Conversation-enabled document system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11582170-B2
Application number	US-202117364601-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 30, 2021
Priority date	Jul 1, 2019
Publication date	Feb 14, 2023
Grant date	Feb 14, 2023

Abstract

One embodiment comprises a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions executable to access a conversation-enabled document and expose the conversation-enabled document on a conversation channel as a conversation into the conversation-enabled document. The conversation-enabled document can comprise a conversation component for controlling a conversation interface into the conversation-enabled document, the conversation component specifying conversation steps, routing between conversation steps and a document variable to accept a conversation participant response. The computer-executable instructions can be executable to set a document variable value in the conversation-enabled document based on the participant response received via the conversation interface; and render the conversation-enabled document to a response channel using the document variable and the page template.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions executable to:
access a conversation-enabled document and expose the conversation-enabled document on an initial conversation channel as a conversation into the conversation-enabled document, the conversation-enabled document comprising:
a conversation component for controlling a conversation interface into the conversation-enabled document, the conversation component specifying conversation steps, routing between the conversation steps, a seed document variable, and a response document variable;
document data comprising data records for a plurality of potential conversation participants, the data records for the plurality of potential conversation participants having document variable values for the seed document variable; and
a page template specifying page content and referencing the seed document variable and the response document variable, wherein the conversation-enabled document comprises a set of files that provide an atomic unit and enable the conversation-enabled document to be processed by enterprise applications, the set of files embodying the conversation component, the document data and the page template;

associate the conversation with a conversation participant;
initiate the conversation and retrieve an input value for the seed document variable from a data record corresponding to the conversation participant;
set a new value for the response document variable in the conversation-enabled document based on a conversation participant response received via the conversation interface; and
render the conversation-enabled document to a response channel using the response document variable and the page template to populate a page.

2. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein rendering the conversation-enabled document to the response channel using the response document variable and the page template to populate the page comprises:
determining content with which to populate the page based on the new value for the response document variable; and
populating the page using the determined content according to the page template.

3. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 2 , wherein determining the content with which to populate the page comprises using the new value for the response document variable to retrieve data with which to populate the page from a data source.

4. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 2 , wherein the page template references a third document variable, wherein determining the content with which to populate the page based on the new value for the response document variable comprises determining a first variable value for the third document variable that is associated with the new value for the response document variable, wherein the determined content comprises the first variable value for the third document variable.

5. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the page template references a third document variable, wherein the data records for the plurality of potential conversation participants comprise document variable values for the third document variable associated with the variable values for the seed document variable and wherein the computer-executable instructions are executable to:
select a first variable value for the third document variable that is associated with the input value for the seed document variable; and
populate the page with the first variable value for the third document variable according to the page template.

6. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the conversation component specifies a third document variable, wherein the conversation-enabled document comprises logic mapping a first value for the third document variable to the page template, and wherein the computer-executable instructions are executable to:
set the third document variable to the first value for the third document variable based on the conversation participant response; and
select the page template for rendering the conversation-enabled document to the response channel based on the third document variable being set to the first value for the third document variable.

7. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the computer-executable instructions are executable to:
receive a document design that specifies the seed document variable, a data mapping of the seed document variable to a data source, the document design comprising a conversation template and a page template, the conversation template defining a conversation state machine;
generate the conversation-enabled document from the document design, wherein generating the conversation-enabled document comprises:
retrieving the document variable values for the seed document variable from the data source according to the data mapping and storing the document variable values in the document data; and
generating the conversation component based on the conversation template, the conversation component embodying the conversation state machine.

8. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the conversation comprises a set of node templates representing the conversation steps and wherein the computer-executable instructions are executable to:
parse the conversation component;
create a conversation graph comprising nodes created from the node templates; and
control the conversation based on the conversation graph.

9. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the computer-executable instructions are executable to provide a plurality of connectors adapted to translate the nodes of the conversation graph to heterogenous conversation channels.

10. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the computer-executable instructions are executable to:
initiate a finite state machine for tracking a current state of the conversation, the finite state machine comprising a set of states, each state in the set of states corresponding to a respective node in the conversation graph;
receive a request for a step in the conversation from a conversation framework; and
translate the respective node to which the current state corresponds to a format consumable by the conversation framework for presenting the conversation interface.

11. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the conversation-enabled document is a conversation-enabled interactive document having a web intrinsic portion.

12. A conversation-enabled document method comprising:
accessing a conversation-enabled document and exposing the conversation-enabled document on an initial conversation channel as a conversation into the conversation-enabled document, the conversation-enabled document comprising:
a conversation component for controlling a conversation interface into the conversation-enabled document, the conversation component specifying conversation steps, routing between the conversation steps, a seed document variable, and a response document variable;
document data comprising data records for a plurality of potential conversation participants, the data records for the plurality of potential conversation participants having document variable values for the seed document variable; and
a page template specifying page content and referencing the seed document variable and the response document variable, wherein the conversation-enabled document comprises a set of files that provide an atomic unit and enable the conversation-enabled document to be processed by enterprise applications, the set of files embody

Assignees

• Open Text Corp

Inventors

• Downs James Matthew
• Pruitt Byron Steven
• Cole Jeffrey Alan
• Wiley Anthony

Classifications

• G06F16/93

  Document management systems · CPC title

• H04L51/02 Primary

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

• H04L51/046 Primary

  Interoperability with other network applications or services · CPC title

• G06F40/186

  Templates · CPC title