WO2002096126A2 - Procede et appareil de progressivite des messages par assistants numeriques - Google Patents

Procede et appareil de progressivite des messages par assistants numeriques Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2002096126A2
WO2002096126A2 PCT/US2002/015805 US0215805W WO02096126A2 WO 2002096126 A2 WO2002096126 A2 WO 2002096126A2 US 0215805 W US0215805 W US 0215805W WO 02096126 A2 WO02096126 A2 WO 02096126A2
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
person
event
contact
user
importance
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US2002/015805
Other languages
English (en)
Other versions
WO2002096126A3 (fr
Inventor
Paul Pierce
Shreekant Thakkar
Andrew Anderson
Uttam Sengupta
Kit Tham
Steven Bennett
Trevor Pering
Scott Robinson
Nicholas Wade
Original Assignee
Intel Corporation
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from US09/865,919 external-priority patent/US20020178226A1/en
Application filed by Intel Corporation filed Critical Intel Corporation
Priority to DE10296892T priority Critical patent/DE10296892T5/de
Priority to AU2002303800A priority patent/AU2002303800A1/en
Publication of WO2002096126A2 publication Critical patent/WO2002096126A2/fr
Publication of WO2002096126A3 publication Critical patent/WO2002096126A3/fr

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
    • H04W4/02—Services making use of location information
    • H04W4/029—Location-based management or tracking services
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L51/00—User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
    • H04L51/21—Monitoring or handling of messages
    • H04L51/214—Monitoring or handling of messages using selective forwarding
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
    • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
    • H04M3/487—Arrangements for providing information services, e.g. recorded voice services or time announcements
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L51/00—User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
    • H04L51/21—Monitoring or handling of messages
    • H04L51/224—Monitoring or handling of messages providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L51/00—User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
    • H04L51/58—Message adaptation for wireless communication
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
    • H04W4/02—Services making use of location information

Definitions

  • the present invention is related to an apparatus and method for escalating messages to individuals by way of digital assistants, such as pagers, telephones and organizers.
  • PDAs personal data assistants
  • Other devices allow users to store and organize information concerning people, places and events are currently in wide use. Many such devices maintain a user's schedule and provide automated reminder functions to remind the user of an upcoming event, such as a meeting. However, these devices require that all such information be directly supplied by their users. In essence, these devices do nothing beyond what their users instruct them to do.
  • Figure 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figure 2 is a flow chart followed by one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 3 is a flow chart followed by another embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figure 4 is a flow chart followed by another embodiment of the present invention.
  • the present invention concerns the escalating of selected information to the user of an automated assistant. Such escalation of selected information to a user could be done through portable or hand-held devices such as pagers, PDAs, mobile telephones or portable computers to keep the user up to date concerning his personal schedule.
  • portable or hand-held devices such as pagers, PDAs, mobile telephones or portable computers to keep the user up to date concerning his personal schedule.
  • the present invention is also applicable to the use of non-portable devices such as stationary computer systems or landline telephones, and may be used to provide information concerning issues other than personal schedule, such as current events, or affairs involving other people with some importance or connection to a user.
  • FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention.
  • Automated assistant 100 is comprised of context interpreter 110, event detector 112, agent selector 114 and escalation controller 116.
  • Automated assistant 100 relies on various pieces of information concerning a user including, but not limited to, PIM information 130, profile information 132, contact information 134 and rules 136.
  • User interface 140 allows a user to customize automated assistant 100.
  • Automated assistant 100 receives information that may be of importance to a user from at least one information provider 160, and automated assistant 100 may interact with at least one e-commerce provider 170 in order to carry out instructions from a user.
  • At least one communication provider 190 is used by automated assistant 100 to provide remote communication with a user.
  • such communication may include access to user interface 140.
  • user interface 140 is an application run by a user on a computer system, cell phone, portable PDA or other device used to gain access to automated assistant 100 and/ or to modify information used by automated assistant 100.
  • user interface 140 may be presented by way of web pages allowing a user to modify information used by automated assistant 100, and viewable using commonly available web browser hardware and/ or software.
  • user interface 140 is accessible only to a service provider that provides either part or all of the services of automated assistant 100 to a user.
  • a user's interaction with automated assistant 100 may be through communication provider 190.
  • PIM information 130 is maintained by automated assistant 100 and is comprised of daily information concerning a user.
  • this information includes, but is not limited to, the kinds of information often maintained on currently available PDA devices, such as a calendar of scheduled events and appointments, an address list, a phone list and memos by the user such as a "to-do" list.
  • this information is updated on a recurring basis from a PDA device carried by a user.
  • this information is provided by the user through use of user interface 140.
  • the user provides this information to automated assistant 100, directly through such devices as a pager or mobile phone.
  • PIM information 130 additionally includes information concerning another person to whom a user may have delegated the authority to respond to one more types of events.
  • PIM information 130 may be compiled from personal information maintained by other external sources, such as personal, work and/ or family calendars maintained externally from automated assistant 100, but to which automated assistant 100 has access by any of a number of means.
  • PIM information 130 may contain some information concerning the schedule of that other person for use in deterrnining whether or not that other person is available in lieu of the user at a given time.
  • Profile information 132 is maintained by automated assistant 100 and is comprised of information concerning a user's preferences.
