JP2001298540A - Voice reception and advice processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To use a voice reception and advice processor for various kinds of services such as mail order reception, data request reception, morning call, stock price information advice, etc. SOLUTION: A service agency client transmits and registers a starting time, a finish time, data obtained by defining an IVR procedure by an IVR parts with various kinds of processing in voice automatic response (IVR) as the IVR part, a received data transmitting chance, etc., through the Internet to store them respectively in databases 2, 5 and 7. A chance managing part 8 manages the DB 2 and when a time for starting comes, an IVR processing part 11 is made to operate based on corresponding IVR procedure data of a DB 5 and a corresponding voice automatic response service is performed. In the case, inputted data is stored in a DB 12 and received data in the DB 12 is totaled concerning the service and transmitted to the service agency client at a time for transmission decided by a corresponding service in the DB 7.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic voice service apparatus for automatically receiving a service by voice or automatically notifying a voice service through a public telecommunication network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a system for performing automatic voice response processing has been constructed in a form depending on voice automatic response processing for individual applications (services). It was not handled on the system. In addition, the automatic voice response system manages the trigger of the call, and the process of automatically calling when the trigger is met also depends on the individual system, and can be applied to an unspecified number of services. It was not a function.

There has not been a function for registering the procedure of the automatic voice response processing via a data network, and the registration of the procedure has been performed exclusively on each individual computer.

[0004]

As automatic voice service devices, reception services include mail-order sales reception, material request reception, ticket reservation reception, application application reception, and the like. As notification services, a wake-up call and a text-to-speech broadcast notification are provided. , Stock price notification, race result notification, etc.
There are various services like this, and in order to realize automatic voice response processing not only for different types of voice automatic services but also for the same type of services, it is necessary to perform registration processing for each processing procedure of individual services. It is necessary to confirm whether or not the operation of the processing procedure can be guaranteed for each processing procedure system. In other words, for example, in a system that automatically checks the balance of a deposit by telephone,
Although the processing procedure is the same, it is necessary to separately configure the system of Bank A and the system of Bank B and check the operation individually.

[0005] The automatic voice notification service needs a configuration that can flexibly define and register a service start time, a service end time, a notification start request from a client, and the like, and an automatic voice reception service requires a service start time. In addition, a configuration that can flexibly define and register the service end time or the maximum number of receptions is required. When using the synthesized speech in the automatic voice response processing, the method of using the synthesized voice generated on the dedicated computer is exclusively used, and the registrant of an unspecified number of automatic voice response processing can easily use the synthesized voice. It is not available for use.

[0006]

According to the present invention, the processing used in the automatic voice response processing of a plurality of types of services is made into components, and the voice automatic response procedure definition data obtained by combining the processing components is stored in a database for various voice automatic services. By storing the information, automatic voice response processing of a plurality of types of services can be realized on a single computer system. Regarding the notification service, the service start timing can be specified by the time, the request to start the notification from the requester, and the like.
For the reception service, the service start time, the service end time, the maximum number of receptions, and the like can be specified.

