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WO2023030619A1 - Telephone service device for requesting services, vehicle and method - Google Patents

Telephone service device for requesting services, vehicle and method Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2023030619A1
WO2023030619A1 PCT/EP2021/074125 EP2021074125W WO2023030619A1 WO 2023030619 A1 WO2023030619 A1 WO 2023030619A1 EP 2021074125 W EP2021074125 W EP 2021074125W WO 2023030619 A1 WO2023030619 A1 WO 2023030619A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
addressee
service device
telephone service
request
audio
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/EP2021/074125
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Tobias Schleicher
Christoph Weigand
Original Assignee
Cariad Se
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority to BR112022007188A priority Critical patent/BR112022007188A2/en
Application filed by Cariad Se filed Critical Cariad Se
Priority to PCT/EP2021/074125 priority patent/WO2023030619A1/en
Publication of WO2023030619A1 publication Critical patent/WO2023030619A1/en

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
    • G06Q10/10—Office automation; Time management
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
    • G06Q10/06—Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
    • G06Q10/063—Operations research, analysis or management
    • G06Q10/0631—Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
    • G06Q10/06311—Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group

Definitions

  • Telephone service device for requesting services, vehicle and method
  • the invention is concerned with a telephone service device for requesting services and a method for operating a telephone service device for requesting services.
  • Certain applications for mobile devices or cars allow a booking of rooms in hotels or a table in restaurants. This way it is possible to book services via a user interface of a vehicle or a smartphone.
  • These applications are provided by service brokers that mediate services between clients and vendors.
  • the applications use a centralized booking system of the service brokers. By means of these applications, the clients may choose the vendor of the service and select further options concerning the service.
  • the user interface sends the service request data to the centralized booking system.
  • the centralized booking system of the service broker sends the service request data of the reservation to the selected vendor of the service. Therefore services may be requested without the need of a direct communication between the client and the vendor.
  • the services offered by the applications are restricted to vendors connected to the respective centralized booking system. Especially restaurants in rural areas or traditional restaurants are not connected to centralized booking systems. Therefore, only few restaurants are offered in rural regions.
  • US 2017/0178626 A1 describes an intelligent automated assistant.
  • the intelligent automated assistant system engages with the user in an integrated con- versional manner using natural language dialogue and invokes external services when appropriate to obtain information or perform various actions.
  • the system may employ additional functionality powered by external services with which the system can interact.
  • the system described is configured to perform a dialogue with a user. For a reservation of a restaurant the system uses a centralized reservation system. Therefore, the reservation service is restricted to restaurants connected to the reservation system.
  • US 2019/0156206 A1 describes a method to analyze spatially sparse data based on submanifold sparse convolutional neural networks.
  • the application describes an assistant system that can provide information or services on behalf of a user based on the combination of user input in location awareness and the ability to access information from a variety of online sources.
  • a user input may include voice.
  • the assistant system may perform concierge type services like dinner reservations purchasing even tickets or making travel arrangements or providing information based on the user input.
  • the assistant system may analyze the user input using natural language understanding.
  • US 2017/0118344 A1 describes an attentive assistant.
  • the communication assistant and in particular an automated assistant for use by an operator of a motor vehicle of other equipment is configured to perform communication related tasks.
  • a first aspect of the invention is related to a telephone service device for requesting services comprising an input interface and an output interface.
  • the invention comprises the telephone service device that is configured to request services at a vendor by telephone.
  • the telephone service device is configured to receive a request signal at the input interface, wherein the request signal comprising request information related to a service requested.
  • the telephone service device comprises the input interface to receive the request signal that comprises the request information that give details of the related service requested by a user.
  • the service request may comprise a reservation request at a specific time in a specific restaurant.
  • the telephone service device is configured to extract predefined features of the request information according to predetermined extraction method.
  • the extraction method may comprise predefined steps to read out relevant data of the request information.
  • the predefined extraction method may for example comprise an extraction of the predefined features disclosed in an email comprising a reservation request for a restaurant.
  • the telephone service device is configured to select an addressee of the service request according to a predetermined addressee estimation method.
  • the predetermined addressee estimation method may select the addressee depending on the request information. As an example, an Italian restaurant may be determined as an addressee, when the request information comprise a request of a pizza.
  • the predetermined addressee estimation method may also comprise a selection of the addressee depending on a current position of a client comprised in the request information. Therefore it is possible that a closest service provider may be selected as the addressee of the service request.
  • the service device is configured to convert the predefined features to audio request signals in a natural human language according to a predetermined conversion method.
  • the service device is configured to create the audio request signals comprising the predefined features of the request.
  • the predetermined conversion method may comprise text to speech methods.
  • the telephone service device is configured to initiate the phone call to the addressee of the service request at the output interface and to transmit the audio request signals to the addressee during the phone call according to a predetermined conversation method.
  • the telephone service device is configured to contact the addressee by phone.
  • the telephone service device provides the request features using the predefined conversation method.
  • the predefined conversation method may comprise human language understanding methods and may define instructions to present the request features to the addressee during the phone call.
