WO2019015786A1 - Système et procédé de coordination de produits et de services pour des clients - Google Patents

Système et procédé de coordination de produits et de services pour des clients Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2019015786A1
WO2019015786A1 PCT/EP2017/068556 EP2017068556W WO2019015786A1 WO 2019015786 A1 WO2019015786 A1 WO 2019015786A1 EP 2017068556 W EP2017068556 W EP 2017068556W WO 2019015786 A1 WO2019015786 A1 WO 2019015786A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
goal
journey
conversation
customer
sub
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PCT/EP2017/068556
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English (en)
Inventor
Fabien Degaugue
Yevgeniy Shteyn
Original Assignee
Instaply France
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Publication date
Application filed by Instaply France filed Critical Instaply France
Priority to EP17743018.8A priority Critical patent/EP3655899A1/fr
Priority to PCT/EP2017/068556 priority patent/WO2019015786A1/fr
Publication of WO2019015786A1 publication Critical patent/WO2019015786A1/fr

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
    • G06Q10/10—Office automation; Time management
    • G06Q10/101—Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
    • G06Q10/06—Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
    • G06Q10/063—Operations research, analysis or management
    • G06Q10/0631—Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
    • G06Q10/06—Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
    • G06Q10/063—Operations research, analysis or management
    • G06Q10/0631—Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
    • G06Q10/06311—Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
    • G06Q10/06—Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
    • G06Q10/063—Operations research, analysis or management
    • G06Q10/0631—Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
    • G06Q10/06311—Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
    • G06Q10/063114—Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
    • G06Q10/06—Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
    • G06Q10/063—Operations research, analysis or management
    • G06Q10/0631—Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
    • G06Q10/06316—Sequencing of tasks or work
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
    • G06Q10/10—Office automation; Time management
    • G06Q10/103—Workflow collaboration or project management

Definitions

  • the technology described herein relates to computer and communication systems and in particular to computer and communication systems to facilitate transactions between users.
  • One of the aim of the invention is therefore to address the shortcomings as explained above.
  • the object of the invention is a computer system for connecting customers to sub-contractors, comprising: a messaging module that is configured to access an electronic message from a customer of a service provider, wherein the electronic message includes content representing a request from the customer to provide one or more services that combine to fulfill a goal; a services module that is configured to identify one or more sub-contractors capable of providing the one or more of the services that combine to fulfill the goal; a journey module that is configured to determine a journey of actions to be performed with respect to the identified sub-contractors to fulfill the goal; and an action module that is configured to perform the actions within the selected journey of actions.
  • the computer system further comprises one or more of the following features, considered alone or according to any technically possible combination: the journey module is further configured to: build a graph of paths connected to one another by nodes, wherein each of the paths represents a service provided by a subcontractor, and wherein an unbroken connection of paths between a beginning node and one or more ending nodes represents a journey to a goal; and select a journey within the graph that connects the beginning node to the goal based on one or more constraints applied to the goal; the system further comprises: a goal determination module that is configured to determine the goal based on the content of the electronic message; the messaging module is configured to access an electronic message sent by the customer to a customer support system of the service provider; the messaging module is configured to access an electronic message sent by the customer to a customer support system of one of the identified sub-contractors; the action module is configured to perform an action to facilitate completion of a transaction between the customer and one of the identified sub-contractors; the action module is configured to perform an action to
  • the object of the invention is also a method using a computer system for connecting customers to sub-contractors, comprising: accessing, through a messaging module of the computer system, one or more electronic messages between a customer and a service provider, wherein the one or more electronic messages include content representing a request from the customer to provide one or more services that combine to fulfill a goal; identifying, through a services module of the computer system, one or more sub-contractors capable of providing the one or more of the services that combine to fulfill the goal; determining, through a journey module of the computer system, a journey of actions to be performed with respect to the identified sub-contractors to fulfill the goal; and performing, through an action module of the computer system, the actions within the selected journey of actions.
  • the method further comprises one or more of the following features, considered alone or according to any technically possible combination:
  • - determining a journey of actions to be performed with respect to the identified subcontractors to fulfill the goal comprises: building a graph of paths connected to one another by nodes, wherein each of the paths represents a service provided by a subcontractor, and wherein an unbroken connection of paths between a beginning node and one or more ending nodes represents a journey to a goal; and selecting a journey within the graph that connects the beginning node to the goal based on one or more constraints applied to the goal;
  • selecting a journey within the graph that connects the beginning node to the goal based on one or more constraints applied to the goal includes selecting a journey based on one or more time constraints for fulfilling the goal identified in the accessed one or more electronic messages;
  • selecting a journey within the graph that connects the beginning node to the goal based on one or more constraints applied to the goal includes selecting a journey based on one or more cost constraints for fulfilling the goal identified in the accessed one or more electronic messages;
  • - selecting a journey within the graph that connects the beginning node to the goal based on one or more constraints applied to the goal includes selecting a journey based on one or more sub-contractor review constraints for fulfilling the goal identified in the accessed one or more electronic messages;
  • - accessing one or electronic messages between a customer and a service provider includes accessing electronic messages sent by the customer to a customer support system of the service provider; - accessing one or electronic messages between a customer and a service provider includes accessing electronic messages sent by the customer to a customer support system of one of the identified sub-contractors;
  • - performing the actions within the selected journey of actions includes establishing a conversation between the customer and one of the identified sub-contractors to facilitate completion of a transaction;
  • - performing the actions within the selected journey of actions includes establishing a conversation between the customer and one of the identified sub-contractors to facilitate an exchange of information between the customer and the identified subcontractors.
  • the object of the invention is again a computer- readable storage medium whose contents, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform one or more operations for connecting customers to sub-contractors, the operations comprising: accessing one or electronic messages between a customer and a sub-contractor, wherein the one or more electronic messages include content representing a request from the customer for the sub-contractor to provide one or more services that combine to fulfill a goal; identifying one or more other sub-contractors capable of providing the other one or more of the services that combine to fulfill the goal; determining a journey of actions to be performed with respect to the identified sub-contractors to fulfill the goal; and performing the actions within the selected journey of actions.
  • the computer-readable storage medium further comprises one or more of the following features, considered alone or according to any technically possible combination:
  • - determining a journey of actions to be performed with respect to the identified subcontractors to fulfill the goal comprises: building a graph of paths connected to one another by nodes, wherein each of the paths represents a service provided by a subcontractor, and wherein an unbroken connection of paths between an entry node and one or more ending nodes represents a journey to a goal; and selecting a journey within the graph that connects the entry node to the goal based on one or more constraints applied to the goal;
  • selecting a journey within the graph that connects the beginning node to the goal based on one or more constraints applied to the goal includes selecting a journey based on one or more time constraints for fulfilling the goal identified in the accessed one or more electronic messages;
  • selecting a journey within the graph that connects the beginning node to the goal based on one or more constraints applied to the goal includes selecting a journey based on one or more cost constraints for fulfilling the goal identified in the accessed one or more electronic messages.
  • Figure 1 is a block diagram of a top level conversation process.
  • Figure 2 is a block diagram of a process for conversation selection.
  • Figure 3 is a block diagram of a process for conversation creation.
  • Figure 4 is a block diagram of a process for instantiating a conversation from a scenario.
  • Figure 5 is a block diagram of an initial interaction within a conversation ("Say hi").
  • Figure 6 illustrates an auto insurance claim user scenario enabled by the system of the disclosed technology.
  • Figure 7 illustrates a product purchase and delivery scenario enabled by the system of the disclosed technology.
  • Figure 8 illustrates an airport arrival user scenario enabled by the system of the disclosed technology.
  • Figure 9 illustrates interactions between devices and services within the system of the disclosed technology.
  • Figure 10 illustrates a business graph enabled by the system of the disclosed technology.
  • Figure 1 1 illustrates a distributed network of goods, services, conversations, considerations and other transactions enabled by the system of the disclosed technology.
  • Figure 12 is a diagram of a computer-enabled system that implements a conversation record keeping system in accordance with one embodiment of the disclosed technology.
  • Figure 13 is a block diagram illustrating a suitable computing environment in which to coordinate sub-contractor services for a customer.
  • Figure 14 is a block diagram illustrating components of a journey coordination system.
  • Figures 15A-C are graphs that illustrate various action journeys performed on behalf of a customer.
  • Figure 16 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for coordinating services performed for a customer.
  • Figure 17 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for modifying a conversation associated with a customer based on interactions with a sub-contractor.
  • Figure 18 is a graph that illustrates multiple steps performed by subcontractors across multiple customer journeys.
  • Systems and methods for coordinating services provided by subcontractors and/or multiple departments within an organization, such as via a service provider that facilitates the exchange of information and other communications between the sub-contractors, employees, and customers seeking their provided services are described.
  • customers may engage with a service provider (e.g., a company or other similar entity) via a communication platform, such as a platform that facilitates the exchange of electronic messages between the customers and the service provider, in order to seek and obtain products and/or services via the service provider.
  • a service provider e.g., a company or other similar entity
  • a communication platform such as a platform that facilitates the exchange of electronic messages between the customers and the service provider, in order to seek and obtain products and/or services via the service provider.
  • the customers may communicate with the service provider for a variety of reasons, such as to obtain information about a product or service, to provide information about a desired product or service, to provide payment for an obtained product or service, to determine product or service delivery dates or other associated information, and so on.
  • the service provider based on the exchange of information with the customers, may coordinate the identification of and communication with various sub-contractors and other specialized providers of products and services, which provide the specialized products and services.
  • the service provider via the communication platform, enables customers to accomplish various requested goals (e.g., buy, register, and insure a car, take a day trip, remodel a house, and so on), and enables sub-contractors to provide their products and services to the customers to fulfill the goals requested by the customers.
  • the systems and methods via the communication platform, provide various modules configured to coordinate interactions between customers, the service provider, and the various sub-contractors.
  • the communication platform may include a messaging module that accesses a message from a customer of a service provider, wherein the message includes content representing a request from the customer to provide one or more services that combine to fulfill a goal, a services module that identifies one or more sub-contractors capable of providing the one or more of the services that combine to fulfill the goal, a journey module that determines a journey of actions to be performed with respect to the identified sub-contractors to realize the goal, and an action module that performs the actions within the journey of actions.
