Patent Abstract:
A system engages a live agent in a multi-party call type arrangement with the user and an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) unit when the user has difficulty with the IVR. The agent is provided with information about the IVR process being executed and the user&#39;s input. When the agent is introduced into the call, the agent does not take over the IVR session, but the agent helps direct the user to provide the correct input(s) to the IVR session. Once the issue is corrected, the agent can remove themself from the customer/IVR dialogue. As a consequence: the user continues their self-service transactions in the IVR, and the user is better educated on how to navigate the IVR in the future. Further, agent resources are spared from further interaction with the user, and the user is less likely to have a negative opinion of the IVR.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    Building highly effective customer service applications, in an interactive voice response (IVR) system, is complex and expensive. The value of these investments is reduced when users fail to negotiate the IVR prompts correctly, ultimately having their transaction needs met by a call center agent. When the customer is served by an agent three things occur. First, the customer is not taught how to overcome the error generated in the IVR, so they are prone to invoke the more costly agent processing of their request in a subsequent transaction. Second, the customer&#39;s preference for agent supported transactions is rewarded, hence discouraging continued use of the IVR. And third, the agent serving the IVR can be occupied with completing all of the transactions needed by the customer on that interaction with the enterprise, thus, increasing operational expenses for the center. 
         [0002]    Currently, when users experience problems using an IVR there are three solutions. First, the most commonly applied solution is to have the call transferred to an agent, and the agent handles all the transactions associated with that call for the customer. In this model, the IVR is abandoned for the transaction where the customer is forced out or presses zero (0) to exit the IVR. Second and less frequently, an agent takes the customer&#39;s call following the failed use of the IVR and completes the transaction with which the customer struggled. If the customer has multiple transactions to complete in that call, the agent generally transfers the customer back into the IVR to complete the subsequent transactions. Finally, the least frequent occurring solution is categorized as “Agent Assisted IVR.” In this method, dedicated call center agents are concurrently listening to multiple customer interactions within the IVRs. The customer is not aware that their interaction within the IVR is being monitored. When the customer experiences a problem, the agent tries to intervene by advancing the IVR script on the caller&#39;s behalf. This method has limited application. This method provides some opportunity to improve customer IVR usage. For example, the agent responds for a customer with a heavy accent that cannot be recognized by the IVR&#39;s speech engine. The heavy accent is, however, discernible by the monitoring agent, and the agent can “push” the call along to the appropriate next menu step, without interacting with the customer. However, this type of agent assistance is limited in its application. For example, if the customer cannot input their account number, the monitoring agent cannot correct the account number. 
         [0003]    Typical solutions today do nothing to encourage or train the customer on how to use the IVR. These present methods do not change the likelihood that a customer will engage a more expensive call center agent when exiting IVR functions. The current solutions create five problems: (1) restarting interactions after the customer abandoned their progress in the IVR; (2) impeding the uptake of the IVR for service delivery (the customer continues to prefer to use a human agent); (3) preventing the customer from learning the IVR system; dissuading organizations from placing more complicated applications on the IVR system because complicated functions have higher user error rates; and (5) propagating the perception that IVR systems are poor service delivery mechanisms. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0004]    It is with respect to the above issues and other problems that the embodiments presented herein were contemplated. A system is provided to conference a customer with the agent and the IVR system. The system can automatically monitor the customer&#39;s interaction with the IVR system. If needed, the system can automatically identify that the customer is having difficulties with the IVR script executed by the IVR system. In response, the system can then engage an agent, the IVR system, and the customer in a conference. The agent can direct responses to the IVR script. Rather than completing the interactions for the customer, the agent can instruct the customer on how to answer or interact with the IVR system. 
         [0005]    The solution engages a live agent in a multi-party call type arrangement with the user and the IVR when the user makes an error in the IVR. The agent is provided with information about the IVR process being executed and the user&#39;s input. When the agent is introduced into the call, the agent does not take over the transaction, rather, the agent helps direct the user to provide the correct input to the IVR prompt. Once the issue is corrected, the agent can remove themselves from the customer/IVR dialogue. As a consequence: the user continues their self-service transactions in the IVR, and the user is better educated on how to navigate the IVR in the future. Further, agent resources are spared from supporting subsequent transactions within the same interaction with the user, and the user is less likely to have a negative opinion of the IVR so subsequent reuse is more probable. 
         [0006]    The system and method has several advantages. The user is not diverted away from the IVR to be served by a call center agent. Rather, the agent is brought into the IVR dialogue for a very limited period of time to assist the user with the IVR dialogue. After the service is delivered, the agent is released and the user remains engaged with the IVR to complete the transaction. Progressively, customers will learn how to avoid IVR interaction errors and become more self-sufficient—reducing the resources needed to help customer complete IVR supported transactions. 
         [0007]    The phrases “at least one”, “one or more”, and “and/or” are open-ended expressions that are both conjunctive and disjunctive in operation. For example, each of the expressions “at least one of A, B and C”, “at least one of A, B, or C”, “one or more of A, B, and C”, “one or more of A, B, or C” and “A, B, and/or C” means A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, or A, B and C together. 
