Providing Variable Responses in a Virtual-Assistant Environment

• US 20130174034A1
• Filed: 12/30/2011
• Published: 07/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verint Americas Incorporated (Verint Systems Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Next IT Corporation (Verint Systems Incorporated)
• Inventors: Miller, Tanya M., Zartler, Mark, Brown, Fred A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,836,177 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/708
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90332 Natural language query formulation or dialogue systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04803 Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Virtual assistants intelligently emulate a representative of a service provider by providing variable responses to user queries received via the virtual assistants. These variable responses may take the context of a user'"'"'s query into account both when identifying an intent of a user'"'"'s query and when identifying an appropriate response to the user'"'"'s query.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed on one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

causing display of a virtual assistant on or adjacent to a site of a service provider;

receiving, via the virtual assistant, a query from a user while the user engages in a session on the site of the service provider; and

at least partly in response to receiving the query;

parsing the query to identify one or more concepts expressed therein;

identifying a context associated with the user or associated with the session of the user on the site;

determining an intent of the query based at least in part on the one or more concepts and the context;

determining a response to the query based at least in part on the intent and the context; and

providing at least a portion of the response to the user via the virtual assistant.

2. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the query comprises a string of text, and the identifying of the one or more concepts comprises identifying one or more keywords within the string of text and mapping the one or more keywords to the one or more concepts.

3. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the query comprises a string of text, and the identifying of the one or more concepts comprises:

identifying one or more tokens within the string of text;

mapping the one or more tokens to one or more vocab items; and

pattern matching the one or more vocab items to the one or more concepts.

4. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the determining of the intent comprises mapping the one or more concepts to one of multiple different intents associated with the one or more concepts based at least in part on the context.

5. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the determining of the response comprises mapping the intent to one of multiple different responses associated with the intent based at least in part on the context.

6. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the intent is identified with reference to at least a first portion of the context and the response is identified with reference to at least a second, different portion of the context.

7. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the context comprises:

whether or not the user has signed in with the site of the service provider;

a status of the user with the service provider;

a page of the site from which the user provides the query to the virtual assistant;

how long the user has remained on the page of the site from which the user provides the query to the virtual assistant;

a navigation history of the user during the session prior to the user providing the query to the virtual assistant;

a location of a cursor when the user provides the query to the virtual assistant;

a prior query provided by the user to the virtual assistant during the session or during a prior session with the site;

a time of day at which the user provides the query to the virtual assistant;

a date on which the user provides the query to the virtual assistant;

an age of the user;

a location of the user;

a device type from which the user accesses the site;

a language of the user;

or

a previous interaction between the user and the virtual assistant.

8. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the providing of the response comprises outputting content on a computing device of the user via the virtual assistant and causing performance of an action on behalf of the user.

9. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 8, wherein the user provided the query to the virtual assistant while on a first page of the site of the service provider, and the action comprises causing the computing device of the user to navigate to a second, different page of the site of the service provider.

10. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 8, wherein the action comprises:

purchasing an item on behalf of the user;

initiating a request on behalf of the user;

initiating a communication on behalf of the user;

or

altering a reservation or order on behalf of the user.

11. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 8, wherein the outputting of the content comprises;

displaying, by the virtual assistant, plain text and one or more hyperlinks related to the query; and

audibly outputting content related to the query.

12. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the virtual assistant is configured to emulate human-to-human interaction between the user and a representative of the service provider.

13. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the virtual assistant resembles a human when displayed on or adjacent to the site of the service provider.

14. One or more computing devices for implementing a virtual assistant that emulates human-to-human interaction, the one or more computing devices comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed on the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising;

receiving a query via an interface provided by the virtual assistant;

mapping the query to one of multiple different intents with reference to both contents of the query and a context in which the virtual assistant received the query;

mapping the intent to one of multiple different responses with reference to the context in which the virtual assistant received the query; and

providing at least a portion of the response via the virtual assistant.