[0007] The automatic voice response procedure definition data can be registered by a user via a data network. In this case, an unspecified number of users can easily register the voice automatic response procedure. Becomes Speech recognition processing and speech synthesis processing can be used in the automatic voice response processing of an unspecified number of services. Even if services that were expensive to introduce speech recognition processing or speech synthesis processing with a single service were inexpensive, Service can be provided.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS According to the present invention, automatic voice response processing for a plurality of types of services can be provided by a single device. Functions and processes common to the automatic voice response processing of a plurality of types of services are extracted and provided as voice automatic response processing components (units). A user who constructs the automatic voice response system creates a desired voice automatic response procedure by arbitrarily combining these various voice automatic response processing components. The following various voice automatic response processing components are conceivable, but in addition to these, addition, modification, or subdivision of functions may be considered. 1. Guidance voice transmission Function to transmit the specified guidance voice. The method of designating and transmitting the guidance voice is as follows: 1) By specifying the file name of a voice file created in advance by recording a live voice, the recorded voice of the voice file is transmitted. 2) Kana-Kanji characters registered by the registrant A voice file is created by performing voice synthesis processing on the text in advance, and the recorded voice of the voice file is transmitted by specifying the generated synthesized voice file. 3) When Kana-Kanji text is input from outside, the Kana-Kanji text Are immediately synthesized and transmitted. Also,
A plurality of voice files are specified in advance, and guidance voices are sequentially transmitted from them.For example, when a user performs a push button input, since a user who has used many times knows the voice guidance, If a desired input can be performed without listening to all of them, if a predetermined push button is pressed during the sequential transmission of a plurality of voice guidances, the audio file after the detection of the push button press is not reproduced. For example, it is possible to enable interruption of audio reproduction. 2. Voice recording A function that records the contents of user utterances and stores them in the system as voice files. In this case, it is preferable that the maximum recording time length, the voice prompting guidance voice before the start of the recording, the confirmation guidance voice at the end of the recording, and the like can be set at the time of the automatic voice response procedure registration. Also, for the purpose of confirming whether or not the recording was successful, the speaker can play back the recorded content and let the speaker know whether or not the recorded content is correct, using DTMF (Dual Tone Multi-Fr).
(equency: push button dial) A function of determining by acquiring a signal may be added. 3. Address Speech Recognition Addresses in Japan are classified into prefectures, municipalities, municipalities, towns and villages, and specific areas obtained from the address database using an address database that stores kanji notation, kana notation, and address codes for each. Speech recognition processing is performed by using the address notation in the vocabulary as a recognition target vocabulary, and it is possible to obtain a kanji notation or the like of the address as a speech recognition result. In the address speech recognition processing, the address can be narrowed down based on the area code and the city code of the telephone number or the postal code, so that the recognition target vocabulary can be generated using the postal code and the telephone number.
By generating the recognition target vocabulary using the postal code and the telephone number, the number of recognition target vocabularies can be reduced, and the speech recognition performance can be improved. In the address voice recognition processing, the voice, the address, the number, and the building name are recorded to generate a voice file, and stored as a processing result together with the address kanji notation obtained as a result of voice recognition. . In the address speech recognition and the first and last name speech recognition, for example, in services such as mail-order sales reception and document request reception, the address and name of the user to whom it is sent are input by telephone and the voice is recognized. Need to be used for this. 4. First and Last Name Speech Recognition Using a first and last name database that stores the Kanji and Kana notations of Japanese first and last names, the voice recognition process is performed using the notation of the first and last names obtained from the first and last name database as the vocabulary to be recognized. It is possible to obtain notation of first and last names. 5. DTMF item selection A process of selecting a desired item from a plurality of candidates by DTMF. Guidance voice to be output before the user inputs DTMF, guidance voice to be sent out after DTMF input, and when each DTMF is selected, such as "Press 1 for A, 2 for B, and 3 for C" It is preferable that items to be recorded and stored, and an automatic voice response component to be executed when each DTMF is selected can be registered as voice automatic response procedure definition data. 6. Speech recognition item selection A process of selecting a desired item from a plurality of candidates by speech recognition. Also in this case, the guidance voice output before the user performs the voice input, the guidance voice transmitted after the voice recognition result is determined, the items to be recorded and stored when each voice recognition target vocabulary is selected, and each voice recognition. It is preferable that an automatic voice response component or the like executed when the target vocabulary is selected can be registered as voice automatic response procedure definition data. 7. DTMF number input A process of inputting numbers by DTMF. In other words, this is the case where numbers such as telephone numbers are needed. In this case, it is preferable that the number of digits input by the user, the guidance voice transmitted before DTMF input, the guidance voice transmitted after DTMF input, and the like can be registered as voice automatic response procedure definition data. 8. Voice recognition number input The process of inputting numbers by voice recognition. In this case as well, the number of digits of the number input by the user, the guidance voice transmitted before voice recognition, the guidance voice transmitted after voice recognition processing, and the like can be registered as voice automatic response procedure definition data.