  • Such information could include, but is not limited to, e-commerce providers that a user prefers to use for particular products or services, whether the user prefers a window or aisle seat on an airplane, a user's tastes in food, a user's membership in frequent flier mileage programs or business rate rental car programs, whether a user prefers to make all travel arrangements or is willing allow that to be done by others, a user's preference for primary means of communication, a user's preferred commute routes, as well as which stocks or travel locations are of greatest interest to a user.
  • Such information might also include, preferences about circumstances or types of events where a user prefers that another person be contacted in lieu of the user, such as a secretary, friend or family member of the user.
  • profile information 132 would be provided by the user to automated assistant 100, directly, possibly via user interface 140.
  • automated assistant 100 would derive such information by observing a user's behavior over time.
  • a user would directly supply such information, but over time, automated assistant 100 would record the degree to which the user did or did not adhere to that supplied information.
  • at least part of such information would be supplied by an organization or institution with which the user is connected, such as an employer, medical facility, bank or financial institution, or school.
  • Contact information 134 is maintained by automated assistant 100 and is comprised of information concerning what means are available to contact a user.
  • such information would comprise phone numbers for a user's pager, mobile phone, home telephone and/ or business telephone, along with data concerning whether text messages can be received on a user's pager or mobile phone.
  • such information would comprise email addresses by which a user could be contacted.
  • such information would comprise phone numbers of places outside of work or home where a user could be found.
  • contact information 134 may further comprise contact information on other individuals to which a user has given authority to handle one or more events in lieu of the user, such as secretaries, friends or family members of the user.
  • Rules 136 is maintained by automated assistant 100 and is comprised of a set of rules that must be followed in carrying out various functions. In various embodiments, such information would be supplied by the user and/ or others to whom the user has given authority to add or edit rules, including but not limited to, those who are setting up or mamtaining automated assistant 100, the user's employer, members of the user's family, etc.
  • the rules would comprise, but not be Umited to, limits on how much money may be spent on carrying out certain functions without first obtaining the user's approval, steps that must be followed in making reservations for travel or lodging, limits on the manner in which certain devices may be used in efforts to reach the user, limits concerning times during the day when the user does not want to be bothered, circumstances in which not the user, but another person to whom the user may have given authority to deal with one or more certain events, as well as exceptions to one or more of such rules.
  • There may also be rules concerning which kinds of events or which subjects to which an event may pertain are too sensitive to permit contacting certain persons and/ or to permit attempting to make contact by certain means that are somehow not deemed to be secure enough.
  • Rules 136 may be provided by various persons and/ or entities such as a user, the designers or maintainers of automated assistant 100, an entity associated with a user (such as a user's employer), or others to whom a user has delegated authority to make or alter rules 136.
  • Context interpreter 110 tracks information and makes predictions concerning the current circumstances of a user, i.e., a user's context.
  • Context interpreter 110 uses calendar, preference, profile, location and history information from various sources including, but not limited to, PIM information 130, profile information 132 and/ or rules 136 to determine where a user is likely to be, what the user is likely to be doing, how available the user is likely to be to various persons and/ or what resources are available for communication with the user. Where insufficient information is available to determine aspects of a user's context with certainty, predictions may be made, and such predictions may be accompanied by a confidence value to indicate the degree of certainty.
  • context interpreter 110 is an expert system which applies rules (which may or may not be part of rules 136) to make predictions concerning a user's context. In such an embodiment, a limit may be placed on the computations required to be performed by context interpreter 110 by limiting fields of information used in such computations to only those requested by other components of automated assistant 100.
  • context interpreter uses the calendar being maintained as part of PIM information 130 to track the user, relying on the assumption that the user will generally follow what is scheduled on that calendar.
  • context interpreter 110 uses information received through a communications provider 190 (discussed in greater detail, below) to track the actual activities and/ or whereabouts of a user.
  • information may be supplied by one or more devices being carried by a user, such as GPS data from a GPS receiver integrated into a user's cell phone or PDA.
  • Such information may also be derived from wireless or landline-based voice or data networks, such as the broadcasting and receiving network of a cellular communications system, or a network address of where a user has currently attached a device such as a portable computer. Furthermore, such information may also be derived from the network address of a computer system or device attached to a landline network that is being accessed by a user at a given time, provided that information correlating a network address to a specific physical location has been supplied or is available. [0019] Where information concerning the actual whereabouts of a user or other person is able to be provided, it may be desirable for that person to be able to limit where and/or when such information is provided, since such information may be deemed to be sensitive or private for various reasons.
  • such a person may instruct the provider of a cellular phone, pager or other communication service to refuse to pass on information on his/her actual whereabouts.
  • one or more computer systems that maintain a landline based network to which such a person has connected a portable or desktop computer, or other device may be configured to not pass on information needed to correlate a network address with a physical location, or may be configured to hide or limit access to the actual network address.
  • automated assistant 100 would be denied access to such a person's whereabouts, and would therefore, not have that information available in making determinations as to the best way to reach that person or in making determinations as to whether or not to attempt to reach that person, at all.
  • a user may configure or instruct automated assistant 100 to not pass on the user's current whereabouts, even if automated assistant 100 has access to or is being supplied with that information.
  • the choice of whether or not the information is transmitted is determined based on the identity of the would-be recipient. Specifically, a person could specify via a list, or degree of association, one or more individuals who would be permitted to receive information on the person's whereabouts, while others would not.
