System and method for providing information interactively by instant messaging application

• US 9,621,492 B2
• Filed: 07/13/2012
• Issued: 04/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LY Corp. (A Holdings Corp.), Z Intermediate Global Corporation
• Original Assignee: LINE Corporation (A Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Park, Euivin, Yang, Heechan, Jung, Hyuk, Jin, Dongri
• Primary Examiner(s): Gillis, Brian J
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lobos, Boris Grijalva
• Application Number:
  US13/548,936
• Publication Number:
  US 20130144961A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,733 Days
• Field of Search: 709201-207, 704 2, 715758
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/40 Support for services or applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/30 Profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests

Abstract

An information providing method and system may provide information while conversing with a user through an instant messaging application. The information providing system enables a user terminal to add, as a friend, a software bot which may be a virtual friend configured in an artificial software program through the instant messaging application executed in a user terminal. When the user inputs and transmits a message to the software bot through a conversation session, the information providing system may retrieve an appropriate response corresponding to the message from a database by inputting the message as a query, and may transmit the response to the user terminal, thereby providing the response to the user through the conversation session.

Claims

1. A method that uses a processor to provide information through an instant messaging application, the method comprising:

receiving a request from a terminal through the instant messaging application for adding a software bot as a friend;

registering, using the processor, the software bot as the friend of a user of the terminal;

transmitting a guidance about how to use the software bot to the terminal as a message by the software bot;

transmitting an input request message to the terminal as a message by the software bot the input request message including a message asking the user to input position identification and a message asking the user to input an alarm time at which a response to the reply message is to be transmitted to the terminal each day;

receiving a reply message by the user from the terminal in response to the input request message, the reply message including position identification and an alarm time at which a response to the reply message is to be transmitted to the terminal each day;

storing the reply message as terminal information associated with the terminal;

retrieving a response to the reply message as a query from a database; and

transmitting the response to the terminal as a message by the software bot,

wherein the instant messaging application is configured to display all the messages between the software bot and the user as a thread, and

wherein the transmitting the response to the terminal comprises periodically transmitting the response associated with a region corresponding to the position identification at the alarm time, included in the reply message, each day through the messaging application based on the database information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the reply message comprises receiving the reply message input by the terminal within a conversation session between the terminal and the software bot provided by the messaging application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting the response to the terminal comprises transmitting the response to the terminal over a network such that the response is displayed within a conversation session between the terminal and the software bot provided by the messaging application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting the response to the terminal comprises transmitting the response to the terminal over a network such that the response is displayed through a push alarm of the terminal.

5. The method of claim 1,

wherein the software bot is one of a plurality of software bots capable of registering to the messaging application and

wherein the response is different based on a type of the software bot even when the received reply message is the same.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the software bot provides weather information.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein when the received reply message comprises at least one of position identification information and time identification information, the response to the reply message comprises weather information concerning the information included in the reply message.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein when the received reply message comprises position identification information, the response to the reply message comprises weather information associated with the day and the following day of a region corresponding to the position identification information.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein when the received reply message comprises time identification information, the response to the reply message comprises basic local weather information of time concerning the time identification information.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein in response to a determination that the received reply message is incapable of retrieving the response by inputting the reply message as the query, the response comprises a request to input a new reply message.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the instant messaging application is configured to display a conversation screen of a one-to-one chatting scheme on the terminal in which messages by the software bot as the friend of the user are displayed at one side of the conversation screen and messages by the user are displayed at another side of the conversation screen along with time so that the input request message is displayed at the one side of the conversation screen, the reply message is displayed at the another side of the conversation screen and the response to the reply message is displayed at the one side of the conversation screen, in this order.

11. A method that uses a processor to provide information through a messaging application, the method comprising:

recommending a software bot to a terminal for registering the software bot as a friend of a user of the terminal;

receiving a request from the terminal through the messaging application for adding the software bot as a friend of the user;

registering, using the processor, the software bot as the friend of the user of the terminal;

initiating a conversation session with the software bot;

transmitting a guidance about how to use the software bot to the terminal as a message by the software bot;

transmitting an input request message to the terminal as a message by the software bot, the input request message including a message asking the user to input position identification and a message asking the user to input an alarm time at which a response to the reply message is to be transmitted to the terminal each day;

receiving a reply message by the user from the terminal within the conversation session in response to the input request message, the reply message including position identification and an alarm time at which a response to the reply message is to be transmitted to the terminal each day;

storing the reply message as terminal information associated with the terminal;

retrieving a response to the reply message as a query from a database by inputting the reply message as the query; and

transmitting the response to the terminal as a message by the software bot,

wherein the messaging application is configured to display all the messages between the software bot and the user as a thread, and

wherein the transmitting the response to the terminal comprises periodically transmitting the response associated with a region corresponding to the position identification at the alarm time, included in the reply message, each day through the messaging application based on the database information.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the messaging application is configured to display a conversation screen of a one-to-one chatting scheme on the terminal in which messages by the software bot as the friend of the user are displayed at one side of the conversation screen and messages by the user are displayed at another side of the conversation screen along with time so that the input request message is displayed at the one side of the conversation screen, the reply message is displayed at the another side of the conversation screen and the response to the reply message is displayed at the one side of the conversation screen, in this order.