  • the communication platform may include an analytics module that collects and analyzes data about transactions, such as data associated with transaction efficiencies.
  • the journey module may generate, create, and/or utilize a graph of various paths, each representing products or services provided by the subcontractors, which, when combined, form various journeys within the graph between beginning or entry nodes and nodes that represent the goals provided by the customers.
  • a journey therefore, may include a series or group of sequential or nonsequential interactions or actions that, when performed or facilitated (e.g., following a path), result in the completion of a transaction.
  • a path may represent a journey.
  • a portion of a path may represent a journey.
  • Multiple paths may represent a journey.
  • the journey module may build or utilize a graph of paths connected to one another by nodes, wherein each of the paths represents a service provided by a subcontractor, and wherein an unbroken connection of paths between a beginning node and one or more ending nodes represents a journey to a goal, and selects journey within the graph that connects the beginning node to an end node.
  • the selection of a journey may be based on constraints provided by the customers, such as time or budget constraints.
  • the systems and methods therefore, manage and coordinate the exchange of information between various parties associated with fulfilling customer goals.
  • This centralized coordination and/or distribution may lead to high service reliability for the customer, a high quality of interactions between parties, a low cost of providing services, and an efficient procurement of products and services for customers, among other benefits.
  • the communication platform may maintain and track transactions between parties as conversations between the involved parties/participants (e.g., customers and sub-contractors).
  • parties e.g., customers and sub-contractors.
  • the following section provides various details describing the use of transactions, conversations, and other exchanges or information and/or actions performed over various communications media that are associated with a service provider. Further details regarding the management and coordination of information between various parties associated with fulfilling customer goals will follow. Examples of Facilitating Transactions between Customers and Service Providers
  • the purpose of the system described herein is to facilitate collaboration and transactions between participants in a commercial, governmental, non-profit, social, etc. setting. These transactions can include, but are not limited to, negotiating a purchase, contract, and/or commitment, providing a service, effecting a customer support session, arriving at an agreement between people on a future course of action, resolving an issue, developing an idea, prioritizing action items, assembling a document and/or document package to support a claim, etc.
  • a computer and communications system keeps records of transactions as a conversation between participants. Communications between participants include streams of information exchanges comprising fragments, e.g. text messages, pictures, audio and video segments, requests, orders, promises, location information, delivery options, comments, questions, legal documents, schedules, money, meta-data, etc.
  • a transaction can include the exchange of goods, services, information, considerations, promises, etc.
  • Participants in a conversation can include teams and individuals (e.g. team - team; team-individual; individual- individual). Teams can be formal and informal entities, formal/Legal (Corporations, Universities, Governments, Families) or informal (Friends, Acquaintances, Extended Family, Co-workers, Countrymen, etc.). Individuals can be human, animal, and artificial (e.g. automated services).
  • Teams can be formal and informal entities, formal/Legal (Corporations, Universities, Governments, Families) or informal (Friends, Acquaintances, Extended Family, Co-workers, Countrymen, etc.).
  • Individuals can be human, animal, and artificial (e.g. automated services).
  • Conversations can be new, continuing or recurring.
  • individuals and teams can be assigned different "hats", e.g. customer, husband, employee, contractor, advisor, authorized agent, boyfriend, team member, calendar, etc. More than one "hat” can be assigned to an individual or a team at the same time.
  • parties create at least one conversation and invite teams and individuals to discuss or join the conversation as appropriate.
  • Conversations occur between individuals, but, depending on the "hats" assigned to the individuals, teams can own and participate in the conversations.
  • a computer system stores records of free-form conversations where the users are invited to define the participants in the conversation, the documents to be transmitted or communications to be sent between participants.
  • the computer system provides templates for transactions and related conversations to handle pre-defined scenarios, e.g. an Auto Accident Insurance Claim, Airport Arrival, Service Sign-up, New Hire, Apartment Rental, Contract Negotiations, Product/Service Delivery, Product/Service Feedback, Customer Support, etc. Users of the system are enabled to use default templates or create their own. Furthermore, the system can rate templates with regard to the efficiency of completed transactions, i.e, getting job done.
  • individuals and teams are introduced to each other via a "Say Hi" mechanism.
  • the mechanism makes one party (individual or team) aware of another party, which becomes a potential transaction partner, e.g. in a pre-defined scenario.
  • an introduction is performed over different communication channels. For example, a customer contacts the service provider over the phone and receives a text message in response (e.g., with an invitation to connect online and continue the conversation over text messaging communications media).
  • Parties in a transaction engage in conversations that involve an offerable (product, service, experience, etc.), its description, price, invitations to make an offer (advertisement), conditions of sale, availability, quality, delivery options, distribution of money between parties, contract terms, complaints, etc.
  • a conversation can be split into multiple conversation streams and routed to different teams and individuals.
  • Parties in the transaction are enabled to allocate and distribute money or equivalent consideration between themselves and third parties.
  • the money or its equivalent exchanged during the conversation may represent an official record of receipt.
  • the money can be transferred through various mechanisms, e.g. a digital wallet service, which is tied to the user's bank account, credit card account, Amazon Flexible Payment System (Amazon FPS), PayPal, BitCoin, frequent flier, affiliation card, etc.
  • a digital wallet service which is tied to the user's bank account, credit card account, Amazon Flexible Payment System (Amazon FPS), PayPal, BitCoin, frequent flier, affiliation card, etc.
  • the system keeps records, including time, location stamps, and hash codes, of individuals, teams, conversations, relationships, transactions, etc.
  • the computer and communications system provides Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to third parties programs that desire access to the conversation in real-time and/or related records through a database.
  • APIs Application Programming Interfaces
  • the system and third parties may exchange identifying information that allows them to match (e.g. positively, negatively, partially, individually, in aggregate) teams, individuals, transactions, conversations, etc.
  • the system and third parties may exchange the contents of conversations and related meta-data, such as date, time, response time, number of parties involved, number of conversation branches, considerations transferred, participants' and observers' subjective evaluation of the transaction efficiency, emotional markers, etc.
  • service registration e.g., buying, registering, and insuring a car; coordinating services delivery between various internal enterprise departments
  • auto accident claim airport arrival; new hire onboarding; new employee orientation; signing up for health benefits
  • buying a mobile phone with or without a carrier contract buying, delivering, installing, repairing, replacing a heater for the house; employee/team performance evaluation; filing a medical insurance claim; ordering a meal, paying, and giving a tip at a restaurant; disputing a service bill; requesting legal advice; delegation of authority during vacation; resolving a customer support issue; arranging a birthday party and procuring supplies; test performance discussion between student, parent, teacher, tutor, and school principal; getting advice from a brick-and-mortar or online store employee and/or another consumer with proven product/service experience; and contacting distant relatives in a foreign city.
  • a purchase of a product on a website or through a dedicated application may include at least some of the following operations: browsing product- related web pages, reading reviews, comparing competing and/or related product offerings, receiving product description and pricing information, filling out order information, submitting an order, paying, tracking the order, providing feedback on product and/or service quality, contacting customer service, resolving disputes, returning the product, e.g. when it doesn't satisfy one's needs, etc.
  • fixing one's car after an auto accident may involve but not limited to interactions with relatives, insurance companies, police, witnesses, other parties in the accident and/or their agents, auto repair shops, information services, emergency assistance services, courts, etc.
  • the process includes collecting various documents, submitting them in accordance with pre-defined rules or procedures, obtaining or paying money, transferring calls, forwarding emails, routing web requests from one department or business to another, etc. It gets even more complicated when the accident involves medical claims because yet more parties have to be included in resolving the issue.
  • Another purpose of the disclosed technology is to facilitate successful completion of commercial transactions between individuals and businesses that involve use of mobile connected devices.
  • Yet another purpose of the disclosed technology is to facilitate distribution of value among parties involved in commercial transactions and providing means for evaluating efficiency and value creation among employees and businesses involved in the transactions.
  • a conversation is represented by a stream of messages generated by and distributed over a relationship graph.
  • the system further enables insertion into the conversation representations of value, e.g. money or tokens, and means for distributing the value among the participants of the conversation.
  • Figure 1 is a block diagram of a top level conversation process.
  • the system starts the conversation, e.g. by launching an mobile application and initializing user environment with previous conversations, potential relevant contacts, value holders, connections to services, and other elements necessary to engage in a transaction.
  • step 1 10 the system decides whether the user is going to continue an existing conversation, or create a new one. If the user chooses "New," e.g. pressing a corresponding icon on his or her user interface, the system goes to step 120. Alternatively, step 1 10 can be performed by the system automatically, depending on the context of the application, e.g. when the user opens up the application for the first time for registration. [0068] If the "New" option is rejected in step 1 10, the system tries to select an existing conversation for the user to continue. If the process of selection succeeds, the system goes to step 130 where the parties involved engage in an information exchange. Otherwise, the system creates a new conversation at step 120. Each conversation has a unique identifier. The identifier can be generated explicitly, e.g. by generating a unique number, or implicitly by a combination of conversation attributes, e.g. concatenation of names of parties involved in the conversation and a random hash code.
  • Step 130 may proceed in real time or over an extended period of time, where parties exchange messages asynchronously.
  • the strength of the social connection between conversation participants determines when and how messages are delivered. For example, if a particular employee (or team member) contacted by a customer is not available, the customer's request can be either forward or escalated to other employees (team members) or not.
  • the customer and team member are enabled to "lock" their relationships, e.g. for a period of time. For example, only a specific Financial Advisor is allowed to reply to investment portfolio allocation questions within two days, provided the advisor is still available.
  • the "lock”, e.g. exclusivity of the relationship and its duration, can be determined in different ways.
  • the customer and/or team member explicitly define the terms of the relationship through their preferences.
  • the systems determines the terms by monitoring user interactions and calculating preferences, e.g. based on the number of interactions, their frequency, customer satisfaction statistics, and consideration exchanged.
