Accessing multiple virtual personal assistants (VPA) from a single device

• US 10,685,656 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2016
• Issued: 06/16/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bose Corporation
• Original Assignee: Bose Corporation
• Inventors: Patil, Naganagouda B., Todman, Andre, Cramer, Bernice A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hang, Vu B
• Application Number:
  US15/253,034
• Publication Number:
  US 20180061418A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,385 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/08 Speech classification or search
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/28 Constructional details of speech recognition systems
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/30 Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/22 Interactive procedures; Man-machine interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command

Abstract

The technology described in this document can be embodied in a computer-implemented method that includes presenting a first user-interface that includes a user-selectable menu of multiple virtual personal assistant (VPA) service providers, and receiving a user-selection identifying a particular VPA service provider. The method also includes receiving a first signal representing input speech data, and processing the first signal to generate a first electronic file that includes at least a portion of the input speech data, the first electronic file being generated in accordance with a specification of the particular VPA service provider. The method further includes transmitting the first electronic file to one or more remote computing devices associated with the particular VPA service provider, receiving at least a second electronic file including a response to the input speech data, and causing an acoustic transducer to generate an acoustic output based on the second electronic file.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a first signal representing a first input that includes speech data;

processing, using one or more processing devices, the first signal to detect a first set of one or more words;

selecting, based on the first set of one or more words, a first virtual personal assistant (VPA) service provider from a list of multiple voice-activated VPA service providers, wherein each of the multiple VPA service providers comprises one or more server devices configured to process speech to generate a response, a first set of one or more server devices associated with the first VPA service provider being different from a second set of server devices associated with a second VPA service provider;

generating a first electronic file that includes at least a portion of the first input, the first electronic file being generated in accordance with a specification of the first VPA service provider;

transmitting the electronic file to one or more remote computing devices associated with the first VPA service provider;

receiving at least a second electronic file including a response to the portion of the first input included in the first electronic file; and

causing an acoustic transducer to generate an acoustic output based on the second electronic file.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the first VPA service provider comprises:

detecting that the first set of one or more words includes a first set of one or more keywords associated with the first VPA service provider; and

selecting the first VPA service provider responsive to detecting that the first set of one or more words includes the first set of one or more keywords.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting the first VPA service provider comprises:

determining that the first set of one or more words do not include a first set of one or more keywords associated with any one of the VPA service providers in the list; and

selecting a default VPA service provider as the first VPA service provider responsive to determining that the first set of one or more words does not include the first set of one or more keywords associated with any one of the VPA service providers in the list.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more remote computing devices associated with the first VPA service provider provide cloud-based services for the first VPA service provider.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first signal representing the first input that includes speech data is captured using a microphone of an acoustic device or a remote controller.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving credentials for using the first VPA service provider;

providing the credentials to the first VPA service provider; and

establishing a communication channel with the one or more remote computing devices associated with the first VPA service provider in response to the credentials being authenticated.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first signal representing the first input that includes speech data is captured using a microphone of a mobile device.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the first set of one or more keywords associated with the first VPA service provider is user-customized.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the first electronic file in accordance with the specification of the first VPA service provider comprises:

determining a file format specified by the specification; and

packaging at least the portion of the first input into the first electronic file that has the determined file format.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the file format is one of a .wav file format, a .mpg file format, and a .txt file format.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein generating the first electronic file in accordance with the specification of the first VPA service provider comprises:

determining that data representing a request included in the first input is locally addressable at a device;

processing the request at the device; and

excluding the data representing the request from the first electronic file.

27. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second signal representing a second input that includes speech data;

processing, using the one or more processing devices, the second signal to detect a second set of one or more words;

selecting, based on the second set of one or more words, the second VPA service provider from the list of multiple voice-activated VPA service providers, the second VPA service provider being different from the first VPA service provider;

generating a second electronic file that includes at least a portion of the second input, the second electronic file being generated in accordance with a specification of the second VPA service provider, the specification of the second VPA service provider being different from the specification of the first VPA service provider; and

transmitting the second electronic file to one or more remote computing devices associated with the second VPA service provider.

