Patent Description:
The use of digital assistants has grown rapidly the last couple of years such as for instance Siri for iOS or Google Now for Android. With the entrance of smart speakers, digital assistants such as e.g. Alexa, Alice, Cortana, etc., have become even easier to access than the assistants operating on smart phones and tablets.

Users are utilizing the digital assistants for services such as general questions, weather forecasts, controlling streaming of audio and video, calendar events, etc..

Amazon and Google are currently leading the market with their Echo and Home product lines. The support given by Alexa and Google assistant is extensive and is ever increasing.

With digital assistants, call queue management can be improved.

<CIT> discloses a method and a managing module for managing voice data generated by a call managing system. The managing module receives, from the call managing system, current voice data indicating a current queue level of a call to the call managing system, wherein the current queue level is given in relation to a queue of calls, wherein the queue of calls is managed by the call managing system to keep track of which call, among the calls of the queue, is to be served next. Moreover, the managing module determines the current queue level based on the current voice data by use of voice recognition. Furthermore, the managing module indicates that the condition is fulfilled, when the current queue level fulfils a condition relating to that the call is to be served.

<CIT> discloses systems and methods for monitoring telephone calls that are placed on hold. The telephone calls may be between user electronic devices and call centers, such as customer service departments. The electronic device can monitor an on-hold telephone call using a background process, which may free up a user interface of the electronic device for one or more non-phone-related tasks. The electronic device can monitor the telephone call for an indicator that a live operator is or will soon be present on the telephone call. Responsive to detecting the indicator, the electronic device can alert the user and allow the user to take control of the telephone call. In some embodiments, the electronic device can obtain information about the call center, such as expected on-hold wait-times, to determine whether an on-hold call should be monitored.

An object is to solve, or at least mitigate, the problem of call queue management in the art and thus to provide an improved method of a digital assistant device of managing a queued voice call having been established between a calling party and a recipient.

This object is attained in a first aspect of the invention by a method of a digital assistant device of managing a voice call established between a calling party and a recipient, the voice call having been queued to await a response by a human representative of the recipient of the voice call. The method comprises detecting, from a voice indication of the voice call, information indicating a point in time when the human representative of the recipient is expected to be able to provide a response to the queued voice call, and setting the calling party in contact with the recipient at the determined point in time.

This object is attained in a second aspect of the invention by a digital assistant device configured to manage a voice call established between a calling party and a recipient, the voice call having been queued to await a response by a human representative of the recipient of the voice call. The digital assistant device comprises a processing unit and a memory, said memory containing instructions executable by said processing unit, whereby the digital assistant device is operative to detect, from a voice indication of the voice call, information indicating a point in time when the human representative of the recipient is expected to be able to provide a response to the queued voice call, and to set the calling party in contact with the recipient (<NUM>) at the determined point in time.

Upon a caller placing a voice call with a recipient via e.g. a mobile phone, which voice call is directed to for instance a call centre at the recipient where a human representative is available for answering the voice call, a computer implementing a telephone exchange will activate an answering machine which replies to the caller via the mobile phone that the caller has been placed in a call queue ("we will answer your call within approximately <NUM> minutes").

To wait by the phone to listen to the answering machine repeatedly informing about time remaining in the queue is a tedious process.

To overcome this problem, a digital assistant device is implemented to detect, from a voice indication of the voice call, information indicating a point in time when the human representative of the recipient is expected to be able to provide a response to the queued voice call. Subsequently, the digital assistant device will set the caller having hung up the voice call in contact with the human representative at the indicated point in time.

Advantageously, the caller is not required to listen to the audio coming from the phone informing the caller about her place in the queue. Rather, the caller can end the call and proceed with whatever she wishes to do while waiting for the digital assistant device to set up the new call or resume the ongoing call.

In an embodiment, the setting of the calling party in contact with the recipient at the determined point in time comprises establishing a new voice call between the recipient and the calling party at the determined point in time.

In another embodiment, the setting of the calling party in contact with the recipient at the determined point in time comprises resuming the ongoing voice call between the recipient and the calling party at the determined point in time.

Hence, it may be envisaged that the caller is set in contact with the human representative either via the ongoing voice call, in which scenario the caller is notified by the digital assistant device via for instance Short Message Service (SMS), WhatsApp, e-mail, etc., at the indicated point in time that she is expected to pick up the call such that the human representative at the other end of the line can resume the call and thus provide the response, or that a new call is established between the caller and the human representative.

