Voice and speech recognition for call center feedback and quality assurance

• US 9,596,349 B1
• Filed: 04/05/2016
• Issued: 03/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Original Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Inventors: Hernandez, Sylvia
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Khai N
• Application Number:
  US15/091,121
• Time in Patent Office: 343 Days
• Field of Search: 379/210.01, 379/265.01, 379/265.02, 379/265.03, 379/265.04, 379/265.05, 379/265.06, 379/265.07, 379/265.08, 379/265.09, 379/265.1, 379/265.11, 379/265.12, 379/265.13, 379/265.14, 379/266.01, 379/266.02, 379/266.03, 379/266.04, 379/266.05, 379/266.06, 379/266.07, 379/266.08, 379/266.09, 379/266.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/205 Parsing
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/04 Training, enrolment or model building
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/08 Use of distortion metrics or a particular distance between probe pattern and reference templates
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/51 for comparison or discrimination
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/63 for estimating an emotional state
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/87 Detection of discrete points within a voice signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/41 using speaker recognition speaker recognition per se G10L17/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/40 related to call centers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/401 Performance feedback
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42 Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers specially adapted for wireless communication networks H04W4/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5175 Call or contact centers supervision arrangements

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for providing an objective evaluation to a customer service representative regarding his performance during an interaction with a customer may include receiving a digitized data stream corresponding to a spoken conversation between a customer and a representative; converting the data stream to a text stream; generating a representative transcript that includes the words from the text stream that are spoken by the representative; comparing the representative transcript with a plurality of positive words and a plurality of negative words; and generating a score that varies according to the occurrence of each word spoken by the representative that matches one of the positive words, and/or the occurrence of each word spoken by the representative that matches one of the negative words. Tone of voice, as well as response time, during the interaction may also be monitored and analyzed to adjust the score, or generate a separate score.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing an objective evaluation to a customer service representative regarding his performance during an interaction with a customer, the computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, via one or more processors, a digitized data stream corresponding to a spoken conversation between the customer and the customer service representative;

converting, via the one or more processors, the data stream to a text stream;

generating, via the one or more processors, a representative transcript that includes the words from the text stream that are spoken by the customer service representative;

comparing, via the one or more processors, the representative transcript with a plurality of positive words and a plurality of negative words; and

generating and displaying on a display, via the one or more processors, a first score that varies according to the occurrence of each word spoken by the customer service representative that matches one of the positive words and the occurrence of each word spoken by the customer service representative that matches one of the negative words to facilitate an objective evaluation of the customer interaction.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, via the one or more processors, increasing the first score corresponding to usage of positive words and decreasing the first score corresponding to usage of negative words.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, via the one or more processors:

generating a plurality of voice prints, each voice print derived from one of a plurality of periods of time during the conversation,

comparing each voice print with a voice print of the customer service representative to determine an identity of the voice print,

indicating a first set of voice prints that are associated with the customer service representative and a second set of voice prints that are associated with the customer, and

matching the first set of voice prints with words from the text stream that are spoken by the customer service representative.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, via the one or more processors, displaying on the display the first score, a list of words from the representative transcript that match one or more positive words, and a list of words from the representative transcript that match one or more negative words.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing, via the one or more processors, the data stream to determine a plurality of tone of voice values for the customer service representative, each tone of voice value derived from one of a plurality of periods of time during the conversation;

analyzing, via the one or more processors, the data stream to determine a plurality of tone of voice values for the customer, each tone of voice value derived from one of a plurality of periods of time during the conversation; and

