Path learning feature for an automated telemarketing system
First Claim
1. Apparatus for use in a system of the kind which establishes a path from a common point to a desired service offering based on a user of said system entering a sequence of characters identifying said path, said path being one of a plurality of paths contained within said system, said apparatus comprisingmeans responsive to receipt of each of said sequence of characters for storing said characters in the order that they are received in a record associated with said user, each character of said stored sequence of characters being associated with a respective weight,means for advancing said user to an end point of said one path as identified by the received sequence of characters, andmeans thereafter operative each time said user subsequently accesses said system for extending to said user an option to advance to the end point of said one path when the weight of each character of said sequence at least equals the value of a respective threshold as a result of said user'"'"'s pattern of past usage of said system.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In a telemarketing system in which responsive to system prompts a user selects a particular path through the system to peach a desired service offering, the present invention "learns" the path that the user repeatedly selects over a period of time and thereafter gives the user the option of advancing to the end point of that path without the user having to listen and respond to the system prompts.
69 Citations
8 Claims
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1. Apparatus for use in a system of the kind which establishes a path from a common point to a desired service offering based on a user of said system entering a sequence of characters identifying said path, said path being one of a plurality of paths contained within said system, said apparatus comprising
means responsive to receipt of each of said sequence of characters for storing said characters in the order that they are received in a record associated with said user, each character of said stored sequence of characters being associated with a respective weight, means for advancing said user to an end point of said one path as identified by the received sequence of characters, and means thereafter operative each time said user subsequently accesses said system for extending to said user an option to advance to the end point of said one path when the weight of each character of said sequence at least equals the value of a respective threshold as a result of said user'"'"'s pattern of past usage of said system.
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5. Apparatus for establishing a customized path contained within a telemarketing system, said customized path being one of a plurality of such paths identified by repective predetermined sequences of characters, said apparatus comprising
means responsive to receipt of each character of one of said sequences entered by a user of said system for storing each received character in a respective field of a record associated with said user so as to form a sequence of characters comprising the received character and each previously received character and for advancing said user to an end point of the path identified by the current sequence of received characters, each of said stored sequence of characters being associated with a respective weight, means thereafter operative each time said user subsequently accesses said system for advancing said user to the end point of the path identified by the first N characters of said stored one sequence of characters when the weight of each of said first N characters at least equals a respective predetermined threshold as a result of said user accessing said system on prior occasions and entering said one sequence of characters, where N≧
Specification