Automated Topic Ranking for Customer Service Conversations

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Current customer service automation technologies lack effective methods to analyze and rank customer service conversations, leading to inefficient management of topics and resource allocation, as they fail to identify and prioritize repetitive issues and trends accurately.

Innovation Solution

The system analyzes customer service conversations to identify conversation-level and utterance-level topics, using clustering algorithms and topic extraction models like Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) to determine quantitative rankings, which enables the initiation of targeted management actions such as chatbot development and issue prioritization.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If manual customer service methods are used, then service quality and customer satisfaction are maintained, but labor costs and operational efficiency deteriorate

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecustomer service efficiencyVSAvoidhuman labor costs
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The system enables self-service by automatically analyzing customer service conversations and generating actionable insights without human intervention. The automated topic identification, clustering, and ranking system processes customer interactions independently, identifying repetitive issues and trends while eliminating the need for manual analysis of customer service data.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The patent replaces manual mechanical analysis methods with automated computational systems. Machine learning models and natural language processing algorithms substitute human analysts, automatically processing conversation records, identifying topics, and generating insights through digital rather than manual operations.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

2Loss of energy

If automated customer service technologies are implemented, then labor costs are reduced, but effectiveness in identifying and prioritizing customer issues deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvelabor costsVSAvoidtopic identification accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of energyVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The system incorporates feedback mechanisms where identified topics and patterns are continuously refined based on their frequency, importance, and impact on customer service operations. The automated insights feed back into improving the accuracy of topic identification and prioritization, creating a self-improving system that enhances measurement precision over time.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The patent employs parameter changes by adjusting weighting factors, clustering thresholds, and ranking criteria based on different customer service contexts and priorities. The system dynamically modifies analysis parameters to optimize topic identification accuracy for different types of customer interactions and business requirements.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

3Loss of information

If comprehensive analysis of all customer service conversations is performed, then complete understanding of customer issues is achieved, but processing time and computational resources increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecustomer issue understandingVSAvoidanalysis processing time
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts only the most relevant and valuable information from customer service conversations by identifying and focusing on repetitive topics and significant patterns. Rather than processing every detail of all conversations, the automated system selectively extracts key insights that drive actionable customer service improvements, reducing processing requirements while maintaining understanding quality.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent segments the analysis process into distinct stages: initial conversation processing, topic identification, clustering, ranking, and insight generation. This segmentation allows parallel processing of different conversation batches and enables the system to handle large volumes of data efficiently by dividing the comprehensive analysis into manageable, concurrent operations.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

4Productivity

If automated topic identification and ranking systems are implemented, then resource allocation efficiency is improved, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveresource allocation efficiencyVSAvoidautomation system complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The automated system is designed with universal components that perform multiple functions: the same natural language processing engine identifies topics, clusters conversations, and generates insights across different customer service contexts. This multi-functionality reduces overall system complexity by using a unified platform rather than separate specialized systems for each analysis task.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentUS11544721B2Supporting automation of customer service
Publication Date: 2023.01.03 AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY I L P
  • US11544721B2 patent drawing
  • US11544721B2 patent drawing
  • US11544721B2 patent drawing

AI summary

The present disclosure describes various methods, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for supporting customer service automation. The support for automation of customer service may be based on analysis of conversations between customers and customer service agents of a customer service center. The support for automation of customer service may be based on analysis of conversations between customers and customer service agents to identify conversation-level topics and utterance-level topics from the customer service conversations. The support for automation of customer service may be based on use of conversation-level topics and utterance-level topics identified from the customer service conversations to control initiation of customer service automation actions for supporting automation of customer service of the customer service center. The support for automation of customer service may be based on use of conversation-level and utterance-level topics identified from the customer service conversations to control selection, and design, of chatbots for the customer service center.