US 11,811,969 B2
Automatic navigation of an interactive voice response (IVR) tree on behalf of human user(s)
Yuval Baror, Mountain View, CA (US); Michael Andrew Goodman, Oakland, CA (US); and Yoav Tzur, Tel Aviv (IL)
Assigned to GOOGLE LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed by GOOGLE LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed on Mar. 9, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/690,201.
Application 17/690,201 is a continuation of application No. 17/068,511, filed on Oct. 12, 2020, granted, now 11,303,749.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/088,178, filed on Oct. 6, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0201119 A1, Jun. 23, 2022
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. H04M 3/493 (2006.01); G06F 16/901 (2019.01); H04M 3/51 (2006.01)
CPC H04M 3/4936 (2013.01) [G06F 16/9027 (2019.01); H04M 3/5166 (2013.01)] 14 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method implemented by one or more processors, the method comprising:
receiving, from a given user and via a search interface of a client device associated with the given user, user input;
issuing, at the search interface of the client device, a search query based on the user input;
identifying, based on the issued search query:
a given search result that is associated with an entity to be subsequently engaged with, on behalf of the given user, during performance of an assisted telephone call, the given search result being associated with a deeplink to an interactive voice response (IVR) target state, from among a plurality of candidate IVR states, of a telephonic IVR tree that is associated with the identified entity, and
an additional given search result that is associated with the entity, the additional given search result being associated with an additional deeplink to an additional IVR target state, of the plurality of candidate IVR states, for the telephonic IVR tree;
causing at least the given search result and the additional given search result to be rendered at the search interface of the client device, wherein causing at least the given search result and the additional given search result to be rendered at the search interface of the client device comprises:
determining, based on one or more terms of the search query, that the given search result is more relevant to the search query than the additional given search result; and
rendering, based on determining that the given search result is more relevant to the search query than the additional given search result, the given search result more prominently than the additional given search result;
in response to the given search result being rendered at the search interface of the client device, receiving, from the given user and via the search interface of the client device, a selection of the deeplink to the IVR target state that is associated with the given search result; and
in response to receiving the selection of the deeplink to the IVR target state that is associated with the given search result, initiating performance of the assisted telephone call with the identified entity, wherein performance of the assisted telephone call comprises automatically navigating, on behalf of the given user, the assisted telephone call to the IVR target state of the telephonic IVR tree.
 
7. A system comprising:
at least one processor; and
memory storing instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one processor to:
receive, from a given user and via a search interface of a client device associated with the given user, user input;
issue, at the search interface of the client device, a search query based on the user input;
identify, based on the issued search query:
a given search result that is associated with an entity to be subsequently engaged with, on behalf of the given user, during performance of an assisted telephone call, the given search result being associated with a deeplink to an interactive voice response (IVR) target state, from among a plurality of candidate IVR states, of a telephonic IVR tree that is associated with the identified entity, and
an additional given search result that is associated with the entity, the additional given search result being associated with an additional deeplink to an additional IVR target state, of the plurality of candidate IVR states, for the telephonic IVR tree;
cause at least the given search result and the additional given search result to be rendered at the search interface of the client device, wherein the instructions to cause at least the given search result and the additional given search result to be rendered at the search interface of the client device comprise instructions to:
determine, based on one or more terms of the search query, that the given search result is more relevant to the search query than the additional given search result; and
render, based on determining that the given search result is more relevant to the search query than the additional given search result, the given search result more prominently than the additional given search result;
in response to the given search result being rendered at the search interface of the client device, receive, from the given user and via the search interface of the client device, a selection of the deeplink to the IVR target state that is associated with the given search result; and
in response to receiving the selection of the deeplink to the IVR target state that is associated with the given search result, initiate performance of the assisted telephone call with the identified entity, wherein the instructions to initiate performance of the assisted telephone call comprise instructions to automatically navigate, on behalf of the given user, the assisted telephone call to the IVR target state of the telephonic IVR tree.
 
13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:
receiving, from a given user and via a search interface of a client device associated with the given user, user input;
issuing, at the search interface of the client device, a search query based on the user input;
identifying, based on the issued search query:
a given search result that is associated with an entity to be subsequently engaged with, on behalf of the given user, during performance of an assisted telephone call, the given search result being associated with a deeplink to an interactive voice response (IVR) target state, from among a plurality of candidate IVR states, of a telephonic IVR tree that is associated with the identified entity, and
an additional given search result that is associated with the entity, the additional given search result being associated with an additional deeplink to an additional IVR target state, of the plurality of candidate IVR states, for the telephonic IVR tree;
causing at least the given search result and the additional given search result to be rendered at the search interface of the client device, wherein causing at least the given search result and the additional given search result to be rendered at the search interface of the client device comprises:
determining, based on one or more terms of the search query, that the given search result is more relevant to the search query than the additional given search result; and
rendering, based on determining that the given search result is more relevant to the search query than the additional given search result, the given search result more prominently than the additional given search result;
in response to the given search result being rendered at the search interface of the client device, receiving, from the given user and via the search interface of the client device, a selection of the deeplink to the IVR target state that is associated with the given search result; and
in response to receiving the selection of the deeplink to the IVR target state that is associated with the given search result, initiating performance of the assisted telephone call with the identified entity, wherein performance of the assisted telephone call comprises automatically navigating, on behalf of the given user, the assisted telephone call to the IVR target state of the telephonic IVR tree.