         [0008]    The term “a” or “an” entity refers to one or more of that entity. As such, the terms “a” (or “an”), “one or more” and “at least one” can be used interchangeably herein. It is also to be noted that the terms “comprising”, “including”, and “having” can be used interchangeably. 
         [0009]    The term “automatic” and variations thereof, as used herein, refers to any process or operation done without material human input when the process or operation is performed. However, a process or operation can be automatic, even though performance of the process or operation uses material or immaterial human input, if the input is received before performance of the process or operation. Human input is deemed to be material if such input influences how the process or operation will be performed. Human input that consents to the performance of the process or operation is not deemed to be “material”. 
         [0010]    The term “computer-readable medium” as used herein refers to any tangible storage that participates in providing instructions to a processor for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatile media includes, for example, NVRAM, or magnetic or optical disks. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as main memory. Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, magneto-optical medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, a solid state medium like a memory card, any other memory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which a computer can read. When the computer-readable media is configured as a database, it is to be understood that the database may be any type of database, such as relational, hierarchical, object-oriented, and/or the like. Accordingly, the embodiments are considered to include a tangible storage medium and prior art-recognized equivalents and successor media, in which the software implementations are stored. 
         [0011]    The terms “determine”, “calculate” and “compute,” and variations thereof, as used herein, are used interchangeably and include any type of methodology, process, mathematical operation or technique. 
         [0012]    The term “module” as used herein refers to any known or later developed hardware, software, firmware, artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic, or combination of hardware and software that is capable of performing the functionality associated with that element. 
         [0013]    While exemplary embodiments are described, it should be appreciated that individual aspects can be separately claimed. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0014]    The present disclosure is described in conjunction with the appended figures: 
           [0015]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an embodiment of a contact center; 
           [0016]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of an embodiment of a contact center server; 
           [0017]      FIG. 3  is another block diagram of an embodiment of a contact center server including a caller evaluation system; 
           [0018]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram of an embodiment of a data structure for evaluating a caller for hiring into the contact center; 
           [0019]      FIG. 5  is a flow diagram of an embodiment of a process for rating a caller and storing a personal profile of the caller that includes the rating; 
           [0020]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram of an embodiment of a computer system environment in which the systems and methods may be executed; and 
           [0021]      FIG. 7  is a block diagram of a computer system in which the systems and methods may be executed. 
       
    
    
       [0022]    In the appended figures, similar components and/or features may have the same reference label. Further, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label by a letter that distinguishes among the similar components. If only the first reference label is used in the specification, the description is applicable to any one of the similar components having the same first reference label irrespective of the second reference label. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0023]    The ensuing description provides embodiments only and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the claims. Rather, the ensuing description will provide those skilled in the art with an enabling description for implementing the embodiments. It being understood that various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims. 
         [0024]      FIG. 1  shows an illustrative embodiment of a contact center  100 . A contact center  100  comprises a central server  110 , a set of data stores or databases  114  containing contact or customer related information and other information that can enhance the value and efficiency of the contact, and a plurality of servers, namely a voice mail server  126 , an Interactive Voice Response unit or IVR  122 , and other servers  124 , an outbound dialer  128 , a switch  130 , a plurality of working agents operating packet-switched (first) telecommunication devices  134 - 1  to  134 -N (such as computer work stations or personal computers), and/or circuit-switched (second) telecommunication devices  138 - 1  to  138 -M, all interconnected by a local area network LAN (or wide area network WAN)  142 . The servers can be connected via optional communication lines  146  to the switch  130 . As will be appreciated, the other servers  124  can also include a scanner (which is normally not connected to the switch  130  or Web server), VoIP software, video call software, voice messaging software, an IP voice server, a fax server, a web server, an instant messaging server, and an email server) and the like. The switch  130  is connected via a plurality of trunks  150  to the Public Switch Telecommunication Network or PSTN  154  and via link(s)  152  to the second telecommunication devices  138 - 1  to M. A gateway  158  is positioned between the server  110  and the packet-switched network  162  to process communications passing between the server  110  and the network  162 . 
         [0025]    Referring to  FIG. 2 , one possible configuration of the server  110  is depicted. The server  110  is in communication with a plurality of customer communication lines  200   a - y  (which can be one or more trunks, phone lines, etc.) and agent communication line  204  (which can be a voice-and-data transmission line such as LAN  142  and/or a circuit switched voice line  146 ). The server  110  can include a Basic Call Management System or BCMS (not shown) and a Call Management System or CMS (not shown) that gathers call records and contact-center statistics for use in generating contact-center reports. 
