US-20260128918-A1 - CHATBOT MULTIUSER

US20260128918A1US 20260128918 A1US20260128918 A1US 20260128918A1US-20260128918-A1

Abstract

An industrial chatbot system and associated chatbot interface support various user experience features designed to improve the chatbot's utility within an industrial context. These features include the ability to invite selected users or teams to participate in an ongoing chatbot thread or conversation, the ability to switch between knowledge domains during a chatbot session, the ability to save prompts for selective resubmission to the system, the ability to organize and share multiple chatbot threads among different teams or team members, constraining submission of prompts in a collaborative multiuser context so that prompts are submitted and processed in an organized manner, and the ability to define prompt-based dashboards that can be stored and deployed on demand or in response to defined conditions.

Inventors

Mario Noble
Kelly Ceballos
Lucas G. Thompson
Sylwia Koloczek

Assignees

ROCKWELL AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20251006

Claims (20)

1 . A system, comprising: a memory that stores executable components; and a processor, operatively coupled to the memory, that executes the executable components, the executable components comprising: a generative artificial intelligence (AI) component configured to initiate a chatbot thread, to process natural language prompts of the chatbot thread requesting information about industrial operations within an industrial facility, and to generate, based on generative AI analysis of the natural language prompts, responses to the natural language prompts, the responses comprising at least one of natural language information or graphical content; and a user interface component configured to render a chatbot interface that receives the natural language prompts and renders the natural language prompts and responses of the chatbot thread, wherein an initial permission associated with the chatbot thread permits a first set of users to participate in the chatbot thread via instances of the chatbot interface rendered on client devices associated with the first set of users, and the user interface component is further configured to, in response to receipt of a request to invite one or more second users to participate in the chatbot thread, render the chatbot thread accessible to the one or more second users.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the user interface component is configured to render a selection window that lists identities of users available to be invited to participate in the chatbot thread, and the chatbot interface is configured to receive, as the request to invite the one or more second users, selection of the one or more second users via interaction with the selection window.
3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the selection window filters the identities of the users according to a defined team.
4 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the selection window is configured to filter the identities of the users based on content of a search field rendered on the selection window.
5 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the selection window is configured to render, for a user of the users available to be invited to participate in the chatbot thread, at least one of a name of the user, contact information for the user, a role of the user, a location of the user, or a current availability status of the user.
6 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the user interface component is further configured to, in response to receipt of the request to invite the one or more second users, send an invitation notification to a client device associated with the one or more second users.
7 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the user interface component is configured to, in response receipt of an acceptance from a second user, of the one or more second users, render an instance of the chatbot interface on a client device associated with the second user and render content of the chatbot thread on the instance of the chatbot interface.
8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the chatbot interface comprises a prompt entry field configured to receive the natural language prompts and renders a sequential list of the natural language prompts that were submitted for the chatbot thread by the first set of users and the responses to the natural language prompts that were generated by the generative AI component, and the user interface component is further configured to, in response to determining that a participant, of the first set of users or the second set of users, is entering text into the prompt entry field of an instance of the chatbot interface associated with the participant, render, in the prompt entry field of instances of the chatbot interface associated with other participants, of the first set of users and the second set of users, an indication that the participant is entering the text.
9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the user interface component is further configured to prevent entry of text in the prompt entry field of the instances of the chatbot interface associated with the other participants while the participant is entering the text.
10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the chatbot interface comprises a prompt entry field configured to receive the natural language prompts and renders a sequential list of the natural language prompts that were submitted for the chatbot thread by the first set of users and the responses to the natural language prompts that were generated by the generative AI component, and the user interface component is further configured to, in response to determining that the generative AI component is processing a natural language prompt submitted as part of the chatbot thread, render text in the prompt entry field indicating that the system is processing the natural language prompt.
11 . A method, comprising: in response to initiation of a chatbot thread, rendering, by an industrial chatbot system comprising a processor, instances of a chatbot interface on respective client devices associated with first participants of the chatbot thread; processing, by the industrial chatbot system, natural language prompts submitted by the first participants requesting information about industrial operations within an industrial facility; generating, by the industrial chatbot system based on generative artificial intelligence (AI) analysis of the natural language prompts, responses to the natural language prompts, the responses comprising at least one of natural language information or graphical content; and in response to receiving a request to invite one or more second participants to participate in the chatbot thread, rendering, by the industrial chatbot system, the chatbot thread accessible to the one or more second participants.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the receiving of the request comprises: rendering a selection window that lists identities of participants available to be invited to participate in the chatbot thread; and receiving, as the request to invite the one or more second participants, selection of the one or more second participants via interaction with the selection window.
13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the rendering of the selection window comprises filters the identities of the participants according to a defined team.
14 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising filtering the identities of the participants based on content of a search field rendered on the selection window.
