Presenting a synthesized alert using a digital personal assistant

• US 10,203,997 B2
• Filed: 05/14/2016
• Issued: 02/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Liensberger, Christian, Baumgartner, Patrick, Mahadevan, Varsha
• Primary Examiner(s): Roni, Syed A
• Application Number:
  US15/154,967
• Publication Number:
  US 20170329654A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,004 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/10 using kernel methods, e.g. support vector machines [SVM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Techniques are described herein that are capable of presenting a synthesized alert using a digital personal assistant. A synthesized alert is an alert that is synthesized from multiple subsets of information. Examples of a subset of information include but are not limited to at least one notification (e.g., enterprise alert), at least one calendar entry, at least one document (e.g., word processing document, spreadsheet, Web page, image, audio file, video file, etc.), raw data, processed data, at least one output of an executable, and any combination thereof.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

memory; and

one or more processors coupled to the memory and configured to;

infer a relationship between subsets of first information that are referenced in respective alerts based on at least an analysis of the first information with regard to historical information that is learned from one or more relationships that have occurred in the past;

transform second information regarding the subsets of the first information that are referenced in the respective alerts into a synthesized alert, which summarizes at least one of (a) the first information that is included in the subsets that are referenced in the respective alerts or (b) an issue that typically results from occurrences that are indicated by the first information that is included in the subsets that are referenced in the respective alerts, based on at least the subsets having the relationship; and

cause a digital personal assistant to present the synthesized alert to a user.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the synthesized alert is not requested by the user.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the digital personal assistant to present the synthesized alert to the user based on at least a context of the user.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

determine whether the user is to participate in a scheduled event;

infer whether the subsets of the first information pertain to the scheduled event; and

cause the digital personal assistant to present the synthesized alert to the user based on at least a determination that the user is to participate in the scheduled event and further based on at least an inference that the subsets of the first information pertain to the scheduled event.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the digital personal assistant to present the synthesized alert to the user based on at least the scheduled event being scheduled to occur within a threshold duration of time from a current time.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the first information comprises:

a first subset referenced in a first enterprise alert associated with a first time instance, the first enterprise alert indicating that an issue occurs in a system that is included in an enterprise; and

a second subset referenced in a second enterprise alert associated with a second time instance that occurs after the first time instance, the second enterprise alert indicating that the issue is resolved; and

wherein the one or more processors are configured to synthesize the first enterprise alert and the second enterprise alert to provide the synthesized alert that indicates that the system is not encountering the issue.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

determine whether the subsets of the first information are received at a rate that is greater than a threshold rate; and

cause the digital personal assistant to present the synthesized alert to the user in response to a determination that the subsets of the first information are received at the rate that is greater than the threshold rate.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

determine whether a specified user is available to perform an operation to address an issue that is associated with the first information; and

cause the digital personal assistant to present the synthesized alert to the user based on at least a determination that the specified user is not available to perform the operation to address the issue that is associated with the first information.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

determine whether the subsets of the first information are relevant to a scheduled event of the user; and

cause the digital personal assistant to present the synthesized alert to the user based on at least a determination that the subsets of the first information are relevant to the scheduled event of the user and further based on at least the scheduled event of the user being scheduled to occur within a threshold duration of time from a current time.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the digital personal assistant to suggest an operation for the user to perform in response to the synthesized alert.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

cause the digital personal assistant to perform an operation on behalf of the user, the operation pertaining to at least one of the subsets of the first information; and

cause the digital personal assistant to notify the user that the operation has been performed.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

determine whether a role of the user is to perform an operation to address an issue that is associated with the first information; and

cause the digital personal assistant to present the synthesized alert to the user based on at least a determination that the role of the user is to perform the operation to address the issue that is associated with the first information.

13. A method comprising:

inferring a relationship between subsets of first information that are referenced in respective alerts based on at least an analysis of the first information with regard to historical information that is learned from one or more relationships that have occurred in the past;

transforming second information regarding the subsets of the first information that are referenced in the respective alerts into a synthesized alert, which summarizes at least one of (a) the first information that is included in the subsets that are referenced in the respective alerts or (b) an issue that typically results from occurrences that are indicated by the first information that is included in the subsets that are referenced in the respective alerts, based on at least the subsets having the relationship; and

causing a digital personal assistant to present the synthesized alert to a user.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein transforming the second information comprises:

transforming the second information into the synthesized alert that is not requested by the user based on at least the subsets having the relationship.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein causing the digital personal assistant to present the synthesized alert comprises:

causing the digital personal assistant to present the synthesized alert to the user based on at least a context of the user.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining that the user is to participate in a scheduled event;

wherein inferring the relationship comprises;

inferring that the subsets of the first information pertain to the scheduled event; and

wherein causing the digital personal assistant to present the synthesized alert comprises;

causing the digital personal assistant to present the synthesized alert to the user based on at least a determination that the user is to participate in the scheduled event and further based on at least an inference that the subsets of the first information pertain to the scheduled event.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein causing the digital personal assistant to present the synthesized alert comprises:

causing the digital personal assistant to present the synthesized alert to the user based on at least the scheduled event being scheduled to occur within a threshold duration of time from a current time.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a first enterprise alert associated with a first time instance, the first enterprise alert indicating that an issue occurs in a system that is included in an enterprise; and

receiving a second enterprise alert associated with a second time instance that occurs after the first time instance, the second enterprise alert indicating that the issue is resolved;

wherein transforming the second information comprises;

synthesizing the first enterprise alert and the second enterprise alert to provide the synthesized alert that indicates that the system is not encountering the issue.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining that the subsets of the first information are received at a rate that is greater than a threshold rate;

wherein causing the digital personal assistant to present the synthesized alert comprises;

causing the digital personal assistant to present the synthesized alert to the user in response to determining that the subsets of the first information are received at the rate that is greater than the threshold rate.

20. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for enabling a processor-based system to present a synthesized alert using a digital personal assistant, the computer program logic comprising:

means for enabling the processor-based system to infer a relationship between subsets of first information that are referenced in respective alerts based on at least an analysis of the first information with regard to historical information that is learned from one or more relationships that have occurred in the past;

means for enabling the processor-based system to transform second information regarding the subsets of the first information that are referenced in the respective alerts into the synthesized alert, which summarizes at least one of (a) the first information that is included in the subsets that are referenced in the respective alerts or (b) an issue that typically results from occurrences that are indicated by the first information that is included in the subsets that are referenced in the respective alerts, based on at least the subsets having the relationship; and

means for enabling the processor-based system to cause the digital personal assistant to present the synthesized alert to a user.