  • the telephone service device is configured to investigate the geographic location of the addressee and to select the natural human language depending on the geographic location of the addressee. In other words the telephone service device is configured to select the human language for the audio request signals related to the geographic location of the addressee.
  • the telephone service device may investigate the geographic location of the addressee by means of a country code or an area code of the phone number of the addressee.
  • the telephone service device may determine the location of the addressee via an Internet search or a query in a database stored in the telephone service device or externally.
  • the official language of a country or a region of the addressees location may be selected as the human language of the audio request signals. Therefore the service may be requested without a language barrier in other countries.
  • the invention has the advantage that the service may be requested at the addressee using a telephone. Unlike other interfaces, a telephone connection is a widely used interface, so it can be assumed that almost any addressee can be reached via it. Therefore it is possible to provide a larger number of addressees than services relying on specific reservation services.
  • the services are not restricted to hotels or restaurants. It may be possible that the service is related to a visit of a cinema or a museum, a repair of a vehicle, an order of goods or meals or other services.
  • the invention also comprises embodiments that provide features which afford additional technical advantages.
  • the telephone service device is configured to receive addressee audio signals from the addressee during the phone call and to extract language information of the addressee for the conversation method and to send the audio request signals to the addressee depending on the language information.
  • the addressee audio signals may comprise human language spoken in a phone of the addressee by the addressee.
  • the telephone service device is configured to receive and understand addressee audio signals of the addressee.
  • the telephone service device may adapt the way it provides the audio request signals to the addressee.
  • the telephone service device may repeat a transmission of the audio request signal when the addressee asks the telephone service device to repeat the audio request signal provided by the telephone service device.
  • the telephone service device is configured to change the natural human language depending on the response language information of the addressee.
  • the telephone service device is configured to provide the audio request signals in different human languages.
  • the telephone service device is configured to change the human language depending on the response language information of the addressee.
  • the telephone service device may select an official language at the addresses geographic location.
  • the telephone service device may provide first audio request signals in the official language to the addressee.
  • the addressee may answer in another language than the official language.
  • the telephone service device may detect the language used in the response language information of the addressee.
  • the detection of the language may be performed by means of a markov model methods, frequent words approaches, N-gram Methods or other language identification methods known from the state of the art.
  • the telephone service device may change the human language for further audio request signals to the language used by the addressee. This can ensure that a service can be requested even if the addressee does not understand the official language of the geographic location.
  • the predefined features comprise a number of people or/and an age of people concerning the service request.
  • the telephone service device is configured to extract the number of people or/and the age of people concerning the service request during the predetermined extraction method.
  • the invention has the advantage that the telephone service device may provide a number and/or an age of people for a reservation in a restaurant to the addressee.
  • the predefined features comprise a time interval concerning the service request.
  • the telephone service device is configured to extract the time interval for the service according to the predefined extraction method.
  • the embodiment has the advantage that a time of arrival or a time of leaving can be provided to the addressee.
  • the service request is related to a reservation of a restaurant or an accommodation.
  • the telephone service device is configured to perform a reservation in a restaurant or a booking of an accommodation like the hotel.
  • the predefined features comprise a food selection and/or a drink selection concerning the service request.
  • the telephone service device is configured to extract a food selection and/or a drink selection during the predefined extraction method and to provide the food selection and/or the drink selection to the addressee.
  • the predefined features comprise an identity information of the sender of the request signal.
  • the telephone service device is configured to extract the identity information of the sender of the request signal.
  • the identity information may comprise a user account, a phone number of a user and/or a serial number of a user device.
  • the embodiment has the advantage, that a service request may be related to the user. The addressee may receive the identity information during the phone call.
  • the telephone service device is configured to detect a confirmation and/or a refusal of the service request by the addressee during the phone call and to send a status signal to the sender of the request signal indicating the confirmation or the refusal of the service request.
  • the telephone service device is configured to recognize the confirmation or the refusal of the service in the addressee audio signals using the predefined conversation method.
  • the telephone service device may understand the refusal or the confirmation in the phone call using human language recognition.
  • the telephone service device may be configured to send the status signal to the sender of the request signal upon the recognition of the confirmation or the refusal of the service by the addressee.
  • the status signal comprises a value related to the confirmation or the refusal of the service request.
  • a second aspect of the invention is related to a method for operating a telephone service device for requesting services comprising an input interface and an output interface.
  • a request signal comprising request information related to a service request is received by an input interface of the telephone service device.
  • the input interface may be designed as a receiver for mobile internet or as an human interface device of a smartphone or a vehicle.
  • the telephone service device may extract predefined features of the request information according to a predetermined extraction method. In other words, the telephone service device may analyze the request information of the request signal and extract predefined features necessary for the service request by a predetermined extraction method.
  • the telephone service device selects an addressee of the predefined features according to a predefined estimation method.
  • the telephone service device selects the addressee for the service request depending on results of the predefined estimation method.
  • the predefined features are converted to audio request signals in a natural human language by the telephone service device according to a predefined conversion method.
  • the features are translated into human language by the telephone service device according to the predefined conversion method.
  • the telephone service device initiates a phone call to the addressee of the predefined features by the output interface of the telephone service device.
