U.S. patent application number 10/864824 was filed with the patent office on 2004-12-02 for system and method for generating a dynamic interface via a communications network.
Invention is credited to Abshire, Tom, Myer, Mike, Warner, Doug.
Application Number | 20040240640 10/864824 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 29583549 |
Filed Date | 2004-12-02 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040240640 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Warner, Doug ; et
al. |
December 2, 2004 |
System and method for generating a dynamic interface via a
communications network
Abstract
A system, method, and computer program product for dynamically
adapting selections in an automatic phone support system is
described. The invention may integrate a dynamic knowledge base of
responses with the menu selections on an automated phone system or
other response system to present the most frequently used items
earlier in the option list, or otherwise order options and
information. Call data may be captured from single callers or
historical ensembles of callers. An automatically generated
similarity relationship may be used to initialize the system
without historical call data, based on textual similarity or other
techniques. Prioritization of options provides a more enjoyable,
efficient experience for callers without increasing administrative
overhead.
Inventors: |
Warner, Doug; (Bozeman,
MT) ; Myer, Mike; (Bozeman, MT) ; Abshire,
Tom; (Bozeman, MT) |
Correspondence
Address: |
SHOOK, HARDY & BACON LLP
2555 GRAND BLVD
KANSAS CITY,
MO
64108
US
|
Family ID: |
29583549 |
Appl. No.: |
10/864824 |
Filed: |
June 8, 2004 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
10864824 |
Jun 8, 2004 |
|
|
|
10162092 |
Jun 3, 2002 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
379/88.18 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04M 3/4936 20130101;
H04M 3/36 20130101; H04M 2203/551 20130101; Y10S 707/99942
20130101; H04M 3/2218 20130101; H04M 3/5166 20130101; Y10S
707/99943 20130101; H04M 2201/12 20130101; H04M 2203/355 20130101;
H04M 3/493 20130101; H04M 2201/16 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
379/088.18 |
International
Class: |
H04M 011/00 |
Claims
What is claimed:
1. A system for configuring an interactive voice menu, comprising:
a first interface configured to communicate with at least one
caller via a telecommunications network; and a processor,
communicating with the first interface, the processor generating a
voice menu according to at least one of an automatically generated
similarity relationship, historical call data, and input received
via the first interface during a current call.
2. A system according to claim 1, wherein the first interface
comprises at least one of a wired telephone connection, a wireless
telephone connection and a networked data connection.
3. A system according to claim 1, wherein the processor comprises a
voice response unit, the voice response unit generating the voice
menu and receiving the input received via the first interface to
select at least one item in the voice menu.
4. A system according to claim 3, wherein the voice menu comprises
at least two items having an ordering therebetween.
5. A system according to claim 4, wherein the processor adjusts the
ordering according to at least one of the automatically generated
similarity relationship, the historical call data and the input
received via the first interface.
6. A system according to claim 5, wherein each item has at least
one associated score.
7. A system according to claim 6, wherein the score comprises at
least one of a usefulness score, a visitation score and a
relatedness score, the relatedness score reflecting a measure of
relatedness between each item and at least one other item.
8. A system according to claim 6, wherein a point at which an item
is presented in the voice menu is changed according to the
score.
9. A system according to claim 7, wherein the score comprises at
least a relatedness score, and the relatedness score is calculated
based on at least one of the automatically generated similarity
relationship and historical frequency of the item being selected
before or after selection of another item.
10. A system according to claim 1, wherein the input received via
the first input comprises at least one of voice input, keypad input
and keyboard input.
11. A system according to claim 1, wherein the processor generates
a clustering of items within the voice menu according to at least
one clustering rule.
12. A method for configuring an interactive voice menu, comprising:
communicating with at least one caller via a telecommunications
network; and generating a voice menu according to at least one of
an automatically generated similarity relationship, historical call
data and input received during the step of communicating.
13. A method according to claim 12, wherein the step of
communicating comprises communicating via at least one of a wired
telephone connection, a wireless telephone connection and a
networked data connection.