         [0026]    The switch  130  and/or server  110  can be any architecture for directing contacts to one or more telecommunication devices. Illustratively, the switch and/or server can be a modified form of the subscriber-premises equipment disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,192,122; 6,173,053; 6,163,607; 5,982,873; 5,905,793; 5,828,747; and 5,206,903, all of which are incorporated herein by this reference in their entirety for all that they teach; Avaya Inc.&#39;s Definity™ Private-Branch Exchange (PBX)-based ACD system; MultiVantage™ PBX, CRM Central 2000 Server™, Communication Manager™, Business Advocate™, Call Center™, Contact Center Express™, Interaction Center™, and/or S8300™, S8400™, S8500™, and S8700™ servers; or Nortel&#39;s Business Communications Manager Intelligent Contact Center™, Contact Center—Express™, Contact Center Manager Server™, Contact Center Portfolio™, and Messaging 100/150 Basic Contact Center™. Typically, the switch/server is a stored-program-controlled system that conventionally includes interfaces to external communication links, a communications switching fabric, service circuits (e.g., tone generators, announcement circuits, etc.), memory for storing control programs and data, and a processor (i.e., a computer) for executing the stored control programs to control the interfaces and the fabric and to provide automatic contact-distribution functionality. The switch and/or server typically include a network interface card (not shown) to provide services to the serviced telecommunication devices. Other types of known switches and servers are well known in the art and therefore not described in detail herein. 
         [0027]    Referring again to  FIG. 2 , included among the data stored in the server  110  is a set of contact queues  208   a - n  and a separate set of agent queues  212   a - n.  Each contact queue  208   a - n  corresponds to a different set of agent skills, as does each agent queue  212   a - n.  Conventionally, contacts are prioritized and are queued in individual ones of the contact queues  208   a - n  in their respective orders of priority or are queued in different ones of a plurality of contact queues that correspond to a different priority. Likewise, each agent&#39;s skills are prioritized according to his or her level of expertise in that skill, and either agents are queued in individual ones of agent queues  212   a - n  in their order of expertise level or are queued in different ones of a plurality of agent queues  212   a - n  that correspond to a skill and each one of which corresponds to a different expertise level. 
         [0028]    Included among the control programs in the server  110  is an agent and contact selector  220  (referred to hereinafter simply as the contact selector  220 ). Contacts incoming to the contact center, which are temporarily held in contact queue  216 , are assigned by contact selector  220  to different contact queues  208   a - n  based upon a number of predetermined criteria, including customer identity, customer needs, contact center needs, current contact center queue lengths, customer value, and the agent skill that is required for the proper handling of the contact. The queues  208   a - n  are part of a larger contact queue  217 . The predetermined criteria may be obtained by either automatic or initial human interaction to determine the needs of the customer. These criteria can be used to initially evaluate whether the customer is having difficulty with an IVR script and conference the customer with an agent as described in conjunction with  FIGS. 3 through 5 . 
         [0029]    Agents who are available for handling contacts are assigned to agent queues  212   a - n  based upon the skills that they possess. An agent may have multiple skills, and hence may be assigned to multiple agent queues  212   a - n  simultaneously. Furthermore, an agent may have different levels of skill expertise (e.g., skill levels  1 -N in one configuration or merely primary skills and secondary skills in another configuration), and hence may be assigned to different agent queues  212   a - n  at different expertise levels. Call vectoring is described in DEFINITY Communications System Generic 3 Call Vectoring/Expert Agent Selection (EAS) Guide, AT&amp;T publication no. 555-230-520 (Issue 3, November 1993). Skills-based ACD is described in further detail in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,173,053 and 5,206,903. 
         [0030]    Referring again to  FIG. 1 , the gateway  158  can be Avaya Inc.&#39;s, G250™, G350™ G430™, G450™, G650™, G700™, and IG550™ Media Gateways and may be implemented as hardware such as via an adjunct processor (as shown) or as a chip in the server. The first telecommunication devices  134 - 1 , . . .  134 -N are packet-switched and can include, for example, IP hardphones such as the Avaya Inc.&#39;s, 1600™, 4600™, and 5600™ Series IP Phones™, IP softphones such as Avaya Inc.&#39;s, IP Softphone™, Personal Digital Assistants or PDAs, Personal Computers or PCs, laptops, packet-based H.320 video phones and conferencing units, packet-based voice messaging and response units, and packet-based traditional computer telephony adjuncts. 
         [0031]    The second telecommunication devices  138 - 1 , . . .  138 -M are circuit-switched. Each of the telecommunication devices  138 - 1 , . . .  138 -M corresponds to one of a set of internal extensions Ext1, . . . ExtM, respectively. These extensions are referred to herein as “internal” in that they are extensions within the premises that are directly serviced by the switch. More particularly, these extensions correspond to conventional telecommunication device endpoints serviced by the switch/server, and the switch/server can direct incoming calls to and receive outgoing calls from these extensions in a conventional manner. The second telecommunication devices can include, for example, wired and wireless telephones, PDAs, H.320 video phones and conferencing units, voice messaging and response units, and traditional computer telephony adjuncts. Exemplary digital telecommunication devices include Avaya Inc.&#39;s 2400™, 5400™, and 9600™ Series phones. 
         [0032]    It should be noted that the embodiments do not require any particular type of information transport medium between the switch or the server and the first and the second telecommunication devices, i.e., the embodiments may be implemented with any desired type of transport medium as well as combinations of different types of transport media. The packet-switched network  162  can be any data and/or distributed processing network, such as the Internet. The network  162  typically includes proxies (not shown), registrars (not shown), and routers (not shown) for managing packet flows. 
