Bridge for non-voice communications user interface to voice-enabled interactive voice response system

A computer program product for bridging a non-voice-based user interface to a voice-enabled interactive voice response system comprising:

• a tangible, computer-readable memory device embodying program instructions for causing a processor to, when executed, perform steps of:
• during a communication session with a client user device, receiving from the client user device, an entry representing a response by a client user into the communication session;
• identifying, using one or more Natural Language Understanding processes, one or more non-uttered non-DTMF elements in at least a portion of the entry, wherein the identifying is constrained by one or more voice markup grammars according to a voice recognition analysis protocol for a voice-enabled interactive voice response system;
• mapping the one or more identified non-uttered non-DTMF elements to generate one or more of the voice markup grammar returns from the non-uttered non-DTMF elements;
• and
• passing the generated voice-markup grammar returns to an interactive voice response system as a user input;
• thereby emulating the voice recognition analysis protocol upon non-uttered non-DTMF input and without utterance-driven speech recognition.

A system for bridging a non-voice-based user interface to a voice-enabled interactive voice response system comprising:

• a computer processor;
• and
• a tangible, computer-readable memory device embodying program instructions for causing the processor to, when executed, perform steps of:
• during a communication session with a client user device, receiving from the client user device, an entry representing a response by a client user into the communication session;
• identifying, using one or more Natural Language Understanding processes, one or more non-uttered non-DTMF elements in at least a portion of the entry, wherein the identifying is constrained by one or more voice markup grammars according to a voice recognition analysis protocol for a voice-enabled interactive voice response system;
• mapping the one or more identified non-uttered non-DTMF elements to generate one or more of the voice markup grammar returns from the non-uttered non-DTMF elements;
• and
• passing the generated voice-markup grammar returns to an interactive voice response system as a user input;
• thereby emulating the voice recognition analysis protocol upon non-uttered non-DTMF input and without utterance-driven speech recognition.