24. The method of claim 11,

wherein the position identification included in the reply message is generated from the selection by the user of a point/region on a map screen of the user terminal.

12. A system to provide information through a messaging application, the system comprising:

a processor configured to

receive a request from a terminal through the instant messaging application for adding a software bot as a friend,

register the software bot as the friend of a user of the terminal,

control to transmit a guidance about how to use the software bot to the terminal as a message by the software bot;

control to transmit an input request message to the terminal as a message by the software bot, the input request message including a message asking the user to input position identification and a message asking the user to input an alarm time at which a response to the reply message is to be transmitted to the terminal each day,

receive a reply message by the user from the terminal in response to the input request message, the reply message including position identification and an alarm time at which a response to the reply message is to be transmitted to the terminal each day,

store the reply message as terminal information associated with the terminal,

retrieve a response to the reply message as a query from a database by inputting the reply message as the query, and

control to transmit the response to the terminal as a message by the software bot,

wherein the messaging application is configured to display all the messages between the software bot and the user as a thread, and

wherein the processor is configured to periodically transmit the response associated with a region corresponding to the position identification at the alarm time, included in the reply message, each day through the messaging application based on the database information.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to display the response within the conversation session between the terminal and the software bot provided by the messaging application of the terminal.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to display the response on the terminal through a push alarm of the terminal.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the software bot is one of a plurality of types of software bots and the processor is configured to retrieve a different response to the same reply message based on the type of the software bot and is configured to register each type of software bot associated with a terminal.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

a terminal information storage unit configured to store and manage information associated with each registered software bot.

21. The system of claim 12, wherein the messaging application is configured to display a conversation screen of a one-to-one chatting scheme on the terminal in which messages by the software bot as the friend of the user are displayed at one side of the conversation screen and messages by the user are displayed at another side of the conversation screen along with time so that the input request message is displayed at the one side of the conversation screen, the reply message is displayed at the another side of the conversation screen and the response to the reply message is displayed at the one side of the conversation screen, in this order.

25. The system of claim 12,

wherein the position identification included in the reply message is generated from the selection by the user of a point/region on a map screen of the user terminal.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program that causes a computer to execute a method of providing information through a messaging application, the method comprising:

receiving, from a terminal, a request for adding a software bot as a friend;

registering the software bot as the friend of a user of the terminal;

transmitting a brief address and a simple guidance about how to use the software bot to the terminal as a message by the software bot;

transmitting, by the software bot, an input request message to the terminal, the input request message including a message asking the user to input position identification and a message asking the user to input an alarm time at which a response to the reply message is to be transmitted to the terminal each day;

receiving a reply message by the user from the terminal in response to the input request message, the reply message including position identification and an alarm time at which a response to the reply message is to be transmitted to the terminal each day;

storing the reply message as terminal information;

retrieving a response to the reply message as a query from a database by inputting the reply message as the query; and

transmitting the response to the terminal as a message by the software bot,

wherein the messaging application is configured to display all the messages between the software bot and the user as a thread, and

wherein the transmitting the response to the terminal comprises periodically transmitting the response associated with a region corresponding to the position identification at the alarm time, included in the reply message, each day through the messaging application based on the database information.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium of claim 17, wherein the messaging application is configured to display a conversation screen of a one-to-one chatting scheme on the terminal in which messages by the software bot as the friend of the user are displayed at one side of the conversation screen and messages by the user are displayed at another side of the conversation screen along with time so that the input request message is displayed at the one side of the conversation screen, the reply message is displayed at the another side of the conversation screen and the response to the reply message is displayed at the one side of the conversation screen, in this order.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program that causes a computer to execute a method of providing information through a messaging application, the method comprising:

recommending a software bot to a terminal for registering the software bot as a friend of a user of the terminal;

receiving a request from the terminal for adding the software bot as a friend of the user;

registering the software bot as the friend of the user of the terminal;

initiating a conversation session with the software bot;

transmitting a brief address and a simple guidance about how to use the software bot to the terminal as a message by the software bot;

transmitting an input request message to the terminal within the conversation session as a message by the software bot, the input request message including a message asking the user to input position identification and a message asking the user to input an alarm time at which a response to the reply message is to be transmitted to the terminal each day;

receiving a reply message input by the user from the terminal within the conversation session in response to the input request message, the reply message including position identification and an alarm time at which a response to the reply message is to be transmitted to the terminal each day;

storing the reply message as terminal information associated with the terminal;

retrieving a response to the reply message as a query from a database by inputting the reply message as the query; and

transmitting the response to the terminal as a message by the software bot,

wherein the messaging application is configured to display all the messages between the software bot and the user as a thread, and

wherein the transmitting the response to the terminal comprises periodically transmitting the response associated with a region corresponding to the position identification at the alarm time, included in the reply message, each day through the messaging application based on the database information.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium of claim 18, wherein the messaging application is configured to display a conversation screen of a one-to-one chatting scheme on the terminal in which messages by the software bot as the friend of the user are displayed at one side of the conversation screen and messages by the user are displayed at another side of the conversation screen along with time so that the input request message is displayed at the one side of the conversation screen, the reply message is displayed at the another side of the conversation screen and the response to the reply message is displayed at the one side of the conversation screen, in this order.