System and method for providing an intelligent multi-step dialog with a user
A method and system are disclosed for retrieving information through the use of a multi-stage interaction with a client to identify particular knowledge content associated with a knowledge map. The present invention is an application program running on a server accessed via the world-wide web or other data network using standard Internet protocols, a web browser and web server software. In addition to an automated portion, the present invention allows a human dialog designer to model the way the system elicits information, giving a human feel to the dialog and a better customer experience. In operation, users start a dialog by directing their web browser to a designated web page. This web page asks the user some initial questions that are then passed to a dialog engine. The dialog engine then applies its methods and algorithms to a knowledge map, using dialog control information\ and the user's responses to provide feedback to the user. The feedback may include follow-up questions, relevant documents, and instructions to the user (e.g., instructions to contact a human customer service representative). This dialog engine response is rendered as a web page and returned to the user's web browser. The user can then respond further to the follow-up questions he or she is presented, and the cycle repeats. The invention can be implemented so that it can interact with customers through a wide variety of communication channels including the Internet, wireless devices (e.g., telephone, pager, etc.), handheld devices such as a Personal Data Assistant (PDA), email, and via a telephone where the automated system is delivered using an interactive voice response (IVR) and/or speech-recognition system.
1. A method, comprising:
receiving a question from a user;
building a knowledge session in the context of a knowledge map using a plurality of input;
creating at least one goal;
presenting at least one question to the user;
receiving at least one answer from the user;
changing a session state based on the answer;
resolving the at least one goal; and
presenting feedback to the user.
2. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
refining at least one knowledge session tag.
3. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
creating at least one knowledge session tag.
4. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
representing the knowledge session in a markup language.
5. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein presenting at least one question to the user comprises using a taxonomy structure around a focus node of a goal to formulate the at least one question.
6. The method as recited in claim 5 , wherein the at least one question comprises a list of alternatives presented to the user to choose from, wherein the list of alternatives derives from the taxonomy structure around the focus node of the goal.
7. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the plurality of input comprises at least one of of user entry, autocontextualization of the question from the user, user profile data, the answer from the user, a common ground choice, browser interactions, interactions with documents, and interaction with graphical user interface (GUI) elements.
8. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein presenting at least one question to the user comprises presenting at least one question with an interaction form that comprises at least one of a parameterized query, a one drill down query, discriminating query and a disambiguating query.
9. A method, comprising:
limiting an interaction space in a knowledge map to relevant areas with constraints;
restricting documents returned to the user to relevant areas in the knowledge map with constraints;
maintaining a set of available concept nodes;
generating positive constraints for accepted nodes;
generating negative constraints for rejected nodes;
unifying positive and negative constraints in an expression for a subgoal; and
joining expressions for different subgoals within a goal.
10. A method, comprising:
receiving a user inquiry from a user;
creating at least one goal based on the user inquiry;
evaluating at least one trigger associated with areas in a knowledge map that are relevant to the user inquiry;
posing at least one question to the user;
receiving at least one answer from the user;
confirming at least one node in areas of the knowledge map that are relevant to the at least one answer;
identifying at least one goal based on the at least one answer;
creating at least one constraint based on the at least one answer to limit relevant areas of the knowledge map; and
reaching a target set of at least one node to resolve the goals.
11. The method as recited in claim 10 , further comprising:
creating at least one subgoal for a parent goal; and
resolving the at least one subgoal in parallel with other goals, until the parent goal is resolved.
12. The method as recited in claim 10 , further comprising:
if the user chooses multiple nodes at a branching point, creating a plurality of subgoals for a parent goal; and
resolving each subgoal in parallel, until the parent goal is resolved.
13. The method as recited in claim 10 , wherein the target set comprises at least one of: (1) all leaf nodes in a target taxonomy, (2) any specified node or set of nodes in the target taxonomy, (3) any node in the target taxonomy at or below a particular level, (4) any node in the target taxonomy that is at a specified number of levels below a subgoal focus node or lower, (5) any set of nodes in the target taxonomy defined by any taxonomic distance function from a specified node, (6) any set of nodes in the target taxonomy defined by a non-taxonomic distance function from a root node of the at least one goal, and (7) any set of nodes in the target taxonomy defined by a non-taxonomic distance function from a specified node.
14. The method as recited in claim 10 , wherein reaching the target set comprises at least one of:
accepting at least one of the nodes in the target set;
rejecting all of the nodes in the target est;
deeming all of the nodes in the target set to be unavailable; and
deeming all of the nodes in the target set to be irrelevant.
15. The method as recited in claim 10 , wherein the at least one question posed to the user comprises at least one of: (1) a parameterized query (PQ), (2) a drill down query (DDQ), (3) a discriminating query (DQ), and (4) a disambiguating query (DAQ).