Location based responses to telephone requests

• US 8,650,030 B2
• Filed: 04/02/2007
• Issued: 02/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Hafsteinsson, Gudmundur, LeBeau, Michael J., Agarwal, Sumit, Nishar, Dipchand, Marmasse, Natalia
• Primary Examiner(s): GUERRA-ERAZO, EDGAR X
• Application Number:
  US11/695,333
• Publication Number:
  US 20080243501A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,507 Days
• Field of Search: 704/235, 704/270, 704/270.1, 704/275, 704/243, 704/246, 707 3- 4, 701200-201
• US Class Current: 704/235
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 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 15/30 Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/221 Announcement of recognition results
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/228 of application context
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/15 Information service where the information is dependent on the location of the subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

A method for receiving processed information at a remote device is described. The method includes transmitting from the remote device a verbal request to a first information provider and receiving a digital message from the first information provider in response to the transmitted verbal request. The digital message includes a symbolic representation indicator associated with a symbolic representation of the verbal request and data used to control an application. The method also includes transmitting, using the application, the symbolic representation indicator to a second information provider for generating results to be displayed on the remote device.

Claims

1. A method for receiving processed information at a computing device comprising:

receiving, at the computing device, a verbal request from a user;

transmitting from the computing device the verbal request as audio data to a first information provider;

receiving a digital message from the first information provider in response to the transmitted verbal request, the digital message comprising a symbolic representation indicator for a symbolic representation of content of the verbal request, the first information provider having converted the verbal request from the transmitted audio data to the symbolic representation;

obtaining an application identifier that is generated based on content of the verbal request;

using the application identifier to cause an application that corresponds to the application identifier to launch on the computing device;

generating, using the application launched on the computer device, a query using the digital message; and

transmitting, using the application, the query to a second information provider that generates results that are responsive to the query, wherein the generated results are configured by the second information provider to be displayed on the computing device, and wherein the second information provider is different than the first information provider.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the symbolic representation indicator comprises the symbolic representation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the symbolic representation indicator comprises a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) used by the second information provider to identify a storage location of the symbolic representation, which is processed by the second information provider.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the results of the processing by the second information provider comprise a map highlighting one or more locations associated with the converted verbal request.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the verbal request is transmitted via a telephone call and the symbolic representation is transmitted via a text.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the symbolic representation comprises American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) values, ISO-8858-1 values, or UTF-8 (8-bit Unicode Transformation Format) values.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital message comprises a Short Message Service text message.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the verbal request is transmitted as part of a call for directory assistance.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving from the first information provider at the computing device a confirmation in response to the verbal request that prompts a user to verify the accuracy of the symbolic representation of the verbal request.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the confirmation comprises a verbal query from the first information provider, the verbal query comprising computer-generated speech based on the symbolic representation.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the confirmation comprises a text query from the first information provider, the text query comprising at least a portion of the symbolic representation.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising formatting the symbolic representation as a search query before the transmission to the second information provider for processing.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the second information provider comprises a search engine.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving from the first information provider a partial set of results for display on the computing device, the results based on processing by the first information provider of the symbolic representation of the verbal response.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device is selected from a group consisting of a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant, and an email device.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving at the computing device the results from the second information provider; and

presenting the results on the computing device using the application.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising recording the verbal request using the computing device before transmission to the first information provider.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information provider and the second information provider are included in one system that is separate from the computing device.

19. A method for providing a user with location-based information comprising:

receiving, at a first computer system, audio data that represents a verbal request for locational information from a mobile computing device;

converting, by the first computer system, the received audio data into a symbolic representation of content of the verbal request;

identifying, from a plurality of possible applications, an application on the mobile computing device to receive the symbolic representation based on content of the verbal request;

based on the identifying, generating an application identifier, which, when received by the mobile computing device, causes the application on the mobile computing device to launch;

and

transmitting the symbolic representation and the application identifier to the mobile computing device to cause the application to launch and generate a query using the symbolic representation to obtain results for the verbal request from a second computer system, and wherein the first computer system is different than the second computer system.

20. A method for receiving location-based information comprising:

receiving, at a mobile computing device, a verbal request for location information from a user;

transmitting by the mobile computing device the verbal request as audio data to a first information provider;

receiving a Short Message Service (SMS) message from the first information provider, wherein the SMS message comprises a symbolic representation of content of the verbal request;

obtaining an application identifier that is generated based on content of the verbal request;

using the application identifier to cause an application corresponding to the application identifier to launch on the mobile computing device;

causing the application to transmit a data request comprising the symbolic representation of content of the verbal request for location information to a second information provider, wherein the second information provider is different than the first information provider; and

displaying with the application on the mobile computing device one or more locations associated with the symbolic representation using results generated by, and received from, the second information provider that are responsive to the verbal request, wherein the second information provider generates the results in response to the transmitted data request and using the symbolic representation.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising displaying directions to the one or more locations from a starting location.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the starting location is input by a user.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the starting location is input by a global positioning system component of the mobile computing device.

24. The method of claim 20, further comprising displaying an adjustable amount of detail for an area that includes the one or more locations, the amount of detail being specified by a user.

25. A method for providing processed data to a computing device comprising:

receiving, at a first computer system, audio data that represents a verbal request from the computing device;

identifying, from a plurality of possible applications, an application on the mobile computing device to receive the message based on content of the verbal request;

generating, by the first computer system, a data response for the verbal request, the data response comprising data that identifies the application on the computing device and a textual conversion of the verbal request; and

transmitting the data response to the computing device, wherein receipt of the data that identifies the application by the computing device causes the computing device to launch the application on the computer device and to request and present results for the verbal request from a second computer system using the application and the textual conversion of the verbal request, wherein the second computer system is different than the first computer system.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the application comprises a calendar application and the verbal request comprises a request to enter event information into the calendar application.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the application comprises a mapping application and the verbal request comprises a request to display one or more locations using the mapping application.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the locations are identified using keywords associated with the locations.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the locations are identified address information associated with the locations.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein the application comprises a contact application and the verbal request comprises a request to enter contact information into the contact application.

31. The method of claim 25, wherein the application comprises a search result user interface and the verbal request comprises a search query.

32. A system for providing location-based information to a plurality of users, comprising:

a first computer system;

an interface of the first computer system for receiving verbal requests over a voice transmission line from a plurality of computing devices;

a conversion module of the first computer system for converting each of the verbal requests into a symbolic representation; and

means for outputting digital messages to the computing devices, each message comprising an application identifier based on a verbal request and used by the mobile device to identify an application on the mobile computing device, from among multiple possible applications, to receive the digital message, and a symbolic representation indicator used by the application to process the symbolic representation,

wherein interpretation of the output digital messages by the computing devices causes the computing devices to launch the application and to request and present results for the verbal requests from a second computer system using the application and the symbolic representation, wherein the second computer system is different than the first computer system.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein one or more of the verbal requests comprises a plurality of sub-requests transmitted at separate times.