Patent Issued for System and method for navigating an automated process using audio and tactile feedback (USPTO 11127055): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2021 OCT 08 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Davis, Timothy Joel (Warrenville, IL, US), filed on December 17, 2015, was published online on September 21, 2021.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11127055 is State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Many insurance carriers now offer online and mobile channel access to services and processes. These services and processes may be fairly linear in nature and are typically built upon a business-based definition of simplicity, where a series of products are presented for selection and a linear series of questions are asked to capture required information for purchasing the products.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “Traditional services and processes do not embody the human-based definition of simplicity, which, for some customers (and/or potential customers), may be more conversation-based. While fairly complex situations may be communicated verbally in a short time span, these same situations may take a much longer period of time to express using a linear web and/or form-based process, if the situation can be expressed at all. Even after the customer thinks the transaction is complete, underwriters, agents and/or other human actors may still need to sort out the details from the information that the customer entered.

“The prevalence of handheld devices offers a dual opportunity: the capability to capture and evaluate the spoken word (in a sequence that makes sense to them, not pre-determined by the system), and the capability to capture customer responses through simple gestures. In one embodiment, the present embodiments may enhance an online customer experience, such as making the experience quicker and/or more intuitive. The customer may wirelessly communicate with an insurance provider remote server using their mobile device. The insurance provider may provide the customer with an insurance quote, allow the customer to update or adjust one or more insurance policies (such as update customer information, insured items, discounts, premiums, etc.), purchase insurance, and/or submit an insurance claim. The insurance policies may be auto, home, life, health, renters, pet, and/or other types of insurance. Other products offered to the customer may be home or vehicle loans or loan quotes.

“In one aspect, a computer implemented method for navigating an automated process using audio and tactile feedback may be provided. The method may include (1) capturing, by one or more processors, one or more selections of conversational audio originating from a client computing device and/or (2) extracting, by the one or more processors, one or more data elements from the one or more selections of conversational audio. The method may also include (3) matching, by the one or more processors, the one or more extracted data elements to a set of predefined data categories and/or (4) determining, by the one or more processors, one or more remaining data categories from the set of predefined data categories to satisfy the requirements of a transaction type. The method may further include (5) determining a next best question, wherein the next best question addresses at least one of the remaining data categories. As a result, an online customer experience may be enhanced. The method may include additional, fewer, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“A computer system for navigating an automated process using audio and tactile feedback may be provided. The system may include an audio engine configured to extract one or more data elements from captured conversation audio and match the one or more data elements to one or more predefined data categories required to satisfy a transaction type, wherein the conversational audio may originate from a client computing device and a data element engine configured to determine, based upon the matched data categories, one or more remaining data categories to satisfy the requirements of the transaction type and a next best question for retrieving information relevant to addressing at least one of the remaining data categories. As a result, enhancing an online customer experience is facilitated. The system may include additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“Additional advantages will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art from the following description.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method that uses audio and tactile feedback during an online customer experience, the method comprising: capturing, by one or more processors, one or more selections of conversational audio originating from a client computing device; extracting, by the one or more processors, one or more data elements from the one or more selections of conversational audio; determining, by the one or more processors, a transaction type based upon at least one of the one or more data elements; matching, by the one or more processors, at least one of the one or more extracted data elements to one or more data categories of a set of predefined data categories associated with the transaction type; determining, by the one or more processors, a first plurality of remaining data categories from the set of predefined data categories for which data is needed to satisfy the requirements of the transaction type; pre-filling at least one of the first plurality of remaining data categories for which data is needed from an account identified based upon the client computing device leaving a second plurality of remaining data categories for which data is needed; determining, by the one or more processors, a single next best question that knowingly addresses at least two of the second plurality of remaining data categories for which data is needed; causing, by the one or more processors, the single next best question to be presented to a user via the client computing device; and when at least two possible selections have been determined for a first data element from the one or more extracted data elements, providing, by the one or more processors, the possible selections for display on the client computing device for selection by a user of the client computing device.

“2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, by the one or more processors, the one or more data elements based upon user account information linked to the client computing device.

“3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, by the one or more processors, a confidence level for each of the extracted data elements.

“4. The method of claim 3, further comprising: determining, based upon the requirements of the transaction type, a necessary confidence level for each of the extracted data elements required by the transaction type.

“5. A computer system for using audio and tactile feedback to enhance an online customer experience, the system comprising: an audio engine, comprising computer-readable instructions executed by one or more processors of the computer system, configured to: extract one or more data elements from captured conversation audio, determine a transaction type based upon at least one of the one or more data elements, and match at least one of the one or more data elements to one or more predefined data categories of a set of predefined data categories required to satisfy the transaction type, wherein the conversational audio originates from a client computing device; a data element engine, comprising computer-readable instructions executed by the one or more processors of the computer system, configured to: determine, based upon the matched data categories, a first plurality of remaining data categories of the set of predefined data categories for which data is needed to satisfy the requirements of the transaction type, pre-fill at least one of the first plurality of remaining data categories for which data is needed from an account identified based upon the client computing device leaving a second plurality of remaining data categories for which data is needed, and determine a single next best question structured for retrieving information relevant to addressing at least two of the second plurality of remaining data categories for which data is needed to facilitate enhancing an online customer experience; a selection engine, comprising computer-readable instructions executed by the one or more processors of the computer system, configured to determine that at least two possible selections have been determined for a first data element from the one or more extracted data elements; and a communication channel for transmitting the single next best question to the client computing device to be presented to the user, and transmitting the at least two possible selections to the client computing device to be presented for selection by the user.

“6. The system of claim 5, further comprising: a user account engine, comprising computer-readable instructions executed by the one or more processors of the computer system, configured to determine one or more data elements based upon user account information linked to the client computing device.

“7. The system of claim 5, further comprising: a confidence engine, comprising computer-readable instructions executed by the one or more processors of the computer system, configured to determine a confidence level for each of the extracted data elements.

“8. The system of claim 7, wherein the confidence engine is further configured to determine, based upon the requirements of the transaction type, a necessary confidence level for each of the extracted data elements required by the transaction type.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Davis, Timothy Joel. System and method for navigating an automated process using audio and tactile feedback. U.S. Patent Number 11127055, filed December 17, 2015, and published online on September 21, 2021. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=11127055.PN.&OS=PN/11127055RS=PN/11127055

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)