Active prompts

• US 6,724,864 B1
• Filed: 01/20/2000
• Issued: 04/20/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Mavenir Systems Incorporated (Mavenir Group Holdings Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Comverse Incorporated (Mavenir Group Holdings Ltd.)
• Inventors: Neuberger, Marc J., Franklin, Daniel L., Gildea, Stephen P., Ottenheimer, Daniel E., Denenberg, Larwrence A.
• Primary Examiner(s): FOSTER, ROLAND G
• Application Number:
  US09/488,177
• Time in Patent Office: 1,552 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88.05, 379/88.06, 379/88.07, 379/88.13, 379/88.14, 379/88.16, 379/88.22, 704/258, 704/260, 704/267, 704/270, 700/1, 700/13, 700/14
• US Class Current: 379/88.16
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/355 Interactive dialogue design tools, features or methods
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42153 by subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals

Abstract

Method and apparatus are provided for generating a prompt stream in a telephony system. At least one voice prompt associated with at least one audio stream to be played to a user of the telephony system is inserted into the prompt stream. Also inserted into the prompt stream is at least one active prompt associated with computer program instructions to be executed when the prompt stream is processed. Also provided are method and apparatus for processing the prompt stream. The at least one audio stream associated with the at least one voice prompt is played to the user, and the computer program instructions associated with the at least one active prompt are executed.

Claims

1. A method for use in a telephony system comprising an application program and a telephony system interface that provides an interface to enable the application program to construct a prompt queue comprising a plurality of prompts, wherein the telephony system interface further enables the playing back of the prompts over a telephone line when the prompt queue is processed by the telephony system interface by sequentially processing the prompts in the prompt queue, the method comprising acts, executed by the application program, of:

(A) inserting into the prompt queue at least one voice prompt to be played to a user of the telephony system when the prompt queue is processed by the telephony system interface; and

(B) inserting into the prompt queue at least one active prompt associated with computer program instructions to be executed when the prompt queue is processed by the telephony system interface.

2. The method of claim 1, further including an act of:

inserting the at least one voice prompt and the at least one active prompt into the prompt queue in an order in which the at least one voice prompt and the at least one active prompt are to be processed.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the act (A) comprises an act of;

(A)(1) inserting into the prompt stream a first voice prompt associated with a first audio stream, and wherein;

the act (B) comprises an act of;

(B)(1) inserting into the prompt stream after the first voice prompt a first active prompt associated with computer program instructions to provide a first indication that the first active prompt has executed.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising an act of:

(C) inserting into the prompt stream after the first active prompt a second voice prompt associated with a second audio stream.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising acts of:

(D) instructing the telephony system to process the prompt stream; and

(E) in response to an event that terminates processing of the prompt stream, determining whether the first voice prompt was played to the user in its entirety based on whether the first indication indicates that the first active prompt was executed.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising acts of:

(D) inserting into the prompt stream after the second voice prompt a second active prompt associated with computer program instructions to provide a second indication that the second active prompt has executed;

(E) instructing the telephony system to process the prompt stream;

(F) in response to an event that terminates processing of the prompt stream, determining that the event occurred while the second voice prompt was being played to the user, when it is determined that the first indication has been provided and the second indication has not been provided.

7. The method of claim 3, further comprising acts of:

(C) instructing the telephony system to process the prompt stream;

(D) determining whether the first indication has been provided;

(E) determining that the first voice prompt has been played to the user in its entirety when it is determined in the act (D) that the first indication has been provided.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the act (B) comprises an act of:

(B)(1) inserting into the prompt stream an active prompt associated with computer program instructions to record a time at which the active prompt is processed.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising acts of:

(C) instructing the telephony system to process the prompt stream; and

(D) determining the time at which the active prompt was processed by examining the recorded time.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the act (A) comprises an act of:

(A)(1) inserting into the prompt stream a plurality of voice prompts associated with a plurality of audio streams to be played to the user of the telephony system; and

 

wherein the act (B) comprises an act of;

(B)(1) inserting a plurality of active prompts each associated with computer program instructions to record a time at which the computer program instructions are executed, each of the plurality of active prompts being disposed between pairs of the plurality of voice prompts.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising acts of:

(C) instructing the telephony system to process the prompt stream;

(D) receiving a notification of an occurrence of an event;

(E) receiving from the telephony system an indication of an elapsed time of a current voice prompt in the prompt stream that was playing when the event occurred;

