Application integration with a digital assistant

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10580409-B2
Application number	US-201816207901-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 3, 2018
Priority date	Jun 11, 2016
Publication date	Mar 3, 2020
Grant date	Mar 3, 2020

Abstract

Systems and processes for application integration with a digital assistant are provided. In accordance with one example, a method includes, at an electronic device having one or more processors and memory, receiving a natural-language user input; identifying, with the one or more processors, an intent object of a set of intent objects and a parameter associated with the intent, where the intent object and the parameter are derived from the natural-language user input. The method further includes identifying a software application associated with the intent object of the set of intent objects; and providing the intent object and the parameter to the software application.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions, which when executed by one or more processors of a first electronic device, cause the first electronic device to:
receive a natural-language user input, wherein the natural-language user input is indicative of an intent object of a set of intent objects;
provide the natural-language user input to a second electronic device;
receive, in response to a determination by the second electronic device that a software application associated with the intent object is not located on the first electronic device, an indication of the determination from the second electronic device;
responsive to the indication, obtain a list of applications associated with the intent object;
display, with a touch-sensitive display of the first electronic device, the list of applications associated with the intent object in a user interface;
receive a user input indicative of a selection of an application of the list of applications; and
provide the intent object of the set of intent objects to the application, wherein providing the intent object includes downloading and/or installing the application such that the first electronic device may access the software application locally, or wherein providing the intent object includes remotely accessing the application.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more programs further include instructions which when executed by one or more processors of the first electronic device, cause the first electronic device to:
identify the intent object of the set of intent objects.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1 ; wherein the one or more programs further include instructions which when executed by one or more processors of the first electronic device, cause the first electronic device to:
identify a parameter associated with the intent object of the set of intent objects; and
provide the parameter to the application.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 3 , wherein the one or more programs further include instructions which when executed by one or more processors of the first electronic device, cause the first electronic device to:
receive a response from the application, wherein the response is indicative of whether the parameter is valid.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more programs further include instructions which when executed by one or more processors of the first electronic device, cause the first electronic device to:
cause the application to perform a task associated with the intent object; and
after providing the intent object to the application, receive, from the application, a result response associated with the intent object.

6. A first electronic device, comprising:
one or more processors;
a memory; and
one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for:
receiving a natural-language user input, wherein the natural-language user input is indicative of an intent object of a set of intent objects;
providing the natural-language user input to a second electronic device;
receiving, in response to a determination by the second electronic device that a software application associated with the intent object is not located on the first electronic device, an indication of the determination from the second electronic device;

responsive to the indication, obtaining a list of applications associated with the intent object;
displaying, with a touch-sensitive display of the first electronic device, the list of applications associated with the intent object in a user interface;
receiving a user input indicative of a selection of an application of the list of applications; and
providing the intent object of the set of intent objects to the application, wherein providing the intent object includes downloading and/or installing the application such that the first electronic device may access the software application locally, or wherein providing the intent object includes remotely accessing the application.

7. The first electronic device according to claim 6 , wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:
identifying the intent object of the set of intent objects.

8. The first electronic device according to claim 6 , wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:
identifying a parameter associated with the intent object of the set of intent objects; and
providing the parameter to the application.

9. The first electronic device according to claim 6 , wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:
receiving a response from the application, wherein the response is indicative of whether the parameter is valid.

10. The first electronic device according to claim 6 , wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:
causing the application to perform a task associated with the intent object; and
after providing the intent object to the application, receiving, from the application, a result response associated with the intent object.

11. A method, comprising:
at a first electronic device having one or more processors:
receiving a natural-language user input, wherein the natural-language user input is indicative of an intent object of a set of intent objects;
providing the natural-language user input to a second electronic device;
receiving, in response to a determination by the second electronic device that a software application associated with the intent object is not located on the first electronic device, an indication of the determination from the second electronic device;
responsive to the indication, obtaining a list of applications associated with the intent object;
displaying, with a touch-sensitive display of the first electronic device, the list of applications associated with the intent object in a user interface;
receiving a user input indicative of a selection of an application of the list of applications; and
providing the intent object of the set of intent objects to the application, wherein providing the intent object includes downloading and/or installing the application such that the first electronic device may access the software application locally, or wherein providing the intent object includes remotely accessing the application.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
identifying the intent object of the set of intent objects.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
identifying a parameter associated with the intent object of the set of intent objects; and
providing the parameter to the application.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
receiving a response from the application, wherein the response is indicative of whether the parameter is valid.

15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
causing the application to perform a task associated with the intent object; and
after providing the intent object to the application, receiving, from the application, a result response associated with the intent object.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Walker Ii Robert A
• Newendorp Brandon J
• Dasari Rohit
• Giuli Richard D
• Gruber Thomas R
• Radebaugh Carey E
• Garg Ashish
• Khosla Vineet
• Russell Jonathan H
• Peterson Corey

Classifications

• G10L15/30

  Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications · CPC title

• G10L13/02

  Methods for producing synthetic speech; Speech synthesisers · CPC title

• G10L2015/223

  Execution procedure of a spoken command · CPC title

• G06F40/35

  Discourse or dialogue representation · CPC title

• G10L15/1815

  Semantic context, e.g. disambiguation of the recognition hypotheses based on word meaning · CPC title