Voice templates for interactive voice mail and voice response system

A method of implementing an interactive voice mail/voice response (IVR) system on a personal computer ("PC") connected to a telephone line, the method comprising the steps of:

• creating a script for implementing a user-specified set of IVR functions, said script comprising a plurality of records each having a template associated therewith;
• for each of said records, automatically splitting a text representation of said associated template into template elements and searching a database to find said template elements;
• for each of said template elements, assigning a type to said template element, said type defining characteristics of said template element;
• and
• for each of said template elements, storing a text representation of and an audio file associated with said template element in said database;
• testing each of said template elements;
• and
• responsive to said testing, for each of said tested template elements, displaying a list of template elements similar to said tested template element and responsive to user selection of one of said displayed template elements, substituting said selected template element for said tested template element in said script.

An apparatus for implementing an interactive voice mail/voice response (IVR) system on a personal computer ("PC"), the apparatus comprising:

• means for creating a script for implementing a user-specified set of IVR functions, said script comprising a plurality of records each having a template associated therewith;
• means for automatically splitting a text representation of said associated template of each of said records into template elements and searching a database to find said template elements;
• means for assigning a type to each of said template elements, said type defining characteristics of said template element;
• and
• means for storing a text representation of and an audio file associated with each of said template elements in said database.

A computer program for implementing an interactive voice mail/voice response (IVR) system, the computer program being stored in a computer-readable medium for execution by a personal computer ("PC"), the computer program comprising:

• instructions responsive to input from a user to create a script for implementing a user-specified set of IVR functions, said script comprising a plurality of records each having a template associated therewith;
• instructions to automatically split a text representation of said associated template of each of said records into template elements and search a database for said template elements;
• instructions for enabling a user to assign a type to each of said template elements, said type defining characteristics of said template element;
• and
• instructions responsive to input from a user to store a text representation of and an audio file associated with each of said template elements in said database.