Application integration with a digital assistant

• US 10,580,409 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2018
• Issued: 03/03/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Walker, II, Robert A., Newendorp, Brandon J., Dasari, Rohit, Giuli, Richard D., Gruber, Thomas R., Radebaugh, Carey E., Garg, Ashish, Khosla, Vineet, Russell, Jonathan H., Peterson, Corey
• Primary Examiner(s): Godbold, Douglas
• Application Number:
  US16/207,901
• Publication Number:
  US 20190103112A1
• Time in Patent Office: 456 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/35 Discourse or dialogue representation
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/02 Methods for producing synthetic speech; Speech synthesisers
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/063 Training
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/1815 Semantic context, e.g. disambiguation of the recognition hypotheses based on word meaning
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/30 Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/228 of application context

Abstract

Systems and processes for application integration with a digital assistant are provided. In accordance with one example, a method includes, at an electronic device having one or more processors and memory, receiving a natural-language user input; identifying, with the one or more processors, an intent object of a set of intent objects and a parameter associated with the intent, where the intent object and the parameter are derived from the natural-language user input. The method further includes identifying a software application associated with the intent object of the set of intent objects; and providing the intent object and the parameter to the software application.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions, which when executed by one or more processors of a first electronic device, cause the first electronic device to:

receive a natural-language user input, wherein the natural-language user input is indicative of an intent object of a set of intent objects;

provide the natural-language user input to a second electronic device;

receive, in response to a determination by the second electronic device that a software application associated with the intent object is not located on the first electronic device, an indication of the determination from the second electronic device;

responsive to the indication, obtain a list of applications associated with the intent object;

display, with a touch-sensitive display of the first electronic device, the list of applications associated with the intent object in a user interface;

receive a user input indicative of a selection of an application of the list of applications; and

provide the intent object of the set of intent objects to the application, wherein providing the intent object includes downloading and/or installing the application such that the first electronic device may access the software application locally, or wherein providing the intent object includes remotely accessing the application.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the one or more programs further include instructions which when executed by one or more processors of the first electronic device, cause the first electronic device to:

identify the intent object of the set of intent objects.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1;

wherein the one or more programs further include instructions which when executed by one or more processors of the first electronic device, cause the first electronic device to;

identify a parameter associated with the intent object of the set of intent objects; and

provide the parameter to the application.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 3, wherein the one or more programs further include instructions which when executed by one or more processors of the first electronic device, cause the first electronic device to:

receive a response from the application, wherein the response is indicative of whether the parameter is valid.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the one or more programs further include instructions which when executed by one or more processors of the first electronic device, cause the first electronic device to:

cause the application to perform a task associated with the intent object; and

after providing the intent object to the application, receive, from the application, a result response associated with the intent object.

6. A first electronic device, comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory; and

one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for;

receiving a natural-language user input, wherein the natural-language user input is indicative of an intent object of a set of intent objects;

providing the natural-language user input to a second electronic device;

receiving, in response to a determination by the second electronic device that a software application associated with the intent object is not located on the first electronic device, an indication of the determination from the second electronic device;

responsive to the indication, obtaining a list of applications associated with the intent object;

displaying, with a touch-sensitive display of the first electronic device, the list of applications associated with the intent object in a user interface;

receiving a user input indicative of a selection of an application of the list of applications; and

providing the intent object of the set of intent objects to the application, wherein providing the intent object includes downloading and/or installing the application such that the first electronic device may access the software application locally, or wherein providing the intent object includes remotely accessing the application.

7. The first electronic device according to claim 6, wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:

identifying the intent object of the set of intent objects.

8. The first electronic device according to claim 6, wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:

identifying a parameter associated with the intent object of the set of intent objects; and

providing the parameter to the application.

9. The first electronic device according to claim 6, wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:

receiving a response from the application, wherein the response is indicative of whether the parameter is valid.

10. The first electronic device according to claim 6, wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:

causing the application to perform a task associated with the intent object; and

after providing the intent object to the application, receiving, from the application, a result response associated with the intent object.

11. A method, comprising:

at a first electronic device having one or more processors;

receiving a natural-language user input, wherein the natural-language user input is indicative of an intent object of a set of intent objects;

providing the natural-language user input to a second electronic device;

receiving, in response to a determination by the second electronic device that a software application associated with the intent object is not located on the first electronic device, an indication of the determination from the second electronic device;

responsive to the indication, obtaining a list of applications associated with the intent object;

displaying, with a touch-sensitive display of the first electronic device, the list of applications associated with the intent object in a user interface;

receiving a user input indicative of a selection of an application of the list of applications; and

providing the intent object of the set of intent objects to the application, wherein providing the intent object includes downloading and/or installing the application such that the first electronic device may access the software application locally, or wherein providing the intent object includes remotely accessing the application.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

identifying the intent object of the set of intent objects.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

identifying a parameter associated with the intent object of the set of intent objects; and

providing the parameter to the application.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a response from the application, wherein the response is indicative of whether the parameter is valid.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

causing the application to perform a task associated with the intent object; and

after providing the intent object to the application, receiving, from the application, a result response associated with the intent object.