Multi-modal messaging

• US 20030064709A1
• Filed: 10/03/2002
• Published: 04/03/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services GmbH (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Gailey, Michael L., Portman, Eric A., Burgiss, Michael J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,254,384 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/30 Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/762 at the source reformatting of additional data in video distribution servers H04N21/2355
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/18 wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4938 comprising a voice browser which renders and interprets, e.g. VoiceXML

Abstract

A system and method for providing multi-modal messaging for a wireless communication system. A wireless terminal is connected to a wireless access network, wherein the wireless terminal is capable of generating a voice request. A multi-modal message server is connected to the wireless access network for receiving the voice request generated by a user of the remote terminal. A voice recognition application is operable to identify words contained in the voice request. A response generation application uses the identified words to generate a response to the voice request. A unified messaging application is operable to interpret the response and generate a first and second response that is based on the contents of the response generated by the response generation application. The first and second responses are then transmitted to the wireless terminal in different communication formats.

Claims

1. A multi-modal messaging system for a wireless communication system, comprising:

a wireless terminal connected to a wireless access network, wherein said wireless terminal is operable to generate a voice request for information;

a multi-modal message server connected to said wireless access network for receiving said voice request for information;

a voice recognition application operable to identify a plurality of words contained in said voice request for information;

a response generation application operable to generate a first and second response to said voice request for information; and

wherein said first and second response is transmitted to said wireless terminal.

2. The multi-modal messaging system of claim 1, wherein said voice request for information is in the form of a natural language statement.

3. The multi-modal messaging system of claim 2, further comprising a natural language processing application operable to interpret an intent associated with said voice request for information.

4. The multi-modal messaging system of claim 1, further comprising a location information application for generating a geographic location indication of said wireless terminal, wherein said first and second response is based at least in part on the geographic location indication of said wireless terminal.

5. The multi-modal messaging system of claim 1, further comprising a virtual customer database connected to said multi-modal message server for providing a profile of said wireless terminal.

6. The multi-modal messaging system of claim 5, wherein said profile includes a customer identification.

7. The multi-modal messaging system of claim 5, wherein said profile includes a device characteristic indication associated with said wireless terminal.

8. The multi-modal messaging system of claim 7, wherein said device characteristic indication allows said first and second response to be generated in a format compatible with said wireless terminal.

9. The multi-modal messaging system of claim 1, wherein said first response comprises a voice-based response.

10. The multi-modal messaging system of claim 1, wherein said second response comprises a text-based response.

11. The multi-modal messaging system of claim 10, further comprising a transcoding application for formatting said text-based response into a protocol capable of being displayed on a display of said wireless terminal in a format that is compatible with said display of said wireless terminal.

12. The multi-modal messaging system of claim 1, wherein said first and second response may be selected from a group of responses consisting of a voice-based response, a text-based response, a voice-mail response, an instant message response, an email response or a fax response.

13. A method of providing multi-modal messages in a wireless communication system, comprising the steps of:

generating a voice request for information using a wireless terminal;

transmitting said voice request for information to a multi-modal message server;

identifying a plurality of words contained in said voice request for information;

generating a first and second response to said voice request for information based at least in part on the identity of said words; and

transmitting said first and second response to said wireless terminal.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said voice request for information is a natural language statement.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of identifying an intent associated with said words contained in said voice request for information, wherein said response is based at least in part on the intent of said voice request for information.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein a natural language processing application is used to identify the intent of said words.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein said first response is a voice-based response.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of using a text-to-speech application to generate said voice-based response that is sent to said wireless terminal.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein said second response is a text-based response.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein said second response is a graphics-based response.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein said first and second response may be selected from a group of responses consisting of a voice-based response, a text-based response, a voice-mail response, an instant message response, an email response or a fax response.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein said first and second responses are predefined by a user preference indication contained in a virtual customer database.

23. A method of providing multi-modal messages in a wireless communication system, comprising the steps of:

generating a natural language voice request for information using a wireless terminal;

transmitting said natural language voice request for information to a multi-modal message server;

identifying a plurality of words contained in said natural language voice request for information;

identifying an intent associated with said plurality of words contained in said natural language voice request for information;

generating a response to said voice request for information based at least in part on the identity and intent of said words;

transforming said response into a first and second message format; and

transmitting said transformed response to said wireless terminal.

24. A multi-modal messaging system for a wireless communication system, comprising:

a wireless terminal connected to a wireless access network, wherein said wireless terminal is operable to generate a natural language voice request for information;

a multi-modal message server connected to said wireless access network for receiving said natural language voice request for information;

a voice recognition application operable to identify a plurality of words contained in said natural language voice request for information;

a natural language processing application operable to determine an intent associated with said words identified in said natural language voice request for information;

a response generation application operable to generate a response to said natural language voice request for information that is based at least in part on the identity of said words and the intent of said words;

a unified messaging application operable to interpret said response and generate a first response in a first message format and a second response in a second message format; and

wherein said first response message and said second response message are transmitted to said wireless terminal.

25. The multi-modal messaging system of claim 24, wherein said unified messaging application further generates a third response in a third message format, wherein said third response message is transmitted to a second terminal.

26. The multi-modal messaging system of claim 25, wherein said second terminal is an email server.

27. The multi-modal messaging system of claim 25, wherein said second terminal is a voice mail device.

28. The multi-modal messaging system of claim 25, wherein said second terminal is a computer terminal having an instant message application, wherein said third message format is an instant message addressed to said instant message application of said second terminal.

29. A method of providing multi-modal messages in a communication system, comprising the steps of:

generating a request for information with a terminal;

producing a response to said request for information;

formatting said response into a first message format and a second message format; and

transmitting said response in said first message format and said second message format to said terminal.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein said first message format is a voice-based message format and said second message format is a text-based message format.

31. A multi-modal messaging system for a communication system, comprising:

a terminal connected to an access network, wherein said terminal is operable to generate a request for information;

a multi-modal message server connected to said access network;

a response generation application located on said multi-modal message server operable to generate a first and second response to said request for information; and

wherein said first and second response is transmitted to said terminal.

32. The multi-modal messaging system of claim 31, wherein said response to said request for information is generated by searching a participating company database containing a plurality of records with information responsive to said request for information.

33. The multi-modal messaging system of claim 32, wherein said participating company database is located on a participating company server connected to said multi-modal message server.

34. A method of providing multi-modal messages in a wireless communication system, comprising the steps of:

generating a request for information with a wireless terminal;

producing a response to said request for information;

formatting said response into a voice-based message format and a text-based message format;

transmitting said response in said voice-based message format to said wireless terminal; and

transmitting said response in said text-based message format to said wireless terminal.