Ultra-Info Application Module The FAR Voice

Creating/Maintaining an Info-Line

An Info-Line consists of many pieces of recorded information that a caller accesses by pressing a series of touch tones in response to verbal menus. The information must be changed from time-to-time, often frequently. Information access may be structured either as a tree or as a 'directory entry.' In a tree organization the caller selects categories from a series of verbal menus. In a directory organization the caller is prompted to enter the 3 digit code of the information you want. In many cases tree and directory structures are mixed.

The Problem top of page

Many applications require the tree structure itself to change occasionally - for example, from season to season, or before and after principal events. Though information trees are easy to understand, creating and changing the tree structure still involves a form of programming. Such programming may be simple, or it may be cumbersome, depending upon the particular system, but it is always bothersome and time consuming.

And then there are the complications. Some branches of the tree must terminate in lists. Some of the lists need to rotate with each caller. Or an option for taking messages or transferring a caller to an operator may be required.

The Solution top of page

The FAR Systems Ultra-Info Application Module greatly simplifies the creation and maintenance of information trees and allows the system to be configured so that even major changes to a tree structure can happen automatically.

To create a structure, the system administrator diagrams the tree structure desired, and using a simple fill-in-the-blank form, assigns 'reference codes' to each of the branches. Entries are then made into data bases for each of these branches and the specified speech files are recorded using another FAR Systems application, Ultra-Record. That's it! The system is re-configured!

The information required to create any type of list or message function is entered into simple data bases. The creation of complex info-systems is reduced to an exercise of filling in a form. The system can accommodate up to 1000 separate tree/directory structures, all interleaved.

Each of the branches may terminate in any type of activity:

Many Types of Lists top of page

Delivering lists of information requires flexibility. Lists may consist of either single items or pairs of items (like a short description and then a longer more detailed description accessed by interrupting the 'short list' by a touch tone). Within a list, callers may traverse the list forwards or backwards. A list may start at a different point for each caller so that no one item is always first or last in the list. Some lists are linear (they have a beginning and an end) and some are circular (the 'end' and the 'beginning' are tied together). All of these types are supported!