SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING A VOICE AGENT USER INTERFACE

• US 20140095173A1
• Filed: 10/01/2012
• Published: 04/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Lynch, Timothy, Brown, Sean P., Attayadmawittaya, Paweena, Cabaco, Tiago Goncalves, Chen, Victor Shine
• Granted Patent: US 10,276,157 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/00 Speech recognition G10L17/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/04 Segmentation; Word boundary detection
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/08 Speech classification or search
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/18 using natural language modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/19 Grammatical context, e.g. disambiguation of the recognition hypotheses based on word sequence rules
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/22 Interactive procedures; Man-machine interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/228 of application context

Abstract

Some embodiments provide techniques performed by at least one voice agent. The techniques include receiving voice input; identifying at least one application program as relating to the received voice input; and displaying at least one selectable visual representation that, when selected, causes focus of the computing device to be directed to the at least one application program identified as relating to the received voice input.

Claims

1. A computing device, comprising:

at least one processor programmed to implement at least one voice agent, wherein the at least one voice agent is configured to;

receive voice input;

identify at least one application program as relating to the received voice input; and

display at least one selectable visual representation that, when selected, causes focus of the computing device to be directed to the at least one application program identified as relating to the received voice input.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the voice input specifies at least one action, and wherein the at least one voice agent is further configured to:

identify the at least one application program as relating to the received voice input, at least in part, by determining that the at least one action may be performed, at least in part, by using the at least one application program.

3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the voice input specifies at least one action, and wherein the at least one voice agent is further configured to:

perform at least a portion of the at least one action; and

display the at least one selectable visual representation before the at least one voice agent completes performance of the at least the portion of the at least one action.

4. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one application program comprises a plurality of application programs, and wherein the at least one voice agent is configured to display a plurality of selectable visual representations, each one of the plurality of selectable visual representations corresponding to one of the plurality of application programs.

5. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the voice input specifies a service and wherein the at least one voice agent is configured to identify the at least one application program by identifying at least one application program that provides access to the service.

6. The computing device of claim 5, wherein the service is a web-based service accessible by a plurality of users each having an account with the web-based service, wherein the plurality of users includes a first user of the computing device, wherein the first user has a first account with the web-based service, and wherein the at least one application program provides access to the service, at least in part, by using information associated with the first user'"'"'s first account.

7. The computing device of claim 5, wherein the at least one application program comprises a first application program dedicated to provide access to the first service.

8. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one selectable visual representation is a selectable icon associated with the at least one application program, wherein the selectable icon can be selected by being tapped and/or clicked.

9. A method performed by at least one voice agent, the method comprising:

receiving voice input;

identifying at least one application program as relating to the received voice input; and

displaying at least one selectable visual representation that, when selected, causes focus of the computing device to be directed to the at least one application program identified as relating to the received voice input.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the voice input specifies at least one action, and wherein identifying the at least one application program as relating to the received voice input comprises determining that the at least one action may be performed, at least in part, by using the at least one application program.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the voice input specifies at least one action, and wherein the method further comprises:

performing at least a portion of the at least one action; and

displaying the at least one selectable visual representation before the at least one voice agent completes performance of the at least the portion of the at least one action.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one application program comprises a plurality of application programs, and wherein displaying the at least one selectable visual representation comprises displaying a plurality of selectable visual representations, each one of the plurality of selectable visual representations corresponding to one of the plurality of application programs.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the voice input specifies a service and wherein identifying the at least one application program comprises identifying at least one application program that provides access to the service.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the service is a web-based service accessible by a plurality of users each having an account with the web-based service, wherein the plurality of users includes a first user of the computing device, wherein the first user has a first account with the web-based service, and wherein the at least one application program provides access to the service, at least in part, by using information associated with the first user'"'"'s first account.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one application program comprises a first application program dedicated to provide access to the first service.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one selectable visual representation is a selectable icon associated with the at least one application program, wherein the selectable icon can be selected by being tapped and/or clicked.

17. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing processor executable instructions that, when executed by at least one computing device, cause the at least one computing device to implement at least one voice agent that performs a method comprising:

receiving voice input;

identifying at least one application program as relating to the received voice input; and

displaying at least one selectable visual representation that, when selected, causes focus of the computing device to be directed to the at least one application program identified as relating to the received voice input.

18. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the voice input specifies at least one action, and wherein identifying the at least one application program as relating to the received voice input comprises determining that the at least one action may be performed, at least in part, by using the at least one application program.

19. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the voice input specifies at least one action, and wherein the method further comprises:

performing at least a portion of the at least one action; and

displaying the at least one selectable visual representation before the at least one voice agent completes performance of the at least the portion of the at least one action.

20. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the at least one application program comprises a plurality of application programs, and wherein displaying the at least one selectable visual representation comprises displaying a plurality of selectable visual representations, each one of the plurality of selectable visual representations corresponding to one of the plurality of application programs.

21. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the voice input specifies a service and wherein identifying the at least one application program comprises identifying at least one application program that provides access to the service.

22. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the service is a web-based service accessible by a plurality of users each having an account with the web-based service, wherein the plurality of users includes a first user of the computing device, wherein the first user has a first account with the web-based service, and wherein the at least one application program provides access to the service, at least in part, by using information associated with the first user'"'"'s first account.

23. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the at least one application program comprises a first application program dedicated to provide access to the first service.

24. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the at least one selectable visual representation is a selectable icon associated with the at least one application program, wherein the selectable icon can be selected by being tapped and/or clicked.

25. A computing device, comprising:

at least one processor programmed to implement at least one voice agent, wherein the at least one voice agent is configured to;

determine that a received voice input specifies at least one action;

trigger performance of at least one task in furtherance of the at least one action; and

display at least one visual representation associated with the at least one action in response to the determining that the received voice input specifies the at least one action and before the at least one task is completed.

26. The computing device of claim 25, wherein the at least one voice agent is configured to identify at least one application program that may be used to perform, at least in part, the at least one action.

27. The computing device of claim 26, wherein the at least one voice agent is configured to trigger performance of the at least one task by triggering performance of at least one task selected from the group consisting of:

launching the at least one application program, making the at least one application program accessible to a user, and causing the at least one application program to perform the at least one task.

28. A method performed by at least one voice agent, the method comprising:

determining that a received voice input specifies at least one action;

triggering performance of at least one task in furtherance of the at least one action; and

displaying at least one visual representation associated with the at least one action in response to the determining that the received voice input specifies the at least one action and before the at least one task is completed.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising identifying at least one application program that may be used to perform, at least in part, the at least one action.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein triggering performance of the at least one task comprises triggering performance of at least one task selected from the group consisting of:

launching the at least one application program, making the at least one application program accessible to a user, and causing the at least one application program to perform the at least one task.

31. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by at least one computing device, cause the at least one computing device to implement at least one voice agent that performs a method comprising:

determining that a received voice input specifies at least one action;

triggering performance of at least one task in furtherance of the at least one action; and

displaying at least one visual representation associated with the at least one action in response to the determining that the received voice input specifies the at least one action and before the at least one task is completed.

32. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 31, wherein the method further comprises identifying at least one application program that may be used to perform, at least in part, the at least one action.

33. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 32, wherein triggering performance of the at least one task comprises triggering performance of at least one task selected from the group consisting of:

launching the at least one application program, making the at least one application program accessible to a user, and causing the at least one application program to perform the at least one task.