JP2015171071A - Automatic voice response device, telephone answering system, and automatic voice response method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic voice response device capable of reducing time required for telephone response.SOLUTION: An automatic voice response device of an embodiment comprises a history information registration unit, a call incoming acceptance unit, an identification information acquisition unit, a selection request unit, and a response processing execution unit. The history information registration unit registers history information obtained by associating a history of an inquiry item inquired in the past by each telephone caller with identification information unique to the caller. The call incoming acceptance unit accepts incoming of a telephone call. The identification information acquisition unit acquires identification information on a caller originating, using a telephone, the accepted call incoming. The selection request unit requests the side of the caller whose identification information is acquired to select an inquiry item through the telephone. The response processing execution unit, when latency of waiting for the selection of the requested inquiry item has exceeded a threshold, predicts the inquiry item of the caller whose identification information is acquired on the basis of the acquired identification information and associated history information; and executes response processing with respect to the predicted inquiry item.

Description

  Embodiments described herein relate generally to an automatic voice response device, a telephone answering system, and an automatic voice response method.

  2. Description of the Related Art An automatic voice response device that automatically responds by voice at a telephone counter in a company or the like is known. The automatic voice response device automatically reproduces voice guidance when an incoming call is received and requests a reply to the caller side. For example, a specific button operation from the telephone is performed on the caller side in response to the reply request. By detecting it, it shifts to the response process of the next step.

  However, this type of automatic voice response device automatically plays back the voice guidance again when the button operation or the like is not detected within the specified time-out period after the voice guidance is played back automatically. I will wait. That is, when the button operation is not performed due to, for example, missed voice guidance on the caller side, the same response process is repeated, resulting in wasted time.

JP 2001-2111257 A JP 2013-219410 A

  Therefore, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an automatic voice response device, a telephone answering system, and an automatic voice response method that can shorten the time required for answering a call.

  The automatic voice response apparatus according to the embodiment includes a history information registration unit, an incoming call reception unit, an identification information acquisition unit, a selection request unit, and a response processing execution unit. The history information registration unit registers history information in which a history of inquiry items each of telephone callers inquires in the past is associated with identification information unique to each caller. The incoming call reception unit receives incoming calls. The identification information acquisition unit acquires the identification information of the caller who has transmitted the incoming call from the telephone. The selection request unit requests selection of an inquiry item through the telephone to the caller side that has acquired the identification information. The response processing execution unit is configured to acquire the identification information based on the acquired identification information and the history information when a waiting time waiting for selection of the requested inquiry item exceeds a threshold. A query item of the person is predicted and a response process related to the predicted query item is executed.

The figure which shows typically the structure of the telephone reception system which concerns on embodiment. The block diagram which shows the structure of the automatic voice response apparatus with which the telephone reception system of FIG. 1 is equipped, and a telephone. The figure which shows typically the process at the time of registration of the history database with which the telephone reception system of FIG. 1 is provided. The figure which illustrated the content of the history database of FIG. The figure which shows the condition when selection of the inquiry item from the telephone of FIG. 2 times out. The figure which shows typically the process of the confirmation of the inquiry item estimated after the timeout of FIG. The figure which illustrated the contents of the voice guidance at the time of confirming the predicted inquiry item of FIG. The figure which shows typically the process at the time of transfering to the following flow after confirmation of the query item predicted of FIG. The figure which illustrated the content of the voice guidance at the time of transfering to the response process flow of the next step of FIG. The flowchart which shows the automatic voice response method by the automatic voice response apparatus of FIG.

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, a telephone answering system 10 including an automatic voice response device (IVR: Interactive Voice Response) 7 of this embodiment is used in a call center or the like. In addition, a history DB (history database) 8, a private branch exchange (PBX) 3, a telephone set 9, a public network 12, operator telephones 5a, 5b, etc., operator PCs 6a, 6b, etc., CTI (Computer Telephony Integration) The apparatus 11 is provided.

  The public network 12 is, for example, PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Networks). The private branch exchange 3 is, for example, IP (Internet Protocol) -PBX. The private branch exchange 3 performs call incoming control and outgoing call control from the telephone 9 via the public network (communication network) 12. The operator telephones 5a, 5b, etc., the automatic voice response device 7 and the like and the private branch exchange 3 are connected to each other via a network 14 such as an NW (network) switch and a LAN.

  The operator call machines 5a, 5b,... Are call terminals for the operator to receive a telephone call from a customer (user) and perform a telephone answering service (artificial dialogue). The operator PCs 6a, 6b,... Are information terminals for the operator to perform telephone answering operations while displaying the customer information notified via the network 14 and the CTI device 11 and the information input by the operator from the keyboard. is there.

  The automatic voice response device 7 automatically reproduces voice guidance (response message) for a call received from the private branch exchange 3 side, and the user's request (contents of inquiry of the caller of the telephone) without intervention of an artificial response by an operator or the like ) Is an automatic response device. Specifically, the automatic voice response device 7 sends a response (question) message corresponding to the voice recognition result of the call voice from the telephone 9 by the customer or the recognition result of a specific button operation (tone signal) from the telephone 9. Play automatically.