In the following description, "automatic voice response"
Is referred to as “IVR” (Interactive Voice Response).
Prior to a detailed description of an embodiment of the present invention, a brief description will be given with reference to FIG. (1) The service provider registers the notification service definition data in the automatic voice service device of the present invention via a data network such as the Internet,
(2) The service provider registers the reception service definition in the automatic voice service device via the data network.
(3) When the notification service is triggered, the notification server
A notification service such as a wake-up call, text-to-speech broadcast notification, or stock price information notification is issued and executed via a public telecommunications network. (4) A large number of users call the automatic voice service device via the public electric notification network and use reception services such as mail-order sales reception, document request reception, and ticket reservation reception. (5) storing the data received by the notification service, (6) storing the data received by the reception service, (7) delivering the data received by the notification service to the service provider via a data network, 8)
The reception data of the reception service is delivered to the service provider via the data network.

FIG. 2 shows a specific functional configuration of the embodiment of the present invention. The outline of the function of each functional configuration is shown below. 1. The trigger registration unit 1 is a part for receiving a trigger such as a start time, a start condition, and an end time of the reception service and the notification service and a notification destination telephone number list in the notification service. The HTML interface 101 and the HTTP server 102 (HyperText Transfer Protocol, It interprets a character string sent via a data network 103 such as a WWW server) and the Internet to generate the trigger data and the notification destination telephone number list. The data network 103 may be a dedicated line.

2. The opportunity database 2 contains the opportunity registration unit 1
The trigger data generated in is stored and stored as data for each service, for example, as shown in FIG. 3. The notification destination database 3 stores and stores the notification destination telephone number list generated by the opportunity registration unit 1 as data for each service, for example, as shown in FIG. 4. The IVR procedure definition data registration unit 4 is a part that receives an IVR procedure of a reception service and a notification service,
HTML interface 101, HTTP server 102
And interprets the character string sent via the data network 103 to generate IVR procedure definition data.

5. The IVR procedure definition database 5 contains I
IVR generated in VR procedure definition data registration unit 4
The procedure definition data is stored and saved as a file for each service, for example, as shown in FIG. 6. The reception data transmission opportunity registration unit 6 transmits the reception data in the reception service to the service provider (service agent requester), the transmission destination network address,
A part for receiving a data aggregation method, an aggregation unit, and the like. The HTML interface 101, the HTTP server 1
02 and interprets the character string sent via the data network 103 to generate reception data transmission trigger data.

7. The reception data transmission trigger management database 7 stores and stores the reception data transmission trigger data generated by the reception data transmission trigger registration unit 6 as data for each service, for example, as shown in FIG. (Service agent)
The result of sending the reception data to the client is stored so that the requester can answer the inquiry. 8a. The trigger management unit 8 refers to the trigger data stored in the trigger database 2 and manages the start trigger and the end trigger of the reception service and the notification service.

8b. The trigger management unit 8 retrieves the IVR procedure definition data of the service that matches the start timing from the IVR procedure definition database 5 and the notification destination telephone number list from the notification destination database 3 and sends the list to the IVR processing unit 11. To start. 8c. The opportunity management unit 8 sequentially determines whether or not the running service matches the end opportunity by referring to the opportunity data in the opportunity database 2. For the service determined to match the end opportunity, the opportunity management unit 8 issues an instruction to end the service, and the IVR processing unit 1
Stop the processing on 1.

8d. The trigger management unit 8 interprets the data transmitted from the trigger reception unit 9 to receive a start trigger and an end trigger of the reception service and the notification service or a dynamic change of the service processing content, and the service on the IVR processing unit 11. Instructs start, change of service contents, or end of service. 9. The trigger receiving unit 9 receives the data transmitted via the data network 104, interprets the start and end of the reception service and the notification service, or changes in the service content as trigger data, and transmits the trigger data to the trigger management unit 8. The trigger receiving unit 9 may be connected to a public telecommunications network, and a change based on the received data is made, for example, for a corresponding service in a corresponding database. Data for this change is also made, for example, by a DTMF signal. Good.

