Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02712853 2010-08-18
SPEECH RECOGNITION METHOD AND SYSTEM TO DETERMINE
THE STATUS OF AN OUTBOUND TELEPHONE CALL
This application is a division of Canadian Application Serial Number
2,420,679, filed
on August 31, 2001 as the Canadian National phase application corresponding to
International
Application No. PCT/US01/27061 filed August 31, 2001.
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method of and system for
determining the
status of an answered telephone during the course of an outbound telephone
call, and more
particularly to a method and system which utilizes speech recognition to
identify and/or locate a
particular person during the course of an outbound telephone call.
Background of the Invention
In the new, connected economy, it has become increasingly important for
companies or
service providers to become more in tune with their clients and customers.
Such contact can be
facilitated with automated telephonic transaction systems, in which
interactively-generated
prompts are played in the context of a telephone transaction, and the replies
of a human user are
recognized by an automatic speech recognition system. The answers given by the
respondent
are processed by the system in order to convert the spoken words to meaning,
which can then be
utilized interactively, or stored in a database.
In order for a computer system to recognize the words that are spoken and
convert these
words to text, the system must be programmed to phonetically break down the
words and
convert portions of the words to their textural equivalents. Such a conversion
requires an
understanding of the components of speech and the formation of the spoken
word. The
production of speech generates a complex series of rapidly changing acoustic
pressure
waveforms. These waveforms comprise the basic building blocks of speech, known
as
phonemes. Vowel and consonant sounds are made up of phonemes and have many
different
characteristics, depending on which components of human speech are used. The
position of a
phoneme in a word has a significant effect on the ultimate sound generated. A
spoken word can
have several meanings, depending on how it is said. Speech scientists have
identified allophones
as acoustic variants of phonemes and use them to more explicitly define how a
particular word
is formed.
While there are several distinct methods for analyzing the spoken word and
extracting the
information necessary to enable the recognition system to convert the speech
to word-strings,
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including Hidden Markov modeling and neural networks, these methods generally
perform
similar operations. The differences in these methods are typically in the
manner in which the
system determines how to break the phonetic signal into portions that define
phonemes.
Generally, a speech recognition system first converts an incoming analog voice
signal into a
digital signal The second step is called feature extraction, wherein the
system analyzes the
digital signal to identify the acoustic properties of the digitized signal.
Feature extraction
generally breaks the voice down into its individual sound components.
Conventional techniques
for perfomiing feature extraction include subband coding Fast Fourier
Transforms and Linear
Predictive Coding. Once the signal has been analyzed, the system then
determines where distinct
acoustic regions occur. The goal of this step is to divide the acoustic signal
into regions that will
be identified as phonemes which can be converted to a textual format. In
isolated word systems,
this process is simplified, because there is a pause after each word. In
continuous speech
systems, however, this process is much more difficult, since there typically
are no breaks
between words in the acoustic stream. Accordingly, the system must be able not
only to break
the words themselves into distinct acoustic regions, but must also be able to
separate consecutive
words in the stream. It is in this step that conventional methods such as
Hidden Markov
modeling and neural networks are used. The final step involves comparing a
specific acoustic
region, as determined in the previous step, to a known set of templates in a
database in order to
determine the word or word portion represented by the acoustic signal region.
If a match is
found, the resulting textual word is output from the system. If one is not,
the signal can either be
dynamically manipulated in order to increase the chances of finding a match,
or the data can be
discarded and the system prompted to repeat the query to the respondent, if
the associated answer
cannot be determined due to the loss of the data.
In customer service applications, it is important for service providers to be
able to obtain
information from, or to provide information to, their customers. Oftentimes,
service providers
will need to contact customers via the telephone to obtain or provide the
desired information. In
order to reduce the costs associated with such information exchanges, many
service providers
utilize automated telephone calling devices to contact customers. However, if
someone other
than the particular person being called answers the telephone, the information
exchange will
most likely be unsuccessful and the service provider will have wasted valuable
resources.
Summary of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method of and system for determining
the status of
an answered telephone during the course of an outbound call. The system
includes an automated
telephone calling system which initiates a telephone call to a target person
listed at a particular
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telephone number. When the telephone call is answered, the system first
determines whether a
live person or an answering machine has answered the telephone. If an
answering machine is
detected, the system leaves a message for the target person. If a live person
answers the
telephone, the system utilizes a speech recognition analysis to determine the
status of the
answering person and to attempt to locate the target person, if the answering
person is not the
target person.
