Method and apparatus for distributed interactive voice processing

Abstract

A distributed interactive voice processing system is disclosed that distributes IVR capabilities to one or more agent terminals associated with a call center. One or more agent terminals support the traditional functions of a live agent, as well as additional IVR capabilities to support the functions of a virtual or automated agent. A call management system manages the distributed IVR resources by monitoring the availability status of the live and automated IVR agents in the distributed interactive voice processing system and distributing telephone calls and other types of communications to the appropriate agents. The availability status of the automated IVR agents is based on estimated available CPU cycles on the agent terminal. A received call is routed to the extension on the agent terminal associated with the selected IVR channel. A VXML process associated with the selected IVR channel obtains the appropriate application software from a central voiceXML application server and executes the VXML page(s) to play the appropriate prompts from the IVR script to the caller and to collect DTMF or speech recognized inputs from the caller. The distributed design allows centralized application management while using distributed resources to provide improved IVR availability.

I claim:  
     
         1 . A distributed interactive voice processing system, comprising: 
 a plurality of agent terminals each employed by a corresponding human agent associated with a call center, wherein at least one of said agent terminals supports a corresponding human agent and provides at least one automated interactive voice response (IVR) channel; and    a call management system to distribute communications to an appropriate agent.    
     
     
         2 . The distributed interactive voice processing system of  claim 1 , wherein said call a management system monitors an availability status of said at least one of said agent terminals.  
     
     
         3 . The distributed interactive voice processing system of  claim 2 , wherein said availability status is based on a predicted number of available CPU cycles.  
     
     
         4 . The distributed interactive voice processing system of  claim 1 , wherein said at least one of said agent terminals uses local processing resources to perform at least one interactive voice response function.  
     
     
         5 . The distributed interactive voice processing system of  claim 4 , wherein said at least one interactive voice response function includes rendering an IVR script.  
     
     
         6 . The distributed interactive voice processing system of  claim 4 , wherein said at least one interactive voice response function includes an automatic speech recognition function.  
     
     
         7 . The distributed interactive voice processing system of  claim 4 , wherein said at least one interactive voice response function includes a text-to-speech translation function.  
     
     
         8 . The distributed interactive voice processing system of  claim 1 , wherein said at least one of said agent terminals uses local processing resources to provide IP telephony resources to said human agent.  
     
     
         9 . A computing system for use by a human agent in a call center, comprising: 
 a memory that stores computer-readable code; and    a processor operatively coupled to said memory, said processor configured to implement said computer-readable code, said computer-readable code configured to:    support functions of said human agent; and    provide interactive voice response capabilities to support functions of an automated agent.    
     
     
         10 . The computing system of  claim 9 , wherein said processor is further configured to predict a number of available processing cycles in said processor.  
     
     
         11 . The computing system of  claim 9 , wherein said interactive voice response capabilities includes rendering an IVR script.  
     
     
         12 . The computing system of  claim 9 , wherein said interactive voice response capabilities includes an automatic speech recognition function.  
     
     
         13 . The computing system of  claim 9 , wherein said interactive voice response capabilities includes a text-to-speech translation function.  
     
     
         14 . A method for interacting with a caller in a call center, said method comprising the steps of: 
 receiving a telephone call from a caller; and    processing said telephone call using an interactive voice response channel executing on a computing system dedicated to a human agent.    
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising the step of monitoring an availability status of at least one computing system dedicated to a human agent.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein said availability status is based on a predicted number of available CPU cycles.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein said computing system dedicated to a human agent uses local processing resources to perform at least one interactive voice response function.  
     
     
         18 . A method for assigning a telephone call to an automated agent in a call center, said method comprising the steps of: 
 receiving a telephone call from a caller;    monitoring an availability status of at least one computer system upon which said automated agents execute; and    assigning said telephone call to an available automated agent.    
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein said availability status based on a number of predicted available CPU cycles.  
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein said at least one computer system upon which said automated agents execute use local processing resources to perform at least one interactive voice response function.