Patent Issued for Conversational virtual assistant (USPTO 11714601): United Services Automobile Association

2023 AUG 22 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Gallagher, Jeffrey William (San Antonio, TX, US), Jamison, Andrew P. (San Antonio, TX, US), Knight, Brett (San Antonio, TX, US), Leggett, Justin (Bulverde, TX, US), filed on May 31, 2022, was published online on August 1, 2023.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11714601 is United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Many companies depend on interactive voice response (IVR) systems, representatives, websites, or mobile applications to provide service to their customers or potential customers. Each have their strengths and weaknesses-there may be a wait time for a representative and it may not be the correct representative, an IVR may not have the right selection for the customer, and the website or the mobile application may not have all the detailed information needed for the customer’s particular situation.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “Mobile applications, websites, and other resources have made it easy for users to “self-service,” that is, users can look at a website or application to find the answer to a question or to take an action, as opposed to calling an organization for information or to request an action. In many cases, users would rather self-service than call. However, users can become frustrated if, while navigating a website or an application, they are not able to locate the functionality or information they desire. If users then decide to call the organization, they may be frustrated before the call even begins. When callers are frustrated before calling an organization, or become frustrated with an interactive voice response (“IVR”) system, callers tend to state the word “representative” in hopes of being taken out of the IVR flow and being connected to a human who can help them more immediately. This situation creates a dilemma for companies. On the one hand, companies do not want frustrated callers to be forced to listen to an IVR; on the other hand, companies do not like the inefficiency of directing users to a representative who is not knowledgeable in the area for which the user is calling. From the company’s perspective, it is much more efficient to have users find the answer via the website or application or to determine what the caller is calling about and direct the caller to the appropriate representative directly (i.e., without needing to transfer the call).

“Embodiments described herein provide a conversational virtual assistant that assists users by providing, in a conversational manner via a device, the help or answers that users are looking for on the website or an application, as well as by performing actions that users request (e.g., canceling a credit card, replacing a credit card, performing a transfer). Moreover, the conversational virtual assistant uses personal information about the user, along with contact center information, to provide a personalized, real-time contact menu with options for the user.

“This disclosure describes authentication systems and methods designed to increase the efficiency of communications between a user and an organization. Various embodiments may provide one or more of the following technological improvements: (1) improved accuracy in identifying user questions or navigational issues; (2) increased efficiency in directing a caller, resulting in a shorter call time; (3) real-time or near real-time assistance including actions via a conversational virtual assistant; and (4) an efficient manner of determining contact options with real-time personalized information and creation of a contact option menu that is adaptable to multiple channels, including mobile applications and websites.

“In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art upon reading the disclosure that embodiments may be practiced without some of these specific details.

“Moreover, the techniques introduced here can be embodied as special-purpose hardware (e.g., circuitry), as programmable circuitry appropriately programmed with software and/or firmware, or as a combination of special-purpose and programmable circuitry. Hence, embodiments may include a machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that may be used to program a computer (or other electronic devices) to perform a process. The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, floppy diskettes, optical discs, compact disc read-only memories (CD-ROMs), magneto-optical discs, read-only memories (ROMs), random-access memories (RAMs), erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROMs), electrically erasable programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs), magnetic or optical cards, flash memory, or other types of machine-readable media suitable for storing electronic instructions.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method of routing a call, the method comprising: receiving, via a network, a request for assistance from a device associated with a user; causing a conversational virtual assistant to launch on the device; determining at least one potential subject of the request based on information associated with the user; causing the at least one potential subject of the request to be displayed on the device via the conversational virtual assistant; receiving a verbal verification that the user verbally selected the at least one potential subject of the request at the device; in response to receiving the verbal verification, creating a contact menu with options including: assistance via a call representative for the at least one potential subject of the request, assistance, during hours in which a call representative is not available, stating a) operating hours in which a call representative is available and b) that the quickest option is to take an action via the conversational virtual assistant, and assistance to take an action via the conversational virtual assistant; causing the contact menu to be displayed on the device; and receiving an indication of a verbal selection by the user of one of the options.

“2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a second indication to undo the selection of one of the options, wherein a graphical indication of the selection is removed from a display of the conversational virtual assistant in response to the indication to undo the selection; and receiving a third indication of a second selection of a different one of the options.

“3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining a recommendation of one of the options based on the at least one potential subject of the request.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein the options include options to speak with a targeted representative selected based on the targeted representative having a designation as knowledgeable in the at least one potential subject; and wherein the options to speak with the targeted representative include one or more of: an option to chat online with the targeted representative; an option to have a video conference with the targeted representative, or an option to have a phone conversation with the targeted representative.

