Systems and methods for integrating third party services with a digital assistant

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10417037-B2
Application number	US-201313894350-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 14, 2013
Priority date	May 15, 2012
Publication date	Sep 17, 2019
Grant date	Sep 17, 2019

Abstract

The electronic device with one or more processors and memory receives an input of a user. The electronic device, in accordance with the input, identifies a respective task type from a plurality of predefined task types associated with a plurality of third party service providers. The respective task type is associated with at least one third party service provider for which the user is authorized and at least one third party service provider for which the user is not authorized. In response to identifying the respective task type, the electronic device sends a request to perform at least a portion of a task to a third party service provider of the plurality of third party service providers that is associated with the respective task type.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device for processing a user input, the device comprising:
at least one processor; and
memory storing one or more programs for execution by the at least one processor, the one or more programs including instructions for:
receiving an input of a user;
determining a context of the electronic device;
identifying, based on the received user input and the determined context of the electronic device, a respective template from a plurality of templates, wherein each template of the plurality of templates is associated with a respective context of the electronic device, wherein the identified respective template is from a third party service provider to be associated with a task type based on a first request sent by the third party service provider, wherein the first request corresponds to the task type, and wherein the task type is part of a task flow model having a default model of tasks of task types;
in response to identifying the respective template, determining, using the task flow model, a task associated with the respective template; and
sending a second request to perform at least a portion of the task to the third party service provider.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the input is a voice input of the user that has been converted to text.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein:
the electronic device is a portable electronic device of the user; and the electronic device stores a software application associated with the third party service provider.

4. The device of claim 3 , the one or more programs further comprising instructions for:
executing the software application for sending the second request.

5. The device of claim 3 , the one or more programs further comprising instructions for:
sending the second request without executing the software application.

6. The device of claim 1 , the one or more programs further comprising instructions for:
receiving results from the third party service provider.

7. The device of claim 6 , the one or more programs further comprising instructions for:
displaying at least a portion of the results to the user through a graphical user interface associated with the software application.

8. The device of claim 6 , the one or more programs further comprising instructions for:
presenting at least a portion of the results to the user through a graphical user interface other than a graphical user interface associated with the software application.

9. The device of claim 1 , wherein the first request is sent prior to receiving the input and includes the respective template
associated with at least one task that the third party service provider can perform.

10. The device of claim 1 , wherein the context is the location of the electronic device.

11. The device of claim 1 , wherein at least one third party service provider is associated with less than all of the plurality of templates.

12. The device of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of templates comprises a linguistic pattern, and wherein identifying the respective template from the plurality of templates comprises:
identifying one or more matches between words in the linguistic pattern and words in a text string corresponding to the input.

13. The device of claim 1 , wherein the identified respective template includes a word not included in any other template of the plurality of templates.

14. The device of claim 13 , wherein the identified respective template further includes one or more synonyms for the word.

15. The device of claim 1 , wherein the first request includes a third party domain.

16. The device of claim 1 , wherein the user input is received while displaying an application corresponding to the third party service provider.

17. The device of claim 1 , the one or more programs further comprising instructions for:
determining whether the user input corresponds to a predefined template and the respective template;
in accordance with a determination that the user input corresponds to the predefined template and the respective template, sending a third request to perform at least a portion of the task to a default service provider associated with the predefined template.

18. The device of claim 1 , wherein the third party service provider is selected from a plurality of third party service providers based on a preference of the user.

19. A method for processing a user input, performed at an electronic device with one or more processors and memory, the method comprising:
at the electronic device:
receiving an input of a user;
determining a context of the electronic device;
identifying, based on the received user input and the determined context of the electronic device, a respective template from a plurality of templates, wherein each template of the plurality of templates is associated with a respective context of the electronic device, wherein the identified respective template is from a third party service provider to be associated with a task type based on a first request sent by the third party service provider, wherein the first request corresponds to the task type, and wherein the task type is part of a task flow model having a default model of tasks of task types;
in response to identifying the respective template, determining, using the task flow model, a task associated with the respective template; and
sending a second request to perform at least a portion of the task to the third party service provider.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the input is a voice input of the user that has been converted to text.

21. The method of claim 19 , further comprising receiving results from the third party service provider.

22. The method of claim 19 , wherein the first request is sent prior to receiving the input and includes the respective template associated with at least one task that the third party service provider can perform.

23. The method of claim 19 , wherein:
the electronic device is a portable electronic device of the user; and the electronic device stores a software application associated with the third party service provider.

24. The method of claim 23 , further comprising:
executing the software application for sending the second request.

25. The method of claim 23 , further comprising:
sending the second request without executing the software application.

26. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
receiving results from the third party service provider.

27. The method of claim 26 , further comprising:
displaying at least a portion of the results to the user through a graphical user interface associated with the software application.

28. The method of claim 26 , further comprising:
presenting at least a portion of the results to the user through a graphical user interface other than a graphical user interface associated with the software application.

29. The method of claim 19 , wherein each of the plurality of templates comprises a linguistic pattern, and wherein identifying the respective template from the plurality of templates comprises:
identifying one or more matches between words in the linguistic pattern and words in a text string corresponding to the input.

30. The method of claim 19 , wherein the identified respective template includes a word not included in any other template of the plurality of

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Gruber Thomas R
• Brigham Christopher D
• Cheyer Adam J
• Keen Daniel
• Kocienda Kenneth

Classifications

• H04W4/00

  Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor · CPC title

• G06Q10/10 Primary

  Office automation; Time management · CPC title

• G06Q10/103 Primary

  Workflow collaboration or project management · CPC title

• H04W4/02

  Services making use of location information · CPC title

• G06F9/4856

  resumption being on a different machine, e.g. task migration, virtual machine migration (G06F9/5088 takes precedence) · CPC title