Digital assistant providing automated status report

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10490187-B2
Application number	US-201615266926-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 15, 2016
Priority date	Jun 10, 2016
Publication date	Nov 26, 2019
Grant date	Nov 26, 2019

Abstract

Systems and processes for operating a digital assistant are provided. In one example process, a speech input is received from a user. A user intent is determined based on the speech input. Determining the user intent includes generating text based on the speech input, performing natural language processing of the text, and determining the user intent based on a result of the natural language processing. In accordance with the user intent, status information associated with at least one of the one or more electronic devices is requested. The status information associated with the at least one of the one or more electronic devices is received. A spoken output is generated and represents the status information associated with the at least one of the one or more electronic devices. The spoken output is caused to be provided to the user.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A user device, the user device being operable to communicate with one or more electronic devices, comprising:
one or more processors;
memory; and
one or more programs stored in memory, the one or more programs including instructions for:
receiving a speech input;
determining, based on the speech input, a user intent with respect to the one or more electronic devices, wherein determining the user intent with respect to the one or more electronic devices comprises:
generating text based on the speech input;
performing natural language processing of the text;
determining, based on a result of the natural language processing, whether the speech input includes one or more references identifying at least one of the one or more electronic devices;
in accordance with a determination that the speech input includes one or more references identifying at least one of the one or more electronic devices, determining the user intent based on the one or more references; and
in accordance with a determination that the speech input includes information that does not identify at least one of the one or more electronic devices, determining the user intent based on at least one of an expression of the speech input or one or more keywords included in the speech input, wherein determining the user intent based on at least one of an expression of the speech input or one or more keywords included in the speech input comprises:
determining whether the speech input includes a singular form expression or a plural form expression;
in accordance with a determination that the speech input includes a singular form expression, determining, from the one or more electronic devices, a single electronic device for which status information is to be requested; and
in accordance with a determination that the speech input includes a plural form expression, determining, from the one or more electronic devices, at least two electronic devices for which status information is to be requested;

requesting, in accordance with the user intent, status information associated with at least one of the one or more electronic devices;
receiving the status information associated with the at least one of the one or more electronic devices;
generating a spoken output representing the status information associated with the at least one of the one or more electronic devices; and
causing the spoken output to be provided to the user.

2. The user device of claim 1 , wherein the status information associated with the at least one of the one or more electronic devices includes at least one of battery status information, connectivity status information, operating mode status information, location status information, or device configuration status information.

3. The user device of claim 1 , wherein receiving a speech input comprises:
receiving the speech input at an invoking device from a user, wherein the invoking device includes the user device or an electronic device that is communicatively connected to the user device.

4. The user device of claim 1 , wherein the speech input includes the information in addition to the one or more references identifying at least one of the one or more electronic devices.

5. The user device of claim 1 , wherein the speech input includes the information without a reference identifying at least one of the one or more electronic devices.

6. The user device of claim 1 , wherein the single electronic device for which the status information is to be requested includes an invoking device, wherein the invoking device receives the speech input from the user.

7. The user device of claim 1 , wherein the at least two electronic devices for which the status information is to be requested includes an invoking device, wherein the invoking device receives the speech input from the user.

8. The user device of claim 1 , wherein determining the user intent based on at least one of an expression of the speech input or one or more keywords included in the speech input comprises:
determining whether the speech input includes one or more keywords; and
in accordance with a determination that the speech input includes one or more keywords, determining, from the one or more electronic devices, at least one electronic device for which status information is to be requested.

9. The user device of claim 8 , wherein the at least one electronic device for which the status information is to be requested includes an invoking device, wherein the invoking device receives the speech input from the user.

10. The user device of claim 1 , wherein requesting status information associated with the at least one of the one or more electronic devices comprises:
identifying, based on the determination of the user intent, the at least one of the one or more electronic devices for which the status information is to be requested; and
communicating a request for the status information to the at least one of the one or more electronic devices for which the status information is to be requested.

11. The user device of claim 10 , wherein identifying the at least one of the one or more electronic devices for which the status information is to be requested is further based on context information,
wherein the context information indicates at least one of detectability of the one or more electronic devices or availability of the one or more electronic devices.

12. The user device of claim 1 , wherein the status information includes battery status of a headset communicatively connected to the user device.

13. The user device of claim 12 , wherein receiving the status information associated with the at least one of the one or more electronic devices comprises receiving at least one of:
overall battery status of the headset,
battery status of a left earbud and a right earbud of the headset, and
battery status of a case associated with the headset.

14. The user device of claim 1 , wherein generating the spoken output representing the status information associated with the at least one of the one or more electronic devices comprises at least one of:
generating the spoken output in an order that corresponds to an order of the one or more references identifying the at least one of the one or more electronic devices in the speech input;
generating the spoken output using a paraphrased response;
generating the spoken output based on a type of an invoking device, wherein the invoking device receives the speech input from the user;
generating the spoken output based on context information; and
generating the spoken output based on the status information associated with the at least one of the one or more electronic devices.

15. The user device of claim 14 , wherein the invoking device is a headset and wherein generating the spoken output based on the type of the invoking device comprises generating an audio representation of at least one of:
overall battery status of the headset,
battery statuses of a left earbud and a right earbud of the headset, and
battery status of a case associated with the headset.

16. The user device of claim 14 , wherein generating the spoken output based on context information comprises:
determining whether a total number of the at least one of the one or more electronic devices satisfies a first threshold;
in accordance with a determination that the total number of the at least one of the one or more electronic devices satisfies the first threshold, generating an audio representation having a first format; and
in accordance with a determination that the total number of the at least one of t

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Laurens Peter Allan
• Verwymeren Christopher
• Booker Susan L
• Moore Jonathan J
• Malani Roshni
• Phipps Benjamin S

Classifications

• G10L15/26 Primary

  Speech to text systems (G10L15/08 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G09B5/04

  with audible presentation of the material to be studied (sound recording or reproducing G11B) · CPC title

• G06F40/35

  Discourse or dialogue representation · CPC title

• G06F3/167 Primary

  Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback · CPC title

• G10L15/1822

  Parsing for meaning understanding · CPC title