(F) retrieving a recorded time at which the computer program instructions associated with the active prompt preceding the current voice prompt were executed; and

(G) adding the elapsed time to the recorded time to determine a time at which the event occurred.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the act (B) comprises an act of:

(B)(1) inserting into the prompt stream an active prompt associated with computer program instructions to start a timer when the active prompt is processed.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising acts of:

(C) instructing the telephony system to process the prompt stream;

(D) receiving notification of an occurrence of an event; and

(E) determining an amount of time between processing of the active prompt and the occurrence of the event by examining the timer.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the act (B) comprises an act of:

(B)(1) inserting into the prompt stream an active prompt associated with computer program instructions to modify a state of the telephony system.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the act (B)(1) comprises an act of:

inserting into the prompt stream an active prompt associated with computer program instructions to modify a current grammar of a speech recognition engine associated with the telephony system.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the act (B) comprises an act of:

inserting into the prompt stream an active prompt associated with computer program instructions to modify contents of the prompt stream.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the prompt stream includes voice prompts comprising a message including structural elements, and wherein the act (B) comprises an act of:

(B)(1) inserting into the prompt stream a plurality of active prompts between the structural elements of the message, each of the plurality of active prompts being associated with computer program instructions to provide an indication that the active prompt has executed.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising acts of:

(C) instructing the telephony system to process the prompt stream;

(D) receiving notification of a user request to reposition processing of the prompt stream within the message; and

(E) determining where in the message the request was received based on which of the plurality of active prompts have been executed.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein:

the act (D) comprises an act of;

receiving notification from a user to re-play one of the voice prompts corresponding to a previously played structural element of the message; and

further comprising an act of;

(F) re-playing the one of the voice prompts corresponding to the previously played structural element of the message to the user.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein:

the act (D) comprises an act of;

receiving notification from a user to play one of the voice prompts corresponding to an unplayed structural element of the message; and

further comprising an act of;

(F) playing the one of the voice prompts corresponding to the unplayed structural element of the message to the user.

76. The method of claim 16, wherein the act (B) comprises an act of inserting into the prompt stream an active prompt associated with computer program instructions to abort processing of the prompt stream when the active prompt is processed.

77. The method of claim 16, wherein the act (B) comprises an act of inserting into the prompt stream an active prompt associated with computer program instructions to insert a new prompt into a middle of the prompt stream when the active prompt is processed.

21. A method for processing a prompt queue in a telephony system comprising an application program and a telephony system interface that provides an interface to enable the application program to construct the prompt queue, wherein the prompt queue comprises a plurality of prompts, wherein the telephony system interface further enables the playing back of the prompts over a telephone line when the prompt queue is processed by the telephony system interface by sequentially processing the prompts in the prompt queue, the method comprising acts executed by the telephony system interface, of:

(A) playing a first audio stream associated with a first voice prompt in the prompt queue; and

(B) executing computer program instructions associated with at least one active prompt in the prompt queue.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the first voice prompt and the at least one active prompt are disposed in an order in the prompt queue, and wherein the acts (A) and (B) are performed in the order in which the voice prompt and the at least one active prompt are disposed in the prompt queue.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the at least one active prompt in the prompt stream is associated with computer program instructions to provide an indication that the active prompt has executed, and wherein the act (B) comprises an act of:

(B)(1) executing the computer program instructions associated with the at least one active prompt in the prompt stream to provide the indication that the active prompt has executed.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the act (B) comprises an act of:

(B)(1) executing the computer program instructions associated with the at least one active prompt to record a time at which the at least one active prompt was executed.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the act (B) comprises an act of:

(B)(1) executing the computer program instructions associated with the at least one active prompt to start a timer.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein the act (B) comprises an act of:

(B)(1) executing the computer program instructions to modify a state of the telephony system.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the act (B)(1) comprises an act of:

executing the computer program instructions to modify a current grammar of a speech recognition engine associated with the telephony system.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the act (B) comprises an act of executing the computer program instructions to modify contents of the prompt stream.

78. The method of claim 21, wherein the act (B) comprises an act of executing the computer program instructions at a time in the processing of the prompt stream when the at least one active prompt is processed.

79. The method of claim 21, wherein the act (B) comprises an act of executing the computer program instructions to abort processing of the prompt stream when the active prompt is processed.

80. The method of claim 21, wherein the act (B) comprises an act of executing the computer program instructions to insert a new prompt into a middle of the prompt stream when the active prompt is processed.