  • a person could specify varying degrees dissemination of such information such that the person's family members or spouse, for instance, would have unrestrained access to information concerning the person's whereabouts, while close friends or important coworkers might have access to a less detailed version of such information (such as, simply whether or not the person is "away" for the time being), and while still others are provided with no such information, at all.
  • Which individuals are chosen to be able to receive more of such information than others may be specified as part of being chosen by the person as being individuals to whom the person has delegated authority to handle particular types of events.
  • a person might specify particular situations or events in which more information concerning his/her whereabouts would be made available versus others.
  • Event detector 112 receives both information from information provider 160 concerning events and input from context interpreter 110 as to where a user is currently located or what a user is currently doing and will be doing in the future, and uses that information, along with profile information 132 and/or rules 136, to make a determination as to what action, if any, should be taken in response. In other words, event detector 112 evaluates the importance of an event to determine if anything should be done in response. In determining the importance of an event to a user, event detector 112 examines the information received from information provider 160 to see if there are any indications of anything that might effect the activities that a user is currently engaged in, or will be engaged in, such as attending a meeting or making investments.
  • Event detector 112 also examines the information received to determine if there is something that has happened or will be happening that may cause the user to want to add an activity, such as attending a convention concerning a subject of interest to the user. Furthermore, in determining the importance of an event to a user, event detector 112 also evaluates the urgency with which action is to be taken, possibly to avoid the loss of an opportunity to act and /or to enable an action to have greater beneficial effect.
  • Information provider 160 gathers and formats information for use by automated assistant 100.
  • the information received from information provider 160 could comprise weather updates, traffic reports, and news of such events as sales or special local events that may be of interest to a user engaged in local activities.
  • the information received could comprise flight arrival and departure schedules, flight status, weather conditions at distant locations and along routes of travel, and the occurrence of major events at distant locations that may be of interest or have an impact on the travel plans of a traveling user.
  • the information received could comprise stock quotes, earnings reports by corporations, and announcements by government agencies or other institutions of interest to a user engaged in making investments.
  • Information provider 160 may be an original source for information about events and/ or a gatherer and formatter of information about events received from other entities such as government agencies (e.g., NOAA) or commercial entities (e.g., CNN or MapQuest) where information provider 160 extracts, summarizes or transcodes information as necessary.
  • entities such as government agencies (e.g., NOAA) or commercial entities (e.g., CNN or MapQuest) where information provider 160 extracts, summarizes or transcodes information as necessary.
  • event detector 112 would use information from context interpreter 110 concerning a user's context to classify events as either scheduled and unscheduled. Part of this classification would rely on making a determination as to whether or not an event represents a deviation from a norm, which may be represented as a threshold value beyond which an event is considered to be outside the norm. Alternatively, information concerning whether an event is outside the norm (i.e., whether an event is in some way an "exception") may be provided as part of other information concerning the event from an external source, such as information provider 160.
  • An example of a scheduled event may be the checking of a weather information feed on a periodic basis.
  • Such periodic checking of information would be an example of a time- triggered event, i.e., a trigger for event detector 112 to respond to based not on information received concerning external events, but merely the passage of time causing event detector 112 to actively look for events that may be of interest to the user.
  • Another example would be the passage of time triggering a reminder of an event that was earlier scheduled on a calendar.
  • Examples of unscheduled events may be the receipt of a new email or an alert from an airline about a flight cancellation.
  • agent selector 114 receives indications from event detector 112 that an event of interest to a user has occurred, along with an indication from event detector 112 of the degree to which the event is of importance to the user. Taking into account the nature of the event and the degree of interest to the user, agent selector 114 determines whether the user should be contacted, whether another person that the user has given authority to handle certain events on the user's behalf should be contacted, whether multiple persons should be simultaneously contacted, or whether automated assistant 100 could independently take action that would be sufficient without disturbing the user.
  • agent selector may refer to profile information 132 and/ or rules 136 for restrictions supplied by the user and/ or others concerning who should be contacted for particular events and under what circumstances, as well as any applicable exceptions. [0025] If it is determined that the user and/ or others must be contacted, then agent selector 114 uses contact information 134 and the degree of interest to the user indicated by event detector 112 to select the means by which the user and/ or others must be informed. If the event is of sufficient importance that immediate action is required, but the user has indicated that a person and not automated assistant 100 must take that action, then agent selector 114 may determine that the user or a person specified by the user should be contacted via multiple means, simultaneously. For such an important event, agent selector 114 may determine that multiple persons should be contacted simultaneously, and those persons may or may not include the user.
  • agent selector 114 may take into account the different limits imposed by the different means by which the user may be informed. For example, the user may have a pager that may or may not be able to display text information to the user, and if the pager has text capability, then there may be limits on the number of characters that can be sent. Such limits on the pager may make it more desirable to contact the user by way of an available text-enabled cell phone, if the message that must be communicated is lengthy, and the text-enabled cell phone is able to accept and/ or display a larger message. The nature of the message and the expected response from the user may also be taken into account.
  • the message is a list of possible alternate flights to replace a cancelled flight
  • any device which can display the alternatives and allow for simple selection may be used.
