BUILDING MULTIMODAL COLLABORATIVE DIALOGS WITH TASK FRAMES

• US 20160328270A1
• Filed: 05/05/2015
• Published: 11/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Panic, Danko, Bikkula, Ravi, Crook, Paul, Khan, Omar Zia, Sarikaya, Ruhi, Suzuki, Hisami
• Granted Patent: US 10,114,676 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4881 Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for collaborative completion of tasks using task frames. Upon receiving a request to perform a task, a system utilizes task frames in completing the requested task. A task frame is a data structure that contains the parameters and status signals that represent a particular task and captures the combined system'"'"'s understanding of a current state of the task. Input is received at a client device and sent to a server, where the input is processed. Based on the processed input, a task frame is retrieved and filled. The filled task frame is sent to the client device, where the client device performs actions based on the task frame and updates the task frame parameters and the state of the task. The updated task frame is returned to the server. The shared task frame provides improvements to the overall task completion process.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, encoding computer executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor perform a method, the method comprising;

receiving initial input at a client, wherein the input requests a digital assistant application to perform a task;

sending the initial input to a service;

receiving a task frame for the task, the task frame including a status of the task and one or more required parameters to complete the task; and

processing the task frame to determine a next action.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

if processing the task frame determines additional input is required, prompting a user for additional input;

receiving the additional input;

updating one or more values for one or more task frame parameters based on the received additional input; and

updating the status of the task frame.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the one or more task frame parameters each have a value indicating a source from which the parameter was received and a value indicating a state of the task frame parameter.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the source of the initial input is of a first source type and the source of the additional input is of a second source type, the first and second source types comprise at least one of spoken, touch, gesture, and text.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the method further comprises, for each of the updated one or more task frame parameters, updating the state of the task frame parameter.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

after updating the status of the task frame, sending the updated task frame to the service;

receiving the task frame back from the service, wherein at least one value for a task frame parameter and the task frame status have been updated by the service;

processing the task frame updated by the service to determine if additional input is required; and

updating the status of the task frame.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the task frame includes all required parameters necessary to complete the task.

8. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving initial input at a client, wherein the input requests a digital assistant application to perform a task;

sending the initial input to a service;

receiving a task frame for the task, the task frame is a data structure having fields for a status of the task and one or more required parameters to complete the task; and

processing the task frame to determine a next action.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises:

if processing the task frame determines additional input is required, prompting a user for additional input;

receiving the additional input;

updating one or more values for one or more task frame parameters based on the received additional input; and

updating the status of the task frame.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more task frame parameters each have a value indicating a source from which the parameter was received and a value indicating a state of the task frame parameter.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the source of the initial input is of a first source type and the source of the additional input is of a second source type, the first and second source types comprise at least one of spoken, touch, gesture, and text.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises for each of the updated one or more task frame parameters, updating the state of the task frame parameter.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

after updating the status of the task frame, sending the updated task frame to the service;

receiving the task frame back from the service, wherein at least one value for a task frame parameter and the task frame status have been updated by the service;

processing the task frame updated by the service to determine if additional input is required; and

updating the status of the task frame.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the task frame includes all required parameters necessary to complete the task.

15. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, encoding computer executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor perform a method, the method comprising;

receiving input from a client;

processing the input to determine a requested task;

retrieving a predefined task frame corresponding to the requested task, wherein the predefined task frame includes a status of the task frame and one or more parameters required for completing the requested task;

processing the input to determine one or more values for one or more task frame parameters;

updating the task frame with the determined parameter values; and

sending the task frame to the client.

16. The system of claim 15, the method further comprising:

receiving an updated task frame from the client;

receiving additional input from the client;

processing the additional input from the client to determine one or more values for one or more parameters of the updated task frame;

updating the one or more values for the one or more parameters of the updated task frame; and

sending the updated task frame back to the client.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

determining if additional user input is required to complete the task; and

updating the task frame to indicate that the client is to prompt a user for additional input.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the parameters in the task frame are used as a reference for any components in the system utilized in completing the task.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein one or more task frame parameters each have a value indicating the source from which the parameter was received and a value indicating the state of the parameter.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the task frame comprises all required parameters necessary to complete the task.