Context-aware digital personal assistant supporting multiple accounts

• US 10,824,932 B2
• Filed: 04/29/2016
• Issued: 11/03/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Liensberger, Christian, Mahadevan, Varsha, Hamaker, Jonathan E., Plumpe, Michael D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Springer, James E
• Application Number:
  US15/143,420
• Publication Number:
  US 20170316305A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,649 Days
• Field of Search: 709231
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 3/006 based on simulated virtual individual or collective life forms, e.g. social simulations or particle swarm optimisation [PSO]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/61 for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/75 Media network packet handling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

Techniques are described herein that are capable of implementing a context-aware digital personal assistant (DPA) that supports multiple accounts and/or facilitating interaction among digital personal assistants. For example, a user may be signed-in with accounts of a DPA. Content from content streams associated with the respective accounts may be selectively combined based on at least the user'"'"'s context. In another example, users who are signed-in with accounts of a DPA may share a user experience provided by the DPA. Content from content streams associated with the respective accounts may be selectively combined based on at least one or more of the users'"'"' context. In yet another example, a first DPA associated with a first user may be caused to perform an operation on behalf of a second DPA associated with a second user or to delegate the operation to the second DPA.

Claims

1. A system to implement a context-aware digital personal assistant application program having multiple accounts, the system comprising:

a memory; and

one or more processors coupled to the memory, the one or more processors configured to;

determine to which of multiple accounts of a common digital personal assistant application program a user is signed-in;

selectively combine content from a plurality of content streams that are associated with a plurality of respective accounts of the common digital personal assistant application program to which the user is signed-in based on at least a determination to which of the multiple accounts of the common digital personal assistant application program the user is signed-in and further based on at least a context of the user who is signed-in with the plurality of accounts of the common digital personal assistant application program to generate a selectively combined content stream, wherein each of the plurality of accounts of the common digital personal assistant application program is associated with one or more preferences of the user that indicate which content the common digital personal assistant application program selectively includes in the respective content stream that is associated with the respective account; and

cause the common digital personal assistant application program to provide the selectively combined content stream for presentation to the user.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more first content streams of the plurality of content streams are associated with one or more respective first accounts of the plurality of accounts;

wherein one or more second content streams of the plurality of content streams are associated with one or more respective second accounts of the plurality of accounts; and

wherein the one or more processors are configured to;

determine whether the context of the user changes from a first context to a second context;

assign a first relevance weight to first content from the one or more first content streams in response to a determination that the context of the user changes from the first context to the second context;

assign a second relevance weight to second content from the one or more second content streams in response to the determination that the context of the user changes from the first context to the second context, the second relevance weight being greater than the first relevance weight; and

selectively include the first content and the second content in the selectively combined content stream based on at least the first relevance weight and the second relevance weight.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the context of the user is a work context associated with work of the user;

and

wherein the one or more processors are configured to;

assign a first relevance weight to first content that is associated with the work of the user from the plurality of content streams;

assign a second relevance weight to second content that is not associated with the work of the user from the plurality of content streams, the first relevance weight being greater than the second relevance weight; and

selectively include the first content and the second content in the selectively combined content stream based on at least the first relevance weight and the second relevance weight.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

determine whether the context of the user is to change from a first context to a second context based on whether one or more criteria are satisfied; and

cause the common digital personal assistant application program to provide a notification to the user regarding the first context or the second context in response to a determination that the context of the user is to change from the first context to the second context.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of accounts includes a plurality of work accounts that are associated with a plurality of respective attributes associated with work of the user, the plurality of work accounts including at least a first work account and a second work account;

and

wherein the one or more processors are configured to selectively combine first content from a first work-related content stream associated with the first work account and second content from a second work-related content stream associated with the second work account based on at least the context of the user to generate the selectively combined content stream.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of accounts includes a plurality of personal accounts that are associated with a plurality of respective attributes associated with a personal life of the user, the plurality of personal accounts including at least a first personal account and a second personal account;

and

wherein the one or more processors are configured to selectively combine first content from a first content stream associated with the first personal account and second content from a second content stream associated with the second personal account based on at least the context of the user to generate the selectively combined content stream.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the user has a first type of relationship with a specified person in a first context of the user;

wherein the user has a second type of relationship with the specified person that is different from the first type in a second context of the user; and

wherein the one or more processors are configured to select between a first manner and a second manner in which to communicate with the specified person on behalf of the user depending on whether the context of the user is the first context or the second context, the first manner corresponding to the context of the user being the first context, the second manner corresponding to the context of the user being the second context.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of content streams includes at least a first content stream, a second content stream, and a third content stream associated with a first account, a second account, and a third account, respectively, of the plurality of accounts;

and

wherein the one or more processors are configured to selectively combine the content (a) from at least the first and second content streams and not from the third content stream or (b) from at least the first and third content streams and not from the second content stream depending on whether the context of the user is a first context or a second context, the first context corresponding to the content being selected from at least the first and second content streams and not from the third content stream, the second context corresponding to the content being selected from at least the first and third content streams and not from the second content stream.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

determine that the user accesses the common digital personal assistant application program via a first device of a plurality of devices that are associated with the user;

determine that a first content stream associated with a first account is not accessible via the first device, the first content stream is included in the plurality of content streams, the first account is included in the plurality of accounts;

determine that the first content stream is accessible via a second device of the plurality of devices; and

cause the common digital personal assistant application program to notify the user that the first content stream is accessible via the second device in response to a determination that the first content stream is not accessible via the first device and further in response to a determination that the first content stream is accessible via the second device.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