9. A system comprising:

memory; and

a controller comprising one or more processing devices, the controller configured to;

receive a first signal representing a first input that includes speech data,

process the first signal to detect a first set of one or more words,

select, based on the first set of one or more words, a first virtual personal assistant (VPA) service provider from a list of multiple voice-activated VPA service providers, wherein each of the multiple VPA service providers comprises one or more server devices configured to process speech to generate a response, a first set of one or more server devices associated with the first VPA service provider being different from a second set of server devices associated with a second VPA service provider,

generate a first electronic file that includes at least a portion of the first input, the first electronic file being generated in accordance with a specification of the first VPA service provider,

transmit the electronic file to one or more remote computing devices associated with the first VPA service provider,

receive at least a second electronic file including a response to the portion of the first input included in the first electronic file, and

cause an acoustic transducer to generate an acoustic output based on the second electronic file.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the controller is configured to:

detect that the first set of one or more words include a first set of one or more keywords associated with the first VPA service provider; and

select the first VPA service provider responsive to detecting that the first set of one or more words includes the first set of one or more keywords.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the controller is configured to:

determine that the first set of one or more words do not include a set of one or more keywords associated with any one of the VPA service providers in the list; and

select a default VPA service provider as the first VPA service provider responsive to determining that the first set of one or more words do not include a first set of one or more keywords associated with any one of the VPA service providers in the list.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the first signal representing the first input that includes speech data is captured using a microphone of an acoustic device or a remote controller.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the controller is configured to:

retrieve credentials for using the first VPA service provider;

provide the credentials to the first VPA service provider; and

establish a communication channel with the one or more remote computing devices associated with the first VPA service provider in response to the credentials being authenticated.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the first signal representing the first input that includes speech data is captured using a microphone of a mobile device.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the first set of one or more keywords associated with the first VPA service provider is user-customized.

28. The system of claim 9, wherein the controller is further configured to:

receive a second signal representing a second input that includes speech data;

process, using the one or more processing devices, the second signal to detect a second set of one or more words;

select, based on the second set of one or more words, the second VPA service provider from the list of multiple voice-activated VPA service providers, the second VPA service provider being different from the first VPA service provider;

generate a second electronic file that includes at least a portion of the second input, the second electronic file being generated in accordance with a specification of the second VPA service provider, the specification of the second VPA service provider being different from the specification of the first VPA service provider; and

transmit the second electronic file to one or more remote computing devices associated with the second VPA service provider.

16. One or more machine-readable storage devices having encoded thereon computer readable instructions for causing one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising:

receiving a first signal representing a first input that includes speech data;

processing the first signal to detect a first set of one or more words;

selecting, based on the first set of one or more words, a first virtual personal assistant (VPA) service provider from a list of multiple voice-activated VPA service providers, wherein each of the multiple VPA service providers comprises one or more server devices configured to process speech to generate a response, a first set of one or more server devices associated with the first VPA service provider being different from a second set of server devices associated with a second VPA service provider;

generating a first electronic file that includes at least portion of the first input, the first electronic file being generated in accordance with a specification of the first VPA service provider;

transmitting the electronic file to one or more remote computing devices associated with the first VPA service provider;

receiving at least a second electronic file including a response to the portion of the first input included in the first electronic file; and

causing an acoustic transducer to generate an acoustic output based on the second electronic file.

17. The one or more machine-readable storage devices of claim 16, wherein selecting the first VPA service provider comprises:

detecting that the first set of one or more words includes a first set of one or more keywords associated with the first VPA service provider; and

selecting the first VPA service provider responsive to detecting that the first set of one or more words includes the first set of one or more keywords.

18. The one or more machine-readable storage devices of claim 16, wherein selecting the first VPA service provider comprises:

determining that the first set of one or more words do not include a first set of one or more keywords associated with any one of the VPA service providers in the list; and

selecting a default VPA service provider as the first VPA service provider responsive to determining that the first set of one or more words does not include the first set of one or more keywords associated with any one of the VPA service providers in the list.

19. The one or more machine-readable storage devices of claim 16, wherein the one or more remote computing devices associated with the first VPA service provider provide cloud-based services for the first VPA service provider.

20. The one or more machine-readable storage devices of claim 16, wherein the first signal representing the first input that includes speech data is captured using a microphone of an acoustic device or a remote controller.

21. The one or more machine-readable storage devices of claim 16, further comprising instructions for:

retrieving credentials for using the first VPA service provider;

providing the credentials to the first VPA service provider; and

establishing a communication channel with the one or more remote computing devices associated with the first VPA service provider in response to the credentials being authenticated.

22. The one or more machine-readable storage devices of claim 16, wherein the first signal representing the first input that includes speech data is captured using a microphone of a mobile device.

23. The one or more machine-readable storage devices of claim 17, wherein the first set of one or more keywords associated with the first VPA service provider is user-customized.

29. The one or more machine-readable storage devices of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a second signal representing a second input that includes speech data;

processing, using the one or more processing devices, the second signal to detect a second set of one or more words;

selecting, based on the second set of one or more words, the second VPA service provider from the list of multiple voice-activated VPA service providers, the second VPA service provider being different from the first VPA service provider;

generating a second electronic file that includes at least a portion of the second input, the second electronic file being generated in accordance with a specification of the second VPA service provider, the specification of the second VPA service provider being different from the specification of the first VPA service provider; and

transmitting the second electronic file to one or more remote computing devices associated with the second VPA service provider.