  • the telephone service device may comprise a connector to a telephone network as the output interface.
  • the audio request signals are transmitted to the addressee during the phone call by the telephone service device according to a predetermined conversation method. In other words, the telephone service device performs a conversation with the addressee according to the predefined conversion method.
  • the predefined conversation method may determine a structure for providing the predefined features in the audio request signals to the addressee.
  • a third aspect of the invention is related to a vehicle, comprising a telephone service device.
  • the vehicle may be designed as a car or a truck.
  • the invention also comprises embodiments of the inventive method that comprise features that correspond to features as they have already been described in connection with the embodiments of the inventive telephone service device. For this reason, the corresponding features of the embodiments of the inventive method are not described here again.
  • the telephone service device may comprise a data processing device or a processor circuit adapted to perform an embodiment of the method according to the invention.
  • the processor circuit may comprise at least one microprocessor and/or at least one microcontroller and/or at least one FPGA (field programmable gate array) and/or at least one DSP (digital signal processor).
  • the processor circuit may comprise program code which comprises computer-readable instructions to perform the embodiment of the method according to the invention when executed by the processor device.
  • the program code may be stored in a data memory of the processor device.
  • the invention also includes further embodiments of the method according to the invention which comprise features as already described in connection with further embodiments of the telephone service device according to the invention. For this reason, the corresponding further embodiments of the method according to the invention are not described again here.
  • the invention also comprises the combinations of the features of the different embodiments.
  • Fig. shows a schematic illustration of a telephone service device 1 and a method for operating the telephone service device 1 .
  • the telephone service device 1 may be may be configured to book services requested by a user 12 and comprise an input interface 2 and an output interface 3.
  • the input interface 2 may be configured to receive a request signal 4 from a user device 5.
  • the user device 5 may be designed as a smartphone or an interface in a vehicle.
  • An application may be installed on the user device 5 which is configured to collect data of the service request and to generate the request signal 4.
  • the output interface 3 may be configured to perform a phone call to an addressee 6.
  • the telephone service device 1 may be designed as a server. As an example it may be designed as a so called backend or cloud system situated in a data centre. It is also possible that the telephone service device 1 is designed as a module of a mobile device like a smartphone or as a device of a vehicle. In that case it may comprise a CPU situated in the mobile device or in the vehicle.
  • a user 12 may select a service offer of an addressee 6 via user input 7 in the human machine interface 9 of his user device 5.
  • the user device 5 may be designed as an infotainment system of a vehicle.
  • the user 12 may be presented an intelligent proposal for the booking.
  • the proposal may comprise request information 10 like a number of people, a booking time or period for a restaurant reservation based on a remaining driving distance.
  • the user 12 can provide further request information 10 via voice input in microphone 8 of the user device 5 or key input in the human machine interface 9.
  • the request information 10 comprising content, recorded by the human machine interface 9 and the microphone 8, as well as a geo-location of the user device 5 is processed and transferred to the online control unit 11 of the user device 5.
  • the request information 10 may comprise an identity information of the user 12.
  • the identity information of the user 12 or an order ID of the specific service request may be a guarantee for the addressee 6.
  • the identity information may comprise a serial number of the user device 5 or an account id of the user 12.
  • the request information 10 may comprise a phone number or name of the addressee 6, who provides the service requested.
  • the control unit 11 may establish a connection to the input interface 2 of the telephone service device 1 via a mobile internet connection in a step P3.
  • the telephone service device 1 may be designed as a backend.
  • the input interface 2 is representative of the usual implementation of secure and authenticated communication in backend communication and will not be discussed further.
  • the control unit 11 may generate the request signal 4 comprising the request information 10 and send the request signal 4 to the input interface 2 of the telephone service device 1 .
  • the telephone service device 1 may receive the request signal 4 comprising the request information 10 and may provide the request information 10 as well as the identity information to a speech recognition and translator component 13 of the telephone service device 1 .
  • the speech recognition and translator component 13 of the telephone service device 1 may assemble and processes all the request information 10 related to the service request using a predetermined extraction method.
  • a speech input of the user 12 recorded by the microphone 8 may be processed by a natural language processing NLP component 13 and then interpreted to extract predefined features 14 of the request information 10.
  • the predefined extraction method may also comprise a text analysis process.
  • the predefined features 14 are passed on to the output interface 3 of the telephone service device 1 .
  • the predefined features 14 may be received by the output interface 3.
  • the output interface 3 may be designed as a phone handler.
  • the phone handler may select the addressee 6 of the service request according to a predetermined addressee 6 estimation method.
  • the addressee estimation method may comprise a selection of the addressee 6 according to the predefined features 14 like a phone number of the addressee 6.
  • the output interface 3 may call a telephone 16 of the addressee 6 and announce itself as a concierge bot for requesting services.
  • the output interface 3 may provide the content of the predefined features 14 to the addressee 6.
  • the content may be provided as audio request signals 15 to the addressee 6.
  • the audio request signals 15 may be provided by the speech recognition and translator component 13 of the telephone service device 1 and provided to the output interface 3.
  • a language of the audio request signals 15 may be selected depending on a location of the addressee 6.
