Visual interactive voice response system

• US 9,467,563 B1
• Filed: 04/10/2015
• Issued: 10/11/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Incorporated (Genesys Cloud Services Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Angel.com, Inc. (Genesys Cloud Services Incorporated)
• Inventors: Kolman, Scott, Friio, Andrea, Kumar, Praphul, Konig, Yochai
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan, Joseph T
• Application Number:
  US14/683,894
• Publication Number:
  US 20160301802A1
• Time in Patent Office: 550 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1063 Application servers providing network services systems providing special services to telephonic subscribers H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/253 where a visual mode is used instead of a voice mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42136 Administration or customisation of services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4938 comprising a voice browser which renders and interprets, e.g. VoiceXML

Abstract

A request is received from a communications device to execute an interaction site. A request is transmitted to the automated response system. First instructions that provide one or more steps of the multi-step communication flow between the communications device and the automated response system are received from the automated response system. In response to determining that the request is for the voice-interaction with the interaction site, second instructions that provide the one or more steps through a voice interaction with a user of the communications device are determined and transmitted to the communications device. In response to determining that the request is for the visual-interaction with the interaction site, third instructions that provide the one or more steps through a visual interaction with the user of the communications device are determined and transmitted to the communications device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by an application server and from a communications device, a request to execute an interaction site for enabling communications to be exchanged between an automated response system and the communications device, wherein the interaction site specifies a multi-step communication flow between the communications device and the automated response system;

transmitting, from the application server and to the automated response system, a request to execute the interaction site;

receiving, by the application server and from the automated response system, first instructions that, when executed, provide one or more steps of the multi-step communication flow between the communications device and the automated response system;

determining, by the application server, whether the request from the communications device is for a voice-interaction with the interaction site or a visual-interaction with the interaction site;

in response to determining that the request from the communications device is for the voice-interaction with the interaction site;

determining, by the application server and based on the first instructions, second instructions that, when executed by the communications device, provide the one or more steps through a voice interaction with a user of the communications device; and

transmitting, from the application server and to the communications device, the second instructions; and

in response to determining that the request from the communications device is for the visual-interaction with the interaction site;

determining, by the application server and based on the first instructions, third instructions that, when executed by the communications device, provide the one or more steps through a visual interaction with the user of the communications device; and

,

transmitting, from the application server and to the communications device, the third instructions.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting, from the application server and to the automated response system, the request to execute the interaction site comprises transmitting to the automated response system an indication that indicates whether the request from the communications device is for the voice-interaction with the interaction site or the visual-interaction with interaction site.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the request from the communications device is for the voice-interaction with the interaction site or the visual-interaction with the interaction site comprises:

determining whether the request is received from a voice channel or a data channel;

in response to determining that the request is received from the voice channel, determining that the request is for the voice-interaction with the interaction site; and

in response to determining that the request is received from the data channel, determining that the request is for the visual-interaction with the interaction site.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the request from the communications device is for the voice-interaction with the interaction site or the visual-interaction with the interaction site comprises:

determining that the request is based on hypertext markup language (HTML); and

in response to determining that the request is based on HTML, determining that the request from the communications device is for the visual-interaction with the interaction site.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing data representing a communication between the communications device and the automated response system, the data including an indication of whether the communication is visual.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the interaction site is associated with one or more interaction pages, wherein each interaction page represents a respective step of the multi-step communication flow, and wherein the one or more voice interaction are configured by a user of a content provider device through interactions with a development interface to include values for (i) one or more parameters associated with the voice-interaction with the interaction site, (ii) one or more parameters associated with the visual-interaction with the interaction site, and (iii) one or more parameters associated with both the voice-interaction and the visual-interaction with the interaction site.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the second instructions do not include instructions generated using the values for the one or more parameters associated with the visual-interaction with the interaction site, and wherein the third instructions do not include instructions generated using the values for the one or more parameters associated with the voice-interaction with the interaction site.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first instructions are based on state chart extensible markup language (SCXML), wherein the second instructions are based on voice extensible markup language (VoiceXML), and wherein the third instructions are based on HTML5.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first instructions and the second instructions are based on VoiceXML, and wherein the third instructions are based on HTML5.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the automated response system is an interactive voice response system.

