VOICE CONTROL OF MULTIMEDIA CONTENT
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Abstract
Techniques are described for managing various types of content in various ways, such as based on voice commands or other voice-based control instructions provided by a user. In some situations, at least some of the content being managed includes content of a variety of types, such as music and other audio information, photos, images, non-television video information, videogames, Internet Web pages and other data, etc., which may be managed via the voice controls in a variety of ways, such as to allow a user to locate and identify content of potential interest, to schedule recordings of selected content, to manage previously recorded content (e.g., to play or delete the content), to control live television, etc. This abstract is provided to comply with rules requiring it, and is submitted with the intention that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.
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Citations
40 Claims
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1-20. -20. (canceled)
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21. A method for concurrently controlling presentation of multiple types of content on multiple presentation devices using voice commands, the method comprising:
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at a computing device in a home environment that controls presentation of content, receiving multiple pieces of content of multiple types from at least one content server system and receiving metadata information about the received pieces of content, the multiple types of content including at least one of audio content, image content, and video content; and under control of the computing device, receiving multiple voice commands from a user of the computing device, wherein each voice command contains one or more criteria for selecting one or more pieces of content to be controlled, an instruction related to a type of control, and an indication of a type of content; for each of the multiple voice commands, analyzing the voice command to identify the one or more criteria, the instruction, and the indicated type of content; selecting from multiple presentation devices a presentation device at which to perform the identified instruction of the voice command, wherein the presentation device is selected based at least in part on the identified type of content; determining a set of allowable instructions based on a current state of the selected presentation device, wherein the set of allowable instructions is a subset of instructions that are allowed based on the current state of the selected presentation device; determining whether the identified instruction of the voice command corresponds to one of the determined set of allowable instructions; when the identified instruction of the voice command corresponds to one of the determined set of allowable instructions, using the metadata information to identify one or more of the received pieces of content that correspond to the identified one or more criteria, and performing at the selected presentation device the identified instruction of the voice command on at least one of the identified pieces of content; and when the identified instruction of the voice command does not correspond to one of the determined set of allowable instructions, notifying the user that the identified instruction of the voice command is not allowed based on the current state of the selected presentation device; and displaying on a display device associated with the computing device a first user interface, wherein the first user interface is a voice command user interface that includes a control selectable by the user to display a second user interface, and wherein the second user interface is a user interface of the computing device, wherein the identified instructions of each of the multiple voice commands are performed concurrently at the selected presentation devices, and wherein the performing of the identified instructions includes sending the identified instructions to the selected presentation devices for use in controlling presentation of the at least one identified piece of content. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A computer-readable storage medium whose contents enable a computing device to concurrently manage content on multiple presentation devices based on voice-based control instructions, by performing a method comprising:
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receiving metadata information for multiple pieces of content; receiving multiple voice-based control instructions generated by a user, wherein the multiple voice-based control instructions include; a first voice-based control instruction that relates to grouping two or more of the multiple pieces of content together; and a second voice-based control instruction that relates to a type of control of the two or more pieces of content; in response to receiving the voice-based control instructions, identifying one or more actions to be performed regarding the two or more pieces of content, the identifying based at least in part on the received voice-based control instructions and based at least in part on the received metadata information; selecting from multiple presentation devices at least one presentation device at which to perform the identified one or more actions; determining a set of allowable actions based on a current state of the selected at least one presentation device, wherein the set of allowable actions is a subset of all actions; determining whether the identified one or more actions correspond to one of the determined set of allowable actions; for the identified one or more actions that correspond to one of the determined set of allowable actions, performing at the selected at least one presentation device the identified one or more actions regarding the two or more pieces of content; and for the identified one or more actions that do not correspond to one of the determined set of allowable actions, notifying the user that the identified one or more actions are not allowed based on the current state of the selected at least one presentation device. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A computing device configured to manage multiple types of non-television content on multiple presentation devices based on voice commands, comprising:
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at least one input mechanism configured to receive via a cell phone or landline phone connection multiple voice commands generated by a user that relate to a type of control of one or more of multiple types of content; and a voice command processing system configured to analyze the received voice commands and, for each of the received voice commands, to; identify one or more actions to be performed regarding one or more pieces of content of at least one of the multiple types based at least in part on metadata information about those pieces of content, wherein the one or more actions are identified based at least in part on user-specific information, and wherein the user-specific information includes at least one of user preferences, custom filters, prior searches, and prior recordings or viewings by the user; select from multiple presentation devices a presentation device at which to perform the identified one or more actions; determine a set of allowable actions based on a current state of the selected presentation device, wherein the set of allowable actions is a subset of actions that are allowed based on the current state of the selected presentation device; determine whether the identified one or more actions correspond to one of the determined set of allowable actions; for the identified one or more actions that correspond to one of the determined set of allowable actions, initiate performance of the identified one or more actions regarding the one or more items of content at the selected presentation device; for the identified one or more actions that do not correspond to one of the determined set of allowable actions, notify the user that the identified one or more actions are not allowed based on the current state of the selected presentation device; and display on a display device coupled to the computing device a voice command processing system user interface, wherein the voice command processing system user interface includes a user-selectable control configured to display a computing device user interface, wherein the identified one or more actions of each of the multiple voice commands are performed substantially concurrently at the selected presentation devices. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40)
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Specification