generating and displaying on the display, via the one or more processors, a second score that varies according to whether the customer service representative changed his tone of voice in response to a change in tone of voice of the customer to facilitate the objective evaluation of a customer interaction.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further comprising determining, via the one or more processors, each occurrence when the customer'"'"'s tone of voice value is above a first threshold and determining whether the tone of voice value for the customer service representative increases above a second threshold within a first time period after each occurrence.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising, via the one or more processors, increasing the second score for each occurrence when the tone of voice value for the customer service representative does not increase above the second threshold within the first time period and decreasing the second score for each occurrence when the tone of voice value for the customer service representative does increase above the second threshold within the first time period.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, further comprising, via the one or more processors, displaying on the display the second score and a list of occurrences when the customer service representative changed his tone of voice in response to a change in tone of voice of the customer.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, via the one or more processors, a voice of the customer service representative and a voice of the customer;

determining, via the one or more processors, when the customer stops talking;

determining, via the one or more processors, when the customer service representative starts talking thereafter;

determining, via the one or more processors, a response time corresponding to a period of time that elapses between when the customer stops talking and the customer service representative starts talking; and

generating and displaying, via the one or more processors, a third score that varies according to a value of the response time.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising, via the one or more processors, decreasing the third score for every occurrence when the response time is less than a lower threshold or greater than an upper threshold.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising, via the one or more processors, displaying on the display the third score and a list of occurrences when the response time is less than a lower threshold or greater than an upper threshold.

12. A computer-implemented method for providing an objective evaluation to a customer service representative regarding his performance during an interaction with a customer, the computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, via one or more processors, a digitized data stream corresponding to a spoken conversation between the customer and the customer service representative;

analyzing, via the one or more processors, the data stream to determine a plurality of tone of voice values for the customer service representative, each tone of voice value derived from one of a plurality of periods of time during the conversation;

analyzing, via the one or more processors, the data stream to determine a plurality of tone of voice values for the customer, each tone of voice value derived from one of a plurality of periods of time during the conversation; and

generating and displaying on a display, via the one or more processors, a first score that varies according to whether the customer service representative changed his tone of voice in response to a change in tone of voice of the customer to facilitate the objective evaluation of the customer interaction.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising, via the one or more processors, determining each occurrence when the customer'"'"'s tone of voice value is above a first threshold and determining whether the tone of voice value for the customer service representative increases above a second threshold within a first time period after each occurrence.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising, via the one or more processors, increasing the first score for each occurrence when the tone of voice value for the customer service representative does not increase above the second threshold within the first time period and decreasing the first score for each occurrence when the tone of voice value for the customer service representative does increase above the second threshold within the first time period.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising, via the one or more processors, displaying on the display the first score and a list of occurrences when the customer service representative changed his tone of voice in response to a change in tone of voice of the customer.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising:

identifying, via the one or more processors, a voice of the customer service representative and a voice of the customer;

determining, via the one or more processors, when the customer stops talking;

determining, via the one or more processors, when the customer service representative starts talking thereafter;

determining, via the one or more processors, a response time corresponding to a period of time that elapses between when the customer stops talking and the customer service representative starts talking; and

generating and displaying, via the one or more processors, a second score that varies according to a value of the response time.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, further comprising:

decreasing, via the one or more processors, the second score for every occurrence when the response time is less than a lower threshold or greater than an upper threshold, and

displaying, via the one or more processors, on the display the second score and a list of occurrences when the response time is less than a lower threshold or greater than an upper threshold.

18. A computer-implemented method for providing an objective evaluation to a customer service representative regarding his performance during an interaction with a customer, the computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, via one or more processors, a digitized data stream corresponding to a spoken conversation between the customer and the customer service representative;

identifying, via the one or more processors, a voice of the customer service representative and a voice of the customer;

determining, via the one or more processors, when the customer stops talking;

determining, via the one or more processors, when the customer service representative starts talking thereafter;

determining, via the one or more processors, a response time corresponding to a period of time that elapses between when the customer stops talking and the customer service representative starts talking; and

generating and displaying, via the one or more processors, a score that varies according to a value of the response time.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, further comprising, via the one or more processors, decreasing the score for every occurrence when the response time is less than a lower threshold or greater than an upper threshold.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, further comprising, via the one or more processors, displaying on the display the score and a list of occurrences when the response time is less than a lower threshold or greater than an upper threshold.