Customized provision of automated menu options

• US 7,983,401 B1
• Filed: 08/15/2006
• Issued: 07/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cingular Wireless II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Krinsky, Jeffrey A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Goins, Davetta W
• Assistant Examiner(s): ISLAM, MOHAMMAD K
• Application Number:
  US11/464,523
• Time in Patent Office: 1,799 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88.01, 379/88.03, 379/201.02, 379/211.01, 379/211.02, 379/219, 455/466
• US Class Current: 379/88.23
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/527 Centralised call answering arrangements not requiring operator intervention

Abstract

A system for utilization in connection with an automated telephone attendant comprises a recognizer component that determines information associated with a caller, such as identity of the caller, that is connected with the automated telephone attendant. An organization component dynamically determines which menu options to provide to the caller and an order of the menu options based at least in part upon the determined information associated with caller.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a recognizer component configured to determine information associated with a caller that is in contact with an automated telephone attendant;

an analyzer component configured to obtain a set of system data characterized by demographic information relating to a demographic of the caller with respect to the automated attendant and a set of user-centric data associated with the caller, and infer a set of preferences based at least in part on the set of system data and the set of user-centric data; and

an organization component configured to dynamically determine menu options to provide to the caller and an order of the menu options based at least in part upon the information associated with the caller and the set of preferences inferred by the analyzer component.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the user-centric data includes a preference that has been explicitly received from the caller.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the preference has been explicitly received from the caller via a web browser.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the analyzer component is further configured to infer the set of preferences through utilization of machine learning.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a receiver component that is communicatively coupled to the analyzer component, wherein the receiver component is configured to acquire contextual data from a sensor, and the analyzer component is configured to infer the set of preferences based at least in part on the contextual data.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the contextual data includes a current location of the caller, a time of day of the call, and a day of week of the call.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a voice analysis component configured to analyze a voice sample to determine an identity of the caller.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a query component configured to query the caller for identification information.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the recognizer component utilizes caller identification information to determine an identity of the caller.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the organization component is further configured to determine an advertisement to provide to the caller, while on hold, based at least in part on an identity of the caller.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a collection component configured to retain menu option selections made by the caller for later utilization by the organization component.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the organization component is further configured to receive a data packet that includes metadata relating to a purpose of the caller being in contact with the automated telephone attendant, and determine options to provide to the caller based at least in part upon an analysis of the metadata.

13. A method comprising:

connecting an individual with an automated telephone attendant;

determining information related to the individual in contact with the automated telephone attendant including determining an identity of the individual demographic information related to the individual;

generating a set of data based on a plurality of previous individuals in contact with the automated telephone attendant, wherein the plurality of previous individuals have related demographic information within a predetermined range of the demographic information related to the individual;

inferring a set of preferences for the individual based at least in part on the demographic information related to the individual and the set of data based on the plurality of previous individuals; and

dynamically determining a set of menu options based at least in part on the set of preferences.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

accessing a data storage that maintains a set of explicitly received preferences from the individual with respect to menu options; and

utilizing the set of explicitly received preferences in connection with dynamically determining the set of menu options.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

accessing a data storage that maintains caller history;

inferring the set of preferences for of the individual based at least in part on utilization of machine learning techniques over contents of the data storage; and

utilizing the set of preferences in connection with dynamically determining the set of menu options.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving contextual data associated with the individual; and

determining the menu options based at least in part on the contextual data.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising determining an identity of the individual through analyzing a voice sample of the individual.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising determining that the individual has not previously been connected with the automated telephone attendant, and in response to the individual not previously being connected with the automated telephone attendant, providing the individual with a default menu.

19. A computer readable storage medium comprising computer executable instructions that, in response to execution by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform operations, comprising:

determining an identity of a caller into a customer service line;

obtaining data associated with the caller from a data store, wherein the data includes a set of demographic information associated with the caller;

selecting a set of previous callers to the customer service line that have demographic information within a predetermined threshold of the set of demographic information associated with the caller;

compiling a set of usage data for the set of previous callers;

inferring a set of preferences for the caller based at least in part on the data associated with the caller and the set of usage data for the set of previous callers;

obtaining a set of explicit preferences from the caller; and

automatically determining menu options to provide to the caller and an order of the menu options based at least in part on the set of preferences and the set of explicit preferences.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising receiving contextual data and automatically determining the menu options to provide to the caller and the order of the menu options based at least in part on the set of preferences, the set of explicit preferences, and the contextual data.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the contextual data includes data relating to a telephone location.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein determining the identity of the caller includes indentifying the caller as a communication enabled automobile.