Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR INTERACTIVE COLLECTION
AND DISTRIBUTION DF INFORMATION RELATING TO
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates generally to managing customer interactions and
for collecting, transferring and sharing information related to products and
services, and
more specifically to a unique method and system for interactive collection and
distribution of information relating to products and services which determines
a user's
current stage of interaction for use in directing appropriate interaction and
exchange
dialog and selective offers of available items.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The virtual explosion of technical advances in microelectronics, digital
computers
and software have changed and continue to change the face of modern society.
In fact,
these technological advances have become so important and pervasive that this
explosion is sometimes referred to as "the information revolution." Through
telephone
lines, networks, satellite and other wireless communications and the like,
information and
resources are ever increasingly being accessed and shared.
The successful development and marketing of products, and especially consumer
products, requires a deep understanding of consumers' needs and attitudes by
the
enterprise. Studying samples of the population of consumers, often called
panels, focus
groups or test markets, is a typical approach for collecting such information
in the
consumer area, for example. Collecting such data from a large number of
individuals
(rather than just a sample) will permit capturing rare insight and more
individual
differences.
Traditional approaches, such as a telephone or in-person interviews, can be
very
sophisticated through customization and adaptation by the human agent.
However, they
do not permit a large scale number of one-to-one interactions. Furthermore,
well known
devices such as paper (or electronic) questionnaires can be sent to large
numbers of
individuals, but they are limited to a rather rigid design, and provide no
sense (or reality)
of inter-personal relationship.
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Today, the world wide web provides a venue for engaging vast numbers of
individuals and information to be exchanged. In many cases, it has become just
a fancy
channel for implementing an old instrument, such as a survey questionnaire.
Electronic
mail is similarly increasingly used as a substitute for postal mail. Internet
"chat" between
two humans is fundamentally identical to the teletype machine of decades ago,
although
much more temporally akin to a live conversation. In addition, web pages often
look like
electronic versions of magazine pages offering typically a static, but
sometimes a
dynamic presentation of information. More progressive implementations heighten
the
engagement by providing interaction with multi-media. Some user interfaces
include
virtual characters (VCs) that provide a persona to the user.
With the growing advance of the "information revolution," there is a need to
improve the quality, quantity and efficiencies of interactive systems for
transferring
information relating to products and services, ideas, needs, desires and
preferences.
The present invention provides a unique way to facilitate such transfer and
interaction
which build relationships between the consumer and the enterprise.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide novel methods
and
systems for interactive collection, exchange and distribution of information
relating to
products and services to consumers which overcome one or more disadvantages of
the
prior art. It is another object of the invention to provide novel methods and
apparatus for
providing an interactive system for transferring information relating to
products or
services. These and additional objects and advantages are provided by the
methods
and systems for interactive collection and distribution of information
relating to products
and services of the present invention.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a unique method and
apparatus for gaining unprecedented access to insights and information
relating to
products and/or services which is based upon building an individual
relationship with a
user and,allowing for essentially limitless variations of any particular
relationship along
parameters and conditions relating to areas of interest.
One aspect of the present invention is the interactive system for transferring
information relating to products or services. In a preferred embodiment, the
system
comprises a user interface; a relationship director in communication with a
personal data
store and the user interface, wherein the relationship director comprises
executable
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instructions for determining a user's current stage in at least part from user
information
from the personal data store; and a reciprocity module in communication with
the
relationship director and comprising executable instructions for determining
triggers for
availability of related items for selective distribution to the user by the
relationship
d i rector.
Another aspect of the present invention is the interactive system for
transferring
information unrelated to products or services. In a preferred application, the
system
comprises a user interface; a relationship director in communication with a
personal data
store and the user interface, wherein the relationship director comprises
executable
instructions for determining a user's current stage in at least part from user
information
from the personal data store; and an extraneous information module in
communication
with the relationship director and comprising executable instructions for
determining
triggers for availability of unrelated items for selective distribution to the
user by the
relationship director.
Yet another aspect of the present invention is the interactive system for
transferring information relating to products or services comprising a user
interface; a
relationship director in communication with a personal data store and the user
interface,
wherein the relationship director comprises executable instructions for
determining a
user's current stage; a reciprocity module in communication with the
relationship director
and comprising executable instructions for determining triggers for
availability of related
items for selective distribution to the user by the relationship director; and
an extraneous
information module in communication with the relationship director and
comprising
executable instructions for determining triggers for availability of unrelated
items for
selective distribution to the user by the relationship director.
Another aspect of the present invention is the method for interactive
collection
and distribution of information relating to products and services. In a
preferred
application, the method comprises the steps of providing a user interface, a
relationship
director in communication with the personal data store and the user interface,
wherein
the relationship director comprises executable instructions for determining a
user's
current stage, and a reciprocity module in communication with the relationship
director
and comprising executable instructions for determining triggers for
availability of related
items for selective distribution to the user by the relationship director. The
method
further comprises interacting with the user using a dialog script. User input
is recorded in
the personal data store. The relationship director determines a user's current
stage
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corresponding to the user input and selects a further dialog script
corresponding to the
user's current stage. The relationship director will periodically offer to the
user an
available related item following trigger determination. The method is repeated
until user
termination.
Yet another aspect of the present invention is the method for interactive
collection
and distribution of information unrelated to products and services. In a
preferred
application, the method comprises the steps of providing a user interface, a
relationship
director in communication with a personal data store and the user interface,
wherein the
relationship director comprises executable instructions for determining a
user's current
stage, and an extraneous information module in communication with the
relationship
director and comprising executable instructions for determining triggers for
availability of
unrelated items for selective distribution to the user by the relationship
director. The
method further comprises interacting with the user using a dialog script. The
user input
is recorded in a personal data store, and the relationship director determines
the user's
current stage corresponding to the user input and selects a further dialog
script
corresponding to the current user stage. The relationship director
periodically offers to
the user an available unrelated item following trigger determination and
repeats the
method until user termination.
Another aspect of the present invention comprises a computer-readable medium.
The computer-readable medium contains instructions for controlling a computer
system
to interact with a user for interactive collection and distribution of
information. The
instructions comprise the steps of: interacting with the user using a dialog
script;
recording user input in a personal data store; determining a user's current
stage
corresponding to the user input; selecting a further dialog script
corresponding to the
user's current stage; determining triggers for availability of items;
periodically offering to
the user an available item following trigger determination; and repeating
until user
termination.
Yet another aspect of the present invention is the network-based method for
interactive collection and distribution of information. The method comprises
the step of:
providing a web site having a user interface; receiving at the user interface
one or more
items of user input from a user; recording the user input in a personal data
store;
determining a user's current stage from the user input; selecting a further
dialog script
corresponding to the user's current stage; periodically offering to the user
an available
item through the user interface; and repeating until user termination.