14. A method according to claim 12, wherein the step of generating
comprises a step of generating the voice menu using a voice
response unit, further comprising a step receiving the input to
select at least one item in the voice menu.
15. A method according to claim 14, wherein the voice menu
comprises at least two items having an ordering therebetween.
16. A method according to claim 15, further comprising a step of
adjusting the ordering according to at least one of the
automatically generated similarity relationship, the historical
call data and the input.
17. A method according to claim 16, wherein each item has at least
one associated score.
18. A method according to claim 17, wherein the score comprises at
least one of a usefulness score, a visitation score and a
relatedness score, the relatedness score reflecting a measure of
relatedness between each item and at least one other item.
19. A method according to claim 17, further comprising a step of
changing a point at which an item is presented in the voice menu
according to the score.
20. A method according to claim 18, wherein the score comprises at
least a relatedness score, and the relatedness score is calculated
based on at least one of the automatically generated similarity
relationship and the historical frequency of the item being
selected before or after selection of another item.
21. A method according to claim 11, wherein the input comprises at
least one of voice input, keypad input and keyboard input.
22. A method according to claim 11, further comprising a step of
generating a clustering of items within the voice menu according to
at least one clustering rule.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The invention relates generally to the field of
communications, and more particularly to automated telephone and
other telecommunications services.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Telephone response systems, such as automated voice response
units (VRUs) or others, traditionally rely on a human administrator
to design the orderings of menus and information within the system.
Thus, if the database and search logic are not properly installed,
programmed or maintained, the familiar "Press 1 for billing
inquiries, press 2 for order status . . . " sequence may for
instance require most callers to exhaust an entire list of options
before reaching their desired selection. While techniques exist to
make these systems easier to use by allowing voice rather than
keypad entry of menu selections, there is no method to dynamically
adjust the interface hierarchy based on caller usage.
[0003] As described in pending patents: Ser. No. 09/549,566
(entitled "Temporal Updates of Relevancy Rating of Retrieved
Information in an Information Search System"); Ser. No. 09/549,669
(entitled "Implicit Rating of Retrieved Information in an
Information Search System"); Ser. No. 09/549,568 (entitled "Usage
Based Strength Between Related Information in an Information
Retrieval System"); Ser. No. 09/751,934 (entitled "Automated
Adaptive Classification System for Bayesian Knowledge Networks");
and provisional No. 60/314,796 (entitled "Method for Clustering
Automation and Classification"), techniques exist where the
information presented to users of a computer or Internet based
question answering system changes dynamically, based on usage.
[0004] Such adaptive techniques have not however been incorporated
into automated telephone systems, affecting the efficiency and
user-friendliness of that type of support platform. Other problems
exist.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] The invention overcoming these and other problems in the art
relates in one regard to a system and method for presenting a
dynamic interactive interface to a user over a telecommunications
network, for instance a wired or wireless telephone network. In an
embodiment, the invention may be deployed, for instance, in a
customer service department of a company that employs an automated
phone system to provide answers to frequently asked questions. By
incorporating the invention in such an automated phone or other
system, callers can reach their desired information more quickly
and with fewer inputs, without increasing administrative overhead.
Historically telephone support systems may have caused customer
dissatisfaction because of their lack of user-friendliness.
However, the invention solves many of these problems while
increasing system responsiveness.
[0006] In one aspect of the invention, the interactive selections
made by callers in response to a voice or other menu may be
captured and stored, for instance in a database. Data about those
captured selections, such as their frequencies, times of day,
duration and other parameters may be used to reconfigure the menu
sequence, for instance so that menu selections which are
historically made more frequently may be moved higher in the list
for subsequent callers. Data may be captured from single callers,
selected groups of callers or historical ensembles of all
callers.
[0007] Thus, as each new caller selects an option, a usage counter
on that menu item may for example increase. As each new caller
bypasses that option to proceed to a subsequent peer level menu
item, the usage counter on the first item may in embodiments
decrease. Over time, the menu items that have the highest
visitation frequency may accumulate higher associated counts. The
system may then present the menu options in revised order from the
highest usage to the lowest usage, resulting in the most frequently
selected options appearing earlier in the option listings.