29. A computer-readable medium encoded with a program for execution on a telephony system comprising an application program and a telephony system interface that provides an interface to enable the application program to construct a prompt queue comprising a plurality of prompts, wherein the telephony system interface further enables the playing back of the prompts over a telephone line when the prompt queue is processed by the telephony system interface by sequentially processing the prompts in the prompt queue, the program, when executed on the telephony system, performs a method comprising acts of:

(A) inserting into the prompt queue at least one voice prompt to be played to a user of the telephony system when the prompt queue is processed by the telephony system interface; and

(B) inserting into the prompt queue at least one active prompt associated with computer program instructions to be executed when the prompt queue is processed by the telephony system interface.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the method further includes an act of:

inserting the at least one voice prompt and the at least one active prompt into the prompt queue in an order in which the at least one voice prompt and the at least one active prompt are to be processed.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein:

the act (A) comprises an act of;

(A)(1) inserting into the prompt stream a first voice prompt associated with a first audio stream, and wherein;

the act (B) comprises an act of;

(B)(1) inserting into the prompt stream after the first voice prompt a first active prompt associated with computer program instructions to provide a first indication that the first active prompt has executed.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 31, wherein the method further comprises an act of:

(C) inserting into the prompt stream after the first active prompt a second voice prompt associated with a second audio stream.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein the method further comprises acts of:

(D) instructing the telephony system to process the prompt stream; and

(E) in response to an event that terminates processing of the prompt stream, determining whether the first voice prompt was played to the user in its entirety based on whether the first indication indicates that the first active prompt was executed.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 32, wherein the method further comprises acts of:

(D) inserting into the prompt stream after the second voice prompt a second active prompt associated with computer program instructions to provide a second indication that the second active prompt has executed;

(E) instructing the telephony system to process the prompt stream;

(F) in response to an event that terminates processing of the prompt stream, determining that the event occurred while the second voice prompt was being played to the user, when it is determined that the first indication has been provided and the second indication has not been provided.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 31, wherein the method further comprises acts of:

(C) instructing the telephony system to process the prompt stream;

(D) determining whether the first indication has been provided;

(E) determining that the first voice prompt has been played to the user in its entirety when it is determined in the act (D) that the first indication has been provided.

36. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the act (B) comprises an act of:

(B)(1) inserting into the prompt stream an active prompt associated with computer program instructions to record a time at which the active prompt is processed.

37. The computer-readable medium of claim 36, wherein the method further comprises acts of:

(C) instructing the telephony system to process the prompt stream; and

(D) determining the time at which the active prompt was processed by examining the recorded time.

38. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the act (A) comprises an act of:

(A)(1) inserting into the prompt stream a plurality of voice prompts associated with a plurality of audio streams to be played to the user of the telephony system; and

 

wherein the act (B) comprises an act of;

(B)(1) inserting a plurality of active prompts each associated with computer program instructions to record a time at which the computer program instructions are executed, each of the plurality of active prompts being disposed between pairs of the plurality of voice prompts.

39. The computer-readable medium of claim 38, wherein the method further comprises acts of:

(C) instructing the telephony system to process the prompt stream;

(D) receiving a notification of an occurrence of an event;

(E) receiving from the telephony system an indication of an elapsed time of a current voice prompt in the prompt stream that was playing when the event occurred;

(F) retrieving a recorded time at which the computer program instructions associated with the active prompt preceding the current voice prompt were executed; and

(G) adding the elapsed time to the recorded time to determine a time at which the event occurred.

40. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the act (B) comprises an act of:

(B)(1) inserting into the prompt stream an active prompt associated with computer program instructions to start a timer when the active prompt is processed.

41. The computer-readable medium of claim 40, wherein the method further comprises acts of:

(C) instructing the telephony system to process the prompt stream;

(D) receiving notification of an occurrence of an event; and

(E) determining an amount of time between processing of the active prompt and the occurrence of the event by examining the timer.

42. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the act (B) comprises an act of:

(B)(1) inserting into the prompt stream an active prompt associated with computer program instructions to modify a state of the telephony system.

43. The computer-readable medium of claim 42, wherein the act (B)(1) comprises an act of:

inserting into the prompt stream an active prompt associated with computer program instructions to modify a current grammar of a speech recognition engine associated with the telephony system.

44. The computer-readable medium of claim 42, wherein the act (B)(1) comprises an act of:

inserting into the prompt stream an active prompt associated with computer program instructions to modify contents of the prompt stream.

45. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the prompt stream includes voice prompts comprising a message including structural elements, and wherein the act (B) comprises an act of:

(B)(1) inserting into the prompt stream a plurality of active prompts between the structural elements of the message, each of the plurality of active prompts being associated with computer program instructions to provide an indication that the active prompt has executed.

46. The computer-readable medium of claim 45, wherein the method further comprises acts of:

(C) instructing the telephony system to process the prompt stream;

(D) receiving notification of a user request to reposition processing of the prompt stream within the message; and

(E) determining where in the message the request was received based on which of the plurality of active prompts have been executed.

47. The computer-readable medium of claim 46, wherein:

the act (D) comprises an act of;

receiving notification from a user to re-play one of the voice prompts corresponding to a previously played structural element of the message; and

wherein the method further comprises an act of;

(F) re-playing the one of the voice prompts corresponding to the previously played structural element of the message to the user.

48. The computer-readable medium of claim 47, wherein:

the act (D) comprises an act of;

receiving notification from a user to play one of the voice prompts corresponding to an unplayed structural element of the message; and

wherein the method further comprises an act of;

(F) playing the one of the voice prompts corresponding to the unplayed structural element of the message to the user.

81. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the act (B) comprises an act of inserting into the prompt stream an active prompt associated with computer program instructions to abort processing of the prompt stream when the active prompt is processed.

82. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the act (B) comprises an act of inserting the prompt stream an active prompt associated with computer program instructions to insert a new prompt into a middle of the prompt stream when the active prompt is processed.

49. A computer-readable medium encoded with a program for execution on a telephony system comprising an application program and a telephony system interface that provides an interface to enable the application program to construct a prompt queue comprising a plurality of prompts, wherein the telephony system interface further enables the playing back of the prompts over a telephone line when the prompt queue is processed by the telephony system interface by sequentially processing the prompts in the prompt queue, the program, when executed on the telephony system, performs a method for processing the prompt queue the method comprising acts, executed by the telephony system interface, of:

(A) playing a first audio stream associated with a first voice prompt in the prompt queue; and

(B) executing computer program instructions associated with at least one active prompt in the prompt queue.

50. The computer-readable medium of claim 49, wherein the first voice prompt and the at least one active prompt are disposed in an order in the prompt queue, and wherein the acts (A) and (B) are performed in the order in which the voice prompt and the at least one active prompt are disposed in the prompt queue.

51. The computer-readable medium of claim 49, wherein the at least one active prompt in the prompt stream is associated with computer program instructions to provide an indication that the active prompt has executed, and wherein the act (B) comprises an act of:

(B)(1) executing the computer program instructions associated with the at least one active prompt in the prompt stream to provide the indication that the active prompt has executed.

52. The computer-readable medium of claim 49, wherein the act (B) comprises an act of:

(B)(1) executing the computer program instructions associated with the at least one active prompt to record a time at which the at least one active prompt was executed.

53. The computer-readable medium of claim 49, wherein the act (B) comprises an act of:

(B)(1) executing the computer program instructions associated with the at least one active prompt to start a timer.

54. The computer-readable medium of claim 49, wherein the act (B) comprises an act of:

(B)(1) executing the computer program instructions to modify a state of the telephony system.

55. The computer-readable medium of claim 54, wherein the act (B)(1) comprises an act of:

executing the computer program instructions to modify a current grammar of a speech recognition engine associated with the telephony system.

56. The computer-readable medium of claim 54, wherein the act (B)(1) comprises an act of:

executing the computer program instructions to modify contents of the prompt stream.

83. The computer-readable medium of claim 49, wherein the act (B) comprises an act of executing the computer program instructions at a time in the processing of the prompt stream when the at least one active prompt is processed.

84. The computer-readable medium of claim 49, wherein the act (B) comprises an act of executing the computer program instructions to abort processing of the prompt stream when the active prompt is processed.

85. The computer-readable medium of claim 49, wherein the act (B) comprises an act of executing the computer program instructions to insert a new prompt into a middle of the prompt stream when the active prompt is processed.

57. A telephony system comprising:

at least one processor that executes an application program;

a telephony system interface that provides an interface to enable the application program to construct a prompt queue comprising a plurality of prompts, and that plays back the prompts over a telephone line when the prompt queue is processed by the telephony system interface by sequentially processing the prompts in the prompt queue;

a storage device to store the prompt queue; and

a controller to insert into the prompt queue at least one voice prompt associated with at least one audio stream to be played to a user of the telephony system when the prompt queue is processed by the telephony interface, and to insert into the prompt queue at least one active prompt associated with computer program instructions to be executed when the prompt queue is processed by the telephony system interface.