  • the system determines "lock" characteristics on a per-conversation or even per-message bases, e.g. asking the customer and/or team member whether at least one of them wishes to maintain the "lock" or exclusive conversation with the customer and/or sub-contractor. [0075] In one more implementation, the system escalates a conversation if the customer accesses it in an emergency mode.
  • a team receptionist (either human or automatic) is enabled to steer the conversation to an available team member. For example, when a new customer contacts Macy's sales service for the first time, the conversation is not locked. In another example, a sales rep at Macy's manages her own customer base. She does "dienteling" with top customers and keeps ownership of their customer base.
  • the system decides whether the subject of the conversation has been resolved. If yes, the system marks the conversation as closed at step 160.
  • conversation parties are enabled to explicitly propose a closure, e.g. by pressing a "handshake" button. For example, when a deal is reached, the user presses the button thus confirming the conditions of a sale.
  • the closure can be linked to a transfer of consideration via, e.g. a digital wallet service, implemented either as hardware, software, or a combination of both. The consideration can be transferred on a per transaction basis or for a package of products, services and/or experiences provided, customer journeys complete, etc.
  • Various user interface elements e.g. icons, voice commands, gestures, etc. can be used to declare the outcome of the conversation.
  • the process and its outcome is recordered, e.g. for accounting, auditing, analytics, and other purposes.
  • the user can be prompted by another party to close the deal with a standard or customized user interface element, e.g. "Do you agree?" button.
  • step 145 the system tries to determine whether the conversation is going to be continued. For example, parties may decide to continue their conversation at a later time. If that's the case, the conversation is kept alive, e.g. by assigning it an "alive" attribute and storing it in a database.
  • FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the process for conversation selection at step 1 15.
  • the process begins with initializing the system with existing live conversations - step 200, e.g. by accessing a conversation database using the user ID and/or local storage of recent conversations.
  • the conversation database can be distributed and span multiple services, including social networks (personal, professional, business, private, public, protected, etc.).
  • social networks personal, professional, business, private, public, protected, etc.
  • several user IDs can be used to identify the subject of the conversation with a subcontractor.
  • the system generates a suggestion for continuing at least one conversation.
  • the suggestion can be made based on the last live conversation (default), user location, preferences, device context (other applications open), communications security channels available, transaction value, priority, business relationship, incentives, and other factors.
  • step 215 the system decides whether the suggested conversations satisfy the user. If yes, the system proceeds to step 220 where the user selects a conversation.
  • the system enables the user to search for a conversation at step 240.
  • the user can search for a conversation using conversation topics, parties involved, location information, transaction value, priority, business relationship, incentives, and other factors.
  • the user is enabled to browse a directory and pick a relevant conversation party, e.g. a service provider or a virtual consierge enabled to assist the the user to find the relevant conversation party.
  • a relevant conversation party e.g. a service provider or a virtual consierge enabled to assist the the user to find the relevant conversation party.
  • the system provides a combination of search and directory access mechanisms. For example, when a search for a specific French restaurant doesn't produce any matches, the user is presented with a directory of highly rated French restaurants listed in the system.
  • the ratings of the restaurant can be derived from various factors, e.g. an average of star ratings from external review services such as Zagat; from users who have no relationship to the searcher; from the searcher's social network, the system's internal ratings based on previous conversations between the restaurant team and other users, or a combination of such ratings mechanisms.
  • step 220 If a conversation is found, the user goes to step 220 to select a conversation. Otherwise, the system notes that no conversation has been selected and proceeds to step 125 described on Fig 1 .
  • Figure 3 is a block diagram of a process for conversation creation.
  • the system starts at step 300 by initializing potential conversation parties, communication channels, and scenarios.
  • the system may suggest a number of typical pre-defined scenarios, e.g. Medical Emergency, Security Alert, Automobile Insurance Claim, Airport Arrival, New on the Job, New to the Neighborhood, Ordering Food, Entertainment, Buying a Car, Customer Support, Birthday Party, Deal Flow Review with a Sub-Contractor, etc.
  • a particular service provider e.g. listed in the directory, can present their own scenarios related to the services typically offered to customers. Default scenarios may differ based on the user's location, e.g. determined by GPS functionality. For example, when the user is located in the store, she may be presented with a "May I help you" scenario.
  • the user presses a dedicated hardware or software button, or by making an utterance, or by performing a pre-defined gesture such as moving their hand or eyes in a certain pattern.
  • a pre-defined gesture such as moving their hand or eyes in a certain pattern.
  • the user invokes a "91 1 " scenario with a panic button where police and/or a private security service, including an automated surveilance system, would be at least one pre-defined party.
  • the system invokes a medical emergency scenario when a customer's vital signs are communicated to the device from other connected devices, such as heart monitor, blood pressure monitor, etc.
  • the system invokes an Auto-Insurance Claim scenario when the user's automobile sends a signal of an accident, e.g. when the airbag is deployed, or the automobile's security system is triggered, or the glass is broken, etc.
  • a third party invokes a conversation scenario. For example, in a "Health Check,” a medical nurse contacts the user remotely to acquire vital signs for a periodic checkup. Similarly, a parent invokes an "Everything's Ok?" scenario when the child is not home at a pre-defined time.
  • the third party can be a human individual, an animal, an artificial preprogrammed agent or a combination of the above.
  • the system decides whether the proposed scenarios are suitable to the situation.
  • the user makes the decision.
  • the conversation takes place in the background between artificial agents, e.g. medical devices that determine whether measured vital signs warrant human intervention.
  • the police determine the level of danger based on data from surrounding people and/or security cameras.
  • step 320 the system enables a search for a suitable scenario.
  • step 350 If the scenario is found (step 350), the system proceeds to step 320 (Select Scenario). Otherwise, the system goes to step 360 and instantiates a blank conversation.
  • step 330 the system instantiates a conversation according to the scenario selected at step 320.
  • a detailed description of step 330 is provided below.
  • the system modifies conversation parties.
  • the user chooses to replace the name of his/her insurance agent.
  • the user chooses to add his/her spouse.
  • the user chooses to add his/her favorite car repair shop.
  • the user chooses to replace a specific person with a business.
  • the system either generates default messages (conversation starters) to all conversation parties, or enables the user to create the messages, or a combination of both. A detailed description of step 380 is provided below.
  • Figure 4 is a block diagram of a process for instantiating a conversation from a scenario. The system can run it separately or as step 330 in Figure 3.
  • the purpose of the process is to allow the user to create a conversation either from a previous similar conversation of the same scenario, or use a blank scenario prototype.
  • the system initiates a look up of a scenario-based conversation that can be used as a sample for a new conversation.
  • it decides whether it is a new scenario for the user or his/her team or his/her business.
  • the scope of scenario novelty depends on at least one of the following: user preferences, conversation experience, team and/or business affiliation, whether the user is human or artificial, services involved, location, timing, etc.
  • the system may also apply a security, confidentiality, and/or privacy context to exclude unauthorized access to data from previous conversations.
  • a business uses a standard scenario for all conversations of a certain scenario type.
  • a standard scenario includes mandatory roles of a Human Resources Manager, Department Manager, IT specialist, and Security specialist.
  • potential previous conversations for a given scenario include only conversations of the user's team members.
  • an insurance agent uses by default contacts from a previous conversation of his department staff that interacted with the same customer.
  • the user starts a conversation with his doctor's nurse.
  • the conversation by default adds contacts of his spouse, doctor, and pharmacy.
  • customer support conversations available to the user as prototypes only include those that were marked as highly satisfactory.
  • the system suggests at least one existing conversation at step 430. After that, at step 440 the system decides whether the suggestions are ok, e.g. with user preferences or the composition of the parties, and selects a prototype conversation at step 460.
  • the system decides whether to remove all previous message exchanges from the conversation or not.
  • the decision depends, e.g. on privacy, security, confidentiality, relevancy, and other conditions.
  • the decision is made automatically because the conversation involves financial transactions and user identifying information that the system is not set up to share in an insecure connection environment.
  • the decision is left to the user who can press, e.g. a Clear button, to remove all conversation elements except the parties involved in the conversation.
  • a Clear button e.g. a Clear button
  • the system delegates the decision to a team supervisor (or some other third party) who is not going to be a part of the conversation, unless it is escalated and identified as such.
  • the system instantiates a blank conversation at step 475, registers it with the system, and import participants from the prototype conversation. If not, the system proceeds further, e.g. to step 370 from Figure 3 to allow the user to modify participants, both their roles and specific individuals.
  • the system decides that the scenario is new, it instantiates a blank conversation at step 420, registers it with the system, and imports suggested party roles according to the scenario, without instantiating the actual individuals. That is, the user and/or his/her team are supposed to fill in specific individual contact info to start the conversation.
  • the system creates a prototype conversation with roles of Insurance Agent, police, My Lawyer, Witness 1 , Monitoring Service (an artificial agent that records all communications in a conversation), Repair Shop, Medical Service, The Other Party, and The Other Insurance Agent.
  • Monitoring Service an artificial agent that records all communications in a conversation
  • Repair Shop Medical Service
  • Medical Service The Other Party
  • the Other Insurance Agent The user is supposed to fill in specific names on the next step (see Figure 3 description).
  • step 440 If at step 440, suggested conversation is not approved, the user is enabled to perform a search within the scope of previous conversations (step 445).
  • the system performs search over all user conversations.
  • system performs search over conversations in the same city.
  • the system performs search over conversation within a given time interval in the past, e.g. last year.
  • the system performs search over conversations with people within the same demographic range with the user.
  • the system performs search over conversations rated above a certain user satisfaction threshold.
  • the system performs search over conversations with people who belong to the person's social or business network.
  • step 450 If a desired conversation is found (step 450), the system proceeds to step 460. Otherwise, it goes to step 420.
  • Figure 5 is a block diagram of the initial interaction within a conversation ("Say hi"). The purpose of the process is to introduce participants to each other and to establish the level of social or business connection between them.
  • the system creates an instance of the conversation with potential parties and roles involved. For example, when the user opens the application for the first time, the system creates a conversation and populates it with businesses and/or community organizations that are preferred by local residents. The system also provides a list of answers Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), the questions and answers can be determined statically and/or dynamically, based on their frequency, relevancy, commercial value of potential outcomes, etc. [00130] In another example, when a new employee joins the company, the system populates his "Say hi" conversation with an HR rep and his team members.