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Still other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention
will
become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed
description, which
is simply, by way of illustration, various modes contemplated for carrying out
the
invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other different
obvious aspects
all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and
descriptions are
illustrative in nature and not restrictive.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
While the specification concludes with claims particularly pointing out and
distinctly claiming the present invention, it is believed that the same will
be understood
from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying
drawings in
which:
Fig. 1 is a schematic illustration of an interactive system for collection and
distribution of information according to the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary decision tree for a
relationship
director of the interactive system of Fig. 1;
Fig. 3 is a schematic illustration of another embodiment of an interactive
system
for collection and distribution of information according to the present
invention;
Fig. 4 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary dialog script of an
interactive
system for collection and distribution of information according to the present
invention;
Fig. 5 depicts an illustration of an exemplary user interface comprising a
virtual
character of the present invention;
Fig. 6 depicts an illustration of another exemplary user interface comprising
a
virtual character of the present invention;
Fig. 7 depicts a flowchart of a method of interactive collection and
distribution of
information according to the present invention;
Fig. 8 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary client/server network
embodiment of the present invention;
Fig. 9 depicts a flowchart of another embodiment of the method of interactive
collection and distribution of information according to the present invention;
Fig. 10 depicts an exemplary interaction sequence which might be implemented
with the interactive system of the present invention;
Fig. 11 depicts another exemplary interaction sequence which might be
implemented with the interactive system of the present invention;
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Fig. 12 depicts another exemplary interaction sequence which might be
implemented with the interactive system of the present invention; and
Fig. 13 is a schematic illustration of an interactive system for collection
and
distribution of information according to the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of the invention,
various examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings,
wherein like
numerals indicate corresponding elements throughout the views.
One embodiment of the present invention is schematically illustrated in Fig. 1
which depicts an interactive system 1 for transferring information relating to
products or
services in accordance with one aspect of the present invention. The
interactive system
1 is shown as preferably comprising a user interface 2, a relationship
director 5, a
personal data store 10 and a reciprocity module 8 as will be further described
herein.
The relationship director 5, for example, would likely preferably comprise a
set of
executable instructions such as in the form of software, routines, programs,
algorithms,
code and the like, which would, inter alia, determine a user's current
relationship stage at
any given time.
One of the important distinctive features of the present invention includes
the
focus on and the ability to establish and nurture a individual, cyber
relationship with each
particular user, with such relationship being personal to, unique and guided
by
interaction between that user and the system. Consequently, it is important
that a user's
stage be known at any given point of the ongoing interaction. The relationship
stage is
preferably related to the overall setup/purpose of the system (e.g. would
relate in some
way to relevant products and/or services, and typically would have a
psychological basis
related thereto). A user will be a person undertaking an interaction with a
system (e.g.
1 ), or interface with the system as part of the method, of the present
invention. The
current stage of a particular user to be determined is simply an identifiable
placement of
that user within one of a plurality of possible "stages" provided in the
system, as will be
described, whereby the relationship director orchestrates ongoing
interactions, makes
decisions to offer available items to the user, and builds the relationship in
an
appropriate and natural manner.
The relationship director 5 is preferably provided in communication, such as
via a
token ring, Ethernet, telephone modem connection, radio or microwave
connection,
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parallel cables, serial cables, telephone lines, universal serial bus "USB",
Firewire,
Bluetooth, fiber optics, infrared "1R", radio frequency "RF" and the like, or
combinations
thereof, with the personal data store 10 and the user interface 2. The
relationship
director 5 may utilize, in at least part, user input from the personal data
store 10 in
determining the user's current stage. In one embodiment of the present
invention, the
user may be assigned a user name and password to identify the user to the
relationship
director of the interactive system. Other potential identification means
include cookies,
IP addresses, biometrics, user passcards, or other identification means known
in the art.
The relationship director 5 compares the user input containing identification
data
with user input stored in the personal data store 10. If a match is found, the
relationship
director 5 will retrieve the user input and determine the current user stage.
If no match is
found, the relationship director 5 preferably sends a command to the personal
data store
to create a new user input record in the personal data store 10. The
relationship
director 5 preferably sends any identifying data to the personal data store to
be
associated with the newly created record. Preferably, the relationship
director 5 will
create a "cookie" or similar type file and store the file on the user's
computer to enhance
the process of identifying the user.
User input can be any information obtained from a user, and might preferably
comprise information, suggestions, preferences, ideas, attitudes, questions,
answers,
tone, actions, or lack thereof (e.g. results of interaction/participation).
There can be a
number of ways to determine the user's current stage. As an example, the user
input
might be matched against one or more decision trees. A decision tree typically
is a set
of responses/traits/categories against which the user input can be compared
against.
For example, a decision tree preferably comprises every combination of
possible user
input. The user input is then compared against the decision tree for a
matching branch
and the matching branch provides further instructions to be executed as a
result of the
match. Such decision trees would preferably comprise potential combinations of
user
input with the interactive system which have been designed with the system's
intended
application in mind, so that appropriate stages can be established that
pertain to the
desired exchange of information. Preferably, the decision trees are converted
to
mathematical algorithms which then process the decision tree comparisons or
"decisions" electronically to ascertain the appropriate current stage to
assign to the user
at that time.
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The decision trees for initial stages of our consumer products example are
preferably based on focus group or survey research of users. A focus group
typically
comprises surveying a group of users about their attitudes and preferences
with a
proposed product or service to further refine and develop the proposed product
and/or
service. For example, the user may be assigned to various user stage sub-
categories
which correspond to personality traits, related information, extraneous
information,
demographic information, and the like. Personality traits may comprise
attitudinal
information about the user's personality and habits, such as being a "clean"
person or
having a "type A" personality. Related information comprises any and all
information
relating to the products and/or services of the enterprise. Extraneous
information
comprises any and all information unrelated to the products and/or services of
the
enterprise, such as entertainment, movie news, music news, soap opera reviews,
chit-
chat and the like. Demographic information sub-categories might contain
special scripts
for certain demographic areas, such as rural products and/or services,
homeowners,
households with a baby and/or pets, and the like. For example, a user may be
assigned
to "stage 3" for related information, "stage 6" for extraneous information,
and "stage 2"
for demographic information.
While examples are provided pertaining to consumer products such as
detergents, soaps, and the like, it is contemplated that the present invention
is equally
applicable to other products and services which may have distinctive
customers, users
and concerns which might affect the applicable stages and/or a user's
progression
through stages. As used herein, the term "enterprise" is used to connote the
person,
company, business entity, cause or affiliation for which the inventive system
and method
is being employed. For example, in our embodiments relating to soap,
detergents and
consumer products, the enterprise might be a consumer products manufacturer or
a
consumer research company interested in such products.
The reciprocity module 8 is illustrated as being in communication with the
relationship director 5. The reciprocity module 8 similarly preferably
comprises
executable instructions for determining triggers for the availability of
related items for
selective distribution to the user by the relationship director 5. As used
herein, the term
"item" comprises physical things such as products, prizes, coupons, or other
rewards or
things of some value, which can be actually given out, as well as non-physical
things
such as advice, compliments, entertainment, further conversation or other
things which
can be of value in establishing a relationship and/or showing appreciation.
The term
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'related items' is used to connote generally any and all items that have some
determined
relation, value or perceived connection to the products or services of the
enterprise.
Examples of related items include consumer demographics, cleaning preferences,
cleaning tips, coupons, product samples, product related merchandise, that are
reasonably related to the intended application of the system - such as in our
example,
consumer products. Preferably, the triggers in the system are any device or
process that
indicates the "availability" of an item for offering to a particular user
corresponding to one
or more decision trees and/or availability algorithms employed.
