including at least a first query and a second query that is presented based on a response to the first query, the queries being presented to the user via a user interface associated with the communications device; and

receiving the response to the first query and a response to the second query from the communications device, each of the response to the first query and the response to the second query being based upon input from the user of the communications device, and determining a call destination based on the received responses.

7. The method of determining the final call destination of claim 6, wherein the received responses comprise information of at least one of a location of the communications device, a type of the communications device, a communications format used by the communications device, a communications mode desired by the user, a personal identification of the user, an account number of the user, a password of the user, billing information of the user, the intent of the user, a preferred language of the user, and a question from the user.

8. The method of determining the final call destination of claim 6, wherein the received responses are a textual representations of one of a DTMF tone, VoiceXML and HTML speech tags.

9. The method of determining the final call destination of claim 6, further comprising providing the received responses to an agent at the call destination.

10. The method of determining the final call destination of claim 6, the response being additionally based upon information provided by the communications device.

11. A method of interactively pre-screening caller information of a user using a communications device, the method comprising:

sending an interactive text markup programming language script, using a session initiation protocol (SIP) message, from an information service to the communications device, the interactive script including at least a first query and a second query that is presented based on a response to the first query; and

receiving the response to the first query and a response to the second query from the communications device, each of the response to the first query and the response to the second query being based upon input from the user of the communications device.

12. The method of interactively pre-screening user information of claim 11, further comprising establishing a communications connection between the communications device and one of a plurality of agent devices, the one of the plurality of agent devices being determined based on the response.

13. The method of interactively pre-screening user information of claim 11, wherein the received responses comprise information of at least one of a location of the communications device, a type of the communications device, a communications format used by the communications device, a communications mode desired by the user, a personal identification of the user, an account number of the user, a password of the user, billing information of the user, the intent of the user, a preferred language of the user, and a question from the user.

14. The method of interactively pre-screening user information of claim 11, wherein the received responses are a textual representations of one of a DTMF tone, VoiceXML and HTML speech tags.

15. The method of interactively pre-screening user information of claim 11, further comprising providing the response to an agent of the information service at an agent terminal.

16. The method of interactively pre-screening user information of claim 11, the response being additionally based upon information provided by the communications device.

17. A computer readable medium for storing a computer program that controls collection of information from a user of a communications device, the computer readable medium comprising:

a session initiation protocol (SIP) segment that creates a session initiation protocol message, comprising an interactive text markup programming language script, that is sent to the communications device, the interactive script including at least a first query and a second query that is presented based on a response to the first query; and

a data processing segment that receives a response to the first query and a response to the second query from the communications device, each of the response to the first query and the response to the second query being based upon input from a user of the communications device, the data processing segment analyzing the received responses.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17, the response being additionally based upon information provided by the communications device.

19. A data reception system that receives collected data from a user using a communications device, comprising:

a call queue that receives a call from an automated call distributor and sends, using a session initiation protocol (SIP) message, an interactive text markup programming language script to the communications device, the interactive script including at least a first query and a second query that is presented based on a response to the first query, the call queue receiving a response to the first query and a response to the second query from the communications device, each of the response to the first query and the response to the second query being based upon input from the user of the communications device, and the received responses being processed at the call queue.

20. The data reception system of claim 19, wherein the response is additionally based upon information provided by the communications device.