MOBILE ASSISTANT

• US 20170300345A1
• Filed: 04/19/2016
• Published: 10/19/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Golbandi, Nadav
• Granted Patent: US 11,113,079 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants

Abstract

One or more computing devices, systems, and/or methods for assisting a user in performing a task are provided. For example, a request may be received from the user via a messaging interface, and the task (e.g., make a reservation) may be determined (e.g., identified) based upon the request. Questions associated with information required (e.g., name, location, dates, etc.) to perform the task may be determined and provided. Visual elements (e.g., selectable buttons) corresponding to answer choices associated with the questions may be provided. A selection of a first visual element of the visual elements may be received, and the task may be performed based upon the selection of the first visual element.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a request from a user via a messaging interface;

determining a task based upon the request;

determining one or more questions associated with information required to perform the task;

providing a first question of the one or more questions via the messaging interface, the first question associated with one or more answer choices comprising a first answer choice and a second answer choice;

providing a first visual element comprising a first abbreviation of the first answer choice and a second visual element comprising a second abbreviation of the second answer choice via the messaging interface, the first visual element displayed concurrently with the second visual element;

receiving a selection of the first visual element from the user via the messaging interface; and

performing the task, using the first answer choice, based upon the selection of the first visual element.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

ranking the one or more answer choices;

determining that the first answer choice and the second answer choice are ranked above a threshold; and

selecting the first answer choice and the second answer choice for presentation based upon the determination that the first answer choice and the second answer choice are ranked above the threshold.

3. The method of claim 2, the ranking comprising:

ranking the one or more answer choices based upon information associated with the user.

4. The method of claim 2, the ranking comprising:

ranking the one or more answer choices based upon information associated with users other than the user.

5. The method of claim 1, the first answer choice comprising a first combination of a third answer choice and a fourth answer choice.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising:

ranking one or more combinations of two or more answer choices associated with the first question;

determining that a first combination of a third answer choice and a fourth answer choice of the two or more answer choices is ranked above a threshold; and

selecting the first combination for presentation via the first answer choice based upon the determination that the first combination is ranked above the threshold.

7. The method of claim 6, the first combination comprising a combination of a third abbreviation of the third answer choice and a fourth abbreviation of the fourth answer choice.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising:

providing a second question of the one or more questions via the messaging interface, the second question associated with one or more answer choices comprising a third answer choice and a fourth answer choice;

providing a third visual element comprising a third abbreviation of the third answer choice and a fourth visual element comprising a fourth abbreviation of the fourth answer choice via the messaging interface, the third visual element displayed concurrently with the fourth visual element; and

receiving a selection of the third visual element from the user via the messaging interface,

the task performed, using the first answer choice and the third answer choice, based upon the selection of the first visual element and the selection of the third visual element.

9. The method of claim 1, the first visual element and the second visual element provided within a graphical user interface, of the messaging interface, associated with predictive text.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising determining the first abbreviation for the first answer choice.

11. The method of claim 10, the determining the first abbreviation comprising:

determining at least one of a prefix, a suffix or an acronym for the first answer choice.

12. The method of claim 10, the determining the first abbreviation comprising:

determining that the first abbreviation was previously selected to be associated with the first answer choice by an entity associated with the first answer choice.

13. The method of claim 10, the determining the first abbreviation comprising:

generating the first abbreviation using a first portion of the first answer choice determined to be identifiable.

14. The method of claim 13, the first portion of the first answer choice determined to be more identifiable relative to a second portion of the first answer choice.

15. A computing device comprising:

a processor; and

memory comprising processor-executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause performance of operations, the operations comprising;

receiving a request from a user via a messaging interface;

determining a task based upon the request;

determining one or more questions associated with information required to perform the task;

providing a first question of the one or more questions via the messaging interface, the first question associated with one or more answer choices comprising a first answer choice and a second answer choice;

providing a first visual element corresponding to the first answer choice and a second visual element corresponding to the second answer choice via the messaging interface;

receiving a selection of the first visual element from the user via the messaging interface; and

performing the task, using the first answer choice, based upon the selection of the first visual element.

16. The computing device of claim 15, the first visual element and the second visual element provided within a graphical user interface, of the messaging interface, associated with predictive text.

17. The computing device of claim 15, the operations comprising:

determining the first visual element for the first answer choice.

18. The computing device of claim 17, the determining the first visual element comprising:

determining at least one of a prefix, a suffix, an acronym or a non-character based pictorial representation for the first answer choice.

19. A non-transitory machine readable medium having stored thereon processor-executable instructions that when executed cause performance of operations, the operations comprising:

determining a task;

determining one or more questions associated with the task;

providing a first question of the one or more questions, the first question associated with one or more answer choices comprising a first answer choice and a second answer choice;

providing a first visual element corresponding to the first answer choice and a second visual element corresponding to the second answer choice;

receiving a selection of the first visual element; and

performing the task, using the first answer choice, based upon the selection of the first visual element.

20. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 19, the first visual element and the second visual element provided within a graphical user interface associated with predictive text.