10. The telephone line control board interface 10 controls a known telephone line control board 105 to receive, call, transfer, and receive a telephone call to the public telecommunication network 106.
This is software for performing connection, incoming call regulation, outgoing call regulation, DTMF signal acquisition, and the like. 11a. The IVR processing unit 11 reads the IVR procedure definition data retrieved from the IVR procedure definition database 5 by the opportunity management unit 8 and executes a reception / notification service.

11b. The IVR processing unit 11 receives the service start, service end, and service content change instructions issued from the opportunity management unit 8, and starts, stops, and changes the service. 11c. The IVR processing unit 11 receives a user input during the execution of the reception service and the notification service, and
6. Receive data obtained via the telephone line control board 105 and the telephone line control board interface 10, and store the reception result in the IVR reception database 12.

11d. The IVR processing unit 11 acquires address data necessary for execution of the reception service and the notification service from the address database 17 via the address / first name search unit 16 and obtains first and last name data from the first and last name database 18. 11e. The IVR processing unit 11 uses the speech synthesis unit 19 for a speech synthesis function required when executing the reception service and the notification service. 11f. The IVR processing unit 11 uses the voice recognition unit 20 for a voice recognition function required when executing the reception service and the notification service.

11g. The IVR processing unit 11 executes execution logs of the reception service and the notification service,
In the communication with No. 6, each incoming time, incoming line number, outgoing number and end time, and each outgoing time, outgoing line number, incoming number and end time are stored in the service log database 21 for the convenience of the operating company of this automatic voice service device. Store. 11h. The IVR processing unit 11 acquires from the service guidance voice database 22 a guidance voice file required for executing the reception service and the notification service, and uses the guidance voice file.

[12] The IVR reception database 12 stores the I
In the reception service and the notification service executed by the VR processing unit 11, data input by a user (user) is stored as IVR reception data. 13a. The reception data transmission timing management unit 13 constantly monitors the reception data transmission timing data stored in the reception data transmission timing management database 7 and determines the timing of transmitting the IVR reception total data. IVR matching the transmission trigger
When the reception data is detected, the reception data totaling unit 14
Is requested to transmit the IVR reception data.

13b. Reception data transmission opportunity management unit 13
Requests the reception data tallying unit 14 about the transmission method of the IVR reception data, and notifies items necessary for the transmission of the IVR reception data, such as a method of shaping the IVR reception data, a tallying method, and a destination of the reception data. 13c. The reception data transmission opportunity management unit 13 stores the result of the transmission of the reception data transmission unit 15 to the reception data transmission server 15 as the IVR reception total data in the reception data transmission opportunity management database 7.

14a. The reception data totaling unit 14 shapes and totals IVR reception data into a format that can be transmitted based on a request from the reception data transmission opportunity management unit 13. 14b. The reception data tabulation unit 14 tabulates the IVR reception data stored in the IVR reception database 12 for each service unit or for each service unit received within a specific period according to an instruction from the reception data transmission trigger management unit 13. Then, the data is formatted and transmitted to the reception data transmission server 15 as IVR reception total data.

[15] The reception data transmission server 15 receives the IVR reception total data and the network address generated by the reception data totalization unit 14, and transmits the IVR reception total data to the specified network address. 16a. The address / first and last name search unit 16 dynamically searches for the subordinate addresses by designating a specific address range, and converts the search result into a format that can be used as a recognition target vocabulary list in the speech recognition unit 20.

16b. Examples of the address search method performed by the address / first name search unit 16 include “hierarchical word determination processing method and an apparatus that implements this method (Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 6-188).
378) "and" Address input processing method and apparatus for executing this method (Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 7-2505) ", it is possible to efficiently search and speed up the search processing. 16c. The address / first and last name search unit 16 receives a kana notation of a specific first or last name, and searches the first and last name database 18 to search for a kanji notation of the first or last name corresponding to the kana notation.

16d. The address / first name search unit 16 converts the kana notation of the last name or first name stored in the first name database 18 into a format that can be used as a vocabulary list to be recognized by the speech recognition unit 20. 16e. The address / first and last name search unit 16 stores the address database 1
7 and the address information stored in the first and last name database 18 and the accent information of the first and last name data
Provides information that is referred to when adding accents.

