Methods and apparatus for enforcing caller listening behavior on interactive voice response applications
AssigneeSpeechCycle, Inc.
InventorsRoberto Pieraccini, Eric Woudenberg, Ilija Zeljkovic
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An interactive voice response (IVR) system which allows a caller to barge-in on all prompts, yet still allows the caller to receive important information contained in the prompts. When a caller barges-in on a prompt that contains important information, the IVR system interrupts the prompt to play a short announcement with the goal of re-enforcing the importance of listening to the entire prompt. The IVR system then resumes playback of the prompt, from the beginning or of a modified version.
Claims18
A method of enforcing caller listening behavior on interactive voice response applications, comprising the steps of:
- selecting a predetermined prompt based on speech input by a caller;
- playing said predetermined prompt;
- interrupting said predetermined prompt if said caller starts to speak during playback of said predetermined prompt;
- determining whether the caller has spoken at least one of a plurality of predetermined reserved words or phrases;
- allowing full barge-in and performing a predetermined action associated with the predetermined plurality of reserved words or phrases determined to have been spoken by the caller;
- and
- playing a predetermined barge-in-acknowledgement prompt informing the caller to continue listening if it is determined that the caller has not spoken one of said plurality of reserved words or phrases and resuming playback of said predetermined prompt.
A system for enforcing caller listening behavior on interactive voice response applications, comprising:
- means for selecting a predetermined prompt based on speech input by a caller;
- means for playing said predetermined prompt;
- means for interrupting said predetermined prompt if said caller starts to speak during playback of said predetermined prompt;
- means for determining whether the caller has spoken at least one of a plurality of predetermined reserved words or phrases;
- means for allowing full barge-in and performing a predetermined action associated with the predetermined reserved words or phrases determined to have been spoken by the caller;
- and
- means for playing a predetermined barge-in-acknowledgement prompt informing the caller to continue listening if it is determined that the caller has not spoken one of said plurality of reserved words or phrases and resuming playback of said predetermined prompt.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.