  • FAQs Frequently Asked Questions
  • an automatic "Say hi” message is customized, depending on the former relationship between the parties, including characteristics of the target group and/or team.
  • the system proposes default greeting messages to be sent within the conversation.
  • the message includes at least one of: name, address, email information, phone number, working hours, etc.
  • the message includes a brief greeting in the user's language (Hi, I'm John.)
  • the message includes a personal introduction from a friend who referred the user to the service.
  • the message includes a request for information, e.g. "What are your working hours?" "What's my budget for the month?” "How many open service requests from zipcode 95014 do we have in the current pipeline?”, etc.
  • step 515 the user is enabled to modify the default messages, e.g. to personalize the greeting.
  • step 520 the system inserts messages into a conversation and sends them to all parties involved.
  • the system monitors the interaction between parties over a period of time, while the user is within a certain location, or until a certain condition is met.
  • step 540 the system checks whether a reply has been received from at least one of the conversation parties. If yes, the system increments the connection level between the parties involved (step 550). Otherwise, the system decrements the connection level (step 560), or leaves it unchanged.
  • connection level can be used to determine the strength of the social or business connection between the user and other parties. For example, the next time the user searches for a business service of a certain time, only businesses with a certain connection level are included in the search. The system may also take into account whether a human or automated reply has been received.
  • the user is enabled to request only human conversation parties for a given scenario.
  • the "Say Hi” process can be used for any introduction to a new situation, such as service registration, scenario initiation, arrival at a location (airport), online greetings, first walk-through on a new device to get acquainted with available device features, receptionist services, and etc.
  • the process is executed in a newcomer mode, where the user is completely unfamiliar with the potential conversation parties and needs to learn everything from scratch.
  • ratings are derived from reviews and evaluations from the members of the general public derived from 3rd parties, e.g. Yelp, Amazon, etc.
  • the system also enables to use ratings based on feedback from one's social network connections, e.g. Facebook friends (or friends of friends), orther sub-contractors, Linkedln colleagues, followed Twitter feeds, etc.
  • ratings are derived from reviews and evaluations from the system's users only. Such ratings are preferred because they contain information about outcomes of the conversation, such as a sale, a thank you message, a complaint, etc.
  • the process is executed in the "local" mode, where the user assumes an identity of a local person, highly experienced in the surroundings.
  • the system proposes to him to "Say hi" to businesses frequented by people with similar preferences and/or demographic characteristics. For that purpose, the system may initiate a Q&A session with the user prior to the arrival. Alternatively, the may make inferences from the user's history of transactions and create a model profile to be used in the future.
  • the process is executed in the "human" mode, where the user desires to talk to humans only. In that case, the system contacts businesses and/or team members who are available in real time.
  • Figure 6 illustrates an auto insurance claim user scenario enabled by the system.
  • Bob is a car owner 631 .
  • An unknown person broke the car's side window and stolen Bob's laptop. Since Bob's car is insured, he wants to submit an insurance claim, recover some of the damages, and fix the car.
  • the claim process involves multiple parties, e.g. Police 610, Insurance Company 620, Bob's wife 633 and lawyer 633, Witness 640, Data Recovery service (not shown), and Auto repair shop 650.
  • the insurance claim process involves coordination between multiple parties to arrange for several major steps that include, but are not limited to submission of evidence, furnishing a police report, filing a claim, towing the car, providing an estimate for repairs, and repairing the car.
  • the entire process constitutes a customer journey aimed at getting the issue resolved, e.g. car fixed and data recovered, through coordinated activities of the parties involved.
  • the conversation can be escalated to all participants, or a specific team, or a specific member within the team.
  • Bob uses an implementation of the system of the disclosed technology and creates conversation stream 680. [00154] In one implementation, Bob creates a new conversation manually and adds all the parties himself.
  • Bob uses a default Auto Insurance Claim Scenario provided by the system or his Insurance Agent 621 , and adds relevant parties. When the system notices that Bob's laptop is missing it adds Data Recovery service to the conversation.
  • Bob contacts his Insurance Agent 621 , via telephone (not shown), who creates the conversation as a standard means to process customer claims and adds Bob to the conversation via a text messaging application.
  • Police Officer 61 1 creates the conversation when Witness 640 reports the burglary.
  • Participants of the conversation are organized as teams. All messages and digital communications (conversation fragments), e.g. pictures of the car, repair estimate document, and others, become a part of the conversation stream accessible to all team parties. Conversation participants may or may not know each other personally. In the present example, Bob knows personally Insurance Agent and Auto Repair Mechanic 651 from previous interactions. Conversations fragments can be sent to individuals as well as teams based on the context, e.g. privacy, security, family relationships, business relationships, urgency, time and location of the accident, estimated damage amount, etc.
  • all fragments are available to all internal team members.
  • conversation fragments are distributed according to pre-defined rules.
  • conversation fragments are distributed according to predefined rules arranged according to team structure (team graph) and/or context.
  • Team graph can be implemented as flat, hierarchical, distributed, or a combination of thereof.
  • certain conversation fragments e.g. value tokens
  • the value tokens and/or their fractional values can tracked, e.g. using a company accounting system, ad-hock social/business arrangments, digital wallet procedures, block chain records, etc.
  • All fragments are given at least a time stamp and/or a hash value and associated with the conversation ID.
  • Bob's team 630 comprises himself 631 , his wife 632, and his lawyer 633.
  • the team may use the system separately as a private means to discuss the accident among themselves concurrently with conversation 680.
  • Conversation fragments can be marked and/or removed from the record based, e.g. on Attorney-Client privelege rules, pre-defined expiration period, etc.
  • Police team 610 comprises police Officer 61 1 , Records Clerk 612, Surveillance Service 613, and Records Service 614.
  • Surveillance and Records Services are computer implemented systems (artificial individuals) enabled to receive, process, and send conversation fragments.
  • Surveillance Service can be implemented as a digital media database with a conversation interface responsive to structured and/or free-form queries.
  • Surveillance Service is implemented as a digital /photo video camera system with storage. It can be a fixed and/or a portable camera, or a combination of multiple cameras attached to a building, person, car, helicopter, drone, etc.
  • Surveillance Service can be implemented as a text- based system containing reports from private and public sources.
  • a system of the disclosed technology can be used as a Surveillance Service gathering inputs (fragments) from multiple observers (human, animal, artificial).
  • Records Service provides police reports necessary for processing insurance claims. It can be implemented as a digital document repository with an interface responsive to conversation fragments. For example, it can provide detailed police report data based, e.g., on report ID, accident location information, car ID, owner, suspect, police officer, and a combination of such multiple identifiers.
  • Insurance team 620 comprises Insurance Agent 621 , Claim Adjustor 622, Claim Service 623, and Wallet Service 624.
  • Wallet Service 624 is a computer- implemented system enabled to process payments, e.g. receive instructions, send and receive value tokens, using the conversation interface.
  • Value tokens can represent currency, coupons, credits, game currency, bitcoins, affiliation card points, etc.
  • the service can be implemented as a third party financial transaction system, e.g. digital wallet, credit card processing service; or as a value transfer subsystem to the conversation system; or a combination of both.
  • a third party application can use the interface to communicate to the services and consumers.
  • the system is enabled to charge commissions, e.g. as a percentage and/or fixed and/or variable fee, for accessing the interface and/or concluding transactions.
  • Wallet Service keeps track of considerations users provide in return or advance for products and services. Users are enabled to buy internal credits using official government currencies or other means of payment, e.g. loyalty points, BitCoins, etc.
  • Auto Repair shop team comprises Mechanic 651 , Shop Owner 652, Receptionist 653, and Wallet Service 654.
  • Conversation 680 parties exchange multiple conversation fragments 615, 625, 635, 645, and 655, pertaining to the transaction.
  • Communications and user interface components of the system e.g. mobile apps, place the fragments into Conversation Stream 690 available to conversation parties on their respective conversation devices, such as smartphones, tablets, digital watches, digital glasses, television screens, computer monitors, electronic readers, brain-computer interfaces, equipment control panels, etc.
  • witness 640 leaves the scene.
  • Owner 631 uses a step-by-step "Say Hi" process to send customized messages to all parties required to create and process an auto insurance claim. Since the system has Police department registered within the service, it locates ID for the Police Officer 61 1 responsible for the dealing with the claims. Owner 631 notifies police Officer by typing his message (a conversation fragment) and inserting pictures (conversation fragments) of his burglarized car into Conversation 680. The system is configured to send the conversation fragments to the police officer as well as the entire Police team 610.
  • the system adds Insurance team to Conversation 680. Using an interactive process, it asks the user for his policy number, and other identifying information. Using the information the system locates registered Insurance Agent 621 responsible for processing claims and adds him to the conversation. By the virtue of being added to the conversation, the agent is notified of the accident. He also receives information provided by the user, police, and witness.
  • the system asks the agent to fill in the default roles of Claim Adjustor 622, Claim Service 623, and Wallet Service 624. Having located registered persons (human and artificial) within the system, the agent adds them to the conversation.
  • Claim Service 623 interacts with Owner 631 to gather information about the accident and verify coverage information. Because it knows that Police team 610 and Witness 640 are parties to Conversation 680, it requests and receives information from them within the same conversation. Information exchanges may occur in real time and/or asynchronously, depending on availability of persons involved.
  • Claim Service 623 notifies Claim Adjustor 622, so that she begins claim valuation process.
  • Owner 631 adds his Wife 632 and his Lawyer 633 to the conversation. He instructs the system that his wife is an active participant, while his lawyer is a passive participant. As the result, Wife 632 receives all conversation fragments by default, while Lawyer 633 will receive them only when Owner 631 instructs the system to share Conversation 680 (or any of its fragments) explicitly.
  • the system contacts the shop. Since Mechanic 651 is not available for messages, Receptionist 653 interacts with the system to respond to the invitation to join the conversation. She also adds Shop Owner 652, who instructs his staff to tow the car and gives them location information contained in the conversation.