  • the event is one which will require a freeform response (e.g. a continuing e-mail exchange with an important contact)
  • devices capable of such interaction would be preferred.
  • agent selector 114 may take into account information concerning a user's current location in selecting a means to contact a user, including information provided by context interpreter 110. Limits in geographic coverage may preclude the use of a user's pager, cell phone or other wireless device, and agent selector 114 may take this into account in choosing another means of contacting a user. There may be compatibility, security or protocol limits precluding the use of a data network to reach a user by way of a portable computer or other device, even if that device is currently attached to a network and is, therefore, otherwise accessible.
  • Such limits may be the result of a "firewall" limiting access to a private network to which a user has attached the device, which may happen in situations where a user is a guest visiting the place at which his device is attached to the private network.
  • Another such limit may be imposed by limits in the wireless coverage available in a given geographical location, such that a user with a text-enabled cell phone nonetheless cannot receive text messages on his cell phone, because the wireless network in the user's current location does not support such a feature.
  • agent selector 114 may simply send an acknowledgement to the sender of a note that the meeting was cancelled.
  • agent selector 114 would refer to contact information 134 to select a means of reaching the user to inform the user of the cancellation.
  • agent selector 114 might use a means of reaching the user that would be more appropriate for providing the user with a swift notification of the cancellation, such as the user's pager or mobile phone. However, if the cancelled meeting was to occur quite some time later, then agent selector 114 may choose to send the user an email which the user can receive and read at leisure, or agent selector may choose to contact a person that the user has specified as someone to deal with such a situation on the user's behalf, such as a secretary, since this information is not so urgent.
  • agent selector 114 refers to rules 136, as well as contact information 134, in making that selection.
  • rules 136 may indicate that it is currently night time, and the user has specified that contact is to take place at night only under specific circumstances, and so agent selector 114 may wait until morning if the event does not fit those specific circumstances.
  • agent selector 114 weighs the importance of contacting the user against the intrusion to the user of doing so, and chooses the appropriate time and means of contacting the user.
  • the agent selector 114 contains a small number of templates in which events of a given type or severity are mapped to a specific defined action to be taken. Part of that defined action may be to contact one or more specific persons or contacts other than the user. Such specific persons might be emergency personnel or a user's secretary or administrative assistant.
  • a template might specify that flight cancellations are to be handled only by the user — no other person, and not automated assistant 100. Or, in another example, a template might specify that flight cancellations will be assigned to an administrative assistant if more than a specified amount of time exists before the scheduled departure time.
  • An event may arise for which there is no template, but for which a person other than a user must be chosen and contacted.
  • a person chosen due to some connection with the user and the event in question would be contacted.
  • a person may be someone that the user has met with, recently, or a person with whom the user regularly consults concerning events of the kind that has arisen, and who is therefore a person associated with the subject of the event, such as a financial advisor or broker in the case of an important event concerning the user's financial portfolio. If the event is an emergency concerning a family member or friend of the user, a person from the user's address book or buddy list may be selected.
  • the selected person maybe someone that from scheduled events, seems to have a connection to the family member or friend who is the subject of the emergency, such as a baby sitter in the case of an emergency concerning one of the user's children.
  • a chosen emergency contact may be a family member or other person trusted by the user to handle emergencies in cases where an evaluation of rules, templates and /or preferences reveals no clear choice of person to contact.
  • Such an emergency contact may be specified as being a default person or persons to contact if efforts to contact one or more persons who could be identified through templates, rules and/ or preferences prove unsuccessful.
  • automated assistant 100 may also communicate to the emergency contact what efforts have been made to reach other persons, as well as the nature of the emergency, itself.
  • escalation controller 116 determines when and how to escalate the effort to contact the user. In one embodiment, escalation controller 116 monitors the initial effort made by agent selector 114 to contact the user via an initial choice of device, and if the attempt is unsuccessful after a certain period of time, escalation controller 116 prods agent selector 114 to try harder by making another attempt, and perhaps by using a different device.
  • escalation controller 116 may be combined with agent selector 114, and the combined agent selector and escalation controller may simply reevaluate the initial weighing of the importance of contracting the user against the intrusion of doing so, now that more time has passed, and the need to contact the user may have become more urgent.
  • agent selector 114 the combined agent selector and escalation controller may simply reevaluate the initial weighing of the importance of contracting the user against the intrusion of doing so, now that more time has passed, and the need to contact the user may have become more urgent.
  • the cause for a lack of success may be taken into account in determining what to do, next.
  • the manner in which there proves to be a lack of success in attempting to reach a user or other person may be as simple as the person being contacted just doesn't answer or just doesn't respond.
  • agent selector 114 may choose to attempt to reach another person and/ or choose to attempt to reach the same person in some other way.
  • the manner in which there proves to be a lack of failure may give an indication as to the nature of the failure, such as a recording from a phone company that a number is no longer in service, or a busy signal, or that the person to whom the telephone number belongs is outside the service area where a telephone or cell phone can be used.
  • the indication may come in the form of a return email that the person is out of town, or that their email mailbox is full and cannot accept more messages, or that the email address is not valid.
  • escalation controller 116 may prod agent selector 114 into choosing a more aggressive and potentially intrusive way of reaching that individual, since the choice of ways to reach that individual has been effectively diminished.