15. One or more computing devices as recited in claim 14, wherein the virtual assistant comprises a representation of a human face, the interface comprises a text box adjacent to the representation of the human face, and the query comprises a string of text input into the text box.

16. One or more computing devices as recited in claim 14, wherein the mapping of the query to the intent comprises:

identifying multiple different concepts expressed in the query;

identifying respective values of multiple different variables associated with the query; and

mapping the query to the intent based at least in part on the concepts expressed in the query and the values of the variables associated with the query.

17. One or more computing devices as recited in claim 14, wherein the mapping of the intent to the response comprises:

identifying respective values of multiple different variables associated with the query; and

mapping the intent to the response based at least in part on the values of the variables associated with the query.

18. One or more computing devices as recited in claim 14, wherein:

the mapping of the query to the intent comprises;

identifying multiple different concepts expressed in the query;

identifying respective values of a first set of variables associated with the query; and

mapping the query to the intent based at least in part on the concepts expressed in the query and the values of the first set of variables associated with the query; and

the mapping of the intent to the response comprises identifying respective values of a second set of variables associated with the query; and

mapping the intent to the response based at least in part on the values of the second set variables associated with the query.

19. One or more computing devices as recited in claim 18, wherein the first and second sets of variables include at least one common variable.

20. One or more computing devices as recited in claim 18, wherein the first and second sets of variables do not include a common variable.

21. A method comprising:

under control of one or more computing systems configured to implement a virtual assistant,

receiving a request for information from a user via the virtual assistant;

identifying one or more concepts within the request for information;

determining a value of a first variable associated with the user;

mapping the request for information to one of multiple different intents based at least in part on the identified one or more concepts and the determined value of the first variable;

determining a value of a second variable associated with the user; and

identifying a reply to provide in response to the request for information based at least in part on the mapped intent and the determined value of the second variable.

22. A method as recited in claim 21, wherein the virtual assistant comprises an avatar for display on a computing device of the user, the avatar emulating a human capable of receiving requests for information from the user and providing corresponding replies in response.

23. A method as recited in claim 21, wherein the first and second variables comprise different variables.

24. A method as recited in claim 21, wherein each of the multiple different intents is associated with a corresponding set of multiple different replies to provide in response to the request for information.

25. A method as recited in claim 21, wherein the identified reply specifies (i) content for output to the user via the virtual assistant, and (ii) an action to perform on behalf of the user.

26. A method as recited in claim 25, wherein the content comprises plain text, a hyperlink, and audio.

27. A method as recited in claim 25, wherein:

the request for information is received while a computing device of the user renders a first page of a site; and

the action comprises causing the computing device of the user to navigate to a second, different page of the site.

28. A method as recited in claim 21, further comprising providing the identified reply to the user via the virtual assistant.

29. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed on one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to serve or render a graphical user interface (GUI), the GUI comprising:

an avatar that emulates a human for conversing with a user;

a text box to receive, from the user, a query comprising a string of text; and

an area to display at least a portion of a response to the query, the response having been determined by (i) mapping at least a portion of the string of text and a context associated with the query to an intent, and (ii) mapping the intent and the context to the response.

30. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 29, wherein the response includes plain text and one or more hyperlinks for display in the area.

31. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 30, wherein the response further includes audio for output by the avatar.

32. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 29, wherein the GUI is for display on or adjacent to a site of a service provider, and the context comprises:

whether or not the user has signed in with the site of the service provider;

a status of the user with the service provider;

a page of the site from which the user provides the query;

how long the user has remained on the page of the site from which the user provides the query to the virtual assistant;

a navigation history of the user on the site;

a location of a cursor when the user provides the query;

a prior query provided by the user.

a time of day at which the user provides the query;

a date on which the user provides the query;

an age of the user;

a location of the user;

a device type from which the user accesses the site;

a language of the user;

or

a previous interaction between the user and the virtual assistant.