Proactive incorporation of unsolicited content into human-to-computer dialogs

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11929069-B2
Application number	US-202117411532-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 25, 2021
Priority date	May 3, 2017
Publication date	Mar 12, 2024
Grant date	Mar 12, 2024

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, and computer readable media are described related to automated assistants that proactively incorporate, into human-to-computer dialog sessions, unsolicited content of potential interest to a user. In various implementations, based on content of an existing human-to-computer dialog session between a user and an automated assistant, an entity mentioned by the user or automated assistant may be identified. Fact(s)s related to the entity or to another entity that is related to the entity may be identified based on entity data contained in database(s). For each of the fact(s), a corresponding measure of potential interest to the user may be determined. Unsolicited natural language content may then be generated that includes one or more of the facts selected based on the corresponding measure(s) of potential interest. The automated assistant may then incorporate the unsolicited content into the existing human-to-computer dialog session or a subsequent human-to-computer dialog session.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method implemented using one or more processors, the method comprising:
processing a voice input provided by a user as part of a dialog session involving the user and an automated assistant executed by one or more of the processors;
generating solicited natural language content, wherein the solicited natural language content is responsive to a request identified in the voice input based on the processing;
incorporating, by the automated assistant into the dialog session involving the user and the automated assistant, the solicited natural language content,
wherein the solicited natural language content comprises a fact;

determining, based on the request identified in the voice input and contextual information associated with the user, a measure of desirability of the user to receive unsolicited content;
in response to determining that the measure of desirability satisfies a threshold, causing unsolicited natural language content to be automatically output to the user without the user specifically requesting the unsolicited natural language content, wherein the unsolicited natural language output includes a query that is tangential to the request identified in the voice input based on the processing,
wherein the query incorporates the fact, and
wherein user interaction with the query initiates automated assistant interaction with an application; and

in response to determining that the measure of desirability fails to satisfy the threshold, refraining from causing unsolicited natural language content to be automatically output to the user.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contextual information includes traffic detected near a current location of the user.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contextual information includes past human-to-computer dialogs between the user and the automated assistant.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contextual information includes one or more applications currently being interacted with by the user.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contextual information includes a state of an application operating on a computing device controlled by the user.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contextual information includes an accelerometer signal generated by a computing device carried by the user.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contextual information includes sentiment analysis of speech recognition output of the voice input.

8. A system comprising one or more processors and memory storing instructions that, in response to execution of the instructions, cause the one or more processors to:
process a voice input provided by a user as part of a dialog session involving the user and an automated assistant executed by one or more of the processors to identify a request;
generate solicited natural language content, wherein the solicited natural language content is responsive to the request;
incorporate, by the automated assistant into the dialog session involving the user and the automated assistant, the solicited natural language content,
wherein the solicited natural language content comprises a fact;

determine, based on the request identified in the voice input and contextual information associated with the user, a measure of desirability of the user to receive unsolicited content;
in response the determination that the measure of desirability satisfies a threshold, cause unsolicited natural language content to be automatically output to the user without the user specifically requesting the unsolicited natural language content, wherein the unsolicited natural language output includes a query that is tangential to the request identified in the voice input,
wherein the query incorporates the fact, and
wherein user interaction with the query initiates automated assistant interaction with an application; and

in response to the determination that the measure of desirability fails to satisfy the threshold, refrain from causing unsolicited natural language content to be automatically output to the user.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the contextual information includes traffic detected near a current location of the user.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the contextual information includes past human-to-computer dialogs between the user and the automated assistant.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the contextual information includes one or more applications currently being interacted with by the user.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the contextual information includes a state of an application operating on a computing device controlled by the user.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the contextual information includes an accelerometer signal generated by a computing device carried by the user.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the contextual information includes sentiment analysis of speech recognition output of the voice input.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, in response to execution of the instructions by a processor, cause the processor to:
process a voice input provided by a user as part of a dialog session involving the user and an automated assistant executed by one or more of the processors to identify a request;
generate solicited natural language content, wherein the solicited natural language content is responsive to the request;
incorporate, by the automated assistant into the dialog session involving the user and the automated assistant, the solicited natural language content,
wherein the solicited natural language content comprises a fact;

determine, based on the request identified in the voice input and contextual information associated with the user, a measure of desirability of the user to receive unsolicited content;
in response the determination that the measure of desirability satisfies a threshold, cause unsolicited natural language content to be automatically output to the user without the user specifically requesting the unsolicited natural language content, wherein the unsolicited natural language output includes a query that is tangential to the request identified in the voice input,
wherein the query incorporates the fact, and
wherein user interaction with the query initiates automated assistant interaction with an application; and

in response to the determination that the measure of desirability fails to satisfy the threshold, refrain from causing unsolicited natural language content to be automatically output to the user.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the contextual information includes traffic detected near a current location of the user.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the contextual information includes past human-to-computer dialogs between the user and the automated assistant.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the contextual information includes one or more applications currently being interacted with by the user.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the contextual information includes a state of an application operating on a computing device controlled by the user.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the contextual information includes an accelerometer signal generated by a computing device carried by the user.

Assignees

• Google Llc

Inventors

• Vuskovic Vladimir
• Wenger Stephan
• Ait Bahajji Zineb
• Baeuml Martin
• Dovlecel Alexandru
• Skobeltsyn Gleb

Classifications

• G06F40/56

  Natural language generation · CPC title

• G06F40/35 Primary

  Discourse or dialogue representation · CPC title

• G06F40/295 Primary

  Named entity recognition · CPC title

• G06F16/3344

  using natural language analysis · CPC title

• G06F16/3343

  using phonetics · CPC title