According to one aspect of the invention, a method of determining the status
of an
answered telephone during the course of an outbound telephone call includes:
A. placing, with an automated calling system, a telephone call to a
location having a
telephone number at which a target person is listed;
B. upon the telephone call being answered, initiating a prerecorded
greeting which
asks for the target person;
C. receiving a spoken response from an answering person;
D. performing a speech recognition analysis on the spoken response to
determine a
status of the spoken response; and
E. if the speech recognition analysis determines that the answering person
is the
target person, initiating a speech recognition application with the target
person.
If the speech recognition analysis determines that the spoken response
indicates that the
answering person is not the target person, a next step may include initiating
a prerecorded query
asking for the target person. Upon the target person answering the telephone
call, the method
may further include initiating a speech recognition application with the
target person. If the
speech recognition analysis determines that the spoken response indicates that
the target person
is not present at the location, a next step may include initiating a
prerecorded query asking to
leave a message for the target person. The method may further include a step
of providing a
prerecorded message to the answering person. In step D, if the speech
recognition analysis
determines that the spoken response is a hold request, a next step may include
entering a wait
state to wait for the target person to provide a spoken response to the
telephone call. Upon the
target person providing a spoken response to the telephone call, the method
may further include
initiating a speech recognition application with the target person. In step D,
if the speech
recognition analysis determines that the spoken response is a request for the
identity of the entity
responsible for the calling system, the method may further include initiating
a prerecorded
response indicating the identity of the calling party, repeating the
prerecorded greeting which
asks for the target person, and repeating step C through step E. In step D, if
the speech
recognition analysis determines that the spoken response indicates that the
telephone number is
not the correct number for the target person, the method may further include
initiating a
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prerecorded apology message and terminating the telephone call. If the speech
recognition
analysis cannot determine a status of the spoken response, the method may
further include
repeating the prerecorded greeting which asks for the target person, and
repeating step C through
step E.
According to another aspect of the invention, a system for determining the
status of an
answered telephone during the course of an outbound telephone call includes an
automated
telephone calling device for placing a telephone call to a location having a
telephone number at
which a target person is listed, and a speech recognition device which, upon
the telephone call
being answered, initiates a prerecorded greeting which asks for the target
person, receives a
spoken response from an answering person and performs a speech recognition
analysis on the
spoken response to determine a status of the spoken response. If the speech
recognition device
determines that the answering person is the target person, the speech
recognition device initiates
a speech recognition application with the target person.
If the speech recognition device determines that the spoken response indicates
that the
answering person is not the target person, the speech recognition system may
instruct the
automated telephone calling device to initiate a prerecorded query asking for
the target person.
Upon the target person answering the telephone call, the speech recognition
system may initiate
a speech recognition application with the target person. If the speech
recognition device
determines that the spoken response indicates that the target person is not
present at the location,
the speech recognition system may instruct the automated telephone calling
device to initiate a
prerecorded query asking to leave a message for the target person. The
automated telephone
calling device may provide a prerecorded message to the answering person. If
the speech
recognition device determines that the spoken response is a hold request, the
speech recognition
may enter a wait state to wait for the target person to provide a spoken
response to the telephone
call. When the speech recognition device determines that the target person has
provided a
spoken response to the telephone call, the speech recognition device may
initiate a speech
recognition application with the target person. If the speech recognition
device detennines that
the spoken response is a request for the identity of the entity responsible
for the automated
calling device, the speech recognition system may instruct the automated
telephone calling
device to initiate a prerecorded response indicating the identity of the
entity and to repeat the
prerecorded greeting which asks for the target person. Upon receiving a spoken
response from
the answering person, the speech recognition device may perform a speech
recognition analysis
on the spoken response to determine the status of the spoken response. If the
speech recognition
device determines that the spoken response indicates that the telephone number
is not the correct
number for the target person, the speech recognition system may instruct the
automated
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telephone calling device to initiate a prerecorded apology message and to
terminate the telephone
call. If the speech recognition device cannot determine a status of the spoken
response, the
speech recognition system may instruct the automated telephone calling device
to repeat the
prerecorded greeting which asks for the target person, and, upon receiving a
spoken response
from the answering person, the speech recognition device may perform a speech
recognition
analysis on the spoken response to determine the status of the spoken
response.
