Better resolution when referencing to concepts

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9633004-B2
Application number	US-201414500703-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 29, 2014
Priority date	May 30, 2014
Publication date	Apr 25, 2017
Grant date	Apr 25, 2017

Abstract

Systems and processes for operating a virtual assistant programmed to refer to shared domain concepts using concept nodes are provided. In some examples, to process a textual representation of user speech using an active ontology having these concept nodes, a primary user intent can be determined from the textual representation of user speech. Concepts referred to by the primary user intent can be identified, and substrings of the textual representation of user speech corresponding to the concepts can be identified. Secondary user intents for the substrings can be determined and a task flow based on the primary user intent and the secondary user intents can be generated and performed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for operating a virtual assistant on an electronic device, the method comprising:
receiving an audio input comprising user speech;
converting the user speech of the audio input into a textual representation of the user speech;
determining a primary user intent for the textual representation;
identifying a first type of concept referred to by the primary user intent;
identifying a first substring from the textual representation corresponding to the first type of concept;
determining a secondary user intent for the first substring; and
performing a task flow comprising one or more tasks based at least in part on the primary user intent for the textual representation and the secondary user intent for the first substring.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the primary user intent for the textual representation comprises:
determining a confidence score for a plurality of interpretations of the textual representation; and
determining the primary user intent for the textual representation based on an interpretation of the plurality of interpretations of the textual representation having the highest confidence score.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first type of concept comprises a place, a time, an event, or a person.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the first substring from the textual representation comprises:
identifying one or more predetermined words corresponding to the first type of concept in the textual representation; and
identifying the first substring based on the one or more predetermined words corresponding to the first type of concept.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the secondary user intent for the first substring comprises:
determining a confidence score for a plurality of interpretations of the first substring; and
determining the secondary user intent for the first substring based on an interpretation of the plurality of interpretations of the first substring having the highest confidence score.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of interpretations of the first substring exclude interpretations from domains that do not output the first type of concept.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying a second type of concept referred to by the primary user intent; identifying a second substring from the textual representation corresponding to the second type of concept; and
determining a secondary user intent for the second substring, wherein performing the task flow is further based on the secondary user intent for the second substring.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the second type of concept comprises a place, a time, an event, or a person.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein identifying the second substring from the textual representation comprises:
identifying one or more predetermined words corresponding to the second type of concept in the textual representation; and
identifying the second substring based on the one or more predetermined words corresponding to the second type of concept.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein determining the secondary user intent for the second substring comprises:
determining a confidence score for a plurality of interpretations of the second substring; and
determining the secondary user intent for the second substring based on an interpretation of the plurality of interpretations of the second substring having the highest confidence score.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of interpretations of the second substring exclude interpretations from domains that do not output the second type of concept.

12. The method of a claim 7 , further comprising:
identifying a third type of concept referred to by the secondary user intent for the first substring;
identifying a third substring from the first substring corresponding to the third type of concept; and
determining a tertiary user intent for the third substring, wherein performing the task flow is further based on the tertiary user intent for the third substring.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the third type of concept comprises a place, a time, an event, or a person.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein identifying the third substring from the first substring comprises:
identifying one or more predetermined words corresponding to the third type of concept in the first substring; and
identifying the third substring based on the one or more predetermined words corresponding to the third type of concept.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein determining the tertiary user intent for the third substring comprises:
determining a confidence score for a plurality of interpretations of the third substring; and
determining the tertiary user intent for the third substring based on an interpretation of the plurality of interpretations of the third substring having the highest confidence score.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of interpretations of the third substring exclude interpretations from domains that do not output the third type of concept.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the task flow comprises:
identifying a primary task flow to accomplish the primary user intent;
identifying one or more constraints associated with the primary task flow;
identifying one or more queries, programs, methods, services, or APIs that satisfy the one or more constraints associated with the primary task flow; and
generating the task flow from the primary task flow and the identified one or more queries, programs, methods, services, or APIs.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the one or more constraints comprises a type of input required by the primary task flow, and wherein the identified one or more queries, programs, methods, services, or APIs are capable of providing the type of input required by the primary task flow.

19. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
parsing the textual representation, wherein determining the primary user intent for the textual representation comprises determining the primary user intent for the parsed textual representation; and
parsing the first substring, wherein determining the secondary user intent for the first substring comprises determining the secondary user intent for the parsed first substring.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the first type of concept referred to by the primary user intent is performed after determining the primary user intent.

21. An electronic device, comprising:
one or more processors;
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 an audio input comprising user speech;
converting the user speech of the audio input into a textual representation of the user speech;
determining a primary user intent for the textual representation;
identifying a first type of concept referred to by the primary user intent;
identifying a first substring from the textual representation corresponding to the first type of concept;
determining a secondary user intent for the first substring; and
performing a task flow comprising one or more tasks based at least in part on the primary user intent for the textual representation and the secondary user intent for the first substring.

22. The device of claim 21 , wherein determining the primary user intent f

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Giuli Richard D
• Treadgold Nicholas K

Classifications

• G10L15/1822 Primary

  Parsing for meaning understanding · CPC title

• G06F40/30

  Semantic analysis · CPC title

• G06F3/167

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

• G06F16/3329

  Natural language query formulation · CPC title

• G10L15/22 Primary

  Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue · CPC title