Method and apparatus for development, deployment, and maintenance of a voice software application for distribution to one or more consumers

Abstract

A system for developing, deploying and maintaining a voice application over a communications network to one or more recipients has a voice application server connected to a data network for storing and serving voice applications, a network communications server connected to the data network and to the communications network for routing the voice applications to their intended recipients, a computer station connected to the data network having control access to at least the voice application server, and a software application running on the computer station for creating applications and managing their states. The system is characterized in that a developer operating the software application from the computer station creates voice applications through object modeling and linking, stores them for deployment in the application server, and manages deployment and state of deployed applications including scheduled deployment and repeat deployments in terms of intended recipients.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A system for developing and deploying a voice application over a communications network to one or more recipients comprising: 
 a voice application server connected to a data network for storing and serving voice applications;    a network communications server connected to the data network and to the communications network for routing the voice applications to their intended recipients;    a computer station connected to the data network having control access to at least the voice application server; and    a software application running on the computer station for creating applications and managing their states;    characterized in that a developer operating the software application from the computer station creates voice applications through object modeling and linking, stores them for deployment in the application server, and manages deployment and state of deployed applications including scheduled deployment and repeat deployments in terms of intended recipients.    
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the communications network is a telephony network accessible to the data network.  
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the communication network is a data network.  
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3  wherein the communications network is the Internet network.  
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the voice application server serves voice applications through the data network to the network communications server.  
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the network communications server is a telephony server.  
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the telephony server is VXML compliant and is connected to a telephony network.  
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7  wherein the telephony network is a PSTN network.  
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the computer station is a desktop computer station having a display monitor.  
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the computer station is a lap top computer having a wireless connection to the data network  
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the computer station and the voice application server share the same physical domain.  
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the domain is a building.  
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the domain is a machine.  
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the communications server is an Internet server enabled for voice using VXML.  
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the one or more recipients use a telephone to access the voice application.  
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the one or more recipients use a computer to access the voice application.  
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising a voice portal.  
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17  wherein the voice portal is an IVR.  
     
     
         19 . A software application for designing and deploying voice applications over a communications network comprising: 
 a client interface for creating and managing contacts for receiving voice applications;    a client interface for designing dialogs including responses of a voice application;    a client interface for creating and managing actions related to dialog deployment based on call exception handling; and    a client interface for integrating dialogs and data fetch and send operations to form a complete executable voice application;    characterized in that the operations configured and executed are parameters of dialog objects integrated to form the voice application and wherein execution of a first dialog object results in at least one of an expected state including interaction resulting in subsequent execution of further dialog objects and or configured actions including data fetch and send operations associated with the objects and with interaction with the dialogs.    
     
     
         20 . The software application of  claim 19  wherein the communications network is a telephony network accessible to a data network.  
     
     
         21 . The software application of  claim 19  wherein the communications network is a data network.  
     
     
         22 . The software application of  claim 21  wherein the communications network is the Internet network.  
     
     
         23 . The software application of  claim 19  adapted to run on a computer station.  
     
     
         24 . The software application of  claim 23  wherein the computer station is a desktop computer.  
     
     
         25 . The software application of  claim 23  wherein the computer station is a lap top computer.  
     
     
         26 . The software application of  claim 19  wherein the client interface is platform independent.  
     
     
         27 . The software application of  claim 19  wherein object modeling is used to create the voice applications.  
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 1  further comprising a dialog controller within the application server, the dialog controller adapted to access business rules and to access stored data according to interpretation of dialog responses received.  
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 28  wherein the stored data is accessed from a third-party source.  
     
     
         30 . A method for developing an interactive voice application using an object oriented software application comprising steps of: 
 (a) naming and describing a voice application under development;    (b) identifying contacts for receiving the voice application;    (c) creating at least one executable dialog defining the voice application;    (d) applying business rules and exception handling rules for each dialog created;    (e) configuring the state of execution of the voice application; and    (d) deploying the voice application for launch according to type.    
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 30  wherein in step (c) the dialog is configured for one of inbound deployment or outbound deployment.  
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 30  wherein in step (d) the exceptions are telephony events.  
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 30  wherein in step (e) includes scheduling parameters.  
     
     
         34 . A voice application server for developing and serving voice applications to a distribution point in a network comprising: 
 an instance of voice application development software for developing application components;    an input port for enabling network access to the application server;    a resource adapter and application program interface for accessing data from internal or external data sources; and    application logic for directing application development and deployment;    characterized in that a developer designs and configures applications for deployment from application server from a remote address and wherein the application server serves the completed applications to the distribution point based on pre-defined rules.