CLOUD-BASED BROKER SERVICE FOR DIGITAL ASSISTANTS

• US 20160078405A1
• Filed: 11/23/2015
• Published: 03/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Caldwell, Gary L., Geffner, Steven Paul, Coplen, C. Joe, Pratley, Christopher Hugh, Ammerlaan, Michael H., Zaske, Steven Todd
• Granted Patent: US 9,842,316 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0815 providing single-sign-on or federations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/562 Brokering proxy services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security

Abstract

A cloud-based broker service may be provided for computing devices in a distributed computing environment. The broker service may aggregate user accounts and user account credentials utilized for accessing online services by the computing devices. The broker service may monitor a context of the computing devices associated with the user accounts. The broker service may then utilize the context, data associated with the user accounts and data associated with the user account credentials to automate tasks and/or provide alerts associated with the data.

Claims

1. A method for providing a broker service to computing devices in a distributed computing environment, comprising:

aggregating, in the distributed computing environment, a plurality of accounts and a plurality of account credentials utilized for accessing online services;

monitoring, by the distributed computing environment, a context of at least one computing device associated with the plurality of accounts; and

utilizing, by the distributed computing environment, the context of the at least one computing device and data associated with the plurality of accounts and the plurality of account credentials for at least one of automating tasks and providing alerts associated with the data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein aggregating, in the distributed computing environment, a plurality of accounts and a plurality of account credentials utilized for accessing online services comprises collecting and storing a plurality of user credentials for accessing one or more of the following:

a calendar service, an e-mail service and a web service.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein monitoring, by the distributed computing environment, a context of at least one computing device associated with the plurality of accounts comprises monitoring signals received by a mobile computing device, the signals corresponding to a current physical location of the mobile computing device.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein utilizing, by the distributed computing environment, the context of the at least one computing device and data associated with the plurality of accounts and the plurality of account credentials for at least one of automating tasks and providing alerts associated with the data comprises at least one of the following:

showing documents to one or more members of a team that were at least one of read and created by other members of the team;

surfacing documents to members of the team for review within a short amount of time;

surfacing e-mail messages to one or more members of the team from the other members of the team; and

surfacing unread e-mail messages to one or more members of the team which have been read by the other members of the team.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein utilizing, by the distributed computing environment, the context of the at least one computing device and data associated with the plurality of accounts and the plurality of account credentials for at least one of automating tasks and providing alerts associated with the data comprises:

accessing the calendar service to schedule a new appointment for the plurality of accounts;

determining, from the calendar service, existing scheduled appointments for the plurality of accounts;

determining a priority associated with each of the existing scheduled appointments; and

automatically rearranging the existing scheduled appointments which have a lower priority than the new appointment to schedule the new appointment for the plurality of accounts.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising utilizing the e-mail service to send a message regarding the scheduling of the new appointment to other user accounts which are not associated with the calendar service.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein utilizing, by the distributed computing environment, the context of the at least one computing device and data associated with the plurality of accounts and the plurality of account credentials for at least one of automating tasks and providing alerts associated with the data comprises:

accessing the calendar service to determine a scheduled appointment associated with the mobile computing device; and

sending a calendar alert for the scheduled appointment to the mobile computing device based on the current physical location of the mobile computing device, the alert comprising one or more of the following;

an estimated travel time to the scheduled appointment, a traffic alert, and routing guidance to the scheduled appointment.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein aggregating, in the distributed computing environment, a plurality of accounts and a plurality of account credentials utilized for accessing online services comprises aggregating a plurality of restricted access accounts and a plurality of restricted access credentials for accessing federation online services.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising executing at least one bot for aggregating at least one of additional context, data and data analysis for accessing the online services.

10. A distributed computing environment for providing a broker service to client computing devices, comprising:

a cloud component comprising a plurality of computing devices, each of the plurality computing devices comprising a memory for storing executable program code and a processor, the processor functionally coupled to the memory and responsive to computer-executable instructions contained in the program code, the cloud component operative to;

aggregate a plurality of accounts and a plurality of account credentials utilized for accessing online services;

monitor a context associated with the plurality of accounts; and

utilize the context and data associated with the plurality of accounts and the plurality of account credentials for at least one of automating tasks and providing alerts associated with the data; and

at least one client computing device in communication with the cloud component and operative to;

receive signals corresponding to a current physical location of a user of the at least one client computing device; and

display notifications for sending the alerts to the user of the at least one client computing device.

