IP Library Granted Patent US 11,599,331
Granted Patent B2
US 11,599,331 · App. 17/074,990 · Granted Mar 7, 2023

Maintaining privacy of personal information

Inventors: Brandon J. Newendorp (San Francisco, CA); Joanna S. Peterson (San Jose, CA)
Assignee: Apple Inc.
G06F3/167G06F21/6245G06F40/20G06F40/56G10L15/1815G10L15/22G10L15/30G06F3/0484G06F3/0488G10L15/183G10L15/1822G10L2015/223
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,599,331
App. No.
17/074,990
Granted
Mar 7, 2023
Kind
B2
Abstract

Systems and processes for operating an intelligent automated assistant to perform intelligent list reading are provided. In accordance with one example, a method includes, at an electronic device having one or more processors, receiving a natural-language input corresponding to a domain; providing the natural-language input to an external device; receiving, from the external device, a process flow corresponding to the domain; determining, with the process flow corresponding to the domain, a task associated with the natural-language input; performing the task; and providing an output indicating whether the task has been performed.

Claims (85)

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions, which when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to:

receive, from an external device, a natural-language input requesting to retrieve private data;

in accordance with a determination that the natural-language input corresponds to a privacy domain, obtain a process flow corresponding to the natural-language input; and

provide the process flow to the external device, wherein the external device:

determines, based on executing the process flow at the external device, a task associated with the natural-language input; and

performs the task based on the private data from a memory of the external device.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein performing the task by the external device includes retrieving the private data from the memory of the external device.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the external device determines the task based on context of the external device.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the privacy domain is a domain associated with the private data.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the process flow includes ASR flow, NL processing flow, or a combination thereof.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the external device:

provides an output indicating whether the task has been performed.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6 , wherein providing the output indicating whether the task has been performed comprises providing natural-language output.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6 , wherein the external device includes a touch sensitive display, and wherein providing the output indicating whether the task has been performed comprises:

providing, on the touch-sensitive display, the private data.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the process flow includes a user interface flow and wherein providing, on the touch-sensitive display, the private data comprises:

providing, on the touch-sensitive display, the private data according to the user interface flow.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the process flow comprises a set of executable instructions corresponding to the privacy domain.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the process flow corresponds to an identified domain of the natural-language input.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the electronic device to:

obtain a first text string based on the natural-language input, wherein providing the process flow to the external device includes providing the first text string to the external device.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the electronic device to:

in accordance with a determination that the natural-language input does not correspond to the privacy domain, obtain a second task associated with the natural-language input; and

provide the second task to the external device, wherein the external device performs the second task to provide an output at the external device.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the electronic device is a server device and the external device is a client device.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the electronic device does not store the private data.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the electronic device has higher processing power than the external device.

17. A method, comprising:

at an electronic device having one or more processors and memory:

receiving, from an external device, a natural-language input requesting to retrieve private data;

in accordance with a determination that the natural-language input corresponds to a privacy domain, obtaining a process flow corresponding to the natural-language input; and

providing the process flow to the external device, wherein the external device:

determines, based on executing the process flow at the external device, a task associated with the natural language input; and

performs the task based on the private data from a memory of the external device.

18. An electronic device, comprising:

one or more processors;

a 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, from an external device, a natural-language input requesting to retrieve private data;

in accordance with a determination that the natural-language input corresponds to a privacy domain, obtaining a process flow corresponding to the natural-language input; and

providing the process flow to the external device, wherein the external device:

determines, based on executing the process flow at the external device, a task associated with the natural language input; and

performs the task based on the private data from a memory of the external device.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein performing the task by the external device includes retrieving the private data from the memory of the external device.

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein the external device determines the task based on context of the external device.

21. The method of claim 17 , wherein the privacy domain is a domain associated with the private data.

22. The method of claim 17 , wherein the process flow includes ASR flow, NL processing flow, or a combination thereof.

23. The method of claim 17 , wherein the external device:

provides an output indicating whether the task has been performed.

24. The method of claim 23 , wherein providing the output indicating whether the task has been performed comprises providing natural-language output.

25. The method of claim 23 , wherein the external device includes a touch sensitive display, and wherein providing the output indicating whether the task has been performed comprises:

providing, on the touch-sensitive display, the private data.

26. The method of claim 25 , wherein the process flow includes a user interface flow and wherein providing, on the touch-sensitive display, the private data comprises:

providing, on the touch-sensitive display, the private data according to the user interface flow.

27. The method of claim 17 , wherein the process flow comprises a set of executable instructions corresponding to the privacy domain.

28. The method of claim 17 , wherein the process flow corresponds to an identified domain of the natural-language input.

29. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

obtaining a first text string based on the natural-language input, wherein providing the process flow to the external device includes providing the first text string to the external device.

30. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

in accordance with a determination that the natural-language input does not correspond to the privacy domain, obtaining a second task associated with the natural-language input; and

providing the second task to the external device, wherein the external device performs the second task to provide an output at the external device.

31. The method of claim 17 , wherein the electronic device is a server device and the external device is a client device.

32. The method of claim 17 , wherein the electronic device does not store the private data.

33. The method of claim 17 , wherein the electronic device has higher processing power than the external device.

34. The electronic device of claim 18 , wherein performing the task by the external device includes retrieving the private data from the memory of the external device.

35. The electronic device of claim 18 , wherein the external device determines the task based on context of the external device.

36. The electronic device of claim 18 , wherein the privacy domain is a domain associated with the private data.

37. The electronic device of claim 18 , wherein the process flow includes ASR flow, NL processing flow, or a combination thereof.

38. The electronic device of claim 18 , wherein the external device:

provides an output indicating whether the task has been performed.

39. The electronic device of claim 38 , wherein providing the output indicating whether the task has been performed comprises providing natural-language output.

40. The electronic device of claim 38 , wherein the external device includes a touch sensitive display, and wherein providing the output indicating whether the task has been performed comprises:

providing, on the touch-sensitive display, the private data.

41. The electronic device of claim 40 , wherein the process flow includes a user interface flow and wherein providing, on the touch-sensitive display, the private data comprises:

providing, on the touch-sensitive display, the private data according to the user interface flow.

42. The electronic device of claim 18 , wherein the process flow comprises a set of executable instructions corresponding to the privacy domain.

43. The electronic device of claim 18 , wherein the process flow corresponds to an identified domain of the natural-language input.

44. The electronic device of claim 18 , wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:

obtaining a first text string based on the natural-language input, wherein providing the process flow to the external device includes providing the first text string to the external device.

45. The electronic device of claim 18 , wherein the one or more programs further include instructions for:

in accordance with a determination that the natural-language input does not correspond to the privacy domain, obtaining a second task associated with the natural-language input; and

providing the second task to the external device, wherein the external device performs the second task to provide an output at the external device.

46. The electronic device of claim 18 , wherein the electronic device is a server device and the external device is a client device.

47. The electronic device of claim 18 , wherein the electronic device does not store the private data.

48. The electronic device of claim 18 , wherein the electronic device has higher processing power than the external device.

Priority Claims (1)
DK PA201770405 · May 29, 2017 · national
Continuity (4)
Continuation 16883099 · May 26, 2020
Continuation 15917355 · Mar 9, 2018
Provisional Application 62505019 · May 11, 2017
Related Publication 20210035567A1 · Feb 4, 2021
Cited By (1)
US 12,216,963