  • the audio request signals 15 may be created and/or transmitted according to a predefined conversation method by the output interface 3.
  • the predefined conversation method may specify a conversation structure for the output of the audio request signals 15, which may be modeled on a natural conversation between two people.
  • the output interface 3 may play back the audio request signals 15 comprising the predefined features 14 by voice e.g. reservation, people, 7PM, name John Doe.
  • the telephone 16 of the addressee 6 may play the audio request signals 15.
  • An employee 17 of the addressee 6 may answer the service request in a local language or another language P8.
  • the telephone 16 may record the answer of the addressee 6 and send the corresponding addressee 6 audio signal to the output device of the telephone service device 1 in step P9.
  • the output interface 3 may receive the addressee 6 audio signal and pass it to the speech recognition and translator component 13 of the telephone service device 1 in step P10.
  • the phone handler passes the answer to the Speech Recognition and Translator component 13.
  • the speech recognition and translator component 13 of the telephone service device 1 may extract language information 19 of the addressee 6 audio signals according to the predefined conversion method using Natural Language Processing.
  • the speech recognition and translator component 13 may detect a confirmation and a refusal of the service request by the addressee 6 during the phone call and set a status value depending on the answer of the addressee 6.
  • the speech recognition and translator component 13 of the telephone service device 1 may also detect queries of the addressee 6 in the addressee audio signals 18.
  • the speech recognition and translator component 13 may record the query for the user 12.
  • the telephone service device 1 may be configured to recognize a language used by the addressee 6 in the addressee 6 language information 19. If the human language used by the addressee 6 differs from the human language of the audio request signals 15, the speech recognition and translator component 13 of the telephone service device 1 may arrange a second transmission of the audio request signals 15 to the addressee 6 in the human language detected in the addressee 6 audio signals.
  • the language information 19 may be provided to the input interface 2 of the telephone service device 1 by the speech recognition and translator component 13 of the telephone service device 1 P11.
  • the language information 19 may comprise the status value and the query of the addressee 6.
  • the input device may establish a second connection to the user device 5 and send the language information 19 to the control unit 11 of the user device 5 in a step P12.
  • the control unit 11 of the user device 5 may control a user 12 output interface 3 of the user device 5 to inform the user 12 about the status of the service request and queries of the ad- dressee 6 P13.
  • the online control unit 11 may control a human machine interface 9 and a loudspeaker of the output interface 3 according to the language information 19.
  • the user 12 output interface 3 of the user device 5 may show the status provided to the user device 5 by the telephone service device 1 on a screen.
  • a booking can be displayed in the human machine interface 9 with a green tick or the booking can be confirmed via voice output. If the third party has queries or a different suggestion e.g. table only possible from 9:30PM, the user 12 can reply using the human machine interface 9 and the microphone 8 in the vehicle and the data is processed again along the processing chain to the addressee 6 in the same way as described in the previous steps.
  • the example shows how a device to assist a customer in booking a service via telephone 16 can be provided.

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Abstract

The invention is concerned with a telephone service device (1) for requesting services, comprising an input interface (2) and an output interface (3). The telephone service device (1) is configured to receive a request signal (4) at the input interface (2), wherein the request signal (4) comprises request information (10) related to a service request. The telephone service device (1) is further configured to extract predefined features (14) of the request information (10) and to convert the predefined features (14) to audio request signals (15) in a natural human language. The telephone service device (1) is configured to initiate a phone call to the addressee (6) at the output interface (3), and to transmit the audio request signals (15) to the addressee (6). The telephone service device (1) is configured to investigate a geographic location of the addressee (6), and to select the natural human language depending on the geographic location of the addressee (6).

Description

Telephone service device for requesting services, vehicle and method
DESCRIPTION:
The invention is concerned with a telephone service device for requesting services and a method for operating a telephone service device for requesting services.
Certain applications for mobile devices or cars allow a booking of rooms in hotels or a table in restaurants. This way it is possible to book services via a user interface of a vehicle or a smartphone. These applications are provided by service brokers that mediate services between clients and vendors. The applications use a centralized booking system of the service brokers. By means of these applications, the clients may choose the vendor of the service and select further options concerning the service. The user interface sends the service request data to the centralized booking system. The centralized booking system of the service broker sends the service request data of the reservation to the selected vendor of the service. Therefore services may be requested without the need of a direct communication between the client and the vendor.
However, the services offered by the applications are restricted to vendors connected to the respective centralized booking system. Especially restaurants in rural areas or traditional restaurants are not connected to centralized booking systems. Therefore, only few restaurants are offered in rural regions.
In order to reserve a table in a restaurant not connected to one of the centralized booking systems, the client has to call the restaurant by phone. A reservation in a customer's home country is usually possible for the customer without further difficulty. If the driver is in a foreign country, there may be a language barrier if the customer does not have sufficient command of the local language to make a reservation by telephone. For this reason, breaks on longer journeys are usually spent at restaurants in rest stops, because making a table reservation by telephone seems too inconvenient for many customers or represents a language barrier for the costumers. As a result, customers miss out on a diverse culinary offering. The restriction to the supposedly more easily available rest stops means that these customers only have a monotonous and qualitatively unconvincing offer.