According to another aspect of the invention, a method for determining the
status of an
answered telephone during the course of an outbound telephone call includes:
A. placing, with an automated calling system, a telephone call to a
location having a
telephone number at which a target person is listed;
B. upon the telephone call being answered, playing a prerecorded greeting
which
asks for the target person;
C. receiving a spoken response from an answering person;
D. performing a speech recognition analysis on the spoken response to
determine a
status of the spoken response; and
E. providing at least one of the following responses based on the speech
recognition
analysis:
a. if the speech recognition analysis determines that the answering person is
the
target person, initiating a speech recognition application with the target
person;
b. if the speech recognition analysis determines that the spoken response
indicates
that the answering person is not the target person, initiating a prerecorded
query asking for the
target person, wherein, upon the target person answering the telephone call,
the method further
comprises initiating a speech recognition application with the target person;
c. if the speech recognition analysis determines that the spoken response
indicates
that the target person is not present at the location, initiating a
prerecorded query asking to leave
a message for the target person;
d. if the speech recognition analysis determines that the spoken response is a
hold
request, entering a wait state to wait for the target person to provide a
spoken response to the
telephone call, wherein, upon the target person providing a spoken response to
the telephone call,
the method further comprises initiating a speech recognition application with
the target person;
e. if the speech recognition analysis determines that the spoken response is a
request for the identity of the entity responsible for the calling system,
initiating a prerecorded
response indicating the identity of the calling party, repeating the
prerecorded greeting which
asks for the target person, and repeating step C through step E;
f. if the speech recognition analysis determines that the spoken response
indicates
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that the telephone number is not the correct number for the target person,
initiating a
prerecorded apology message and terminating the telephone call; and
g. if the speech recognition analysis cannot determine a status of the spoken
response, repeating the prerecorded greeting which asks for the target person,
and
repeating step C through step E.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, a method of detecting an
answering machine includes:
A. placing, with an automated calling system, a telephone call to
a location
having a telephone number at which a target person is listed;
B. upon the telephone call being answered, waiting for a predetermined time
period for a spoken response;
C. upon receiving the spoken response, initiating a prerecorded greeting
prompt which asks for the target person;
D. while playing the prerecorded greeting prompt, attempting to detect a
further spoken response in excess of a predetermined time parameter;
E. in the absence of detecting the further spoken response during the
playing
of the prerecorded greeting prompt, initiating a query application;
F. upon detecting the further spoken response during the playing of the
prerecorded greeting prompt, terminating the playing of the prerecorded
prompt; and
G. indicating that an answering machine has been detected.
The method may further include the step of attempting to detect a beep tone
during the playing of the prerecorded greeting prompt and, upon the detection
of a beep
tone, interrupting the prerecorded greeting prompt and playing a prerecorded
answering
machine message prompt. The method may further include attempting to detect a
beep
tone during the playing of the prerecorded answering machine message prompt
and,
upon the detection of a beep tone, interrupting the prerecorded answering
machine
message prompt and replaying the prerecorded prompt.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided a system
for
automatically directing and controlling an answered telephone during the
course of an
outbound telephone call so as to automatically initiate a speaker-independent
speech
recognition application with a target person, comprising:
an automated calling subsystem, for placing the automated outbound telephone
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call to the target person; and
an automated multi-state enabled speaker-independent speech recognition device
configured to:
A. initiate a prerecorded greeting which asks for the target person upon
the
telephone call being answered;
B. receive a spoken response from an answering person or other audio signal
and determine whether the call has been answered by an answering machine, and
if not
proceed to step C;
C. perform a speaker-independent speech recognition analysis on the spoken
response to determine the meaning of the spoken response; and
D. provide any one of the following conditional responses based on the
meaning of the spoken response as determined by the speaker-independent speech
recognition analysis in accordance with a set of speaker-independent speech
recognition
enabled states of conversation including (1) the answering person indicates
that he or she
is the target person, (2) the answering person indicates that he or she is not
the target
person, (3) the answering person indicates that the target person is not
present at the
location, (4) the answering person indicates a hold request, (5) the answering
person
requests the identity of the caller, (6) the answering person indicates that
the telephone
number is not the correct number for the target person, and (7) the speaker-
independent
speech recognition analysis cannot determine the meaning of the spoken
response from
the answering person:
a. if the meaning of the spoken response indicates that the answering person
is the
target person, initiating a speaker-independent speech recognition application
with the
target person;
b. if the meaning of the spoken response indicates that said answering person