         [0033]    The packet-switched network  162  is in (wireless or wired) communication with an external first telecommunication device  174  via a gateway  178 , and the circuit-switched network  154  with an external (wired) second telecommunication device  180  and (wireless) third (customer) telecommunication device  184 . These telecommunication devices are referred to as “external” in that they are not directly supported as telecommunication device endpoints by the switch or server. The telecommunication devices  174  and  180  are an example of devices more generally referred to herein as “external endpoints.” 
         [0034]    In some configurations, the server  110 , network  162 , and first telecommunication devices  134  are Session Initiation Protocol or SIP compatible and can include interfaces for various other protocols such as the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol or LDAP, H.248, H.323, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol or SMTP, IMAP4, ISDN, E1/T1, and analog line or trunk. It should be emphasized that the configuration of the switch, server, user telecommunication devices, and other elements as shown in  FIG. 1  is for purposes of illustration only and should not be construed as limiting the embodiments to any particular arrangement of elements. 
         [0035]    As will be appreciated, the central server  110  is notified via LAN  142  of an incoming contact by the telecommunications component (e.g., switch  130 , fax server, email server, web server, and/or other server) receiving the incoming contact. The incoming contact is held by the receiving telecommunications component until the server  110  forwards instructions to the component to forward or route the contact to a specific contact center resource, such as the IVR unit  122 , the voice mail server  126 , the instant messaging server, and/or first or second telecommunication device  134 ,  138  associated with a selected agent. The server  110  distributes and connects these contacts to telecommunication devices of available agents based on the predetermined criteria noted above. When the central server  110  forwards a voice contact to an agent, the central server  110  also forwards customer-related information from databases  114  to the agent&#39;s computer work station for viewing (such as by a pop-up display) to permit the agent to better serve the customer. The agents process the contacts sent to them by the central server  110 . This embodiment is suited for a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) environment in which customers are permitted to use any media to contact a business. In a CRM environment, both real-time and non-real-time contacts must be handled and distributed with equal efficiency and effectiveness. 
         [0036]    In embodiments, included among the programs executing on the server  110  are an agent and contact selector  220  and agent IVR conference module  232 . The selector  220  and agent IVR conference module  232  are stored either in the main memory or in a peripheral memory (e.g., disk, CD ROM, etc.) or some other computer-readable medium of the center  100 . The contact selector  220  and agent IVR conference module  232  collectively effect an assignment between available contacts in a queue and available agents serving the queue in a way that tends to maximize contact center efficiency. The selector  220  uses predefined criteria in selecting an appropriate agent to service the contact. The agent IVR conference module  232  assigns services priorities to contacts and, as part of this function, identifies contacts as disconnected or transitory contacts and determines whether such contacts merit special treatment. The agent IVR conference module  232  provides instructions to the selector  220  to effect the special treatment. 
         [0037]    The agent IVR conference module  232 , based on one or more selected criteria, determines whether a contact should be placed in a conference with an agent to assist with an IVR. Special treatment includes providing the agent with materials or information to assist the customer, determine when and if the contact needs to have an agent assigned, etc. These and other embodiments are described in conjunction with  FIG. 3 . 
         [0038]    An embodiment of the central server  110  (referred to as “server”) in the contact center  100 , which includes an agent IVR conference module  232 , is shown in  FIG. 3 . Generally, the agent IVR conference module  232  of the central server  110 , which may be a computer system as described in conjunction with  FIGS. 6 and 7 , includes one or more software modules, components, etc. that are operable to assist callers with an IVR. However, in embodiments, the modules, components, etc. described in conjunction with  FIG. 3  are embodied in specially designed hardware, such as a application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or field programmable gate array (FPGA). However, the central server  110  is hereinafter described as a computer system executing software to provide the functionality, but the embodiments are not limited to these examples as one skilled in the art will understand. 
         [0039]    An agent IVR conference system  232  is operable to communicate with a contact, an agent, a contact selector  220 , one or more skill queues  212 / 208 , and/or the interactive voice response unit  122 . The agent IVR conference system  232  is operable to monitor one or more customer contacts, which may have been placed in the contact queue  216  and then forwarded to or are using the interactive voice response unit  122 . The agent IVR conference system  232  can determine if the customer is having difficulty with the IVR script and may then either direct the contact selector  220  to route the contact into a conference that should include an IVR skilled agent in an agent queue  212  or simply send the contact to an agent. In other embodiments, the IVR script has the ability to direct a contact to an agent or conference with an agent. Thus, the customer is placed into a contact queue  217  and a skill queue  208  associated with IVR assistance. The agent is queued in the agent queue  212 , and the IVR system  122  may also be conferenced into the call. An embodiment of the IVR conference system  232  is as shown in  FIG. 3 . 
