Sequential presentation of long instructions in an interactive voice response system
AssigneeAT&T Labs, Inc.
InventorsPhilip Ted Kortum, Robert R. Bushey
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of presenting instructions to a user sending an incoming communication to a service center includes presenting a menu to the user. The menu includes a plurality of procedure descriptors to the user. The user is presented, according to a selection of one of the procedure descriptors by the user, a sequence of instructions which enable completion of a procedure described by the selected procedure descriptor. The incoming communication is transferred at a position in the sequence of instructions to a representative. The incoming communication is also transferred back to the same position in the sequence of instructions.
Claims20
A method of presenting instructions to a user sending an incoming communication to a service center, comprising:
- presenting a menu comprising a plurality of procedure descriptors to the user;
- presenting to the user, according to a selection of one of the plurality of procedure descriptors by the user, a sequence of instructions which enable completion of a procedure described by the selected procedure descriptor;
- transferring the incoming communication at a position in the sequence of instructions to a representative;
- and
- transferring the incoming communication back to the same position in the sequence of instructions.
A method of presenting instructions to a user sending an incoming communication to a service center, comprising:
- presenting a menu including a plurality of procedure descriptors to the user;
- presenting to the user, according to a selection of one of the plurality of procedure descriptors by the user, a sequence of instructions which each identify a task to be performed by the user that is distinct from interaction with the service center;
- and
- automatically pausing the sequence of instructions after each instruction for a predetermined amount of time so as to permit the user to perform the task identified in the instruction.
A method of presenting instructions to a user sending an incoming communication to a service center, comprising:
- presenting a menu including a plurality of procedure descriptors to the user;
- presenting to the user, according to a selection of one of the plurality of procedure descriptors by the user, a sequence of instructions which each identify one of a plurality of tasks, distinct from interaction with the service center, that collectively constitute the procedure and that are to be performed by the user;
- and
- querying the user after each instruction as to whether the user has performed the task identified in the instruction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.