In an embodiment, the detection of information from a voice indication of the voice call comprises detecting the information from a voice indication provided by the calling party. Hence, an instruction from the caller is given to the digital assistant device, such as "Please call back when <NUM> minute of the queue remains", whereupon the caller hangs up the call and under control of the digital assistant device is called back when the caller indeed has <NUM> minute remaining in the queue, or is notified as described above that that she is expected to resume the ongoing voice call.

In another embodiment, the detection of information from a voice indication of the voice call comprises detecting the information from a voice indication provided by the recipient. Hence, the digital assistant device detects from the information given by the answering machine ("we will answer your call within approximately <NUM> minutes") when the human representative is capable of providing a response, whereupon the digital assistant device establishes a new call, or resumes the ongoing call, between the recipient and the caller such that the caller can talk to the human representative.

In an embodiment, when the digital assistant device is configured to either set up a new call or to resume the ongoing call, the digital assistant device is configured to remain connected with the recipient after having detected the information indicating a point in time when the human representative of the recipient is expected to be able to provide a response to the queued voice call, and to monitor a current position of the voice call in the queue on the basis of information provided by the recipient.

In a further embodiment, if the ongoing call is to be resumed, the digital assistant device notifies the caller that the ongoing voice call is to be resumed.

In still an embodiment, the digital assistant device provides the recipient with contact information of the calling party, wherein the recipient establishes a voice call with the calling party at the point in time when the human representative of the recipient is expected to be able to provide a response to the queued voice call.

<FIG> illustrates a prior art over-the-top (OTT) network, i.e. a network where a media service is delivered over the internet without having to pass over a media to which the user subscribes such as cable TV service or an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS).

In this example, a user <NUM> is involved in a phone call using her mobile phone <NUM> to communicate for instance over an IMS or Voice over Long-Term Evolution (VoLTE) system <NUM> with a recipient <NUM> via the recipient's mobile phone <NUM>.

If the user <NUM> requests some service, for instance to set up a three-party call, she can voice her request to a smart speaker <NUM> (being able to detect what the user <NUM> is saying) which will forward the request to the OTT digital assistant <NUM>, which will initiate the three-party call. It is noted that the OTT digital assistant <NUM> is capable of interacting with the VoLTE system <NUM> to include a third person in the ongoing call.

<FIG> illustrates a prior art operator-driven network. In this example, a user <NUM> is involved in a phone call using her mobile phone <NUM> to again communicate for instance over an IMS or VoLTE system <NUM> with a recipient <NUM> via the recipient's mobile phone <NUM>.

If the user <NUM> request some service, for instance to set up a three-party call, she can voice her request to her mobile phone <NUM> which will forward the request to the operator-driven digital assistant <NUM>, which will initiate the three-party call via the VoLTE system <NUM>.

An advantage of the operator-driven network as compared to the OTT is that there is no need for an additional device (i.e. the smart speaker <NUM>), and it would work from any legacy phone, fixed or mobile.

An embodiment of a method of a digital assistant device of managing a voice call established between a calling party and a recipient, the voice call having been queued to await a response by a human representative of the recipient of the voice call, will now be described with reference to the network of <FIG>, in which the embodiment may be implemented, and further with reference to <FIG> showing a flowchart of the method.

It is noted that embodiments of the invention described herein may be implemented in the prior art digital assistants illustrated with reference to <FIG>. Further, it is noted that the voice call may constitute any type of call over which voice information is sent, such as a regular Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) call, conference call, VoLTE call, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call, video call, etc..

In this exemplifying embodiment, a calling party - i.e. the user <NUM> - will use a communications devices such as for instance her mobile phone <NUM> to call a recipient <NUM> over a communication network <NUM>. In this particular example, the recipient <NUM> is represented by an authority, such as a national tax office.

Now, upon the caller <NUM> placing a voice call with the tax office <NUM> via her mobile phone <NUM>, the voice call is typically directed to a call centre at the tax office, where call centre staff - i.e. a human representative 303a - are ready to answer the voice call. The call may be a regular phone call or a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call using e.g. Skype established via communications network <NUM>.

Upon the voice call being connected to the call centre at the tax office <NUM>, a computer 303b implementing a telephone exchange will activate an answering machine which replies to the caller <NUM> via the mobile phone <NUM> that the caller <NUM> has been placed in a call queue.

Nowadays, many companies/authorities provide customer service via voice calls and commonly a customer/user is placed in a queue and informed about his/her place in the queue and how long the expected wait will be until the call is switched from the answering machine to a human representative picking up the call. In the meantime, the customer can only listen to the music or audio recording provided by the call centre and wait in the queue until the representative picks up the call.

Typically, the reply from the answering machine 303b will indicate the caller's position in the queue ("your place in the queue is no. <NUM>") and additionally or alternatively also time remaining until the human representative 303a of the tax office <NUM> is expected to respond to the queued call ("we will answer your call within approximately <NUM> minutes").

