The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 01, 1998
Filed:
Apr. 18, 1996
Philip E Fawcett, Duvall, WA (US);
Christopher Blomfield-Brown, Seattle, WA (US);
Clifford P Strom, Maple Valley, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
Interactive voice response systems (IVRS) are used as interfaces at a wide variety of support and information retrieval centers. A caller who contacts in IVRS-equipped support center can choose to have the voice information contained in the IVRS menus displayed graphically on the caller's communications terminal. The graphical display allows a caller to navigate up and down in the IVRS menus, skipping intermediate steps that would be required making responses to voice queries. In one embodiment the Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) is used to produce the graphical display. The HTML data also contains a pre-defined protocol used to display IVRS menus. The graphical display of IVRS menus saves callers time, and displays IVRS information more quickly and thoroughly than could be done with voice. Graphical display of IVRS menus also saves support costs since a caller may find desired information without interaction with support center personal.