ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,272,355, issued on April 8, was assigned to ConverzAI Inc. (Redmond, Wash.).

"System and method for providing a virtual speech agent for simulated conversations and conversational feedback" was invented by Ashwarya Poddar (Kirkland, Wash.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A system for improving conversational skills using a virtual speech agent is disclosed, including a virtual speech agent to execute a phone call between the virtual agent and a user. The virtual speech agent and user engage in a back-and-forth conversation, wherein the virtual speech agent generates a summary and a feedback report in view of the conversation."

The patent ...