[0008] In another aspect of the invention, the transitions between
menu items may be captured and stored. These transitions may then
be presented to subsequent callers as suggested options. In this
regard, each transition from one menu option to another suggests
that a caller finds those options related. As subsequent callers
make the same transition, a usefulness counter may for instance be
incremented on that transition to signify the strength of the
relationship between the two options. In other embodiments, a
directed graph connecting the two menu items may have an associated
weight adjusted, such as in a Bayesian network. The system may then
present a rank ordering of related menu options to callers who may
otherwise have difficulty finding the desired option.
[0009] In another aspect of the invention, the usefulness rankings
of each menu option and/or each menu option relationship, as
described above, may be algorithmically decreased based on the last
time the option was used. The invention in this regard may allow
the menu options which have the most current interest to appear
earlier in the list, while those options that were historically
important but not currently useful may be moved further down the
list.
[0010] In another aspect of the invention, when no caller usage
data exists, such as in a recently initialized system, to allow the
presentation of relationships between menu options, a method is
available to automatically create relationships between similar
items. In this embodiment the textual similarity between the
contents of each menu item are analyzed and similar items may be
related with a strength proportional to the relationship.
[0011] In another aspect of the invention, an automatic
determination of the complete menu hierarchy may be generated. In
this embodiment, the entire set of potential content to present in
an automated telephone system may be analyzed for similarity and
topic-subtopic relationships. The result is a dynamic creation of a
complete menu system built by conceptual relationships. As new
content is added to the system, options may be automatically added
at the proper point within the menu hierarchy. Or, new content may
be sufficiently distinct to cause a new hierarchy to be
generated.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] The invention will be described in detail below with
reference to the attached drawing figures, in which like elements
are referenced by like numbers, and in which:
[0013] FIG. 1 illustrates a telephone support environment in which
an embodiment of the invention may operate.
[0014] FIG. 2 illustrates call processing in a dynamic telephone
menu system according to an embodiment of the invention.
[0015] FIG. 3 illustrates call processing in a dynamic telephone
menu system, according to an embodiment of the invention.
[0016] FIG. 4 illustrates generation of related menu choices by
caller use, according to an embodiment of the invention.
[0017] FIG. 5 illustrates the use of relationships generated as in
FIG. 4, according to an embodiment of the invention.
[0018] FIG. 6 illustrates an automatic aging of usefulness
information, according to an embodiment of the invention.
[0019] FIG. 7 illustrates call processing for automatic generation
of relationships, according to an embodiment of the invention.
[0020] FIG. 8 illustrates processing for automatic generation of
phone system menu groupings, according to an embodiment of the
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0021] The invention in one regard relates to a system and method
for presenting a dynamic interface over a telecommunications
network, for instance a voice menu over a telephone system. For
illustrative purposes, an embodiment of the invention is discussed
below with reference to a customer support department that uses an
automatic (self-service) phone answering system as a platform for
customer communication and support. This is only an example of an
operating environment, and is not intended to suggest any
limitation in the scope of using or functionality of the invention.
Neither should it be interpreted as implying any dependency or
necessity of any one or combination of components illustrated in
the exemplary operating environment.
[0022] FIG. 1 illustrates one such operating environment for an
embodiment of the invention, in which one or more callers may use
one or more transmission devices 102a, 102b . . . 102n (n
arbitrary) to communicate with a call center 104, for instance to
inquire about customer support, warranty, financial, billing or
other information. The transmission devices 102a, 102b . . . 102n
may each be or include, for instance, conventional telephones
communicating via plain old telephone service (POTS), wireless
cellular phones or other mobile devices, voice over Internet
Protocol (VoIP) clients, telephones connected via DSL or ISDN
lines, or other communication devices. The call center 104 may
include a voice response unit 106, which may be capable of
presenting callers with an automated voice menu. The voice menu may
for instance be or include recorded human voices, or synthetic
voices in different embodiments. Voice response unit 106 may for
instance accept keypad inputs, voice or other inputs or responses
from callers. The call center 104 may include an automatic call
distributor 108 which may distribute incoming calls, selected calls
or classes of calls from the one or more transmission devices 102a,
102b . . . 102n to at least one of customer support stations 102a,
102b . . . 102n (n arbitrary). Customer support stations 110a, 110b
. . . 110n may for example be or include computer workstations
attended by human operators.