Typically, the reciprocity module determines if an item is available based on
an
availability algorithm. For example, in a preferred embodiment, when the user
has met
certain requirements of the decision tree, he/she may be offered a related
item. In one
embodiment of the present invention, for example, the selective distribution
comprises
the computer assigning a percentage of probability, such as 70% (i.e., any
percentage
between 0 and 100%), and utilizing a random number generator to determine
whether to
actually distribute or offer the related item to the user. For example, the
relationship
director will send an instruction command to the CPU to generate a random
number
between 0 and 100%. If the resulting number returned to the relationship
director from
the CPU is above 70%, the item will not be offered to the user at this time.
If the number
returned to the relationship director is 70% or lower, then the relationship
director will
offer the item to the user.
An example of a decision tree for how the relationship director 5 might
interact
with the reciprocity module 8 is shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 2 depicts four
exemplary potential
current stages (stage-0 through stage-3) which the user can be classified in
at any given
time. As will be understood, for each relationship stage, there will most
preferably be
designed a set of one or more items that will be selectively offered to the
user, a set of
desired information (including input, preferences, suggestions or attitudes)
to be
obtained from the user, a set of conditions (e.g. item and information
exchanges and
timing) which help determine stage progress or status, and an agenda for
interactions
(e.g. dialog scripts and the like) with the user. Accordingly, the decision
tree has certain
requirements that must be met before the user is assigned a higher stage.
For example, a new (first time) user initially interacting with the
interactive system
will be assigned stage-0. In the decision tree of Fig. 3, the user, through
the interactive
system's dialog scripts 12, would be required to provide his/her name and some
basic
information such as age, sex, zip code and possibly other similar basic data.
Preferably,
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requirements or criteria for progressing to further stages are transparent to
the user, and
the user is not made aware of the requirements to move to the next stage. Only
upon
completion of the requirements (e.g. answering of questions, providing
required actions,
etc.) will a user be eligible for progressing to another stage. In one
embodiment of the
present invention, a randomness factor is utilized in the decision of moving
to a different
stage.
Preferably, the relationship director 5 can be configured with a probability
percentage assigned to each stage level. For example, a user could have
completed the
requirements for moving to stage-1, but the relationship director 5 will still
utilize a
random number generator to determine whether to actually move the user to the
next
stage. This feature helps to keep all relationships in the system unique and
somewhat
unpredictable, which has been found to actually better parrot natural
relationships and
add to the overall experience of the system interaction for the users. The
relationship
director might comprise instructions to avoid "disconnects" during
interactions and in the
overall relationship being built. For example, in addition to insuring that
responses
accurately correspond to user questions and input, the relationship director
may track the
user's progression through the current stage and possibly even decide to move
the user
to a lower stage based on the progress (or regression) of the interaction. The
relationship director preferably analyzes not only the user's responses, but
the tone of
the response and the timing of the response. For example, the relationship
director may
comprise a language analyzer to analyze user input for attitudinal and
personality traits.
The relationship director may attempt to better mimic a natural relationship
by
incorporating attitudinal psychology elements into the algorithms to further
develop the
one to one relationship. For example, a language analyzer may determine if the
user
has a dominant personality and does not prefer chit-chat. The relationship
director may
minimize the amount of chit-chat that is directed to the particular user.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the relationship director is in
communication with an extraneous information module 16 as depicted in Fig. 3.
The
extraneous information module 16 preferably comprises executable instructions
for
determining triggers for the availability of unrelated or extraneous items for
selective
distribution to the user by the relationship director. As used herein, the
term "unrelated
item" comprises physical things such as products, prizes, coupons, or other
rewards or
things of value, which can actually be given out, as well as non-physical
things such as
advice, compliments, social chat, entertainment, further conversation or other
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which can be of value in establishing a relationship and/or showing
appreciation.
Preferably, the extraneous information module 16 determines triggers for the
availability
of unrelated stimuli. As user herein, the term "stimuli" comprises
entertainment, games,
discussions, unrelated web sites and unrelated items. The term 'unrelated
items' is used
to connote generally any and all items that have little or no determined
relation, value or
perceived connection to the products or services of the enterprise. Examples
of
unrelated items include games, music, videos, tickets to events/movies, links
to other
websites, and clothing. Preferably, the triggers in the system are any device
or process
that indicate the "availability" of an unrelated item for offering to a
particular user
corresponding to one or more decision trees and/or availability algorithms
employed.
Typically, the extraneous information module determines if an unrelated item
is
available based on an availability algorithm. For example, in a preferred
embodiment,
when the user has met certain requirements of the decision tree, he/she may be
offered
an unrelated item. In one embodiment of the present invention, for example,
the
selective distribution comprises assigning a percentage of probability, such
as 70%, and
utilizing a random number generator to determine whether to actually
distribute or offer
the unrelated item to the user. For example, the relationship director will
select 70% of
numbers from 1 to 255, preferably the relationship director selects 1-180 as
corresponding to 70% of the number range. The relationship director then sends
an
executable instruction to the CPU to select a random number between 1 and 255.
If the
number selected by the CPU matches one of the numbers selected by the
relationship
director such as 75, the unrelated item may be offered to the user. However,
if the CPU
selects a number that the relationship director did not select such as 200,
the
relationship director will not offer the item to the user at this time.
Preferably, the
relationship director at a later point in the interaction will repeat the
random probability
process to determine if the item will be offered to the user.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the relationship director 5 is
part
of a more general or encompassing management system 18, as depicted in Fig. 3.
In
such an application, the management system 18 comprises executable
instructions for
supervising and directing the flow of information between and among the
relationship
director 5, user interface 2, and other elements of the interactive system 1.
For example,
management system 18 might comprise a set of executable instructions such as
software, routines, programs, algorithms, code and the like, which would,
inter alia, direct
the flow of information to the relationship director, user interface and other
elements of
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the interactive system such as a web server in a world wide web embodiment of
the
present invention.
In another embodiment, an administrative user, preferably through the
administrative interface 23, can selectively configure the probability levels
in the
relationship director's 5 decision trees. This ability allows the
administrative user to
make real-time changes to the relationship director. In this way, added
unpredictability,
correction of "bugs", updating/upgrading the relationship director's
functionality, and/or
additional stages or stage requirements can be implemented as desired and,
preferably,
in a seamless and non-intrusive manner to the system. An exemplary
demonstration of
this embodiment is presented in Example III.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises
accessing the personal data store for information of ongoing product
development. For
example, the personal data store might contain survey results from users with
respect to
difficulties they have experienced with current cleaning problems in which no
known
cleaning product or process is effective. An administrative user may access
the personal
data store and utilize the user input to develop or improve products and
services of the
enterprise to satisfy the user's requirements. This insight gained from the
user may
provide very beneficial information for product development and improvement of
products and services of the enterprise. It can be contemplated as well, that
an
enterprise might make its interactive data base results, analysis of the data,
available to
other entities. This might entail allowing such entities to have access to
such data via
the Internet, via printed reports, via interactive software on computers,
periodic data
subscription services or the like.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the interactive system
further
comprises a technical information director 20. The relationship director 5 may
send user
input comprising a request for information about a product or service of the
enterprise.
Technical information is contemplated herein as comprising any information
regarding or
beneficial to the products and services of the enterprise. Products and
services of the
enterprise could include past, present and future products and services of the
enterprise.
