INTELLIGENT TASK DISCOVERY

• US 20170358304A1
• Filed: 09/19/2016
• Published: 12/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2016
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: CASTILLO SANCHEZ, Jose A., NELL, Garett R., BEVERETT, Kimberly D.
• Granted Patent: US 10,269,345 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• 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 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command

Abstract

This relates to systems and processes for operating an automated assistant to process messages. In one example process, an electronic device receives a communication including a text string and determines whether a portion of the text string is associated with a data type of a plurality of data types. The data type is associated with at least one task. In accordance with a determination that the portion of the text string is associated with the data type, the electronic device receives a user input indicative of a task of the at least one task, and in response, causes the task to be performed based on the portion of the text string. In accordance with a determination that the portion of the text string is not associated with the data type, the electronic device foregoes causing the task to be performed based on the portion of the text string.

Claims

1. An electronic device, comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory; and

one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for;

receiving a communication comprising a text string;

determining whether a portion of the text string is associated with a data type of a plurality of data types, wherein the data type has at least one task associated therewith;

in accordance with a determination that the portion of the text string is associated with the data type of the plurality of data types;

receiving a user input indicative of a task of the at least one task associated with the data type; and

in response to the user input indicative of the task, causing the task to be performed based on the portion of the text string; and

in accordance with a determination that the portion of the text string is not associated with the data type of the plurality of data types, foregoing causing the task to be performed based on the portion of the text string.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:

providing, with the automated assistant, a speech output corresponding to the text string of the communication.

3. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the speech output corresponding to the text string of the communication is provided responsive to a user request.

4. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein providing the speech output corresponding to the text string of the communication comprises converting the text string of the communication into speech.

5. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the speech output corresponding to the text string of the communication is a first speech output and the speech input indicative of the task is a first speech input, wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:

after providing the first speech output, providing, with the electronic device, a second speech output indicative of a prompt to reply to the communication; and

after providing the second speech output, receiving, with the electronic device, a second speech input from the user,

wherein the second speech input is received before the first speech input is received.

6. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:

identifying a first service provider based on the communication, wherein the first service provider is associated with a first domain of a plurality of domains;

after receiving the second speech input, receiving a third speech input indicative of the a second domain of the plurality of domains, wherein the second domain is different from the first domain;

identifying a second service provider based on the third speech input;

providing data associated with the second speech input to the second service provider.

7. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the data type of the plurality of data types comprises at least one of:

an address,

a phone number,

a Uniform Resource Locator (“

URL”

),

a date,

a person of interest,

a place of interest,

a package tracking number, or

a flight number.

8. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein determining whether the portion of the text string is associated with the data type of a plurality of data types comprises:

detecting in the portion of the text string, with a detector, the presence of data of the data type, wherein the detector corresponds to the data type of the plurality of data types.

9. The electronic device of claim 1,

identifying, with the electronic device, the at least one task from a plurality of tasks based on a type of the electronic device.

10. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the portion of the text string is a first portion of the text string, the data type is a first data type, and the task is a first task, wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:

determining, with the electronic device, whether a second portion of the text string is associated with a second data type of the plurality of data types;

in accordance with a determination that the second portion of the text string is associated with the second data type of the plurality of data types, identifying a second task based on the second data type, and

in accordance with a determination that the second portion of the text string is not associated with the second data type of the plurality of data types, foregoing identifying the second task based on the second data type.

11. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:

displaying, with a display of the electronic device, an affordance corresponding to the task, wherein the user input comprises a selection of the affordance.

12. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the task is a first task, wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:

prioritizing, with the electronic device, a display of the affordance of the first task over a display of an affordance of a second task based on a type of the electronic device.

13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein prioritizing the display of the affordance of the first task over the display of the affordance of the second task comprises:

foregoing the display of the affordance of the second task.

14. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:

receiving, with the electronic device, a user input indicative of the second task;

causing the second task to be performed.

15. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the user input indicative of the task is a speech input.

16. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the speech input does not include the portion of the text.

17. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:

deriving a user intent from the speech input based on context information, wherein the context information comprises the portion of the text.

18. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the electronic device is a first electronic device, wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:

sending data corresponding to the speech input to a second electronic device different from the first electronic device, wherein the data corresponding to the speech input does not include the text string of the communication; and

receiving, from the second electronic device, a user intent corresponding to the task.

19. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:

storing, on the electronic device, information associated with the communication.

20. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein the stored information associated with the communication comprises the portion of the text string.

21. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein the stored information associated with the communication comprises the data type.

22. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein the stored information associated with the communication comprises metadata associated with the communication.

23. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:

receiving an input;

identifying a task based on the input; and

performing the task based on at least part of the stored information.

24. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:

invoking a software application; and

performing the task based on at least part of the stored information.

25. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is a first electronic device, and wherein the task is performed on a second electronic device.

26. An non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions, which when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the device to:

receive a communication comprising a text string;

determine whether a portion of the text string is associated with a data type of a plurality of data types, wherein the data type has at least one task associated therewith;

in accordance with a determination that the portion of the text string is associated with the data type of the plurality of data types;

receive a user input indicative of a task of the at least one task associated with the data type; and

in response to the user input indicative of the task, cause the task to be performed based on the portion of the text string; and

in accordance with a determination that the portion of the text string is not associated with the data type of the plurality of data types, forego causing the task to be performed based on the portion of the text string.

27. A method for operating an automated assistant on an electronic device, the method comprising:

at the electronic device,

receiving a communication comprising a text string;

determining whether a portion of the text string is associated with a data type of a plurality of data types, wherein the data type has at least one task associated therewith;

in accordance with a determination that the portion of the text string is associated with the data type of the plurality of data types;

receiving a user input indicative of a task of the at least one task associated with the data type; and

in response to the user input indicative of the task, causing the task to be performed based on the portion of the text string; and

in accordance with a determination that the portion of the text string is not associated with the data type of the plurality of data types, foregoing causing the task to be performed based on the portion of the text string.