  • Shop Owner 652 creates a detailed estimate for repairs and adds it to the conversation, directing it at Adjustor 622, Owner 631 .
  • Adjustor 632 uses the conversation to alert Insurance Agent 621 to the delay. As the result, Adjustor 622 contacts Receptionist 653 to schedule a visit to the shop to verify the estimate.
  • Adjustor validates the estimate using Conversation 680.
  • the system notifies Insurance Agent 621 and Claims Service 623.
  • Insurance Agent completes the claim process by instructing Wallet Service 624 to transfer money to Wallet Service 654 that belongs to the auto repair shop. In one implementation he sends the instructions as a text fragment in the body of the conversation. In another implementation he drags and drops the amount due on the claim from an icon representing his Wallet Service to an icon representing the shop's Wallet Service. The icons are located on his portable device and displayed next to Conversation Stream 690.
  • Car Owner 631 monitors the transactions using the conversation system. He asks Shop Owner 653 to instruct Mechanic 651 to fix the car. When the car is ready, Mechanic 651 takes its pictures, adds them to the conversation, and notifies the owner. Owner 631 arranges with Receptionist 653 to pick up the car.
  • the system is enabled to use reminder, calendar, auditing and other automated services.
  • the services are configured to generate reminders if conversation parties are not responsive to certain conversation fragments. That is, internal exchanges within a conversation can be timed, so that automatic reminders are sent.
  • Owner 631 sends a message to Insurance Agent 621 , he attaches a conditional reminder service timer that generates a repeat if Agent 621 doesn't reply within 24hrs.
  • an automated auditing service asks Owner 631 for feedback on the entire transaction and its parties.
  • the owner rates various aspects of the transaction.
  • the service is enabled to evaluate objective information, such as claim processing or auto repair duration, and combine it with subjective feedback supplied by the user.
  • the system is enabled to compare performance of different parties within the same set of scenarios. It can use the information to suggest a higher rated team (car repair shop, insurance adjustor, etc.) during the initial stages of a particular scenario.
  • the system is also enabled to provide information to employers of each team to rate their performance for internal purposes, e.g. promotions, pay raises, recommendations, etc.
  • Figure 7 illustrates a product purchase and deliver scenario user scenario enabled by the system of the disclosed technology.
  • the scenario involves three teams, Buyer 710, Seller 720, and Delivery 730.
  • the teams interact using Conversation 780.
  • Buyer team 710 comprises human Buyer agents 71 1 , 712, and automated Wallet Service 713.
  • Seller team 720 comprises human Seller agents 721 , 722, and automated Wallet Service 723.
  • Conversation is configured to have multiple sub-conversations, 781 , 782, and 783.
  • Buyer team uses sub-conversation 781 to exchange confidential messages;
  • Seller team uses sub-conversation 783 for their own confidential messages;
  • all teams use sub-conversation 782 for joint messages (conversation fragments).
  • Delivery team 730 comprises human Delivery agent 731 and automated Deliver Schedule Service 732.
  • the seller team specializes in customized kitchen cabinets.
  • Seller agents are physically located at different locations: agent 721 is at the store, agent 722 at the manufacturing site.
  • Agent 721 creates open Conversation 780 that indicates to prospective buyers that the store is open for business.
  • Agent 721 registers the conversation with the system of the disclosed technology. After exchanging private messages 725 and 726, agent 722 places an invitation to make an offer in the public domain of the system via sub-conversation 782.
  • the buyer team discovers the offer by searching the system for kitchen cabinets.
  • Buyer agent 71 1 uses her mobile phone to browse available deals.
  • she locates a suitable offer she makes agent 712 a member of her team and, after exchanging with him messages 715 and 716, she transfers the conversation to the large screen digital TV in their living room.
  • Both teams exchange messages (not shown) that include pricing, technical, graphical, video, and other information to negotiate the offer. All messages are a part of the same Conversation 780, but split into different sub-conversations to avoid confusion among the parties and allow for private discussions of various aspects of the offer.
  • agent 712 makes an acceptable offer 718. He adds their Wallet Service 713 to the conversation.
  • Seller Team accepts the offer (not shown) and adds Delivery Team 730 to Conversation 780, allowing it to interact only through the public sub-conversation 782.
  • Delivery Agent 731 suggests (737) a possible delivery schedule, which agent 712 accepts. After that, Wallet Service 713 is instructed to transfer money (719) to Wallet Service 723.
  • Automated Deliver Schedule Service 732 finalizes the schedule using sub- conversation 782. Since all parties are enabled to monitor the sub-conversations they participate in the process ensuring that the service has information what product packages, when, how, at which price, at what time, at which location, with what notification options, are going to be delivered to the buyers. If necessary, sellers 721 and 722 participate in the conversation to complete the transaction.
  • the system enables Seller team 720 to create a separate private sub- conversation with its subcontractors to negotiate various aspects of the transaction. In one example, they use the sub-conversation to discuss technical aspects. In another example, they use the sub-conversation to distribute money among the participants. In a yet another example, they use the sub-conversation to discuss customer complaints when scheduled delivery doesn't take place on time or has other discrepancies from the original agreement. In one more example, a transaction manager discusses with a team member multiple customer transactions, e.g. related to a particular service stage in a complex service process.
  • the system enables Buyer team 710 to divide money between the parties in the public sub-conversation 782. For example, they are enabled to allocate tips per team member or between different sub-contractors, depending on the level of service provided.
  • the system enables efficient transactions because it covers end-to-end conversations associated with the order. All teams are enabled to review the conversation at a later time. The system also monitors open conversations and eliminates "dropped call" situations, e.g. when a conversation is terminated due to a communication failure.
  • the supervisor of the seller team 720 may evaluate negotiation tactics used by the team.
  • the supervisor may request and receive aggregated parameters from multiple buyer teams to see how much conversation time and effort it takes to negotiate a transaction with a particular seller team. That is, since all sub-conversations belong to the same conversation or associated with, e.g. by a service pattern, the system enables statistical analysis of transactions across multiple buyers, sellers, and their sub-contractors.
  • the supervisor may use the information to create a high-level control dashboard to monitor transactions using interactive graphical interfaces across different teams, locations, types of products, etc.
  • the supervisor is also enabled to add team members and/or incentives if she concludes that the conversation is not proceeding well.
  • the conversation records can be used for customer support, dispute resolution, product returns, re-negotiations, repeat purchases, incentive offers, training sessions, sub-contractor performance reviews, etc.
  • User interfaces in the system are enabled to browse (e.g. using scroll interface on a multi-touch display with a "swipe" gesture) each sub-conversation synchronously or separately. For example, when agent 71 1 wants to review her private conversations with agent 712, she can independently go back over sub-conversation 781 without affecting the representation of sub-conversation 782, either on her own device or on everybody else's device.
  • the interface displays multiple threads and scrolling options when the user turns it, e.g. from portrait to landscape mode.
  • the interface may present various default and/or custom "aboutness" fields, e.g. product name, product ID, customer IDs, service step, service instance, etc.
  • Figure 8 illustrates an airport arrival user scenario enabled by the system of the disclosed technology.
  • traveler 817 flies for the first time from San Francisco airport (SFO) to Paris Charles De Gaulle airport (CDG). Upon arrival, the traveler starts his mobile application that serves as an interface to the conversation system. He activates the Say Hi scenario for the airport, by hitting "Say Hi” soft button on the device. The system creates a new composite conversation 880, comprising 5 independent sub-conversations (881 through 885).
  • the system creates a team 810 for the traveler, adding instances of "Say hi" 816 and Wallet 818 services.
  • the system detects popular businesses at the location.
  • the system is pre-configured with certain business instances by the user before the flight.
  • the system adds teams in an interactive mode, asking the traveler whether he wants to connect.
  • Airport Information Service 820 or a virtual concierge replies with a welcome message 823 containing an airport map, border and customs notes, and locations of restrooms, restaurants and major duty-free stores. If desired, the user can initiate a conversation (Say Hi) with any of the restaurants or stores.
  • the message is customized with the traveler's language, age, gender, other explicitly or implicitly expressed general preferences.
  • the system communicates to service 820 the traveler's system ID, which the service uses to obtain his travel preferences from a remote database.
  • the traveler picks specific questions from a menu suggested by his Say Hi service 816.
  • a third party guides the user in selecting, asking, and replying to messages from Airport Info Service 820.
  • This interactive mode is implemented using either sub-conversation 816 or a different sub- conversation.
  • Service 820 is enabled to offer incentives, such as coupons and discounts, which can be transferred between different sub-conversations, e.g. by dragging and dropping them on the application user interface.
  • incentives such as coupons and discounts
  • the system is enabled to analyze effectiveness of incentives, provide feedback to the service providers, and adjust them to improve effectiveness.
  • Service 820 invokes a pre-defined scenario and connects relevant business services from one or more brands.
  • an Air France customer service representative 830 replies with message 831 placed into sub-conversation 881 .
  • the traveler's initial message 81 1 contained his frequent flyer information; therefore, message 831 contains connecting gate and time data.
  • the traveler is enabled to interact with the service and he replies with question 8101 .
  • Other message exchanges may take place within the sub-conversation (not shown).
  • Say Hi service sends traveler's system ID, which allows representative 830 to locate the traveler's frequent flyer information and other personal data allowed to be shared in this scenario.
  • the representative is enabled to customize her messages, similar to the customization options described earlier.
  • the user is enabled to authorize or de-authorize a specific person and/or team to access personal information.
  • the authorization can be applied at different levels: team, relationship, conversation, and/or conversation fragment.
  • the user is also enabled to review his/her authorizations.
  • an automated message 842 from "Say Hi” service 841 arrives. It contains default information about Sports Bar team 840; the information includes location, menu, and popular game schedule for the next two hours.
  • Service 841 is a 24x7 part of the Sports Bar team. It is configured to reply to standard "Say Hi” requests in languages preferred by the travelers. Most travelers contact the bar using their conversation app rather than the more traditional web interface.
