Call and contact service center partial service automation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10873667-B2
Application number	US-202016823935-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 19, 2020
Priority date	Nov 3, 2017
Publication date	Dec 22, 2020
Grant date	Dec 22, 2020

Abstract

A method of semiautonomous processing of a conversation on a digital data device includes the steps of receiving, with the digital data device, a communication from a requesting agent, analyzing the communication to discern an intent, determining whether an intent-purposed bot is available for execution on or in connection with the first digital data device to process a said communication of said intent and, if so, upon approval of a responding agent, processing with the bot any of the communication, an interaction of which the communication forms a part, and session of which the interaction forms a part.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving, at a computing device, a communication from a client device;
determining, by the computing device, an intent of the communication;
determining, by the computing device, that a special-purpose artificial intelligence bot for processing the communication is available on the computing device based on the determined intent of the communication;
sending, by the computing device to a device of a responding agent, a request for approval from the responding agent to use the special-purpose artificial intelligence bot to process the communication;
receiving, on the computing device, from the device of the responding agent, approval from the responding agent to use the special-purpose artificial intelligence bot to process the communication;
generating, by the computing device in response to the approval from the responding agent, with the special-purpose artificial intelligence bot, a response to the communication; and
providing, by the computing device, the response to the client device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining, by the computing device, an intent of the communication comprises analyzing, by the computing device, the communication with a natural language processing engine.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing, by the computing device, with the special purpose artificial intelligence bot, information retrieval based on the determined intent of the communication, and wherein the response comprises results of the information retrieval.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing, by the computing device, with the special purpose artificial intelligence bot, order-handling based on the determined intent of the communication, and wherein the response comprises a response to a request to order a product.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing, by the computing device in a session storage, a session for the communication comprising an indication that the communication was assigned to the special-purpose artificial intelligence bot.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
receiving, at the computing device, a second communication from the client device;
determining, by the computing device, that the second communication is associated with the session for the communication in the session storage;
generating, by the computing device, with the special-purpose artificial intelligence bot, a response to the second communication; and
providing, by the computing device, the response to the second communication to the client device.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
monitoring, by the responding agent of the computing device, the special-purpose artificial intelligence bot;
receiving, on the computing device, a request from the responding agent to assign a session for the communication to the responding agent;
assigning, by the computing device, the session for the communication to the responding agent; and
storing, by the computing device in a session storage, the session for the communication comprising an indication that the communication was assigned to the responding agent.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the special-purpose artificial intelligence bot has finished processing a sequence of communications for the determined intent from the client device;
assigning, by the computing device, the session for the communication to the responding agent; and
storing, by the computing device in a session storage, the session for the communication comprising an indication that the communication was assigned to the responding agent.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the special-purpose artificial intelligence bot is one of a plurality of special-purpose artificial intelligence bots,
and wherein determining, by the computing device, that a special-purpose artificial intelligence bot for processing the communication is available on the computing device based on the determined intent of the communication comprises:
determining, by the computing device, that one or more of the plurality of special-purpose artificial intelligence bots are not available for processing the communication based on the determined intent of the communication.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the responding agent is unaware that the special-purpose artificial intelligence bot is available for processing the communication before the computing device determines that the special-purpose artificial intelligence bot is available for processing the communication.

11. A system comprising:
a computing device that receives a communication from a client device,
determines an intent of the communication,
determines that a special-purpose artificial intelligence bot for processing the communication is available on the computing device based on the determined intent of the communication,
sends, to a device of a responding agent, a request for approval from the responding agent to use the special-purpose artificial intelligence bot to process the communication
receives, from the device of the responding agent, approval from a responding agent to use the special-purpose artificial intelligence bot to process the communication,
generates, in response to the approval from the responding agent, with the special-purpose artificial intelligence bot, a response to the communication, and
provides the response to the client device.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the computing device determines an intent of the communication comprises analyzing the communication with a natural language processing engine.

13. The system of claim 11 further wherein the computing device further performs, with the special purpose artificial intelligence bot, information retrieval based on the determined intent of the communication, and wherein the response comprises results of the information retrieval.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the computing device performs, with the special purpose artificial intelligence bot, order-handling based on the determined intent of the communication, and wherein the response comprises a response to a request to order a product.

15. The system of claim 11 , further comprising a storage device comprising a session storage, and wherein the computing device further stores, in the session storage of the storage device, a session for the communication comprising an indication that the communication was assigned to the special-purpose artificial intelligence bot.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the computing device further receives a second communication from the client device,
determines that the second communication is associated with the session for the communication in the session storage,
generates, with the special-purpose artificial intelligence bot, a response to the second communication, and
provides the response to the second communication to the client device.

17. The system of claim 11 , further comprising a storage device comprising a session storage, and wherein the computing device further monitors, with the responding agent, the special-purpose artificial intelligence bot,
receives a request from the responding agent to assign a session for the communication to the responding agent,
assigns the session for the communication to the responding agent, and
stores, in the session storage, the session for the communication comprising an indication that the communication was assigned to the responding agent.

18. The system of claim 11 , further comprising a

Assignees

• Salesforce Com Inc

Inventors

• Kwak Youngjun
• Hwang Alan Dawkuan
• Henshaw Cody

Classifications

• G06F40/00

  Handling natural language data (speech analysis or synthesis, speech recognition G10L) · CPC title

• H04M3/60 Primary

  Semi-automatic systems, i.e. in which the numerical selection of the outgoing line is under the control of an operator · CPC title

• G06F40/56

  Natural language generation · CPC title

• H04M3/5166

  in combination with interactive voice response systems or voice portals, e.g. as front-ends · CPC title

• G06F40/35

  Discourse or dialogue representation · CPC title