Paraphrasing of User Requests and Results by Automated Digital Assistant

• US 20130185074A1
• Filed: 03/04/2013
• Published: 07/18/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Gruber, Thomas Robert, Saddler, Harry Joseph, Cheyer, Adam John, Brigham, Christopher Dean, Giuli, Richard Donald, Guzzoni, Didier Rene, Bastea-Forte, Marcello, Kittlaus, Dag
• Granted Patent: US 8,930,191 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/257
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3329 Natural language query formulation or dialogue systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3344 using natural language analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/279 Recognition of textual entities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/30 Semantic analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/40 Processing or translation of natural language natural language analysis G06F40/20; semantic analysis G06F40/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 3/006 based on simulated virtual individual or collective life forms, e.g. social simulations or particle swarm optimisation [PSO]
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/022 Knowledge engineering; Knowledge acquisition
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/041 Abduction
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/02 Methods for producing synthetic speech; Speech synthesisers
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/08 Text analysis or generation of parameters for speech synthesis out of text, e.g. grapheme to phoneme translation, prosody generation or stress or intonation determination
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/1815 Semantic context, e.g. disambiguation of the recognition hypotheses based on word meaning
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/1822 Parsing for meaning understanding
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/183 using context dependencies, e.g. language models
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/30 : Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/06 : Transformation of speech into a non-audible representation, e.g. speech visualisation or speech processing for tactile aids G10L15/26 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6091 : including a wireless interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 : with interactive means for internal management of messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72448 : with means for adapting the functionality of the device according to specific conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72484 : wherein functions are triggered by incoming communication events

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer readable storage medium related to operating an intelligent digital assistant are disclosed. A user request is received, the user request including at least a speech input received from a user. In response to the user request, (1) an echo of the speech input based on a textual interpretation of the speech input, and (2) a paraphrase of the user request based at least in part on a respective semantic interpretation of the speech input are presented to the user.

Claims

1. A method for operating intelligent automated assistant, comprising:

at an electronic device comprising a processor and memory storing instructions for execution by the processor;

receiving a user request, the user request including at least a speech input received from a user;

presenting to the user;

(1) an echo of the speech input based on a textual interpretation of the speech input, and (2) a paraphrase of the user request based at least in part on a respective semantic interpretation of the speech input.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a respective sentence used in the paraphrase is tailored to a respective modality used to present the paraphrase to the user, and wherein a more verbose sentence is used in the paraphrase when the paraphrase is to be presented in audible form than when the paraphrase is to be presented in written form.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the echo includes one or more first words and the paraphrase includes one or more second words, and wherein the one or more second words represent a respective semantic interpretation of the one or more first words and associate the one or more first words with a concept of a respective domain among a plurality of predefined domains.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the echo and the paraphrase are presented on a conversation screen, and wherein the paraphrase includes one or more keywords presented in a highlighted format.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the paraphrase indicates a real-time progress of an identified task being executed by the intelligent automatic assistant.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the paraphrase provides a summary of a result set, and wherein the paraphrase is presented in addition to the result set.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the paraphrase specifies one or more parameters used to obtain the result set.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the paraphrase specifies multiple selection criteria derived from the user request, and indicates that no result meeting all of the multiple selection criteria have been found, and wherein the paraphrase specifies a relaxed form of the multiple selection criteria and presents a summary of results obtained based on the relaxed form of the multiple selection criteria.

9. A system for operating an intelligent automated assistant, comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving a user request, the user request including at least a speech input received from a user;

presenting to the user;

(1) an echo of the speech input based on a textual interpretation of the speech input, and (2) a paraphrase of the user request based at least in part on a respective semantic interpretation of the speech input.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein a respective sentence used in the paraphrase is tailored to a respective modality used to present the paraphrase to the user, and wherein a more verbose sentence is used in the paraphrase when the paraphrase is to be presented in audible form than when the paraphrase is to be presented in written form.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the echo includes one or more first words and the paraphrase includes one or more second words, and wherein the one or more second words represent a respective semantic interpretation of the one or more first words and associate the one or more first words with a concept of a respective domain among a plurality of predefined domains.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the echo and the paraphrase are presented on a conversation screen, and wherein the paraphrase includes one or more keywords presented in a highlighted format.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the paraphrase indicates a real-time progress of an identified task being executed by the intelligent automatic assistant.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the paraphrase provides a summary of a result set, and wherein the paraphrase is presented in addition to the result set.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the paraphrase specifies one or more parameters used to obtain the result set.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the paraphrase specifies multiple selection criteria derived from the user request, and indicates that no result meeting all of the multiple selection criteria have been found, and wherein the paraphrase specifies a relaxed form of the multiple selection criteria and presents a summary of results obtained based on the relaxed form of the multiple selection criteria.

17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving a user request, the user request including at least a speech input received from a user;

presenting to the user;

(1) an echo of the speech input based on a textual interpretation of the speech input, and (2) a paraphrase of the user request based at least in part on a respective semantic interpretation of the speech input.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein a respective sentence used in the paraphrase is tailored to a respective modality used to present the paraphrase to the user, and wherein a more verbose sentence is used in the paraphrase when the paraphrase is to be presented in audible form than when the paraphrase is to be presented in written form.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the echo includes one or more first words and the paraphrase includes one or more second words, and wherein the one or more second words represent a respective semantic interpretation of the one or more first words and associate the one or more first words with a concept of a respective domain among a plurality of predefined domains.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the echo and the paraphrase are presented on a conversation screen, and wherein the paraphrase includes one or more keywords presented in a highlighted format.

21. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the paraphrase indicates a real-time progress of an identified task being executed by the intelligent automatic assistant.

22. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the paraphrase provides a summary of a result set, and wherein the paraphrase is presented in addition to the result set.

23. The computer readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the paraphrase specifies one or more parameters used to obtain the result set.

24. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the paraphrase specifies multiple selection criteria derived from the user request, and indicates that no result meeting all of the multiple selection criteria have been found, and wherein the paraphrase specifies a relaxed form of the multiple selection criteria and presents a summary of results obtained based on the relaxed form of the multiple selection criteria.