AUTO-ACTIVATING SMART RESPONSES BASED ON ACTIVITIES FROM REMOTE DEVICES

• US 20150045003A1
• Filed: 08/04/2014
• Published: 02/12/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: DAVE, Swapnil R., VORA, Varun A.
• Granted Patent: US 10,791,216 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/412.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/64 Automatic arrangements for answering calls; Automatic arrangements for recording messages for absent subscribers; Arrangements for recording conversations centralised dictation systems H04M11/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/663 Preventing unauthorised calls to a telephone set
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42042 Notifying the called party of information on the calling party details within substation equipment H04M1/57, signalling details H04Q3/72

Abstract

An electronic device with one or more processors and memory includes a procedure for using a digital assistant to automatically respond to incoming communications. In some embodiments, the device obtains a speech input from a user, and, in response to obtaining the speech input, the device determines whether the speech input includes instructions for performing a specified action in response to receipt of a subsequent incoming communication from one or more specified senders. After storing the instructions, the device obtains an incoming communication from a respective sender. The device determines whether the respective sender is one of the one or more specified senders, and, upon determining that the respective sender is one of the one or more specified senders, the device performs the specified action in accordance with the instructions and thereafter automatically deleting the instructions.

Claims

1. A method of causing a digital assistant to automatically respond to incoming communications, the method comprising:

at one or more electronic devices each having one or more processors and memory;

obtaining a speech input from a user;

in response to obtaining the speech input, determining whether the speech input includes instructions for performing a specified action in response to receipt of a subsequent incoming communication from one or more specified senders;

storing the instructions;

after storing the instructions, obtaining an incoming communication from a respective sender;

determining whether the respective sender is one of the one or more specified senders; and

upon determining that the respective sender is one of the one or more specified senders, performing the specified action in accordance with the instructions and thereafter automatically deleting the instructions.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the speech input includes instructions includes determining whether the speech input includes instructions for performing a specified action in response to receipt of one or more specified subsequent incoming communication types from one or more specified senders;

the method including, determining whether the incoming communication is one of the one or more specified subsequent incoming communication types; and

wherein performing the specified action includes, upon determining that the respective sender is one of the one or more specified senders and that the incoming communication is one of the one or more specified subsequent incoming communication types, performing the specified action in accordance with the instructions and thereafter automatically deleting the instructions.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein a respective specified subsequent incoming communication type of the one or more specified subsequent incoming communication types is one of a phone call, voice message, voicemail, video call, SMS, MMS, VOIP call, or email.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the incoming communication is a phone call, and wherein the specified action is sending a voice message.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein at least a part of the voice message is a recording of the user'"'"'s voice.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein at least a part of the voice message is a digitized or text-to-speech version of input text.

7. The method of claim 1, including, performing natural language processing on the speech input so as to convert the speech input into text, and wherein storing the instructions includes storing the instructions as text.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the specified action includes:

composing a response to the respective sender in accordance with the instructions; and

communicating the response to the sender.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the composing includes composing the response to the respective sender in accordance with the instructions and based at least in part on contextual information.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the respective sender is one of the one or more specified senders includes ascertaining whether the respective sender is one of the one or more specified senders based on a list of contacts associated with the user of the device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the respective sender is one of the one or more specified senders includes ascertaining whether the respective sender is one of the one or more specified senders based on caller ID associated with the respective sender.

