Intelligent digital assistant for declining an incoming call

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10230841-B2
Application number	US-201715789570-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 20, 2017
Priority date	Nov 22, 2016
Publication date	Mar 12, 2019
Grant date	Mar 12, 2019

Abstract

Systems and processes for operating a digital assistant are provided. In one example, a method includes receiving an incoming call. In response to receiving the incoming call, the method further includes obtaining one or more user-specific data items. The method further includes determining one or more user status options; and determining one or more confidence values associated with the one or more user status options. The method further includes in accordance with the determination of the one or more confidence values exceeding a predetermined threshold, providing a plurality of response options associated with declining the incoming call. The method further includes receiving a selection of a response option from the plurality of response options; and declining the call based on the selected response option.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device comprising:
one or more processors;
memory; and
one or more programs stored in memory, the one or more programs including instructions for:
receiving an incoming call;
in response to receiving the incoming call, obtaining one or more user-specific data items;
determining, based on the one or more user-specific data items, a plurality of user status options;
determining a plurality of confidence values associated with the plurality of user status options;
in accordance with the determination of the plurality of confidence values exceeding a predetermined threshold, providing a plurality of response options associated with declining the incoming call, wherein providing the plurality of response options includes:
providing at least one response option including a representation of at least one of the user status options,
determining two or more highest confidence values associated with two or more corresponding user status options of the plurality of user status options,
determining whether the two or more highest confidence values associated with the two or more user status options are within a predefined range, and
in accordance with a determination that the two or more highest confidence values associated with the two or more user status options are within the predefined range, highlighting a response option of the two or more response options corresponding to the two or more user status options that are associated with the two or more highest confidence values, wherein the highlighted response option is more informative than other response options;

receiving a selection of a response option from the plurality of response options; and
declining the call based on the selected response option.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the incoming call comprises at least one of: an audio incoming call and a video incoming call.

3. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more user-specific data items comprise at least one of: contextual data, user-specific historical data, and one or more user inputs.

4. The electronic device of claim 3 , wherein the contextual data comprises at least one of: user's location data, user's device operating mode status, user's communication status, and content accessible to the electronic device, wherein the content includes user-specific application content.

5. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein determining, based on the one or more user-specific data items, the plurality of user status options comprises:
determining, based on a pre-determined activity set, whether the user-specific data items indicate that the user is participating in one or more activities among the pre-determined activity set; and
in accordance with a determination that the user is participating in one or more activities, generating a user status option for each of the activities the user is participating in.

6. The electronic device of claim 5 , further comprising:
determining whether the user-specific data items indicate that the one or more activities the user is participating in are associated with one or more locations; and
in accordance with a determination that the one or more activities are associated with one or more locations, performing at least one of:
associating each of the locations with the corresponding user status option; and
generating an additional user status option based on each of the locations.

7. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein determining the plurality of confidence values associated with the plurality of user status options comprises:
evaluating a probability associated with each of the user status option; and
assigning a confidence value to each of the user status options based on the probability associated with the corresponding user status option.

8. The electronic device of claim 7 , wherein evaluating the probability associated with each of the user status option comprises evaluating the probability based on the one or more user-specific data items.

9. The electronic device of claim 7 , wherein evaluating the probability associated with each of the user status option comprises evaluating the probability based on a probability of another user status option of the one or more user status options.

10. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein providing at least one response option including a representation of at least one of the user status options comprises:
ordering the plurality of the response options based on their confidence values.

11. The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing one or more additional response options to decline the call, the additional response options being non-user specific response options.

12. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein providing a plurality of response options associated with declining the call request comprises:
displaying, via a display of the electronic device, the plurality of response options associated with declining the call request.

13. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein providing a plurality of response options associated with declining the call request comprises:
providing a speech output including the plurality of response options.

14. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein receiving the selection of a response option from the plurality of response options comprises receiving the selection via a display of the electronic device.

15. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein receiving the selection of a response option from the plurality of response options comprises receiving a voice input including the selection of the response option.

16. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein declining the call based on the selected response option comprises:
generating a message corresponding to the selected response option;
and transmitting the message to a caller of the incoming call.

17. The electronic device of claim 16 , wherein the message comprises at least one of: a text message and a voice message.

18. The electronic device of claim 16 , wherein the message comprises at least one of: a map location of the user, a copy of the user's calendar, and a device status.

19. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein declining the call based on the selected response option comprises:
performing an action declining the call without transmitting a message to a caller.

20. The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining an identity of a caller; and
providing an alternative or additional response option based on the identity of the caller.

21. A method comprising:
at an electronic device with one or more processors and memory:
receiving an incoming call;
in response to receiving the incoming call, obtaining one or more user-specific data items;
determining, based on the one or more user-specific data items, a plurality of user status options;
determining a plurality of confidence values associated with the plurality of user status options;
in accordance with the determination of the plurality of confidence values exceeding a predetermined threshold, providing a plurality of response options associated with declining the incoming call, wherein providing the plurality of response options includes:
providing at least one response option including a representation of at least one of the user status options,
determining two or more highest confidence values associated with two or more corresponding user status options of the plurality of

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Rauenbuehler Keith W
• Williams Ryan A

Classifications

• H04M2250/74

  with voice recognition means · CPC title

• H04M1/6091

  including a wireless interface · CPC title

• H04M3/42365 Primary

  Presence services providing information on the willingness to communicate or the ability to communicate in terms of media capability or network connectivity · CPC title

• H04M2203/2072

  Schedules, e.g. personal calendars · CPC title

• H04M3/42348

  Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target · CPC title