Methods and apparatus for exchanging asynchronous messages

1. A system for facilitating automated conversations over a network, comprising:

a computing device operably connected to a database, wherein the computing device is configured to:

receive a plurality of incoming messages from a first user in an asynchronous manner;

identify a user request associated with the plurality of incoming messages;

determine that the plurality of incoming messages are all incoming messages that are associated with the user request;

determine whether the first user corresponds to a synchronous client or an asynchronous client based on client information of the first user;

add each of the plurality of incoming messages into an incoming message queue storing all asynchronous messages yet to be processed, upon a determination that the first user corresponds to an asynchronous client;

transmit an acknowledgement (ACK) message to the first user in response to the plurality of incoming messages, upon the determination that the first user corresponds to the asynchronous client;

process the plurality of incoming messages together; and

generate at least one outgoing message as a response to the user request.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein:

each of the plurality of incoming messages is received based on a user input of the first user, in form of utterance or text, on a client device associated with a user identity (ID) of the first user.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein:

the client information includes information related to at least one of: a client ID of the client device determined during an on-boarding process of the client device, or the user ID of the first user determined during an on-boarding process of the first user; and

each message of the plurality of incoming messages and the at least one outgoing message includes the client information.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is further configured to:

extract the plurality of incoming messages associated with the user request from the incoming message queue, based on a domain configuration and a channel configuration associated with the user request;

transmit synchronously the plurality of incoming messages to a conversational bot, wherein the plurality of incoming messages are processed together at the conversational bot to generate the at least one outgoing message; and

receive synchronously the at least one outgoing message from the conversational bot.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the computing device is further configured to:

add the at least one outgoing message into an outgoing message queue storing all responses from the conversational bot and yet to be dispatched;

extract the at least one outgoing message including the client information from the outgoing message queue; and

determine at least one destination for the at least one outgoing message based on the client information.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein:

the computing device is further configured to transmit the at least one outgoing message asynchronously to the at least one destination; and

the at least one destination comprises at least one of:

the client device,

an additional device associated with the user ID of the first user, or

an additional device associated with a user ID of a second user.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein:

the at least one destination comprises an agent tool, based on an indication in the at least one outgoing message; and

the computing device is further configured to transmit the at least one outgoing message and a conversation history between the system and the first user, asynchronously to the agent tool, which selects a human agent to chat with the first user via the agent tool based on the at least one outgoing message and the conversation history.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the computing device is further configured to:

receive an additional incoming message from the first user;

add the additional incoming message into the incoming message queue;

extract the additional incoming message from the incoming message queue; and

transmit the additional incoming message to the agent tool, which forwards the additional incoming message to the human agent and sends a response from the human agent to the first user, either directly to the client device or via the outgoing message queue.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the computing device is further configured to:

store a chat history between the human agent and the first user into the database; and

add the chat history into the incoming message queue for offline ingestion.

10. The system of claim 5 , wherein the computing device is further configured to:

read and sort messages from the incoming message queue and the outgoing message queue, based on time stamps of the messages; and

store the messages into the database.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is further configured to:

receive a message from a second user;

determine that the second user corresponds to a synchronous client based on client information of the second user; and

transmit synchronously the message to a conversational bot for processing, without adding the message into a queue.

12. A method of facilitating automated conversations over a network, comprising:

receiving a plurality of incoming messages from a first user in an asynchronous manner;

identifying a user request associated with the plurality of incoming messages;

determining that the plurality of incoming messages are all incoming messages that are associated with the user request;

determining whether the first user corresponds to a synchronous client or an asynchronous client based on client information of the first user;

adding each of the plurality of incoming messages into an incoming message queue storing all asynchronous messages yet to be processed, upon a determination that the first user corresponds to an asynchronous client;

transmitting an acknowledgement (ACK) message to the first user in response to the plurality of incoming messages, upon the determination that the first user corresponds to the asynchronous client;

processing the plurality of incoming messages together; and

generating at least one outgoing message as a response to the user request.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein:

each of the plurality of incoming messages is received based on a user input of the first user, in form of utterance or text, on a client device associated with a user identity (ID) of the first user;

the client information includes information related to at least one of: a client ID of the client device determined during an on-boarding process of the client device, or the user ID of the first user determined during an on-boarding process of the first user; and

each message of the plurality of incoming messages and the at least one outgoing message includes the client information.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

extracting the plurality of incoming messages associated with the user request from the incoming message queue, based on a domain configuration and a channel configuration associated with the user request;

transmitting synchronously the plurality of incoming messages to a conversational bot, wherein the plurality of incoming messages are processed together at the conversational bot to generate the at least one outgoing message; and

receiving synchronously the at least one outgoing message from the conversational bot.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

adding the at least one outgoing message into an outgoing message queue storing all responses from the conversational bot and yet to be dispatched;

extracting the at least one outgoing message including the client information from the outgoing message queue; and

determining at least one destination for the at least one outgoing message based on the client information.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising transmitting the at least one outgoing message asynchronously to the at least one destination, wherein the at least one destination comprises at least one of:

the client device;

an additional device associated with the user ID of the first user; or

an additional device associated with a user ID of a second user.

17. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

transmitting, based on an indication in the at least one outgoing message, the at least one outgoing message and a conversation history between the conversational bot and the first user, asynchronously to an agent tool, which selects a human agent to chat with the first user via the agent tool based on the at least one outgoing message and the conversation history;

receiving an additional incoming message from the first user;

adding the additional incoming message into the incoming message queue;

extracting the additional incoming message from the incoming message queue; and

transmitting the additional incoming message to the agent tool, which forwards the additional incoming message to the human agent and sends a response from the human agent to the first user, either directly to the client device or via the outgoing message queue.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

storing a chat history between the human agent and the first user into a database including all real-time conversations with users over the network;

adding the chat history into the incoming message queue for offline ingestion;

reading and sorting messages from the incoming message queue and the outgoing message queue, based on time stamps of the messages; and

storing the messages into the database.

19. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, wherein the instructions, when executed by at least one processor, cause a device to perform operations comprising:

receiving a plurality of incoming messages from a first user in an asynchronous manner;

identifying a user request associated with the plurality of incoming messages;

determining that the plurality of incoming messages are all incoming messages that are associated with the user request;

determining whether the first user corresponds to a synchronous client or an asynchronous client based on client information of the first user;

adding each of the plurality of incoming messages into an incoming message queue storing all asynchronous messages yet to be processed, upon a determination that the first user corresponds to an asynchronous client;

transmitting an acknowledgement (ACK) message to the first user in response to the plurality of incoming messages, upon the determination that the first user corresponds to the asynchronous client;

processing the plurality of incoming messages together; and

generating at least one outgoing message as a response to the user request.