IVR Navigation GUI for Faster Multi-Level Call Handling
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
IVR systems require users to navigate complex menus using voice or touch-tone inputs, leading to frustration and inefficiency, especially for simple tasks.
Innovation Solution
Enhance IVR systems with a graphical user interface (GUI) on computing devices that allows non-spoken and non-touch-tone inputs, enabling more efficient task completion by analyzing IVR hierarchies and converting user inputs into compatible commands.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If IVR systems use standard voice or touch-tone navigation through multiple intermediate nodes, then the system can handle complex tasks, but the user experience deteriorates due to lengthy engagement and frustration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a graphical user interface (GUI) as an intermediary layer between the user and the IVR system. The GUI displays visual representations of IVR nodes and allows users to navigate the menu hierarchy through graphical selections rather than voice or touch-tone inputs. This intermediary interface simplifies user interaction while maintaining access to the full functionality of the IVR system, thereby improving ease of operation without sacrificing task completion capability.
2Adaptability or versatility
If IVR systems require navigation through multiple intermediate nodes, then the system can perform complex operations, but the call duration increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by displaying the entire IVR menu hierarchy structure to the user before navigation begins. The GUI presents all available nodes and pathways in advance, allowing users to visually assess the navigation required and make informed decisions. This preliminary visualization enables users to take more direct navigation paths when possible, reducing the number of intermediate nodes traversed and thereby decreasing call duration while maintaining access to complex operations.
3Device complexity
If IVR systems use linear audio interface presentation, then the system structure remains simple, but the user experience deteriorates due to inherent limitations of audio-only interaction
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dimensionality change by transitioning from a one-dimensional audio interface to a two-dimensional graphical interface. The GUI displays the IVR menu hierarchy as a visual map with nodes and connections, adding spatial and visual dimensions to the interaction. This allows users to perceive the system structure visually rather than auditorily, making it easier to understand navigation options and make selections. The underlying IVR system structure remains relatively simple, but the added graphical dimension dramatically improves ease of operation.
Data Source
AI summary
A system is described including a mobile device that receives a user request to initiate a phone call to an entity associated with an interactive-voice-response (IVR) interface of an IVR system. The system obtains information about a hierarchy of options associated with the interactive-voice-response system and causes a graphical user interface (GUI) for navigating the hierarchy of options associated with the interactive-voice-response system to be displayed at the mobile device. The system converts user inputs associated with the GUI to inputs recognized by the IVR system and the mobile device outputs, to the entity, the converted inputs and other information required by the entity to perform an operation based on the inputs. In response, the system updates the GUI based on additional information received from the IVR system.