17. The address database 17 stores kanji notation, kana notation, address codes, accent information, and the like of addresses all over Japan. 18. The first and last name database 18 stores kanji notation, kana notation, accent information, and the like for Japanese first and last names. 19. The speech synthesizer 19 receives kana-kanji text as input and outputs synthesized speech. The voice synthesizing process is provided to the reception service and the notification service executed in the IVR processing unit 11.

20. The speech recognition unit 20 sets a recognition target vocabulary list in advance, and sets the public telephone network 106 and the IVR
The voice obtained via the processing unit 11 is recognized by a known processing method, and the recognition result is output in a text format. 21. The service log database 21 records the execution records of the reception service and the notification service executed in the IVR processing unit 11 in the order of execution as text, voice data, and the like, and accumulates and stores the recording results.

22. The service guidance voice database 22 stores guidance voice files required for the reception service and the notification service executed in the IVR processing unit 11, and the guidance voice required for each service is stored in the IVR processing unit 11. Is provided to the service by searching and acquiring. I
Input item names, IVR parts, parameters that can be set by the IVR procedure registrant, values that can be set by the IVR procedure registrant, values that can be input when the IVR is executed, guidance voices, processing modules (functional units) that can be freely set by the VR procedure registrant (service agent requester) 7) is shown in FIG. 7 by taking the material request reception service as an example. IV
The input items 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 in the R component are speech recognition or DTMF, that is, use a speech recognition IVR component or a DTMF IVR component, that is, recognize speech input by a user or It uses an IVR component that receives the input DTMF, but with guidance text (GTX1) that prompts the user for the input.
When the guidance is selected or the guidance after the input result is determined, whether or not to perform the guidance text (GTX2) after the input result is determined, and when the guidance is performed, whether or not the guidance is to be read and the input promotion guidance is similarly read back When a guidance for confirmation of selection or input is performed, a parameter that can be set by the registrant, such as selection of the guidance text GTX5.

In the above description, a case has been described in which the user makes a voice input, but a DTMF signal may be input by a push button. In this case, for the input item 2, “If the product name for which the material is requested is (product 1), push button 1
(If it is (product 2), please press 2.), and a guidance voice is sent out, and the processing module uses a module for selecting an item based on the result of receiving the DTMF signal.
In the case of, send the guidance voice saying "Please enter the telephone number of the destination to deliver the material with the push button."
A module that outputs a numerical value of the reception result of the TMF signal is used.

Next, a part of an example of the IVR procedure definition data registered by the registrant is shown in FIG. The used processing module and the procedure number are shown in the [] frame. [Start Scri
pt :: 0] indicates the procedure number 0 at the start of the service, then indicates the file in which the service number is described as 1234 and stores the standard pattern used at the time of speech recognition, and Next State = Voice Play :: in the next line. 1 indicates a procedure number to move to next. [Voice Play ::
1] is a procedure number 1 using a voice reproduction module,
The text is shown, then [DTMF Select
t :: 2], and the procedure number 2 indicates that a module DTMF Select for selecting an item according to the received DTMF signal is used.
Further, “−Register-” in FIG.
The data stored in the RVR reception database 12 is shown in the corresponding part from the top in the figure.
The data stored in the table are "the code number is known", "the code number is not known", "desired information number 1", "telephone service", and the like. It shows the order in which it moves according to the input. The IVR procedure definition data shown in FIG.
It is stored in the procedure definition database 5.

In the following, typical operation examples of each module are described for each of the notification service and the reception service. (1) Notification Service IVR Flow Registration Process In the notification service IVR flow registration process, various types of information are registered via the HTTP server 102 and the HTML interface 101. The trigger registration unit 1 registers the trigger data, and the corresponding data is stored in the trigger database 2 and the notification destination database 3. On the other hand, the IVR procedure definition data is registered in the IVR procedure definition data registration unit 4 and stored in the IVR procedure definition database 5. The reception data transmission trigger data is registered in the reception data transmission trigger registration unit 6 and stored in the reception data transmission trigger management database 7.

