Digital concierge and method

• US 10,255,914 B2
• Filed: 06/06/2016
• Issued: 04/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Michael Boukadakis
• Original Assignee: Michael Boukadakis
• Inventors: Boukadakis, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Godbold, Douglas
• Application Number:
  US15/174,944
• Publication Number:
  US 20160358152A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,037 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3329 Natural language query formulation or dialogue systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/22 Payment schemes or models
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/00 Speech recognition G10L17/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue

Abstract

A portable communications device may include a transceiver configured to communicate with a network, a microphone configured to convert sounds into an audio signal, and a processor coupled to the microphone and the transceiver. The device may further include a memory coupled to the processor. The memory may include instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to convert an audio signal into a natural language request and initiate payment of a first account of a first domain-specific data source from funds available in a second account of a second domain-specific data source in response to the natural language request via the network. The instructions may further cause the processor to receive a confirmation of the payment from the network.

Claims

1. A computer readable storage device embodying instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to perform a method comprising:

receiving a natural language request corresponding to an audio input associated with a subscriber at the processor of a portable communications device;

determining first and second account information corresponding to the subscriber using the processor of the portable communications device to access user data stored in the computer readable storage device of the portable communications device;

automatically initiating a payment from the second account to the first account based on the natural language request by communicating with at least one of a server associated with the second account and a server associated with the first account through a communications network by;

automatically accessing the first account based on the natural language request using the first account information by sending data related to the first account information to a server associated with a first domain-specific data source;

automatically extracting data from the first domain-specific data source based on the first account information to determine an amount due;

communicating data related to the amount due to an interface of the portable communications device to determine a payment amount;

receiving an input indicating the payment amount from the interface; and

automatically initiating the payment corresponding to the payment amount by communicating with the server associated with the first domain-specific data source; and

providing output information related to the payment information to an output interface of the portable communications device.

2. The computer readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to perform the method further comprising:

converting the output information to audio data using the processor of the portable communications device; and

wherein the output interface comprises one of a speaker and an audio output terminal configurable to reproduce the audio data as an audible output.

3. The computer readable storage device of claim 1, further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to perform the method further comprising:

receiving a natural language audio input via a microphone of the portable communications device; and

converting the natural language audio input into the natural language request using the processor of the portable communications device to convert speech to text.

4. The computer readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the instructions that cause the processor to determine the first and second account information further comprises instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to perform the method further comprising:

determining the first and second account information by searching a database within the computer readable storage device; and

when at least one of the first and second account information is not present in the database, providing one or more prompts to an interface of the portable communications device to determine the at least one of the first and second account information.

5. The computer readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the instructions that cause the processor to automatically initiate the payment include instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:

transmit the natural language request and user-specific authentication data from the portable communications device to a server through a communications network to initiate the payment; and

receive a confirmation at the portable communications device from the server via the communications network.

6. The computer readable storage device of claim 1, further including instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:

extract data from the account information to determine an amount due;

communicate data to a user interface of the portable communications device to determine a payment amount;

receive a confirmed payment amount from the user interface; and

initiate payment of the confirmed payment amount as the payment by communicating with the second account to initiate payment to the first account.

7. A portable communications device comprising:

a transceiver configured to communicate with a network;

a microphone configured to convert sounds into an audio signal;

a processor coupled to the microphone and the transceiver; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to;

convert an audio signal into a natural language request using the processor;

determine first and second account information corresponding to an account holder by accessing user data stored in the memory;

initiate payment of a first account of a first domain-specific data source from funds available in a second account of a second domain-specific data source in response to the natural language request by communicating the first account information and a payment amount to the second domain-specific data source through the network, wherein the payment is initiated by the processor configured to;

access a first account based on the natural language request using the first account information by sending data related to the first account information to a server associated with the first domain-specific data source;

extract data from the first domain-specific data source based on the first account information to determine an amount due;

communicate data to an interface of the portable communications device to determine a payment amount;

receive data indicating the payment amount from the interface; and

initiate payment of the payment amount as the payment by communicating with the server associated with the first domain-specific data source; and

receive a confirmation of the payment from the second domain-specific data source through the network.

8. The portable communications device of claim 7, wherein the memory further includes instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to generate an output related to the confirmation and to provide the output to an output interface coupled to the processor.

9. The portable communications device of claim 8, wherein the output interface comprises at least one of a speaker and a user interface having a display.

10. The portable communications device of claim 9, wherein the portable communications device comprises at least one of a smart phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, and a personal digital assistant.

11. The portable communications device of claim 7, wherein the memory further includes instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to retrieve account data associated with the first account associated with a subscriber through the network based on the natural language input.

12. The portable communications device of claim 7, wherein the memory further includes instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:

determine the first account information and the second account information associated with a subscriber by searching a database within the memory; and

when at least one of the first and second account information is not present in the database, provide one or more prompts to an input interface of the portable communications device to determine the at least one of the first and second account information based on input data received from a user via the input interface.

13. The portable communications device of claim 7, wherein the instructions that cause the processor to initiate the payment include instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:

transmit the natural language request and user-specific authentication data to a server to initiate the payment; and

receive a confirmation from the server.

14. A method comprising:

receiving, at a microphone of a portable communications device, a natural language request corresponding to an audio input from a user;

automatically convert the audio input into text using a processor of the portable communications device;

automatically retrieving account data associated with a first account from a memory of the portable communications device based on the text;

automatically, using the portable communications device, accessing a first domain-specific data source of a plurality of domain-specific data sources in response to the natural language request using the account data, the first account having no association with the portable communications device; and

automatically initiating a payment to the first account from a second account in response to the natural language request by communicating the payment information from the portable communications device to the first domain-specific data source;

wherein automatically initiating the payment includes;

automatically accessing the first account based on the natural language request using the first account information by sending data related to the first account information to a server associated with the first domain-specific data source;

extract data from the first domain-specific data source based on the first account information to determine an amount due;

communicate data to an interface of the portable communications device to determine a payment amount;

receive data indicating the payment amount from the interface; and

initiate payment of the payment amount as the payment by communicating with the server associated with the first domain-specific data source.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving an audio input at the processor of the portable computing device; and

automatically determining the natural language request based on the audio input using a text-to-speech converter using the processor.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein retrieving the account data comprises:

automatically determining account login information associated with the first account based on the natural language request by searching the memory of the portable communications device;

automatically accessing the first account at the first domain-specific data source using the processor of the portable communications device to determine an amount due; and

communicating the amount due to an output interface of the portable communications device in response to the natural language request.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

communicating a prompt to the output interface to determine a payment amount;

receiving at least one of an audio input and a text input indicating a confirmed payment amount from one of a microphone and an input interface; and

automatically initiating payment of the confirmed payment amount as the payment in response to receiving the at least one of the audio input and the text input.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

transmitting data related to the natural language request and user-specific authentication data to a server to initiate the payment; and

receive a confirmation from the server.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving a payment confirmation from a server in response to initiating the payment; and

communicating an indicator related to the payment confirmation to one of an audio output interface and a display interface of the portable communications device.