ATTENTIVE ASSISTANT
An approach to providing communication assistance to an operator of a vehicle makes use software having a first component executing on a personal device of the operator as well as a second component executing on a server in communication with the personal device. In some implementations, handling a call involves establishing a first two-way audio link between the server and the calling device is established, and a second two-way audio link between a server and the user device. The server passes some of the audio from the calling device to the user device, and monitors a user's voice input, of lack thereof, to determine how to handle the call.
1 . A method for assisting communication via a user device, the method comprising:
receiving at a server a voice-based call from a calling device for the user device, the voice-based call having been made to an address associated with the user device, including establishing a first two-way audio link between the server and the calling device;
establishing a second two-way audio link between the server and the user device;
responding to the call, including
sending a first audio stream over the first link to the calling device, said audio stream including a spoken message for alerting a calling party to the involvement of an automated assistant,
receiving a second audio stream over the first link, and
sending a third audio stream over the second link, said third audio stream including a portion of the second audio stream;
processing audio received over at least one of the first link and the second link at the server, including
waiting to receive a first voice response of a first predetermined type over the second link, and
if the first voice response is received, causing the calling device and the user device to be joined by a two-way audio link.
2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the sending of the third audio stream is performed at least in part during receiving of the second audio stream.
3 . The method of claim 2 wherein the third audio stream is a delay of the second audio stream.
4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the voice response from the user device is not sent to the calling device.
5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the first voice response consists of no spoken response.
6 . The method of claim 1 wherein processing the audio further includes
waiting to receive a second voice response of a second predetermined type over the second link, and
if the second voice response is received, causing the calling device and a voice messaging server to be joined by a two-way audio link.
7 . The method of claim 1 wherein establishing the second link is performed prior to receiving the voice-based call.
8 . The method of claim 7 where the second link comprises a packet-based link.
9 . The method of claim 1 wherein causing the calling device and the user device to be joined by a two-way audio link comprises bridging the first link and the second link.
10 . The method of claim 1 wherein causing the calling device and the user device to be joined by a two-way audio link comprises redirecting the voice-based call to the user device.
11 . A method for assisting communication via a user device, the method comprising:
establishing a second two-way audio link between a server and a user device;
responding to a call made to the user device, including
receiving a third audio stream over the second link, said third audio stream including a portion of the second audio stream received from a calling device at the server;
processing audio received at the user device from a user, including
receiving a first voice response of a first predetermined type,
wherein first voice response causes the calling device and the user device to be joined by a two-way audio link.
12 . The method of claim 11 wherein the receiving of the third audio stream is performed at least in part during receiving of the second audio stream at the server.
13 . The method of claim 12 wherein the third audio stream is a delay of the second audio stream.
14 . The method of claim 11 wherein establishing the second link is performed to the server receiving the second audio stream.
15 . The method of claim 14 where the second link comprises a packet-based link.
16 . The method of claim 1 wherein causing the calling device and the user device to be joined by a two-way audio link comprises causing bridging of the first link and the second link.
17 . The method of claim 1 wherein causing the calling device and the user device to be joined by a two-way audio link comprises causing redirection of the voice-based call to the user device.