US 2017/0178626 A1 describes an intelligent automated assistant. The intelligent automated assistant system engages with the user in an integrated con- versional manner using natural language dialogue and invokes external services when appropriate to obtain information or perform various actions. The system may employ additional functionality powered by external services with which the system can interact. As an example it is possible to perform a dialogue with a user and send task parameters of the dialogue to a restaurant booking service. The system described is configured to perform a dialogue with a user. For a reservation of a restaurant the system uses a centralized reservation system. Therefore, the reservation service is restricted to restaurants connected to the reservation system.
US 2019/0156206 A1 describes a method to analyze spatially sparse data based on submanifold sparse convolutional neural networks. The application describes an assistant system that can provide information or services on behalf of a user based on the combination of user input in location awareness and the ability to access information from a variety of online sources. A user input may include voice. The assistant system may perform concierge type services like dinner reservations purchasing even tickets or making travel arrangements or providing information based on the user input. The assistant system may analyze the user input using natural language understanding.
US 2017/0118344 A1 describes an attentive assistant. The communication assistant and in particular an automated assistant for use by an operator of a motor vehicle of other equipment is configured to perform communication related tasks.
The publication LEVIATHAN, Yaniv; MATIAS, Yossi. Google Duplex: An Al system for accomplishing real-world tasks over the phone. 2018; describes a method for conducting natural conversations over phone. The Al system is configured to schedule certain types of appointments.
It is an object of the invention to provide a device to assist a customer in booking a service via telephone. The objective is accomplished by the subject matter of the independent claims. Advantageous developments with convenient and non-trivial further embodiments of the invention are specified in the following description, the dependent claims and the figures.
A first aspect of the invention is related to a telephone service device for requesting services comprising an input interface and an output interface. In other words, the invention comprises the telephone service device that is configured to request services at a vendor by telephone. The telephone service device is configured to receive a request signal at the input interface, wherein the request signal comprising request information related to a service requested. In other words, the telephone service device comprises the input interface to receive the request signal that comprises the request information that give details of the related service requested by a user. The service request may comprise a reservation request at a specific time in a specific restaurant. The telephone service device is configured to extract predefined features of the request information according to predetermined extraction method. The extraction method may comprise predefined steps to read out relevant data of the request information. The predefined extraction method may for example comprise an extraction of the predefined features disclosed in an email comprising a reservation request for a restaurant.
The telephone service device is configured to select an addressee of the service request according to a predetermined addressee estimation method. The predetermined addressee estimation method may select the addressee depending on the request information. As an example, an Italian restaurant may be determined as an addressee, when the request information comprise a request of a pizza. The predetermined addressee estimation method may also comprise a selection of the addressee depending on a current position of a client comprised in the request information. Therefore it is possible that a closest service provider may be selected as the addressee of the service request. The service device is configured to convert the predefined features to audio request signals in a natural human language according to a predetermined conversion method. In other words, it is intended that the service device is configured to create the audio request signals comprising the predefined features of the request. In order to create the audio request signals, the predetermined conversion method may comprise text to speech methods. The telephone service device is configured to initiate the phone call to the addressee of the service request at the output interface and to transmit the audio request signals to the addressee during the phone call according to a predetermined conversation method. In other words, the telephone service device is configured to contact the addressee by phone. During the phone call the telephone service device provides the request features using the predefined conversation method. The predefined conversation method may comprise human language understanding methods and may define instructions to present the request features to the addressee during the phone call.
The telephone service device is configured to investigate the geographic location of the addressee and to select the natural human language depending on the geographic location of the addressee. In other words the telephone service device is configured to select the human language for the audio request signals related to the geographic location of the addressee. The telephone service device may investigate the geographic location of the addressee by means of a country code or an area code of the phone number of the addressee. The telephone service device may determine the location of the addressee via an Internet search or a query in a database stored in the telephone service device or externally. As an example, the official language of a country or a region of the addressees location may be selected as the human language of the audio request signals. Therefore the service may be requested without a language barrier in other countries.
The invention has the advantage that the service may be requested at the addressee using a telephone. Unlike other interfaces, a telephone connection is a widely used interface, so it can be assumed that almost any addressee can be reached via it. Therefore it is possible to provide a larger number of addressees than services relying on specific reservation services. The services are not restricted to hotels or restaurants. It may be possible that the service is related to a visit of a cinema or a museum, a repair of a vehicle, an order of goods or meals or other services.
The invention also comprises embodiments that provide features which afford additional technical advantages.
According to a further embodiment of the invention, the telephone service device is configured to receive addressee audio signals from the addressee during the phone call and to extract language information of the addressee for the conversation method and to send the audio request signals to the addressee depending on the language information. The addressee audio signals may comprise human language spoken in a phone of the addressee by the addressee. In other words, the telephone service device is configured to receive and understand addressee audio signals of the addressee. Depending on the content of the addressee audio signals the telephone service device may adapt the way it provides the audio request signals to the addressee. As an example, the telephone service device may repeat a transmission of the audio request signal when the addressee asks the telephone service device to repeat the audio request signal provided by the telephone service device.
