Quality of service call routing system using counselor and speech recognition engine and method thereof

• US 7,689,425 B2
• Filed: 06/15/2005
• Issued: 03/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: SK Planet Co., Ltd. (SK Telecom Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: SK Marketing & Company Company Limited
• Inventors: Yoo, Kwan-Sik, Min, Dong-Soon, Chung, Seung-Woo, Lee, Jeong-Hun, Kim, Do-Sung
• Primary Examiner(s): Chawan; Vijay B
• Application Number:
  US11/153,660
• Publication Number:
  US 20050288927A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,749 Days
• Field of Search: 704/270, 704/275, 704/235, 704/260, 704/257, 704/243, 704/231, 704/270.1
• US Class Current: 704/270.1
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2011 Service processing based on information specified by a party before or during a call, e.g. information, tone or routing selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5166 in combination with interactive voice response systems or voice portals, e.g. as front-ends

Abstract

A QoS call routing system using a counselor and a speech recognition engine comprises a speech recognition engine for recognizing speech and outputting characters and speech recognition results; a first counselor group terminal for reproducing the client'"'"'s speech file to a counselor of a first counselor group so that the counselor may recognize the speech when the speech recognition result by the speech recognition engine is less than a reference value; a second counselor group terminal for allowing a counselor of a second counselor group to hear the client'"'"'s speech so that the counselor may recognize the speech when the recognition by the counselor of the first counselor group has failed; and an IVR server for controlling the engine and terminals to provide information to the client.

Claims

1. A call routing system for providing information requested by a client with a wired/wireless communication terminal by using a counselor and a speech recognition engine, comprising:

a speech recognition engine for recognizing client'"'"'s speech and outputting corresponding character information and speech recognition results;

a first counselor group terminal for reproducing a client'"'"'s recorded speech file transmitted from the speech recognition engine, the client'"'"'s speech being recorded in the client'"'"'s recorded speech file, and allowing a first counselor group having a plurality of counselors to hear the reproduced speech file, and displaying a recognition word list recognized by the speech recognition engine so that a counselor of the first counselor group may search information requested by the client and provide corresponding information;

a second counselor group terminal for allowing a second counselor group having a plurality of counselors to directly hear the client'"'"'s speech so that a counselor of the second counselor group may search information requested by the client and provide corresponding information; and

a main server for;

performing guidance according to a scenario for providing information to the client,

controlling the speech recognition engine to perform a first recognition of the client'"'"'s speech,

when a result of the first recognition by the speech recognition engine is less than a predefined reference value, transmitting the client'"'"'s recorded speech file and a recognition word list recognized by the speech recognition engine to the first counselor group terminal to thus allow a second recognition by the counselor of the first counselor group, and

when the second recognition by the counselor of the first counselor group has failed, directly call-connecting the second counselor group terminal and the client'"'"'s wired/wireless communication terminal and allowing a counselor of the second counselor group to directly hear the client'"'"'s speech to thus allow a third recognition by the counselor of the second counselor group.

2. The call routing system of claim 1, wherein the first counselor group terminal comprises:

a headset for allowing the counselor of the first counselor group to listen to the reproduced client'"'"'s recorded speech file; and

a computer system for displaying a recognition word list recognized by the speech recognition engine, and providing an information search function to the counselor of the first counselor group who has listened to the client'"'"'s recorded speech file through the headset.

3. The call routing system of claim 1, wherein the second counselor group terminal comprises:

a communication terminal allowable to be directly connected to the client'"'"'s wired/wireless communication terminal;

a headset, connected to the communication terminal, for allowing the counselor of the second counselor group to listen to the reproduced client'"'"'s recorded speech file; and

a computer system for providing an information search function to the counselor of the second counselor group who has directly listened to the client'"'"'s recorded speech file through the headset.

4. The call routing system of claim 1, further comprising an information providing database for storing various categories of information, searching requested information, and providing corresponding information.

5. The call routing system of claim 1, further comprising a text-to-speech (TTS) server connected to the main server and converting text data to speech,

wherein the main server converts recognition result information transmitted by the speech recognition engine, the first counselor group terminal, or the second counselor group terminal into speech through the TTS server, and provides the speech to the client.

6. The call routing system of claim 1, wherein the result of the first recognition outputted by the speech recognition engine is given as a recognition score for speech recognition, and

the second recognition by the counselor of the first counselor group is performed through the first counselor group terminal when the recognition score is less than the predefined reference value.

7. The call routing system of claim 1, wherein the speech recognition engine comprises a speech recognition database for storing basic information for speech recognition.

8. The call routing system of claim 7, wherein the speech recognition database stores a list of words recently or frequently used for each client or a list of words frequently used by the total clients.

9. A call routing method for providing information requested by a client with a wired/wireless communication terminal by using a counselor and a speech recognition engine, comprising:

a) performing a first recognition of speech inputted by the client by using a speech recognition engine when an information providing request is provided from the client through the wired/wireless communication terminal;

b) when a result of the first recognition by the speech recognition engine is less than a predefined reference value, reproducing a client'"'"'s recorded speech file in which the inputted client'"'"'s speech is recorded, to a counselor of a first counselor group and displaying a recognition word list recognized by the speech recognition engine to thus perform a second recognition by the counselor of the first counselor group;

c) when the second recognition by the counselor of the first counselor group has failed, allowing a counselor of a second counselor group to hear the client'"'"'s speech to thus perform a third recognition by the counselor of the second counselor group; and

d) searching for information requested by the client and providing the information when the result of the first recognition is greater than a predefined reference value, the second recognition by the counselor of the first counselor group is successful in b), or the third recognition by the counselor of the second counselor group is successful in c).

10. The call routing method of claim 9, wherein recognition result information is selected and input from a recognition word list displayed to the counselor of the first counselor group in b).

11. The call routing method of claim 9, wherein the counselor of the first counselor group is controlled to search for recognition information when the recognition word list displayed to the counselor of the first counselor group has no recognition result information in b).

12. The call routing method of claim 9, wherein the method comprises:

converting the information searched according to the recognized client'"'"'s speech by the first, second or third recognition in d); and

providing the converted speech information to the client.

13. The call routing method of claim 9, wherein the information provided to the client includes graphic data, characters, and combined formats of graphic data and characters in d).

14. In a call routing method for providing information requested by a client with a wired/wireless communication terminal by using a counselor and a speech recognition engine, a recording media for storing a program for realizing the functions comprising:

a) performing a first recognition of speech inputted by the client by using a speech recognition engine when an information providing request is provided from the client through the wired/wireless communication terminal;

b) when a result of the first recognition by the speech recognition engine is less than a predefined reference value, reproducing a client'"'"'s recorded speech file in which the inputted client'"'"'s speech is recorded, to a counselor of a first counselor group and displaying a recognition word list recognized by the speech recognition engine to thus perform a second recognition by the counselor of the first counselor group;

c) when the second recognition by the counselor of the first counselor group has failed, allowing a counselor of a second counselor group to hear the client'"'"'s speech to thus perform a third recognition by the counselor of the second counselor group; and

d) searching for information requested by the client and providing the information when the result of the first recognition is greater than a predefined reference value, the second recognition by the counselor of the first counselor group is successful in b), or the third recognition by the counselor of the second counselor group is successful in c).