  • escalation controller 116 prodding agent selector 114 may result in automated assistant 100 choosing to address the event in question on its own, because there was no one else who was appropriate for being contacted about the event.
  • escalation controller 116 may prod agent selector 114 into retrying the same way to make contact after waiting a period of time that would be shorter than might have been used had the reason for failure been shown to be something that may not be corrected for a longer period of time, or at all.
  • agent selector 114 refers to contact information 134, discovers that the user has a pager capable of receiving text messages, and sends the user a text message on the user's pager.
  • agent selector 114 again reviews contact information 134 and rules 136 and determines that making an effort to reach the user by way of a speech-synthesized voice to the user's mobile phone is now appropriate, and does so. However, for whatever reason, the user does not answer, and so now agent selector 114 refers to PIM information 130 to obtain the telephone number of the conference room in which the user is scheduled to have a meeting (if that information is there), and places a call to that conference room.
  • automated assistant 100 may simply handle the event, itself. It may be that the user has supplied a preference for having either the user or a specified person be the one to handle a given event, but then, if attempts at reaching the user and/or a specified person have proven unsuccessful, automated assistant 100 is to then handle the given event.
  • automated assistant 100 may then later attempt to contact the same persons that automated assistant 100 had attempted to reach, earlier, to inform them that the event has been handled and/ or to supply details of what the outcome of handling the event was.
  • the event may be that a user's flight has been delayed, and attempts at reaching the user and/ or the user's secretary have proven unsuccessful, and so automated assistant arranges for the prepaying of a fee necessary to guarantee a hotel room reservation for late check-in by the user.
  • An event may be ongoing in such a way that circumstances change to an extent that causes automated assistant 100 to repeatedly evaluate what course of action is to be taken or to reevaluate the question of whether action should be taken at all.
  • Automated assistant 100 may change an earlier determination of who to contact or where to attempt contacting a person, in addition to determining what means to use in making such contact. Automated assistant 100 may initially determine that acting autonomously on behalf of a user is the best course of action and then later determine due to changing circumstances that a person must be contacted, or vice versa.
  • escalation controllerll ⁇ may cease attempting to prod agent selector 114 into taking any further action, and instead, may simply send a notice to the user of the actions attempted.
  • the person who has been successfully reached may be provided with information concerning what attempts have been made to contact others and/ or information concerning the results of previous attempts to contact others, in addition to information concerning the event, itself. This may prove useful to the person who has been successfully contacted in making a decision as to how they will respond to the given event, especially if the event is in some way an emergency. Alternatively, there may be reasons stemming out of privacy or security to limit how much information concerning unsuccessful attempts to contact others is provided to the person who is successfully contacted. It may be that a user may choose to configure automated assistant 100 to never provide information concerning attempts to contact particular individuals.
  • User interface 140 provides a user with a way to supply information needed to prepare automated assistant 100 for normal operation.
  • automated assistant 100 is maintained on centralized computer systems by a commercial provider of automated assistant 100 as a service to users to subscribe to, and an embodiment of user interface 140 could be a web page accessible to a user via the internet.
  • automated assistant 100 is maintained on a computer system owned by a user (or otherwise more locally accessible to a user), and user interface 140 could be an application that a user would run on that computer system.
  • Communication provider 190 allows automated assistant 100 to communicate with the external world.
  • Communication provider 190 may be a commercial entity providing services used by automated assistant 100 in attempts that it may make to contact the user, and may be comprised of mobile phone service providers, paging service providers, internet service providers, etc.
  • information concerning phone numbers or email addresses by which a user may be reached are maintained as part of contact information 134.
  • Contact information 134 may also contain information about service charges and billing rates for each service provider 190, and such information may be among the factors weighed by either agent selector 114 or escalation controller 116 in determining when or how to contact a user. For instance, a user may have a satellite telephone by which the user could be reached in areas or at times when more conventional paging or mobile phone services are unavailable, but the need to reach the user in a particular instance may not be so pressing as to warrant incurring the high costs that might be associated with using such a recently developed means of contacting the user.
  • communication provider 190 may be comprised of hardware and/ or software used to provide automated assistant 100 with access to devices such as facsimile machines, printers, mailers, scanners and other ways to interface with hardcopy communication channels.
  • communication provider 190 may be comprised of hardware and/ or software to provide an interface to email, text-to-speech output, speech recognition input, or text messaging on such devices as pagers or other portable radio devices, etc.
  • Automated assistant 100 may also rely on communications provider 190 to supply information indicating a user's current whereabouts, either for use in updating a user's schedule, or as part of the information used in making a determination as to whether or not a user should be contacted concerning a given event.
  • communications provider 190 provides wireless services
  • communications provider 190 may be possible for communications provider 190 to determine where a user is located, geographically, through the wireless network operated by communication provider 190. This might be done by analyzing relative signal strengths at different geographic points, or by identification of the geographic cell in which a user is operating a mobile phone, or by other means. It may also be the case that a user is carrying a cell phone, pager or other device able to provide information about the user's geographic location as determined by a GPS receiver or similar technology incorporated into the device, using the communications system provided by communications provider 190 as the vehicle to transmit that information.
  • communications provider 190 may also be able to determine the speed at which a user or other person is currently traveling, again through GPS, triangulation or other methods. This information may be used as a factor by automated assistant 100 in deciding the best way in which to reach the user or other person. For example, the fact that a particular person is traveling in a given direction at a given speed may allow automated assistant 100 to surmise that the particular person is heading for home, and will be there by a given time, allowing automated assistant 100 to reach that person by way of a call to their home phone or an email to their personal email account.