According to a further embodiment of the invention the telephone service device is configured to change the natural human language depending on the response language information of the addressee. In other words, the telephone service device is configured to provide the audio request signals in different human languages. The telephone service device is configured to change the human language depending on the response language information of the addressee. As an example, the telephone service device may select an official language at the addresses geographic location. The telephone service device may provide first audio request signals in the official language to the addressee. The addressee may answer in another language than the official language. The telephone service device may detect the language used in the response language information of the addressee. The detection of the language may be performed by means of a markov model methods, frequent words approaches, N-gram Methods or other language identification methods known from the state of the art. The telephone service device may change the human language for further audio request signals to the language used by the addressee. This can ensure that a service can be requested even if the addressee does not understand the official language of the geographic location.
According to a further embodiment of the invention the predefined features comprise a number of people or/and an age of people concerning the service request. In other words, the telephone service device is configured to extract the number of people or/and the age of people concerning the service request during the predetermined extraction method. The invention has the advantage that the telephone service device may provide a number and/or an age of people for a reservation in a restaurant to the addressee.
According to a further embodiment of the invention the predefined features comprise a time interval concerning the service request. In other words, the telephone service device is configured to extract the time interval for the service according to the predefined extraction method. The embodiment has the advantage that a time of arrival or a time of leaving can be provided to the addressee.
According to a further embodiment of the invention the service request is related to a reservation of a restaurant or an accommodation. In other words, the telephone service device is configured to perform a reservation in a restaurant or a booking of an accommodation like the hotel.
According to a further embodiment of the invention the predefined features comprise a food selection and/or a drink selection concerning the service request. In other words, the telephone service device is configured to extract a food selection and/or a drink selection during the predefined extraction method and to provide the food selection and/or the drink selection to the addressee.
According to a further embodiment of the invention the predefined features comprise an identity information of the sender of the request signal. In other words, the telephone service device is configured to extract the identity information of the sender of the request signal. The identity information may comprise a user account, a phone number of a user and/or a serial number of a user device. The embodiment has the advantage, that a service request may be related to the user. The addressee may receive the identity information during the phone call.
According to a further embodiment of the invention the telephone service device is configured to detect a confirmation and/or a refusal of the service request by the addressee during the phone call and to send a status signal to the sender of the request signal indicating the confirmation or the refusal of the service request. In other words, the telephone service device is configured to recognize the confirmation or the refusal of the service in the addressee audio signals using the predefined conversation method. The telephone service device may understand the refusal or the confirmation in the phone call using human language recognition. The telephone service device may be configured to send the status signal to the sender of the request signal upon the recognition of the confirmation or the refusal of the service by the addressee. The status signal comprises a value related to the confirmation or the refusal of the service request. The embodiment has the advantage that a user device can indicate to the user whether the service request has been accepted or rejected by the addressee.
A second aspect of the invention is related to a method for operating a telephone service device for requesting services comprising an input interface and an output interface. In a first step a request signal comprising request information related to a service request is received by an input interface of the telephone service device. The input interface may be designed as a receiver for mobile internet or as an human interface device of a smartphone or a vehicle. In a next step the telephone service device may extract predefined features of the request information according to a predetermined extraction method. In other words, the telephone service device may analyze the request information of the request signal and extract predefined features necessary for the service request by a predetermined extraction method. In a next step the telephone service device selects an addressee of the predefined features according to a predefined estimation method. In other words, the telephone service device selects the addressee for the service request depending on results of the predefined estimation method. The predefined features are converted to audio request signals in a natural human language by the telephone service device according to a predefined conversion method. In other words, the features are translated into human language by the telephone service device according to the predefined conversion method. The telephone service device initiates a phone call to the addressee of the predefined features by the output interface of the telephone service device. The telephone service device may comprise a connector to a telephone network as the output interface. The audio request signals are transmitted to the addressee during the phone call by the telephone service device according to a predetermined conversation method. In other words, the telephone service device performs a conversation with the addressee according to the predefined conversion method. The predefined conversation method may determine a structure for providing the predefined features in the audio request signals to the addressee.
A third aspect of the invention is related to a vehicle, comprising a telephone service device. The vehicle may be designed as a car or a truck.
The invention also comprises embodiments of the inventive method that comprise features that correspond to features as they have already been described in connection with the embodiments of the inventive telephone service device. For this reason, the corresponding features of the embodiments of the inventive method are not described here again.
The telephone service device may comprise a data processing device or a processor circuit adapted to perform an embodiment of the method according to the invention. For this purpose, the processor circuit may comprise at least one microprocessor and/or at least one microcontroller and/or at least one FPGA (field programmable gate array) and/or at least one DSP (digital signal processor). Furthermore, the processor circuit may comprise program code which comprises computer-readable instructions to perform the embodiment of the method according to the invention when executed by the processor device. The program code may be stored in a data memory of the processor device.
The invention also includes further embodiments of the method according to the invention which comprise features as already described in connection with further embodiments of the telephone service device according to the invention. For this reason, the corresponding further embodiments of the method according to the invention are not described again here.
The invention also comprises the combinations of the features of the different embodiments.
