{
  "patent_number": "US 9548050",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "How a Digital Assistant Launches Apps Using Your Voice",
  "original_title": "Intelligent automated assistant",
  "summary": "This patent describes how a digital assistant like Siri uses your spoken words and understanding of your conversation to figure out what you want and launch the right app.",
  "what_it_does": "This patent details a method for a digital assistant to launch applications on a device using speech. The system provides a graphical interface with a speech-based conversational element, displaying part of the ongoing chat (Claim 1). It gathers \"context information\" from previous interactions, which could be earlier speech (Claim 2) or non-speech input (Claim 6). When a user speaks, the system processes this \"speech input\" to figure out their \"user intent\" (Claim 1). If the intent is to open an app, the system launches that app *external* to the assistant's own interface and then provides a response based on what the user said and the gathered context (Claim 1). For example, if you say \"Open Maps to find coffee,\" the assistant would launch the Maps app and potentially show coffee shops, while also giving a spoken or on-screen confirmation.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Does not cover launching applications without a speech input (e.g., tapping an icon).",
    "Does not cover systems that only process speech commands without maintaining or using \"context information\" to understand intent.",
    "Does not cover digital assistants that execute tasks *only* within their own interface without invoking external applications.",
    "Does not cover systems where the launched application runs *inside* the conversational interface, rather than \"external\" to it.",
    "Does not cover assistants that don't display \"at least a portion of a conversational interaction.\""
  ],
  "filed": "2012-06-09",
  "granted": "2017-01-17",
  "expires": null,
  "status": "active",
  "holder": "Apple Inc",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/apple-inc",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "Adam John Cheyer",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/adam-john-cheyer"
    },
    {
      "name": "Didier Rene Guzzoni",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/didier-rene-guzzoni"
    },
    {
      "name": "Christopher Dean Brigham",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/christopher-dean-brigham"
    },
    {
      "name": "Dag Kittlaus",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/dag-kittlaus"
    },
    {
      "name": "Thomas Robert Gruber",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/thomas-robert-gruber"
    },
    {
      "name": "Harry Joseph Saddler",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/harry-joseph-saddler"
    },
    {
      "name": "Richard Donald Giuli",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/richard-donald-giuli"
    },
    {
      "name": "Marcello Bastea-Forte",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/marcello-bastea-forte"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 211,
  "tags": [
    "consumer_electronics",
    "software",
    "telecommunications",
    "ai_ml"
  ],
  "abstract": "The intelligent automated assistant system engages with the user in an integrated, conversational manner using natural language dialog, and invokes external services when appropriate to obtain information or perform various actions. The system can be implemented using any of a number of different platforms, such as the web, email, smartphone, and the like, or any combination thereof. In one embodiment, the system is based on sets of interrelated domains and tasks, and employs additional functionally powered by external services with which the system can interact.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/9548050/continuity-handoff",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/9548050/continuity-handoff/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US9548050",
  "relatedPatents": []
}