         [0040]    Referring to  FIG. 3 , an agent IVR conference system  232  may be a module or system operated by a server or processor. The agent IVR conference system  232  can include one or more modules that may be executed in hardware or software. These modules may communicate with one another to conduct the operations described herein. In embodiments, the agent IVR conference system  232  includes an error recognition module  302 , a suspension module  304 , an IVR database  306 , a conference call module  308 , a second database  310  and/or an IP transfer module  312 . Each of these modules will be described herein after. 
         [0041]    An error recognition module  302  is operable to monitor the IVR session conducted between the IVR response unit  122  and one or more customers operating telecommunication devices  174 / 180 . The error recognition module  302  can use one or more methods to determine if the customer is having trouble with the IVR script. In another embodiment, the IVR script/IVR application has the ability to monitor the IVR session and the functions of the error recognition module  302  are incorporated into the IVR script. In one embodiment, if the user presents one or more incorrect answers to responses in the IVR script, the error recognition module  302  can determine that the customer is having difficulty with the IVR script. If the customer is having trouble with the IVR script, the error recognition module  302  can signal the suspension module  304  that such difficulty has occurred. In embodiments, the error recognition module  302  may determine difficulty with the IVR script based on one or more predetermined rules stored in the rules database  310 . 
         [0042]    The suspension module  304  is operable to suspend the IVR script. Thus, the suspension module, upon receiving a signal from the error recognition module  302 , can send a signal to the IVR unit  122  to suspend the IVR script. Further, the suspension module  304  can also receive inputs or commands from an agent communication device  134 / 138 . Thus, the agent communication device  134 / 138  can control the function of the suspension module  304 . The agent can reinitiate the IVR script, continue the suspension, cancel the IVR session or do one or more other tasks by interacting with the suspension module  304 . 
         [0043]    An IVR database  306  can be any database as described in conjunction with  FIGS. 6 and 7 . In embodiments, the IVR database  306  includes information about one or more communication sessions between the customer and the IVR unit  122 . This information can include customer information, IVR script information, information about responses to the current IVR script, questions asked during the IVR session, etc. Data stored within the IVR database  306  can be as described in conjunction with  FIG. 4 . 
         [0044]    The IP transfer module  312  is operable to transfer information to the agent communication device  134 / 138 . In embodiments, the IP transfer module  312  can obtain information from the IVR database  306  or other data sources to send to the agent communication device  134 / 138 . This information can include IVR script information, information about the current IVR session, information about the customer, or other information needed or requested by the agent communication device  134 / 138  to conduct or conference with the customer about the IVR script. 
         [0045]    The rules database  310  is operable to store information about how to determine when an agent should assist with an IVR script. These rules may be predetermined by the user or standard for all Agent IVR Conference Systems  232 . Example rules can include if the user incorrectly answers a question two times, answers two sequential questions incorrectly, etc. then assistance is needed; if a user presses “0”, to obtain human assistance, two or more time in response to a question, then assistance is needed; or if a user goes back or forward through one or more questions, then assistance is needed. More rules are possible and contemplated. The rules can be categorized based on the customer, context of the assistance, or other data to better determine when assistance is required. Thus, the rules database  310  may provide the error recognition module  302  with some or all of the rules depending on the call. 
         [0046]    A conference call module  308  is operable to conference the customer telecommunication device  170 / 180  with the IVR unit  122  and the agent communication device  134 / 138 . Thus, the conference call module  308  can bring the three different entities into one conference call and allow the agent to direct the customer actions with respect to the IVR script. The conference call module  308  may also conference in other agents or customers as needed. The conference call module  308  begins a conference upon direction of the error recognition module  302  or suspension module  304  when it is determined that a conference is needed because a customer is having trouble with an IVR script. The conference call module  308  is operable to communicate with the contact queue  216 , the agent and contact selector  220 , and one or more queues  208 / 212  to initiate and conduct a conference call. 
         [0047]    An embodiment of a data structure  400  that may be received, sent, or stored while determining whether a caller requires assistance with an IVR session is shown in  FIG. 4 . The one or more data structures described in conjunction with  FIG. 4  can be any type of data structure including an object, a field, or other data structure in a relational database, a flat file database, etc. Here, each field within the data structure  400  is described as a portion of the data structure  400 . However, it should be understood by one skilled in the art, the portion can be a field, attribute, or other data structure according to the type of database used. The portions may include data associated with IVR process metadata  402 , customer information  404 , a first message  406 , a first response  408 , a second message  410 , and a second response  412 . There may be more or fewer items of data in the data structure  400  as represented by ellipses  414 . Further, each IVR session may include a separate data structure  400  that may be stored in the IVR database  306 . However, only a single data structure  400  is shown in  FIG. 4  in order for simpler discussion and description of the data structure. 
         [0048]    The IVR process metadata  402  can describe one or more items of information about the current IVR session or IVR script. For example, the IVR process metadata  402  can include a unique ID assigned to the IVR session, can include an identifier associated with the IVR script being executed during the IVR session, or other information that may be pertinent to the agent when the agent is trying to help the customer with the IVR session. The IVR process metadata  402  may be collected from the IVR unit  122  and stored in the IVR process metadata portion  402 . The agent may access the IVR process metadata  402  on an agent communication device  134 / 138  during the conference IVR session. 