11. A system, comprising:

one or more processors and one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage devices storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving, from a communications device, a request to execute an interaction site for enabling communications to be exchanged between an automated response system and the communications device, wherein the interaction site specifies a multi-step communication flow between the communications device and the automated response system;

transmitting, to the automated response system, a request to execute the interaction site;

receiving, from the automated response system, first instructions that, when executed, provide one or more steps of the multi-step communication flow between the communications device and the automated response system;

determining whether the request from the communications device is for a voice-interaction with the interaction site or a visual-interaction with the interaction site;

in response to determining that the request from the communications device is for the voice-interaction with the interaction site;

determining, based on the first instructions, second instructions that, when executed by the communications device, provide the one or more steps through a voice interaction with a user of the communications device; and

transmitting, to the communications device, the second instructions; and

in response to determining that the request from the communications device is for the visual-interaction with the interaction site;

determining, based on the first instructions, third instructions that, when executed by the communications device, provide the one or more steps through a visual interaction with the user of the communications device; and

,

transmitting, to the communications device, the third instructions.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein transmitting the request to execute the interaction site comprises transmitting to the automated response system an indication that indicates whether the request from the communications device is for the voice-interaction with the interaction site or the visual-interaction with interaction site.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein determining whether the request from the communications device is for the voice-interaction with the interaction site or the visual-interaction with the interaction site comprises:

determining whether the request is received from a voice channel or a data channel;

in response to determining that the request is received from the voice channel, determining that the request is for the voice-interaction with the interaction site; and

in response to determining that the request is received from the data channel, determining that the request is for the visual-interaction with the interaction site.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein determining whether the request from the communications device is for the voice-interaction with the interaction site or the visual-interaction with the interaction site comprises:

determining that the request is based on hypertext markup language (HTML); and

in response to determining that the request is based on HTML, determining that the request from the communications device is for the visual-interaction with the interaction site.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise storing data representing a communication between the communications device and the automated response system, the data including an indication of whether the communication is visual.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the interaction site is associated with one or more interaction pages, wherein each interaction page represents a respective step of the multi-step communication flow, and wherein the one or more voice interaction are configured by a user of a content provider device through interactions with a development interface to include values for (i) one or more parameters associated with the voice-interaction with the interaction site, (ii) one or more parameters associated with the visual-interaction with the interaction site, and (iii) one or more parameters associated with both the voice-interaction and the visual-interaction with the interaction site.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the second instructions do not include instructions generated using the values for the one or more parameters associated with the visual-interaction with the interaction site, and wherein the third instructions do not include instructions generated using the values for the one or more parameters associated with the voice-interaction with the interaction site.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the first instructions are based on state chart extensible markup language (SCXML), wherein the second instructions are based on voice extensible markup language (VoiceXML), and wherein the third instructions are based on HTML5.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the first instructions and the second instructions are based on VoiceXML, and wherein the third instructions are based on HTML5.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device storing instructions that when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a communications device, a request to execute an interaction site for enabling communications to be exchanged between an automated response system and the communications device, wherein the interaction site specifies a multi-step communication flow between the communications device and the automated response system;

transmitting, to the automated response system, a request to execute the interaction site;

receiving, from the automated response system, first instructions that, when executed, provide one or more steps of the multi-step communication flow between the communications device and the automated response system;

determining whether the request from the communications device is for a voice-interaction with the interaction site or a visual-interaction with the interaction site;

in response to determining that the request from the communications device is for the voice-interaction with the interaction site;

determining, based on the first instructions, second instructions that, when executed by the communications device, provide the one or more steps through a voice interaction with a user of the communications device; and

transmitting, to the communications device, the second instructions; and

in response to determining that the request from the communications device is for the visual-interaction with the interaction site;

determining, based on the first instructions, third instructions that, when executed by the communications device, provide the one or more steps through a visual interaction with the user of the communications device; and

,

transmitting, to the communications device, the third instructions.