Title of Invention | A METHOD FOR PROVIDING CONVERSATIONAL BROWSING |
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Abstract | CONVERSATIONAL BROWSER AND CONVERSATIONAL SYSTEMS ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A conversational browsing system (10) comprising a conversational browser (11) having a command and control interface (12) for converting speech commands or multi-modai input from 1/0 resources (27) into navigation request, a processor (14) for parsing and interpreting a CML (conversational markup language)file, the CML file comprising meta- information representing a conversational user interface for presentation to a user. The system (10) comprises conversational engines (23) for decoding input commands for interpretation by the command and control interface and decoding mela-information provided by the CML processor for generating synthesized audio output. The browser (11) accesses the engine (23) via system calls through a system platform (15). The system includes a communication stack (19) for transmitting the navigation request to a content server and receiving a CML file from the content server based on the navigation request. A conversational transcoder (13) transforms presentation material from one modality to a conversational modality. The transcoder (13) includes a fimctional transcoder (13a) to transform a page ofGUI to a page of CUl (conversational user interface) and a logical transcoder (13b) to transform business logic of an application, transaction or site into an acceptable dialog. Conversational transcoding can convert HTML files into CML files that are interpreted by the conversational browser (11). rnM rnnfiHantial |
Full Text | CONVERSATIONAL BROWSER AND CONVERSATIONAL SYSTEMS This application is based on provisional applications U.S. Serial Number 60/102,957, filed on October 2, 1998, and U.S. Serial No. 60/117,595 filed on January 27, 1999. BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field: The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for accessing information and, inore particularly, to a conversational browser thai provides unification of the access to various information sources to a standard network protocol (such as HTTP) thereby allowing a pure GUI (graphical user interface) modality and pure speech interface modality to be used individually (or in combination) to access the same bank of transaction and information services without the need for modifying the current networking infrasUncture. 2. Description of Related Art: Currently, there is widespread use of IVR (Interactive Voice Response) services for telephony access to information and transactions. Am IVR system uses spoken directed dialog and generally operates as follows. A user will dial into an IVR system and then listen to an audio prompts that provide choices for accessing certain menus and particular information. Each choice is either assigned to one number on the phone keypad or associated with a word to be uttered by the user (in voice enabled !VRs) and the user will make a desired selection by pushing the appropriate button or uttering the proper word. Conventional IVR applications are typically written in specialized script languages that are offered by manufacturers in various incarnations and for different HW (hardware) platfonms. The development and maintenance of such IVR applications requires qualified staff. Conventional IVR applications use specialized (and expensive) telephony HW, and each IVR applications uses different SW (software) layers for accessing legacy database servers. These layers must be specifically designed for each application. Furthermore, IVR systems are not designed to handle GUI or other modalities other than DTMF and speech. Although It is possible to mix binary data TPM rnnfiHontial and voice on a conventional analog connection, it is not possible lo do so with a conventional IVR as the receiver. Tlierefoie, IVR systems typically do not allow data/binary input and voice to be merged, Cunently, such service would require a separate system configured for handling binary connections (e.g. a form of modem). In the near future. Voice over IP (VoIP) and wireless communication (e.g., GSM) will allow simultaneous transmission of voice and data. Currently, more than one simultaneous call is needed for simultaneous exchange of binary and voice (as it is explained to be useful later to adequately handle specialized tasks) or it will require a later call or callback for asynchronous transmission of the data. This is typically not convenient. In particular, the data exchange can be more than sending or receiving compressed speech and information related to building a speech Ul, it can also be the necessary information to add modalities to the Ul (e.g. GUI). Assuming thai services will be using multiple lines to offer, for example, a voice in / web out (or voice in / web and voice out) modality where the result of the queries and the presentation material also result into GUI material (e.g. HTML displayed on a GUI browser like Netscape Navigator), the service provider must now add all the IT infrastructure and backend to appropriately networked and synchronize its backends, IVR and web servers. A simple but very difficult task is the coordination between the behavior/evolution of the speech presentation material with respect to the GUI or HTML portion of the presentation. With the rapidly increasing evolution of mobile and home computing, as well as the prevalence of the Internet, the use of networked PCs, NCs, information kiosks and other consumer devices (as opposed to IVR telephony services) to access information services and transactions has also become widespread. Indeed, the explosion of Internet and Intranet has afforded access to virtually every possible information source, database or transaction accessible through what is generally known as a GUI "Web browser," with the conversion of the data and Uie transactions being performed via proxies, servers and/or transcoders. In general, a Web browser is an application program (or client program) that allows a user to view and interact with information on the WWW (World Wide Web or the "Web") (i.e., a client