         [0049]    Customer information  404  can include one or more items of information about the customer currently engaged in the IVR session. The customer information  404  can include the customer&#39;s name, address, phone number, previous calls, or other information stored by the server  110 . Customer information  404  may be taken before the IVR session, obtained during the IVR session, or stored during previous calls and retrieved by the Agent IVR Conference System  232 . 
         [0050]    The data structure  400  may also store one or more messages and responses that are part of the IVR script. For example, the IVR session may have requested information in a first message  406  and a second message  410 . The customer may have given information in response  408  and response  412 . By having the message and responses from the IVR script stored in the data structure  400 , the agent can deduce where the customer may have entered incorrect information or had trouble with the IVR script. Thus, the entire message/response session with the IVR script may be stored in one or more portions of the data structure  400 . 
         [0051]    An embodiment of a method for conducting an agent conference IVR session is shown in  FIG. 5 . Generally, the method  500  begins with a start operation  502  and terminates with an end operation  518 . While a general order for the steps of the method  500  is shown in  FIG. 5 , the method  500  can include more or fewer steps or arrange the order of the steps differently than those shown in  FIG. 5 . The method  500  can be executed as a set of computer-executable instructions executed by a computer system and encoded or stored on a computer readable medium. Hereinafter, the method  500  shall be explained with reference to the systems, components, modules, software, data structures, etc. described in conjunction with  FIGS. 1-4 . 
         [0052]    The server  110  receives a customer contact from a telecommunication device  174 / 180 , in step  504 . The customer contact can be a contact of any type of media but, in embodiments described hereinafter, is described as telephone call received through one or more networks  162 / 154 , possibly a switch  130 , a bus  142 , a gateway  178 , 158 , or one or more other devices. The customer contact can be directed from the server  110  into a contact queue  216 . 
         [0053]    The server  110  may then determine that the customer contact is suitable for sending to an IVR unit  122 . The server  110  may then send the contact to the IVR unit  122  to have the IVR unit  122  interact with the customer. The IVR unit  122  can then present the customer with an IVR script, in step  506 . The IVR script may include one or more questions and require interactive responses from the customer. The customer may be able to enter information through voice responses or using a key pad. This information may be recorded by the IVR unit  122  and presented to the server  110 . 
         [0054]    The server  110  may receive the information from the IVR unit  122  and provide it to an agent IVR conference system  232 . The error recognition module  302  of the agent IVR conference system  232  can analyze the information received from the IVR response unit  122 , to determine if the user is having trouble with the IVR script, in step  508 . Further, the agent IVR conference system  232  can store the received information in the IVR database  306 , in a data structure  400 . As the customer is interacting with the IVR unit  122  the error recognition module  302  can analyze the information to determine if the user is having trouble with the IVR script. For example, the error recognition module  302  can retrieve one or more rules from the rules database  310  and apply the rule(s) to the IVR session. For example, the error recognition module  302  can determine if the customer has entered one or more incorrect answers during the IVR script. If a customer has sequentially entered two or more incorrect answers, the customer may be having difficulty. In other examples, the error recognition module  302  can recognize the user has requested an operator or some other help during the IVR session. If the error recognition module determines that the user is having trouble with the IVR, step  508  proceeds “YES” to step  510 . If the error recognition module determines that the user is not having trouble with the IVR, step  508  proceeds “NO” to step  516  to continue the IVR while the error recognition module  302  continues to monitor the session. 
         [0055]    A suspension module  304  can then receive a signal from the error recognition module  302 ; the signal can indicate that the user is having trouble with the IVR script. The signal directs the suspension module  304  to suspend the IVR script. The suspension module  304  may then send a signal to the IVR unit  122  to suspend the script. Further, the error recognition module  302  can send a signal to the agent and contact selector  220  to queue an agent into an agent queue  212  associated with IVR assistance. The agent, in embodiments, has skills in directing customers through IVR scripts. Further, the error recognition module  302  directs the agent and contact selector to queue the contact into a queue  208  to be placed in the conference. The error recognition module  302  then instructs the conference call module  308  to conference in the agent, customer, and IVR session into a conference call. 
         [0056]    The agent contact selector  220  queues an IVR skilled agent into a skill queue  212 , in step  510 . The agent contact selector  220  may then inform the customer, in the queue  208 , that the agent is going to be included in the contact. In embodiments, one of the skill queues  212  is related to IVR systems. Further, one of the contact queues  208  is associated with help with the IVR session. When the agent is available, the agent contact selector  220  can inform the agent IVR conference system  232  to conduct the conference. 
         [0057]    Upon receiving a signal that the agent is available, the conference call module  308  can create a conference call between the customer telecommunication device  174 / 180 , the IVR unit  122 , and the agent communication device  134 / 138 , in step  512 . The conference call includes each of the three entities and allows the agent to communicate with the customer about the IVR script. Further, the agent is operable to reinitiate the IVR script by instructing the suspension module  304  to start the IVR script, may continue to suspend the IVR script, may provide a different IVR script, may change or instruct the IVR script to change its execution or behavior, or do other actions to help the customer with their needs in providing information to the server  110  through the IVR session. 
