Conversation agent for collaborative search engine
A chatbot in the context of a chat group messaging is described. The chat group can include a plurality of users and a chatbot. A set of rules can be defined for the users of the group granting each user a privilege status. The chatbot can receive a request through a message transmitted to the chat group. The chatbot can discern a task associated with the message, and perform the task or ask another module to perform the task. Once the task is performed, the chatbot can report the results to the chat group. The chatbot can include a conflict resolution module which can resolve conflicts. The conflict resolution module can use each user's privilege status to resolve the conflicts.
1. A method comprising:
receiving, from a first client device, a first message including a photo from a first user transmitted through a group messaging interface;
analyzing a content of the photo using an object recognition technique to determine if a first task is associated with the first message;
receiving, from a second client device, a second message from a second user transmitted through the group messaging interface;
analyzing a content of the second message using a natural language processing technique to determine if a second task is associated with the second message;
determining if there is a conflict between the first task and the second task, wherein:
each of the first task and the second task is a search query for retrieving results from a website; and
there is a conflict between the first task and the second task when there is no overlap between a first search result from the website based on the first task and a second search result from the website based on the second task;
determining a dominant user who is one of the first user or the second user;
resolving the conflict in favor of the dominant user by selecting a task associated with a message of the dominant user as a dominant task, wherein:
the message of the dominant user being one of the first message or the second message; and
the task being the first task or the second task;
transmitting a signal to a task server to perform the dominant task;
receiving a task result from the task server, wherein the task result is at least one search hit retrieved from the website and the search hit includes a link; and
transmitting the task result as a third message to the group messaging interface such that the third message is accessible by the first client device and the second client device, wherein the third message is configured to cause the first client device and the second client device display a preview photo retrievable from the link.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein resolving the conflict in favor of the dominant user is based on a privilege status granted to each of the first user and the second user.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the dominant user is one of the first user or the second user who has superior privilege status relative to the other user.
4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first user initiated the group messaging interface and the privilege status of the first user is superior to all other users.
5. The method of claim 2 , further comprising receiving a privilege message from the first user indicating the privilege status granted to each user of the group messaging interface.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a fourth message including a filter criteria; and
transmitting the filter criteria to the task server.
7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising;
receiving from the task server a second task result; and
transmitting a fifth message including the second task result to the group messaging interface.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving from the task server a number indicating how many search hits were retrieved in response to transmitting the dominant task to the task server; and
transmitting a sixth message to the group messaging interface, the sixth message including the number of search hits.
9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
determining if the number of search hits exceeds a threshold number;
if the number of search hits exceeds the threshold number, determining a filter criteria to be applied to the dominant task; and
transmitting the filter criteria to the server.
10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
receiving from the server a third task result; and
transmitting the third task result to the group messaging interface.
11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the filter criteria is determined based on:
a seventh message received from the group messaging interface; or
a second signal received from the server.
12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving an eighth message from the group messaging interface, the eighth message requests creating an alert for the dominant task.
13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
transmitting the alert to the server;
transmitting an update to the group messaging interface in response to receiving a third signal from the server; and
continuing the previous two steps until a ninth message is received requesting cancellation of the alert.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the continuing step takes place periodically, each instance being separated from a previous instance by a threshold period of time and the threshold period of time is specified by the dominant user.
15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting a poll message to the group messaging interface.
16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
receiving a plurality of messages in response to the poll message, each message including an election of a poll choice, each poll choice being associated with one of a plurality of poll tasks; and
transmitting one of the plurality of poll tasks which is elected the most to the server.
17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
classifying the users of the group messaging interface into a plurality of classification groups based on the messages received in response to the poll, wherein each user is assigned to one classification group; and
transmitting to at least one of the classification groups of the group messaging interface group results based on the poll.
18. A method comprising:
transmitting a first message including a photo from a first client device of a first user to a group messaging interface;
receiving, at the first client device, a second message from a second client device of a second user transmitted through the group messaging interface; and
receiving, at the first client device, a task result as a third message transmitted to the group messaging interface, wherein the third message is configured to cause the first client device and the second client device display a preview photo retrievable from a link;
wherein a chatbot is a member of the group messaging interface and the chatbot is configured to:
determine a first task associated with the photo using an object recognition technique and a second task associated with the second message using a natural language processing technique;
determine if there is a conflict between the first task and the second task, wherein:
each of the first task and the second task is a search query for retrieving results from a web site; and
there is a conflict between the first task and the second task when there is no overlap between a first search result from the website based on the first task and a second search result from the web site based on the second task;
determine a dominant user who is one of the first user or the second user;
resolve the conflict in favor of the dominant user by selecting a task associated with a message of the dominant user as a dominant task, wherein:
the message of the dominant user being one of the first message or the second message; and
the task being the first task or the second task;
transmit a signal to a task server to perform the dominant task; and
receive the task result from the task server, wherein the task result is at least one search hit retrieved from the website and the search hit includes the link.