[0023] The call center 104 may also include a call server 112,
communicating with voice response unit 106 and automatic call
distributor 108. Call server 112 may likewise communicate with
database 114, for instance to access and store user account
information, incoming or outgoing call time, duration, caller
inputs and other parameters.
[0024] FIG. 2 illustrates interactive processing to present a voice
menu interface according to an embodiment of the invention.
Processing may begin at step 202. In this embodiment, a call may be
received in step 204, for instance from a caller using one of
transmission devices 102a, 102b . . . 102n to connect with a
dynamic phone menu, presented by voice response unit 106 or
otherwise. The caller may be presented with an audible list of
selectable items or options available on the system, in step 206.
These might be, for example, "Support for my Widget" and "Support
for my Gadget," with for example the first item representing the
option which callers have historically chosen most frequently.
[0025] The audible menu sequence may in embodiments be
interruptable, for instance by keypad or voice input, when a caller
wants to supply a selection or other information while a menu item
is playing. In embodiments, voice menu items may be simultaneously
or alternatively presented via a text or graphical interface, for
instance on the screen of a cellular phone having short message
service (SMS) or other messaging capability, or otherwise.
[0026] The caller may select one of the two or more "Widget",
"Gadget" or other menu items in step 208. When selected, a,
usefulness score stored in a usefulness counter 116, for instance
stored in database 114, for that item may be increased after the
selection, in step 210. Should this selection cause a lower ranking
menu item to receive a higher usefulness ranking than another item,
that item may be elevated to an earlier point in the menu sequence
for subsequent callers. In the illustrative case, the "Widget" item
might for example have a usefulness score of 4 and "Gadget" might
have a usefulness score of 3. The caller may accordingly be
presented with "Widget" first, and "Gadget" second. Selecting
"Gadget" may cause the "Gadget" item to increase to a usefulness
score of, for example, 5, and the next caller may be presented with
"Gadget" first and "Widget" second. Other scoring and ordering
schemes may be used. In step 212, processing ends.
[0027] FIG. 3 illustrates another call interaction, along the same
general lines as that illustrated in FIG. 2. Processing may begin
in step 302. A call may be received in step 304, followed by option
presentation in step 306 and the caller selecting an item,
illustratively item "A", in step 308. In this embodiment, after the
caller selects one item that was ordered on usefulness, the
usefulness counter 116 for that item ("A") may likewise be
increased in step 310. The caller may then return to the original
menu as part of the same call, in step 312. The menu list may be
rank ordered based on all available usage information at the time.
The caller may subsequently select a different item in step 314,
illustratively item "B". In step 316, the usefulness count of item
"A" may be changed, for instance decreased to reflect the skipping
over of that item, while the usefulness count of item "B" may
increase. Selecting the new item may cause the prior selected
item's usefulness score to decrease, and increase the current
item's usefulness score. In embodiments, that action may cause some
or all prior items in the same call to decrease in score as well.
Processing may repeat through different menu items, and if not in
step 318 processing may end.
[0028] In embodiments, the decrease in score or rank on a prior
item or items generated for instance according to the process
illustrated in FIG. 3 may cause the item to receive either a lower
value than it had before the original interaction, a value equal to
the value before the original interaction, or a value greater than
the original value before the initial interaction, depending on
implementation. In this case, the system may have a "Widget" item
with for example a score of 4 and "Gadget" item with a score of 3.
A caller initially selecting the "Gadget" item as an option may
cause the "Gadget" score to increase to 5. Subsequently, the same
caller may select the "Widget" item. "Widget" may then increase to
a score of 6, while "Gadget" may then decrease to 4. Numbers used
for increasing or decreasing a score may vary depending on
implementation. For instance, values by which a score increases may
be greater than or equal to that by which they decrease, or either
may be made a function of the current item score, or of other
parameters. Whole number, binary, decimal or other values may be
used for scores, in different embodiments.