  • the fact that a person to be contacted seems to be stationary allow automated assistant 100 to surmise that the person will be able to read a text message sent to either a text-enabled cell phone or pager.
  • the ability to send a text message may be preferable, but if the person to be contact seems to be in motion beyond a certain rate of speed, such as 20mph, automated assistant 100 may surmise that the person is possible driving a car, at present, and so a voice call to a cell phone using voice synthesis to convey a message to that person may then be preferable.
  • E-commerce provider 170 may be the provider of such services as online shopping (i.e., shopping for goods or services over the internet or other electronic means), remote booking of travel services, calling in of food orders, etc.
  • E-commerce provider 170 may be one avenue by which automated assistant 100 takes action autonomously in response to an event in addition to or in lieu of automated assistant 100 interacting with commercial or government entities on behalf of a user without the assistance of e-commerce provider 170. For example, if e-commerce provider 170 provides the ability to make or change flight reservations, then in the above example concerning a cancelled flight, automated assistant 100 could have simply made new flight arrangements on behalf of the user, perhaps also altering reservations for rental transportation and/ or hotel accommodations.
  • whether or not automated assistant 100 would engage in making such arrangements on behalf of a user would depend on whether or not information within rules 136 indicates that the user is willing to allow automated assistant 100 to do so. It may be that the user wishes to make all arrangements and only wants automated assistant 100 to provide a warning of the need to do so. Alternatively, the user may be willing to let automated assistant 100 make such arrangements and then inform the user of the changes already made, but with a limitation on the highest price that the user is willing to allow automated assistant 100 to agree to on behalf of the user.
  • E-commerce provider 170 includes, but is not limited to, entities with which automated assistant 100 could interact with by way of electronic messaging, e.g., emails, packetized electronic transfers, etc.
  • FIG. 1 depicts an embodiment of an automated assistant in which various internal functions are partitioned and distributed in specific ways among the various components depicted. However, as will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, the various internal functions may be partitioned differently among any of a number of components internal to automated assistant, as hereinafter claimed. Specifically, information concerning a user and/ or other persons may be organized in a manner that varies from the aforedescribed divisions into PIM information 130, profile information 132, contact information 134 and rules 136.
  • FIG. 2 is a flow chart followed by one embodiment of the present invention.
  • a user's automated assistant waits for information concerning an event at 200.
  • event information is received at 202
  • the context interpreter of the automated assistant supplies information concerning what the user is doing now or what the user will be doing at 210.
  • the context interpreter retrieves this information from the user's calendar of scheduled events.
  • the context interpreter retrieves this information from other sources that are able to supply an indication of what the user is currently doing or where the user is currently located.
  • the event detector of the automated assistant determines whether or not the event information is of importance to the user based on what the user is doing now or what the user will be doing, as well as based on what the user's interests are known to be from the user's profile information. If the event information is not of importance to the user, then the automated assistant takes no further action, and returns to waiting for event information at 200. [0050] However, if the event information is of importance to the user, then the agent selector of the automated assistant determines whether or not the automated assistant can take appropriate action on its own, without having to contact the user.
  • the agent selector of the automated assistant would refer to the user's profile information to determine the user's preferences for whether or not the user would prefer to be involved in handling the event.
  • the agent selector would refer to the rules information supplied by the user to see if there is a constraint on price amounts or a specific set of circumstances under which the user has specified that the user or another person acting on the user's behalf must be contacted which the event might meet.
  • the agent selector of the automated assistant determines that the event is one that the automated assistant can respond to without contacting the user, then the agent selector undertakes such action at 232.
  • the agent selector of the automated assistant determines that the user must be contacted, then the agent selector refers to the user's contact information to determine the appropriate means for contacting the user.
  • the agent selector would also refer to the user's preferences for any indications of a preferred way in which the user would want to be contacted.
  • the agent selector would also refer to the user's rules to determine if there are any requirements or limits supplied by the user concerning when or how the user may be contacted.
  • the user may have indicated a preference that the automated assistant contact the user on the user's text-enabled cell phone, but the user may have also supplied a rule that the user does not want to be called on his cell phone after a certain hour of the night, and that the user's text-enabled pager is always to be used after that hour.
  • the agent selector After selecting an appropriate way to contact the user at 234, the agent selector carries out contacting the user at 236. [0052] If, at 238, the user has not responded, then at 240, the escalation controller of the automated assistant reevaluates the appropriate way to contact the user, taking into account any effect that the passage of time may have on how urgently the user needs to be contacted.
  • the escalation controller may choose to use another means of contacting the user, one that may not have been what the user would have preferred, but which may now be necessary.
  • the escalation controller like the agent selector, may refer variously to the user's preferences and/ or the rules supplied by the user. At 236, another attempt would be made to contact the user, and again, the automated assistant would wait at 238 for an appropriate time for the user to respond before making further attempts.
  • Figure 3 is a flow chart of another embodiment of the present invention.
  • a user's automated assistant waits for information concerning an event at 300.
  • event information is received at 302
  • the context interpreter of the automated assistant supplies information concerning what the user is doing now or what the user will be doing at 310.