is
not the target person, initiating a prerecorded query asking for the target
person, wherein,
upon receiving a subsequent spoken response and determining whether the
meaning of
the subsequent spoken response indicates that the target person answering said
telephone
call is now on the line, said method further comprises initiating a speaker-
independent
speech recognition application with the target person;
c. if the speech recognition analysis determines that said spoken response
indicates that the target person is not present at the location, initiating a
prerecorded
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query asking to leave a message for the target person;
d. if the speech recognition analysis determines that said spoken response
is a hold
request, entering a wait state to wait for the target person to provide yet
another spoken
response to the telephone call, wherein, upon receiving yet another spoken
response,
determining the meaning of the yet another subsequent spoken response to
determine
whether the target person is now on the line, and if the meaning of the yet
another spoken
response indicates that the target person is now on the line, providing a
spoken response to
said telephone call, said method further comprises initiating a speaker-
independent speech
recognition application with said target person;
e. if the speech recognition analysis determines that said spoken response
is a
request for the identity of the caller, initiating a prerecorded response
indicating the
identity of the calling party, repeating the prerecorded greeting which asks
for the target
person, and repeating B through D;
f. if the speech recognition analysis determines that said spoken response
indicates that the telephone number is not the correct number for the target
person,
initiating a prerecorded apology message and terminating the telephone call;
and
g. if the speaker-independent speech recognition analysis cannot determine
the
meaning of the spoken response, repeating the prerecorded greeting which asks
for the
target person, and repeating B through D.
According to an aspect of the invention, the present invention resides in a
method
of determining the status of an answered telephone during the course of an
outbound
telephone call comprising:
A. placing, with an automated calling system, a telephone call to a
location
having a telephone number at which a target person is listed;
B. after said telephone call being answered, as determined by an initial
spoken
response, or other audio or telecommunication signals, initiating a
prerecorded greeting
which asks for the target person;
C. receiving a spoken response from an answering person or other audio
signal
and determining if said spoken response or other audio signal is being
provided by an
answering machine;
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D. upon determining that the spoken response or other audio signal is not
provided by an answering machine, performing a speaker-independent speech
recognition
analysis on said spoken response, wherein performing said speaker-independent
speech
recognition analysis includes initiating a speaker-independent speech
recognition
application with said target person, wherein the speaker-independent speech
recognition
application is an interactive speech application configured and arranged to
provide a series
of acoustic prompts to the answering person by telephonic interaction, to
determine the
meaning of said spoken response; and
E. providing conditional responses based on the meaning of the subsequent
spoken response as determined by the speaker-independent speech recognition
analysis in
accordance with a set of speaker-independent speech recognition enabled states
of
conversation; and
F. responding appropriately to the results of the speech recognition
analysis.
According to a further aspect of the invention, the present invention resides
in a
system for determining the status of an answered telephone during the course
of an
outbound telephone call comprising: an automated telephone calling device for
placing a
telephone call to a location having a telephone number at which a target
person is listed;
and a speaker-independent speech recognition device which, upon said telephone
call
being answered, initiates a prerecorded greeting which asks for the target
person, receives
a spoken response from an answering person and performs a speech recognition
analysis
on said spoken response to determine the meaning of said spoken response;
wherein, if
said speaker-independent speech recognition device determines that said
answering person
is said target person, said speaker-independent speech recognition device
initiates a
speaker-independent speech recognition application with said target person,
wherein the
speaker-independent speech recognition application is an interactive speech
application
configured and arranged to provide a series of acoustic prompts to the
answering person by
telephonic interaction, and wherein the speaker-independent speech recognition
system is
configured to provide conditional responses based on the meaning of the spoken
response
as determined by the speaker-independent speech recognition analysis in
accordance with a
set of speaker-independent speech recognition enabled states of conversation
including one
or more of (1) the answering person indicates that he or she is the target
person, (2) the
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answering person indicates that he or she is not the target person, (3) the
answering
person indicates that the target person is not present at the location, (4)
the answering
person indicates a hold request, (5) the answering person requests the
identity of the caller,
(6) the answering person indicates that the telephone number is not the
correct number for
the target person, and (7) the speaker- independent speech recognition
analysis cannot
determine the meaning of the spoken response from the answering person.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, the present invention
resides in a
method for determining the status of an answered telephone during the course
of an
outbound telephone call comprising:
A. placing, with an automated calling system, a telephone call to a
location
having a telephone number at which a target person is listed;
B. after said telephone call being answered, initiating a prerecorded
greeting
which asks for the target person;
C. receiving a spoken response from an answering person;
D. performing a speaker-independent speech recognition analysis on said
spoken response to determine the meaning of said spoken response;
E. providing at least one of the following conditional responses based on
said
speaker-independent speech recognition analysis in accordance with a set of
speaker-
independent speech recognition enabled states of conversation:
a. if said speech recognition analysis determines that said answering
person is said target person, initiating a speaker-independent speech
recognition
application with said target person, wherein the speech recognition
application is an
interactive speech application configured and arranged to provide a series of
acoustic
prompts to the answering person by telephonic interaction;
b. if said speech recognition analysis determines that said spoken response
indicates that said answering person is not said target person, initiating a
prerecorded query
asking for said target person, wherein, upon said target person answering said
telephone
call, said method further comprises initiating a speech recognition
application with said
target person;
c. if said speech recognition analysis determines that said spoken response
indicates that said target person is not present at said location, initiating
a prerecorded
query asking to leave a message for said target person;
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d. if said speech recognition analysis determines that said spoken response
is a hold request, entering a wait state to wait for said target person to
provide a spoken
response to said telephone call, wherein, upon said target person providing a
spoken
response to said telephone call, said method further comprises initiating a
speech
recognition application with said target person;
e. if said speech recognition analysis determines that said spoken response
is a request for the identity of the entity responsible for the calling
system, initiating a
prerecorded response indicating the identity of the calling party, repeating
said prerecorded
greeting which asks for the target person, and repeating step C through step
E;
f. if said speech recognition analysis determines that said spoken response
indicates that said telephone number is not the correct number for the target
person,
initiating a prerecorded apology message and terminating said telephone call;
and
g. if said speech recognition analysis cannot determine a status of said
spoken response, repeating said prerecorded greeting which asks for the target
person, and
repeating step C through step E; and
F. responding appropriately to the results of the speech recognition
analysis
Brief Description of the Drawings
The foregoing and other objects of this invention, the various features
thereof, as
well as the invention itself may be more fully understood from the following
description
when read together with the accompanying drawings in which:
Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram of the system for determining the status
of an
answered telephone during the course of an outbound telephone call in
accordance with the
present invention;
Fig. 2 is a flow diagram of a method for detecting an answering machine in
accordance
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with the present invention; and
Fig. 3 is a flow diagram of a method for detemaining the status of an answered
telephone
during the course of an outbound telephone call in accordance with the present
invention.
Detailed Description
Referring now to Figs. 1-3, a preferred embodiment of the present invention
will be
described. System 12, Fig. 1, includes an automated telephone calling system
14 and a speech
recognition system 16. Preferably, the automated telephone calling system 14
is a personal
computer such as an IBM PC or IBM PC compatible system or an APPLE MacINTOSH
system
or a more advanced computer system such as an Alpha-based computer system
available from
Compaq Computer Corporation or SPARC Station computer system available from
SUN
Microsystems Corporation, although a main frame computer system can also be
used. In such a
system, all of the components of the system will reside on the computer
system, thus enabling
the system to independently process data received from a respondent in the
manner described
below. Alternatively, the components may be included in different systems that
have access to
each other via a LAN or similar network. For example, the automated telephone
calling device
14 may reside on a server system which receives the audio response from a
telephone 18 and
transmits the response to the speech recognition device 16.
The automated telephone calling system 14 may also include a network interface
that
facilitates receipt of audio information by any of a variety of a networks,
such as telephone
networks, cellular telephone networks, the Web, Internet, local area networks
(LANs), wide area
networks (WANs), private networks, virtual private networks (VPNs), intranets,
extranets,
wireless networks, and the like, or some combination thereof. The system 10
maybe accessible
by any one or more of a variety of input devices capable of communicating
audio information.
Such devices may include, but are not limited to, a standard telephone or
cellular telephone 18.
Automated telephone calling system 14 includes a database of persons to whom
the
system 12 is capable of initiating telephone calls, referred to hereinafter as
the "target person", a
telephone number associated with each person and a recorded data file that
includes the target
person's name. Such automated telephone calling devices are known in the art.
As is described
below, the automated telephone calling system 14 is capable of initiating a
telephone call to a
target person and playing a prerecorded greeting prompt asking for the target
person. The system
14 then interacts with speech recognition system 16 to analyze responses
received from the
person on telephone 18.
