Reducing negative effects of service waiting time in humanmachine interaction to improve the user experience

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11068518-B2
Application number	US-201815981946-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 17, 2018
Priority date	May 17, 2018
Publication date	Jul 20, 2021
Grant date	Jul 20, 2021

Abstract

A query including a question from a user is received by a device. It is determined that the question and an associated answer is not found in a local cache of the device. At least one category for the question is determined. At least one cloud service for answering the question is determined. The at least one cloud service is in communication with the device via a network. A request including the question is sent to the at least one cloud service. Selecting a behavior is selected based upon the at least one category. The behavior includes a feedback to the user to reduce a perceived waiting time by the user. The behavior is executed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, by a device, a query including a question from a user;
determining that the question and an associated answer is not found in a local cache of the device;
identifying, by matching a word in the question with a set of keywords, at least one category of the question;
determining at least one cloud service for answering the question, the at least one cloud service in communication with the device via a network;
sending a request including the question to the at least one cloud service;
selecting, subsequent to identifying the at least one category of the question, a behavior in the at least one category of the question, the behavior including a machine-executable interactive voice-based encoded feedback (feedback) to the user to reduce a perceived waiting time by the user, a content of the feedback selected according to the at least one category of the question and according to user profile data stored in a user profile associated with the user; and
executing the behavior.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that a response to the request has not been received from the at least one cloud service within a first predetermined time period;
selecting an additional behavior, the additional behavior including an additional feedback to the user to reduce the perceived waiting time by the user; and
executing the additional behavior.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
determining that the response to the request has not been received from the at least one cloud service within a second predetermined time period; and
providing an alternative option to the user.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein selecting the additional behavior includes selecting a behavior having a shortest execution time length among available behaviors in the at least one category.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that a response to the request has been received from the at least one cloud services; and
providing an answer received in a response to the user.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the at least one category of the question includes matching a keyword in the question to a keyword associated with the at least one category.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the behavior is further based upon an execution time length of the behavior.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the behavior is selected from available behaviors in the at least one category such that a time difference between when the behavior execution ends and an arrival time of a response from the at least one cloud service is minimized.

9. A computer usable program product comprising one or more computer-readable storage devices, and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices, the stored program instructions comprising:
program instructions to receive, by a device, a query including a question from a user;
program instructions to determine that the question and an associated answer is not found in a local cache of the device;
program instructions to identify, by matching a word in the question with a set of keywords, at least one category of the question;
program instructions to determine at least one cloud service for answering the question, the at least one cloud service in communication with the device via a network;
program instructions to send a request including the question to the at least one cloud service;
program instructions to select, subsequent to identifying the at least one category of the question, a behavior in the at least one category of the question, the behavior including a machine-executable interactive voice-based encoded feedback (feedback) to the user to reduce a perceived waiting time by the user, a content of the feedback selected according to the at least one category of the question and according to user profile data stored in a user profile associated with the user; and
program instructions to execute the behavior.

10. The computer usable program product of claim 9 , further comprising:
program instructions to determine that a response to the request has not been received from the at least one cloud service within a first predetermined time period;
program instructions to select an additional behavior, the additional behavior including an additional feedback to the user to reduce the perceived waiting time by the user; and
program instructions to execute the additional behavior.

11. The computer usable program product of claim 10 , further comprising:
program instructions to determine that the response to the request has not been received from the at least one cloud service within a second predetermined time period; and
program instructions to provide an alternative option to the user.

12. The computer usable program product of claim 10 , wherein selecting the additional behavior includes selecting a behavior having a shortest execution time length among available behaviors in the at least one category.

13. The computer usable program product of claim 9 , further comprising:
program instructions to determine that a response to the request has been received from the at least one cloud service; and
program instructions to provide an answer received in the response to the user.

14. The computer usable program product of claim 9 , wherein determining the at least one category for the question includes matching a keyword in the question to a keyword associated with the at least one category.

15. The computer usable program product of claim 9 , wherein computer usable code is stored in a computer readable storage device in a data processing system, and wherein the computer usable code is transferred over a network from a remote data processing system.

16. The computer usable program product of claim 9 , wherein computer usable code is stored in a computer readable storage device in a server data processing system, and wherein the computer usable code is downloaded over a network to a remote data processing system for use in a computer readable storage device associated with the remote data processing system.

17. A computer system comprising one or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories, and one or more computer-readable storage devices, and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more computer-readable memories, the stored program instructions comprising:
program instructions to receive, by a device, a query including a question from a user;
program instructions to determine that the question and an associated answer is not found in a local cache of the device;
program instructions to identify, by matching a word in the question with a set of keywords, at least one category of the question;
program instructions to determine at least one cloud service for answering the question, the at least one cloud service in communication with the device via a network;
program instructions to send a request including the question to the at least one cloud service;
program instructions to select, subsequent to identifying the at least one category of the question, a behavior in the at least one category of the question, the behavior including a machine-executable interactive voice-based encoded feedback (feedback) to the user to reduce a perceived waiting time by the user, a content of the feedback selected according to the at least one category of th

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Guo Shang Q
• Mukherjee Maharaj
• Lenchner Jonathan
• Murdock Jr John S

Classifications

• G10L15/22 Primary

  Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue · CPC title

• G06F16/951

  Indexing; Web crawling techniques · CPC title

• G10L2015/223

  Execution procedure of a spoken command · CPC title

• G06F16/35

  Clustering; Classification · CPC title

• G06F16/3329 Primary

  Natural language query formulation · CPC title