15 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the rendering of the selection window comprises rendering, for a participant of the identities of participants, at least one of a name of the participant, contact information for the participant, a role of the participant, a location of the participant, or a current availability status of the participant.
16 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising, in response receiving an acceptance from a second participant, of the one or more second participants: rendering, by the industrial chatbot system, an instance of the chatbot interface on a client device associated with the second participant, and rendering, by the industrial chatbot system, content of the chatbot thread on the instance of the chatbot interface.
17 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the chatbot interface comprises a prompt entry field configured to receive the natural language prompts and renders a sequential list of the natural language prompts that were submitted for the chatbot thread by the first participants and the responses to the natural language prompts, and the method further comprises, in response to determining that a participant, of the first participants or the one or more second participants, is entering text into the prompt entry field of an instance of the chatbot interface associated with the participant, rendering, in the prompt entry field of instances of the chatbot interface associated with other participants, of the first participants or the one or more second participants, an indication that the participant is entering the text.
18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising preventing, by the industrial chatbot system, entry of text in the prompt entry field of the instances of the chatbot interface associated with the other participants while the participant is entering the text.
19 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, in response to execution, cause an industrial chatbot system comprising a processor to perform operations, the operations comprising: in response to initiation of a chatbot thread, rendering instances of a chatbot interface on respective client devices associated with first participants of the chatbot thread; processing natural language prompts submitted by the first participants requesting information about industrial operations within an industrial facility; generating, based on generative artificial intelligence (AI) analysis of the natural language prompts, responses to the natural language prompts, the responses comprising at least one of natural language information or graphical content; and in response to receiving a request to invite one or more second participants to participate in the chatbot thread, rendering the chatbot thread accessible to the one or more second participants.
20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the receiving of the request comprises: rendering a selection window that lists identities of participants available to be invited to participate in the chatbot thread; and receiving, as the request to invite the one or more second participants, selection of the one or more second participants via interaction with the selection window.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/716,429, filed on Nov. 5, 2024, and entitled “GENERATIVE AI INDUSTRIAL USER EXPERIENCE PROMPT WORKFLOWS,” the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to industrial automation systems, and, for example, to the use of industrial chatbots BACKGROUND ART The industrial devices and assets that make up the manufacturing systems operating within an industrial facility generate a large amount of diverse operational, status, and maintenance data. Aggregated analysis of this information could yield useful insights into the plant's operations. However, industrial analysis and reporting systems can be difficult to use, particularly from the standpoint of the user interfaces used to engage with these systems. The above-described deficiencies of current approaches to resolving industrial alarm conditions and performance issues are merely intended to provide an overview of some of the problems of current technology, and are not intended to be exhaustive. Other problems with the state of the art, and corresponding benefits of some of the various non-limiting embodiments described herein, may become further apparent upon review of the following detailed description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects described herein. This summary is not an extensive overview nor is it intended to identify key/critical elements or to delineate the scope of the various aspects described herein. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later. In one or more embodiments, a system is provided, comprising a generative artificial intelligence (AI) component configured to initiate a chatbot thread, to process natural language prompts of the chatbot thread requesting information about industrial operations within an industrial facility, and to generate, based on generative AI analysis of the natural language prompts, responses to the natural language prompts, the responses comprising at least one of natural language information or graphical content; and a user interface component configured to render a chatbot interface that receives the natural language prompts and renders the natural language prompts and responses of the chatbot thread, wherein an initial permission associated with the chatbot thread permits a first set of users to participate in the chatbot thread via instances of the chatbot interface rendered on client devices associated with the first set of users, and the user interface component is further configured to, in response to receipt of a request to invite one or more second users to participate in the chatbot thread, render the chatbot thread accessible to the one or more second users. Also, one or more embodiments provide a method, comprising, in response to initiation of a chatbot thread, rendering, by an industrial chatbot system comprising a processor, instances of a chatbot interface on respective client devices associated with first participants of the chatbot thread; processing, by the industrial chatbot system, natural language prompts submitted by the first participants requesting information about industrial operations within an industrial facility; generating, by the industrial chatbot system based on generative artificial intelligence (AI) analysis of the natural language prompts, responses to the natural language prompts, the responses comprising at least one of natural language information or graphical content; and in response to receiving a request to invite one or more second participants to participate in the chatbot thread, rendering, by the industrial chatbot system, the chatbot thread accessible to the one or more second participants. Also, according to one or more embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable medium is provided having stored thereon instructions that, in response to execution, cause an industrial chatbot system to perform operations, the operations comprising, in response to initiation of a chatbot thread, rendering instances of a chatbot interface on respective client devices associated with first participants of the chatbot thread; processing natural language prompts submitted by the first participants requesting information about industrial operations within an industrial facility; generating, based on generative artificial intelligence (AI) analysis of the natural language prompts, responses to the natural language prompts, the responses comprising at least one of natural language information or graphical content; and in response to receiving a request to invite one or more second participants to participate in the chatbot thread, rendering the chatbot thread accessible to the