  • Traveler 81 1 replies with message 8102, asking to reserve a spot in front of the big TV in 30 minutes. Since the automated service 841 can't understand the message, it is routed to waiter 842, who replies with message 8402, confirming the reservation.
  • a reply message 854 from Bank team 850 arrives to sub- conversation 884.
  • the message contains foreign exchange information.
  • the traveler uses his Wallet Service 818 to exchange money certificate 8104.
  • the Bank's Currency Exchange Service replies with message 8504 confirming the exchange.
  • the message represents a receipt that can be moved to the traveler's expense report conversation (not shown) started when his manager authorized the trip.
  • the user interface of the application supports drag-and-drop, hold-and-search (e.g. using a pop-up menu), and other types of interactions for conversation navigation.
  • the system is enabled to increment successful interaction counts, so that the next time the traveler arrives to the airport his conversations are automatically connected to preferred teams/individuals/services.
  • the system keeps track of user interactions and suggests teams/individuals/services with high connection levels across users of a certain demographic group or other type of group or personal preferences.
  • the traveler is enabled to browse Family Graph before the flight and identify individuals that he would like to contact upon arrival. Based on his preferences, message 815 can be sent to specific selected individuals, or the entire graph. Similarly, the traveler can send a Say Hi message to his social or business graph or a combination of any members of both.
  • user interface allows the traveler to interact with each sub-conversation independently. Also, he has an option of joining or splitting sub- conversations. For example, he joins sub-conversations 881 and 881 to discuss with the airline and bar waiter whether he has enough time to for a glass of wine before the connecting flight.
  • the traveler is also enabled to transfer money from his Wallet Service 818 to the Sports Bar team 840 via Bank 850.
  • Figure 9 illustrates interaction between devices and services within the system of the disclosed technology.
  • Traveler 817 has a mobile user device 910, which is enabled to interact with the rest of the devices and services in the system using client interface 930, which is responsible for attaching the device to the rest of the system.
  • the interface supports system APIs necessary for transferring data from the user device to the rest of the system.
  • An application hosted by the device uses the APIs to communicate, e.g., user ID, conversation ID, conversation fragments, network ID (e.g. IP and/or MAC addresses) and other information relevant to the interaction.
  • the application may initialize with user ID when the traveler logs onto the system.
  • the application When the traveler starts a new conversation the application requests and receives a conversation ID, e.g., using Instantiate Blank process 360, which is associated with the traveler and his device.
  • the application is enabled to store conversation IDs for a certain number of recent and/or open conversations, depending on the amount of memory available on the device.
  • the application is also enabled to receive a conversation fragment using a conversation ID.
  • the application is enabled to receive a conversation ID as a result of a search of a subset of user conversations, e.g. by text, names of other users, team composition, pictures, videos, time interval, etc.
  • the application is also enabled to get team composition (graph) using a conversation ID.
  • Bar waiter 842 also has a communication device 920 with system interface 940.
  • Device 920 interacts with the rest of the system in a manner very similar to device 910. Because the device belongs to a business, in some implementations it is allowed to interact with the system over a secure channel only. In other implementations, it is required to do a two-factor user authentication. In another implementation, it is enabled to use network and software interfaces with different levels of security requirements. For example, when user 842 participates in one conversation as a consumer and in another conversation as a member of a business team, the latter conversation is required to go over a secure channel. Furthermore, waiter 842 is enabled to see and select a business team member, e.g. a sub-contractor, based on the sub-contructor reputation, pricing, real-time or delayed bids, user preferences, etc.
  • a business team member e.g. a sub-contractor
  • Services 816, 818, 820 and others interact with the system using instances of Service Interface 940.
  • the interface enables conversion of internal representations of service information to conversation format.
  • Airport Information Service 820 has information in HTML format.
  • Wallet Service 818 uses interface 940 to encrypt currency values before transferring it between different user and business team accounts.
  • Figure 9 illustrates other types of services that are enabled to interact with the system of the disclosed technology. For example, Recording Service is added to the conversation to record interactions, either complete or partial, between parties in the conversation. Team Services keeps track of team composition and communications between team members.
  • Reminder Service can be added to the conversation to send/receive/forward timed messages (conversation fragments) to conversation parties.
  • Auditing Service is added to the conversation to keep track of value transactions and produce receipts.
  • Scenario Service provides users with standard and customized scenarios for conversations.
  • Location Service provides location, either physical or virtual, information to the conversation.
  • each fragment is assigned at least one semantic type, such as text, time, picture, money, etc.
  • the interface uses the type to convert the fragment to its service's internal data type and back
  • Figure 10 illustrates a business graph enabled by the system of the disclosed technology.
  • the business graph captures information between conversation participants.
  • Consumer 1001 has a connection with Business team 1010. That is, the consumer doesn't know any of the team members (101 1 ...1013) personally, but uses the business to discuss and buy goods from it.
  • the user may contact a take-out burger restaurant to order food using the system of the disclosed technology.
  • Receptionist 1013 discusses the order with the customer and her team (e.g. sub-conversation 1012).
  • To fulfill the order team member 1014 interacts with automated delivery service 1050.
  • team 1010 is formed on a per-project basis. Nevertheless, the conversation contains contact information of the team members, so that any one or all of them can be contacted in the future, e.g. with customer complaints, project review, and other messages.
  • team 1010 represents a formal organization, e.g. a sales department, customer support group, university faculty, etc.
  • conversations are represented by two-way arrows, e.g. 1015, 1025, 1026, 1035, 1045, 1055.
  • Conversations may include, but not limited to digital interactions, transfer of goods and services, value tokens, currency tokens, as well as other types of consideration.
  • Interactions may include representations about products, services, user preferences, and various states of affairs in the system.
  • Interaction may also include directives, i.e. instructions from conversation participants to perform certain actions, such as value transfers, product transfers, orders, etc.
  • Interactions may include comissive statements, such as promises, offers, and others.
  • Interactions may also include expressive statements, such as complaints, thanks, apologies, etc.
  • Interactions may include declarations, such as appointments, announcements, joint agreements, etc.
  • Business team 1010 provides representations of plates and drinks on the menu. Consumer 1001 describes his preferences, asks for advice, and places orders. He also promises a payment, and thanks for the prompt service. Business team members can also place orders, e.g., to Sub-contractor 1045 and/or third party service 1050. They can promise transfer of currency and/or value tokens, e.g. coupons, loyalty points, etc.
  • Consumer 1001 interacts with Business 1020, e.g. insurance agency. He knows Employee 1021 personally and contacts him directly via connection 1025. As the conversation progresses, the consumer has to transfer money in return for a payment at a later date, e.g. for medical services from a third party. Although the relationship between the consumer and the employee is personal, the promise of payment 1026 is between the consumer and Business 1020. Both interactions (1025 and 1026) can be a part of the same conversation. The conversation can involve other employees of Business 1020.
  • Business 1020 e.g. insurance agency. He knows Employee 1021 personally and contacts him directly via connection 1025. As the conversation progresses, the consumer has to transfer money in return for a payment at a later date, e.g. for medical services from a third party. Although the relationship between the consumer and the employee is personal, the promise of payment 1026 is between the consumer and Business 1020. Both interactions (1025 and 1026) can be a part of the same conversation. The conversation can involve other employees of Business 1020.
  • business Employee 1031 and Sub-contractor employee 1041 have a personal working relationship.
  • Consumer 1002 interacts with business 1030, which requires services of Sub Contractor 1040, Employee gets involved to facilitate the conversation.
  • the involvement is implemented, e.g. by adding the employee to the conversation, either privately within his team or so that the consumer can see the employee's involvement.
  • Various mechanisms to involve multiple parties in a conversation are discussed above, e.g. in relationship to Figure 7.
  • Characteristics of a connection are stored in a memory, e.g. database service (not shown). Such characteristics may include absolute values, e.g. number of conversations between parties, number (volume) of product/service items transacted, amount of value tokens transferred, amount of currency payments transferred. In other implementations, characteristics include relative values, e.g. ratio between currency value of transactions and number of conversations; average of conversation fragments per conversation; ratio of goods/services per conversation, etc.
  • the system is enabled to provide information and evaluate employee and/or team performance based on connection characteristics.
  • a consumer in the system can be characterized by his/her connections, e.g. by automatically assigning priority conversations with higher ratios of currency value to a business. For example, when consumers 1001 and 1002 initiate conversation with business 1020, consumer 1001 is given a preference because he has a personal connection with employee 1021 . Alternatively, the system may assign a higher priority to a new customer, e.g. because the connection with the existing customer has a value ratio below threshold. The system may identify consumers with high level of experience and include them in conversations when business team members are not available to provide advice, e.g. outside the office hours. Such consumers can be treated as virtual team members and provided with incentives to answer questions and transact with other consumers on behalf of the team.
  • connections are evaluated statistically over a population in at least one of the categories of employees, teams, businesses, organizations, consumers, etc.
  • Consumer Cluster 1070 is created by aggregating consumers using a calculated value of expected ratio of money spent per conversation.
  • the cluster can be created and/or adjusted by evaluating connections between consumers in a third party social graph, e.g. Facebook, Linkedln, Twitter, Google+ and other social networks.
  • external relationships are mapped to internal relationship and user identities ("friends") presented as internal and/or transparent for creating and exchanging messages.
  • Figure 1 1 illustrates a distributed network of goods, services, conversations, considerations and other transactions enabled by the system of the disclosed technology.
  • User device 910 initiates conversation 880 (see Fig 8 discussion for more detail).
  • Examples of user device include a smartphone, personal area network accessory such Google Glass, tablet, PC, laptop, Point-of-Sale terminal, TV, Set Top Box (STB), game console, GPS device, HVAC control panel, etc.
  • Conversation goes over Network 1 105, e.g. the Internet and/or internal company network.
  • Network 1 105 e.g. the Internet and/or internal company network.
  • Fragments of the conversation 880 go another user device 920, tablet 1 1 10, and data center 818, associated with a Wallet Service.
  • Devices 920, 1 1 10, and 818 are members of the same team, members of which can exchange conversations between themselves.
