Simplified entity engagement automation

• US 10,756,991 B2
• Filed: 11/03/2015
• Issued: 08/25/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Layman, Andrew, Hauser, Eric, Fleckenstein, Matthew John, Mamut, Tatyana, Che, Arthur Ping-Tak, Chin, Tiffany Joy, Poon, Amy Kar Sin
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar, Anil N
• Application Number:
  US14/931,658
• Publication Number:
  US 20170085445A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,757 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/00 Arrangements for software engineering testing or debugging G06F11/36; administrative, planning or organisation aspects of software project management G06Q10/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06316 Sequencing of tasks or work
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/30 Administration of product recycling or disposal
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: Y02W 90/00 Enabling technologies or technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions mitigation

Abstract

The technology disclosed offers a declarative and visualization framework that implements a state machine for multi-step progression of interaction with an entity. The declarative framework is usable over and over for a broad range of applications because it provides a simple rule-based authoring tool that can be used for specifying different elements and components of a complex state machine, including state definitions, state transition triggers, state transition conditions and state transition actions. Once defined, the state machine is automatically generated and visually implemented based on the declarative input provided by a non-technical user.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving an event stream for an entity experience operation;

determining entity activity levels of an entity from the event stream of the entity experience operation;

categorizing the entity into a first state type based on the entity activity levels; and

displaying a visual representation that comprises;

the event stream for the entity experience operation;

the entity activity levels along a timeline and variations in the entity activity levels;

the first state type, a second state type, and a trail of an entity transition from the first state type to the second state type;

a data entry field for a defining a selectable action to perform in response to an entity transition, wherein the data entry field includes a plurality of input fields that accept declarative input that specifies a messaging action to perform and an asset to include in a message generated by the messaging action; and

a replay control that allows for replay over time to visualize the entity transition from the first state type to the second state type by modifying a size of the first state type and the second state type within the visual representation.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a state transition graph includes an initial state cloud, a final state cloud, and a transition trail from the initial state cloud to the final state cloud, wherein the initial state cloud represents a plurality of entities in a third state type and the final state cloud represents a plurality of entities in a fourth state type;

visually coding the initial state cloud, the final state cloud, and the transition trail; and

wherein the visual representation further includes the state transition graph.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the visual coding of the transition trail matches the visual coding of the final state cloud.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising

determining a state transition graph including an initial state bubble, a final state bubble, and a transition trail from the initial state bubble to the final state bubble, wherein the initial state bubble represents a plurality of entities in a third state type and the final state bubble represents a plurality of entities in a fourth state type;

visually coding the initial state cloud, the final state cloud, and the transition trail; and

wherein the visual representation further includes the state transition graph.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying hover panel data identifying at least one of a criteria for categorizing entities in the first state type or the second state type, a number of entities in the first state type or the second state type, a change in the number over a time period, or conditions that control selectable action to perform responsive to the entity transition.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the event stream is received from a near real-time (NRT) event management framework that includes a message bus and a stream processing system.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the event stream includes at least one of user click data, user purchasing behavior, device data or social media streams.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the message bus is at least one of Kafka, Flume, ActiveMQ or RabbitMQ.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the stream processing system is at least one of Storm or Spark.

10. A system including one or more processors coupled to memory, the memory loaded with computer instructions to simplify analysis of an entity engagement workflow, the instructions, when executed on the processors, implement actions comprising:

receiving an event stream for an entity experience operation;

determining entity activity levels of an entity from the event stream of the entity experience operation;

categorizing the entity into a first state type based on the entity activity levels; and

displaying a visual representation that comprises;

the event stream for the entity experience operation;

the entity activity levels along a timeline and variations in the entity activity levels;

the first state type, a second state type, and a trail of an entity transition from the first state type to the second state type;

a data entry field for a defining a selectable action to perform in response to an entity transition, wherein the data entry field includes a plurality of input fields that accept declarative input that specifies a messaging action to perform and an asset to include in a message generated by the messaging action; and

a replay control that allows for replay over time to visualize the entity transition from the first state type to the second state type by modifying a size of the first state type and the second state type within the visual representation.