The trigger data includes the start time of the notification service,
Based on the end time, the notification destination telephone number list, the IVR procedure definition data to be executed, and the information transmitted from the trigger receiving unit 9, a classification as to whether or not to change the notification trigger and the contents of the IVR procedure is defined. The IVR procedure definition data defines an IVR procedure executed in the notification service. The reception data transmission trigger data defines a tallying method, a tallying unit, a destination, and a timing of data input by the user in the notification service.

(2) Notification Service IVR Activation Process The trigger management unit 8 constantly monitors information on the start time of the notification service in the trigger data stored in the trigger database 2. At the start time, the notification destination telephone number list is read from the notification destination database 3 and the IV is read from the IVR procedure definition database 5.
The R procedure definition data is read, and both data are transmitted to the IVR processing unit 11 to instruct the execution of the IVR processing.

The trigger management unit 8 receives the trigger data transmitted from the trigger receiving unit 9 to start the notification service, list the notification destination telephone number, and execute the IV to be executed.
Change the contents of R-procedure definition data, etc., for example, to execute a notification service that was set to start at a specified time, immediately after receiving / notifying the trigger data, Processing such as adding a new telephone number to execute a notification service is also possible.

(3) Notification Service IVR Procedure Processing The notification service instructed to be executed by the trigger management unit 8 is executed by the IVR processing unit 11. Specifically, first, a calling process is performed for each telephone number described in the notification destination telephone number list acquired from the notification destination database 3.
For each telephone number, the maximum length of the waiting time for incoming calls is defined, and if the incoming call cannot be confirmed even if the maximum time length is exceeded, it is determined that the line cannot be received. As a result of the calling process, the IVR procedure definition data acquired from the IVR procedure definition database 5 is executed for the line for which the incoming call has been confirmed.
For the line for which the incoming call could not be confirmed, 1) call processing is performed again after a certain period of time, and the incoming call is confirmed and a notification service is performed when the incoming call is received. Either of

(4) Notification Service Acceptance Data Storage / Sending Process In the notification service, there is an input process from the user.
When VR reception data is generated, it is stored in the IVR reception database 12. The IVR reception data is stored together with related information such as a notification service start time, which IVR procedure definition data is input reception data, and a notification destination telephone number. The reception data transmission trigger data stored in the reception data transmission trigger management database 7 is constantly monitored by the reception data transmission trigger management unit 13, and when the IVR reception data determined to match the transmission trigger is detected. Then, the reception data transmission opportunity management unit 13 requests the reception data totalization unit 14 to format and total the IVR reception data.

The reception data totaling unit 14 retrieves and acquires the IVR reception data from the IVR reception database 12 based on the request from the reception data transmission trigger management unit 13. The reception data totaling unit 14 receives the destination network address transmitted from the reception data transmission opportunity management unit 13 and transmits the network address to the reception data transmission server 15. Also, the reception data tallying unit 14
The reception data acquired from the R reception database 12 is totalized and shaped, and transmitted to the reception data transmission server 15 as reception total data. The reception data transmission server 15 transmits the reception total data to the transmitted network address.

(5) Reception service IVR procedure registration processing The reception service IVR procedure registration processing is also performed by the notification service IV.
As with the R procedure registration process, the HTTP server 102 and the
Various information is registered via the ML interface 101. The trigger data includes the start time and end time of the reception service, the IVR procedure definition data to be executed, the maximum number of receptions,
Based on the information transmitted from the trigger receiving unit 9, a notification trigger and a classification of whether to change the contents of the IVR procedure are defined.

The maximum number of receptions is a limit on the number of times the same reception service can be executed. For example, when the number of receptions is limited in the same reception service such as a ticketing process in which the number of tickets issued is limited, the number of receptions stored in the IVR reception database 12 is constantly monitored, and when the number of receptions reaches the limit, Used to forcibly terminate the reception service. The registration and contents of the IVR procedure definition data and the reception data transmission trigger data are the same as the contents described in the notification service IVR procedure registration processing.