  • the context interpreter retrieves this information from the user's calendar of scheduled events.
  • the context interpreter retrieves this information from other sources that are able to supply an indication of what the user is currently doing or where the user is currently located.
  • the event detector of the automated assistant determines whether or not the event information is of importance to the user based on what the user is doing now or what the user will be doing, as well as based on what the user's interests are known to be from the user's profile information. If the event information is not of importance to the user, then the automated assistant takes no further action, and returns to waiting for event information at 300.
  • the agent selector of the automate assistant determines whether or not the automated assistant should take appropriate action on its own without contacting anyone. It might be appropriate for the automated assistant to act on its own if the event concerns something minor that the user would not have wanted anyone to be bothered with, or if it is not possible to successfully contact anyone that would be appropriate to contact, at all, or within a period of time short enough to be useful.
  • the agent selector may use one or more pieces of information in making the determination of whether or not to contact someone and/ or who, including the user's profile information, rules set by the user, various technological or geographical obstacles that may exist in trying to reach someone, and/ or whether or not contact had been previously attempted, but was unsuccessful for either the current event or a previous event. If the agent selector determines that the event is one that the automated assistant can respond to without contacting the user, then the agent selector takes appropriate action at 332. [0057] However, if at 330, the agent selector of the automated assistant determines that a person or persons must be contacted, then at 340, the agent selector determines what means to use in making contact, as well as whether or not it is actually possible to make contact.
  • various pieces of information may be used by the automated assistant, including, but not limited to the user's preferences, preferences of others if others are to be contacted in lieu of or in addition to the user, the schedules of the user and/ or others, information concerning the various means available for reaching the user and/ or others, information concerning the current whereabouts of the user and/ or others, technological or geographic obstacles to reaching the user and/ or others, and whether or not previous attempts to contact the user and/ or others regarding this event or a previous event were successful. For instance, limits in wireless coverage at the current location of a person or the fact that the person is in transit, and therefore the person's location is constantly changing may impose limitations on the ways in which that person may be contacted.
  • a person to be contacted is currently stationary in an area with wireless coverage, then it may be desirable to send a text message to that person's pager or cell phone.
  • a person to be contacted is in motion, then communication by way of text messages may not be reliably available throughout that person's line of travel, and so it may be desirable to contact that person by their cell phone and place a voice message.
  • the agent selector at 340 determines that it is possible to contact the user and/ or another person or persons concerning the event, then the agent selector makes the attempt to do so at 350. Depending on the importance of the event or other information, the agent selector may attempt to reach multiple ones of the selected, concurrently. Also, in making the attempt, the agent selector may determine it is appropriate to contact one or more of the selected persons using more than one means of communication, concurrently. [0059] At 360, if none of the persons contacted have responded within a reasonable period of time, then the escalation controller of the automated assistant prompts the agent selector to reevaluate what action is to be taken next, at 330. It may be that circumstances have changed with the passage of time incurred while waiting for someone to respond.
  • the agent selector would take action as appropriate at 332. However, it may be that information such as the user's preferences indicates that it is not appropriate for the automated assistant to act on its own, and so at 340, a reevaluation is made by the agent selector as to whether or not it is still possible to try again to reach someone, and this may result in an attempt to make contact with a different person and/or with one or more of the same people previously tried, but with different means at 350. However, if at 340, it is determined that all avenues have been tried for reaching all of the appropriate people, then at 342, the agent selector takes whatever action is appropriate on its own.
  • FIG. 4 is a flow chart of still another embodiment of the present invention.
  • a user's automated assistant waits for information concerning an event from information sources such as weather, traffic, flight status, emails, calendar reminders, etc., at 402.
  • event information is received, action items (tasks that need to be performed) in response to the event are identified at 404.
  • a single event may translate into a plurality of action items that may need to be carried out, such as a flight cancellation leading to an action item to notify the user, an action item to gather information on alternative flights for the user, and possibly an action item to proceed autonomously with booking an alternative flight for the user.
  • the identification of action items may be carried out in great detail, initially, while in other embodiments, only higher- level and more generalized tasks may be identified with the finer details being left to be determined at a later time by more specialized hardware and/ or software either within or external to the automated assistant.
  • this may mean that action items will only be identified when their dependencies have been met, while in other systems, action items will be identified sooner, but will not be acted upon until previous action items are completed or additional information needed to act on those action items becomes available.
  • an action item is evaluated to determine if it is of enough importance to take action. If not of enough importance, then the action item may not be processed, further, and another determination is made at 410 as to whether there are any more action items to be processed. In evaluating the degree of importance of an action item, various factors are weighed. The current activities and environment of the user are taken into account along with profile information, rules, passage of time and urgency of the action item and/ or event are used.
  • an email received concerning a meeting requiring travel by a user to attend would have greater urgency for being acted on than an email concerning a meeting in the user's office, because changes resulting in the cancellation or rescheduling of a meeting may well entail canceling or rescheduling flights and/ or hotel accommodations, and therefore, require some lead time to carry out, effectively.
  • Another example of urgency playing a factor in determining importance is the difference between an event where notice is received of a flight cancellation 6 days in advance as opposed to 6 hours in advance. The latter case clearly requires action more urgently, and therefore is deemed more important.
