Coordination of overlapping processing of audio queries

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11989229-B2
Application number	US-201916341763-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 8, 2019
Priority date	May 3, 2018
Publication date	May 21, 2024
Grant date	May 21, 2024

Abstract

Coordinating processing of audio queries is provided. A system receives a query. The system provides the query to a first digital assistant component and a second digital assistant component for processing. The system receives a first response to the query from the first digital assistant component, and a second response to the query from the second digital assistant component. The first digital assistant component can be authorized to access a database the second digital assistant component is prohibited from accessing. The system determines, based on a ranking decision function, to select the second response to the query from the second digital assistant component. The system provides, responsive to the selection, the second response from the second digital assistant to a computing device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system to coordinate overlapping processing of audio queries, comprising:
a data processing system comprising at least one processor and memory to:
receive, via an interface, one or more data packets corresponding to an audio signal detected by a sensor of a computing device;
generate a query based on the audio signal received via the one or more data packets;
transmit the query to a plurality of digital assistant components, including transmitting the query, using an application programming interface, to a first digital assistant component that executes on a remote server and that is administered by a first entity, and transmitting the query to a second digital assistant component that executes on the computing device and that is administered by a second entity, wherein the first entity is different from the second entity;
receive a first response to the query from the first digital assistant component of the plurality of digital assistant components;
receive a second response to the query from the second digital assistant component of the plurality of digital assistant components, wherein the first digital assistant component is authorized to access a database the second digital assistant component is prohibited from accessing, and wherein the first digital assistant component and the second digital assistant component are configured to process the query at least partially in parallel;
determine, based on a ranking decision function and a domain to which the query belongs, to select the second response from the second digital assistant component instead of the first response from the first digital assistant component, wherein determining to select the second response comprises:
determining the first digital assistant component is a preferred digital assistant;
determining that the first response from the first digital assistant component is flagged as a fallback response;
overriding, responsive to the determination that the first response from the first digital assistant component is flagged as the fallback response, the first digital assistant component;
selecting the second response from the second digital assistant component; and
maintaining the first digital assistant component as the preferred digital assistant; and

provide, responsive to the selection, the second response from the second digital assistant component to the computing device.

2. The system of claim 1 , comprising:
the data processing system to select the second response from the second digital assistant component based on a confidence score for the second response from the second digital assistant component.

3. The system of claim 1 , comprising the data processing system to:
determine a signal for the query; and
select the ranking decision function from a plurality of ranking decision functions based on the signal.

4. The system of claim 1 , comprising the data processing system to:
determine a signal for the query; and
select responses from the second digital assistant component based on the signal.

5. The system of claim 1 , comprising:
the data processing system to determine, based on the ranking decision function, to select the second response based on the second digital assistant component accessing data stored in memory of the computing device.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first response comprises one of calendar information or media content.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first digital assistant component executes independently of the second digital assistant component to generate the first response.

8. The system of claim 1 , comprising:
the data processing system to transmit the query to each of the plurality of digital assistants via an independent branch to cause the plurality of digital assistants to process the query in an overlapping manner.

9. The system of claim 1 , comprising the data processing system to:
receive the one or more data packets from the computing device via a streaming speech server configured to convert audio to text.

10. The system of claim 1 , comprising:
the data processing system to determine, based on the ranking decision function, to select the second response based on the first response being an audio-only response.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second response, received from the second digital assistant component, indicates that the query belongs to the domain.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the second response, received from the second digital assistant component, further indicates that the domain is preferred by the second digital assistant component.

13. A system to coordinate overlapping processing of audio queries, comprising:
a data processing system comprising at least one processor and memory to:
receive, via an interface, one or more data packets corresponding to an audio signal detected by a sensor of a computing device;
generate a query based on the audio signal received via the one or more data packets;
transmit the query to a plurality of digital assistant components, including transmitting the query, using an application programming interface, to a first digital assistant component that executes on a remote server and that is administered by a first entity, and transmitting the query to a second digital assistant component that executes on the computing device and that is administered by a second entity, wherein the first entity is different from the second entity;
receive a first response to the query from the first digital assistant component of the plurality of digital assistant components;
receive a second response to the query from the second digital assistant component of the plurality of digital assistant components, wherein the first digital assistant component is authorized to access a database the second digital assistant component is prohibited from accessing, and wherein the first digital assistant component and the second digital assistant component are configured to process the query at least partially in parallel;
determine, based on a ranking decision function and a domain to which the query belongs, to select the second response from the second digital assistant component instead of the first response from the first digital assistant component, wherein determining to select the second response comprises:
receiving the second response from the second digital assistant component prior to the first response from the first digital assistant component;
determining that the second digital assistant component is not a preferred digital assistant component;
determining that the first digital assistant is the preferred digital assistant;
waiting, responsive to the determination that the second digital assistant component is not a preferred digital assistant and the first digital assistant is the preferred digital assistant, for the first response from the first digital assistant component;
upon receipt of the first response from the first digital assistant component, determining that the first response is flagged as a fallback response; and
selecting the second response based on the determination that the second digital assistant component is not the preferred digital assistant and the first response is flagged as the fallback response; and

provide, responsive to the selection, the second response from the second digital assistant component to the computing device.

14. A method of coordinating overlapping processing of audio queries, comprising:
receiving, by a data processing system comprising a processor and memory, one or more data packets corresponding to an audio signal detected by a sen

Assignees

• Google Llc

Inventors

• Wang Bo
• Rai Smita
• Ohlendorf Max
• Kotla Venkat
• Yoshikawa Chad
• Taneja Abhinav
• Agarwal Amit
• Ramsdale Chris
• Turkstra Chris

Classifications

• H04L67/02

  based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP] · CPC title

• G06F16/634 Primary

  Query by example, e.g. query by humming · CPC title

• G06F16/2471 Primary

  Distributed queries · CPC title

• G06F16/632 Primary

  Query formulation · CPC title

• G06F16/332

  Query formulation · CPC title