Speech recognition system 16 is an automated system on which a speech
recognition
application, including a series of acoustic outputs called prompts, which
comprise queries about
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a particular topic, are programmed so that they can be presented to a
respondent, preferably by
means of a telephonic interaction between the querying party and the
respondent. However, a
speech recognition application may be any interactive application that
collects, provides, and/or
shares information. As examples, in the present invention, a speech
application may be any of a
group of interactive applications, including consumer survey applications; Web
access
applications; educational applications, including computer-based learning and
lesson
applications and testing applications; screening applications; consumer
preference monitoring
applications; compliance applications, including applications that generate
notifications of
compliance related activities, including notifications regarding product
maintenance; test result
applications, including applications that provide at least one of standardized
tests results,
consumer product test results, and maintenance results; and linking
applications, including
applications that link two or more of the above applications.
In the preferred embodiment, each speech recognition application includes an
application
file programmed into the speech recognition system 16. Preferably, the series
of queries that
make up the application is designed to obtain specific information from the
respondents to aid in
customer or consumer service, education and research and development of
particular products or
services or other functions. For example, a particular speech application
could be designed to
ask respondents specific queries about a particular product or service. The
entity that issues the
application may then use this information to further develop the particular
product or service. An
application may also be used to provide specific information to a particular
person.
When the automated telephone calling device 12 initiates a call to the target
person, it
must be able to determine if the call was answered by a live person or by an
answering machine.
The method carried out by the system 12 is shown in flow diagram 20 of Fig. 2.
In step 22, the
automated telephone calling system initiates an outbound telephone call to a
target person who is
listed at the telephone number of telephone 18, Fig. 1. Upon the telephone 18
being answered,
the system 12 waits until it detects either an initial greeting from a live
person, which is typically
"Hello", or the beginning of an answering machine message, step 24. The system
does not need
to distinguish between a live person or machine at this point in the
transaction. After the initial
response is detected, the system initiates a greeting prompt which asks for
the target person using
a prerecorded message that includes the target person's name, step 26. While
this greeting
prompt is being played, the speech recognition system 16 attempts to detect a
spoken response
which is longer than a predetermined time, for example 1,600 ms, step 32. This
minimum time
is observed to eliminate any line noise that might cause the speech
recognition system to
incorrectly detect a speech response from a live person. The system assumes
that if a live person
has answered the telephone, he or she will not talk during the initial
greeting prompt. On the
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other hand, an answering machine will play its greeting message regardless of
whether the
calling party is speaking. If no spoken response longer than the predetermined
time is detected,
step 32, the speech recognition system 16 determines that a live person has
answered the
telephone and waits for a response to the greeting prompt, step 34. If a
spoken response longer
than the predetermined time is detected, step 32, the speech recognition
system determines that
an answering machine has answered the telephone, step 38.
While the greeting prompt is being played, the speech recognition system 16
also
attempts to detect the short tone or "beep" output by an answering machine,
step 30. If no beep
tone is detected, step 36, the speech recognition system 16 determines that a
live person has
answered the telephone and waits for a response to the greeting prompt, step
34. If a beep tone is
detected, step 36, the speech recognition system 16 determines that an
answering machine has
answered the telephone, step 40.
Once the speech recognition system 16 has determined that an answering machine
has
answered the telephone 18, the greeting prompt is interrupted, step 41, and a
prerecorded
answering machine message prompt is played to the answering machine, step 42.
As is the case
during the playing of the greeting prompt, if, during the playing of the
answering machine
message prompt, a spoken response is detected which is greater than the
predetermined time,
step 44, or a beep tone is detected, step 46, the answering machine message
prompt is interrupted
and replayed, step 42. This insures that the answering machine message prompt
is properly
aligned with the answering machine recorder. When the answering machine
message prompt has
been played in its entirety without the detection of a spoken response, step
44 or a beep tone, step
46, the process ends, step 48.
As described above, when the telephone 18 is answered, the speech recognition
system
16 plays a greeting prompt, step 26, Fig. 2. An example greeting prompt is
"This is Party X
calling for Y (Nam.e of target person). Is this he (she)?" If no spoken
response or beep tone is
detected during the greeting prompt, the speech recognition system waits for a
response to the
greeting prompt, step 34. The speech recognition system 16 operates to
determine the status of
the person who answered the telephone and, if the answering person is not the
target person,
attempts to locate the target person. Step 26, in which the greeting prompt is
initiated, is shown
in Fig. 3, which is a flow diagram showing the method for determining the
status of an answered
telephone. After the greeting prompt is played, the speech recognition system
16 must be able to
recognize and handle several different response scenarios. Each of these
responses are described
below. While examples of responses are included in the description, it will be
understood that
the speech recognition system 16 may be programmed to recognize any variation
of the
examples given below. The examples are provided to show expected responses in
each of the
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CA 02712853 2010-08-18
response scenarios described below. Therefore, the present invention is not to
be limited by
these examples.