determine that a first content stream associated with a first account is not accessible while the user is in the first context, the first content stream is included in the plurality of content streams, the first account is included in the plurality of accounts; and

cause the common digital personal assistant application program to notify the user that the first content stream is not accessible while the user is in the first context in response to a determination that the first content stream is not accessible while the user is in the first context.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

determine that the user has a first commitment scheduled in a first account of the plurality of accounts;

determine that the user has a second commitment scheduled in a second account of the plurality of accounts, the second commitment overlapping in time with the first commitment; and

cause the common digital personal assistant application program to reschedule the first commitment in the first account to accommodate the second commitment in the second account.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

determine that the user is more likely to reschedule the first commitment than to reschedule the second commitment based on at least one of historical information or a preference associated with the user; and

cause the common digital personal assistant application program to reschedule the first commitment in response to a determination that the user is more likely to reschedule the first commitment than to reschedule the second commitment.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

determine that the user is signed-in with a first account of the multiple accounts;

cause the common digital personal assistant application program to provide an inquiry for the user, the inquiry requesting authorization to sign-in the user to one or more second accounts of the multiple accounts; and

cause the common digital personal assistant application program to sign-in the user to the one or more second accounts based on at least a response to the inquiry indicating that the authorization is granted to sign-in the user to the one or more second accounts.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

cause the common digital personal assistant application program to provide an inquiry for the user, the inquiry indicating at least one data source that is associated with a first account of the plurality of accounts, the inquiry requesting authorization to include first content from the at least one data source in the content stream that is associated with the first account; and

selectively include the first content in the selectively combined content stream based on at least a response to the inquiry indicating that the authorization is granted to include the first content from the at least one data source in the content stream that is associated with the first account.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

not include designated content in the selectively combined content stream based at least in part on a privacy policy indicating that the designated content is not to be included in the selectively combined content stream when the user is in the context.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein a privacy policy indicates that a third-party is authorized to view a portion of the selectively combined content stream;

wherein the privacy policy indicates that the third-party is not authorized to view designated content that is included in the selectively combined content stream; and

wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the portion of the selectively combined content stream and not the designated content to be viewable by the third-party based at least in part on the privacy policy indicating that the third party is authorized to view the portion and that the third-party is not authorized to view the designated content.

17. A system to implement a context-aware digital personal assistant that supports multiple accounts, the system comprising:

a memory; and

one or more processors coupled to the memory, the one or more processors configured to;

determine that a plurality of users who are signed-in with a plurality of accounts of the digital personal assistant share a shared user experience provided by the digital personal assistant;

selectively combine content from a plurality of content streams that are associated with the plurality of respective accounts with which the plurality of respective users are signed-in based on at least the plurality of users being simultaneously signed-in with the plurality of respective accounts and further based on at least a context of one or more users of the plurality of users to generate a selectively combined content stream such that information regarding a scheduled event of a first user of the plurality of users is included in the selectively combined content stream in response to receipt of a request from a second user of the plurality of users regarding the scheduled event of the first user; and

cause the digital personal assistant to provide the selectively combined content stream for presentation to the plurality of users in the shared user experience.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

check a privacy policy, which distinguishes between first information that is authorized to be included in the selectively combined content stream and second information that is not authorized to be included in the selectively combined content stream, to determine that the information regarding the scheduled event of the first user is included in the first information; and

include the information regarding the scheduled event of the first user in the selectively combined content stream further in response to a determination that the information regarding the scheduled event of the first user is included in the first information.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein a plurality of instances of user-specific information is associated with the plurality of respective users;

and

wherein the one or more processors are configured to;

determine that a request that requests the user-specific information is received from a first user of the plurality of users based on at least stored information that identifies an attribute of the first user matching a detected attribute of the first user; and

include the instance of the user-specific information that is associated with the first user in the selectively combined content stream in response to a determination that the request is from the first user.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

determine that the plurality of users share the unified user experience provided by the digital personal assistant at a shared computing device; and

cause the digital personal assistant to provide the selectively combined content stream for presentation to the plurality of users in the unified user experience at the shared computing device.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein each account of the digital personal assistant is associated with one or more respective content sources;

and

wherein the one or more processors are configured to;

determine that a first user who is signed-in with a first account of the plurality of accounts authorizes first content from one or more first content sources with which the first account is associated to be included in the selectively combined content stream and does not authorize second content from one or more second content sources with which the first account is associated to be included in the selectively combined content stream; and

selectively include the first content but not the second content in the selectively combined content stream based on at least the context of the one or more users in response to a determination that the first user authorizes the first content to be included in the selectively combined content stream and does not authorize the second content to be included in the selectively combined content stream.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

include the information regarding the scheduled event of the first user in the selectively combined content stream by extracting the information from a calendar entry of the first user that is associated with the scheduled event.

23. A method of implementing a context-aware digital personal assistant application program having multiple accounts using one or more processors of a processor-based system, the method comprising:

determining to which of multiple accounts of a common digital personal assistant application program a user is signed-in;

selectively combining content from a plurality of content streams that are associated with the plurality of respective accounts of the common digital personal assistant application program to which the user is signed-in based on at least a determination to which of the multiple accounts of the common digital personal assistant application program the user is signed-in and further based on at least a context of the user who is signed-in with the plurality of accounts of the common digital personal assistant application program to generate a selectively combined content stream, wherein each of the plurality of accounts of the common digital personal assistant application program is associated with one or more preferences of the user that indicate which content the common digital personal assistant application program selectively includes in the respective content stream that is associated with the respective account; and

causing the common digital personal assistant application program to provide the selectively combined content stream for presentation to the user.