System and method to enable access of multiple service providers in a single call

• US 8,804,934 B2
• Filed: 07/22/2011
• Issued: 08/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TATA Consultancy Services Limited (Tata Sons Pvt Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: TATA Consultancy Services Limited (Tata Sons Pvt Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kopparapu, Sunil Kumar, Sheikh, Imran Ahmed, Pande, Arun
• Primary Examiner(s): GAY, SONIA L
• Application Number:
  US13/188,970
• Publication Number:
  US 20120051532A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,117 Days
• Field of Search: 379/201.02, 379/201.05, 379/211.04, 379/88.16
• US Class Current: 379/201.05
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4285 Notifying, informing or entertaining a held party while on hold, e.g. Music On Hold
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/465 Arrangements for simultaneously calling a number of substations until an answer is obtained
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals

Abstract

The present invention proposes a system and a method to enable an IVR mashup interface to ease the selection of services over a communication device and enhances the caller experience by ways of personalizing the call and making effective use of the call hold time. The said system and method as implemented by the mashup server automatically connects the caller to the most immediate service offering service provider after simultaneously placing of the call to various service providers. In the mean time, the mashup server simultaneously calculates the wait time to get connected to service provider after a call is made to mashup service and relays appropriate promotional content to the caller based on such wait time and the profile of the user. Further the system and method as proposed is capable of representing a user and transact on behalf of the user by talking to the live agents or interacting with the automated IVR systems representing the service providers.

Claims

1. A method for connecting a user with a vendor of a plurality of vendors providing a similar service, the method comprising:

creating a user profile associated with the user, wherein the user profile comprises user'"'"'s personal data and one or more preferred vendors selected by the user;

automatically answering, by a mashup server, a user'"'"'s phone call;

initiating a call, based upon the user'"'"'s phone call, to simultaneously tie-in Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system of each vendor in the call;

determining a wait time associated with each vendor in the call, wherein the wait time is an amount of time required by each vendor before the mashup server actually interacts with each vendor, wherein the wait time is determined based upon a voice response message received from the IVR system of each vendor after the initiation of the call;

determining the vendor from the plurality of vendors based upon the wait time associated with each vendor and the one or more preferred vendors present in the user profile;

disconnecting the call with all of the plurality of vendors except with the vendor; and

connecting the user with the vendor.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising playing infotainment messages and advertisements relevant to the user'"'"'s personal data until the wait time associated with the vendor is expired.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the user'"'"'s personal data comprises an age of the user, a sex of the user, a location of the user, interests of the user, a date of birth of the user, an occupation of the user, an income range of the user, and a contact number of the user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the service comprises a radio-cab service, a travel portal, a movie-show booking, and a local search engine.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the user is connected with the vendor after the expiry of the wait time associated with the vendor.

4. A system for connecting a user with a vendor of a plurality of vendors providing a similar service, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to execute programmed instructions stored in the memory in order to;

create a user profile associated with the user, wherein the user profile comprises user'"'"'s personal data and one or more preferred vendors selected by the user;

automatically answer a user'"'"'s phone call;

initiate a call, based upon the user'"'"'s phone call, to simultaneously tie-in Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system of each vendor in the call;

determine a wait time associated with each vendor in the call, wherein the wait time is an amount of time required by each vendor before the system actually interacts with each vendor, wherein the wait time is determined based upon a voice response message received from the IVR system of each vendor after the initiation of the call;

determine the vendor from the plurality of vendors based upon the wait time associated with each vendor and the one or more preferred vendors present in the user profile; and

connect the user with the vendor.

5. A system for obtaining information from a plurality of vendors providing similar services and/or products, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the processor is configured to execute programmed instructions stored in the memory in order to;

automatically answer a user'"'"'s phone call;

capture a voice request message provided by a user in the user'"'"'s phone call, wherein the message includes information about a service or product desired by the user;

convert the voice request message into a text request message using a speech recognition engine;

identify a query, a source and a destination from the text request message associated with the voice request message;

initiate a call, based upon the destination present in the text request message, to simultaneously tie-in the plurality of vendors capable of providing the service or product to the user;

convert the query from the text request message into a speech message using text to speech engine;

transmitting the speech message to the plurality of vendors present in the call after disconnecting the user'"'"'s phone call;

receiving a response from each vendor of the plurality vendors based upon the message transmitted;

re-establishing a call with the user after the receipt of the response of each vendor;

communicating the response of the each vendor to the user over the re-established call.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the processor further determines a preferred vendor from the plurality of vendors based upon the voice request message or a user profile associated with the user.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor further:

initiates the call with the preferred vendor,

transmits the speech message to the preferred vendor,

receives the response from the preferred vendor,

re-establishes the call with the user after the receipt of the response from the preferred vendor, and

communicates the response of the preferred vendor to the user over the re-established call.