         [0058]    At some point thereinafter, the agent can disengage from the conference. The agent may disengage if the customer is able to then perform the rest of the IVR script and is allowed to complete the IVR script on their own, or may disengage if the agent handles the customer&#39;s call rather than continue with the IVR script. In embodiments, the method  500  shows the continuation of the method  500  if the agent disengages because the customer continues with the IVR script. Thus, the conference call module  308  can determine if the agents disengaged, in step  514 . If the agent is disengaged, step  514  proceeds “YES” to step  516 . If the agent is not disengaged, step  514  proceeds “NO” back to step  512  where the conference continues with the agent, the IVR unit  122 , and the customer. 
         [0059]    In step  516 , the customer continues with the IVR script. Thus, the customer is able to answer further questions and respond to the questions until the IVR script is completed, a new IVR script is started, or the customer needs help again. The information about the continued IVR session continues to be stored in the data structure  400 , and the information continues to be sent from the IVR unit  122  to the agent IVR conference system  232 . The customer may need help again in which case the method  500  may start over at step  508 . 
         [0060]    The computers, computer systems, servers, devices, and/or components that are described herein and that may execute the processes described herein may be as described in conjunction with  FIGS. 6 and 7 .  FIG. 6  illustrates a block diagram of a computing environment  600 . The system  600  includes one or more computers  605 ,  610 , and  615 . The computers  605 ,  610 , and  615  may be general purpose personal computers (including, merely by way of example, personal computers and/or laptop computers running various versions of Microsoft Corp.&#39;s Windows® and/or Apple Corp.&#39;s Macintosh® operating systems) and/or workstation computers running any of a variety of commercially-available UNIX® or UNIX-like operating systems. These computers  605 ,  610 ,  615  may also have any of a variety of applications, including for example, database client and/or server applications, and web browser applications. Alternatively, the computers  605 ,  610 , and  615  may be any other electronic device, such as a thin-client computer, mobile telephone, mobile device, Internet-enabled mobile telephone, and/or personal digital assistant, capable of communicating via a network (e.g., the network  620  described below) and/or displaying and navigating web pages or other types of electronic data. Although the exemplary system  600  is shown with three computers, any number of computers may be supported. 
         [0061]    System  600  further includes a network  620 . The network  620  may can be any type of network familiar to those skilled in the art that can support data communications using any of a variety of commercially-available protocols, including without limitation TCP/IP, SNA, IPX, AppleTalk, and the like. Merely by way of example, the network  620  maybe a local area network (“LAN”), such as an Ethernet network, a Token-Ring network and/or the like; a wide-area network; a virtual network, including without limitation a virtual private network (“VPN”); the Internet; an intranet; an extranet; a public switched telephone network (“PSTN”); an infra-red network; a wireless network (e.g., a network operating under any of the IEEE 802.11 suite of protocols, the Bluetooth® protocol known in the art, and/or any other wireless protocol); and/or any combination of these and/or other networks. 
         [0062]    The system  600  may also include one or more server computers  625  and  630 . The server computers  625  and/or  630  can represent the customer service server  102 . One server may be a web server  625 , which may be used to process requests for web pages or other electronic documents from user computers  605 ,  610 , and  620 . The web server can be running an operating system including any of those discussed above, as well as any commercially-available server operating systems. The web server  625  can also run a variety of server applications, including HTTP servers, FTP servers, CGI servers, database servers, Java servers, and the like. In some instances, the web server  625  may publish operations available operations as one or more web services. 
         [0063]    The system  600  may also include one or more file and or/application servers  630 , which can, in addition to an operating system, include one or more applications accessible by a client running on one or more of the user computers  605 ,  610 ,  615 . The server(s)  630  may be one or more general purpose computers capable of executing programs or scripts in response to the user computers  605 ,  610  and  615 . As one example, the server may execute one or more web applications. The web application may be implemented as one or more scripts or programs written in any programming language, such as Java™, C, C# or C++, and/or any scripting language, such as Perl, Python, or TCL, as well as combinations of any programming/scripting languages. The application server(s)  630  may also include database servers, including without limitation those commercially available from Oracle, Microsoft, Sybase™, IBM™ and the like, which can process requests from database clients running on a user computer  605 . 
         [0064]    The web pages created by the web application server  630  may be forwarded to a user computer  605  via a web server  625 . Similarly, the web server  625  may be able to receive web page requests, web services invocations, and/or input data from a user computer  605  and can forward the web page requests and/or input data to the web application server  630 . In further embodiments, the server  630  may function as a file server. Although for ease of description, FIG.  6  illustrates a separate web server  625  and file/application server  630 , those skilled in the art will recognize that the functions described with respect to servers  625 ,  630  may be performed by a single server and/or a plurality of specialized servers, depending on implementation-specific needs and parameters. 
