Intelligent contextually aware digital assistants

1. A computer-executable method for providing context-based web services for a user, comprising:

receiving a sentence as input from a user interacting with a visual interface that includes an animated agent;

performing natural language processing on the sentence to determine one or more parameters;

retrieving data from a foreground knowledge graph that contains contextual data for the user and from a background knowledge graph that contains background information corresponding to the one or more parameters, wherein the background knowledge graph is different from the foreground knowledge graph;

determining a set of arguments based on the one or more parameters and data from the foreground and background knowledge graphs;

passing the set of arguments to an action module selected based on results of the natural language processing and the set of arguments;

using the set of arguments, by the selected action module, to interact with web services to perform an action for the user and provide a response to the user, wherein providing the response involves using a text-speech translator to produce audio for the response, using a viseme extractor to determine mouth positions of the animated agent for synchronous display with the audio, and animating the animated agent based on animation tags inserted into the response; and

converting general and domain-specific knowledge into modifications to the background knowledge graph, which involves obtaining a document set on a particular subject based on performing a web search, and modifying the background knowledge graph using results from analyzing the document set using a content analysis module and a semantic meaning extraction system.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing an action for the user further comprises completing an online sales transaction.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing natural language processing to determine one or more parameters further comprises:

determining a sentence structure of the sentence;

determining whether there is an entry in a database corresponding to the sentence structure;

responsive to determining that there is an entry in the database corresponding to the sentence structure, retrieving information from the entry in the database; and

extracting parameters from the sentence based on information retrieved from the database entry.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing natural language processing on the sentence to determine one or more parameters further comprises:

determining a sentence structure of the sentence;

determining whether there is an entry in a database corresponding to the sentence structure;

responsive to determining that there is no entry in the database corresponding to the sentence structure, engaging in a dialogue to elicit one or more parameters;

determining mapping of the one or more parameters to properties on an object; and

storing information that includes the mapping and the one or more parameters in a database.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein changes in the contextual data of the foreground knowledge graph triggers performing an action based on the user's context.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

adding contextual data to the foreground knowledge graph based on detected user activity and/or user communications;

disambiguating another input sentence that requires information from the background knowledge graph based on the contextual data from the foreground knowledge graph; and

performing another action for the user based at least on a portion of the contextual data added to the foreground knowledge graph and the information from the background knowledge graph.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more modules perform parameterized queries and modifications on the foreground knowledge graph and the background knowledge graph.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for providing context-based web services for a user, the method comprising:

receiving a sentence as input from a user interacting with a visual interface that includes an animated agent;

performing natural language processing on the sentence to determine one or more parameters;

retrieving data from a foreground knowledge graph that contains contextual data for the user and from a background knowledge graph that contains background information corresponding to the one or more parameters, wherein the background knowledge graph is different from the foreground knowledge graph;

determining a set of arguments based on the one or more parameters, data from the foreground and background knowledge graphs;

passing the set of arguments to an action module selected based on results of the natural language processing and the set of arguments;

using the set of arguments, by the selected action module, to interact with web services to perform an action for the user and provide a response to the user,

wherein providing the response involves using a text-speech translator to produce audio for the response, using a viseme extractor to determine mouth positions of the animated agent for synchronous display with the audio, and animating the animated agent based on animation tags inserted into the response; and

converting general and domain-specific knowledge into modifications to the background knowledge graph, which involves obtaining a document set on a particular subject based on performing a web search, and modifying the background knowledge graph using results from analyzing the document set using a content analysis module and a semantic meaning extraction system.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein performing an action for the user further comprises completing an online sales transaction.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein performing natural language processing to determine one or more parameters further comprises:

determining a sentence structure of the sentence;

determining whether there is an entry in a database corresponding to the sentence structure;

responsive to determining that there is an entry in the database corresponding to the sentence structure, retrieving information from the entry in the database; and

extracting parameters from the sentence based on information retrieved from the database entry.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein performing natural language processing on the sentence to determine one or more parameters further comprises:

determining a sentence structure of the sentence;

determining whether there is an entry in a database corresponding to the sentence structure;

responsive to determining that there is no entry in the database corresponding to the sentence structure, engaging in a dialogue to elicit one or more parameters;

determining mapping of the one or more parameters to properties on an object; and

storing information that includes the mapping and the one or more parameters in a database.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein changes in the contextual data of the foreground knowledge graph triggers performing an action based on the user's context.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises:

adding contextual data to the foreground knowledge graph based on detected user activity and/or user communications;

disambiguating another input sentence that requires information from the background knowledge graph based on the contextual data from the foreground knowledge graph; and

performing another action for the user based at least on a portion of the contextual data added to the foreground knowledge graph and the information from the background knowledge graph.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein one or more modules perform parameterized queries and modifications on the foreground knowledge graph and the background knowledge graph.

15. A computing system for providing context-based web services for a user, the system comprising:

one or more processors,

a non-transitory computer-readable medium coupled to the one or more processors having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving a sentence as input from a user interacting with a visual interface that includes an animated agent;

performing natural language processing on the sentence to determine one or more parameters;

retrieving data from a foreground knowledge graph that contains contextual data for the user and from a background knowledge graph that contains background information corresponding to the one or more parameters, wherein the background knowledge graph is different from the foreground knowledge graph;

determining a set of arguments based on the one or more parameters and data from the foreground and background knowledge graphs;

passing the set of arguments to an action module selected based on results of the natural language processing and the set of arguments;

using the set of arguments, by the selected action module, to interact with web services to perform an action for the user and provide a response to the user,

wherein providing the response involves using a text-speech translator to produce audio for the response, using a viseme extractor to determine mouth positions of the animated agent for synchronous display with the audio, and animating the animated agent based on animation tags inserted into the response; and

converting general and domain-specific knowledge into modifications to the background knowledge graph, which involves obtaining a document set on a particular subject based on performing a web search, and modifying the background knowledge graph using results from analyzing the document set using a content analysis module and a semantic meaning extraction system.

16. The computing system of claim 15 , wherein performing an action for the user further comprises completing an online sales transaction.

17. The computing system of claim 15 , wherein performing natural language processing to determine one or more parameters further comprises:

determining a sentence structure of the sentence;

determining whether there is an entry in a database corresponding to the sentence structure;

responsive to determining that there is an entry in the database corresponding to the sentence structure, retrieving information from the entry in the database; and

extracting parameters from the sentence based on information retrieved from the database entry.

18. The computing system of claim 15 , wherein performing natural language processing on the sentence to determine one or more parameters further comprises:

determining a sentence structure of the sentence;

determining whether there is an entry in a database corresponding to the sentence structure;

responsive to determining that there is no entry in the database corresponding to the sentence structure, engaging in a dialogue to elicit one or more parameters;

determining mapping of the one or more parameters to properties on an object; and

storing information that includes the mapping and the one or more parameters in a database.

19. The computing system claim 15 , wherein changes in the contextual data of the foreground knowledge graph triggers performing an action based on the user's context.

20. The computing system of claim 15 , wherein the method further comprises:

adding contextual data to the foreground knowledge graph based on detected user activity and/or user communications;

disambiguating another input sentence that requires information from the background knowledge graph based on the contextual data from the foreground knowledge graph; and

performing another action for the user based at least on a portion of the contextual data added to the foreground knowledge graph and the information from the background knowledge graph.

21. The computing system of claim 15 , wherein one or more modules perform parameterized queries and modifications on the foreground knowledge graph and the background knowledge graph.