System and method for voice activated provisioning of telecommunication services

• US 10,936,151 B2
• Filed: 06/25/2013
• Issued: 03/02/2021
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Younger, Keith, Smith, Shane M., Dwyer, Kendra
• Primary Examiner(s): Fibbi, Christopher J
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Le V
• Application Number:
  US13/926,475
• Publication Number:
  US 20130290900A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,807 Days
• Field of Search: 715728-729, 715740
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/13 Digital output to plotter ; Cooperation and interconnection of the plotter with other functional units
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/642 storing speech in digital form
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4936 Speech interaction details speech recognition per se G10L15/00

Abstract

A system and method for provisioning communications services. A remote device controlled by a user is linked with a provisioning system. A verbal selection of a menu associated with a library is received for performing one or more actions within the provisioning system. One or more verbal commands associated with the menu are received. A determination is made of an action within the library associated with the one or more verbal commands. The action associated with the one or more verbal commands is performed in the provisioning system to provision the communications services.

Claims

1. A method for provisioning a telecommunication circuit, the method comprising:

receiving, with a provisioning system, a voice call from a remote device controlled by a user;

authenticating, with the provisioning system, the user on the voice call as being authorized to access the provisioning system;

based on a determination that the user is authorized to access the provisioning system, linking the remote device controlled by the user with the provisioning system via a virtual private network tunnel or an encrypted call;

receiving, via the voice call, an initial verbal selection of a category of menu to be utilized by the provisioning system, wherein the category of menu is selected from a plurality of menu categories;

displaying the initial verbal selection of a category of menu on a graphical user interface;

based on the initial verbal selection of the category of menu to be utilized by the provisioning system, activating a plurality of secondary verbal commands associated with the category of menu initially selected, wherein the plurality of menu categories have similar secondary verbal commands, and wherein activating the plurality of secondary verbal commands associated with the category of menu initially selected comprises only activating the plurality of secondary verbal commands associated with the category of menu initially selected;

receiving, via the voice call, two or more secondary verbal commands of the plurality of secondary verbal commands comprising at least two different and separate verbal commands, each of the at least two different and separate verbal commands associated with a different function associated with the category of menu initially selected, wherein the two or more secondary verbal commands are selected from a plurality of secondary verbal commands associated with the initially selected menu category, and wherein the different functions associated with each of the at least two different and separate verbal commands are subsequently implemented, without additional input from the user, to provision the telecommunications circuit and run a diagnostic test on the telecommunications circuit; and

based on the two or more secondary verbal commands received via the voice call, allocating the telecommunications circuit to the user.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the remote device and the provisioning system are linked through a dedicated phone line.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the remote device is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of menus and the plurality of secondary verbal commands include at least diagnostics, provisioning, and inventory.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

communicating a response indicating to the user whether the telecommunications circuit was provisioned.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the response is a text-to-voice conversion performed by the provisioning system.

7. The method according to claim 5, further comprising;

determining whether the remote device is configured to receive visual information; and

automatically displaying the one or more commands and the response to the remote device in response to the user input and determining the remote device is configured to receive visual information.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the command to provision the telecommunication circuit is associated with the one or more verbal commands utilizing speech recognition.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the user associates each of the plurality of voice commands with a voice of the user and one or more of a plurality of actions.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining a current state of the provisioning system; and

configuring the telecommunications circuit utilizing the provisioning system.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the two or more secondary verbal commands comprises a command to increase bandwidth through a data connection into the customer premises, and wherein allocating the telecommunications circuit comprises increasing bandwidth from a service provider to the customer premises via the data connection into the customer premises.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

suggesting a plurality of actions associated with the one or more secondary verbal commands;

receiving an action selection from the user; and

performing the selected action to allocate the telecommunications unit to the user.

