Conversational bots platform
Provided herein are system, methods and computer program products for using a bot server for initiating and controlling bot instances, specifically conversation bot instances at client devices for interacting with users associated with the client devices. The bot server may communicate with a remote cloud service providing bot services for initiating and operating the bot instances to retrieve logic metadata used to control the bot instances and may use this metadata to initiate and control one or more bot instances at the client devices to interact with the associated users. In particular, the bot server may be deployed at a network edge in close network proximity to the client devices.
1. A method of providing configurable bot services adapted for interacting with users, comprising:
providing to an edge server at least one bot instance adapted for communicating over a backbone of a communication network with at least one cloud service associated with a plurality of organizations and comprising metadata unique to each thereof to receive, through the backbone of the communication network, metadata comprising at least one logic rule defining an organization-specific instantiation of the at least one bot instance, operated to interact with users using client devices;
receiving at least one request to initiate the at least one bot instance for interacting with at least one of a plurality of users using a respective one of a plurality of client devices connected to said network;
initiating the at least one bot instance according to the at least one logic rule to communicate with the respective client device for interacting with the at least one user as the organization-specific instantiation of the at least one bot instance; and
operating the at least one bot instance according to the at least one logic rule as the organization-specific instantiation of the at least one bot instance;
wherein the edge server is located at an edge of the communication network, in closer network proximity to an access point providing the respective client device connectivity to the network than the at least one cloud service.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the edge server implemented as a Platform as a Service (PaaS) applies at least one PaaS framework to facilitate a communication interface for communicating with the at least one cloud service.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one cloud service is utilized using at least one Software as a Service (SaaS) framework.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one logic rule defines the interaction with the at least one user comprises at least one of: a predefined dialog flow, a condition, and a trigger event.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising initiating the at least one bot instance and/or adjusting the operation of the at least one bot instance based on a content of at least one message received from the respective client device, the at least one message originates from the at least one user interacting with the at least one bot instance.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising initiating the at least one bot instance and/or adjusting the operation of the at least one bot instance proactively in response to at least one trigger event detected for the at least one user.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adjusting the operation of the at least one bot instance according to a state of the at least one bot instance defined by at least one condition of previous engagement with the at least one user.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising retrieving additional data from the at least one cloud service in response to interaction with the at least one user.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adjusting the operation of the at least one bot instance according to at least one of a plurality of contextual attributes identified for the at least one user, the plurality of contextual attributes comprising at least one member of a group consisting of: a gender, an age, an intent, a sentiment, a mood, a scene, a geographical location, and an environmental condition.
10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising communicating with at least one Natural Language Processing (NLP) service to obtain at least one of the plurality of contextual attributes.
11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising communicating with at least one additional service to obtain at least one of the plurality of contextual attributes.
12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising applying at least one image processing tool to analyze at least one image depicting the at least one user to extract at least one of the plurality of contextual attributes.
13. The method of claim 9 , further comprising providing the metadata and the at least one contextual attribute for manipulation of an avatar presented to the at least one user to represent the at least one bot instance.
14. The method of claim 9 , further comprising providing the metadata and the at least one contextual attribute for manipulation of at least one text-to-speech synthesizer operated to produce an audio output to the at least one user.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one logic rule comprising at least one member selected from the group consisting of:
a dialog flow;
a condition; and
a trigger event;
and wherein the at least one bot instance is adapted for performing, in response to receiving the metadata comprising the at least one logic rule from the at least one cloud service, at least one action selected from the group consisting of:
constructing at least one decision tree;
subscribing to or publishing at least one event on the respective client device; and
presenting a message to the at least one user.
16. An edge server for providing configurable bot services adapted for interacting with users, comprising:
at least one hardware processor executing a code, the code comprising:
code instructions to obtain at least one bot instance adapted for communicating over a backbone of a communication network with at least one cloud service associated with a plurality of organizations and comprising metadata unique to each thereof to receive, through the backbone of the communication network, metadata comprising at least one logic rule defining an organization-specific instantiation of the at least one bot instance, operated to interact with users using client devices;
code instructions to receive at least one request to initiate the at least one bot instance for interacting with at least one of a plurality of users using a respective one of a plurality of client devices connected to a network;
code instructions to initiate the at least one bot instance according to the at least one logic rule to communicate with the respective client device for interacting with the at least one user as the organization-specific instantiation of the at least one bot instance; and
code instructions to operate the at least one bot instance according to the at least one logic rule as the organization-specific instantiation of the at least one bot instance;
wherein the edge server is located at an edge of the communication network, in closer network proximity to an access point providing the respective client device connectivity to the network than the at least one cloud service.