IP Library Granted Patent US 9,866,516
Granted Patent B1
US 9,866,516 · App. 15/413,869 · Granted Jan 9, 2018

Method and apparatus of processing social networking-based user input information

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,866,516
App. No.
15/413,869
Granted
Jan 9, 2018
Kind
B1
Abstract

A method and apparatus of processing communications with end users are disclosed. One example method may include detecting a message or post on a website over the Internet that matches a monitoring company's keywords or rules and processing the message by parsing the message and performing a natural language interpretation of the message and processing the parsed message to determine the user's topic of interest. In response, the method may further provide generating a response to the message based on the user's requested objective and sending the response to the user acknowledging the user's topic of interest. Live agents may be notified to check the status of a message and continually override automated message responses to ensure the integrity of the responses.

Claims (36)

1. A method, comprising:

performing via a processor, a natural language interpretation of a message posted on a website data source from an end user responsive to identifying the message posting being related to a predefined monitored entity;

processing via the processor, the message to determine the user's topic of interest;

generating via a processor, a response to the message responsive to the user's topic of interest; and

sending, via a transmitter, the response to the end user;

wherein the end user is identified by matching user specific information included in the message to pre-stored user specific information stored in a database.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising calculating a confidence score representing a likelihood that the response is accurate prior to sending the response to the end user.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising confirming the user's topic of interest has been addressed in the response.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising notifying the predefined monitored entity of the user's topic of interest.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the message includes an identification portion and a free format text portion and wherein the predefined monitored entity comprises at least one of a company name and a product name.

6. The method of claim 2 , further comprising transmitting the response to a live agent for review if the calculated confidence score fails to meet a predetermined confidence score threshold prior to sending the response to the end user.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the message is normalized to determine words of interest prior to fulfilling the user's topic of interest.

8. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor configured to:

perform a natural language interpretation of a message posted on a website data source from an end user responsive to identifying the message posting being related to a predefined monitored entity;

process the message to determine the user's topic of interest;

generate a response to the message responsive to the user's topic of interest; and

a transmitter configured to send the response to the end user;

wherein the end user is identified by matching user specific information included in the message to pre-stored user specific information stored in a database.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to calculate a confidence score representing a likelihood that the response is accurate prior to the response being sent to the end user.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the user's topic of interest is confirmed as being addressed in the response generated by the processor.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to notify the predefined monitored entity of the user's topic of interest.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the message includes an identification portion and a free format text portion and wherein the predefined monitored entity comprises at least one of a company name and a product name.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit the response to a live agent for review if the calculated confidence score fails to meet a predetermined confidence score threshold prior to the response being sent to the end user.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the message is normalized via the processor to determine words of interest prior to the user's topic of interest being fulfilled.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium configured to store instructions that when executed cause a processor to perform:

performing via a processor, a natural language interpretation of a message posted on a website data source from an end user responsive to identifying the message posting being related to a predefined monitored entity;

processing via the processor, the message to determine the user's topic of interest;

generating via a processor, a response to the message responsive to the user's topic of interest; and

sending, via a transmitter, the response to the end user;

wherein the end user is identified by matching user specific information included in the message to pre-stored user specific information stored in a database.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform calculating a confidence score representing a likelihood that the response is accurate prior to sending the response to the end user.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform confirming the user's topic of interest has been addressed in the response.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform notifying the predefined monitored entity of the user's topic of interest.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the message includes an identification portion and a free format text portion and wherein the predefined monitored entity comprises at least one of a company name and a product name.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform transmitting the response to a live agent for review if the calculated confidence score fails to meet a predetermined confidence score threshold prior to sending the response to the end user.

Assignments (4)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 30, 2021
From: OPEN INVENTION NETWORK LLC
To: PHILIPS NORTH AMERICA LLC
Reel/Frame 058600/0296 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 13, 2021
From: FISHER, AARON SCOTT; POLLOCK, BRUCE; WITT-EHSANI, SILKE
To: WEST CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 058105/0289 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 27, 2017
From: WEST CORPORATION
To: OPEN INVENTION NETWORK, LLC
Reel/Frame 044791/0681 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Nov 3, 2017
From: U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
To: WEST CORPORATION; WEST INTERACTIVE SERVICES CORPORATION; WEST SAFETY SERVICES, INC.; WEST UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES, INC.; RELIANCE COMMUNICATIONS, LLC
Reel/Frame 044363/0380 →