(6) Receiving Service IVR Activation Process The trigger management unit 8 constantly monitors information on the start time of the receiving service in the trigger data stored in the trigger database 2. At the start time, the IVR procedure definition data is read out from the IVR procedure definition database 5, the reception completion number is initialized to 0 for the reception service having the maximum number of receptions, and the IVR procedure definition data is converted to the IVR procedure definition data. The data is transmitted to the processing unit 11 to be in a state of waiting for an incoming call from the user.

The trigger management unit 8 receives the trigger data transmitted from the trigger receiving unit 9 to change the start trigger and the end trigger of the reception service, the contents of the IVR procedure definition data to be executed, and the like. Processing such as extending the reception time of a reception service that has been set to end reception at a specified time, and processing such as changing the maximum number of receptions afterwards can be performed. (7) Reception Service IVR Procedure Processing The reception service instructed to be executed by the opportunity management unit 8 is executed by the IVR processing unit 11. Specifically, immediately after detecting an incoming call from the user, the IVR procedure definition data is acquired from the IVR procedure definition database 5 and loaded into the IVR processing unit 11. DTMF, utterance contents, and the like input by the user during the IVR process are used as reception data.
It is stored in the reception database 12.

(8) Reception Service Reception Data Storage / Send Process In the reception service, there is an input process from the user.
When VR reception data is generated, it is stored in the IVR reception database 12. The counting method and the transmission method of the IVR reception data stored in the IVR reception database 12 from the reception service are the same as (4) Notification service reception data storage / transmission processing. The configuration shown in FIG. 2 can be a configuration connected by a bus as shown in FIG. Trigger registration unit 1, IVR procedure definition data registration unit 4, received data transmission trigger registration unit 6, trigger management unit 8, trigger reception unit 9, IVR
Processing unit 10, reception data transmission opportunity management unit 13, reception data totaling unit 14, address / first name search unit 16, speech synthesis unit 1
9. The voice recognition unit 22 is composed of, for example, a personal computer, and
02 and a control unit 110 comprising a computer
0, and the entire control is performed by the control unit 110.

The reception data transmission server 15 is an e-mail communication protocol, SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol).
col), POP (Post Office Protocol), communication protocol ftp (File Transfer Protocol), http (Hy
per-Text Transfer Protocol), rpc (Remote Proce
dure Call) can be used to transmit the reception data. Alternatively, a plurality of these various protocols may be prepared, and an appropriate one may be dynamically selected or switched according to a transmission destination, a table and data format of reception data to be transmitted, or a network condition. .

The totaling format of the reception data is C
A format such as SV or Excel can be used, and a plurality of aggregation formats are dynamically selected or switched by the reception data transmission server 15 according to the destination of the reception data, the amount of reception data to be transmitted, or the network status. You can also. In the above embodiment, both the reception service and the notification service are performed. However, only one of the reception service and the notification service may be performed. Furthermore, although the IVR procedure definition data is registered and used in the IVR procedure definition database 5 by the registrant, various necessary IVR procedure definition data may be stored in the database 5 in advance.
Similarly, the trigger database 2 and the reception data transmission trigger management database 7 may store data corresponding to various services in advance. The trigger receiving unit 9 does not necessarily have to be provided.

[0045]

As described above, according to the present invention, various processes used in the automatic voice response process are defined as IVR parts, an IVR procedure is defined by combining these IVR parts, and the IVR procedure is performed based on the definition data. By operating the processing module corresponding to the parts, it is possible to perform automatic voice response processing of various services on one computer system, compared with the case where an automatic voice response processing device is provided for each service. It is very advantageous to be able to share relatively expensive components such as a speech recognition processing unit and a speech synthesis processing unit for many types of services. In addition, when various service conditions are registered and made to function, the service conditions can be flexibly used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view for explaining an outline of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of storage contents of a trigger database 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of storage contents of a notification destination database 3.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of an IVR procedure definition database 5.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of storage contents of a reception data transmission opportunity management database.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of an input item name, an IVR component, a settable parameter, an input value, a guidance voice, and a processing module of a material request reception service.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a part of an example of IVR procedure definition data.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example configured as a computer system of the present invention.