program that utilizes HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) to make requests of HTTP servers on the Internet). The HTTP servers on the Internet include "Web pages" that are written in standard HTML (Hypertext Markup language). An Internet Web page may be accessed from an HTTP server over a packet-switched network, interpreted by the Web browser, and then presented to the user in graphical form. The textual information presented to the user includes fBM rnnfirtpntinl highlighted hyperlinks to new sources of informaiion. The user can then select a hyperlink by, e.g., clicking on the with mouse, to download a new Web page for presentation by the Web browser. The access to legacy databases over the Internet is enabled by several known standards such as LivcWirc and JDBC (Java Database Connectivity). Furthermore, Web pages can include executable code such as applets (e.g., Java programs) that can be downloaded from a server and executed on the browser or on a JVM (Java virtual machine) of the system on top of which the browser is built. Other information can be provided by serviets (e.g., Java programs) running on the server and pushing changes in the connected browser. The applets and serviets can include CGI (common gateway interface) functions which allow a Web server and applications to communicate with each other. In addition, other information accessing methods include scripts which are predetermined program languages that are interpreted and executed on the browser. This includes, for example, javascripts and DHTML (Dynamic HTML) languages. Plug-ins are programs outside the browser that can be dov/nloaded by the browser and automatically recognized by the browser to run native on the local device and be executed on arguments that are subsequently provided (via download) by the browser. CGI scripts are server side scripts that implement the business logic and produce as output of them running the next presentation material. Applets and plugins can communicate via RMI (remote method invocation), socket connections, RPC (remote procedure call), etc. In addition, complex transcoding schemes, XML (Extensible Markup Language) extensions and scripting languages are used for specific information or services or to simplify the interaction. As explained above, the purpose of the Internet Web browser and IVR is to access infonnation. The following example describes a typical scenario in connection with a banking application to demonstrate that the paradigm used for accessing the information via IVR with a telephone and via the Internet using a PC and Web browser is similar. For instance, the typical banking ATM transaction allovra a customer to perform money transfers between savings, checking and credit card accounts, check account balances using IVR over the telephone. These transactions can also be performed using a PC with Internet access and a Web browser. In general, using the PC, the customer can obtain information in a form of a text menus. In the case of the telephone, the information is presented via audio menus. The mouse clicks on the PC application are transformed to pushing telephone buttons or spoken commands. More specifically, a typical home banking IVR application begins with a welcome message. Similarly, raw r.rtnlidpntial the Internet home page of the Bank may display a picture and welcome text and allow the user to choose from a list of services, for example; a. instant account information; b. transfer and money payment; c. fund information; d. check information; e. stock quotes; and f. help. With the IVR application, the above menu can be played to the user over the telephone, whereby the menu messages are followed by the number or button the user should press to select the desired option: a. "for instant account information, press one;" b. "for transfer and money payment, press two;" c. "for fund information, press three;" d. "for check information, press four;" e. " for slock quotes, press five;" f "for help, press seven;" The IVR system may implement speech recognition in lieu of, or in addition to, DTMF keys. Let's assume that user vrants to get the credit card related information. To obtain this information via the Internet based application, the usci would click on a particular hypertext link in a menu to display the next page. In the telephone application, the user would press the appropriate telephone key to transmit a corresponding DTMF signal. Then, the next menu that is played back may be: a. "for available credit, press one"; b. "for outstanding balance, press two"; c. "if your account is linked to the checking account, you can pay your credit card balance, press three." Again, the user can make a^esired selection by pressing the appropriate key. To continue, the user may be prompted to provide identification information. For this purpose, the Internet application may display, for example, a menu with an empty field for the user's account number and another for the users social security number. After the information is mM nnnfiHpntia) filled in it is posted to the server, processed, the replay is formatted and sent back to the user. Over the telephone the scenario is the same. The IVR system may playback (over the telephone) an audio prompt requesting the user to enter his/her account number (via DTMF or speech), and the information is received from the user by processing the DTMF signaling or recognizing the speech. The user may then be prompted to input his/her SSN and the reply is processed in a similar way. When the processing is complete, the information is sent to a server, wherein the account information is accessed, formatted to audio replay, and then played back to the user over the telephone. As demonstrated above, IVRs use the same paradigm for information access as Web browsers and fulfill the same functionality. Indeed, beyond their interface and modality differences, IVR systems and Web browsers are currently designed and developed as fundamentally different systems. In the near future, however, banks and large corporations will be moving thetr publicly accessible information sources to the Internet while keeping the old IVRs. Unfortunately, this would require these institutions to maintain separate systems for the same type of information and transaction services. It would be beneficial for banks and corporations to be able to provide information and services via IVR over the Internet using the existing infrastructure. In view of this, a universal system and method that would allow a user to access information and perform transactions over the Internet using IVR and conventional browsers is desired. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a system and method for unifying the access to applications to a standard protocol, irrespective of the mode of access. In particular, the present invention provides a universal rnethod and system for accessing information and performing transactions utilizing, for example, a standard networking protocol based on TCP/IP (such as HTTP (Hypterext Transfer protocol) or WAP (wireless application protocol) and architecture to access information from, e.g., a HTTP server over the Internet such that a pure GUI (graphical user interface) modality and pure speech interface modality can be used individually (or in combination) to access the same bank of transaction and information services without requiring modification of the current infrastructure of currently available networks. TRM nnnfidential In one embodiment of the present invention, a conversational browser is provided that translates commands over the telephone to an HTTP protocol. The introduction of the conversational browser allows us to unify Internet and Telephone (IVR) and thereby decrease the cost, enlarge the coverage and flexibility of such applications. In particular, for IVR applications, the conversational browser or (telephony browser) can interpret DTMF signaling and/or spoken commands from a user, generate HTTP requests to access information from the appropriate HTTP server, and then interpret HTML-based information and present it to the user via audio messages. The conversational browser can also decode compressed audio which is received from the HTTP server in the HTTP protocol, and play it reconstructed to the user. Conversely, it can capture the audio and transmit it (compressed or not) to the server for distributed recognition and processing. When the audio is captured locally and shipped to the server, this can be done with a plug-in (native implementation) or for example with a Java applet or Java program using audio and multimedia API to capture the user's input. For the new proposed IVR architecture and conversational browser, the content pages are on the same HTTP server that are accessed by conventional modes such as GUI browsers, and use the same information access methods, sharing the legacy database access SW layer, etc. In other words, an IVR is now a special case of a HTTP server with a conversational browser. Similar to the conventional GUI browser and PC, the conversational browser, the information and queries will be sent over the switched packed network using the same protocol (HTTP). The present invention will allow an application designer to set up the application using one framework, irrespective of the mode of access, whether it is through telephone or a WWW browser. All interactions between the application and the client are standardized to the HTTP protocol, with information presented through html and its extensions, as appropriate. The application on the WWW server has access to the type of client that is accessing the application (telephone, PC browser or other networked consumer device) and the information that is presented to the client can be structured appropriately. The application still needs to only support one standard protocol for client access. In addition, the application and content is presented in a uniformed framework which is easy to design, maintain and modify. In another aspect of the present invention, a conversational browser interprets conversational mark-up language (CML) which follows the XML specifications. CML allows new experienced application developers to rapidly develop conversational dialogs. In another TRM HnnfidBntial aspect, CML may follow other declarative syntax or method. Pursuing further the analogy with HTML and the World Wide Web, CML and conversational browser provide a simple and systematic way to build a conversational user interface around legacy enterprise applications and legacy databases. CML files/documents can be accessed from HTTP server using standard networking protocols. The CML pages describe the conversational UI to be presented to the user via the conversational browser. Preferably, CML pages are defined by tags which are based on the XML application. The primary elements are |
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in-pct-2001-0478-che abstract-duplicate.pdf
in-pct-2001-0478-che abstract.pdf
in-pct-2001-0478-che claims-duplicate.pdf
in-pct-2001-0478-che claims.pdf
in-pct-2001-0478-che correspondence-others.pdf
in-pct-2001-0478-che correspondence-po.pdf
in-pct-2001-0478-che description (complete)-duplicate.pdf
in-pct-2001-0478-che description (complete).pdf
in-pct-2001-0478-che drawings-duplicate.pdf
in-pct-2001-0478-che drawings.pdf
in-pct-2001-0478-che form-1.pdf
in-pct-2001-0478-che form-19.pdf
in-pct-2001-0478-che form-26.pdf
in-pct-2001-0478-che form-3.pdf
in-pct-2001-0478-che form-5.pdf
in-pct-2001-0478-che petition.pdf
Patent Number | 199150 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Indian Patent Application Number | IN/PCT/2001/478/CHE | ||||||||||||||||||
PG Journal Number | 30/2009 | ||||||||||||||||||
Publication Date | 24-Jul-2009 | ||||||||||||||||||
Grant Date | |||||||||||||||||||
Date of Filing | 03-Apr-2001 | ||||||||||||||||||
Name of Patentee | INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINE CORPORATION | ||||||||||||||||||
Applicant Address | NEW OCHARD ROAD, ARMONK, NEW YORK 10504 | ||||||||||||||||||
Inventors:
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PCT International Classification Number | H04L29/00 | ||||||||||||||||||
PCT International Application Number | PCT/US99/23008 | ||||||||||||||||||
PCT International Filing date | 1999-10-01 | ||||||||||||||||||
PCT Conventions:
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