11. The distributed computing environment of claim 10, further comprising a federation component in communication with the cloud component and the at least one computing device, the federation component operative to restrict access to the plurality of access accounts and the plurality of access credentials in association with federation online services.

12. The distributed computing environment of claim 10, wherein the cloud component, in aggregating a plurality of accounts and a plurality of account credentials utilized for accessing online services is operative to collect and store a plurality of user credentials for accessing one or more of the following:

a calendar service, an e-mail service and a web service.

13. The distributed computing environment of claim 12, wherein the cloud component, in utilizing the context and data associated with the plurality of accounts and the plurality of account credentials for at least one of automating tasks and providing alerts associated with the data is operative to:

access the calendar service to schedule a new appointment for the plurality of accounts;

determine, from the calendar service, existing scheduled appointments for the plurality of accounts;

determine a priority associated with each of the existing scheduled appointments;

automatically rearrange the existing scheduled appointments which have a lower priority than the new appointment to schedule the new appointment for the plurality of accounts; and

utilize the e-mail service to send a message regarding the scheduling of the new appointment to other user accounts which are not associated with the calendar service.

14. The distributed computing environment of claim 12, wherein the cloud component, in utilizing the context and data associated with the plurality of accounts and the plurality of account credentials for at least one of automating tasks and providing alerts associated with the data is operative to:

access the calendar service to determine a scheduled appointment associated with the at least one client computing device; and

send a calendar alert for the scheduled appointment to at least one client computing device based on the current physical location of the at least one client computing device.

15. The distributed computing environment of claim 14, wherein the alert comprises one or more of the following:

an estimated travel time to the scheduled appointment, a traffic alert, and routing guidance to the scheduled appointment.

16. The distributed computing environment of claim 15, wherein the cloud component is further operative to execute at least one bot for aggregating at least one of additional context, data and data analysis for accessing the online services.

17. A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a computer, will cause the computer to perform a method for providing a broker service, the method comprising:

aggregating a plurality of accounts and a plurality of account credentials utilized for accessing online services, the plurality of account credentials comprising credentials for accessing a calendar service, an e-mail service and a web service;

monitoring signals received by a mobile computing device associated with the plurality of accounts, the signals corresponding to a current physical location of the mobile computing device;

utilizing the current physical location of the mobile computing device and data associated with the plurality of accounts and the plurality of account credentials for at least one of automating tasks and providing alerts associated with the data; and

executing at least one bot for aggregating at least one of additional context, data and data analysis for accessing the online services.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein utilizing the current physical location of the mobile computing device and data associated with the plurality of accounts and the plurality of account credentials for at least one of automating tasks and providing alerts associated with the data comprises:

accessing the calendar service to schedule a new appointment for the plurality of accounts;

determining, from the calendar service, existing scheduled appointments for the plurality of accounts;

determining a priority associated with each of the existing scheduled appointments;

automatically rearranging the existing scheduled appointments which have a lower priority than the new appointment to schedule the new appointment for the plurality of accounts; and

utilizing the e-mail service to send a message regarding the scheduling of the new appointment to other user accounts which are not associated with the calendar service.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein utilizing the current physical location of the mobile computing device and data associated with the plurality of accounts and the plurality of account credentials for at least one of automating tasks and providing alerts associated with the data comprises:

accessing the calendar service to determine a scheduled appointment associated with the mobile computing device; and

sending a calendar alert for the scheduled appointment to the mobile computing device based on the current physical location of the mobile computing device, the alert comprising an estimated travel time to the scheduled appointment, a traffic alert and routing guidance to the scheduled appointment.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein aggregating a plurality of accounts and a plurality of account credentials utilized for accessing online services, the plurality of account credentials comprising credentials for accessing a calendar service, an e-mail service and a web service comprises aggregating a plurality of restricted access accounts and a plurality of restricted access credentials for accessing a federation calendar service, a federation e-mail service and a federation web service.