  The CTI device 11 receives information (customer telephone number, business designation number, etc.) from the private branch exchange 3 side when the operator answers the customer's telephone through the private branch exchange 3 and receives call information (operator ID and business designation number). Etc.) is generated and stored.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the telephone answering system 10 includes, for example, an information recognition DB (information recognition database) 22 and a response processing DB (response processing database) respectively constructed in an auxiliary (secondary) storage device or the like. ) 21 and the history DB 8 described above. The auxiliary storage device in which these databases are constructed may be mounted on the main body of the automatic voice response device 7 or may be configured as a separate device from the automatic voice response device 7. .

  The information recognition DB 22 is a recognition dictionary that stores, for example, voice feature quantities (feature vectors, etc.) and text data in association with each other in a table format. Further, the information recognition DB 22 stores a characteristic of a tone signal transmitted by a button operation of the telephone 9 and a predetermined number in association with each other.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the response processing DB 21 stores the contents of response processing (response processing flow) and a predetermined number (response number) in association with each other. Here, the above-described response process is performed when a telephone call received from the telephone 9 is transferred to, for example, the operator's telephone 5a or 5b, or when a specific button operation from the telephone 9 is received. And a process of reproducing voice guidance (response message) according to the above.

  Next, specific configurations of the automatic voice response device 7, the telephone 9, and the history DB 8 according to the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 2, the telephone 9 includes an identification information notification unit 23 and a selection request reception unit 24. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the identification information notification unit 23 sends the calling number (caller's own station's own information) as the identification information of the caller (customer) who sends the call from the telephone 9 to the callee 03-XXXX-XXXX. The telephone number 03-YYYY-YYYY) is notified to the automatic voice response apparatus 7 side. The selection request receiving unit 24 receives a request for selecting an inquiry item that the caller makes an inquiry to the automatic voice response apparatus 7 through the telephone 9.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, the automatic voice response device 7 includes an information recognition unit 20, a history information registration unit 19, an incoming call reception unit 15, an identification information acquisition unit 17, a selection request unit 16, and a response processing execution unit 18. ing. The information recognition unit 20 performs recognition processing of a specific button operation (tone signal) from the telephone set 9 and voice recognition processing of call voice from the telephone set 9 with reference to the information recognition DB 22 to obtain a recognition result.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the history information registration unit 19 includes a history of inquiry items that each caller makes an inquiry (inquiry A1) to the automatic voice response device 7 in the past by a button operation from the telephone 9, and the like. History information that associates a caller number, which is unique identification information for each sender, is registered in the history DB 8. 3 and 4 show an example in which the history (inquiry No. 1) of the inquired item No. 2 (for example, repair) and the calling number 03-YYYY-YYYY are registered in the history DB 8 in association with each other. Inquiry No. Are numbered as 1, 2,...

  The incoming call reception unit 15 receives an incoming call from the telephone 9. The identification information acquisition unit 17 acquires from the identification information notification unit 23 of the telephone 9 the identification information (calling number) of the caller who has sent the incoming call from the telephone 9. As shown in FIG. 5, the selection requesting unit 16 requests the sender who has acquired the identification information to select an inquiry item through the selection request receiving unit 24 of the telephone 9.

  Specifically, the selection request unit 16 uses voice guidance that prompts the user to press a button for selecting an inquiry item (pressing numeric keys 1, 2, etc.), or a specific word for selecting an inquiry item from the phone 9. Is requested to select an inquiry item by voice guidance that prompts utterances of utterances (utterances such as “Ichiban” and “Niban”). FIG. 5 shows the operation method or repair as a query item selection candidate to the caller side by voice guidance (question message Q1), and corresponds to the operation method and repair, for example, No. 1 or No. 2 on the telephone 9 respectively. An example in which button operation (pressing) is requested is shown.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the response processing execution unit 18 obtains the acquired identification information (calling number) and history when the waiting time waiting for selection of the requested inquiry item exceeds a threshold value (when timed out). Based on the information (history DB 8), a query item of the caller who has acquired the identification information is predicted, and a response process related to the predicted query item is executed.

  For example, when the above-described waiting time exceeds a threshold value (when a time-out occurs), the response processing execution unit 18 is associated with the acquired identification information (calling number) from the history information (history DB 8). The latest inquiry item of the caller who has been inquired (for example, inquiry item No. 2 of No. 1 in FIG. 4 most recently inquired) is searched, and a response process related to the searched inquiry item is executed.

  6 and 7 show the response process related to inquiry item 2 (repair), voice guidance 32 associated with response number 2 (“The item you have inquired in the past is repair. This is an example in which a question message Q2) is transmitted to the caller side, such as “Please press 3 if you like, or press 5 if different”.

  8 and 9 show voice guidance 33 ("" in response to the selection of the number 3 from the caller side and the response number 3 associated with the response number 3 as a response process related to the inquiry item 2 (repair). This is an example in which a question message Q3) such as “The inquiry item has already been confirmed. Please enter the number corresponding to the model to be inquired” is sent to the sender.

