Abstract:
An independent communication system (ICS) used in a transaction between a waiting party and a queuing party is adapted to connect to a particular node in an interactive voice response (IVR), wherein the queuing party has the IVR and the IVR has a plurality of nodes.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/400,968 filed on Mar. 10, 2009, issuing as U.S. Pat. No. 8,908,847, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/035,204, filed on Mar. 10, 2008. and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/035,195, filed on Mar. 10, 2008 and is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/276,621 filed Nov. 24, 2008, which itself claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/989,908, filed Nov. 23, 2007, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties and all commonly owned. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     Various embodiments related, generally to communication call management and, more particularly to automated call completion and automated IVR interaction, are presented. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Today, when a user (a waiting party) calls a large company or service center or (a queuing party), it is very likely that he or she will be connected to an interactive voice response (IVR) system. Such systems present the waiting party with information via a series of queues such as audio prompts and get input from the caller, e.g. via DTMF tones (also known as “touch tones”) or verbal commands. It is very desirable to provide a communication system and method which allows a waiting party (the waiting party) to reach a particular point in an IVR system directly, that is, without navigating through the menu hierarchy to reach that point. In the present disclosure, this process is referred to as “deep dialing”. Such systems may also be referred to as “phone menus” or “phone trees.” 
     SUMMARY 
     The present embodiments provide in one aspect an independent communication system (ICS) used in a transaction between a waiting party and a queuing party, the queuing party having an interactive voice response (IVR), the IVR having a plurality of nodes, the ICS adapted to connect to a particular node in the IVR. 
     In another aspect, the present embodiments provide a method used in a transaction between a waiting party and a queuing party, the queuing party having an interactive voice response (IVR), the IVR having a plurality of nodes, the method comprising enabling the waiting party to connect to a particular node in the IVR. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
       Embodiments of the invention are described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  is an illustration of an exemplary IVR map; 
         FIG. 2  is an illustration of a communications system that incorporates an exemplary embodiment related to IVR mapping and deep dialing; 
         FIG. 3  is an illustration of a communications system that incorporates an exemplary embodiment audio device is an “IP-based” phone; 
         FIG. 4  is an illustration of a communications system that incorporates an illustrative embodiment in which the role of the data device is replaced by an IVR system; 
         FIG. 5  is an illustrative timeline describing a typical transaction using a system built according to an exemplary embodiment; and 
         FIG. 6  is an illustration of a call status report generated according to an exemplary embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
     The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which embodiments of the invention are shown by way of illustration and example. This invention may, however, be embodied in many forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numerals refer to like elements. 
     With reference initially to  FIG. 1 , embodiments presented herein provide a system and method which allows the waiting party to dial into a particular node in the IVR map used by a queuing calling system (QCS) of a queuing party in a transaction which might be through a landline phone, mobile phone, web-based phone, softphone, and the like. 
     An “IVR map” is a structured list of all the possible paths through a given IVR system, where each path consists of one or more nodes.  FIG. 1  shows an illustrative example of such an IVR map. Each node in an IVR map represents a specific point in a tree-like structure where the waiting party may be prompted to send a command by entering data, e.g. via punching in numbers on a dial pad, or spelling out commands verbally, etc. The result of this action by the waiting party advances him or her onto the next node and so on and so forth in order to eventually reach a node through which he or she could execute an originally intended function. 
     Accordingly each node in the map consists of a prompt and possibly one or more commands. The prompt is, for example, the audio that is heard by the caller and is represented in the map by the corresponding text. Each command can be a DTMF tone or a verbal command and allows the caller to navigate to another node in the IVR system, or will put the caller in a queue to speak to a live agent. 
     The strength of the IVR system is its universality. It works on any phone and is usable by even the least technically inclined people. IVR systems are favored by a queuing party because they allow live agents to be used more effectively, which in turn reduces the costs of running call centers. Recent advances in technology are making IVR systems both easier to set up and more elaborate. Customer interactions that used to involve a live agent (e.g. checking a bank balance or making a payment) are being delegated more and more to the “automated attendant”. It&#39;s clear that IVRs will be in wide use around the world at least for the foreseeable future. 
     However, IVR systems can be very frustrating to the waiting party: 
     1. Queuing parties are putting more and more marketing messages into their IVRs, which may provide no value to the waiting party and increases the time it takes him or her to accomplish his objective. 
