Temporary slots for storing chat data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11010558-B2
Application number	US-201815885355-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 31, 2018
Priority date	Jan 31, 2018
Publication date	May 18, 2021
Grant date	May 18, 2021

Abstract

This disclosure relates to configuration tools for interactive agents, sometimes referred to as bots, chatbots, virtual robots, or talkbots. Such interactive agents utilize slots for organizing and storing data received as inputs and displayed as outputs. These slots can be configured such that a slot is temporary and does not persist beyond its source dialog. Slots can also be configured such that a slot is pre-populated with information contain in incoming passed parameters.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
receiving, by one or more processors, a request to launch an interactive agent from a chat application from which the interactive agent is launched;
retrieving, by the one or more processors, an interactive agent configuration comprising a plurality of slots, a plurality of dialogs, and a slot definition for each slot in the plurality of slots, wherein each slot in the plurality of slots is configured to store an input value received from a user during a conversation, and wherein the slot definition comprises a passed parameters flag and a temporary flag, wherein each dialog of the plurality of dialogs specifies actions that the interactive agent performs in the conversation with the user, wherein the actions indicate an order for transitioning through the plurality of dialogs, wherein each slot in the plurality of slots stores data received from the user, and wherein the interactive agent configuration is specified in an interactive agent configuration tool;
performing, by the one or more processors, an incoming parameter match on parameters passed by a referrer when the passed parameters flag indicates that the incoming parameter match should be performed, wherein the incoming parameter match compares the slot to a parameter name in the parameters, determines a matched value associated with the parameter name, and initializes the value to the matched value when the matched value is determined;
deploying, by the one or more processors, a first interactive agent to the chat application that presents a first dialog in the plurality of dialogs in the conversation, wherein the first dialog in the plurality of dialogs is determined using a natural language engine that recognizes a user's intent in text entered in the chat application, and wherein the first interactive agent displays the matched value when the matched value is determined;
obtaining, by the one or more processors, an input value from the user in response to the first dialog;
storing the input value in the slot;
determining whether the temporary flag associated with the slot is set; and
upon completion of the first dialog, deploying a second interactive agent to the chat application that presents a second dialog in a second conversation with the user, wherein an availability of the stored input value in the second conversation is based on a determination of whether the temporary flag associated with the slot is set or not set, wherein the passed parameters flag and the temporary flag are set using checkboxes presented in the interactive agent configuration tool prior to deploying the chat application.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the one or more processors, an updated-value as text; and
applying, by the one or more processors, natural language processing to the updated value; and
storing, by the one or more processors, the updated value in the slot.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
storing, by the one or more processors, a set of mutually exclusive options for the slot; and
receiving, by the one or more processors, an updated value using a graphical control element that allows selection of one of the mutually exclusive options; and
storing, by the one or more processors, the updated value in the slot.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request is a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the referrer is the second interactive agent.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
clearing, by the one or more processors, the input value before deploying the second interactive agent that presents a second dialog to the user when the temporary flag associated with the slot is set.

7. A system, comprising:
a memory; and
at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to:
receive a request to launch an interactive agent from a chat application from which the interactive agent is launched;
retrieve an interactive agent configuration comprising a plurality of slots, a plurality of dialogs, and a slot definition for each slot in the plurality of slots, wherein each slot in the plurality of slots is configured to store an input value received from a user during a conversation, and wherein the slot definition comprises a passed parameters flag and a temporary flag, wherein each dialog of the plurality of dialogs specifies actions that the interactive agent performs in the conversation with the user, wherein the actions indicate an order for transitioning through the plurality of dialogs, wherein each slot in the plurality of slots stores data received from the user, and wherein the interactive agent configuration is specified in an interactive agent configuration tool;
perform an incoming parameter match on parameters passed by a referrer when the passed parameters flag indicates that the incoming parameter match should be performed, wherein the incoming parameter match compares the slot to a parameter name in the parameters, determines a matched value associated with the parameter name, and initializes the input value to the matched value when the matched value is determined;
deploy a first interactive agent to the chat application that presents a first dialog in the plurality of dialogs in the conversation, wherein the first dialog in the plurality of dialogs is determined using a natural language engine that recognizes a user's intent in text entered in the chat application, and wherein the first interactive agent displays the matched value when the matched value is determined;
obtain an input value from the user in response to the first dialog;
store the input value in the slot;
determine whether the temporary flag associated with the slot is set; and
upon completion of the first dialog, deploy a second interactive agent to the chat application that presents a second dialog in a second conversation with the user, wherein an availability of the stored input value in the second conversation is based on a determination of whether the temporary flag associated with the slot is set or not set, wherein the passed parameters flag and the temporary flag are set using checkboxes presented in the interactive agent configuration tool prior to deploying the chat application.

8. The system of claim 7 , the at least one processor further configured to:
receive an updated value as text;
apply natural language processing to the updated value; and
store the updated value in the slot.

9. The system of claim 7 , the at least one processor further configured to:
store a set of mutually exclusive options for the slot;
receive an updated value using a graphical control element that allows selection of one of the mutually exclusive options; and
store the updated value in the slot.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the request is a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request.

11. The system of claim 7 , wherein the referrer is the second interactive agent.

12. The system of claim 7 , the at least one processor further configured to:
clear the input value before deploying the second interactive agent that presents a second dialog to the user when the temporary flag associated with the slot is set.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable device having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one computing device, causes the at least one computing device to perform operations comprising:
receiving a request to launch an interactive agent from a chat application from which the interactive agent is launched;
retrieving an interactive agent configuration comprising a plurality of slots, a plurality of dialogs

Assignees

• Salesforce Com Inc

Inventors

• Mahar Molly
• Morales Jonathan Rico
• Mumm Jacob
• Miller Karson

Classifications

• G06F8/34

  Graphical or visual programming · CPC title

• H04L51/02 Primary

  using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages · CPC title

• G06F40/30 Primary

  Semantic analysis · CPC title