A number of variants are possible when presenting the position, such as a) position: the caller hears, "your position in queue is [six]", b) ordinal position: the caller hears, "you are the [sixth] caller in the queue", or c) ahead: the caller hears, "there are [five] callers ahead of you", etc..

Now as previously has been discussed, to wait by the phone to listen to the answering machine repeatedly informing about a current place in the queue is a tedious process.

To overcome this problem, a digital assistant device <NUM> ("Ester") is implemented in the communications network <NUM> to detect in step S101, from a voice indication of the voice call, information indicating a point in time when the human representative 303a of the tax office <NUM> is expected to be able to provide a response to the queued voice call. Subsequently in step S102, the digital assistant device <NUM> will set the caller <NUM> - having hung up the voice call - in contact with the human representative 303a at the indicated point in time.

It is envisaged that the caller <NUM> is set in contact with the human representative 303a either via the ongoing voice call, in which scenario the caller <NUM> is notified by the digital assistant device <NUM> via for instance Short Message Service (SMS), WhatsApp, e-mail, etc., at the indicated point in time that she is expected to pick up the call such that the human representative at the other end of the line can provide the response, or that a new call is established between the caller <NUM> and the human representative 303a (i.e. the digital assistant device <NUM> establishes a new call between the tax office <NUM> and the caller <NUM>).

In a first embodiment, as will be described with reference to the flowchart of <FIG>, an instruction from the caller <NUM> is given to the digital assistant device <NUM> via the network <NUM>, such as "Ester, please call back when I am no. <NUM> in the queue ", whereupon the caller <NUM> hangs up the call and under control of the digital assistant device <NUM> is called back when the caller <NUM> indeed is no. <NUM> in the queue, or is notified as described above that that she is expected to resume the ongoing voice call.

In a second embodiment, as will be described with reference to the flowchart of <FIG>, the digital assistant device <NUM> detects from the information given by the answering machine 303b ("we will answer your call within approximately <NUM> minutes") when the human representative 303a is capable of providing a response, whereupon the digital assistant device <NUM> establishes a new call, or resumes the ongoing call, between the tax office <NUM> and the caller <NUM> such that the caller <NUM> can talk to the human representative 303a.

In both the first and second embodiment, the digital assistant device <NUM> will remain in connection with the tax office <NUM> in order to monitor the queue development to be able to determine from the voice indication of the answering machine 303b when the point in time for the human representative 303a is approaching.

In the first embodiment, the digital assistant device <NUM> will detect in step S201, from the instruction given by the caller <NUM> ("Ester, please call back when I am no. <NUM> in the queue") over the voice call, the point in time when the human representative 303a is expected to be able to provide a response to the queued voice call.

The caller <NUM> will end the current call, possibly after having been informed by the digital assistant device <NUM> that the call may be hung up, and in step S202 the digital assistant device <NUM> will set the caller <NUM> in contact with the tax office <NUM> over the network <NUM> when the caller is no. <NUM> in the queue, i.e. just before the human representative 303a is available to provide a response.

In an alternative, the instruction given by the caller <NUM> is "Ester, please call back when it is <NUM> minute remaining of the queue"). This point in time is thus detected by the digital assistant device <NUM>, which subsequently will set the caller <NUM> in contact with the tax office <NUM> when there is one minute remaining of the queue, i.e. again just before the human representative 303a is available to provide a response.

As discussed, since the digital assistant device <NUM> remains connected with the tax office <NUM> (even though the caller <NUM> ends the call), the digital assistant device <NUM> can establish a new call re-connecting the caller <NUM> with the tax office <NUM> just in time for the human representative 303a to respond to the caller <NUM>, or resume the ongoing call. That is, since the digital assistant device <NUM> remains connected with the tax office <NUM>, the digital assistant device <NUM> can continuously monitor a current position of the voice call in the queue as the queue steadily decreases from (typically synthetic) voice information provided by the answering machine 303b of the tax office <NUM>.

Since the digital assistant device <NUM> is part of the voice call, it also has access to useful information of the call, such as e.g. session id and IMS Charging Identifier (ICID).

The detection of the information from the voice indication over the voice call is achieved using an appropriate audio recognition application at the digital assistant device <NUM>. Such audio recognition applications are well-known in the art and will not be described herein.

Advantageously, the caller <NUM> is not required to listen to the audio coming from the smartphone <NUM> informing the caller <NUM> about her place in the queue. Rather, the caller can end the call and proceed with whatever she wishes to do while waiting for the digital assistant device <NUM> to set up the new call or resume the ongoing call.