58. The telephony system of claim 57, wherein the controller is further adapted to insert the at least one voice prompt and the at least one active prompt into the prompt queue in an order in which the at least one voice prompt and the at least one active prompt are to be processed.

59. The telephony system of claim 57, wherein the controller is further adapted to insert into the prompt stream a first voice prompt associated with a first audio stream, and to insert into the prompt stream after the first voice prompt a first active prompt associated with computer program instructions to provide a first indication that the first active prompt has executed.

60. The telephony system of claim 59, wherein the controller is further adapted to insert into the prompt stream after the first active prompt a second voice prompt associated with a second audio stream.

61. The telephony system of claim 57, wherein the controller is further adapted to insert into the prompt stream an active prompt associated with computer program instructions to record a time at which the active prompt is processed.

62. The telephony system of claim 57, wherein the controller is further adapted to insert into the prompt stream a plurality of voice prompts associated with a plurality of audio streams to be played to the user of the telephony system, and to insert a plurality of active prompts each associated with computer program instructions to record a time at which the computer program instructions are executed, each of the plurality of active prompts being disposed between pairs of the plurality of voice prompts.

63. The telephony system of claim 57, wherein the controller is further adapted to insert into the prompt stream an active prompt associated with computer program instructions to start a timer when the active prompt is processed.

64. The telephony system of claim 57, wherein the controller is further adapted to insert into the prompt stream an active prompt associated with computer program instructions to modify a state of the telephony system.

65. The telephony system of claim 64, wherein the controller is further adapted to insert into the prompt stream an active prompt associated with computer program instructions to modify a current grammar of a speech recognition engine associated with the telephony system.

66. The telephony system of claim 64, wherein the controller is further adapted to insert into the prompt stream an active prompt associated with computer program instructions to modify contents of the prompt stream.

67. The telephony system of claim 57, wherein the storage device is further adapted to store in the prompt stream includes voice prompts comprising a message including structural elements, and wherein the controller is further adapted to insert into the prompt stream a plurality of active prompts between the structural elements of the message, each of the plurality of active prompts being associated with computer program instructions to provide an indication that the active prompt has executed.

68. A telephony system comprising:

at least one processor that executes an application program;

a telephony system interface that provides an interface to enable the application program to construct a prompt queue comprising a plurality of prompts, and that plays back the prompts over a telephone line when the prompt queue is processed by the telephony system interface by sequentially processing the prompts in the prompt queue;

a storage device to store the prompt queue; and

a controller to play a first audio stream associated with a first voice prompt in the prompt queue, and to execute computer program instructions associated with at least one active prompt in the prompt queue when the prompt queue is processed by the telephony system interface.

69. The telephony system of claim 68, wherein the first voice prompt and the at least one active prompt are disposed in an order in the prompt queue, and wherein the controller is further adapted to play the first audio stream and execute the computer program instructions in the order in which the first voice prompt and the at least one active prompt are disposed in the prompt queue.

70. The telephony system of claim 68, wherein the at least one active prompt in the prompt stream is associated with computer program instructions to provide an indication that the active prompt has executed, and wherein the controller is further adapted to execute the computer program instructions associated with the at least one active prompt in the prompt stream to provide the indication that the active prompt has executed.

71. The telephony system of claim 68, wherein the controller is further adapted to execute the computer program instructions associated with the at least one active prompt to record a time at which the at least one active prompt was executed.

72. The telephony system of claim 68, wherein the controller is further adapted to execute the computer program instructions associated with the at least one active prompt to start a timer.

73. The telephony system of claim 68, wherein the controller is further adapted to execute the computer program instructions to modify a state of the telephony system.

74. The telephony system of claim 73, wherein the controller is further adapted to execute the computer program instructions to modify a current grammar of a speech recognition engine associated with the telephony system.

75. The telephony system of claim 73, wherein the controller is further adapted to execute the computer program instructions to modify contents of the prompt stream.

86. The telephony system of claim 68, wherein the controller is adapted to execute the computer program instructions at a time in the processing of the prompt stream when the at least one active prompt is processed.

87. The telephony system claim 68, wherein the controller is adapted to execute the computer program instructions to abort processing of the prompt stream when the active prompt is processed.

88. The telephony system claim 68, wherein the controller is adapted to execute the computer program instructions to insert a new prompt into a middle of the prompt stream when the active prompt is processed.