Preferably, the technical information director 20 is in communication with one
or more
technical data stores 21 which comprise technical information regarding
products and
services of the enterprise. For example, the technical data store 21 may
comprise a
database about cleaning tips including cleaning information from various
sources such
as Rodale Press. The technical information director, for example, would likely
preferably
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comprise a set of executable instructions such as software, routines,
programs,
algorithms, code and the like, which would, inter alia, search the technical
data store or
other sources such as the Internet for information in response to a question
from a user
regarding a product or service of the enterprise. The technical director would
then
compile appropriate response information and forward those results to the
relationship
director for use in further interaction with the user.
In order to provide a continuing natural relationship with the user, one
embodiment of the present invention comprises the decision trees or algorithms
of the
relationship director 5 being updated by a neural network. The neural net 25
assesses
user input in the personal data store to determine if any changes to the
mathematical
algorithms or dialog scripts are needed to facilitate or optimize the
interaction with the
user. For example, a neural network can continuously update its decision
making
algorithm by incorporating user input such as feedback, frequency of visits,
number of
visits and length of visits into the decision making process. According to
Haykin, S.
(1994), Neural Networks: A Comprehensive Foundation, NY: Macmillan, p. 2, a
neural
network is a massively parallel distributed processor that has a natural
propensity for
storing experiential knowledge and making it available for use. It resembles
the brain in
two respects: 1 ) Knowledge is acquired by the network through a learning
process; and
2) Interneuron connection strengths known as synaptic weights are used to
store the
knowledge. The neural network analyzes the personal data store 12 for trends,
feedback data, demographic data and other additional data to develop and
refine
algorithms for decision making. In a preferred embodiment, a neural network
would
automatically make changes to the relationship director's 5 decision trees or
algorithms
based upon the growing base of user input and interaction data. For example,
the neural
network may change the amount of initial "chit-chat" or marginally related
discussion for
a certain current stage, if the user input indicates a lessened desire to chit-
chat with the
interactive system. Similarly, in one embodiment of the present invention, the
relationship director may comprise genetic algorithms. A genetic algorithm
preferably
modifies its parameters based on performance feedback. The method is
metaphorically
similar to genetic natural selection. The relationship director could contain
one or more
genetic algorithms as the interactive system permits a large number of
experiences in an
automated environment.
As shown in Fig. 2 and as described above, the reciprocity module 8 preferably
brings into play its own algorithms for selectively triggering the
availability of different
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items corresponding to each user stage. For example, in the decision tree of
Fig. 2, at
stage-0, a user is only offered items of chit-chat, problem-solving and tips.
Whereas
under stage-3, a user is offered chit-chat, problem-solving, tips, coupons,
emailed tips,
various premiums, samples and other bonuses. As mentioned, once the
reciprocity
module triggers the availability of an item, the relationship director will
generally have
ultimate discretion as to if and when that item will be offered to the user.
Often, the
relationship director will automatically pass on the offer to the user
immediately upon
trigger, although delaying or withholding the offer may result where the
relationship
director sees an opportunity to expand the relationship in other ways (e.g.
extended
conversation, quizzing or listening to the user) or where a random generator
blocks the
offer.
In a consumer products application, the user interface 2 might preferably
comprise a kiosk, a computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a device
with wireless
application programs (WAP) such as cell phone, auto computer or PDA,
interactive TV,
or an Internet appliance, or the like. User interface 2 allows the user to
communicate
and interact with the interactive system 1 and, as will be understood, can
take any of a
virtually unlimited number of alternative forms. In a preferred embodiment,
the user
interface 2 may comprise a computer system comprising a CPU, memory, a visual
display device and an input means. Preferred input means comprise a keyboard
or
mouse or other means of input such as speech recognition and/or visual input
utilizing a
video camera. In a preferred embodiment, the user interface 2 comprises a
computer
connected to the Internet through a communication link and running a web
browser such
as Internet Explorer from Microsoft Corp. or Netscape Navigator from Netscape
Communications Corp. Preferably, the user interface 2 further comprises one or
more
virtual characters. A virtual character comprises a static or dynamic image,
figure or
animation which preferably presents a recognizable persona. For example, the
virtual
character may be an image of a professor for educational information, a chef
for cooking
information, or Mr. Clean~ cleaning icon for household cleaning information.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the relationship director 5 is
provided with access to one or more pre-determined dialog scripts or protocols
12 for
directing user interaction. The dialog scripts 12 comprise the language
resource for
interacting with a user. Preferably, through its executable instructions the
relationship
director 5 determines the user's current stage as described above and selects
corresponding dialog scripts 12 to interact with the user. The dialog scripts
12 may
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comprise humor, chit-chat, problem-solving help, surveys, and the like.
Preferably, the
dialog scripts 12 are stored in a database. In a preferred embodiment, the
dialog scripts
12 can be edited and maintained by a remote administrative user. The
administrative
user may connect directly to the dialog script database 12 or access the
dialog script
database 12 through the management system 18 and the administrative user
interface
23. Preferably, the dialog scripts 12 further comprise extraneous information
such as
entertainment, social conversation, music, games, travel information and other
unrelated
stimuli.
As shown in the example of Fig. 4, the dialog script may comprise related
items,
humor and unrelated items. Preferably, the related items dialog scripts 43 are
categorized by user stages 44, which can be further broken down into steps
(46) of
interactions. In one embodiment, the unrelated item dialog scripts might be
categorized
by user stages, and the user stage for unrelated items for a particular user
may differ
from the user stage for related items for the same user. As described above
for
example, a user may be assigned user stage 3 for related items and user stage
4 for
unrelated items. In addition, the unrelated items dialog scripts may comprise
universal
scripts that can be utilized by the relationship director regardless of the
user's current
stage.
Preferably, the relationship director 5 can chose any step 46 and the
interaction
is not required to progress in a sequential order through the steps 46. A
decision tree
might be utilized by the relationship director to chose the step of the dialog
scripts to
further the interaction. For example, the user input may correspond to the
dialog of "step
23" even though the prior step was "step 2". The relationship director 5 can
select the
dialog script for "step 23" and further interact with the user. For example,
as depicted in
Fig. 4, "step 11" of stage-0 of the related items 43 may be presented to the
user after an
interaction about products or services of the enterprise. The script comprises
asking the
user if he/she would like to be sent a coupon 47. If they respond yes, the
relationship
director 5 checks to determine if the user's address is contained in the
personal data
store 10. The relationship director 5 preferably interacts with the user by
informing the
user that it is searching the records to see if the user's address is
contained therein. It
should be understood that in faster systems, the user might simply be informed
as to the
address in the system and asked to verify that information for mailing the
item. If the
user's address is contained in the personal data store 10, the relationship
director 5
would then select the dialog script under "Yes". If the relationship director
5 determines
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that the user's address is unknown, the relationship director 5 will select
the "No" dialog
script and ask the user for his/her mailing address. This user input is then
stored in the
personal data store 10. At that point, the relationship director 5 would send
a
communication to the administrative user interface 23 to send the user the
selected
coupon, and the relationship director might make a note in the user data store
to ask
about that coupon in the future.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the personal data store 10
comprises a relational database system or a distributed directory such as
Novell
Directory Services (NDS). Preferably, utilizing presently available
technology, the
dialogue script database 12 comprises a distributed directory. A relational
database
management system (RDBMS) is a computer database management system that uses
relational techniques for storing and retrieving data. The relational
techniques preferably
comprises providing common fields, such as user name, length of interaction,
date of
interaction, etc., for each entry in the database. These common fields allow
comparison
between different users of the interactive system. A relational system has the
flexibility
to take any two or more files and generate a new file from the records that
meet the
matching criteria. For example, an administrative user may desire a list of
all users that
have reached "stage 3" and have interacted with the system in the last 60
days. A
relational system allows this list to be easily created from the main
relational database.