In step 50, the speech recognition system 16 determines that the answering
person is the
target person based on the answer to the greeting prompt. Typical answers that
indicate that the
answering person is indeed the target person include:=
A. "Yes"
=
B. "This is him/her/he/she/me/Y (name asked for)
C. "Yes it is
D. "Speaking"
E. "Go ahead"
F. "You got him/her"
When either of these responses is received by speech recognition system 16,
the system
analyzes the response and determines that the answering person is the target
person. The speech
recognition system then initiates the speech recognition application with the
target person, step
52.
If the spoken response to the greeting prompt received by speech recognition
system 16 is
determined to be one of the following:
A. "He/she is not here"
B. "He/she is out (now)"
C. "He/she is away"
the speech recognition system 16 determines that the target person is not
available, step 54.
Based on this determination, the speech recognition system 16 plays a message
prompt asking
the answering person if he/she will take a message, step 56. As shown in Fig.
3, a typical
message prompt is "Will you take a message?" The speech recognition device 16
receives the
spoken response to this prompt and analyzes it to determine the answer to the
prompt. If the
answer is determined to be "No", the speech recognition system 16 plays a
termination prompt,
step 58, thanking the answering person, and the call is terminated. If the
answer to the message
prompt is determined to be "Yes", the speech recognition system 16 plays a
prerecorded message
for the answering person, step 60. Such a message could identify the entity
that is responsible
for the call and provide a phone number for the target person to call. After
the prerecorded
message is played, a repeat prompt is played, step 62, giving the answering
person the option of
having the message repeated. Based on the response provided by the answering
person, the
speech recognition system either repeats the message, step 60, or plays the
termination prompt,
step 58, and terminates the call.
If the spoken response to the greeting prompt received by speech recognition
system 16 is
,õ..
CA 02712853 2010-08-18
=
determined to be one of the following:
A. "No"
B. "It isn't"
C. "It isn't he/she/him/her"
D. "No, this is not he/she/him/her"
E. "No, this is not"
F. "This is his/her wife/husband"
the speech recognition system 16 determines that the answering person has
indicated that the
answering person is not the target person, step 64. Based on this
determination, the speech
recognition system plays a hold prompt asking the answering person if the
speech recognition
system 16 should hold for the target person, step 66. As shown in Fig. 3, a
typical hold prompt is
"Should I hold for Y?" The speech recognition device 16 receives the spoken
response to this
prompt and analyzes it to detennine the answer to the prompt. If the answer is
determined to be
"No", the speech recognition system 16 plays the message prompt, step 56, and
proceeds through
the message procedure described above. If the answer is determined to be
"Yes", the system
waits, step 68, until a further spoken response is detected. When a spoken
response is received
by the speech recognition system 16, the system plays an identification
prompt, step 70, asking if
the person is the target person. If the answer to the identification prompt is
determined to be
"No", the speech recognition system 16 plays the message prompt, step 56, and
proceeds through
the message procedure described above. If the answer is determined to be
"Yes", the speech
recognition system then initiates the speech recognition application with the
target person, step
52.
If the spoken response to the greeting prompt received by speech recognition
system 16 is
determined to be one of the following:
= A. "-Who is calling?"
B. "Who am I speaking with?"
C. "What can I do for you?"
D. "Can I ask what this is for?"
E. "Can I ask what this is about?"
F. "Can I tell him/her who this is?"
G. "What is this/it for/about?"
H. "Who is this?"
I. "Who are you?"
the speech recognition system 16 determines that the answering person has
asked for the identity
of the entity responsible for the call, step 72. Based on this determination,
the speech
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CA 02712853 2010-08-18
=
recognition system plays a prerecorded message that identifies the entity and,
optionally, the
reason for the call, step 74. The speech recognition system then plays the
hold prompt asking the
answering person if the speech recognition system 16 should hold for the
target person, step 66.
