Method and apparatus for enhancing compound documents with questions and answers

• US 8,468,203 B2
• Filed: 05/16/2012
• Issued: 06/18/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rakuten Group, Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hind, John, Chen, Li, Li, Yongcheng, Xiao, Lun
• Primary Examiner(s): VU, VIET DUY
• Application Number:
  US13/472,727
• Publication Number:
  US 20120226762A1
• Time in Patent Office: 398 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/205, 709/217, 709/219, 709/223, 709/224
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A server system runs a bot service that registers an FAQ (frequently asked questions) for a document having an embedded object. The FAQ includes one or more question-and-answer (Q&A) pairs. The bot service receives, from each electronics device that renders a copy of the document, a request from the embedded object for the FAQ registered for the document, and transmits the FAQ to each electronic device from which a request is received. Each electronics device displays the FAQ, including the one or more Q&A pairs, within its rendered copy of the document. Any viewer of a copy of the document with the embedded object can submit a question to the bot service through the embedded object. The bot service uses a messaging service to obtain an answer to the question from an author. The FAQs displayed at the electronics devices are updated to include the new Q&A pair.

Claims

1. A computer program product for inserting collaborative communications into a displayed document, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to render a document with an embedded object;

computer readable program code configured to periodically poll, by the embedded object in response to rendering the document, a bot service executing on a server system by sending a request to the bot service for an updated list of question-and-answer (Q&

A) pairs associated with the document;

computer readable program code configured to receive, from the bot service in response to the request, the list of question-and-answer (Q&

A) pairs;

computer readable program code configured to display the received list of Q&

A pairs in the rendered document; and

computer readable program code configured to submit a question to the bot service through the object embedded in the document.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising:

computer readable program code configured to receive from the bot service an answer to the question; and

computer readable program code configured to update the displayed list of Q&

A pairs in the rendered document to include the question submitted to the bot service and the answer received from the bot service.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising computer readable program code configured to configure the embedded object to point to a host address of the bot service and to specify an identifier to be used by the bot service to access the list of Q&

A pairs.

4. A method for inserting collaborative content in a document distributed to one or more viewers, the method comprising:

registering, by an author of a document having an embedded object, a FAQ (frequently asked question) to a bot service, the FAQ including one or more Q&

A pairs associated with the document, each Q&

A pair including a solution to the respective question;

periodically polling the bot service and receiving, from at least one electronics device rendering a copy of the document having the object embedded therein, a request from the embedded object to update the FAQ that is registered for the document at the bot service;

transmitting the FAQ from the bot service including the one or more Q&

A pairs associated with the document to each electronics device from which the request is received; and

receiving a question from the object embedded in the copy of the document rendered on a given electronics device.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising sending a message containing the question to the author of the document.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving, from the author, a message containing an answer to the question;

updating, in response to receiving the message containing the answer, the FAQ associated with the document to include a new Q&

A pair comprised of the question received from the object embedded in the copy of the document rendered on the given electronics device and the answer received from the author; and

transmitting the new Q&

A pair to the object embedded in the copy of the document rendered on the given electronics device.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising updating the FAQ that is displayed in the copy of the document rendered at each of the other electronics devices to include the new Q&

A pair.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

associating an identifier with the question contained in the message sent to the author of the document; and

matching the answer to the question based on the identifier.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the message containing the question and the message containing the answer are instant messages.

10. A collaborative communication system comprising:

a server system running a bot service that registers an FAQ for a document having an embedded object, the FAQ including one or more Q&

A pairs associated with the document, each Q&

A pair including a solution to the respective question, the bot service receiving, from each electronics device that renders a copy of the document, a periodic polling request from the embedded object for the FAQ registered for the document, the bot service transmitting the FAQ including the one or more Q&

A pairs associated with the document to each electronic device from which a request is received, and wherein the bot service receives a question from the object embedded in the copy of the document rendered on a given one of the electronics devices.

11. The collaborative communication system of claim 10, wherein the bot service associates the registered FAQ with a list of IM endpoints and filters for each IM endpoint that determine when that IM endpoint is available to answer questions and a type of questions that that IM endpoint will answer, each IM endpoint representing an author or group of authors of the document, and the bot service applies the filters for each IM endpoint in the list of IM endpoints to a content of the question to select at least one of the IM endpoints as a candidate for answering the received question.

12. The collaborative communication system of claim 10, wherein the server system runs a messaging service that sends a message containing the question to an author of the document.

13. The collaborative communication system of claim 12, wherein the messaging service is an instant messaging service.

14. The collaborative communication system of claim 12, wherein the messaging service receives from the author a message containing an answer to the question, and the bot service updates, in response to the received message containing the answer, the FAQ associated with the document to include a new Q&

A pair comprised of the question received from the object embedded in the copy of the document rendered on the given electronics device and the answer received from the author, and transmits the new Q&

A pair to the object embedded in the copy of the document rendered on the given electronics device.

15. The collaborative communication system of claim 14, wherein each of the other electronics devices updates the FAQ that is displayed in its rendered copy of the document to include the new Q&

A pair.

16. The collaborative communication system of claim 14, wherein the bot service associates an identifier with the question contained in the message sent to the author of the document, and matches the received answer to the question based on the identifier.

17. The collaborative communication system of claim 14, wherein the message containing the question and the message containing the answer are instant messages.