Personal service assistance in a virtual universe

• US 8,655,674 B2
• Filed: 06/24/2008
• Issued: 02/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated (Kyndryl Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Finn, Peter G., Hamilton, Rick A. II, Katz, Neil A., Seaman, James W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Plucinski, Jami A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bahl, Sangeeta
• Application Number:
  US12/144,877
• Publication Number:
  US 20090319286A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,065 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1.1, 705/26, 705/500, 706/11, 706 45- 48, 706/61
• US Class Current: 705/1.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0617 Representative agent

Abstract

A method of providing personal service assistance in a virtual universe is disclosed. The method provides a customer avatar (CA) access to a personal assistance avatar or personal customer service representative (PCSR) avatar, hereinafter PCSR avatar. Through the PCSR avatar, the CA communicates a need or requests for personal service assistance from a business or organization. The communication of the received request is processed to identify an appropriate business, organization or vendor that meets the need or request. The identified business, organization or vendor is contacted for a representative from the business to accede to the request from the CA. The representative from the business is allowed to assume control of the PCSR avatar to conduct the session necessary for rendering the assistance or transaction. Upon completion of the session, control of the PCSR avatar is reverted to that prior to the session.

Claims

1. A method for rendering personal service assistance in a virtual universe, comprising:

providing access, using at least one computing device, to a single personal customer service representative (PCSR) avatar, wherein the single PCSR avatar interacts with a plurality of customer avatars (CAs);

defining, using the at least one computing device, a request for customer service from one CA of the plurality of CAs via the single PCSR avatar, which is separate and distinct from the CA;

determining, using the at least one computing device, a business based upon the request for customer service from the CA;

connecting, using the at least one computing device, the single PCSR avatar to the business;

facilitating, using the at least one computing device, an interaction between a representative of the business and the CA via the single PCSR avatar, wherein, in response to connecting the single PCSR avatar to the business, the representative of the business automatically takes temporary control of the single PCSR avatar, such that an underlying agent controlling the single PCSR avatar becomes a temporary pass-through agent; and

automatically, upon termination of the interaction, transferring control of the single PCSR avatar back to the underlying agent and terminating the temporary control of the single PCSR avatar by the representative of the business, wherein the underlying agent comprises one of;

an Artificial Intelligence program and a personal assistance BOT.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the defining includes establishing, using the at least one computing device, a simplified determinative logic for interpreting input in communication from the CA with PCSR avatar.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the determining includes extracting, using the at least one computing device, relevant information from a database based on input received from the CA.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the database comprises one selected from a group consisting of:

a relational database, a registry database, a keyword database and a combination thereof, wherein each of the relational database, registry database and the keyword database holds a collection of relevant information on a plurality of businesses.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the relevant information in the registry database includes one selected from a group consisting of:

contact, relationships and mechanism of each business.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the determining extracts, using the at least one computing device, relevant information from the keyword database in the case where no relevant information is extracted from the registry database.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the facilitating further includes temporarily presenting, using the at least one computing device, a current CA screen altered to show a template of associated businesses.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the facilitating further includes teleporting, using the at least one computing device, the CA to a virtual location of the representative of the business.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the access is a non-locale specific function selected from a group consisting of:

a radial button on a screen, a mouse click and a pendent in an inventory of the CA.

10. A system for rendering personal service assistance in a virtual universe, comprising:

a personal customer service component stored in a memory and executable by a processing unit, the personal customer service component comprising;

an access component configured to enable a plurality of customer avatars (CAs) to access and interact with a single personal customer service representative (PCSR) avatar;

a definition component configured to receive a request for personal service assistance from one CA of the plurality of CAs through the single PCSR avatar, which is separate and distinct from the CA;

a determination component configured to determine a business based upon the request for personal service from the CA; and

a facilitator component configured to connect the single PCSR avatar to the business and to facilitate an interaction between a representative of the business and the CA, wherein, in response to connecting the single PCSR avatar to the business, the representative of the business automatically takes temporary control of the single PCSR avatar, such that an underlying agent controlling the single PCSR avatar becomes a temporary pass-through agent and, automatically, upon termination of the interaction, retains control of the single PCSR avatar, such that the temporary control of the single PCSR avatar by the representative of the business is terminated, wherein the underlying agent comprises one of;

an Artificial Intelligence program and a personal assistance BOT.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the definition component establishes a simplified determinative logic based on standard keywords and phrases to facilitate one of a group consisting of:

parsing, comparison and matching with data from a database.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the request includes data converted into text.

13. The system according to claim 10, wherein the determination component determines a contact of the business based on input text data received from the CA by extracting relevant information from a relational database.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the determining component provides a plurality of possible businesses that meet the request for personal service assistance in the case where no contact is determined.

15. The system according to claim 10, wherein the facilitator component includes temporarily presenting a current CA screen altered to show a template of associated businesses.

16. The system according to claim 10, wherein the facilitator component further includes teleporting the CA to a virtual location of the representative of the business.

17. A computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the computer program product including computer instructions, which when executed, enables a computer system to render personal service assistance in a virtual universe, the computer instructions comprising:

providing access to a single personal customer service representative (PCSR) avatar, wherein the single PCSR avatar interacts with a plurality of customer avatars (CAs);

defining a request for customer service from one CA of the plurality of CAs via the single PCSR avatar, which is separate and distinct from the CA;

determining a business based upon the request for customer service from the CA;

connecting the single PCSR avatar to the business;

facilitating an interaction between a representative of the business and the CA via the single PCSR avatar, wherein, in response to connecting the single PCSR avatar to the business, the representative of the business automatically takes temporary control of the single PCSR avatar, such that an underlying agent controlling the single PCSR avatar becomes a temporary pass-through agent; and

automatically, upon termination of the interaction, transferring control of the single PCSR avatar back to the underlying agent and terminating the temporary control of the single PCSR avatar by the representative of the business, wherein the underlying agent comprises one of;

an Artificial Intelligence program and a personal assistance BOT.

18. The computer program product according to claim 17, wherein the defining comprises parsing any input from the CA to establish a simplified determinative logic with standard keywords and phrases.

19. The computer program product according to claim 18, wherein the input from the CA is converted to text to facilitate parsing thereof.

20. The computer program product according to claim 17, wherein the determining comprises extracting relevant information from a database based on input from the CA.

21. The computer program product according to claim 20, wherein the database is one selected from a group consisting of:

a relational database, a registry database, a keyword database and a combination thereof.

22. The computer program product according to claim 21, wherein the database holds one selected from a group consisting of:

a collection of current contacts, relations and mechanism for a plurality of businesses, a collection of businesses associated with various services and a combination thereof.

23. A method for deploying an application in a computer system that renders personal service assistance in a virtual universe, comprising:

providing a computer infrastructure operable to;

provide access to a single personal customer service representative (PCSR) avatar, wherein the single PCSR avatar interacts with a plurality of customer avatars (CAs);

define a request for customer service from one CA of the plurality of CAs via the single PCSR avatar, which is separate and distinct from the CA;

determine a business based upon the request for customer service from the CA;

connect the single PCSR avatar to the business;

facilitate an interaction between a representative of the business and the CA via the single PCSR avatar, wherein, in response to connecting the single PCSR avatar to the business, the representative of the business automatically takes temporary control of the single PCSR avatar, such that an underlying agent controlling the single PCSR avatar becomes a temporary pass-through agent; and

automatically, upon termination of the interaction, transfer control of the single PCSR avatar back to the underlying agent and terminate the temporary control of the single PCSR avatar by the representative of the business, wherein the underlying agent comprises one of;

an Artificial Intelligence program and a personal assistance BOT.