  • Conversation 880 is copied to memory 1 140, which is associated with conversation evaluation service 1 150 that computes and/or statistically predicts conversation ratios.
  • tablet 1 1 10 belongs to a team supervisor who also has access to service 1 150. The access is provided on a subscription or pay-peruse basis. The supervisor evaluates this and other conversations using a visual dashboard on tablet 1 1 10 that shows performance of the team, e.g. measured in value generated and/or consumer satisfaction measurements received.
  • Conversation 880 results in an agreement.
  • business sends goods 1 120 to the user, while the user sends consideration, e.g. money, to the business.
  • the consideration is directed to Service 818 and credited to the team.
  • the user is enabled to divide the consideration between team members. For example, when giving a tip after a meal at a restaurant, the user allocates money between the cook, waiter, and kitchen staff.
  • Service 1 160 is used for discovery and routing conversations between users in the system. It contains real-time as well as historical information about the network; personal preferences and device configurations time of conversation. The service can be used for pre-configured standard scenarios, e.g. involved in secure conversations.
  • Figure 12 provides an example of a computer-enabled implementation of the disclosed technology.
  • a host server 1200 that may be operated by a third party such as Amazon.com
  • the software program presents an API that allows users and third party systems/programs to provide fragments of conversations or (if allowed) to receive records of conversations. Records of conversations, the participants, attachments such as photographs, documents etc. and rules for who have access to the conversation are stored in a database 1220.
  • Users access a conversation using their personal computing device such a PC, laptop, gaming console, in-car computer system etc. 1240 or their personal smart phone 1250. Communications about a conversation can be sent directly to the hosting server through the API 1210. If another participant performs some task related to a conversation in which the user is involved, worker software 1260 operated by the server 1200 detects the communication and provides a notification to the user's computing device 1240, 1250.
  • a web application 1270 monitors communications from a user's or a conversation participant's computing device. If the communication is directed to a conversation, the web application notifies a messaging broker application such as RabbitMQ from Pivotal that allows communications to be sent and received from different applications. Documents, photographs, consideration etc. for a transaction that is the subject of a conversation can be sent between participants and messages confirming the transmission and receipt of such items are stored in the database 1220.
  • a messaging broker application such as RabbitMQ from Pivotal that allows communications to be sent and received from different applications.
  • Documents, photographs, consideration etc. for a transaction that is the subject of a conversation can be sent between participants and messages confirming the transmission and receipt of such items are stored in the database 1220.
  • the software program 1210 also interfaces with the wallet exchange program (not shown) that is associated with conversation participants. In this manner, the software program 1210 confirms the transfer of consideration between participants in order to detect if a transaction has been completed and to keep records of a transaction.
  • supervisors can access the database 1220 with their own computing device (not shown) to determine how a transaction and/or a number of transactions with selected using a business criteria are progressing.
  • supervisors could be managers of a sales team, physicians monitoring their patients and nurses, insurance claim adjusters etc.
  • a user can leave feedback regarding a conversation that is stored in the database and used by the supervisor to rate its sales team or improve future service.
  • a new conversation can be started between the user and an employee at a hardware store.
  • the store is copied on the message and a supervisor can forward the message to another employee if the original employee is no longer working at the store.
  • Records of the interactions that make up the conversation are stored on the database 1220.
  • the user can complete a transaction from their computing device 1240, 1250 to initiate the transfer of consideration from their account to the hardware store using their wallet exchange.
  • a record of the consideration transfer is kept on the database for return/exchange purposes.
  • a supervisor either human or implemented as an uditing service, can inspect all the transactions from a particular store to determine the effectiveness of its sales team, to spot trends in consumer purchases, sub-contractor performance, etc.
  • the application 1210 keeps a record of an identification number for the user's computing device 1240, 1250 and messages to the user for a new or existing conversation are sent to the address of the computing device.
  • the identification number can be a unique number assigned by the system or provided through a third party, e.g. a phone number, a social networking ID, government issued ID, block chain computation function, etc.
  • the computing device is able to display the conversations by subject or other identifier so that the user is able to view all portions of a conversation as well as the underlying documents.
  • the database 1220 keeps track of items that need to be completed in order to finalize a transaction. For example, in home ownership a buyer may want to pre-qualify for a mortgage. Several papers are required to be provided to the bank in order to pre-qualify and the database can keep track of what papers have been provided and which are still outstanding. Other aspects of a home purchase such as an earnest money check, inspection sign off etc. can be shown to the participants so that the participants can easily view what steps are left to complete.
  • the checklist of documents required can be pre-determined based on the type of transaction that the user wants to complete.
  • participants in the conversation may be able to add or subtract from the list of documents required based on the particular circumstances of the matter at hand.
  • communications to another conversation participant include an ID or other code that identifies the particular conversation.
  • the ID or code is read by the web application 1270 to route the communication to the appropriate participants and to store a record of the communication in the database 1220.
  • the user's computing device produces a user interface that lists individual conversations that the user is involved in or has completed. Be selecting a particular conversation, the computing device retrieves communications stored for that conversation. In addition, documents for the transaction associated with the conversation can also be retrieved or viewed as well as any checklist of items to be completed.
  • the user interface allows a user to invite additional people or services into a conversation and to set rules for how much of the conversation the new participant is able to see.
  • a service provider which coordinates transactions and conversations between customers and sub-contractors, may perform various actions to assist the sub-contractors with providing products and services that fulfill goals requested by customers to the service provider (via a communication platform of the service provider).
  • FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a suitable computing environment 1300 in which to coordinate sub-contractor services for a customer.
  • a customer 1305 via his/her user device 1310 (e.g., mobile device, tablet, laptop, smart glasses, VR headset, personal area network (PAN), smart watch or other peripheral, and so on), may access the communication platform 1330 of the service provider over a network 1320, such as the Internet.
  • the platform 1330 of the service provider coordinates interactions between the user device 1310, such as via a user interface 1315 of the user device 1310, and one of more subcontractors 1340A-C, such as various companies, entities, other service providers, retailers, and so on.
  • subcontractors 1340A-C such as various companies, entities, other service providers, retailers, and so on.
  • the platform 1330 of the service provider includes a journey coordination system 1350 that is configured to manage exchanges of information between the customer 1305, the user device 1310, the service provider 1330, and the various sub-contractors 1340A-C.
  • FIG 14 is a block diagram illustrating components of the journey coordination system 1350.
  • the journey coordination system 1350 may include one or more modules and/or components to perform one or more operations of the journey coordination system 1350.
  • the modules may be hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software, and may be executed by one or more processors.
  • the journey coordination system 1350 may include a messaging module 1410, a goal determination module 1420, a services module 1430, a journey module 1440, and an action module 1450.
  • the messaging module 1410 is configured and/or programmed to access a message, or multiple messages, from a customer of a service provider.
  • the messages may include content representing a request from the customer to provide one or more services that combine to fulfill a goal.
  • the message may include a request for one or more services, that, when combined, fulfill a goal.
  • the message may be received by the platform 1330 of the service provider, and may include content identifying all services associated with the goal, such as a selection of content from a pre-defined menu (e.g., "Hamilton Package"), and/or from user input, (e.g., "Get me tickets to the Broadway show "Hamilton," as well as transportation to the show, and reservations for dinner afterwards”).
  • a pre-defined menu e.g., "Hamilton Package”
  • user input e.g., "Get me tickets to the Broadway show "Hamilton," as well as transportation to the show, and reservations for dinner afterwards”
  • the message may be received by a web service associated with providing tickets to the Broadway show (e.g., a subcontractor), associated with the platform 1330 of the service provider - e.g., "I want two tickets to Hamilton for Friday, Orchestra seats.”
  • a web service associated with providing tickets to the Broadway show e.g., a subcontractor
  • the platform 1330 of the service provider e.g., "I want two tickets to Hamilton for Friday, Orchestra seats.”
  • the messaging module 1410 may access a message sent by the customer 1310 to a customer support system of the service provider (via platform 1330) and/or may access a message sent by the customer to a customer support system of one of the identified sub-contractors (and managed or associated with platform 1330).
  • the goal determination module 1420 is configured and/or programmed to determine the goal based on the content of the message. For example, the goal determination module 1420 may extract a goal from the contents of a message, such as based on one or more words within the message that match to previous goals fulfilled by the platform 1330, or based on keywords within the message (e.g., the message "I want to go see Hamilton,” may indicate a goal of getting tickets and transportation to the Broadway play).
  • the services module 1430 is configured and/or programmed to identify one or more sub-contractors capable of providing the one or more of the services that combine to fulfill the goal.
  • the services module 1430 may identify web services, retailers, other service providers, and so on, capable of providing services and/or products associated with fulfilling various aspects of the goal.
  • the services module 1430 may also prioritize sub-contractors based on their customer satisfaction track record, contract arrangement, pricing policies, user preferences, and other quality assurance or metrics associated with their previous performances or current prices/policies.
  • the services module 1430 may, in some embodiments, access records of conversations and/or transactions stored in database 1220, and identify subcontractors, information associated with the sub-contractors, active or previous goals or transactions associated with the sub-contractors, and so on. For example, the services module 1430 selects an online ticketing web service as the sub-contractor 1340A to provide tickets to the Broadway show (a product), and selects an online transportation network company as the sub-contractor 1340B to provide transportation to/from the show (a service).
  • the journey module 1440 is configured and/or programmed to determine a journey of actions to be performed with respect to the identified sub-contractors to fulfill the goal.
  • the journey module 1440 may determine a journey of engaging with multiple sub-contractors 1330A-C, either in series or in parallel, that, when combined, will provide services and products to the customer that complete the request goal.
  • the journey module 1440 may build or utilize a graph of paths between connected nodes, each of which represent a service or product provided by the sub-contractors 1330A-C.
  • the journey module 1440 may build or access a graph of paths connected to one another by nodes, wherein each of the paths represents a service provided by a subcontractor, and wherein an unbroken connection of paths between a beginning node and one or more ending nodes represents a journey to a goal, and select a journey within the graph that connects the beginning node to the goal.
  • the journey module 1440 may select one or more journeys to accomplish or fulfill a goal based on constraints applied to the goal, such as time, budget, subcontractor reliability, or other similar constraints.
