USER TASK COMPLETION VIA OPEN MARKET OF ACTIONS AND/OR PROVIDERS

• US 20130268507A1
• Filed: 04/08/2012
• Published: 10/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Macbeth, Steven William, Jiang, Zhaowei Charlie, Snellenberg, Michael Van, Jiang, Li, Kumar, Amit, O'Connor, Michael William, Sadhukha, Shajib
• Granted Patent: US 9,811,850 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/709
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9038 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0627 using item specifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/10 Services

Abstract

Among other things, one or more techniques and/or systems are provided for facilitating the completion of a user task. That is, user intent (e.g., intentions of a user to perform a user task) may be identified. The user intent may comprise an entity (e.g., a movie entity) and/or an action (e.g., an order movie tickets action) that the user wants to perform on the entity. A provider list may be created based upon one or more providers capable of performing the action on the entity (e.g., a movie application may be capable of performing the order movie tickets action on the movie entity). Providers may be dynamically selected for inclusion within the provider list at run-time. For example, an open market of providers may be maintained (e.g., providers may be added, removed, and/or updated over time), such that providers may be selected from the open market to complete user tasks.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating completion of a user task, comprising:

identifying a user intent associated with a user task of a user, the user intent comprising an entity and an action that is to be performed on the entity;

creating a provider list comprising one or more providers configured to perform the action on the entity; and

providing the provider list to the user to facilitate completion of the user task.

2. The method of claim 1, a provider corresponding to at least one of a website, a web service, a command on a user device, a native application on the user device, and a remote application.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising:

dynamically ranking one or more potential providers configured to perform the action on the entity; and

selecting one or more ranked potential providers for inclusion within the provider list as the one or more providers.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising:

maintaining a provider description data structure comprising one or more provider entries, a provider entry defining a set of entities and a set of actions supported by a provider.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising:

maintaining a context data structure comprising one or more entity entries, an entity entry defining the entity and one or more actions supported for the entity.

6. The method of claim 4, comprising:

identifying a provider within the provider description data structure for inclusion within the provider list based upon the provider supporting the action and the entity.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising:

maintaining a personalization data structure comprising user provider preference data.

8. The method of claim 7, the creating a provider list comprising:

identifying a provider based upon user provider preference data.

9. The method of claim 1, the creating a provider list comprising:

creating the provider list at runtime.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising:

receiving a user selection of a provider within the provider list; and

sending a context comprising the entity and the action to the provider.

11. The method of claim 4, comprising:

discovering one or more new providers for inclusion within the provider description data structure based upon at least one of a web crawl, an application manifest, local device application functionality and a direct feed.

12. The method of claim 4, comprising:

receiving a provider registration from a provider, the provider registration specifying at least one of a set of supported entities and a set of supported actions supported by the provider; and

creating a new provider entry within the provider description data structure based upon the provider registration.

13. The method of claim 1, comprising:

identifying a second user intent associated with a second user task of a second user, the second user intent comprising the entity and the action that is to be performed on the entity;

creating a second provider list comprising one or more providers configured to perform the action on the entity, the second provider list different than the first provider list; and

providing the second provider list to the second user to facilitate completion of the user task.

14. A method for facilitating completion of a user task, comprising:

identifying a user intent associated with a user task of a user, the user intent comprising an entity;

creating an action-provider list comprising one or more providers configured to perform one or more actions on the entity, the action provider list created in real-time; and

providing the action-provider list to the user to facilitate completion of the user task.

15. The method of claim 14, comprising:

receiving a user selection, within the action-provider list, of a provider and an action supported by the provider; and

sending a context comprising the entity and the action to the provider.

16. A system for facilitating completion of a user task, comprising:

a task completion component configured to;

identify a user intent associated with a user task of a user, the user intent comprising an entity and an action that is to be performed on the entity;

create a provider list comprising one or more providers configured to perform the action on the entity; and

provide the provider list to the user to facilitate completion of the user task.

17. The system of claim 16, the task completion component configured to:

receive a user selection of a provider within the provider list; and

send a context comprising the entity and the action to the provider.

18. The system of claim 16, comprising:

a provider tracking component;

maintain a provider description data structure comprising one or more provider entries, a provider entry defining a set of entities and a set of actions supported by a provider.

19. The system of claim 16, comprising:

an entity-action tracking component;

maintain a context data structure comprising one or more entity entries, an entity entry defining the entity and one or more actions supported for the entity.

20. The system of claim 16, the task completion component configured to:

create the provider list at runtime.