Relational databases are computerized information storage and retrieval
systems in
which data in the form of tables are typically stored for use on disk drives
or similar mass
data stores. A "table" includes a set of rows spanning several columns. Each
column in a
table includes "restrictions" on the data contents thereof and may be
designated as a
primary or foreign key.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the interactive system 1
comprises executable instructions for selectively providing one or more
virtual characters
through the user interface. As mentioned earlier, the virtual characters can
comprise
one or more static or dynamic images. Preferably, a virtual character would
include
speech capabilities, which might be generated utilizing Microsoft Agent from
Microsoft
Corp. or another similar virtual character program known or accessible in the
art. Similar
programs known in the art include Live Comics from Extempo, Inc., Flash from
Macromedia, and the like. Typically, the virtual character comprises one or
more
animations which interact with the user through the user interface 2. The
interaction is
directed by the relationship director 5. Preferably, the virtual character
comprises at
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least part of an identifiable body to interact with the user, and which can
help to develop
the relationship by literally putting a face (and preferably a body) to the
system, and
making the interaction experience more personal and natural. The virtual
characters
would preferably also be provided with additional effective elements (such as
appropriate
flattery, interest and user style matching) to enrich the interpersonal
experience of the
user and promote cooperation, relationship development, and progression
through
stages of the plan. The virtual characters may include family and friends of
the virtual
character. For example, the Mr. Clean~ virtual character may invite the
Pampers~ guy
to talk about diapers. The virtual character may be visually seen or unseen,
and
preferably can be in multiple dimensions, such as 3D and 2D, depending on the
user
interface and the application. An example of a user interface comprising a
virtual
character is depicted in Figs. 5 and 6.
In one embodiment, the VC would comprise a body element (which might
typically take the form of a cartoon character, or life-like figure), a voice
element (which is
typically generated from an authored text dialog or script), and a brain
element (which
analyzes and determines what actions to take next). For the body element,
various
technologies presently available or further developed could be utilized. For
example, the
Live Comics? application can provide static two-dimensional cartoon like
renditions of
characters or figures, while the Microsoft Agent application can provide
animated near 3-
dimensional animations for more life-like characters and figures.
Implementation of such
technologies for the creation of the body element of a VC generally begins
with art work
such as drawings, photographs or sculpture.
For the voice element of the VC, applications such as the True Voice text to
speech engine of the Lernout & Hauspie may be utilized. The True Voice
application or
tool generally comes integrated with the Microsoft Agent application, and is
utilized to
implement the authored text dialog as desired. As will be understood, it may
be desired
that the VC may not actually speak, but that text dialog might be added in
static form or
as a moving banner on the computer screen. It is also contemplated that text
databases
or "knowledge basis" might be utilized to match a free-form query with an
appropriate
response in some applications. Several such search technologies are available
such as
the Inquizit, Verity, and Oracle context option search engines.
Similarly, for the brain element of the VC, the Imp Character Editor is
available
from Extempo, Inc. can be utilized. In this respect, confidence in the
character authoring
of the Extempo system Imp Character Editor would be required, and the Web
Guide
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Application framework provided by Extempo would be employed. In such a
scenario,
"Web Stops," which are presented in the Extempo tool kit as templates for a VC
providing information on content at various web pages, would be used to model
the
engineering relationships required for this aspect of the VC. For example, a
web stop
would be created for each relationship stage beyond stage 0 in the examples
set forth
herein, naming each web stop Relation 1, Relation 2, etc. A web stop named
"Dispatch"
might also be preferably created, along with another web stop named "Standby."
Preconditions for each of the web stops would be defined, specifying the
logical
conditions under which items would become offerable to a user, as further
discussed
herein. For example, "Item Premium-2 offerable" might be defined by the
logical
condition "Item Premium-2 is NOT already accepted, AND relationship stage is
beyond
stage-2." In an Extempo Imp Character Editor, such a definition would be coded
as
follows:
$Int=&&($Int=($String=UserAttribute(gift.premium2")!=$String="
accepted"), $Int=($Int=UserAttribute("RelationshipStage")>2)))
Preconditions for each of the web stops would be defined by specifying the
logical conditions under which the VC can attempt to progress the relationship
from one
given stage to the next. For example, "try relationship2" might be defined by
the logical
condition "user is at stage 1 AND has made 3 or more visits to the site." In
the Extempo
Imp Character Editor, such a definition would be coded as follows:
$Int=$$($Int=NLGPrecondition("Relationship1 "),
$Int=NLGPrecondition("visit3plus"))
The "Dispatch" WebStop will preferably provide a control point for the
relationship
agenda management of the system. Most authored dialog sequences should end
with a
"GoToStop" directive, specifying "Dispatch." Within the "Dispatch" WebStop in
the
WebGuide itinerary, the following agenda might preferably be employed:
1. Author a Step with a null dialog (i.e., nothing is said, but a branch point
is
created in the software) and a GoToStop "Standby," conditioned by the
precondition that
is set to "true" if the relationship management should be suspended. For
example, if the
user is in a hurry to get their question answered and does not desire any
perceived
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superfluous discussion or activity, implementing a working relationship agenda
could be
counterproductive to building the relationship and to a positive experience
for the user.
2. Author additional Steps with dialog sequences for each item which might
be offered to the user, conditioning each such Step with an appropriate
corresponding
precondition.
3. Author additional Steps with any stage-independent dialog which may be
appropriate to the interaction (i.e., these are steps that can be used in any
of the stages
for given predetermined interactions).
4. Author a Step with a null dialog (i.e., nothing is said, but a branch point
is
created) and a GoToStop "Relation-n" for each value of n desired for the
system,
conditioning each such Step with a corresponding appropriate precondition
(i.e., whether
that stage can be attempted at a given point in time).
The "Relation-n" WebStops are preferably created to provide the context for
authoring further dialogs which are exclusive to a specific relationship stage
and/or which
lead the user to fulfill conditions for advancing to the next stage. For
example, the
Relation-n WebStop "Relation3" might contain two steps. First, there might be
provided
a friendly and flattering dialog, followed by a second step including a
request for the user
to participate in a chat session. If the user accepts the request, then the
user has
fulfilled one of the requirements for that particular relationship stage and
for moving to
the next higher relationship stage. Of course, there may be any number of
other
requirements, such as additional actions which must be accomplished, items
which must
be accepted by the user, and/or a prerequisite number of visits to the site by
that
particular user.
Finally, the "Standby" WebStop preferably provides a control point for the VC
to
suspend the relationship management agenda. Such a WebStop would include a
dialog
that states that the VC is ready for the user's next request.
Another key feature of the present invention is its overall method for
interactive
collection and distribution of information as depicted in the flowchart of
Fig. 7. The
method comprises the steps of: providing the interactive system to a user
(shown as
step 50), which comprises a user interface 2, a relationship director 5 in
communication
with a personal data store 10 and the user interface 2, and a reciprocity
module 8 in
communication with the relationship director 5, as discussed above. The method
further
comprises interacting with the user through a dialog script (52), based upon
the user's
previously determined stage. As discussed, the relationship director 5
controls the
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interaction through appropriate dialog scripts, and records user input (step
54) from the
user in the personal data store 12. The relationship director 5 then
determines a user's
current stage from the user input in the personal data store 12 (step 56).
