Interactive Agent Platform Flow Manager for Multimodal Interaction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current technologies face challenges in designing interactive systems that can engage in flexible and robust multimodal interactions with users, particularly in creating natural and nuanced interactions that avoid the 'uncanny valley' effect.
Innovation Solution
The development of an interactive agent platform that utilizes an interaction modeling language and API, incorporating a standardized interaction categorization schema, to enable multimodal human-machine interactions, backchanneling, event-driven architecture, and sensory processing, allowing for complex and nuanced interactions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional single-modality turn-based interaction systems are used, then system simplicity is maintained, but the system cannot support flexible and robust multimodal interactions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the interaction system into distinct modular components: a flow manager that handles high-level interaction flows, modality-specific processors for different input types (speech, text, gestures), and coordinated output channels. This segmentation allows each component to specialize in specific modalities while the flow manager orchestrates their integration, enabling multimodal capability without proportionally increasing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a universal flow manager that can handle multiple interaction modalities through a common architecture. The flow manager serves multiple functions: it manages turn-based and simultaneous interactions, coordinates multiple output modalities, and adapts to different interaction patterns. This multi-functionality allows the system to support diverse multimodal interactions without requiring separate specialized systems for each modality组合.
2Adaptability or versatility
If interactive systems support multiple simultaneous inputs and outputs, then interaction flexibility improves, but managing non-sequential interactions becomes extremely complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic interaction flows that can adapt their structure based on the interaction context. The flow manager can dynamically activate, pause, and switch between different interaction flows based on which modalities are currently active and what outputs are appropriate. This dynamic approach allows the system to manage non-sequential interactions flexibly, activating only the necessary sub-flows for each interaction scenario rather than pre-defining all possible interaction paths.
Solution Approach 2:
The flow manager acts as an intermediary between multiple input modalities and output channels. It receives events from various modalities, determines the appropriate interaction flow to execute, coordinates the timing and sequencing of outputs across different channels, and manages conflicts between simultaneous interaction demands. This intermediary role simplifies the complexity by centralizing the decision-making logic in a single coordinating component rather than requiring complex point-to-point coordination between all inputs and outputs.
3Adaptability or versatility
If conventional conversational AI models are used, then verbal input/output processing is effective, but the system cannot generate corresponding visual elements or graphical user interfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the conversational AI processing with visual content generation capabilities into a unified interaction system. The flow manager integrates speech-to-text processing, text-based conversation logic, and visual element generation into a single coordinated flow. When verbal input is processed, the same flow manager that handles the conversation logic also triggers appropriate visual output generation, ensuring consistency between verbal and visual modalities without requiring separate independent systems.
4Adaptability or versatility
If custom application-specific APIs and architectures are used for each interactive system, then system-specific requirements are met, but component exchangeability and updates become difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal event-driven architecture with standardized interfaces that can accommodate multiple interaction modalities and output channels. The flow manager uses a common event structure and coordination mechanism that works regardless of which specific modalities or components are involved. This universal architecture allows different components (speech processors, gesture recognizers, output channels) to be exchanged and updated independently while maintaining compatibility with the overall system through the standardized event-driven interface.
Data Source
AI summary
In various examples, an interactive agent platform that hosts development and/or deployment of an interactive agent may include an interpreter programmed to iterate though one or more flows until reaching an event matcher, a top level flow may specify instruction(s) to activate any number of flows comprising any number of event matchers, the interpreter may use any suitable data structure to keep track of active flows and corresponding event matchers (e.g., using a tree or other representation of nested flow relationships), and the interpreter may employ an event-driven state machine that listens for various events and triggers corresponding actions specified in matching flows (with event matchers that match an incoming interaction modeling API event). As such, the interpreter may execute a primary processing loop that processes incoming interaction modeling API events and generates outgoing interaction modeling API events that implement the interactive agent.