In the following an exemplary implementation of the invention is described.
Fig. shows a schematic illustration of a telephone service device 1 and a method for operating the telephone service device 1 . The telephone service device 1 may be may be configured to book services requested by a user 12 and comprise an input interface 2 and an output interface 3. The input interface 2 may be configured to receive a request signal 4 from a user device 5. The user device 5 may be designed as a smartphone or an interface in a vehicle. An application may be installed on the user device 5 which is configured to collect data of the service request and to generate the request signal 4. The output interface 3 may be configured to perform a phone call to an addressee 6. The telephone service device 1 may be designed as a server. As an example it may be designed as a so called backend or cloud system situated in a data centre. It is also possible that the telephone service device 1 is designed as a module of a mobile device like a smartphone or as a device of a vehicle. In that case it may comprise a CPU situated in the mobile device or in the vehicle.
In a first step P1 of a method to operate the telephone service device 1 a user 12 may select a service offer of an addressee 6 via user input 7 in the human machine interface 9 of his user device 5. The user device 5 may be designed as an infotainment system of a vehicle. Through an interior monitoring device of the user device 5, the user 12 may be presented an intelligent proposal for the booking. The proposal may comprise request information 10 like a number of people, a booking time or period for a restaurant reservation based on a remaining driving distance. In addition, the user 12 can provide further request information 10 via voice input in microphone 8 of the user device 5 or key input in the human machine interface 9.
In a step P2, the request information 10 comprising content, recorded by the human machine interface 9 and the microphone 8, as well as a geo-location of the user device 5 is processed and transferred to the online control unit 11 of the user device 5. To allow an identification of the user 12 the request information 10 may comprise an identity information of the user 12. The identity information of the user 12 or an order ID of the specific service request may be a guarantee for the addressee 6. Especially in the case of a meal order and non-appearance of the customer, an allocation and billing via a service provider of the telephone service device 1 could be possible. The identity information may comprise a serial number of the user device 5 or an account id of the user 12. The request information 10 may comprise a phone number or name of the addressee 6, who provides the service requested.
After the reception of the request information 10, the control unit 11 may establish a connection to the input interface 2 of the telephone service device 1 via a mobile internet connection in a step P3. The telephone service device 1 may be designed as a backend. The input interface 2 is representative of the usual implementation of secure and authenticated communication in backend communication and will not be discussed further. After the connection is established, the control unit 11 may generate the request signal 4 comprising the request information 10 and send the request signal 4 to the input interface 2 of the telephone service device 1 .
In a step P4 the telephone service device 1 may receive the request signal 4 comprising the request information 10 and may provide the request information 10 as well as the identity information to a speech recognition and translator component 13 of the telephone service device 1 .
In a step P5 the speech recognition and translator component 13 of the telephone service device 1 ,may assemble and processes all the request information 10 related to the service request using a predetermined extraction method. For example, a speech input of the user 12 recorded by the microphone 8 may be processed by a natural language processing NLP component 13 and then interpreted to extract predefined features 14 of the request information 10. The predefined extraction method may also comprise a text analysis process. The predefined features 14 are passed on to the output interface 3 of the telephone service device 1 .
In a next step P6 the predefined features 14 may be received by the output interface 3. The output interface 3 may be designed as a phone handler. The phone handler may select the addressee 6 of the service request according to a predetermined addressee 6 estimation method. The addressee estimation method may comprise a selection of the addressee 6 according to the predefined features 14 like a phone number of the addressee 6. The output interface 3 may call a telephone 16 of the addressee 6 and announce itself as a concierge bot for requesting services.
During the call P7, the output interface 3 may provide the content of the predefined features 14 to the addressee 6. The content may be provided as audio request signals 15 to the addressee 6. The audio request signals 15 may be provided by the speech recognition and translator component 13 of the telephone service device 1 and provided to the output interface 3. A language of the audio request signals 15 may be selected depending on a location of the addressee 6. The audio request signals 15 may be created and/or transmitted according to a predefined conversation method by the output interface 3. The predefined conversation method may specify a conversation structure for the output of the audio request signals 15, which may be modeled on a natural conversation between two people. The output interface 3 may play back the audio request signals 15 comprising the predefined features 14 by voice e.g. reservation, people, 7PM, name John Doe. The telephone 16 of the addressee 6 may play the audio request signals 15.
An employee 17 of the addressee 6 may answer the service request in a local language or another language P8. The telephone 16 may record the answer of the addressee 6 and send the corresponding addressee 6 audio signal to the output device of the telephone service device 1 in step P9.
The output interface 3 may receive the addressee 6 audio signal and pass it to the speech recognition and translator component 13 of the telephone service device 1 in step P10. The phone handler passes the answer to the Speech Recognition and Translator component 13. In this component 13 the speech is processed again and then interpreted and translated. The speech recognition and translator component 13 of the telephone service device 1 may extract language information 19 of the addressee 6 audio signals according to the predefined conversion method using Natural Language Processing. The speech recognition and translator component 13 may detect a confirmation and a refusal of the service request by the addressee 6 during the phone call and set a status value depending on the answer of the addressee 6. The speech recognition and translator component 13 of the telephone service device 1 may also detect queries of the addressee 6 in the addressee audio signals 18. In case of a query, the speech recognition and translator component 13 may record the query for the user 12. The telephone service device 1 may be configured to recognize a language used by the addressee 6 in the addressee 6 language information 19. If the human language used by the addressee 6 differs from the human language of the audio request signals 15, the speech recognition and translator component 13 of the telephone service device 1 may arrange a second transmission of the audio request signals 15 to the addressee 6 in the human language detected in the addressee 6 audio signals.
