Abstract: A system and method for automated call center operation facilitating agent-caller communication are provided. Multiple call sessions with users are simultaneously provided for an agent on a display. One of the call sessions is identified as active and the agent is allowed to communicate with the user of that call session. Speech utterances for each of the remaining call sessions are received from the user participating in that call session. Each received speech utterance is transcribed and displayed with the associated call session while the agent is communicating with the user of the active call. During the call sessions, text messages are received from one or more of the user of the active call and at least one of the users of the remaining call sessions. The text messages are displayed with the associated call sessions while the agent is communicating with the user of the active call session.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for delivering group messages is provided. Users that are signed-on to and signed-off from one or more discussion groups are tracked. A voice message is received from one of the users signed-on to one of the discussion groups. A list of users associated with the discussion group is obtained and a sublist of signed-on users including those users from the list that are signed-on to the discussion group is built.

Abstract: A system and method for providing customer-specific ongoing call center assistance with the aid of a digital computer are provided. A call is received from a caller in a call center and the caller is connected to an agent of the call center. The speech of at least one of the caller and the agent is monitored during the call. A subject matter of the call is determined based on the monitoring. One or more characteristics of the caller are obtained. The agent is identified as being in need of assistance. Expert selection criteria are obtained and weighed based on one or more of the characteristics of the caller. An expert agent is selected using the weighed expert selection criteria and the subject matter of the call. The selected expert agent is patched into the call.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for facilitating call sessions via messages is provided. Two or more call sessions are monitored and each call session is processed by receiving speech utterances from one of the participants and transcribing the speech utterances into text. The transcribed speech utterances are provided to another participant in the call session. Text messages from the other participant are received in response to the transcribed speech utterances and provided to the participant as synthesized speech. During each call session, an ongoing log of messages including the transcribed speech utterances and the text messages for that call session is generated. Annotations from one or more of the participants to that call session are added to the call log.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for identifying call recordings for retention is provided. A call is received into a call center and assigned to one of an agent and an interactive voice response device. A recording of the assigned call is generated. A set of call retention criteria is maintained and each of the retention criteria is associated with one or more time periods during which the criteria can be applied to the call recording. A portion of the criteria in the set is identified based on a time at which the criteria is to be applied to the call recording. The identified criteria is applied to the call recording and the call recording is stored when the applied criteria are satisfied.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for assigning call agents to callers is provided. A call from a caller is received into a call center. A voice sample is obtained from the caller during the call and analyzed. Traits of the caller are identified from the analyzed voice sample. A determination that at least one of the identified traits includes characteristics of multiple populations for that trait is made. The identified trait is defined as a percentage of each population included in that trait. The caller traits are compared to traits associated with each active agent within the call center. The agent with the traits most similar to the caller traits is assigned to the caller.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for processing caller responses is provided. Scripts each including at least one block of dialog are stored. Information is received from a caller during a call with an agent. A selection of a least one of the scripts is received from the agent based on the received information from the caller. The selected script is presented to the caller. A response is received from the caller. A direction of the call is changed. A further selection of one of the scripts is received from the agent based on the response from the caller. The further selected script is presented to the caller.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for group message delivery is provided. A voice message is received from a user associated with a personal communication device. An identification code for a discussion group to which the voice message is directed is obtained from the voice message. The voice message is added to a queue associated with the discussion group and a list of members associated with the discussion group is obtained. A sublist of personal communication devices associated with those members that are signed in to the discussion group is built. The voice message is transmitted to the personal communication devices on the sublist when the voice message reaches a top of the queue.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for encrypting call recordings is provided. Calls are recorded and each call recording is divided into segments. Each segment represents a record. An encryption key unique to each call recording is generated. The unique encryption keys each include seed information from two or more sources and a key counter for one such call recording. For each record, an encryption counter is encrypted using the encryption key for the call recording associated with that record. Also, for each record, the encrypted encryption counter and the data from that record are mixed and encrypted.

Abstract: A system and method for processing call data is provided. A call between a user and an agent is monitored. A selected script having a dialog grammar is received. The selected script is executed by converting at least a portion of the script into synthesized speech utterances and providing the synthesized speech utterances to the user. Speech utterances are received from the user in reply to each of the synthesized speech utterances from the script. Each received speech utterance is converted to text as a user message and a form is populated with the user messages. The user speech utterances and the form with the user messages are provided to the agent.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for group message delivery is provided. A voice message is received from a user associated with a personal communication device. An identification code for a discussion group to which the voice message is directed is obtained from the voice message. The voice message is added to a queue associated with the discussion group and a list of members associated with the discussion group is obtained. A sublist of personal communication devices associated with those members that are signed in to the discussion group is built. The voice message is transmitted to the personal communication devices on the sublist when the voice message reaches a top of the queue.