13. A voice controlled provisioning system, the system comprising:

a voice response system for receiving a voice call from a remote device controlled by a user and detecting one or more verbal commands received from a remote device operated by a user;

a graphical user interface for displaying the one or more verbal commands received from the remote device;

a plurality of categories of menus in communication with the voice response system;

a plurality of command libraries associated with each of the plurality of categories of menus, the libraries including a plurality of secondary voice commands associated with one or more actions; and

a control in communication with the voice response system, the control being configured to;

receive the voice call from the remote device controlled by the user;

authenticate the user on the voice call as being authorized to access the voice controlled provisioning system;

based on a determination that the user is authorized to access the voice controlled provisioning system, link the remote device controlled by the user with the voice controlled provisioning system via a virtual private network tunnel or an encrypted call;

receive, via the voice call, an initial verbal selection of the category of menu to be utilized by the provisioning system, wherein the category of menu is selected from the plurality of menu categories;

display the initial verbal selection of the category of menu on the graphical user interface;

based on the initial verbal selection of the category of menu to be utilized by the voice controlled provisioning system, activate a plurality of secondary verbal commands associated with the category of menu initially selected, wherein the plurality of menu categories have similar secondary verbal commands, and wherein activating the plurality of secondary verbal commands associated with the category of menu initially selected comprises only activating the plurality of secondary verbal commands associated with the category of menu initially selected;

receive, via the voice call, two or more secondary verbal commands of the plurality of secondary verbal commands comprising at least two different and separate verbal commands, each of the at least two different and separate verbal commands associated with a different function associated with the category of menu initially selected, wherein the secondary verbal commands are selected from the plurality of secondary verbal commands associated with the initially selected menu category, and wherein the different functions associated with each of the at least two different and separate verbal commands are subsequently implemented, without additional input from the user, to provision a telecommunications circuit and run a diagnostic test on the telecommunication circuit; and

based on the two or more secondary verbal commands received via the voice call, allocate the telecommunications circuit to the user.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the control sends a command to one or more remote devices for implementing the provisioning.

15. The system according to claim 13, wherein the voice response system utilizes speech recognition to determine the action associated with the one or more verbal commands, wherein only the voice commands of the selected library and menu are available to the user.

16. The system according to claim 13, further comprising user preferences in communication with the voice response system, wherein the user preferences store information for implementing the one or more voice commands based on user input, and wherein the plurality of menus and the plurality of libraries include at least diagnostics and provisioning.

17. A voice controlled provisioning system, the system comprising:

a processor for executing a set of instructions;

a non-transitory memory for storing the set of instructions, the set of instructions being operable to;

receive a voice call from a remote device controlled by a user;

authenticate the user on the voice call as being authorized to access the voice controlled provisioning system;

based on a determination that the user is authorized to access the voice controlled provisioning system, link the remote device controlled by the user with the voice controlled provisioning system via a virtual private network tunnel or an encrypted call;

receive, via the voice call, an initial verbal selection of a category of menu to be utilized by the voice controlled provisioning system, wherein the category of menu is selected from a plurality of menu categories;

display the initial verbal selection of a category of menu on a graphical user interface;

based on the initial verbal selection of the category of menu to be utilized by the voice controlled provisioning system, activate a plurality of secondary verbal commands associated with the category of menu initially selected, wherein the plurality of menu categories have similar secondary verbal commands, and wherein activating the plurality of secondary verbal commands associated with the category of menu initially selected comprises only activating the plurality of secondary verbal commands associated with the category of menu initially selected;

receive, via the voice call, two or more secondary verbal commands of the plurality of secondary verbal commands comprising at least two different and separate verbal commands, each of the at least two different and separate verbal commands associated with a different function associated with the category of menu initially selected, wherein the two or more secondary verbal commands are selected from a plurality of secondary verbal commands associated with the initially selected menu category, and wherein the different function associated with each of the at least two different and separate verbal commands are subsequently implemented, without additional user input, to provision a telecommunications circuit and run a diagnostic test on the telecommunication circuit; and

based on the two or more secondary verbal commands received via the voice call, allocate the telecommunications circuit to the user.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein the set of instructions are further operable to switch between a plurality of menus in response to a verbal command.

19. The system according to claim 17, wherein the set of instructions are further operable to:

display information regarding the allocation of the telecommunications circuit to the remote device in response to the user input and a determination the remote device is operable to display the information; and

associate each of a plurality of voice commands with a voice of the user and one or more of a plurality of actions.

20. The system according to claim 17, wherein the set of instructions are further operable to:

audibly play information to the remote device about the allocation of the telecommunications circuit, wherein the voice controlled provisioning system includes a plurality of menus and a plurality of libraries comprising at least diagnostics and provisioning.