The speech recognition device 16 receives the spoken response to this prompt
and analyzes it to
determine the answer to the prompt. If the answer is determined to be "No",
the speech
recognition system 16 plays the message prompt, step 56, and proceeds through
the message
procedure described above. If the answer is determined to be "Yes", the system
waits, step 68,
until a further spoken response is detected. When a spoken response is
received by the speech
recognition system 16, the system plays an identification prompt, step 70,
asking if the person is
the target person. If the answer to the identification prompt is determined to
be "No", the speech
recognition system 16 plays the message prompt, step 56, and proceeds through
the message
procedure described above. If the answer is determined to be "Yes", the speech
recognition
system then initiates the speech recoEnition application with the target
person, step 52, as
indicated by connector 71.
If the spoken response to the greeting prompt received by speech recognition
system 16 is
determined to be one of the following:
A. "Hold"
B. "He's/she's here, hold on"
C. "Just a minute/moment/second"
D. "Yes, hold on"
the speech recognition system 16 determines that the answering person has
asked the system to
hold, step 76. Based on this determination, the system waits, step 68, until a
further spoken
response is detected. When a spoken response is received by the speech
recognition system 16,
the system plays an identification prompt, step 70, asking if the person is
the target person. If the
answer to the identification prompt is determined to be "No", the speech
recognition system 16
plays the message prompt, step 56, and proceeds through the message procedure
described
above. If the answer is determined to be "Yes", the speech recognition system
then initiates the
speech recognition application with the target person, step 52, as indicated
by connector 71.
If, after the greeting prompt is played, step 26, the spoken response to the
greeting
prompt received by the speech recognition system 16 is determined to be
"Hello?", step 78, the
speech recognition system 16 determines that the phone has been picked up by
the target person.
Based on this determination, the system plays the identification prompt, step
70, asking if the
person is the target person. If the answer to the identification prompt is
determined to be "No",
the speech recognition system 16 plays the message prompt, step 56, and
proceeds through the
message procedure described above. If the answer is determined to be "Yes",
the speech
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CA 02712853 2010-08-18
recognition system then initiates the speech recognition application with the
target person, step
52, as indicated by connector 71.
If the spoken response to the greeting prompt received by the speech
recognition system
16 is determined to be one of the following:
A. "You (must) have the wrong number"
B. "You've got the wrong number"
C. "There is no one here by that name"
D. "No one by that name lives here"
the speech recognition system 16 determines that it has dialed a wrong number,
step 80. Based
on this determination, the speech recognition system 16 plays the termination
prompt, step 82,
thanking the answering person, and the call is terminated.
In the case in which the spoken response to the greeting prompt is
unrecognized by the
speech recognition system 16, or there is no response within a predetermined
time period, such
that none of the preceding steps can be followed, step 84, the speech
recognition system 16
determines if any of the words of the response were recogri7ed, step 86. Hone
or more of the
words of the response are recognized, the speech recognition system 16 may
play the
identification prompt, asking if the answering person is the target person,
step 88. In order to
indicate to the answering person that the system did not understand the
initial spoken response,
the identification prompt may be modified to "I did not hear you well, is this
yr
If none of the words of the spoken response to the greeting prompt are
recognized, step
86, or if no response is received, the system jumps to step 66, as indicated
by connector 90 in
Fig. 3, in which the hold prompt is played. In order to indicate to the
answering person that the
system did not understand the initial spoken response, the hold prompt in this
instance may be
modified to "I did not hear you well, should I hold for yr The system then
follows the steps
from step 66 as described above.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a method of and system for
determining the
status of an answered telephone during the course of an outbound call. The
system includes an
automated telephone calling system which initiates a telephone call to a
target person listed at a
particular telephone number. When the telephone call is answered, the system
first determines
whether a live person or an answering machine has answered the telephone. If
an answering
machine is detected, the system leaves a message for the target person. If a
live person answers
the telephone, the system utilizes a speech recognition analysis to determine
the status of the
answering person and to attempt to locate the target person, if the answering
person is not the
target person. If the target person is available, the system initiates a
speech recognition
application. Otherwise, the system either attempts to leave a message for the
target person, or
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CA 02712853 2010-08-18
simply terminates the call.
The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from
the spirit
or essential characteristics thereof. For example, the system may be utilized
to connect a live
person to the target person. In this instance, once the system has determined
that the target
person is on e line, a live person may be connected to the target person,
rather than the speech
recognition algorithm, for the purpose of conducting a live conversation with
the target person.
The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in respects as
illustrative and not
restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims
rather than by the
foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range
of the
equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.
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