In the second embodiment, the digital assistant device <NUM> will detect in step S301, from the queue information provided by the answering machine 303b over the voice call, the callers' place in the queue or expected queue time call ("we will answer your call within approximately <NUM> minutes"). Again, this may be achieved using an appropriate audio recognition application at the digital assistant device <NUM>.

Thus, the digital assistant device <NUM> detects information indicating a point in time when the human representative 303a is expected to be able to respond, i.e. in <NUM> minutes in this exemplifying embodiment.

The caller <NUM> will end the current call, possibly after having been informed by the digital assistant device <NUM> that the call may be hung up, and in step S103 the digital assistant device <NUM> subsequently establishes a new voice call, or resume the ongoing call, between the tax office <NUM> and the caller <NUM> over the communications network <NUM> via which the human representative 303a will provide a response to the caller <NUM>.

Since the digital assistant device <NUM> remains connected with the tax office <NUM> (even though the caller <NUM> ends the call), the digital assistant device <NUM> can establish the new call re-connecting the caller <NUM> with the tax office <NUM> just in time for the human representative 303a to respond to the caller <NUM>, or may resume the ongoing call just in time for the human representative 303a to respond.

Again, the caller <NUM> is advantageously not required to listen to the audio coming from the smartphone <NUM> informing the caller <NUM> about her place in the queue. Rather, the caller can end the call and proceed with whatever she wishes to do while waiting for the digital assistant device <NUM> to set up the new call.

In a further embodiment, after the caller <NUM> have hung up the call, the digital assistant device <NUM> will repeatedly notify the caller <NUM> of a current position of the voice call in the queue. This may be performed via SMS, WhatsApp, e-mail, etc..

<FIG> shows a flowchart illustrating a method according to a further embodiment. In a first step S401, the digital assistant device <NUM> detects, from the queue information provided by the answering machine 303b over the voice call, the callers' place in the queue or expected queue time call ("we will answer your call within approximately <NUM> minutes").

However, in this embodiment, instead of remaining connected to the tax office <NUM>, the digital assistant device <NUM> may leave a message to the tax office <NUM> on behalf of the caller <NUM> comprising contact information of the caller <NUM>. Since an operator hosting the digital assistant device <NUM> usually holds information about the caller <NUM>, the message could for instance be "This call is made on behalf of Alice Ericsson, national Id is <NUM>-<NUM>. Please call her back on number <NUM>-<NUM>". The tax office <NUM> will thus subsequently establish a voice call with the caller <NUM> when the human representative 303a is available for providing a response.

<FIG> illustrates a digital assistant <NUM> according to an embodiment. The steps of the method performed by the digital assistant <NUM> of managing a voice call established between a calling party and a recipient, the voice call having been queued to await a response by a human representative of the recipient of the voice call, are in practice performed by a processing unit <NUM> embodied in the form of one or more microprocessors arranged to execute a computer program <NUM> downloaded to a suitable storage volatile medium <NUM> associated with the microprocessor, such as a Random Access Memory (RAM), or a non-volatile storage medium such as a Flash memory or a hard disk drive. The processing unit <NUM> is arranged to cause the digital assistant <NUM> to carry out the method according to embodiments when the appropriate computer program <NUM> comprising computer-executable instructions is downloaded to the storage medium <NUM> and executed by the processing unit <NUM>. The storage medium <NUM> may also be a computer program product comprising the computer program <NUM>. Alternatively, the computer program <NUM> may be transferred to the storage medium <NUM> by means of a suitable computer program product, such as a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) or a memory stick. As a further alternative, the computer program <NUM> may be downloaded to the storage medium <NUM> over a network. The processing unit <NUM> may alternatively be embodied in the form of a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), etc..

The aspects of the present disclosure have mainly been described above with reference to a few embodiments and examples thereof. However, as is readily appreciated by a person skilled in the art, other embodiments than the ones disclosed above are equally possible within the scope of the invention, as defined by the appended patent claims.

Claim 1:
A method performed by a digital assistant device (<NUM>) of managing a voice call established between a calling party (<NUM>) and a recipient (<NUM>), the voice call having been queued by an answering machine to await a response by a human representative (303a) of the recipient (<NUM>) of the voice call, being characterized in comprising:
detecting (S101), by utilizing audio recognition, from a voice indication provided by the calling party of the voice call, information indicating a point in time when the human representative (303a) of the recipient (<NUM>) is expected to be able to provide a response to the queued voice call; and
setting (S102) the calling party (<NUM>) in contact with the recipient (<NUM>) at the determined point in time.