IP Library Granted Patent US 11,218,565
Granted Patent B2
US 11,218,565 · App. 16/661,787 · Granted Jan 4, 2022

Personalized updates upon invocation of a service

Inventors: Alice Jane Bernheim Brush (Bellevue, WA); Lisa Stifelman (Palo Alto, CA); James Francis Gilsinan, IV (Redmond, WA); Karl Rolando Henderson, Jr. (Renton, WA); Robert Juan Miller (Bellevue, WA); Nikhil Rajkumar Jain (Bellevue, WA); Hanjiang Zhou (Bothell, WA); Oliver Scholz (Seattle, WA); Hisami Suzuki (Redmond, WA)
Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
H04L67/32H04L67/306
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,218,565
App. No.
16/661,787
Granted
Jan 4, 2022
Kind
B2
Abstract

A primary virtual assistant and local virtual assistant herein can provide secondary information, including, without limitation, user-specific information, without having direct access to such information. For example, a user may invoke a secondary virtual assistant, through the local virtual assistant connected to a primary virtual assistant system. This invocation may be sent through the primary virtual assistant to the third party provider, i.e., the secondary virtual assistant. The secondary virtual assistant has access to the secondary information, for example, email, calendars, other types of information specifically associated with the user or learned from past user actions while this information is not directly available to the primary virtual assistant. This secondary information is then provided to the local virtual assistant in response to the invocation to be provided to the user.

Claims (37)

1. A method comprising:

receiving, from a primary virtual assistant, an invocation of a secondary virtual assistant, the primary virtual assistant having received the invocation of the secondary virtual assistant from a local virtual assistant;

invoking the secondary virtual assistant;

based on identification information in the invocation, identifying a user associated with the invocation;

retrieving, from a data store accessible by the secondary virtual assistant but not the primary virtual assistant, secondary information associated with the user and accessible by the secondary virtual assistant, wherein the secondary information is not accessible by the primary virtual assistant, wherein the secondary information is information specific to the user; and

sending a response including at least a portion of the retrieved secondary information from the secondary virtual assistant.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the secondary virtual assistant executes a service to retrieve the secondary information.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the identification information is one or more of an Internet Protocol (IP) address, an account information, speech recognition, biometric information, and/or user information.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the primary virtual assistant passes the invocation from the local virtual assistant to the secondary virtual assistant.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the primary virtual assistant and the local virtual assistant are associated.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein at least the portion of the secondary information comprises data associated with one of an email or a calendar that is specific to the user.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the secondary information is user-specific contextual information.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the user-specific contextual information is within temporal proximity to a current time when the invocation is received.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the user enables the response.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the user enables the response by selecting a user interface device in a settings menu associated with the local virtual assistant.

11. A computer storage media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving at a first virtual assistant, from a user communicating with a local virtual assistant, an invocation of a second virtual assistant;

sending a signal to the second virtual assistant with the invocation and identification information of the user;

receiving, from the second virtual assistant, a response to the invocation including secondary information, wherein the second virtual assistant executes a service to retrieve the secondary information and the secondary information is not accessible by the first virtual assistant; and

providing the response for the user.

12. The computer storage media of claim 11 , wherein the second virtual assistant retrieves the secondary information based on the identification information, and wherein the identification information is one or more of an Internet Protocol (IP) address, an account information, speech recognition, biometric information, and/or user information.

13. The computer storage media of claim 11 , wherein the the service retrieves the secondary information from a data store.

14. The computer storage media of claim 11 , wherein at least a portion of the secondary information comprises data associated with one of an email or a calendar.

15. The computer storage media of claim 11 , wherein the secondary information is within temporal proximity to a current time when the invocation is received.

16. A server, comprising:

a processor;

a memory storing computer executable instructions, which when executed, cause the processor to:

provide a first virtual assistant, wherein the first virtual assistant:

receives, from a local virtual assistant, an invocation of a second virtual assistant from a user;

based on the invocation, identifies a third party that executes the second virtual assistant;

sends an indication of the invocation to the third party, wherein the invocation comprises identification information;

receives a response to the indication of the invocation, wherein the response includes secondary information associated with the user, wherein the secondary information is retrieved by a skill accessed by the third party, and the skill provides, to the third party, the secondary information that is not accessible by the first virtual assistant; and

sends, to the local virtual assistant, the response to the indication of the invocation that includes at least a portion of the secondary information.

17. The server of claim 16 , wherein the identification information is one or more of an Internet Protocol (IP) address, an account information, speech recognition, biometric information, and/or user information.

18. The server of claim 16 , wherein the third party is the second virtual assistant that executes the skill to retrieve the secondary information.

19. The server of claim 16 , wherein at least a portion of the secondary information comprises data associated with one of an email or a calendar.

20. The server of claim 16 , wherein the secondary information is within temporal proximity to a current time when the invocation is received.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 23, 2019
From: BRUSH, ALICE JANE BERNHEIM; STIFELMAN, LISA; GILSINAN, JAMES FRANCIS, IV; MILLER, ROBERT JUAN; HENDERSON, KARL ROLANDO, JR; JAIN, NIKHIL RAJKUMAR; ZHOU, HANJIANG; SCHOLZ, OLIVER; SUZUKI, HISAMI
To: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
Reel/Frame 050806/0948 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20210126985A1 · Apr 29, 2021