Method and apparatus for managing user conversations
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method comprising:
- receiving an arbitrary natural language communication from a user;
applying a concept recognition process to automatically derive a representation of concepts embodied in the communication;
using the concept representation to provide to a human agent information useful in responding to the natural language communication, wherein the information provided to the human agent includes a plurality of possible responses to the user'"'"'s communication;
enabling the human agent to select a response from the plurality of possible responses; and
delivering the selected response to the user.
3 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
In one aspect, an arbitrary natural language communication is received from a user. A concept recognition process is applied to automatically derive a representation of concepts embodied in the communication. The concept representation is used to provide to a human agent information useful in responding to the natural language communication.
132 Citations
109 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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receiving an arbitrary natural language communication from a user; applying a concept recognition process to automatically derive a representation of concepts embodied in the communication; using the concept representation to provide to a human agent information useful in responding to the natural language communication, wherein the information provided to the human agent includes a plurality of possible responses to the user'"'"'s communication; enabling the human agent to select a response from the plurality of possible responses; and delivering the selected response to the user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
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51. A method comprising:
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receiving an arbitrary natural language communication from a user; automatically deriving a representation of concepts embodied in the communication; and using the concept representation, automatically providing a response to the communication to the user in a different mode of expression than the mode of expression used for the communication, wherein the response is selected by a human agent from a plurality of possible responses to the communication received from the user. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53)
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54. A method comprising:
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initiating a dialog with a user by sending a first natural language communication to the user; in response to the first natural language communication to the user, receiving a second natural language communication from the user; applying a concept recognition process to automatically derive a representation of concepts embodied in the second communication; using the concept representation to provide to a human agent information useful in responding to the second communication; enabling the human agent to select a response to the second communication; and delivering the selected response to the user while preventing the user from knowing that the response was selected by the human agent.
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55. A method comprising:
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receiving a set of recordings or transcripts of dialogs between users and human agents; recognizing the speech in the recordings, separating each of the dialogs into communications each of which is made by either a user or a human agent; applying a concept recognition process to derive a representation of concepts embodied in each of the communications; automatically creating a body of state-transition-state or stimulus-response information from the concept representations that enables automated determination of appropriate responses to natural language communications received from users; enabling a first human agent to select a response that is one of the appropriate responses; and delivering the selected response to a first user while preventing the first user from knowing that the response was selected by the first human agent.
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56. A method comprising:
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receiving example dialogs each comprising a sequence of natural language communications between two parties; applying a concept recognition process to automatically derive a representation of concepts embodied in each of the communications; using the sequences of communications to form a body of state-transition-state or stimulus-response information that enables a determination of an appropriate transition for any arbitrary communication that is received when in a particular one of the states; enabling a human agent to select a response after the appropriate transition is determined; and delivering the selected response to user. - View Dependent Claims (57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64)
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65. A method comprising:
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receiving an arbitrary natural language communication from a user; determining a degree of involvement of a human agent in responding to the communication from the user; and performing at least one mode of a plurality of conversation management modes based on the determined degree involvement, wherein; a first mode of the plurality of conversation management modes comprises producing a response to the user in an automated manner without interaction by the human agent; a second mode of the plurality of conversation management modes comprises; enabling the human agent to select a response from a plurality of possible responses to the communication from the user; and delivering the selected response to the user; and a third mode of the plurality of conversation management modes comprises initiating direct communication between the human agent and the user. - View Dependent Claims (66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73)
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74. A method comprising:
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enabling a user to access a contact service facility; receiving communications from the user at the contact service facility; providing responses to the user'"'"'s communications; and causing at least one of the responses to be selected by a human agent based on the results of an automated concept matching process applied to the communications, the user being unaware that the human agent selected the response. - View Dependent Claims (75, 76)
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77. A method comprising:
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maintaining a body of state-transition-state or stimulus-response information that represents possible sequences of natural language communications between a user and a response system, the information being generated automatically from historical sequences of communications; and using selected ones of the sequences of communications to manage human agents who provide responses to user communications, wherein at least a portion of the provided responses include automatically generated responses that are selected by the human agents and delivered to the users. - View Dependent Claims (78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83)
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84. A method comprising:
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maintaining a body of state-transition-state or stimulus-response information that enables automated determination of appropriate responses to natural language communications received from users; receiving other natural language communications from users for which appropriate responses cannot be determined; tracking actions taken by a human agent in connection with responding to the other natural language communications, wherein the actions taken by the human agent include selecting responses for use in responding to the other natural language communications, wherein the selected responses are delivered to the users; and automatically inferring from the other natural language communications and the selected responses, information for inclusion in the body of state-transition-state or stimulus-response information. - View Dependent Claims (85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90)
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91. A method comprising:
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maintaining a body of state-transition-state or stimulus-response information that enables automated determination of appropriate responses to natural language communications received from users, the state-transition-state or stimulus-response information being associated with a contact center of an enterprise; updating the body of information based on communications received from users and responses selected by human agents of the contact center, wherein the responses selected by human agents are delivered to the user while preventing the users from knowing that the responses were provided by the human agents; and analyzing the body of information to infer knowledge about the operation of the enterprise.
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92. A method comprising:
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maintaining a body of state-transition-state or stimulus-response information that enables automated determination of appropriate responses to natural language communications received from users, the state-transition-state or stimulus-response information being based on concept representations derived from example natural language communications; the example natural language communications being predominantly in one language; using the state-transition-state or stimulus-response information to provide appropriate responses to natural language communications received from users in a second language different from the one language; enabling a human agent to select a response from the provided appropriate responses; and delivering the selected response to a user.
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93. A method comprising:
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displaying to a human agent a user interface containing concept representation-based information useful in responding to natural language communications from users; the information including automatically generated possible natural language responses and indications of relative confidence levels associated with the responses; enabling the human agent to select a response from the automatically generated possible natural language responses; and delivering the selected response to a user. - View Dependent Claims (94, 95, 96, 97, 98)
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99. A method comprising:
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maintaining a body of state-transition-state or stimulus-response information that enables automated determination of appropriate responses to natural language communications received from users, the state-transition-state or stimulus-response information being based on concept representations derived from example natural language communications, each of the states having possibly multiple transitions leading to a later state; when in a predetermined one of the states, using information about the multiple transitions to improve the accuracy of recognition of a speech recognizer that is processing a spoken communication from a user; generating a plurality of possible responses based at least in part on the spoken communication from the user; enabling a human agent to select a response from the automatically generated possible natural language responses; and delivering the selected response to the user. - View Dependent Claims (100)
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101. A method comprising:
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receiving natural language communications from users; automatically considering possible responses to the communications and confidence levels with respect to the responses, providing automated responses to a first portion of the users based on the confidence levels; refraining from providing automated responses to a second portion of the users; enabling the human agent to select responses from the possible responses; and delivering the selected response to the second portion of the users while preventing the second portion of the users from knowing that the response was selected by the human agent.
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102. A method comprising:
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receiving natural language communications from users; automatically recognizing concepts contained in the communications; distributing the communications to human agents for responding to the users, the distribution being based on the concepts recognized in the communications; enabling at least a portion of the human agents to select responses based on the distribution; and delivering the selected responses to the users while preventing the users from knowing that the responses were selected by the portion of the human agents.
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103. An apparatus comprising:
a user interface for a human agent at a contact service facility, the user interface including; a window containing information provided by a contact service process, the information including; information about a user of the facility; and window elements embedded in the window provided by the contact service process, the elements including a list of possible natural language responses based on concept representations for an active communication of a user, and indications of relative confidence that the respective responses are appropriate for the communication of the user; and a conversation management mode configured to enable the human agent to select a response from the list of possible natural language responses, and to deliver the selected response to the user. - View Dependent Claims (104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109)
Specification