IP Library Granted Patent US 11,900,938
Granted Patent B2
US 11,900,938 · App. 17/867,161 · Granted Feb 13, 2024

Conversational agent response determined using a sentiment

Inventors: Johnny Chen (Sunnyvale, CA); Thomas L. Dean (Los Altos Hills, CA); Qiangfeng Peter Lau (Mountain View, CA); Sudeep Gandhe (Sunnyvale, CA); Gabriel Schine (Los Banos, CA)
Assignee: GOOGLE LLC
G10L15/22G06F16/3329G06F21/6245G10L13/00G10L13/033G10L13/08G10L15/1815G10L15/1822G10L15/26G10L15/30G10L17/22H04L67/104G10L2015/223G10L2015/228
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,900,938
App. No.
17/867,161
Granted
Feb 13, 2024
Kind
B2
Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for handing off a user conversation between computer-implemented agents. One of the methods includes receiving, by a computer-implemented agent specific to a user device, a digital representation of speech encoding an utterance, determining, by the computer-implemented agent, that the utterance specifies a requirement to establish a communication with another computer-implemented agent, and establishing, by the computer-implemented agent, a communication between the other computer-implemented agent and the user device.

Claims (60)

1. A method implemented by one or more processors of a user device, comprising:

receiving a spoken utterance from a user of the user device, the spoken utterance being directed to a first party computer-implemented agent that is executed at the user device;

determining whether the spoken utterance includes a request to interact with a third party computer-implemented agent, the third party computer-implemented agent being accessible by the user device over one or more networks; and

in response to determining that the spoken utterance includes the request to interact with the third party computer-implemented agent:

causing the third party computer-implemented agent to engage in a dialog with the user, wherein causing the third party computer-implemented agent to engage in the dialog with the user comprises:

causing the third party computer-implemented agent to generate third party computer-implement agent voice output based on a particular style of speech that is specified by third party computer-implemented agent data associated with the third party computer-implemented agent; and

causing the third party computer-implement agent voice output to be provided for presentation to the user at the user device.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to determining that the spoken utterance does not include the request to interact with the third party computer-implemented agent:

generating first party computer-implement agent voice output based on an additional particular style of speech that differs from the particular style of speech that is specified by the third party computer-implemented agent data associated with the third party computer-implemented agent; and

causing the first party computer-implement agent voice output to be provided for presentation to the user at the user device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein causing the third party computer-implemented agent to generate the third party computer-implement agent voice output is further based on a conversational flow that is also specified by the third party computer-implemented agent data associated with the third party computer-implemented agent.

4. The method of claim 1 , in response to determining that the spoken utterance includes the request to interact with the third party computer-implemented agent and prior to causing the third party computer-implemented agent to engage in the dialog with the user, further comprising:

establishing, over one or more of the networks, a communication between the user device and an additional device,

wherein the third party computer-implemented agent is executed at the additional device, and

wherein the communication between the user device and the additional device enables the third party computer-implemented agent to communicate with the first party computer-implemented agent.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the third party computer-implemented agent data associated with the third party computer-implemented agent is received at the user device prior to establishing the communication between the user device and the additional device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein causing the third party computer-implemented agent to engage in the dialog with the user further comprises:

providing, over one or more of the networks, a representation of the spoken utterance to the third party computer-implemented agent; and

receiving, over one or more of the networks, a representation of the third party computer-implement agent voice output based on a particular style of speech.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the representation of the spoken utterance comprises a speech encoding of the spoken utterance and/or a text representation of the spoken utterance.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the representation of the third party computer-implement agent voice output comprises the third party computer-implement agent voice output to be provided for presentation to the user at the user device.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the representation of the third party computer-implement agent voice output comprises text corresponding to the third party computer-implement agent voice output to be provided for presentation to the user at the user device.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein causing the third party computer-implement agent voice output to be provided for presentation to the user at the user device comprises:

generating, based on the text corresponding to the third party computer-implement agent voice output and based on the third party computer-implemented agent data, the third party computer-implement agent voice output in the particular style of speech; and

causing the third party computer-implement agent voice output to be provided for presentation to the user at the user device.

