Stack-based communications systems and methods

A method of supporting a conversation between a virtual assistant and a user, the method comprising:

• receiving, from the virtual assistant, a fulfillment request specifying an intent;
• pushing an item onto a conversation stack stored in a memory, wherein the item includes an identifier of the intent;
• in response to a determination that the received intent is not a generic user reply intent, determining that the intent matches an intent of a registered action handler;
• receiving, from the registered action handler, a response message including a response to the user and one or more instructions to manipulate the conversation stack, wherein the one or more instructions include an instruction to remove the item from the conversation stack;
• manipulating the conversation stack in accordance with the one or more instructions;
• storing the conversation stack in the memory for subsequent processing within the conversation;
• and
• transmitting a fulfillment response to the virtual assistant to continue the conversation, the fulfillment response comprising the response to the user.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing executable sequences of instructions to implement a conversation stack in a memory, the conversation stack snorting a conversation between a user and a virtual assistant, the sequences of instructions comprising instructions to:

• receive, from the virtual assistant, a fulfillment request specifying an intent;
• push an item onto the conversation stack stored in the memory, wherein the item includes an identifier of the intent;
• in response to a determination that the received intent is not a generic user reply intent, determine that the intent matches an intent of a registered action handler;
• receive, from the registered action handler, one or more instructions to manipulate the conversation stack, wherein the one or more instructions include an instruction to remove the item from the conversation stack;
• manipulate the conversation stack in accordance with the one or more instructions;
• store the conversation stack in the memory for subsequent processing within the conversation;
• and
• transmit a fulfillment response to the virtual assistant.

A system comprising:

• at least one virtual assistant device;
• and
• a computing device in communication with the at least one virtual assistant device via a network, the computing device including a processor and a memory accessible by the processor, and configured to
• receive information about an intent of a user for a communication received at the at least one virtual assistant device, the intent being identifiable based on a set of skills of the at least one virtual assistant device;
• provide at least one item of data in a data structure of the memory, the at least one item of data representative of one context of a plurality of contexts for a given conversation between a user and the at least one virtual assistant device, and the data structure being constructed and arranged as a stack of items of data;
• modify the data structure based on the received information, the modification of the data structure including at least one of a change in a number or position of items in the stack of items of data based on the intent of the user;
• and
• provide a response to the user using the modified data structure, the response directed to one context of the plurality of contexts of the conversation based on one item of the data structure to prevent transmission of the response with an incorrect context.