Interactive command assistant for an interactive whiteboard appliance

• US 10,417,021 B2
• Filed: 03/04/2016
• Issued: 09/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Malatesha, Rathnakara
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Linh K
• Application Number:
  US15/061,793
• Publication Number:
  US 20170255477A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,292 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45512 Command shells

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing an interactive command assistant on an interactive whiteboard appliance is provided. A method comprises: generating an interactive command assistant chat window comprising a prompt; receiving a command word; submitting, to an interactive command manager, the command word causing the interactive command manager to identify a tree having the command word as a non-leaf node and including a second response options as child nodes of the non-leaf node; receiving the second response options each comprising an object word corresponding to the command word; displaying, in the interactive command assistant chat window, the second response options; receiving, via the interactive command assistant chat window, a second response option; in response to determining that the combination of the first response option and the second response option represent the complete command, generate an executable command; automatically causing the interactive whiteboard appliance to execute the executable command.

Claims

1. An interactive whiteboard appliance comprising:

one or more processors;

a non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions embodied thereon, the instructions when executed by the one or more processors cause performance of;

generating, at the interactive whiteboard appliance, an interactive command assistant chat window, the interactive command assistant chat window comprising a prompt including a first set of response options for the prompt, wherein each response option from the first set of response options comprises a command word;

receiving a first selection of a first response option from the first set of response options;

submitting, to an interactive command manager, the command word for the first response option and causing the interactive command manager to identify a hierarchical structure from a plurality of hierarchical structures stored in a knowledge base having the command word as a non-leaf node and including a second set of response options as child nodes of the non-leaf node;

receiving, from the interactive command manager, the second set of response options, wherein each response option, from the second set of response options, comprises an object word corresponding to the command word;

displaying, in the interactive command assistant chat window, the second set of response options;

receiving, via the interactive command assistant chat window, a second selection of a second response option from the second set of response options;

submitting, to the interactive command manager, the second response option and causing the interactive command manager to determine whether a combination of the first response option and the second response option represent a complete command and, in response to determining that the combination of the first response option and the second response option represent the complete command, generate, from the first response option and the second response option, an executable command of an application executed by the interactive whiteboard appliance;

receiving, from the interactive command manager, the executable command;

automatically causing the interactive whiteboard appliance to execute the executable command.

2. The interactive whiteboard appliance of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause:

receiving, in the interactive command assistant chat window, a command phrase including a different command word and a different object word;

submitting, to the interactive command manager, the different command word and causing the interactive command manager to identify a different hierarchical structure from the plurality of hierarchical structures stored in the knowledge base corresponding to the different command word;

receiving, from the interactive command manager, a third set of response options each comprising an object word corresponding to the command word;

determining that the object word matches a third response option of the third set of response options;

submitting, to the interactive command manager, the third response option and causing the interactive command manager to determine whether a combination of the different command word and the different object word option represent a complete command, in response to determining that the combination of the different command word and the different object word represent the complete command, and to generate, from the different command word and the different object word, a different executable command of the interactive whiteboard appliance;

receiving, from the interactive command manager, the different executable command;

automatically causing the interactive whiteboard appliance to execute the different executable command.

3. The interactive whiteboard appliance of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause:

determining whether the second response option is the first response option,

in response to determining that the second response option is not the first response option, submitting, to the interactive command manager, the second response option and causing the interactive command manager to identify, from the hierarchical structure from a plurality of hierarchical structures stored in the knowledge base corresponding to the command word, one or more third response options that are child nodes of the second response option;

receiving, from the interactive command manager the one or more third response options;

displaying, in the interactive command assistant chat window, the one or more third response options;

receiving, in interactive command assistant chat window, a third selection of a third response option of the one or more third response options;

determining that the third response option is the first response option.

4. The interactive whiteboard appliance of claim 1, wherein the interactive command manager determines that the second response option is the first response option by:

receiving, from the interactive command manager, an instruction that at least one response option from the second set of response options is the first response option;

determining that the selected second response option matches the at least one of the second set of response options that is the first response option.

5. The interactive whiteboard appliance of claim 1, wherein the interactive command manager determines that the second response option is the first response option by:

determining, that the first response option and the second response option together are associated with a stored executable command.

6. The interactive whiteboard appliance of claim 1, wherein the first selection of the first response option is received via a stylus input device.

7. The interactive whiteboard appliance of claim 1, wherein the first selection of the first response option is received via a microphone associated with the interactive whiteboard appliance.

8. A method comprising:

generating, at an interactive whiteboard appliance, an interactive command assistant chat window, the interactive command assistant chat window comprising a prompt including a first set of response options for the prompt, wherein each response option from the first set of response options comprises a command word;

receiving a first selection of a first response option from the first set of response options;

submitting, to an interactive command manager, the command word for the first response option and causing the interactive command manager to identify a hierarchical structure from a plurality of hierarchical structures stored in a knowledge base having the command word as a non-leaf node and including a second set of response options as child nodes of the non-leaf node;

receiving, from the interactive command manager, the second set of response options, wherein each response option, from the second set of response options, comprises an object word corresponding to the command word;

displaying, in the interactive command assistant chat window, the second set of response options;

receiving, via the interactive command assistant chat window, a second selection of a second response option from the second set of response options;

