Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Eldar Cohen

Benny Schlesinger

Yuval Pinchas Borsutsky

William Ramsey

Hen Fitoussi

Avichai Cohen

Delia Koren

Keren Damari

Techniques for providing digital assistant devices with the capability to plan and execute complex macrotasks. In an aspect, a digital assistant device queries an online macrotask repository for task templates associated with a macrotask. The task templates may be designed and configured by Internet crowd-sourcing, with oversight from human editors. Based on a retrieved task template, a digital assistant device may automatically execute autonomous microtasks specified by the task template, and further elicit user input for executing certain microtasks requiring user oversight and/or confirmation. The online macrotask repository enables digital assistant devices to execute a broad range of complex macrotasks that would otherwise be difficult to execute in a satisfactory manner.

Macrotask execution for digital assistant devices

A computer system can conduct corresponding natural language dialogs with multiple computer-readable profiles using a computer proxy messaging bot. For example, a first set of natural language instructions can be received via a computer messaging proxy bot from a first computer-readable profile. The first set of natural language instructions can be analyzed via the proxy bot. Also, first and second natural language dialog scripts can be generated via the proxy bot using results of the analyzing of the first set of natural language instructions, with the second natural language dialog script including natural language data derived from the first set of natural language instructions. The first natural language dialog script can be sent to the first profile via the proxy bot and the second natural language dialog script can be sent to a second computer-readable profile via the proxy bot, both in response to the first set of instructions.

Computer proxy messaging bot

Creation data can be received from a computer-readable developer profile, with the creation data including instructions to create a messaging bot. A messaging bot definition can be generated using the instructions, and a messaging bot may be executed using the definition. The instructions may include natural language instructions defining one or more messaging bot characteristics. The natural language instructions can be matched with one or more commands to include one or more characteristics in the messaging bot, and instructions for those characteristic(s) can be included in the messaging bot definition. The instructions can be instructions that are not in a computer programming language, and they can be instructions to create one or more general messaging bot characteristics configured to be implemented with a specific dialog structure that defines one or more specific natural language dialog scripts.

Computer messaging bot creation

A user is allowed to communicate with a chatbot. A menu is provided to the user that includes a list of actions that can be performed by the user. Whenever natural language input asking a question is received from the user, this input is forwarded to the chatbot, a response to this input is received from the chatbot, this response is provided to the user, and the menu is again provided to the user. Whenever natural language input is received from the user requesting an action that is not one of the actions in the menu, this input is forwarded to the chatbot, a response to this input is received from the chatbot, where this response includes another menu that includes a list of subsequent actions that are related to the requested action and can be performed by the user, and this other menu is provided to the user.

Growing community of inventors

Tel Aviv, Israel

Eldar Cohen