The language information 19 may be provided to the input interface 2 of the telephone service device 1 by the speech recognition and translator component 13 of the telephone service device 1 P11. The language information 19 may comprise the status value and the query of the addressee 6.
The input device may establish a second connection to the user device 5 and send the language information 19 to the control unit 11 of the user device 5 in a step P12.
Upon reception of the language information 19 the control unit 11 of the user device 5 may control a user 12 output interface 3 of the user device 5 to inform the user 12 about the status of the service request and queries of the ad- dressee 6 P13. The online control unit 11 may control a human machine interface 9 and a loudspeaker of the output interface 3 according to the language information 19. The user 12 output interface 3 of the user device 5 may show the status provided to the user device 5 by the telephone service device 1 on a screen. Based on the feedback of the third party which was interpreted by the speech recognition and translator component 13 of the telephone service device 1 , a booking can be displayed in the human machine interface 9 with a green tick or the booking can be confirmed via voice output. If the third party has queries or a different suggestion e.g. table only possible from 9:30PM, the user 12 can reply using the human machine interface 9 and the microphone 8 in the vehicle and the data is processed again along the processing chain to the addressee 6 in the same way as described in the previous steps.
Overall, the example shows how a device to assist a customer in booking a service via telephone 16 can be provided.

Claims

CLAIMS:
1 . Telephone service device (1 ) for requesting services, comprising an input interface (2) and an output interface (3), wherein the telephone service device (1 ) is configured to
- receive a request signal (4) at the input interface (2), the request signal (4) comprising request information (10) related to a service request,
- extract predefined features (14) of the request information (10) according to a predetermined extraction method,
- select an addressee (6) of the service request according to a predetermined addressee estimation method,
- convert the predefined features (14) to audio request signals (15) in a natural human language according to a predetermined conversion method,
- initiate a phone call to the addressee (6) of the predefined features at the output interface (3), and
- transmit the audio request signals (15) to the addressee (6) during the phone call according to a predetermined conversation method, characterized in that the telephone service device (1 ) is configured to
- investigate a geographic location of the addressee (6), and
- to select the natural human language depending on the geographic location of the addressee (6).
2. Telephone service device (1 ) according to claim 1 , characterized in that the telephone service device (1 ) is configured to receive addressee audio signals (18) from the addressee (6) during the phone call, to extract language information of the addressee (6) audio signals for the conversation method, and to send the audio request signals (15) to the addressee (6), depending on the language information (19).
3. Telephone service device (1 ) according to claim 2, characterized in that the telephone service device (1 ) is configured to change the natural human language to the language comprised in the addressee audio signals (18) received from the addressee (6) during the phone call.
4. Telephone service device (1 ) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the predefined features (14) comprise a number of people or/and an age of people concerning the service request.
5. Telephone service device (1 ) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the predefined features (14) comprise a time interval concerning the service request.
6. Telephone service device (1 ) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the service request is related to a reservation of a restaurant or an accommodation.
7. Telephone service device (1 ) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the predefined features (14) comprise a food selection and/or a drink selection concerning the service request.
8. Telephone service device (1 ) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the predefined features (14) comprise an identity information of the sender of the request signal (4).
9. Telephone service device (1 ) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the service request is related to detect a confirmation and a refusal of the service request by the addressee (6) during the phone call and to send a status signal to a sender of the request signal (4) indicating the confirmation or the refusal of the service request.
10. Vehicle, comprising a telephone service device (1 ) according to any of the claims 1 to 9.
11 . Method for operating a telephone service device (1 ) for requesting services, comprising an input interface (2), and an output interface (3), wherein
- a request signal (4), comprising request information (10) related to a service request is received by an input interface (2) of the telephone service device
- predefined features (14) of the request information (10) are extracted by the telephone service device (1 ) according to a predetermined extraction method,
- an addressee (6) of the predefined features (14) is selected by the telephone service device according to a predetermined estimation method, - the predefined features (14) are converted to audio request signals (15) in a natural human language by the telephone service device (1 ) according to a predetermined conversion method,
- a phone call to the addressee (6) of the predefined features (14) is initiated by the telephone service device (1 ) by the output interface
(3), and
- the audio request signals (15) are transmitted to the addressee (6) during the phone call by the telephone service device (1) according to a predetermined conversation method, characterized in that the telephone service device (1 ) is configured to
- investigate a geographic location of the addressee (6), and
- to select the natural human language depending on the geographic location of the addressee (6).
PCT/EP2021/074125 2019-10-16 2021-09-01 Telephone service device for requesting services, vehicle and method WO2023030619A1 (en)

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