         [0065]    The system  600  may also include a database  635 . The database  635  may reside in a variety of locations. By way of example, database  635  may reside on a storage medium local to (and/or resident in) one or more of the computers  605 ,  610 ,  615 ,  625 ,  630 . Alternatively, it may be remote from any or all of the computers  605 ,  610 ,  615 ,  625 ,  630 , and in communication (e.g., via the network  620 ) with one or more of these. In a particular set of embodiments, the database  635  may reside in a storage-area network (“SAN”) familiar to those skilled in the art. Similarly, any necessary files for performing the functions attributed to the computers  605 ,  610 ,  615 ,  625 ,  630  may be stored locally on the respective computer and/or remotely, as appropriate. In one set of embodiments, the database  635  may be a relational database, such as Oracle 10i®, that is adapted to store, update, and retrieve data in response to SQL-formatted commands. 
         [0066]      FIG. 7  illustrates one embodiment of a computer system  700  upon which the test system may be deployed or executed. The computer system  700  is shown comprising hardware elements that may be electrically coupled via a bus  755 . The hardware elements may include one or more central processing units (CPUs)  705 ; one or more input devices  710  (e.g., a mouse, a keyboard, etc.); and one or more output devices  715  (e.g., a display device, a printer, etc.). The computer system  700  may also include one or more storage devices  720 . By way of example, storage device(s)  720  may be disk drives, optical storage devices, solid-state storage devices, such as a random access memory (“RAM”) and/or a read-only memory (“ROM”), which can be programmable, flash-updateable, and/or the like. 
         [0067]    The computer system  700  may additionally include a computer-readable storage media reader  725 ; a communications system  730  (e.g., a modem, a network card (wireless or wired), an infra-red communication device, etc.); and working memory  740 , which may include RAM and ROM devices as described above. In some embodiments, the computer system  700  may also include a processing acceleration unit  735 , which can include a DSP, a special-purpose processor and/or the like 
         [0068]    The computer-readable storage media reader  725  can further be connected to a computer-readable storage medium, together (and, optionally, in combination with storage device(s)  720 ) comprehensively representing remote, local, fixed, and/or removable storage devices plus storage media for temporarily and/or more permanently containing computer-readable information. The communications system  730  may permit data to be exchanged with the network  720  and/or any other computer described above with respect to the system  700 . Moreover, as disclosed herein, the term “storage medium” may represent one or more devices for storing data, including read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic RAM, core memory, magnetic disk storage mediums, optical storage mediums, flash memory devices, and/or other machine readable mediums for storing information. 
         [0069]    The computer system  700  may also comprise software elements, shown as being currently located within a working memory  740 , including an operating system  745  and/or other code  750 , such as program code implementing the components and software described herein. It should be appreciated that alternate embodiments of a computer system  700  may have numerous variations from that described above. For example, customized hardware might also be used and/or particular elements might be implemented in hardware, software (including portable software, such as applets), or both. Further, connection to other computing devices such as network input/output devices may be employed. 
         [0070]    In the foregoing description, for the purposes of illustration, methods were described in a particular order. It should be appreciated that in alternate embodiments, the methods may be performed in a different order than that described. It should also be appreciated that the methods described above may be performed by hardware components or may be embodied in sequences of computer-readable or machine-executable instructions, which may be used to cause a machine, such as a general-purpose or special-purpose processor or logic circuits programmed with the instructions to perform the methods. These computer-readable or machine-executable instructions may be stored on one or more machine readable mediums, such as CD-ROMs or other type of optical disks, floppy diskettes, ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, flash memory, or other types of computer-readable or machine-readable mediums suitable for storing electronic instructions. Alternatively, the methods may be performed by a combination of hardware and software. 
         [0071]    Furthermore, embodiments may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, firmware, middleware or microcode, the program code or code segments to perform the necessary tasks may be stored in a machine readable medium such as storage medium. A processor(s) may perform the necessary tasks. A code segment may represent a procedure, a function, a subprogram, a program, a routine, a subroutine, a module, a software package, a class, or any combination of instructions, data structures, or program statements. A code segment may be coupled to another code segment or a hardware circuit by passing and/or receiving information, data, arguments, parameters, or memory contents. Information, arguments, parameters, data, etc. may be passed, forwarded, or transmitted via any suitable means including memory sharing, message passing, token passing, network transmission, etc. 
         [0072]    Also, it is noted that the embodiments were described as a process which is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A process is terminated when its operations are completed, but could have additional steps not included in the figure. A process may correspond to a method, a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a process corresponds to a function, its termination corresponds to a return of the function to the calling function or the main function. 
         [0073]    Specific details were given in the description to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. For example, circuits may be shown in block diagrams in order not to obscure the embodiments in unnecessary detail. In other instances, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques may be shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the embodiments. 
         [0074]    While illustrative embodiments have been described in detail herein, it is to be understood that the inventive concepts may be otherwise variously embodied and employed, and that the appended claims are intended to be construed to include such variations, except as limited by the prior art.

Technology Classification (CPC): 7