ActiveBuddy, a US-based provider of software for developing and
hosting interactive agents, has won a patent for instant messaging
bot-making software. The patent, the application for which was
filed two years ago, covers the method and system for interactively
responding to queries from a remotely located user.
It includes a computer server system configured to receiving an
instant message query or request from the user over the internet.
The query or request is interpreted and appropriate action is
taken, such as accessing a local or remote data resource and
formulating an answer to the user's query.
The answer is formatted as appropriate and returned to the user
as an instant message or via another route specified by the user.
The patent also covers a system of providing authenticated access
to a given web page via instant messaging.
Tim Kay, founder of Active Buddy and listed inventor in the
patent claim, said that his company has invented interactive agents
and secured the patent to prevent others from using the technology
without paying, according to a report by news site
Internet.com.
According to the same report, amateur bot developers dispute the
validity of the patent, claiming that the instant messaging bot
technology existed before “ActiveBuddy was even a company.”