submitting, to the interactive command manager, the second response option and causing the interactive command manager to determine whether a combination of the first response option and the second response option represent a complete command and, in response to determining that the combination of the first response option and the second response option represent the complete command, generate, from the first response option and the second response option, an executable command of an application executed by the interactive whiteboard appliance;

receiving, from the interactive command manager, the executable command;

automatically causing the interactive whiteboard appliance to execute the executable command.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving, in the interactive command assistant chat window, a command phrase including a different command word and a different object word;

submitting, to the interactive command manager, the different command word and causing the interactive command manager to identify a different hierarchical structure from the plurality of hierarchical structures stored in the knowledge base corresponding to the different command word;

receiving, from the interactive command manager, a third set of response options each comprising an object word corresponding to the command word;

determining that the object word matches a third response option of the third set of response options;

submitting, to the interactive command manager, the third response option and causing the interactive command manager to determine whether a combination of the different command word and the different object word option represent a complete command, in response to determining that the combination of the different command word and the different object word represent the complete command, and to generate, from the different command word and the different object word, a different executable command of the interactive whiteboard appliance;

receiving, from the interactive command manager, the different executable command;

automatically causing the interactive whiteboard appliance to execute the different executable command.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining whether the second response option is the first response option,

in response to determining that the second response option is not the first response option, submitting, to the interactive command manager, the second response option and causing the interactive command manager to identify, from the hierarchical structure from a plurality of hierarchical structures stored in the knowledge base corresponding to the command word, one or more third response options that are child nodes of the second response option;

receiving, from the interactive command manager the one or more third response options;

displaying, in the interactive command assistant chat window, the one or more third response options;

receiving, in interactive command assistant chat window, a third selection of a third response option of the one or more third response options;

determining that the third response option is the first response option.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the interactive command manager determines that the second response option is the first response option by:

receiving, from the interactive command manager, an instruction that at least one response option from the second set of response options is the first response option;

determining that the selected second response option matches the at least one of the second set of response options that is the first response option.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the interactive command manager determines that the second response option is the first response option by:

determining, that the first response option and the second response option together are associated with a stored executable command.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the first selection of the first response option is received via a stylus input device.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the first selection of the first response option is received via a microphone associated with the interactive whiteboard appliance.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions embodied thereon, the instructions when executed by one or more processors cause performance of:

generating, at an interactive whiteboard appliance, an interactive command assistant chat window, the interactive command assistant chat window comprising a prompt including a first set of response options for the prompt, wherein each response option from the first set of response options comprises a command word;

receiving a first selection of a first response option from the first set of response options;

submitting, to an interactive command manager, the command word for the first response option and causing the interactive command manager to identify a hierarchical structure from a plurality of hierarchical structures stored in a knowledge base having the command word as a non-leaf node and including a second set of response options as child nodes of the non-leaf node;

receiving, from the interactive command manager, the second set of response options, wherein each response option, from the second set of response options, comprises an object word corresponding to the command word;

displaying, in the interactive command assistant chat window, the second set of response options;

receiving, via the interactive command assistant chat window, a second selection of a second response option from the second set of response options;

submitting, to the interactive command manager, the second response option and causing the interactive command manager to determine whether a combination of the first response option and the second response option represent a complete command and, in response to determining that the combination of the first response option and the second response option represent the complete command, generate, from the first response option and the second response option, an executable command of an application executed by the interactive whiteboard appliance;

receiving, from the interactive command manager, the executable command;

automatically causing the interactive whiteboard appliance to execute the executable command.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause:

receiving, in the interactive command assistant chat window, a command phrase including a different command word and a different object word;

submitting, to the interactive command manager, the different command word and causing the interactive command manager to identify a different hierarchical structure from the plurality of hierarchical structures stored in the knowledge base corresponding to the different command word;

receiving, from the interactive command manager, a third set of response options each comprising an object word corresponding to the command word;

determining that the object word matches a third response option of the third set of response options;

submitting, to the interactive command manager, the third response option and causing the interactive command manager to determine whether a combination of the different command word and the different object word option represent a complete command, in response to determining that the combination of the different command word and the different object word represent the complete command, and to generate, from the different command word and the different object word, a different executable command of the interactive whiteboard appliance;

receiving, from the interactive command manager, the different executable command;

automatically causing the interactive whiteboard appliance to execute the different executable command.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause:

determining whether the second response option is the first response option,

in response to determining that the second response option is not the first response option, submitting, to the interactive command manager, the second response option and causing the interactive command manager to identify, from the hierarchical structure from a plurality of hierarchical structures stored in the knowledge base corresponding to the command word, one or more third response options that are child nodes of the second response option;

receiving, from the interactive command manager the one or more third response options;

displaying, in the interactive command assistant chat window, the one or more third response options;

receiving, in interactive command assistant chat window, a third selection of a third response option of the one or more third response options;

determining that the third response option is the first response option.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the interactive command manager determines that the second response option is the first response option by:

receiving, from the interactive command manager, an instruction that at least one response option from the second set of response options is the first response option;

determining that the selected second response option matches the at least one of the second set of response options that is the first response option.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the interactive command manager determines that the second response option is the first response option by:

determining, that the first response option and the second response option together are associated with a stored executable command.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the first selection of the first response option is received via a stylus input device.