Once the
user's current stage has been determined, the relationship director 5 selects
a further
dialog script 12 to continue the interaction with the user (step 58).
The relationship director 5 periodically and selectively offers items to the
user
following trigger determination (step 60) by the reciprocity module. The
method is
repeated until user termination (step 62), which can be induced in a number of
ways,
including user sign off, communication interruption, user failure to respond,
or other
completion of the interaction. In one embodiment, the items comprise related
items as
defined above. In another embodiment, the items comprise unrelated items as
defined
above. In a preferred embodiment, there might be a mixture of both related and
unrelated items utilized from time to time by the system.
Often computers telecommunicate with each other and share information,
applications and/or services. Sometimes in this setting, the various computers
are
referred to as nodes, which is a generic term referring to an access point in
a
interconnected system. One type of computer network employs a client/server
architecture, wherein the portions of network applications that interact with
human users
are typically separated from the portions of network applications that process
requests
and information. Often, the portions of an application that interact with
users or access
network resources are called client applications or client software, and
portions of an
application that process requests and information are called server
applications or server
software. Client machines tend to run client software and server machines tend
to run
server software, however a server can be a "client" as well. In a preferred
embodiment
of the invention, the user interface would be typically provided on a client
machine (which
might be any of the user interface alternatives contemplated and exemplified
above such
as a network computer, stand alone computer, interactive kiosk, etc.) and the
software
containing the computer instructions which comprise the methods according to
the
present invention would be located on a server computer, separate from the
client
machine.
Fig. 8 schematically illustrates a sample client/server network 35 which might
be
employed to implement an embodiment of the present invention. As one with
ordinary
skill in the art will readily appreciate, a client/server network is only one
type of network,
and a variety of other configurations, such as peer-to-peer connections, are
also
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considered networks. In a client/server network, a plurality of nodes are
interconnected
such that the various nodes send and/or receive information to/from one
another. As
shown here, a server node (38) is interconnected with a plurality of client
nodes (40)
using a connection (39) such as a token ring, Ethernet, telephone modem
connection,
radio or microwave connection, parallel cables, serial cables, telephone
lines, universal
serial bus "USB", Firewire, Bluetooth, fiber optics, infrared "1R", radio
frequency "RF",
and the like, or combinations thereof.
A computer-readable medium, shown here as a CD ROM (22), holds information
readable by a computer, such as programs, data, files, etc. As will be readily
appreciated, computer-readable medium can take a variety of forms, including
magnetic
storage (such as hard disk drives, floppy diskettes, etc.), optical storage
(such as laser
discs, compact discs, DVD's, etc.), electronic storage (such as random access
memory
"RAM", read only memory "ROM", programmable read only memory "PROM", etc.),
and
the like.
Yet another embodiment of the present interactive method depicted in Fig. 9
comprises a network-based arrangement for interactive collection and
distribution of
information. The method comprises the steps of: providing a web site having a
user
interface (step 65); receiving at the user interface 2 one or more items of
user input from
a user (step 67); recording the user input in a personal data store 10 (step
54);
determining a user's current stage from the user input (step 56); selecting a
further
dialog script 12 corresponding to the user's current stage (step 58);
periodically offering
to the user an available item through the user interface 2 (step 60); and
repeating until
user termination (step 62). This embodiment is particularly preferred for
utilizing the
interactive system on a web site on the Internet or the like.
Preferably, the web site is hosted on a network such as a wide-area network,
local-area network, or the Internet, and the like. The Internet and World Wide
Web
operate on a client/server model and the user runs a web client, or browser,
on a
electronic device such as a computer, PDA, cell phone or television tuner, and
the like.
The web browser contacts a web server and requests data information, in the
form of a
Uniform Resource Locator (URL). This data information comprises the user
interface of
the interactive system of the present invention. Typically, URL addresses are
typed into
the browser to access web pages, and URL addresses are embedded within the
pages
themselves to provide the hypertext links to other pages. A hypertext link
allows the user
to click on the link and be redirected to the corresponding web site to the
URL address of
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the hypertext link. Many browsers exist for accessing the World Wide Web, such
as
Netscape Navigator from Netscape Communications Corp. and the Internet
Explorer
from Microsoft Corp. Similarly, numerous web servers exist for providing
content to the
World Wide Web, such as Apache from the Apache Group, Internet Information
Server
from Microsoft Corp., Lotus Domino Go Webserver from IBM, Netscape Enterprise
Server from Netscape Communications Corp. and Oracle Web Application Server
from
Oracle Corp. These browsers and web servers can be utilized to allow access to
the
present invention from virtually any web-accessible device.
An exemplary network system is depicted in Fig. 13. The network system 74
comprises a server 81, such as a Dell~ PowerEdge' 8450. The PowerEdge' 8450
preferably comprises up to eight Intel° Pentium~ III Xeon'processors
and up to 16GB of
ECC memory capacity. The server is in communication with the personal data
store 10,
which preferably is a relational database such as the Oracle~ 8i database. As
shown in
Fig. 13, the personal data store 10 is connected to the server through a
connection node
39 on a network. One in the art will appreciate that the server 81 can
comprise the
personal data store 10. Alternatively, the personal data store 10 could be
located
anywhere in the world that is in communication with the Internet 78. The
Internet 78 is
comprised of numerous webs of connections that cover the entire world allowing
a user
to interact with the interactive system through a computer 84 anywhere in the
world, as
long as the computer is connected to the Internet. The home computer 84
preferably is
a Dell~ Dimension XPS T750r computer system with an ADSL or cable modem
connection to the Internet 78. Alternatively, the home computer 84 may
comprise a
modem for a dial-up connection to a local Internet service provider which is
connected to
the Internet 78. The interactive system 74 further comprises an administrative
computer
88 which allows an administrative user access to the personal data store 10
and the
relationship director 5 located at the server 81. The administrative computer
88
preferably is a Dell~ Dimension XPS T750r computer system with an network
interface
card connected to an ethernet network 39 which comprises a connection to the
Internet
78. This embodiment allows an administrative user to access the user data and
relationship director 5 from any location in the world.
In one embodiment of the present invention, a virtual character interacts with
the
user through the web browser. User input is received through a proprietary
access line
via the web browser and is transmitted to the web server. Preferably, the web
server
then passes the user input directly to the relationship director 5. As
described herein,
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the relationship director 5 preferably comprises an application which provides
one or
more basic cognitive functions for a virtual character, such as natural
language
conversion, real-time selection of actions, gestures and expressions, social
skills, and
affect. In this regard, the relationship director 5 might comprises the Imp
Engine from
Extempo, Inc. or other similar programs known in the art. Like the scripts,
actions,
gestures, expressions and the like might preferably be built into the virtual
character's
persona, and may also be governed to some extent by the relationship stage of
the user.
The relationship director 5 records the user input in a data store 10 and
determines the
user's stage and selects a corresponding dialog script 12. The relationship
director 5,
preferably also periodically sends an instruction command to the reciprocity
module 8 to
determine if an item is available for distribution. In the embodiments
illustrated, the
reciprocity module 8 analyzes the user input through one or more decision
trees to
determine if an item can be offered. If the reciprocity module 8 determines
that an item
can be offered to the user (i.e. item availability is "triggered"), the
reciprocity module 8
sends an instruction command to the relationship director 5 indicating an item
is
available for distribution. The relationship director 5, in its discretion,
could then select a
corresponding dialog script 12 for the item to be offered, and offer the item
to the user.
