A METHOD OF CONTROLLING A MULTI-PURPOSE RE-CONFIGURABLE INFORMATION QUERY COMPUTER SYSTEM

摘要

A method of controlling a multi-purpose re-configurable information query computer system arranged to participate in an interactive session for defining a remote user information request, to retrieve the required information and to send the same in a response via a selected communications channel to the remote user, is described. The method comprises defining a plurality of optimal user-interaction procedures which specify the manner in which the system will interact with the user, each optimal user interaction procedure being correlated with a predetermined user-interaction strategy, wherein each user interaction procedure has at least one associated user query handling technique; storing the plurality of user-interaction procedures for consistent application across a plurality of different communications channels; dynamically applying the plurality of stored user-interaction procedures during the interactive query session with the user; capturing user-interaction results during the interactive session with the computer; and utilising the results for refining future targeted interactive sessions with the specific user so as to improve the long term user-specific performance of the system.