[0029] FIG. 4 illustrates an interactive process in which
relationships between information items in a telephone response
system are generated, according to an embodiment of the invention.
In this embodiment, processing may begin in step 402, and a call
may be received in step 404. For instance a caller may connect with
a voice menu presented by voice response unit 106 or otherwise.
Menu items may be presented as options in step 406, and a user may
select an item in step 408, for instance by spoken input decoded by
voice recognition or keypad input, and select an information item,
such as a checking account balance. Subsequently, in step 410 the
caller may return to the same or a different menu and select a
different information item in step 412, for instance a savings
account balance. The system may detect that this caller has visited
two information items in order, and build or strengthen an ordered
or unordered relationship between these two items in step 414. The
relationship may be represented, for instance, by a normalized
weighting score or otherwise. The system may similarly build
relationships between any two or more items in immediate sequence,
or between any two or more items in the history of the call or
prior calls, of that caller or others.
[0030] FIG. 5 shows an embodiment illustrating how a caller may
interact with menu item relationships generated according to the
embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4. Processing may begin in step 502,
and a call may be received in step 504. A caller may for instance
connect with a voice menu in step 506, and in step 508 the caller
may select an information item, for example the "Widget" item.
After listening to the information item, in step 510 the caller may
be presented with the option of listening to a related item, for
instance the "Gadget" item as for instance discussed in the example
related to FIG. 3. In step 512, the system may present an item
determined to be related to the selected item, according to the
process illustrated in FIG. 3 or otherwise. The caller may in
embodiments be given a choice between all related items, or only
the most related item, the three most closely related items, or
items related in other ways. In embodiments, a caller's past set of
menu selections may be stored in database 116 or otherwise, for
selection, retrieval, modification or other purposes. Processing
may repeat for different menu items. In step 514, processing may
end.
[0031] FIG. 6 illustrates a method for decreasing the visitation
score on "old" items, as for instance shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 or
otherwise. In this regard, "old" may refer to any item that has
been visited prior to the current call. In step 602, processing may
begin. In step 604, "old" items may be detected for a given caller
or otherwise. The measure of what is "old" may be a configurable
parameter, or may be statistically derived from the system
information, for instance call data captured in database 114.
Visitation times may be kept associated with usefulness or
relatedness scores previously described, or otherwise. In
embodiments, once an item is detected to be older than a desired
age, the usefulness score of that item may be decreased in a step
606 by multiplying by an adjustment factor, for instance between 0
and 1 (inclusive), or otherwise. Items so modified may also have
their visitation time updated to the current time in step 608, to
signify that they have been recently manipulated. In step 610,
processing may end.
[0032] FIG. 7 illustrates how item relationships for instance
generated according to the embodiment of FIG. 5 may be
automatically generated to indicate a similarity relationship,
without necessarily operating on historical call data. In step 702,
processing may begin. In step 704, a similarity score may be
detected indicating a similarity between a currently selected item
and some or all other menu items. These automatically generated
relationships may be used for example to start a newly initialized
system, or applied to systems which are already operating.
Similarly, systems whose set of information items change over time
may in embodiments use this initializing feature to augment item
relationships generated by human callers, for example because those
new relationships may be sparse during the break-in period for new
items. In embodiments, the relationship score between each item and
every other item may be generated in pairwise fashion. These
relationships may for instance be generated by matching the text
from the content of each item, by correlating item types or
hierarchical locations in a menu, or by other techniques. In step
706, a relationship between a current item and some or all other
items may be generated according to the strength of the similarity
score.
[0033] The score associated with an item relationship may for
instance be a function of the degree of relatedness between the
item pair. If the pair is deemed sufficiently unrelated, no
usefulness score, or a zero score, may be generated for that pair.