As mentioned, the relationship director 5 may also preferably comprises a
randomness
component, in which a random number generator and a pre-defined probability
percentage are used to determine whether and when to offer the item to the
user for
distribution.
EXAMPLES
The following examples depict three typical scenarios of users interacting
with the
interactive system of the present invention. Fig. 10 depicts an exemplary
interaction by a
fictional user "Pat". Fig. 11 depicts an exemplary interaction by a fictional
user "Bill".
Fig. 12 depicts an exemplary interaction by an administrative user "Mike". The
interactions depicted in Fig. 10 and Fig. 11 preferably take place over
several "visits" to a
web site of the exemplary interactive system relating to consumer products.
EXAMPLE ONE
As depicted in Fig. 10, the relationship director 5 ("Relationship Agent")
begins
the interaction by welcoming the user to the interactive system. The
interactive system
is running on a standard computer web server. The web server is connected to
the
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Internet. Pat is using an ordinary home computer comprising a CPU and memory.
The
web server sends all user interaction to the relationship director. The
relationship
director comprises software running on the web server computer or in
communication
with the web server computer. Pat connects to the Internet through her
Internet Service
Provider and opens Internet Explorer web browser software on her computer. Pat
enters
the URL (address) of http://www.mrclean.com. The web browser sends the URL
request
to the web server computer through the Internet. The web server computer sends
a
command instruction back to Pat's computer to check for the presence of a
cookie
corresponding to the interactive system. Finding no cookie, the web server
sends a
command to the relationship director identifying Pat as a new unknown first
time user.
The relationship director determines that Pat is at relationship stage 0 and
selects the
corresponding introduction dialog script.
The relationship director next sends the dialog script to the web server which
incorporates the script into the web page and then the web server sends the
web page to
Pat through her web browser. Pat acknowledges the welcome and then proceeds to
ask
"how can I get ink stains off my tablecloth?". The relationship director 5
analyzes the
user input and determines the user input as a request for technical
information.
Accordingly, the relationship director 5 transmits the request to the
technical information
director 20. The technical information director 20 searches one or more data
stores for
information regarding ink stain removal from cloth, and transmits the search
results,
which may comprise one or more answers, to the relationship director 5. The
relationship director 5 then transmits the results to the web server which
sends the
results to Pat's computer.
The relationship director then inquires how useful the search results were. If
Pat
gives a low rating, the relationship director 5 will offer to have someone
call or E-mail Pat
for further help. If Pat gives a high rating, the relationship director will
preferably send a
command to the technical information director noting that the search results
were
particularly effective. The technical information director may utilize this
feedback data in
developing future search schema. The relationship director 5 may then ask Pat
for her
first name. If Pat responds by entering her first name, the user input is
saved to the
personal data store 10.
Interactions thereafter will be tailored to include the user name of "Pat" in
the
dialog. The relationship director 5 then may request further information about
Pat. The
algorithms of the relationship director and a random probability generator
determine
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whether to request further information from Pat. The further information may
comprise
purchasing trends, personal data such as income, marriage status, favorite
products and
the like. If Pat agrees to provide further information, the relationship
director 5 will apply
dialog scripts 12 which request basic demographic information from the user.
Once this
demographic information is obtained from Pat, it is stored in the personal
data store 10.
In this example, the relationship director 5 then determines that the
relationship with Pat
has progressed to the next stage (moving from first time user or stage 0 to
relationship
stage 1 ). The relationship director 5 then requests the reciprocity module 8
to determine
if any related items are offerable to Pat.
In this example, the reciprocity module 8 determines that a generic coupon is
offerable at this time to Pat and passes an instruction command to the
relationship
director 5. The reciprocity manager may determine to offer a specific coupon,
such as
75 cents of the normal size of a Mr. Clean~ cleaning product, or a generic
coupon which
allows the relationship director to determine which product or service the
coupon should
relate to. The relationship director 5 selects a corresponding dialog script
12 for offering
the coupon to Pat. The dialog script 12 may comprise "Would you like a
coupon?". The
relationship director 5 then waits for the user input from Pat. In the example
of Fig. 10,
Pat responds that she would like a coupon. The relationship director 5 records
the user
input and determines whether the required personal data (such as mailing
address) is
contained in the data store 10 for Pat. If the required personal data is not
in the personal
data store 10, the relationship director 5 will select a dialog script 12 to
obtain the
personal data. The dialog script 12 may comprise " Please give me your home
address
so I can mail the coupon". The required personal data is then obtained from
Pat and
saved in the personal data store 10.
After all the required personal data has been obtained, the relationship
director 5
notifies an administrative user to send a coupon to Pat. The relationship
director 5 then
asks Pat to complete a survey. If Pat agrees to take the survey, the
relationship director
determines from the personal data store 10 which surveys Pat has yet to
complete.
The relationship director 5 then selects a corresponding dialog script 12
containing an
appropriate survey and presents the survey to Pat. Each answer to the survey
is
recorded in the personal data store 10. When the survey is complete, in this
example,
the relationship director 5 determines that Pat has progressed to stage two.
The
relationship director 5 passes a command instruction to the reciprocity module
8 to
determine if any items are available at stage two for Pat, and the reciprocity
module 8
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determines which past items have been offered and which items have been
accepted by
Pat from the personal data store 10.
In this example, the reciprocity module 8 determines that Pat can be offered a
free sample of a related product and passes a command instruction to the
relationship
director 5. The relationship director 5 determines whether and when to present
the item
offer to Pat. In this particular example, Pat then asks an unprompted question
regarding
another product. The relationship director 5 analyzes the request preferably
using key
words and determines that the technical information director 20 could best
answer Pat's
question about the product. After the search results are provided by the
technical
information director and presented to Pat, the relationship director 5 asks if
Pat would
like a free sample of the product which was the subject of the question. If
Pat accepts,
the relationship director 5 checks the personal data store 10 to determine if
the required
address information is present. Since the required information was previously
gathered
during the coupon offer, the relationship director selects a dialog script 12
which confirms
Pat's mailing address. Any corrections to the address are saved in the
personal data
store 10. Pat then indicates that she must go to a meeting and signs off the
web site.
All of the data from Pat's interaction is now available in the data store for
use in
the system. That further use includes availability for access by researchers
and the to
prepare consumer input reports, to compare with other data, to be sold to
third party
users, or for other applications for which consumer input may be valuable.
EXAMPLE TWO
The example depicted in Fig. 11 begins in a similar manner to Example One.
