Personalized interactive voice response system

• US 9,871,928 B2
• Filed: 05/11/2016
• Issued: 01/16/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Awad, Mina, McSweeney, John T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan, Joseph T
• Application Number:
  US15/152,074
• Publication Number:
  US 20160255200A1
• Time in Patent Office: 615 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42068 where the identifier is used to access a profile
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5166 in combination with interactive voice response systems or voice portals, e.g. as front-ends
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/527 Centralised call answering arrangements not requiring operator intervention

Abstract

An interactive voice response method permits an intelligent interactive voice system to communicate with a caller. The method includes determining that a caller is a first time caller, interactively communicating with the first time caller, and routing a call to a particular destination based upon information received from the caller. The method also includes establishing a caller personal profile based on the information received from the first time caller, developing a predictive personalized interactive communication dialog for a repeat call by the first time caller, and storing the caller personal profile and the predictive personalized interactive communication dialog. The method further includes updating the predictive personalized interactive communication dialog based on information obtained by the repeat call by the first time caller.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining that a caller is a first time caller;

interactively communicating, by an intelligent interactive voice system, with the first time caller;

routing a call to a particular destination based on information received from the first time caller by the intelligent interactive voice system;

establishing a caller personal profile, by the intelligent interactive voice system, based on the information received from the first time caller;

developing, by the intelligent interactive voice system, a predictive personalized interactive communication dialog for a repeat call by the first time caller;

storing, in a storage, the caller personal profile and the predictive personalized interactive communication dialog, and

updating the predictive personalized interactive communication dialog based on information obtained by one of (1) a selective time frame of previous calls by a repeat caller, and (2) a selective number of the previous calls by the repeat caller,

wherein the selective time frame of the previous calls and the selective number of the previous calls are variably determined by the intelligent interactive voice system based on information stored in the caller personal profile, including whether the repeat caller is calling from one of an office phone, a home phone, and a cell phone.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

developing and storing a plurality of predictive personalized interactive communication dialogs based upon different predictive purposes of the repeat call by the first time caller.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

accessing the caller personal profile, and selecting a particular predictive personalized interactive communication dialog from the plurality of predictive personalized interactive communication dialogs for communicating with the caller, when the caller is determined to be a repeat caller.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein selecting the particular predictive personalized interactive communication dialog from the plurality of predictive personalized interactive communication dialogs comprises:

determining a purpose of a call by the repeat caller; and

selecting the particular predictive personalized interactive communication dialog for communicating with the repeat caller based on the purpose of the call.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the purpose of the call by the repeat caller comprises:

intelligently predicting a most probable purpose of the call by the repeat caller by analyzing a stored history of information gathered from the repeat caller during previous calls; and

communicating with the repeat caller using the particular predictive personalized interactive communication dialog that corresponds to the most probable purpose of the call by the repeat caller.

6. The method of claim 5,

wherein the stored history of information includes information from all of the previous calls by the repeat caller, which is used to update the caller personal profile and the plurality of predictive personalized interactive communication dialogs.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

updating the plurality of predictive personalized interactive communication dialogs based on information from a selective number of the previous calls by the repeat caller.

8. The method of claim 1,

wherein the caller personal profile is self-customized by a caller to establish persistent parameters that only the caller can change.

9. The method of claim 8,

wherein the persistent parameters established by the caller are used in developing the predictive personalized interactive communication dialog.

10. The method of claim 8,

wherein the persistent parameters established by the caller are used to expedite routing calls to different destinations.

11. The method of claim 9,

wherein the persistent parameters established by the caller are used to personalize the predictive personalized interactive communication dialog to caller preferences.

12. The method of claim 1,

wherein the personal profile of the first time caller is stored in a caller database and includes a variable parameter generated by the intelligent interactive voice system based on an initial call and a repeat call from the first time caller, and includes a persistent parameter established by the first time caller during the initial call or the repeat call that cannot be changed by the intelligent interactive voice system.

13. The method of claim 12,

wherein the variable parameter generated by the intelligent interactive voice system is updated after each repeat call by the first time caller.

14. The method of claim 13,

wherein the persistent parameter established by the caller remains constant, unless changed by the first time caller during a repeat call.

15. The method of claim 1,

wherein the predictive personalized interactive communication dialog develops an increasingly complex dialog structure having multiple paths as a total number of repeat calls from the first time caller increases.

16. An interactive voice response system that permits an intelligent interactive voice system to communicate with a caller, comprising:

a receiver that receives information from a caller during an initial call and during a repeat call;

a transmitter that transmits information to a caller during the initial call and the repeat call;

a router that routs a call to a particular destination based on information received from the caller;

a processor and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

determining whether the caller is a first time caller or a repeat caller, establishing a caller personal profile based on information received from the caller, developing a predictive personalized interactive communication dialog for a repeat call by the caller, and updating the predictive personalized interactive communication dialog based on information obtained by one of (1) a selective time frame of previous calls by a repeat caller, and (2) a selective number of the previous calls by the repeat caller,

wherein the selective time frame of the previous calls and the selective number of the previous calls are variably determined by the intelligent interactive voice system based on information stored in the caller personal profile, including whether the repeat caller is calling from one of an office phone, a home phone, and a cell phone; and

a storage that stores the caller personal profile and the predictive personalized interactive communication dialog.

17. A tangible computer-readable storage medium encoded with an executable computer program for enabling an intelligent interactive voice system to communicate with a caller over a communication link and that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform operations comprising:

determining whether a caller is a first time caller or a repeat caller;

interactively communicating, by the intelligent interactive voice system, with the first time caller;

routing the call to a particular destination based upon information received from the caller by the intelligent interactive voice system;

establishing a caller personal profile, by the intelligent interactive voice system, based on the information received from the caller;

developing, by the intelligent interactive voice system, a predictive personalized interactive communication dialog for a repeat call by the caller;

storing, in a storage, the caller personal profile and the predictive personalized interactive communication dialog, and

updating the predictive personalized interactive communication dialog based on information obtained by one of (1) a selective time frame of previous calls by a repeat caller, and (2) a selective number of the previous calls by the repeat caller,

wherein the selective time frame of the previous calls and the selective number of the previous calls are variably determined by the intelligent interactive voice system based on information stored in the caller personal profile, including whether the repeat caller is calling from one of an office phone, a home phone, and a cell phone.