Abstract: A system and method for providing ongoing call center call assistance with the aid of a digital computer is provided. A call is received from a caller by an automatic call distributor in a call center and the caller is connected by the automatic call distributor to an agent of the call center. The agent's speech during the call is monitored by an intervention processor included in the call center. The intervention processor determines speech characteristics of the agent during the call, obtains predetermined speech characteristics for the agent, compares the predetermined speech characteristics to the speech characteristics determined during the call, and detects the agent being in need of assistance based on the comparison. The automatic call distributor determines a subject matter of the call and the intervention processor identifies an expert whose expertise matches the subject matter. The intervention processor patches the expert into the call.

Abstract: A system and method for facilitating agent-caller communication during a call is provided. An incoming call is assigned to an agent and a script selection is received from the agent based on a particular problem identified during the call. The script is provided to a caller participating in the call. Text messages and voice input are received from the caller. The received text messages are directly forwarded to the agent. The voice input is transcribed into written text and provided to the agent. Text messages are received from the agent in response to one or more of the voice input and text messages from the caller. The text messages from the agent are transformed into synthesized speech utterances. A record of the call is generated by compiling the text messages and transcribed written text from the caller and the text messages from the agent.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for identifying call recordings for retention is provided. A call is received into a call center and assigned to one of an agent and an interactive voice response device. A recording of the assigned call is generated. A set of call retention criteria is maintained and each of the retention criteria is associated with one or more time periods during which the criteria can be applied to the call recording. A portion of the criteria in the set is identified based on a time at which the criteria is to be applied to the call recording. The identified criteria is applied to the call recording and the call recording is stored when the applied criteria are satisfied.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for detecting events for use in an automated call center environment are provided. A plurality of messages is monitored by a call center. Those messages sharing one or more keywords representative of one or more potential events are identified. The one or more potential events are detected based on the shared keywords. At least one of the potential events is identified as an event based on the number of messages that share the keywords representative of that potential event. Metadata regarding the event is extracted from the messages sharing the keywords representative of the event. A message regarding the event that includes the extracted metadata is generated. The generated message from the call center is provided to at least one user related to the event.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for performing distributed speech recognition is provided. Audio data is collected. A main grammar and secondary grammars are simultaneously provided for the audio data. Each secondary grammar includes an independent grammar. Speech recognition is simultaneously performed on the audio data using each secondary grammar. A new grammar is constructed for the audio data based on the main grammar template using results of the speech recognition. Further speech recognition is performed on the audio data using the new grammar.

Abstract: A system and method for message-based call communication is provided. Speech utterances are obtained from a caller during a call with an agent. Each of the speech utterances are transcribed into a text message and the text messages are provided to the agent. One or more written responses, in reply to each speech utterance from the caller, are received from the agent. The written responses are converted to synthesized speech for providing to the caller. The speech utterances from the caller and the synthesized speech from the agent are processed and one or more characteristics of the caller and the agent are identified. A role for each of the caller and the agent is determined based on the identified characteristics.

Abstract: A computer-implemented system and method for individual record encryption is provided. A plurality of records associated with incoming calls to a call center are maintained. A unique encryption key is randomly generated for each record. The records are each encrypted using the encryption key generated for that record. The keys are stored in a location separate from the encrypted records.

Abstract: A system and method for pairing agents and callers within a call center environment is provided. A call is received from a caller into a call center. A voice sample is received from the caller during the call and traits of the caller are identified from the voice sample. The traits of the caller are compared to traits of one or more candidate agents within the call center. A similarity is determined between the caller and each candidate agent based a number of the traits shared by the caller and that candidate agent. One of the candidate agents is selected based on the similarity and the caller is connected with the selected candidate agent.

Abstract: A system and method for selecting call recordings for storage is provided. Criteria for retaining call recordings are identified. Each of a plurality of watchers within a call center is programmed with one or more criteria selected from the identified criteria. Call recordings are generated from calls within the call center. The criteria from one or more of the watchers are applied to each of the call recordings. Those call recordings that satisfy the applied criteria are retained within the call center.