  • Figures 15A-C are graphs that illustrate various journeys performed on behalf of a customer, and/or by a customer or potential customer to obtain, fulfill, or accomplish a requested goal.
  • Figure 15A depicts a graph 1500 of nodes, including a beginning or entry node 1510 (although other nodes may also be entry nodes), paths 1520 between nodes that represent services or products (or, actions performed by the platform 1330 of the service provider with respect to the services or products) that fulfill the goal, and one or more goal nodes 1515.
  • Figure 15B depicts an example journey through the graph 1500 to a goal 1515.
  • the example journey includes the connected paths 1520 of STEP A, STEP B, STEP C, STEP D, STEP E, and STEP F.
  • Each of the paths 1520 represents an action to be performed with respect to a sub-contractor. For example, given the example goal described herein that is based on the message of "Get me tickets to the Broadway show "Hamilton," as well as transportation to the show, and reservations for dinner afterwards, the example journey may include the following actions to be performed:
  • STEPS A or B - facilitate purchase of tickets for Hamilton by sending a message to the user that includes a link to purchase tickets at ticketing web service (sub-contractor);
  • STEPS C or D - schedule car service to pick up customer at a certain time before show, and provide payment to car service via the car service's mobile application;
  • STEPS E or F - make reservation at restaurant near address of show via an online reservation web service; and so on.
  • FIG 15C depicts an alternative example journey through the graph 1500 to the goal 1515, which includes one or more paths shared by the journey depicted in Figure 15B.
  • the alternative journey includes the connected paths 1420 of STEP L, STEP M, STEP N, STEP D (the shared path), STEP P, STEP Q, and STEP R.
  • each step includes one or more message exchanges between the service provider and the sub-contractors.
  • the journey module 1440 may utilize other graphs or tools when identifying a suitable or optimized group of sub-contractors through which products and services are procured to satisfy a requested goal.
  • the action module 1450 is configured and/or programmed to perform the actions within the selected journey of actions.
  • the action module 1450 may perform one or more actions (as described herein) to facilitate completion of a transaction between the customer and one of the identified sub-contractors, to facilitate an exchange of information between the customer and multiple identified sub-contractors, to provide information about a service provided by a first sub-contractor to a second subcontractor providing a service that is complementary to the service provided by the first sub-contractor, and so on.
  • the journey coordination system 1350 may perform various algorithmic processes or methods when coordinating actions performed to obtain services and products to satisfy a requested goal.
  • Figure 16 is a flow diagram illustrating a method 1600 for coordinating services performed for a customer. The method 1600 may be performed by the journey coordination system 1350 and, accordingly, is described herein merely by way of reference thereto. It will be appreciated that the method 1600 may be performed on any suitable hardware.
  • the journey coordination system 1350 receives or otherwise accesses one or more messages between a customer and a service provider, wherein the one or more messages include content representing a request from the customer to provide one or more services that combine to fulfill a goal.
  • the messaging module 1410 may access a message sent by the customer 1310 to a customer support system of the service provider (via platform 1330) and/or may access a message sent by the customer to a customer support system of one of the identified sub-contractors (and managed or associated with platform 1330).
  • the journey coordination system 1350 determines the goal based on the content of the message.
  • the goal determination module 1420 may extract a goal from the contents of a message, such as based on one or more words within the message that match to previous goals fulfilled by the platform 1330, or based on keywords within the message.
  • the journey coordination system 1350 identifies one or more sub-contractors capable of providing the one or more of the services that combine to fulfill the goal.
  • the services module 1430 may access records of conversations and/or transactions stored in database 1220, and identify subcontractors, information associated with the sub-contractors, active or previous goals or transactions associated with the sub-contractors, and so on.
  • the services module 1220 may provide information from other conversations that are associated with an identified sub-contractor, and modify the conversations after utilizing the sub-contractor for the journey.
  • Figure 17 is a flow diagram illustrating a method 1700 for modifying a conversation associated with a customer based on interactions with a sub-contractor. The method 1700 may be performed by the journey coordination system 1350 and, accordingly, is described herein merely by way of reference thereto. It will be appreciated that the method 1700 may be performed on any suitable hardware.
  • the journey coordination system 1350 selects a subcontractor.
  • the journey coordination system 1350 may select a subcontractor based on an automated triage procedure (e.g., based on multiple similar requests across disparate journeys, based on exchanging messages via a mobile application, based on communicating using a voice to text interface, based on feedback from the customer, and so on.
  • an automated triage procedure e.g., based on multiple similar requests across disparate journeys, based on exchanging messages via a mobile application, based on communicating using a voice to text interface, based on feedback from the customer, and so on.
  • the journey coordination system 1350 queries a transaction database 1220 for information about active or open journeys that include the sub-contractor (e.g., web services that provide services within active journeys. For example, the journey coordination system 1350 may attempt to identify whether to escalate or minimize actions to be performed with respect to the sub-contractor, whether to perform a group request, and so on. [00290] In operation 1730, the journey coordination system 1350 establishes a conversation with the sub-contractor, and in operation 1740, updates the database 1220 with the new conversation information.
  • the sub-contractor e.g., web services that provide services within active journeys.
  • the journey coordination system 1350 may attempt to identify whether to escalate or minimize actions to be performed with respect to the sub-contractor, whether to perform a group request, and so on.
  • the journey coordination system 1350 establishes a conversation with the sub-contractor, and in operation 1740, updates the database 1220 with the new conversation information.
  • the journey coordination system 1350 determines a journey of actions to be performed with respect to the identified sub-contractors to fulfill the goal.
  • the journey module 1430 may build or generate a graph of paths connected to one another by nodes, wherein each of the paths represents a service provided by a subcontractor, and wherein an unbroken connection of paths between a beginning node and one or more ending nodes represents a journey to a goal, and select a journey within the graph that connects the beginning node to the goal based on one or more constraints (e.g., time or cost) applied to the goal.
  • constraints e.g., time or cost
  • the journey coordination system 1350 performs the actions within the selected journey of actions.
  • the action module 1450 may perform one or more actions (as described herein) to facilitate completion of a transaction between the customer and one of the identified sub-contractors, to facilitate an exchange of information between the customer and multiple identified subcontractors, to provide information about a service provided by a first sub-contractor to a second sub-contractor providing a service that is complementary to the service provided by the first sub-contractor, and so on.
  • the journey coordination system 1350 may facilitate multiple transactions between a service provider and a sub-contractor, such as multiple transactions (e.g., disparate or similar actions) associated with multiple, different, customers of the service provider.
  • Figure 18 illustrates multiple steps performed by subcontractors across multiple customer journeys 1810A-C.
  • a single specialist e.g., "specialist 1 ”
  • provides a product shown as box 1820
  • another specialist e.g., "specialist 2”
  • provides a service shown as box 1825
  • the journey coordination system 1350 may facilitate the exchanges of information between the service provider (or, via the service provider) and the specialists or sub-contractors, including exchanging information (e.g., customer information, journey information, product or service information, and so on) associated with the journey (journey 1820B) shared by the sub-contractors.
  • the journey coordination system 1350 may facilitate an efficient coordination (e.g., messaging or other information exchanges) of specialists providing common or similar products or services within multiple customer journeys, among other things.
  • the journey coordination system 1350 may also perform and utilize various analytics when determining how to coordinate the provision of services/products within managed journeys and/or overall transactions.
  • the journey coordination system 1350 may include an analytics module or system that measures certain metrics associated with the performance of actions (e.g., provision of actions), in order to identify sub-contractors and other specialists having a high reliability or quality with respect to customer satisfaction.
  • the journey coordination system 1350 may determine, for some or all associated sub-contractors, some or all of the following:
  • the journey coordination system 1350 may rank or otherwise identify certain sub-contractors that rate highly against these metrics, and escalate their use in ongoing or future transactions managed by the service provider. [00300] The following example scenarios provide details regarding the implementation of the journey coordination system 1350. Other example scenarios are of course possible.
  • Scenario 1 The Birthday Party: A customer contacts a bakery to purchase a birthday cake.
  • the system 1350 accesses the request, identifies a goal of making arrangements for a birthday party, and selects sub-contractors to fulfill the goal. For example, the system 1350 establishes a transaction between the customer and the bakery to provide payment for the cake, orders 10 gift bags from a gift shop for the party, and arranges delivery of the gift bags to the home of the customer by scheduling the delivery via a mobile application for the delivery service.
  • the system 1350 creates and follows a journey of "buy cake,” "buy gift bags,” and " schedule delivery of cake and bags” in order to fulfill the goal of arrange birthday party.
  • Scenario 2 - Buying a Car A customer sees a bank loan promotion for purchasing a new car, and starts a conversation, by sending a message to the bank.
  • the system 1350 receives the request, provides an interface to online services that have available cars that meet the promotion, and connects the customer with the dealers of the cars. Once a car is selected, the system 1350 finalizes the financing via the bank, and provides access to online services for insuring and registering the car for the customer.

Abstract

La présente invention concerne un ordinateur et un système de communication, et un procédé correspondant. L'invention concerne en particulier un ordinateur et un système de communication, et un procédé correspondant, permettant de faciliter des transactions entre des utilisateurs, par connexion des clients à des sous-traitants. Le système comprend : un module de messagerie (1410) qui est configuré pour accéder à un message électronique provenant d'un client d'un fournisseur de services, le message électronique comprenant un contenu représentant une demande provenant du client pour fournir un ou plusieurs services qui se combinent pour satisfaire un but ; un module de services (1430) qui est configuré pour identifier un ou plusieurs sous-traitants aptes à fournir le ou les services qui se combinent pour remplir l'objectif ; un module de série (1440) qui est configuré pour déterminer une série d'actions à exécuter par rapport aux sous-traitants identifiés pour satisfaire à l'objectif ; et un module d'action (1450) qui est configuré pour effectuer les actions dans la série sélectionnée d'actions.
PCT/EP2017/068556 2017-07-21 2017-07-21 Système et procédé de coordination de produits et de services pour des clients WO2019015786A1 (fr)

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
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