What is a Slot?

A slot is a narrow depression or perforation, especially one for receiving something, as a coin or a letter. A narrow opening, especially in a door or window: The sun shone into the living room through the slit of an open window. A position or place within a sequence or series: The haircut was scheduled for the 2 p.m. slot. A position or assignment: He was given the slot as chief copy editor for the Gazette.

In aviation, a block of time authorized by an airport or air-traffic control for a plane to take off or land: They slot zeus had to wait until the 3 p.m. slot, because there were too many flights trying to take off at that time. Also called flight slot.

On a slot machine, a symbol that pays out a prize when it lines up with a pay line: The three aligned liberty bells are a very high payout. This is an example of a “taste” payout that casinos use to keep players gambling. It is not to be confused with a jackpot, which pays out a large sum on a single pull.

You can assign a slot type to an identified utterance so that the bot will know how to interpret that information in that context. You can also add synonyms for a slot type, so that Dialog Engine will recognize multiple names and phrases for the same information. For example, you can map an entity value such as room required to the slot type New York or NYC.