11. The system of claim 10, further implementing actions comprising:

determining a state transition graph includes an initial state cloud, a final state cloud, and a transition trail from the initial state cloud to the final state cloud, wherein the initial state cloud represents a plurality of entities in a third state type and the final state cloud represents a plurality of entities in a fourth state type;

visually coding initial state cloud, the final state cloud, and the transition trail; and

wherein the visual representation further includes the state transition graph.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the visual coding of the transition trail matches the visual coding of the final state cloud.

13. The system of claim 10, further implementing actions comprising:

determining a state transition graph including an initial state bubble, a final state bubble, and a transition trail from the initial state bubble to the final state bubble, wherein the initial state bubble represents a plurality of entities in a third state type and the final state bubble represents a plurality of entities in a fourth state type;

visually coding the initial state cloud, the final state cloud, and the transition trail; and

wherein the visual representation further includes the state transition graph.

14. The system of claim 10, further implementing actions comprising displaying hover panel data identifying at least one of a criteria for categorizing entities in the first state type or the second state type, a number of entities in the first state type or the second state type, a change in the number over a time period, or conditions that control selectable action to perform responsive to the entity transition.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium with computer program instructions thereon that, when executed on a processor, implement actions comprising:

receiving an event stream for an entity experience operations;

determining entity activity levels of an entity from the event stream of the entity experience operation;

categorizing the entity into a first state type based on the entity activity levels; and

displaying a visual representation that comprises;

the event stream for the entity experience operation;

the entity activity levels along a timeline and variations in the entity activity levels;

the first state type, a second state type, and a trail of an entity transition from the first state type to the second state type;

a data entry field for a defining a selectable action to perform in response to an entity transition, wherein the data entry field includes a plurality of input fields that accept declarative input that specifies a messaging action to perform and an asset to include in a message generated by the messaging action; and

a replay control that allows for replay over time to visualize the entity transition from the first state type to the second state type by modifying a size of the first state type and the second state type within the visual representation.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, implementing the actions further comprising:

determining a state transition graph includes an initial state cloud, a final state cloud, and a transition trail from the initial state cloud to the final state cloud, wherein the initial state cloud represents a plurality of entities in a third state type and the final state cloud represents a plurality of entities in a fourth state type;

visually coding the initial state cloud, the final state cloud, and the transition trail; and

wherein the visual representation further includes the state transition graph.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the visual coding of the transition trail matches the visual coding of the final state cloud.

18. A method of simplifying, the method including:

receiving an event stream for an entity experience operations;

determining entity activity levels of an entity from the event stream of the entity experience operation;

categorizing the entity into a first state type based on the entity activity levels; and

displaying a visual representation that comprises;

the event stream for the entity experience operation;

the entity activity levels along a timeline and variations in the entity activity levels;

the first state type, a second state type, and a trail of an entity transition from the first state type to the second state type;

a data entry field for a defining a for selectable action to perform in response to an entity transition, wherein the data entry field includes a plurality of input fields that accept declarative input that specifies a messaging action to perform, and an output messaging channel for transmitting the message; and

a replay control that allows for replay over time to visualize the entity transition from the first state type to the second state type by modifying a size of the first state type and the second state type within the visual representation.

19. The method of claim 18, further including:

determining a state transition graph includes an initial state cloud, a final state cloud, and a transition trail from the initial state cloud to the final state cloud, wherein the initial state cloud represents a plurality of entities in a third state type and the final state cloud represents a plurality of entities in a fourth state type;

visually coding the initial state cloud, the final state cloud, and the transition trail; and

wherein the visual representation further includes the state transition graph.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the visual coding of the transition trail matches the visual coding of the final state cloud.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the event stream is received from a near real-time (NRT) event management framework that includes a message bus and a stream processing system.