SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR A COGNITIVE SYSTEM PLUG-IN ANSWERING SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT QUESTIONS

• US 20180020097A1
• Filed: 07/12/2016
• Published: 01/18/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Marrelli, Carl M., Matteo, Jeffrey T., Narayanan, Ram S., Oberhofer, Martin
• Granted Patent: US 10,009,466 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/367 Ontology
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/21 Design or setup of recognition systems or techniques; Extraction of features in feature space; Blind source separation
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/022 Knowledge engineering; Knowledge acquisition
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/04 Inference or reasoning models
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/043 Distributed expert systems; Blackboards
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42382 Text-based messaging services in telephone networks such as PSTN/ISDN, e.g. User-to-User Signalling or Short Message Service for fixed networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet

Abstract

Embodiments provide a system and method for integrating a cognitive system into a call center. The system and method include ingesting, in real-time through an instant messaging application, one or more questions from one or more call center agents; ingesting, in real-time through the instant messaging application, one or more answers associated with the one or more questions; storing one or more question and answer pairs in a corpus; analyzing, through a cognitive system, the corpus of the one or more question and answer pairs; receiving, through the instant messaging system, one or more additional questions; determining a proposed answer to each additional question based on the analysis of the corpus; analyzing, through the cognitive system, the proposed answer; and incorporating the analysis of the proposed answer into the analysis of the one or more question and answer pairs. The answers can be provided by subject matter experts or call center managers. The cognitive system can interface with the instant messaging system through the use of a plug-in module, which can use one or more registration commands to facilitate the interface.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method, in a data processing system comprising a processor and a memory comprising instructions which are executed by the processor to cause the processor to implement a call center question and answer system, the method comprising:

ingesting, in real-time through an instant messaging application, one or more questions from one or more call center agents;

ingesting, in real-time through the instant messaging application, one or more answers associated with the one or more questions;

storing one or more question and answer pairs in a corpus;

analyzing, through a cognitive system, the corpus of the one or more question and answer pairs;

receiving, through the instant messaging system, one or more additional questions;

querying the one or more question and answer pairs for candidate answers to the one or more additional questions;

determining a proposed answer to each additional question based on the analysis of the corpus comprising;

using a plurality of reasoning algorithms to analyze each candidate answer, wherein each reasoning algorithm generates a score;

applying weights to each score to generate weighted scores;

combining the weighted scores to generate a confidence score for each candidate answer;

determining the proposed answer from the candidate answers according to the confidence score;

analyzing, through the cognitive system, the proposed answer; and

incorporating the analysis of the proposed answer into the analysis of the one or more question and answer pairs.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

utilizing a plug-in module to moderate the interactions between the cognitive system and the instant messaging application without providing an external notification.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the plug-in module utilizes one or more registration commands to identify the one or more questions and answers sent between the instant messaging application and the cognitive system.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

ingesting, through the instant messaging application, one or more answers provided by one or more subject matter experts.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

providing the proposed answer to the call center agent through the instant messaging application.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising:

receiving, through a feedback module, feedback on the proposed answer from one or more subject matter experts or call center managers.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprising:

incorporating the feedback into the analysis of the corpus.

8. A computer program product for question and answer generation, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to:

ingest, in real-time through an instant messaging application, one or more questions from one or more call center agents;

ingest, in real-time through the instant messaging application, one or more answers associated with the one or more questions;

store one or more question and answer pairs in a corpus;

analyze, through a cognitive system, the corpus of the one or more question and answer pairs;

receive, through the instant messaging system, one or more additional questions;

query the one or more question and answer pairs for candidate answers to the one or more additional questions;

determine a proposed answer to each additional question based on the analysis of the corpus comprising;

use a plurality of reasoning algorithms to analyze each candidate answer, wherein each reasoning algorithm generates a score;

apply weights to each score to generate weighted scores;

combine the weighted scores to generate a confidence score for each candidate answer;

determine the proposed answer from the candidate answers according to the confidence score;

analyze, through the cognitive system, the proposed answer; and

incorporate the analysis of the proposed answer into the analysis of the one or more question and answer pairs.

9. The computer program product as recited in claim 8, wherein the processor utilizes a plug-in module to moderate the interactions between the cognitive system and the instant messaging application without providing an external notification.

10. The computer program product as recited in claim 9, wherein the plug-in module utilizes one or more registration commands to identify the one or more questions and answers sent between the instant messaging application and the cognitive system.

11. The computer program product as recited in claim 8, wherein the processor ingests, through the instant messaging application, one or more answers provided by one or more subject matter experts.

12. The computer program product as recited in claim 8, wherein the processor provides the proposed answer to the call center agent through the instant messaging application.

13. The computer program product as recited in claim 12, wherein the processor receives, through a feedback module, feedback on the proposed answer from one or more subject matter experts or call center managers.

14. The computer program product as recited in claim 13, wherein the processor incorporates the feedback into the analysis of the corpus.

15. A method for cognitive system integration into a call center using an instant messaging application, the method comprising:

ingesting one or more questions entered into the instant messaging application by one or more call center agents;

ingesting one or more answers associated with the one or more questions entered into the instant messaging application;

storing one or more question and answer pairs in a corpus;

analyzing the corpus of the one or more question and answer pairs with a cognitive system;

receiving one or more additional questions entered into the instant messaging application;

querying the one or more question and answer pairs for candidate answers to the one or more additional questions;

determining a proposed answer to each additional question based on the cognitive system'"'"'s analysis of the corpus comprising;

using a plurality of reasoning algorithms to analyze each candidate answer, wherein each reasoning algorithm generates a score;

applying weights to each score to generate weighted scores;

combining the weighted scores to generate a confidence score for each candidate answer;

determining the proposed answer from the candidate answers according to the confidence score;

analyzing, through the cognitive system, the proposed answer; and

incorporating the analysis of the proposed answer into the analysis of the one or more question and answer pairs.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising:

utilizing a plug-in module to moderate the interactions between the cognitive system and the instant messaging application without providing an external notification.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the plug-in module utilizes one or more registration commands to identify the one or more questions and answers sent between the instant messaging application and the cognitive system.

18. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising:

ingesting one or more answers provided by one or more subject matter experts through the instant messaging application.

19. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising:

providing the proposed answer to the call center agent through the instant messaging application.

20. The method as recited in claim 19, further comprising:

receiving feedback on the proposed answer from one or more subject matter experts or call center managers through a feedback module; and

incorporating the feedback into the analysis of the corpus.