Audio archive generation and presentation

• US 9,025,736 B2
• Filed: 02/04/2008
• Issued: 05/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Meng, Fan Ping, Shi, Qin, Shuang, Zhi Wei, Qin, Yong
• Primary Examiner(s): Hashem, Lisa
• Application Number:
  US12/025,535
• Publication Number:
  US 20080187109A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,647 Days
• Field of Search: 704/275, 709/206, 379/69, 379/88.01, 379/88.04, 379/88.13, 379/88.17, 379/265.09, 379/265.12
• US Class Current: 379/88.01
• 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 3/42221 Conversation recording systems at the subscriber's set H04M1/656
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4936 Speech interaction details speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5166 in combination with interactive voice response systems or voice portals, e.g. as front-ends

Abstract

A method, information processing system, and computer program storage product for automatically generating auditory archives in a customer service environment are disclosed. A communication link with an end user is established. An information form is retrieved. The information form includes at least a category choice information set and at least one audio recoding information set. The end user is prompted to answer a set of questions based on information in the information form. A data set associated with each answer to each question in the set of questions given by the end user is stored. The data is stored under a set of fields corresponding to a question. Each data set stored under the set of fields for each question in the set of questions are combined with each other. An audio archive file is generated including the data sets that have been combined.

Claims

1. A method for automatically generating auditory archives in a customer service environment, the method on an information processing system comprising:

establishing a communication link with an end user;

retrieving an information form file, wherein the information form file comprises at least a category choice information set and at least one audio recording information set;

prompting, in response to the retrieving, the end user to answer a set of questions based on the category choice information set and the audio recording information set stored within the information form file;

storing a data set associated with each answer to each question in the set of questions given by the end user, wherein at least a first data set is stored in the information form file in a storage area corresponding the category choice information set, and wherein at least a second data set is stored in the information form file in a storage area corresponding to the audio recording information set;

combining the first and second data sets into a combined data set having a given sequence;

generating auditory data representing the combined data set having the given sequence; and

storing the auditory data that has been generated as an auditory archive file in a storage area of the information form file designated for audio archive files.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information form file further comprises at least one of an auditory archive information set, a time tag information set, and an index information set.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

generating time tag information corresponding to each information type in a set of information types within the auditory data of the audio archive file; and

storing the time tag information into the time tag information set in the information form file.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the generating further comprises:

generating index information corresponding to the auditory data of the audio archive file; and

storing the index information into the index information set in the information form file.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the combining further comprises:

determining that at least one of the first data set and second data set comprises data in a form of text; and

converting the data in the form of text into an audio format.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the prompting further comprising:

prompting the end user to answer at least one question corresponding to the category information set via at least one of voice and keypad entry and at least one question corresponding to the audio recording set via voice.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein generating further comprises at least one of:

adding at least one voice prompt to each of the first and second data sets that have been combined;

deleting redundant voice information detected between each of the first and second data sets; and

deleting intervals of silence greater than a given threshold.

8. An information processing system for automatically generating auditory archives in a customer service environment, the information processing system comprising:

a memory;

a processor communicatively coupled to the memory; and

an Interactive Voice Response (“

IVR”

) module communicatively coupled to the memory and the processor, wherein the IVR module is configured to perform a method comprising;

retrieving an information form file, wherein the information form file comprises at least a category choice information set and at least one audio recording information set;

prompting, in response to the retrieving, an end user to answer a set of questions based on the category choice information set and the audio recording information set stored within the information form file;

storing one or more data set associated with each answer to each question in the set of questions given by the end user, wherein at least a first data set is a text- based data set and stored in the information form file in a first storage area corresponding to the category choice information set, and wherein at least a second data set is auditory-based data set and is stored in the information form file in a second storage area corresponding to the audio recording information set;

combining each data set, stored in the first and second storage areas into a combined data set having a given sequence;

generating auditory data representing the combined data set having the given sequence; and

storing the auditory data that has been generated as an auditory archive file in a storage area of the information form file designated for audio archive files.

9. The information processing system of claim 8, wherein the information form file further comprises at least one of an auditory archive information set, a time tag information set, and an index information set.

10. The information processing system of claim 9, further comprising:

generating time tag information corresponding to each information type in a set of information types within the auditory data of the audio archive file; and

storing the time tag information into the time tag information set in the information form file.

11. The information processing system of claim 9, wherein the generating further comprises:

generating index information corresponding to the auditory data of the audio archive file; and

storing the index information into the index information set in the information form file.

12. The information processing system of claim 8, wherein the combining further comprises:

determining that at least one of the first data set and second data set comprises data in a form of text; and

converting the data in the form of text into an audio format.

13. The information processing system of claim 8, wherein the prompting further comprises

prompting the end user to answer at least one question corresponding to the category information set via at least one of voice and keypad entry and at least one question corresponding to the audio recording set via voice.

14. The information processing system of claim 8, wherein the generating further comprises

adding at least one voice prompt to each data set that has been combined;

deleting redundant voice information detected between each data set; and

deleting intervals of silence greater than a given threshold.

15. A computer program storage product for automatically generating auditory archives in a customer service environment, the computer program storage product comprising instructions for:

retrieving an information form file, wherein the information form file comprises at least a category choice information set and at least one audio recording information set;

prompting, in response to the retrieving, an end user to answer a set of questions based on the category choice information set and the audio recording information set stored within the information form file;

storing a data set associated with each answer to each question in the set of questions given by the end user, wherein at least a first data set is stored in the information form file in a storage area corresponding the category choice information set, and wherein at least a second data set is stored in the information form file in a storage area corresponding to the audio recording information set;

combining the first and second data sets, into a combined data set having a given sequence;

generating auditory data representing the combined data set having the given sequence; and

storing the auditory data that has been generated as an auditory archive file in a storage area of the information form file designated for audio archive files.

16. The computer program storage product of claim 15, wherein the information form file further comprises at least one of an auditory archive information set, a time tag information set, and an index information set.

17. The computer program storage product of claim 16, further comprising:

generating time tag information corresponding to each information type in a set of information types within the auditory data of the audio archive file; and

storing the time tag information into the time tag information set in the information form file.

18. The computer program storage product of claim 15, wherein the instructions for combining further comprise instructions for:

determining that at least one of the first data set and second data set comprises data in a form of text; and

converting the data in the form of text into an audio format.

19. The computer program storage product of claim 15, wherein the instructions for prompting further comprise instructions for:

prompting the end user to answer at least one question corresponding to the category information set via at least one of voice and keypad entry and at least one question corresponding to the audio recording set via voice.

20. The computer program storage product of claim 15, further comprising at least one of:

adding at least one voice prompt to each of the first and second data sets that have been combined;

deleting redundant voice information detected between each of the first and second data sets; and

deleting intervals of silence greater than a given threshold,

generating a set of time tag information corresponding to each information type in a set of information types within the auditory data of the audio archive file; and

storing the set of time tag information into the time tag information set in the information form file.