The user's name in this example, however, is Bill. The relationship director
welcomes
Bill and Bill proceeds to ask the same cleaning question regarding ink stains
on cloth as
in Example One. The relationship director 5 passes the command to the
technical
information director 20 similar to in Example One. The relationship director
might
compare the user input in the personal data store to determine if Bill had
previously
asked the same question before. The relationship director 5 later asks for the
user's
name. Bill inputs his name and the relationship director 5 saves the user
input in the
personal data store 10. The relationship director 5 then asks Bill if he would
like to give
some basic demographic data. Bill responds that he would not like to provide
the
demographic data at the current time. The relationship director 5 records the
refusal to
provide demographic data in the personal data store 10. Bill then asks another
cleaning
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question. The relationship director 5 determines Bill's request is for
technical information
and passes the request to the technical information director 20. Bill then
terminates his
interaction with the system. At a later date, Bill revisits the interactive
system on the web
site. The relationship director 5 obtains user input data to identify Bill
(such as user ID,
password, cookie information, or the like) and determines his current user
stage from the
personal data store 10. The relationship director 5 welcomes Bill back to the
site. Since
the personal data store 10 contains Bill's name, the relationship director 5
tailors the
dialog scripts 12 to include his name where appropriate. The relationship
director 5 may
then ask Bill for some basic demographic data. If Bill responds positively,
the
relationship director 5 proceeds to obtain the demographic data as described
in Example
One. After obtaining the demographic data, the relationship director 5
determines that
Bill has progressed to the next relationship stage, stage 1. The relationship
director 5
then passes a command instruction to the extraneous information module 16 to
determine which items (if any) are available to be offered to Bill. In this
example, the
extraneous information module 16 determines that Bill can be offered
entertainment.
The relationship director 5 selects a corresponding dialog script 12 for
offering
entertainment to Bill. The dialog script may comprise "Would you like to play
a game
and have a chance to win free movie tickets?". The relationship director 5
then waits for
the user input from Bill. In the example of Fig. 11, Bill responds that he
would like to play
the game. The relationship director 5 records the user input and determines
from the
personal data store which, if any, games that Bill has previously played.
After
determining previous games, the relationship director 5 selects a dialog
script for a game
that Bill has not yet played. The dialog script 12 may comprise a simple
trivia game such
as asking "Who was the first president of the United States?". The
relationship director 5
waits for the user input from Bill. After a few questions, the relationship
director 5 might
determine that Bill has won the game and select the corresponding dialog
script 12 to
inform Bill he has won free movie tickets. The dialog script 12 may comprise
"Great job
Bill! You have just won two movie tickets. I will know check my user database
to
determine. if I have your correct home mailing address". The relationship
director 5
determines whether the required personal data (such as mailing address) is
contained in
the data store 10 for Bill. If the required personal data is not in the
personal data store
10, the relationship director 5 will select a dialog script 12 to obtain the
personal data.
The dialog script 12 may comprise "Please give me your home address so I can
mail the
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free movie tickets." The required personal data is then obtained from Pat and
saved in
the personal data store 10.
The relationship director 5 then may pass a command instruction to the
reciprocity module 8 to determine whether items if any are available to be
offered to Bill.
In this example, the reciprocity module 8 determines that Bill can be offered
a coupon.
The relationship director 5 as described in Example One may offer Bill a
coupon.
As can be noted from the first two examples, the interactive system is at
least
partially based on a gift/reward type system. Such arrangements have been
found to
facilitate the collection of valuable information and to stimulate the natural
relationship
building models to establish the trust, confidence and rapport needed for
reliable and
honest information exchange. When certain user input has been gathered from
the user,
the user is rewarded with a gift offer. The gift offers can vary by level and
the reciprocity
module 8 and the personal data store 10 track which gifts have been offered to
and
accepted by the user.
EXAMPLE THREE
As depicted in Fig. 12, the relationship director 5 ("Relationship Agent")
begins
the interaction by welcoming the user to the interactive system. The
interactive system
is running on a standard computer web server. The web server is connected to
the
Internet. Mike is using an ordinary computer comprising a CPU and memory. The
web
server sends all user interaction to the relationship director. The
relationship director
comprises software running on the web server computer or in communication with
the
web server computer. Mike connects to the Internet through his Internet
Service
Provider, or through a local area network (LAN) connected to the Internet, and
opens
Internet Explorer web browser software on his computer. Mike enters the URL
(address)
of http://www.mrclean.com. The web browser sends the URL request to the web
server
computer through the Internet. The web server computer sends a command
instruction
back to Mike's computer to check for the presence of a cookie corresponding to
the
interactive system. Finding no cookie, the web server sends a command to the
relationship director identifying Mike as a new unknown first time user. The
relationship
director determines that Mike is at relationship "stage 0" and selects the
corresponding
introduction dialog script.
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The relationship director next sends the dialog script to the web server which
incorporates the script into the web page and then the web server sends the
web page to
Mike through his web browser. Mike acknowledges the welcome and then proceeds
to
enter an administrative commands such as "sys survey" to change the current
survey of
the interactive system. The relationship director 5 analyzes the user input
and
determines that the user input is an administrative command. The relationship
director 5
selects a dialog script 12 to authenticate the administrative user. The dialog
script may
comprise "You must authenticate first.". Mike enters an administrative command
such as
"sys authenticate" to begin the authentication process. The relationship
director 5
analyzes the user input and then selects a dialog script 12 to continue the
authentication
process. The dialog script may comprise "Please enter your password". Mike
enters his
password which usually is masked to prevent others in the same area as Mike
from
seeing his password. The relationship director 5 then checks the personal data
store 10
for the password entered by the administrative user to determine if the
administrative
user has permission to make changes to the interactive system. Finding that
Mike is an
authorized administrative user, the relationship director 5 selects a dialog
script informing
Mike that he has been authenticated. The relationship director 5 then waits
for user
input from Mike. At any time during the interaction with the administrative
portion of the
interactive system, the administrative user has the ability to ask questions
and interact as
would a normal user. Mike enters an administrative command to change the
current
survey of the interactive system. The administrative command may comprise "sys
survey". The relationship director 5 receives the administrative command and
retrieves
from the dialog scripts available surveys that can be presented to the users.
The
relationship director 5 then displays a list of available surveys to the
administrative user
and asks Mike which survey he would like to select. Mike selects "survey?" and
the
relationship director 5 makes the appropriate changes in the algorithms and/or
decision
trees to utilize "survey?". Mike then enters another administrative command to
change
the current coupon being offered to users. The administrative command may
comprise
"sys coupon". The relationship director 5 receives the user input and
determines that the
user input is an administrative command to change the current coupon. The
relationship
director 5 sends a command to the reciprocity module to determine which
coupons are
currently being offered. The reciprocity module 8 determines which coupons are
currently being offered and sends a command to the relationship director 5
containing
the list of coupons. The relationship director 5 then displays the list of
current coupons
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to the administrative user Mike and asks Mike if he would like to change the
coupon.
Mike responds that he would like to change the coupon, and the relationship
director
asks Mike for a new description for the coupon to be offered. Mike enters the
new
description of the coupon, such as "75 cents off Large size". The relationship
director 5
receives the administrative user input and sends a command to the reciprocity
module 8
to change the current coupon to the description entered by the administrative
user. The
relationship director 5 selects a dialog script 12 to inform the
administrative user that the
requested changes have been made. The dialog script may comprise "Master, new
coupon description is in effect". Mike then enters an administrative command
to
terminate the administrative session. The administrative command may comprises
"sys
goodbye". As can be seen, under the present invention, an administrative user
can
make real-time changes to the interactive system. In addition, these changes
can be
made virtually anywhere in the world and require no special software other
than a
standard web browser application and an Internet connection.
The examples and specific embodiments set forth herein are for illustrative
purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the methods and
fabrics of the
invention. Additional methods and fabrics within the scope of the claimed
invention will
be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the teachings set
forth herein.
