Caller assistance system

• US 9,992,335 B2
• Filed: 10/28/2016
• Issued: 06/05/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Vijaywargi, Deepak, Tao, Yicheng, Singh, Shashank, Birman, Mikhail
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, QUYNH H
• Application Number:
  US15/338,268
• Publication Number:
  US 20180124241A1
• Time in Patent Office: 585 Days
• Field of Search: 37926509
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/39 using speech synthesis speech synthesis per se G10L13/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42042 Notifying the called party of information on the calling party details within substation equipment H04M1/57, signalling details H04Q3/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5166 in combination with interactive voice response systems or voice portals, e.g. as front-ends
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/523 with call distribution or queueing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5237 Interconnection arrangements between ACD systems

Abstract

Techniques and technologies for caller assistance systems are described. In at least some embodiments, a system comprises: a processing component; and a caller assistance engine configured to receive a request from a calling device; select a menu execution path associated with the request, the menu execution path defining one or more operations to be performed to achieve an intent of the request; execute the menu execution path including execute the one or more operations to be performed to achieve the intent of the request; determine whether the intent of the request has been achieved; and when the intent of the request has been achieved, connect the calling device with the intent of the request or provide an alert to the calling device that the intent of the request has been achieved.

Claims

1. A caller assistance system, comprising:

at least one processor operatively coupled to at least one memory;

a caller assistance engine at least partially stored in the at least one memory, the caller assistance engine including one or more instructions executable by the processing component configured to perform operations including at least;

receiving a request from a calling device;

interpreting the request from the calling device to determine an intent of the request, the intent of the request including a destination provided by an interactive call-routing system;

selecting a menu execution path associated with the request, the menu execution path being stored in the at least one memory and defining one or more operations to be performed to reach the destination provided by the interactive call-routing system to achieve an intent of the request;

retrieving the selected menu execution path defining the one or more operations from the at least one memory;

executing the menu execution path including executing the one or more operations to be performed to provide one or more inputs to the interactive call-routing system to reach the destination to achieve the intent of the request, including transmitting one or more audio signals to the interactive call-routing system in a pre-determined sequence as defined by the menu execution path;

determining whether the intent of the request has been achieved; and

when the intent of the request has been achieved, at least one of;

connecting the calling device with the destination provided by the interactive call-routing system, or

providing an alert to the calling device that the intent of the request has been achieved.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein receiving a request from a calling device comprises:

receiving at least one of a written request, a Short Message System (SMS) message, a text message, an audible request, or a spoken request.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein selecting a menu execution path associated with the request, the menu execution path being stored in the at least one memory and defining one or more operations to be performed to reach a destination provided by an interactive call-routing system to achieve an intent of the request comprises:

analyzing the request received from the calling device;

determining the intent embodied within the request;

matching the intent with a possible requested intent stored within a data store; and

selecting a menu execution path associated with the possible requested intent from the data store.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein selecting a menu execution path associated with the request, the menu execution path being stored in the at least one memory and defining one or more operations to be performed to reach a destination provided by an interactive call-routing system to achieve an intent of the request comprises:

analyzing a text version of the request to determine one or more keywords contained within the text version of the request; and

matching the one or more keywords contained within the text version of the request with one or more corresponding keywords of at least one possible intent stored within a data store.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more operations to be performed to achieve an intent of the request comprises:

providing an audio signal indicative of a number on a keypad being pressed.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more operations to be performed to achieve an intent of the request comprises:

providing a speech input simulating a person speaking in response to a query.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more operations to be performed to achieve an intent of the request comprises:

providing personal information associated with a user of the calling device in response to a query.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein executing the menu execution path including executing the one or more operations to be performed to provide one or more inputs to the interactive call-routing system to reach the destination to achieve the intent of the request comprises:

executing the menu execution path including executing the one or more operations to be performed to achieve the intent of the request, wherein the one or more operations include at least one of;

providing an audio signal indicative of a number on a keypad being pressed;

providing a speech input simulating a person speaking in response to a query;

or

providing personal information associated with a user of the calling device in response to a query.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein determining whether the intent of the request has been achieved comprises:

receiving an audio signal; and

determining whether the audio signal is indicative of a voice of an actual human.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein determining whether the intent of the request has been achieved comprises:

receiving an audio signal indicative of a human speech; and

performing a speech recognition process on the audio signal to determine whether the intent of the request has been achieved.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein receiving a request from a calling device comprises:

receiving a request from a remote calling device at an assistance server.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein receiving a request from a calling device comprises:

receiving a request from an input component of a calling device into a caller assistance component of the calling device.