  • the passage of time may make other events less important, rather than more important as the event becomes "stale," such as an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve Board, which may be an event creating an opportunity that may be of importance to a user, but only for a limited time, and may cease to be of value if the user and/ or another person designated by the user does not respond in timely fashion.
  • an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve Board which may be an event creating an opportunity that may be of importance to a user, but only for a limited time, and may cease to be of value if the user and/ or another person designated by the user does not respond in timely fashion.
  • an action item is determined to be of enough importance to take action, then at 422, a determination is made to as to whether the user, a person delegated by the user, the automated assistant, or some combination of these are capable of handling the action item.
  • various factors may be considered including, but not limited to, whether or not current information about the user's current location and activities (i.e., the user's context) indicates that the user can be reached via one of his communication devices.
  • a similar determination may be made of one or more other persons specified to be persons to whom the action item could be delegated.
  • various metrics could be calculated that relate to the capability of a handler to handle the action item, including authorization to do so, availability, cost in time or money required and/ or user preferences based either on preferences explicitly provided by the user or preferences derived from feedback relating to past performance of a handler, such as how reliable a particular handler was in taking action on an earlier action item.
  • a determination is made as to the costs incurred for each handler to handle the action item, and at 430, a determination is made as to whether there is a handler that can take action on the action item without the cost being too high or the probability of success too low to justify proceeding.
  • one or more handlers are selected at 432.
  • the selection of more than one handler may be prompted by situations such as there being only handlers with a demonstrated low rate of reliability available to handle the action item, in which case, it would not be prudent to rely on just one handler. If the system has sufficient information to handle the action item and the user's profile and/ or the rules indicate that the system is the handler that the user would prefer to have handling the action item, then the system can select itself to handle the action item and do so.
  • each handler that has been selected is assigned the action item. If at 450, the automated assistant (i.e., the system) has been selected as a handler, then the action item is assigned to the system at 452. If at 460 or at 470, either the user or a person delegated by the user is a selected handler, then a device for contacting the user or the delegated person is selected and used to send a message at 462. Depending on the handlers selected at 432, above, action may be taken by more than one handler, simultaneously, and/ or messages may be sent to more than one handler, simultaneously.
  • the system may have selected itself as one of the handlers at 432, and may take an initial step in parallel with attempting to contact another handler, such as tentatively booking another flight in such a way that another handler could undo the system's actions if another handler responds sufficiently early.
  • the current location and activities (i.e., the context) of the user and/or the delegated person may be taken into account.
  • Devices that could be used include, but are not limited to, pagers, cell phones, facsimile transmissions, speech synthesis technology, etc.
  • this fact may be used in making a new determination of the importance of the event, possibly along with the passage of time where urgency or staleness of the event may be a factor.
  • the example embodiments of the present invention are described in the context of an automated assistant with its components organized in a specific configuration, and intended to run on a computer system in support of a single user.
  • the present invention may be practiced with the various pieces of information on a given user being organized differently than has been described in detail, herein.
  • a user's preferences may be combined with the rules, and/ or a user's contact information may be combined with a user's PIM information, and so on.
  • a single automated assistant or instance of a piece of automated assistant software may be used to provide automated assistant services to a plurality of users.
  • This plurality of users may be members of a family, employees of a business, or may be individuals with no other connection with each other beyond making use of the same commercial provider of such services. Furthermore, users may also be individuals to whom a user has delegated responsibility for handling particular events, such as a secretary or administrative assistant, or others who use an automated assistant on behalf of another user. Furthermore, the present invention may be practiced using a dedicated automated assistant device that comprises dedicated hardware, as opposed to being practice as automated assistant software designed to be run on any of a number of commonly available computer systems.

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Abstract

L'invention concerne un procédé et un appareil destinés à évaluer l'importance d'un événement relatif à une personne et à entreprendre une action si le niveau d'importance atteint ou dépasse un seuil, mais est inférieur à ou simplement en atteint un autre; à tenter d'entrer en contact avec au moins une personne si le niveau d'importance atteint ou dépasse un seuil; ou à tenter d'entrer en contact avec au moins une personne d'un première manière pour ce faire, si le niveau d'importance atteint ou dépasse un seuil, et à sélectionner puis utiliser une seconde manière d'entrer en contact avec au moins une personne si la personne au moins n'a pas répondu au bout d'une certaine durée après recours à la première manière.
PCT/US2002/015805 2001-05-24 2002-05-16 Procede et appareil de progressivite des messages par assistants numeriques WO2002096126A2 (fr)

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DE10296892T DE10296892T5 (de) 2001-05-24 2002-05-16 Verfahren und Einrichtung zur Nachrichteneskalierung durch digitale Assistenten
AU2002303800A AU2002303800A1 (en) 2001-05-24 2002-05-16 Method and apparatus for message escalation by digital assistants

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US09/865,919 US20020178226A1 (en) 2001-05-24 2001-05-24 Method and apparatus for message escalation by digital assistants
US09/865,919 2001-05-24
US09/895,557 2001-06-29
US09/895,557 US20020178019A1 (en) 2001-05-24 2001-06-29 Method and apparatus for message escalation by digital assistants
US10/039,960 US20020178022A1 (en) 2001-05-24 2001-12-31 Method and apparatus for message escalation by digital assistants
US10/039,960 2001-12-31

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