“5. The method of claim 1, wherein the verbal selection is one of: a command to replace or cancel a stolen or lost payment instrument; a command to activate a new payment instrument; a command to transfer funds; a command to pay a bill; a command to order checks; a command to increase a withdrawal limit; or a command to view an insurance policy.

“6. The method of claim 1, wherein the information associated with the user includes indicia of products or services A) purchased by the user or B) determined as candidate products or services to be purchased by the user.

“7. The method of claim 1, wherein the options include a first wait time for receiving assistance via the call representative and a second wait time for receiving assistance via the conversational virtual assistant.

“8. A system comprising: one or more processors; and one or more memories storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to perform a process of routing a call, the process comprising: receiving, via a network, a request for assistance from a device associated with a user; causing a conversational virtual assistant to launch on the device; determining at least one potential subject of the request based on information associated with the user; causing the at least one potential subject of the request to be displayed on the device via the conversational virtual assistant; receiving a verbal verification that the user verbally selected the at least one potential subject of the request at the device; in response to receiving the verbal verification, creating a contact menu with options including: assistance via a call representative for the at least one potential subject of the request, assistance, during hours in which a call representative is not available, stating a) operating hours in which a call representative is available and b) that the quickest option is to take an action via the conversational virtual assistant, and assistance to take an action via the conversational virtual assistant; causing the contact menu to be displayed on the device; and receiving an indication of a verbal selection by the user of one of the options.

“9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the process further comprises: receiving a second indication to undo the selection of one of the options, wherein a graphical indication of the selection is removed from a display of the conversational virtual assistant in response to the indication to undo the selection; and receiving a third indication of a second selection of a different one of the options.

“10. The system according to claim 8, wherein the process further comprises: determining a recommendation of one of the options based on the at least one potential subject of the request.

“11. The system according to claim 8, wherein the options include options to speak with a targeted representative selected based on the targeted representative having a designation as knowledgeable in the at least one potential subject; and wherein the options to speak with the targeted representative include one or more of: an option to chat online with the targeted representative; an option to have a video conference with the targeted representative, or an option to have a phone conversation with the targeted representative.

“12. The system according to claim 8, wherein the verbal selection is one of: a command to replace or cancel a stolen or lost payment instrument; a command to activate a new payment instrument; a command to transfer funds; a command to pay a bill; a command to order checks; a command to increase a withdrawal limit; or a command to view an insurance policy.

“13. The system according to claim 8, wherein the information associated with the user includes indicia of products or services A) purchased by the user or B) determined as candidate products or services to be purchased by the user.

“14. The system according to claim 8, wherein the options include a first wait time for receiving assistance via the call representative and a second wait time for receiving assistance via the conversational virtual assistant.

“15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform operations of routing a call, the operations comprising: receiving, via a network, a request for assistance from a device associated with a user; causing a conversational virtual assistant to launch on the device; determining at least one potential subject of the request based on information associated with the user; causing the at least one potential subject of the request to be displayed on the device via the conversational virtual assistant; receiving a verbal verification that the user verbally selected the at least one potential subject of the request at the device; in response to receiving the verbal verification, creating a contact menu with options including: assistance via a call representative for the at least one potential subject of the request, assistance, during hours in which a call representative is not available, stating a) operating hours in which a call representative is available and b) that the quickest option is to take an action via the conversational virtual assistant, and assistance to take an action via the conversational virtual assistant; causing the contact menu to be displayed on the device; and receiving an indication of a verbal selection by the user of one of the options.

“16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise: receiving a second indication to undo the selection of one of the options, wherein a graphical indication of the selection is removed from a display of the conversational virtual assistant in response to the indication to undo the selection; and receiving a third indication of a second selection of a different one of the options.

“17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise: determining a recommendation of one of the options based on the at least one potential subject of the request.

“18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the options include options to speak with a targeted representative selected based on the targeted representative having a designation as knowledgeable in the at least one potential subject; and wherein the options to speak with the targeted representative include one or more of: an option to chat online with the targeted representative; an option to have a video conference with the targeted representative, or an option to have a phone conversation with the targeted representative.

“19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the verbal selection is one of: a command to replace or cancel a stolen or lost payment instrument; a command to activate a new payment instrument; a command to transfer funds; a command to pay a bill; a command to order checks; a command to increase a withdrawal limit; or a command to view an insurance policy.

“20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the information associated with the user includes indicia of products or services A) purchased by the user or B) determined as candidate products or services to be purchased by the user.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Gallagher, Jeffrey William. Conversational virtual assistant. U.S. Patent Number 11714601, filed May 31, 2022, and published online on August 1, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11714601)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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