TeleFlow Glossary
From TeleFlow
The following section is a list of common words and terms used within TeleFlow Applications, and documentation.
| TERM | DESCRIPTION |
| Events | See the ‘Data Collected’ subsection of the ‘Statistics’ section of this document for information on ‘Events’. |
| Hunt Group | This is a telephone company term. A hunt group is any number of Telephone Lines grouped together under a Pilot Number. When a call comes in, if the pilot number is busy, the next number in the group is tried. If that line is busy, the next number is tried, and so on. Hence, the group “hunts” for an available line to accept the call. See also “Telephone Line Group” and “Pilot Line” |
| IVR | Interactive Voice Response; a generic term for the technology that enables computers to be used to handle telephone calls and interact with callers. |
| IVR Port | Term used to describe a single phone line connection to an IVR system. In this case, a “single phone line” is capable of supporting a single “conversation” between two parties (such as a caller and the automated system/IVR) |
| Line | This is an ambiguous term, and should be avoided. A “Line” could refer to an IVR Port, a physical telephone line, or a single instance of a TeleFlow application. One instance of a TeleFlow application monitors a single IVR Port, which is connected to a single physical telephone line. Hence, the application itself is often referred to as a “Line”. |
| Pilot Line | A single telephone line designated as the main phone number for a “Hunt Group”. See also “Hunt Group”. |
| Speech Recognition server software (SR) | This software provides the ability “comprehend” or “understand” human speech. Grammars are used to compare voice recordings (called Utterances) from callers or users of “Voice Applications” including those created in TeleFlow. Utterances when matched to a grammar entry create codes or test which can then be interpreted and acted on by the Voice Applications Software. SR servers generally communicate to Voice Applications Software (Such as TeleFlow Server) using IP packets to accept vocalized waveforms, and then return words and/or text. |
| Supporting Software | The software that provides additional functionality for the Voice Applications Server. Software in the class may include web server, data management and loading applications, and reporting solutions. |
| Text to Speech server software (TTS) | This software provides the ability to vocal text or words. This software will create human sounding speech best on dictionaries for common words, names and places. For other words, the best guess is taken based on sounds within the human language. TTS servers generally communicate to Voice Applications Software (Such as TeleFlow Server) using IP packets to accepts word and text, and then to return the vocalized waveform. |
| Telephone Line Group | A logical grouping of Telephone Lines to serve a common purpose. A Telephone Line Group will usually have one main telephone number, or “Pilot Line”. See also “Hunt Group” and “Pilot Line” |
| TeleFlow Applications | Voice applications created using TeleFlow’s graphical interface known as Designer, are saved to a tagged file format. These tagged files (including “Tap” and Tam”) are provided to the TeleFlow Server Software, which then processes them according to rules and logical flow. With TeleFlow, these Voice Applications are expressed by flowcharts. Functional icons, known as “Steps”, are used to not only build logical flow, but also interact with other environments such as databases, Text To Speech (TTS) servers, and process results from Speech Recognition (SR) servers. |
| TeleFlow Server Software | The TeleFlow Server Software accepts tagged files (including “Tap” and Tam”) created with TeleFlow Designer. TeleFlow Server executes the instructions in the tagged files. TeleFlow Server communicate with voice hardware, databases, and other services such as Text To Speech (TTS) servers, and Speech Recognition (SR) servers. This activity specifically comprises an operating Voice Application, or “TeleFlow Application” |
| Utterance | An Utterance is a vocalization from a caller. It could be anything including a simple word, a short sentence, or even a cough. TeleFlow Server, when configured as a Speech Recognition environment will sense sound, and record it to memory. It is then passed to the Speech Recognition (SR) Server environment and tested for matches in the grammar currently in use. |
| Voice Applications Server | A Voice Applications Server, in the computer that houses the voice hardware and runs all the software required to provide a Voice Services. This documentation may sometimes also refer to this as the “TeleFlow Server Computer”. |
| Voice Applications Software | This is the software and/or applications that provide voice services. Voice Applications Software includes TeleFlow Server Software, and the applications (created using TeleFlow Designer) on which it runs. |
| Voice Hardware | Hardware that provides the connection to Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN) and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) networks. This hardware enables TeleFlow Applications to provide the same or similar service for all communications protocols. Separate hardware is required from a PC computer because it is specifically built for the task of processing voice calls. |