12. The method of claim 1, including, identifying an address associated with the sender of the communication;

and

wherein determining whether the respective sender is one of the one or more specified senders includes ascertaining whether the sender is one of the one or more specified senders based on the address associated with the respective sender of the communication.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the respective sender is one of the one or more specified senders includes ascertaining whether the sender is one of the one or more specified senders based on the content of the incoming communication received from the respective sender.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the action is selected from the group consisting of:

sending a voice message to the sender;

sending an SMS message to the sender;

sending an MMS or photograph to the sender;

sending an email to the sender;

sending an event invite to the sender;

sharing one or more calendar entries with the sender; and

sharing one or more custom attributes with the sender.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions for operating a digital assistant, which, when executed by an electronic device with one or more processors, cause the device to perform operations comprising:

obtaining a speech input from a user;

in response to obtaining the speech input, determining whether the speech input includes instructions for performing a specified action in response to receipt of a subsequent incoming communication from one or more specified senders;

after storing the instructions, obtaining an incoming communication from a respective sender;

determining whether the respective sender is one of the one or more specified senders; and

upon determining that the respective sender is one of the one or more specified senders, performing the specified action in accordance with the instructions and thereafter automatically deleting the instructions.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein determining whether the speech input includes instructions includes determining whether the speech input includes instructions for performing a specified action in response to receipt of one or more specified subsequent incoming communication types from one or more specified senders;

the instructions further operable for determining whether the incoming communication is one of the one or more specified subsequent incoming communication types; and

wherein performing the specified action includes, upon determining that the respective sender is one of the one or more specified senders and that the incoming communication is one of the one or more specified subsequent incoming communication types, performing the specified action in accordance with the instructions and thereafter automatically deleting the instructions.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein a respective specified subsequent incoming communication type of the one or more specified subsequent incoming communication types is one of a phone call, voice message, voicemail, video call, SMS, MMS, VOIP call, or email.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the incoming communication is a phone call, and wherein the specified action is sending a voice message.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, further including instructions for performing natural language processing on the speech input so as to convert the speech input into text, and wherein storing the instructions includes storing the instructions as text.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein performing the specified action includes:

composing a response to the respective sender in accordance with the instructions; and

communicating the response to the sender.

21. An electronic device, comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory storing instructions for operating a digital assistant, the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the processors to perform operations comprising;

obtaining a speech input from a user;

in response to obtaining the speech input, determining whether the speech input includes instructions for performing a specified action in response to receipt of a subsequent incoming communication from one or more specified senders;

after storing the instructions, obtaining an incoming communication from a respective sender;

determining whether the respective sender is one of the one or more specified senders; and

upon determining that the respective sender is one of the one or more specified senders, performing the specified action in accordance with the instructions and thereafter automatically deleting the instructions.

22. The electronic device of claim 21, wherein determining whether the speech input includes instructions includes determining whether the speech input includes instructions for performing a specified action in response to receipt of one or more specified subsequent incoming communication types from one or more specified senders;

wherein the processing unit is configured to determine whether the incoming communication is one of the one or more specified subsequent incoming communication types; and

wherein performing the specified action includes, upon determining that the respective sender is one of the one or more specified senders and that the incoming communication is one of the one or more specified subsequent incoming communication types, performing the specified action in accordance with the instructions and thereafter automatically deleting the instructions.

23. The electronic device of claim 22, wherein a respective specified subsequent incoming communication type of the one or more specified subsequent incoming communication types is one of a phone call, voice message, voicemail, video call, SMS, MMS, VOIP call, or email.

24. The electronic device of claim 21, wherein the incoming communication is a phone call, and wherein the specified action is sending a voice message.

25. The electronic device of claim 24, wherein at least a part of the voice message is a recording of the user'"'"'s voice.

26. The electronic device of claim 24, wherein at least a part of the voice message is a digitized or text-to-speech version of input text.

27. The electronic device of claim 21, wherein the processing unit is configured to perform natural language processing on the speech input so as to convert the speech input into text, and wherein storing the instructions includes storing the instructions as text.

28. The electronic device of claim 21, wherein performing the specified action includes:

composing a response to the respective sender in accordance with the instructions; and

communicating the response to the sender.

29. The electronic device of claim 28, wherein the composing includes composing the response to the respective sender in accordance with the instructions and based at least in part on contextual information.

30. The electronic device of claim 29, wherein the contextual information includes one or more of location information, pattern information, or behavior information associated with the user.