Once the score for a pair relationship is generated, if the process
illustrated in FIG. 6 is used, in step 708 the caller visitation
time may be calculated appropriately. In step 710 processing may
proceed to a next item in the menu. This process may be repeated
until all potential relationships have been examined, testing for
the final item in step 712. This process may exhaustively evaluate
all item pairs in the database, or in embodiments may include an
optimization to eliminate some pairs from consideration, for
instance those with no possible relation. Any clustering algorithm
which allows pairwise consideration of information items may be
employed in this process. In step 714, processing may end.
[0034] FIG. 8 illustrates processing that may be used to generate a
clustered menu structure based on examination of component
information items, according to an embodiment of the invention. In
step 802, processing may begin. In step 804, clusters of similar
items in the menu space may be detected. Detection may be
accomplished using a clustering algorithm to generate groups of
similar items. In embodiments, the clustering algorithm may
generate a hierarchical result, but this is not required in the
general case. Upon completion of clustering, a set of
classification rules to allow categorization of new information
items may optionally be installed in step 806. This may allow the
system to change the number and content of information items,
without changing the menu groupings generated by the clustering
process. A label may be generated in step 808, to associate with
the item groupings to provide a descriptive label for each menu
item generated in the clustering in step 804.
[0035] In step 810, menus may be made available for presentation to
callers as in embodiments shown in FIGS. 2, 3, 4, and 5 or
otherwise. If desired, the system may support operations such as
the addition of new items, deletion of existing items, or changing
of existing items as shown in step 812. Deletion of an item may
remove it as a possible menu selection. On addition or change of an
item, the previously learned classification rules may be applied to
the new or modified items to determine the placement of the item in
the menu hierarchy. These changes to the menu sequence or content
may require a re-generation of labels for affected menu categories,
and a return to labeling or other processing steps. Additionally,
as an optional process, in step 814 the system may detect when a
threshold of acceptable change in the information items in the menu
system has been exceeded, in which case the process may
automatically repeat from the clustering step. In step 816,
processing may end.
[0036] One step which may be included (not illustrated in FIG. 8)
is to apply a heuristic or other optimization to the menu structure
based on other desired parameters, such as total number of options
presented at one time (for example, between 2 and 9 to allow single
keystroke selection), total number of menu selections necessary to
reach an item (for example, information items must be available
within no more than 3 menu selection operations), or other
hierarchical or other optimizations or rules. For instance, in an
embodiment the call center 104 may detect the area code or
telephone number of a call, as well as the time and date of a call,
using for instance CallerID or automatic number identification
(ANI) or other protocols, and use that data as a selector into a
menu type, point in a menu sequence, to adjust scores on
usefulness, relatedness or other parameters, or for other
purposes.
[0037] The foregoing description is illustrative, and variations in
configuration and implementation may occur to persons skilled in
the art. For instance, while the invention has been generally
described in terms of a caller accessing a single menu sequence
generated by a single voice response unit, in embodiments multiple
menus may be presented, in serial or contingent fashion, which in
embodiments may be generated by multiple voice response units or
other platforms.
[0038] Likewise, while the invention has been described generally
in terms of a telephone-type connection over which keypad or voice
inputs may select items from a menu, in embodiments other inputs or
selectors may be used, for instance keyboard inputs from a computer
when communication takes place via VoIP or other protocols.
Furthermore, while the menu has been generally described as being
presented as a sequence of audible voice messages, in embodiments
concurrent or separate graphical or textual presentation of some or
all of a menu may be implemented, for instance via a teletype (TTY)
interface to a telephone, or via a graphical presentation of menu
items on a screen of a cellular phone, with or without simultaneous
voice presentation.
[0039] For further example, while the invention has generally been
described as involving an automated response to a caller using a
voice response unit 106 and other resources, in embodiments a given
call may be first handled by distribution to one of workstations
110a, 110b . . . 110n for human intervention first, followed by
automated handling, or the call may be transferred from automated
processing by the voice response unit 106 to one of workstations
110a, 110b . . . 110n after a predetermined time, or based on user
input. The scope of the invention is accordingly intended to be
limited only by the following claims.
* * * * *