Author-Created Digital Agents for Document Content Access

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Solution Overview

Problem

Users of electronic documents often face challenges in interpreting content without immediate access to the author, leading to inefficient searches for additional information, as existing technologies lack a seamless way to interact with the author or retrieve relevant information directly from the document context.

Innovation Solution

Author-created digital agents and content corpora that allow users to interact with a virtual author or interfaces, using hybrid intelligence to search and provide relevant information from curated content associated with the document, reducing the need for external searches and enhancing information accessibility.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of information

If users search for additional information from online resources or contact the author, then they can obtain clarifying information, but this increases time consumption and resource usage

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveinformation accessibilityVSAvoidtime consumption
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces a digital agent as an intermediary between the content consumer and the author's curated content. The digital agent receives requests from consumers, formulates queries, searches the curated content corpus, and returns relevant information without requiring direct author contact or external online searches, thereby making information more accessible while reducing time consumption

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The author performs preliminary actions by curating and organizing relevant content into a corpus before the consumer needs the information. This pre-prepared corpus allows the digital agent to quickly retrieve information without requiring real-time author intervention or external searches, reducing both information loss and time consumption

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Loss of information

If users contact the author or search online resources for clarification, then they can obtain additional information, but this increases complexity of the interaction process

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveinformation accessibilityVSAvoidinteraction complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The digital agent serves as an intermediary that handles all interaction complexity between the consumer and the author's content. The consumer simply asks questions through the agent, which automatically manages query formulation, corpus searching, and result delivery, making the process simple for users while maintaining comprehensive information accessibility

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The digital agent enables self-service by allowing consumers to obtain information independently without needing to contact the author directly or navigate complex search processes. The agent autonomously manages the entire information retrieval process, reducing interaction complexity while improving information accessibility

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

3Loss of information

If external searches are performed to find relevant information, then information can be obtained, but this increases bandwidth requirements and resource searches

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveinformation accessibilityVSAvoidbandwidth requirements
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts the relevant content from the author's available materials and organizes it into a curated corpus that is specifically tailored to the document context. This extracted and organized content is then stored locally or in accessible storage, eliminating the need for external online searches and reducing bandwidth requirements while maintaining information accessibility

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The author performs preliminary content curation and organization into a focused corpus before any consumer requests information. This pre-organized content is readily available for the digital agent to search, eliminating the need for external bandwidth-intensive searches while ensuring comprehensive information accessibility

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUS10831812B2Author-created digital agents
Publication Date: 2020.11.10 MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC
  • US10831812B2 patent drawing
  • US10831812B2 patent drawing
  • US10831812B2 patent drawing

AI summary

Author-created digital agents and content corpora for electronic documents are described. A content corpora service can include application programming interfaces such as for adding content to a corpus, attaching a corpus to a document, retrieving corpora associated with an author, and searching content of a corpus. An author-created digital agent can receive a request from a consumer of a document, determine corpora associated with the document, formulate a query based on the request, and search content associated with the corpora associated with the document.