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (Reference) H04M 3/42 H04M 3/527 9A001 11/00 303 G10L 3/00 R 3/527 551A 11/00 303 571U (72) Inventor Yuichi Takeuchi 1-6-1, Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo NTT Communications Corporation (72) Inventor Soichiro Yasuda 1-6-1, Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo (72) Inventor Kazuhiro Arai 1-6-6 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo NTT Communications Corporation (72) Inventor Machiko Suzuki Uchisaiwai-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo F-term within NTT Communications Corporation (reference) 5D015 KK02 KK04 5D045 AB24 5K015 AA04 AA06 AA07 AD00 GA00 GA01 GA04 GA06 GA07 5K024 AA02 AA05 AA06 AA71 AA75 AA79 BB 01 BB02 CC01 EE01 EE09 FF06 GG00 GG01 GG03 GG07 GG11 HH03 5K101 KK12 KK17 LL00 LL01 MM07 NN02 NN07 NN08 NN14 NN16 NN22 NN23 RR12 RR21 TT04 9A001 BB04 BB06 CC02 HH01H17H17

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. An automatic voice response processing unit for providing at least one of an automatic reception service and an automatic notification service for performing various voice automatic response processes on a telecommunication network, and a process on the voice automatic response processing unit. An automatic voice response receiving database for storing the obtained data; a voice automatic response procedure definition database for storing voice automatic response procedure definition data defining a processing procedure to be executed in the voice automatic response processing unit; A trigger database that stores data defining a trigger to start the processing unit; a trigger management unit that manages the trigger database and the voice automatic response definition database and starts the voice automatic response processing unit at an appropriate timing. An automatic voice service device, comprising: 2. The automatic voice response procedure definition data registration according to claim 1, wherein when voice automatic response procedure definition data is received via a data network, the voice automatic response procedure definition data is stored in the voice automatic response definition database. An automatic voice service device comprising a unit. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a notification destination database for storing a telephone number of a destination at which the automatic voice response processing unit performs call processing in an automatic notification service. Service equipment. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein data defining a trigger for activating the automatic voice response processing unit and a destination to which the automatic voice response processing unit performs call processing in the automatic notification service. An automatic voice service device, comprising: a trigger registering unit that receives telephone number data via a network and stores the data in a corresponding database. 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a request to specify and change the processing start and end triggers of the automatic voice response processing unit is received later via a network, and the specification and change are performed. An automatic voice service device, comprising: 6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reception data stored in the automatic voice response reception database is formatted and the reception data is aggregated so that the reception data can be transmitted to a predetermined network address. And a reception data transmitting server for transmitting the formatted and totaled reception data to a specified network address. 7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein a reception data transmission trigger registration unit that receives reception data transmission trigger data via a data network, such as a shaping method, a counting method, and a transmission timing when transmitting the reception data, A reception data transmission timing management database for storing reception data transmission timing data; and a reception data transmission timing management database. The reception data transmission timing management database is referred to, the reception data transmission timing is determined, and a transmission format and a transmission destination network address are specified. An automatic voice service device, comprising: a reception data transmission opportunity management unit for instructing a tallying unit. 8. The reception data transmission opportunity management database according to claim 7, wherein the reception data transmission opportunity management unit receives a transmission result transmitted to the reception data transmission server from the reception data aggregation unit. An automatic voice service device characterized by having a function of saving in a voice. 9. The automatic voice service apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a voice recognition unit that performs voice recognition processing in the processing of the voice automatic response processing unit. 10. The automatic voice service device according to claim 1, further comprising a voice synthesizing unit that performs voice synthesizing processing in said automatic voice response processing unit. 11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the automatic voice response processing unit performs an address input process and a first and last name input process, an address / first name search unit, an address database, and a first name database. An automatic voice service device, comprising: