System and method to provide context for an automated agent to service multiple avatars within a virtual universe

• US 8,214,433 B2
• Filed: 12/15/2008
• Issued: 07/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Activision Publishing Incorporated (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dawson, Christopher J., Osias, Michael J., Sledge, Brian W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan, Wing
• Assistant Examiner(s): MIAH, RAZU A
• Application Number:
  US12/334,866
• Publication Number:
  US 20100153499A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,296 Days
• Field of Search: 709204-207, 345/419, 705 144- 1473
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]

Abstract

A system and method to interact with business systems through the use of automated agents and provide context for an automated agent to service multiple avatars within a virtual universe. The system comprises a chat engine, a communications subsystem, and a channelizer configured to mediate one or more communications between the chat engine and the communications subsystem. The channelizer is further configured to map at least one channel to an application.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a computing device comprising;

a chat engine;

a communications subsystem; and

a channelizer configured to;

mediate one or more communications between the chat engine and the communications subsystem;

determine whether the one or more communications are new communications or preexisting communications;

map at least one channel to the one or more communications based on whether the one or more communications are the new communications or the preexisting communications;

add information in the one or more communications to a lookup table, the information comprising at least one of the at least one channel, a key, a username, and a time;

track a time at which the one or more communications took place;

remove the information in the one or more communications from the lookup table after a predetermined period of time has elapsed;

transmit the one or more communications to an application; and

transmit a response to the one or more communications from the application to an avatar through the mapped at least one channel,

wherein the at least one channel is determined based on whether the information in the one or more communications matches the information in the lookup table.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications subsystem includes a simulator, which comprises at least one of a sensor, a chat facility, and an interpreter.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the application is an instance of an application program interface.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the application includes one or more artificially intelligent programs configured to provide a response to the one or more communications while maintaining a context of the one or more communications.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the key is a universally unique identifier.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more communications occur between an automated avatar and one or more of a user avatar or another automated avatar.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the one or more communications occurs between a single automated avatar and a plurality of user avatars or other automated avatars, and a context of the one or more communications is maintained.

8. A computer implemented method comprising:

receiving a communication from an avatar over a chat framework;

determining whether the communication is a new communication or a preexisting communication;

mapping the communication to a channel based on whether the communication is the new communication or the preexisting communication;

adding information in the communication to a lookup table, the information comprising at least one of the channel, a key, a username, and a time;

tracking a time at which the communication took place;

removing the information in the communication from the lookup table after a predetermined period of time has elapsed; and

transmitting a response to the communication over the chat framework on the channel, wherein the response maintains a context of the communication,

wherein the determining includes determining whether the information in the communication matches the information in the lookup table.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 8, wherein the receiving and the transmitting includes a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) message.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 8, further comprising determining whether a received communication is a first communication or part of an existing communication.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 8, wherein the steps are implemented on a combination of software, hardware, or software and hardware.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 8, wherein the steps are offered by a service provider based on one of a fee, advertising, and subscription basis.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 8, wherein the computer implemented method is at least one of:

supported, deployed, maintained, and created by a service provider.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 8, further comprising adding an entry to the lookup table when the communication is the new communication.

15. A computer program product comprising a computer usable storage memory having readable program code embodied in the storage memory, the computer program product includes at least one component operable to:

identify an incoming communication;

determine whether the incoming communication is a new communication or a preexisting communication;

map the incoming communication to a channel based on the checking;

add information about the incoming communication to a lookup table, the information comprising at least one of the channel, a key, a username, and a time;

track a time at which the incoming communication took place;

remove the information from the lookup table after a predetermined period of time has elapsed;

send the incoming communication to an application program interface;

receive a communication from the application program interface; and

transmit the communication from the application program interface to an avatar through the mapped channel,

wherein the communication is a response in a context of the incoming communication, and

wherein the determining includes determining whether the information in the incoming communication matches the information in the lookup table.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising at least one component operable to sense the avatar within a proximity of an automated avatar.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising at least one component operable to sense the avatar communicating on the channel.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the computer program product is at least one of supported, deployed, maintained, and created by a service provider.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, being offered by a service provider based on one of a fee, advertising, and subscription basis.

20. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising at least one component operable to allow multiple avatars to communication on the channel.

21. A method for deploying an application for providing context for interactions, comprising:

providing a computer infrastructure being operable to;

identify an incoming communication from an avatar;

check whether the incoming communication is a new communication or a preexisting communication;

map the incoming communication to a channel based on the checking, the channel being determined based on whether information in the incoming communication matches information in a lookup table, the information in the incoming communication comprising at least one channel of the incoming communication, a key of the avatar, a username of the avatar, and a time of the incoming communication;

send the incoming communication to an application program interface;

receive a response from the application program interface, wherein the response is in a context of the incoming communication;

add the information in the incoming communication to the lookup table;

track the time at which the incoming communication took place;

remove the information in the incoming communication from the lookup table after a predetermined period of time has elapsed; and

transmit the response from the application program interface to the avatar through the mapped channel.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the computer infrastructure is at least one of supported, deployed, maintained, and created by a service provider.