13. A caller assistance system, comprising:

at least one processor operatively coupled to at least one memory;

a caller assistance engine at least partially stored in the at least one memory, the caller assistance engine including one or more instructions executable by the processing component configured to perform operations including at least;

contacting an interactive call-routing system;

translating one or more audible scripts output by the interactive call-routing system into one or more intents;

constructing one or more menu execution paths, each menu execution path defining one or more operations to be performed to reach a destination provided by an interactive call-routing system to achieve at least one intent of the one or more intents;

storing the one or more menu execution paths and the one or more intents into a data store within the at least one memory, each menu execution path being associated with the at least one intent of the one or more intents; and

providing a user interface that is configured to;

receive a request from a calling device;

analyze the request received from the calling device;

determine a specific intent embodied within the request;

match the intent with a possible requested intent stored within the data store;

retrieve the menu execution path associated with the possible requested intent from the data store; and

perform the menu execution path to reach a destination provided by a particular interactive call-routing system to achieve the specific intent of the request, including transmitting one or more audio signals to the interactive call-routing system in a pre-determined sequence as defined by the menu execution path.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein contacting an interactive call-routing system comprises:

placing one or more telephone calls to an interactive call-routing system.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein translating one or more audible scripts output by the interactive call-routing system into one or more intents comprises:

recording audible inputs from the interactive call-routing system;

performing a voice recognition analysis of the audible inputs to convert the audible inputs into text; and

analyzing the text to determine the one or more intents.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein translating one or more audible scripts output by the interactive call-routing system into one or more intents further comprises:

analyzing the text to determine one or more possible responsive outputs for providing back to the interactive call-routing system to achieve the one or more intents.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more operations to be performed to reach a destination provided by an interactive call-routing system to achieve at least one intent of the one or more intents comprises:

at least one of;

providing an audio signal indicative of a number on a keypad being pressed;

providing a speech input simulating a person speaking in response to a query;

or

providing personal information associated with a user of a calling device in response to a query.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein contacting an interactive call-routing system comprises:

crawling a plurality of interactive call-routing systems.

19. A method of providing assistance to a caller, comprising:

receiving a request from a calling device;

analyzing the request received from the calling device using at least one processing component;

determining the intent embodied within the request using the at least one processing component;

matching the intent with a possible requested intent stored within a data store using the at least one processing component;

selecting a menu execution path associated with the possible requested intent from the data store using the at least one processing component, the menu execution path defining one or more operations to be performed to reach a destination provided by an interactive call-routing system to achieve an intent of the request;

retrieving the selected menu execution path defining the one or more operations from the data store;

executing the menu execution path including executing the one or more operations using the at least one processing component to provide one or more inputs to the interactive call-routing system to reach the destination to achieve the intent of the request, including transmitting one or more audio signals to the interactive call-routing system in a pre-determined sequence as defined by the menu execution path;

determining whether the intent of the request has been achieved using the at least one processing component; and

when the intent of the request has been achieved, at least one of;

connecting the calling device with the destination provided by the interactive call-routing system using the at least one processing component, or

providing an alert to the calling device using the at least one processing component that the intent of the request has been achieved.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein matching the intent with a possible requested intent stored within a data store using the at least one processing component comprises:

analyzing a text version of the request using the at least one processing component to determine one or more keywords contained within the text version of the request; and

matching the one or more keywords contained within the text version of the request with one or more corresponding keywords of at least one possible intent stored within a data store using the at least one processing component.