Multiple choice decision engine for an electronic personal assistant

A computer program product comprising non-transitory computer executable code embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium that, when executing on a personal electronics device, performs operations comprising:

• receiving a communication at the personal electronic device;
• analyzing the communication to determine a set of choices in response to the communication, where at least one choice from the set of choices has an associated task predicted for a user of the personal electronic device;
• creating, by a processor of the personal electronic device, a query from the set of choices, the query including at least one dichotomous or multiple choice question arranged in a hierarchical structure to select among the set of choices, the hierarchical structure having a root and one or more leaves, where the root of the hierarchical structure corresponds to the at least one choice, and the one or more leaves of the hierarchical structure correspond to the associated task predicted for the user of the personal electronic device;
• presenting the at least one dichotomous or multiple choice question to the user of the personal electronic device in a user interface of the personal electronic device;
• receiving an input in response to the at least one dichotomous or multiple choice question through the user interface;
• based on the input, traversing the hierarchical structure, by the processor, to reduce the set of choices to a selected choice;
• based on the selected choice, where the selected choice is the at least one choice from the set of choices having the associated task, determining one or more actions to accomplish the associated task;
• obtaining information for performing the one or more actions;
• and
• performing the one or more actions using the personal electronic device.

A personal electronic device comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory;
• and
• a user interface, the processor coupled to the memory and to the user interface, the processor configured to:
• receive a communication, analyze the communication to determine a set of choices in response to the communication, where at least one choice from the set of choices has an associated task predicted for a user, create a query from the set of choices, the query including at least one dichotomous or multiple choice question arranged in a hierarchical structure to select among the set of choices, the hierarchical structure having a root and one or more leaves, where the root of the hierarchical structure corresponds to the at least one choice, and the one or more leaves of the hierarchical structure correspond to the associated task, present, on the user interface, the at least one dichotomous or multiple choice question to the user, receive, at the user interface, an input in response to the at least one dichotomous or multiple choice question, based on the input, traverse the hierarchical structure to reduce the set of choices to a selected choice;
• based on the selected choice, where the selected choice is the at least one choice from the set of choices having the associated task, determine one or more actions to accomplish the associated task;
• obtain information for performing the one or more actions;
• and perform the one or more actions using the personal electronic device.

A method comprising:

• receiving a communication at a personal electronic device;
• analyzing the communication to determine a set of choices in response to the communication, where at least one choice from the set of choices has an associated task predicted for a user of the personal electronic device;
• selecting, by a processor of the personal electronic device, the at least one choice based on at least one data source;
• determining, by the processor, one or more actions to accomplish the associated task;
• obtaining, by the processor, information for performing the one or more actions;
• and
• performing the one or more actions using the personal electronic device.