11. A user device comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory storing instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:

receive a spoken utterance from a user of the user device, the spoken utterance being directed to a first party computer-implemented agent that is executed at the user device;

determine whether the spoken utterance includes a request to interact with a third party computer-implemented agent, the third party computer-implemented agent being accessible by the user device over one or more networks; and

in response to determining that the spoken utterance includes the request to interact with the third party computer-implemented agent:

cause the third party computer-implemented agent to engage in a dialog with the user, wherein the instructions to cause the third party computer-implemented agent to engage in the dialog with the user comprise instructions to:

cause the third party computer-implemented agent to generate third party computer-implement agent voice output based on a particular style of speech that is specified by third party computer-implemented agent data associated with the third party computer-implemented agent; and

cause the third party computer-implement agent voice output to be provided for presentation to the user at the user device.

12. The user device of claim 11 , wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

in response to determining that the spoken utterance does not include the request to interact with the third party computer-implemented agent:

generate first party computer-implement agent voice output based on an additional particular style of speech that differs from the particular style of speech that is specified by the third party computer-implemented agent data associated with the third party computer-implemented agent; and

cause the first party computer-implement agent voice output to be provided for presentation to the user at the user device.

13. The user device of claim 11 , wherein causing the third party computer-implemented agent to generate the third party computer-implement agent voice output is further based on a conversational flow that is also specified by the third party computer-implemented agent data associated with the third party computer-implemented agent.

14. The user device of claim 11 , in response to determining that the spoken utterance includes the request to interact with the third party computer-implemented agent and prior to causing the third party computer-implemented agent to engage in the dialog with the user, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

establish, over one or more of the networks, a communication between the user device and an additional device,

wherein the third party computer-implemented agent is executed at the additional device, and

wherein the communication between the user device and the additional device enables the third party computer-implemented agent to communicate with the first party computer-implemented agent.

15. The user device of claim 11 , wherein the instructions to cause the third party computer-implemented agent to engage in the dialog with the user further comprise instructions to:

provide, over one or more of the networks, a representation of the spoken utterance to the third party computer-implemented agent; and

receive, over one or more of the networks, a representation of the third party computer-implement agent voice output based on a particular style of speech.

16. The user device of claim 15 , wherein the representation of the spoken utterance comprises a speech encoding of the spoken utterance and/or a text representation of the spoken utterance.

17. The user device of claim 15 , wherein the representation of the third party computer-implement agent voice output comprises the third party computer-implement agent voice output to be provided for presentation to the user at the user device.

18. The user device of claim 15 , wherein the representation of the third party computer-implement agent voice output comprises text corresponding to the third party computer-implement agent voice output to be provided for presentation to the user at the user device.

19. The user device of claim 18 , wherein the instructions to cause the third party computer-implement agent voice output to be provided for presentation to the user at the user device comprise instructions to:

generate, based on the text corresponding to the third party computer-implement agent voice output and based on the third party computer-implemented agent data, the third party computer-implement agent voice output in the particular style of speech; and

cause the third party computer-implement agent voice output to be provided for presentation to the user at the user device.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:

receiving a spoken utterance from a user of the user device, the spoken utterance being directed to a first party computer-implemented agent that is executed at the user device;

determining whether the spoken utterance includes a request to interact with a third party computer-implemented agent, the third party computer-implemented agent being accessible by the user device over one or more networks; and

in response to determining that the spoken utterance includes the request to interact with the third party computer-implemented agent:

causing the third party computer-implemented agent to engage in a dialog with the user, wherein causing the third party computer-implemented agent to engage in the dialog with the user comprises:

causing the third party computer-implemented agent to generate third party computer-implement agent voice output based on a particular style of speech that is specified by third party computer-implemented agent data associated with the third party computer-implemented agent; and

causing the third party computer-implement agent voice output to be provided for presentation to the user at the user device.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jul 19, 2022
From: CHEN, JOHNNY; DEAN, THOMAS L.; LAU, QIANGFENG PETER; GANDHE, SUDEEP; SCHINE, GABRIEL
To: GOOGLE INC.
Reel/Frame 060543/0923 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Jul 19, 2022
From: GOOGLE INC.
To: GOOGLE LLC
Reel/Frame 060715/0729 →
Continuity (7)
Continuation 16939298 · Jul 27, 2020
Continuation 16395533 · Apr 26, 2019
Continuation 15966975 · Apr 30, 2018
Continuation 15464935 · Mar 21, 2017
Continuation 15228488 · Aug 4, 2016
Continuation 14447737 · Jul 31, 2014
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