     2. For very long menus, it can be hard for the waiting party to remember all the options by the time the menu completes. 
     3. Often the waiting party simply wants to speak to a live agent, but the path to get there is not obvious. In fact, sometimes queuing parties make reaching an agent deliberately obtuse. 
     The embodiments presented herein provide a communications system and corresponding method. In some embodiments, the method includes receiving a request from a waiting party to call a particular node of a particular IVR system of a particular party (the queuing party). The queuing party is then called and sent appropriate commands (e.g. DTMF tones or voice cues) such that the desired node of the IVR map is reached. When the requested node is detected, the waiting party is called or informed, at a phone number or generally at a voice address (or other real-time communication address previously indicated by the waiting party or known by the system), and connected to the queuing party. 
     The embodiments presented herein bring advantages to the waiting party by removing the need to listen and chose through unnecessary nodes in the IVR map. The waiting party may also save money from the reduced phone time (especially if the waiting party is using a mobile phone). Furthermore, the embodiments presented herein imply no explicit cost or effort to the queuing party. 
       FIG. 2  shows an illustrative communications system that incorporates an exemplary embodiment. The waiting party  1  interacts with a data device  2  for controlling an independent calling system (ICS) and receiving information from it. The data device could be embodied as a web site on a PC or mobile device, which interacts with the ICS  3  through a data network such as internet. The waiting party also interacts with an audio device  4  for real-time audio communication with the queuing party over a real-time audio communication network  5 . The audio device could be a fixed-line or wireless telephone (alternatively an IP/web/internet-based phone or softphone). The real-time audio communication network could be the public switched telephone network (PSTN) (alternatively a wireless network, the internet, or an LAN/WAN). Typically the queuing party is a large company or a service center, but in some embodiments, this may not be the case. An IVR database  6  stores IVR maps that allow the ICS to navigate the IVR properly. 
       FIG. 3  shows another illustrative communications system that incorporates an exemplary embodiment. In this embodiment, the audio device is an “IP/web/internet-based” phone, meaning that it communicates over a packet-based network, such as internet. The audio device in this case, may also be a softphone that operates as software on a computer. It is further possible that the audio device is a softphone operating on the waiting party&#39;s data device, so that one device fills the roles of both audio device and data device. 
       FIG. 4  shows another illustrative communications system that incorporates an exemplary embodiment. In this embodiment, the role of the data device is replaced by an IVR system, operated by the ICS (a separate IVR from that of the queuing party). In this embodiment, the waiting party controls the ICS and receives data from it through an audio device, using commands such as DTMF tones or voice cues. In this embodiment, one device fills the roles of both audio device and data device. 
     The Voice Address 
     In some embodiments, the waiting party must specify a voice address (a phone number, a SIP address, web/internet-based phone address, etc.) that allows real-time two-way audio communication between the waiting party and the ICS. In some embodiments, the voice address is selected automatically based on information about the waiting party (such as the last voice address he or she used) stored in a database accessible by the ICS and/or information that identify the data device (such an IP address or a browser cookie). 
     Typical Transaction 
       FIG. 5  shows an illustrative timeline describing a typical transaction using a system built according to an exemplary embodiment. The system is further elaborated below, where the numbers in braces correspond to the steps in  FIG. 5 : 
     1. The transaction begins when a waiting party makes a request to the ICS, through the data device, to place a call to the queuing party, and reach a particular node in their IVR map. 
     2. The ICS dials the queuing party, e.g. over the PSTN, and connects to the QCS. 
     3. The ICS sends to the QCS the commands required to navigate the IVR map to the requested node. These commands could be DTMF tone, voice cues, software commands, etc. 
     4. The ICS dials the waiting party using the information he or she provided in step 1. In certain embodiments, this step is not necessary. 
     5. When the waiting party answers, he or she is connected to the CCS, and can interact with the CCS normally. 
     Reporting Status to the Waiting Party 
     In some embodiments, the ICS can report the status of the call (transaction) to the waiting party in a variety of ways. In embodiments where the data device has a visual interface (e.g. on a PC, mobile device, multi-media device etc.), the status may be displayed via graphical presentation as shown in  FIG. 6 . The data reported may include the “state” of the transaction (which may indicate, for example, which stage of the timeline from  FIG. 5  is current). In other embodiments, this information could be reported as audio or plain text. 
