The present invention relates to a method and system for chatbot-enabled web forms and workflows.
The present applicant has developed a number of no-code (or code-free), intuitive, drag-and-drop tools, such as Nintex® Forms and Nintex® Workflow, that enable non-coding business users to create, publish and manage web forms and business workflows without needing to code from scratch.
Chatbots are increasingly being used for various practical purposes, such as walking users through business processes. Implementing chatbots for business processes, however, typically involves significant coding effort that is beyond the capabilities of most non-coding business users.
It is desirable to provide intuitive, no-code solutions that enable non-coding business users to create and deploy chatbots (or artificial intelligence (AI) assistants) to assist users to complete web forms and perform workflows.
According to the present invention, there is provided a method for creating chatbot-enabled web forms and workflows, the method comprising: mapping web forms and workflows to intents, wherein the web forms have required fields to be completed and the workflows have required tasks to be performed; mapping the required fields and the required tasks to entities for the intents that map to the web forms and the workflows; mapping utterances to complete the required fields and perform the required tasks to the intents and the entities that map to the web forms and the workflows; creating chatbots configured to assist users to complete the required fields and perform the required tasks using the utterances, the intents and the entities that map to the web forms and the workflows.
The chatbots may be further configured to assist the users to discover the web forms and the workflows based on recognizing the intents and the entities in the utterances.
The chatbots may be further configured to trigger the workflows and performance of the required tasks based on recognizing the intents and the entities in the utterances.
The chatbots may be further configured to confirm completion of the required fields and performance of the required tasks based on recognizing the intents and the entities in the utterances.
The method may further comprise mapping confirmation messages confirming completion of the required fields and performance of the required tasks to the intents and the entities that map to the web forms and the workflows.
The mapping of the intents, the entities, the utterances, and the confirmation messages to the web forms and the workflows may be performed using graphical user interfaces (GUI) without coding.
The present invention also provides a system for creating chatbot-enabled web forms and workflows, the system comprising: a memory to store instructions; one or more processors to execute instructions stored in the memory to: map web forms and workflows to intents, wherein the web forms have required fields to be completed and the workflows have required tasks to be performed; map the required fields and the required tasks to entities for the intents that map to the web forms and the workflows; map utterances to complete the required fields and perform the required tasks to the intents and the entities that map to the web forms and the workflows; create chatbots configured to assist users to complete the required fields and perform the required tasks using the utterances, the intents and the entities that map to the web forms and the workflows.
The present invention further provides a non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: mapping web forms and workflows to intents, wherein the web forms have required fields to be completed and the workflows have required tasks to be performed; mapping the required fields and the required tasks to entities for the intents that map to the web forms and the workflows; mapping utterances to complete the required fields and perform the required tasks to the intents and the entities that map to the web forms and the workflows; creating chatbots configured to assist users to complete the required fields and perform the required tasks using the utterances, the intents and the entities that map to the web forms and the workflows.
The present invention also provides a chatbot for completing web forms or performing workflows created by the method or the system described above.
The present invention further provides a chatbot-enabled web form or a chatbot-enabled workflow created by the method or the system described above.
Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
The terms used in this specification generally have their ordinary, conventional meanings in the fields of natural language processing, web forms and business workflows. For example, the term “required field” means that the field is required based on whatever business rule is in place at the time. For a web form, a field may be required because the form designer enable a flag to say required, or it could be based on a business rule (defined in the form or workflow) that makes a filed required for capturing input from the end user. Similarly, a “task” means any action that requires user input. For example, if there is a workflow and a question is asked or user input is required, then that is considered a task. The workflow will pause until the user responds or until a predefined timeout without any response.
Referring to
Next, at step 120, the required fields and the required tasks may be mapped to entities for the intents that map to the web forms and the workflows. An entity may represent a term, data type, object or control that is relevant to a user's intent and that provides specific context for an intent. Entities may use the @symbol. For example, an entity may represent a type of leave, or a start date or end date for the leave.
Next, at step 130, utterances to complete the required fields and perform the required tasks may be mapped to the intents and the entities that map to the web forms and the workflows. An utterance is a phrase or sentence that a user might say that maps to an intent and/or individual entities of the intent. For example, the utterance “I want to go on vacation next Monday” may map to both the intent of #leave and the individual entities of @leave type and @start date.
The method 100 ends at step 140 by creating chatbots configured to assist users to complete the required fields and perform the required tasks using the utterances, the intents and the entities that map to the web forms and the workflows.
The method 100 may further comprise mapping confirmation messages confirming completion of the required fields and performance of the required tasks to the intents and the entities that map to the web forms and the workflows. The confirmation messages may comprise sentences or statements to confirm or verify a user's input for the intents and the entities that map to the web forms and the workflows.
Referring to
The chatbots 510 created by the method 100 and the chatbot creation engine described above may be further configured to provide additional chat-enabled functionality to users.
For example, as illustrated in
As illustrated in
Referring to
Embodiments of the present invention provide intuitive, no-code chatbot creation engines that are both generally and specifically useful for chatbot-enabling web forms and workflows.
For the purpose of this specification, the word “comprising” means “including but not limited to,” and the word “comprises” has a corresponding meaning.
The above embodiments have been described by way of example only and modifications are possible within the scope of the claims that follow.
This application claims priority to U.S. Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 16/975,995, filed Aug. 26, 2020 and titled “Method and System for Chatbot-Enabled Web Forms and Workflows,” which in turn claims priority to International App. No. PCT/IB2019/051514, filed Feb. 26, 2019, titled “Method and System for Chatbot-Enabled Web Forms and Workflows,” which in turn claims priority under 35 U.S.C. Section 119(e) to Australia Provisional Application 2018900610, filed Feb. 26, 2018, titled “Method and System for Chatbot-Enabled Web Forms and Workflows,” the contents all of which are incorporated by reference herein as though set forth in their entirety and to which priority and benefit are claimed.
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 16975995 | Aug 2020 | US |
Child | 18232601 | US |