  The automatic voice response device 7 of the present embodiment configured as described above allows the caller's past history to be returned when there is no reply from the caller to the voice guidance (such as a specific button operation from the telephone 9). The inquiry item on the sender side is predicted (specified) by referring to the inquiry item history. In other words, the automatic voice response device 7 does not send the voice guidance for which no reply has been obtained to the caller side again, but executes the subsequent response processing following the predicted inquiry item. The time required for answering a call can be shortened without spending time.

  Next, an automatic voice response method realized by the automatic voice response device 7 will be described based on the flowchart shown in FIG. 10 in addition to the above-described FIGS. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 and 10, the history information registration unit 19 first registers the history of past inquiry items by the caller of the telephone and the caller's calling number in the history DB 8 in association with each other ( S [Step] 1). Thereafter, as shown in FIGS. 2, 5, and 10, the incoming call reception unit 15 receives an incoming call from the telephone 9 (S2). At this time, the identification information acquisition unit 17 acquires the calling number of the telephone set 9 that has accepted the incoming call (S3).

  Next, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 10, the selection requesting unit 16 requests the caller side from which the calling party number has been acquired to select an inquiry item through the telephone 9 (S4). Here, when the inquiry item is selected without a timeout (NO in S5), for example, by a button operation from the telephone 9 (YES in S6), the response process execution unit 18 proceeds to the response process flow in the next stage. Transition (S7).

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5 to FIG. 10, when there is no selection of the requested inquiry item (NO in S 6) and when a time-out occurs (YES in S 5), the acquired calling number and the contents of the history DB 8 are displayed. Based on this, an inquiry item of the caller is predicted (S8), and a response process related to the predicted inquiry item is executed (S9).

  As described above, in the automatic voice response device 7 according to the present embodiment, a reply to the voice guidance (response due to a button operation on the telephone) is not performed due to, for example, missed voice guidance by the caller side. However, it can be avoided that the same voice guidance is reproduced again (same response processing is repeated) and time is wasted. That is, according to the automatic voice response device 7, the current caller's inquiry item is predicted based on the caller's past inquiry history, and the subsequent response process is executed. The time required can be shortened.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this embodiment is shown as an example and is not intending limiting the range of invention. The novel embodiment can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. This embodiment and its modifications are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalents thereof.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 7 ... Automatic voice response device, 8 ... History DB (history database), 9 ... Telephone, 10 ... Telephone answering system, 12 ... Public network, 14 ... Network, 15 ... Incoming reception part, 16 ... Selection request part, 17 ... Identification Information acquisition unit, 18 ... response processing execution unit, 19 ... history information registration unit, 23 ... identification information notification unit, 24 ... selection request reception unit.

Claims (5)

A history information registration unit for registering history information in which each caller inquires about the history of inquiry items and identification information unique to each caller are registered,
An incoming call reception unit for receiving incoming calls;
An identification information acquisition unit for acquiring identification information of a caller who has made a call from the telephone that has accepted the incoming call;
A selection requesting unit for requesting selection of an inquiry item through the telephone for the caller side who has acquired the identification information;
When the waiting time waiting for selection of the requested inquiry item exceeds a threshold, the inquiry item of the caller who obtained the identification information is predicted based on the obtained identification information and the history information A response process execution unit for executing a response process related to the predicted query item;
An automatic voice response device. The selection requesting unit requests selection of the inquiry item by voice guidance prompting a button operation for selecting an inquiry item from the telephone or voice guidance prompting utterance of a specific word for inquiry item selection from the telephone. To
The automatic voice response device according to claim 1. When the waiting time exceeds a threshold value, the response processing execution unit searches the history information for the latest inquiry item of the caller associated with the acquired identification information, and the search is performed. Perform response processing related to the most recent query item,
The automatic voice response apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. A telephone answering system including a telephone and an automatic voice response device connected via a communication network,
The telephone is
An identification information notification unit for notifying the identification information of the caller who makes the call;
A selection request receiving unit that receives a selection request for an inquiry item;
With
The automatic voice response device includes:
A history information registration unit for registering history information in which each caller inquires about the history of inquiry items and identification information unique to each caller are registered,
An incoming call reception unit for receiving incoming calls;
An identification information acquisition unit that acquires identification information of a caller of the received call from the identification information notification unit;
A selection requesting unit for requesting selection of an inquiry item through the selection request receiving unit for the sender side from which the identification information is acquired;
When the waiting time waiting for selection of the requested inquiry item exceeds a threshold, the inquiry item of the caller who obtained the identification information is predicted based on the obtained identification information and the history information A response process execution unit for executing a response process related to the predicted query item;
A telephone answering system comprising: A step of registering history information associating history of inquiry items that each caller of the telephone has inquired with, and identification information unique to each caller;
Accepting incoming calls,
Obtaining identification information of a caller who has made the call accepted from the telephone;
Requesting selection of an inquiry item through the telephone for the caller side who has acquired the identification information;
When the waiting time waiting for selection of the requested inquiry item exceeds a threshold, the inquiry item of the caller who obtained the identification information is predicted based on the obtained identification information and the history information Executing a response process related to the predicted query item;
An automatic voice response method.

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