     Collecting Aggregate Statistics 
     As the ICS is used by many waiting parties over a period of many days, it is possible for aggregate statistics to be collected about some queuing parties, such as which nodes are more popular than others. Other useful statistics could include average hold time to connect to a node, call volume, call duration, and optimal time to schedule a call. 
     Pre-Dialing 
     One issue that needs to be addressed regarding the procedures described above in typical transaction, as illustrated in  FIG. 5 , is that the waiting party may not be able to hear the beginning of the prompt of the node he or she has requested. This is because it takes time for the ICS to establish the connection through the audio device (e.g. in the case where the audio device is a telephone, it takes time to reach the phone and press the appropriate key to accept the call.) In some embodiments, the ICS addresses this problem by dialing the waiting party prior to the last step in navigating the IVR map. Accordingly, when the connection is established, the ICS sends the command to perform the final navigation. This approach allows the waiting party to hear the prompt for the requested node in its entirety. 
     The waiting party can change his or her voice address. 
     In some embodiments, the ICS can allow the waiting party to change the voice address after the call request has been initiated. In certain embodiments, this change may be possible at any point up to step 4 in  FIG. 5 . In the embodiments where the data device has a visual interface (e.g. on a PC or mobile device), this process could be initiated by clicking a button (e.g. “Change voice address”) as shown in  FIG. 6 . In other embodiments, this interaction may be voice-based or text-based. 
     The waiting party can cancel the call. 
     In some embodiments, the ICS can allow the waiting party to cancel the call after the call request has been initiated. In certain embodiments, this change may be possible at any point up to step 4 in  FIG. 5 . In embodiments where the data device has a visual interface (e.g. on a PC or mobile device), this process could be initiated by clicking a button (e.g. “Cancel Call”) as shown in  FIG. 6 . In other embodiments, this interaction may be voice-based or text-based. 
     Other Functions 
     In some embodiments, the waiting party could request the handoff of the call to another party, or could place an advance scheduled calling, or change the voice address at which he or she desired to be reached. First two functions could take place via proper arrangement or programming prior to the ICS reaching the desired node and calling back the waiting party. The advance scheduled calling accommodates the waiting party&#39;s plans. 
     One advantage of the embodiments presented herein is to provide a communication system and method which allow a waiting party to connect directly to a point inside the IVR System of a particular queuing party. The IVR system of the queuing party combined with any other communication systems of the queuing party are referred to herein as the queuing communication system (QCS). In this context connecting “directly” means that the waiting party does not have to enter any commands to navigate the IVR map. This process is referred to as deep dialing, in that it allows the waiting party to connect “deep” into the IVR menu. 
     Another advantage of the embodiments presented herein is to provide such a system and method in a way that requires no changes to the QCS. 
     Another advantage of the embodiments presented herein is to provide such a system and method in a way that is transparent to the queuing party, requires no negotiation with the queuing party and requires no cooperation from the queuing party. 
     Another advantage of the embodiments presented herein is to provide such a system and method in a way that provides real-time, or near real-time, feedback to the waiting party about the status of his call. 
     Another advantage of the embodiments presented herein is to provide such a system and method in a way that allows the waiting party, queuing party, or a third party to collect aggregate statistics such as the most commonly requested nodes in a particular IVR map. Such aggregate statistics could include popular nodes, average hold time to connect to a node, call volume, call duration, and an optimal time to schedule a call. 
     Another advantage of the embodiments presented herein is to provide such a system and method in a way that allows the waiting party to specify a voice address (typically a phone number but also potentially a SIP address, web-based phone address, etc.) that allows real-time two-way audio communication where he or she can be reached and allows the waiting party to change the voice address while the deep dialing call is in progress. 
     Another advantage of the embodiments presented herein is to provide such a system and method in a way that automatically selects an appropriate voice address based on profile information stored about the waiting party or other information. 
     Another advantage of the embodiments presented herein is to provide such a system and method in a way that allows the waiting party to cancel the deep dialing call. 
     Another advantage of the embodiments presented herein is to provide such a system and method in a way that allows the waiting party to change his or her voice address, or hand off to a third party during the deep dialing process. 
     Another advantage of the embodiments presented herein is to provide such a system and method in a way that allows the waiting party to arrange or program for advance scheduled calling of a particular node in an IVR menu. 
     Although the invention has been described relative to various selected embodiments herein presented by way of example, there are numerous variations and modifications that will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that, within the scope of the claims hereto attached and supported by this specification, the invention may be practiced other than as specifically described.