# US 2023/0054023 A1 · Delayed responses by computational assistant > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2023/0054023 A1 - Document ID: US20230054023A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 17/982,815 - Filed: 2022-11-08 - Published: 2023-02-23 - Earliest claimed: 2017-05-16 - Assignees: Google Inc. - Applicants: Google LLC - Inventors: Yariv Adan; Vladimir Vuskovic; Behshad Behzadi - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20230054023A1 ## CPC - G06N 3/006: based on simulated virtual individual or collective life forms, e.g. social simulations or particle swarm optimisation [PSO] - G06F 3/167: {Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback} - G06F 16/3329: Natural language query formulation - G06Q 10/02: Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events - G06Q 10/063114: {Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group} - G10L 15/22: Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue - G10L 13/00: Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems - G10L 2015/223: {Execution procedure of a spoken command} - H04M 3/4936: {Speech interaction details (speech recognition per se G10L15/00)} - H04M 2203/355: Interactive dialogue design tools, features or methods - Y02D 10/00: Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management - G06N: COMPUTING ARRANGEMENTS BASED ON SPECIFIC COMPUTATIONAL MODELS - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) - 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 - G10L: SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING - H04M: TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION (circuits for controlling other apparatus via a telephone cable and not involving telephone switching apparatus G08) - Y02D: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THEIR OWN ENERGY USE ## Abstract An example method includes receiving, by a computational assistant executing at one or more processors, a representation of an utterance spoken at a computing device; identifying, based on the utterance, a task to be performed by the computational assistant; responsive to determining, by the computational assistant, that complete performance of the task will take more than a threshold amount of time, outputting, for playback by one or more speakers operably connected to the computing device, synthesized voice data that informs a user of the computing device that complete performance of the task will not be immediate; and performing, by the computational assistant, the task. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method implemented by one or more processors, the method comprising: receiving a representation of an utterance spoken at a computing device; identifying, based on the utterance, a task to be performed by a computational assistant executing at least in part at the computing device; determining whether the task to be performed by the computational assistant involves the computational assistant interacting with a person other than a user of the computing device; in response to determining that the task to be performed by the computational assistant involves the computational assistant interacting with the person other than the user of the computing device: causing, to be output for playback by one or more speakers operably connected to the computing device, synthesized voice data that informs the user of the computing device that complete performance of the task will not be immediate; and subsequent to the computational assistant interacting with the person other than the user of the computing device: causing, to be output for playback by one or more of the speakers operably connected to the computing device, additional synthesized voice data that informs the user of the computing device that performance of the task is completed. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining an estimated amount of time for the computational assistant to complete performance of the task, wherein the synthesized voice data that informs the user of the computing device that complete performance of the task will not be immediate includes the estimated amount of time for the computational assistant to complete performance of the task. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein determining the estimated amount of time for the computational assistant to complete performance of the task comprises: determining, based on historical times for completing performance of other tasks of a same type as the task, the estimated amount of time for the computational assistant to complete performance of the task. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the task to be performed by the computational assistant executing at least in part at the computing device comprises placing a phone call on behalf of the user of the computing device. ### Claim 5 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein the additional synthesized voice data that informs the user of the computing device of that performance of the task is completed includes a result from the phone call placed on behalf of the user of the computing device. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein causing the synthesized voice data that informs the user of the computing device that complete performance of the task will not be immediate is further in response to determining that the person other than the user of the computing device is not eligible for immediately interacting with the computational assistant. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein interacting with the person other than the user of the computing device comprises: causing, by the computational assistant and for playback by one or more additional speakers operably connected to an additional computing device that is associated with the person other than the user of the computing device, further additional synthesized voice data as part of a conversation with the person other than the user of the computing device. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the utterance is a first utterance, wherein the synthesized voice data that informs the user of the computing device that complete performance of the task will not be immediate is output at a first time, and wherein the method further comprises: receiving, at a second time that is later than the first time, a representation of a second utterance spoken at the computing device, the second utterance comprising a request for status update regarding performance of the task; and causing, to be output for playback by one or more of the speakers operably connected to the computing device, further additional synthesized voice data that informs the user of the computing device of the status update regarding performance of the task. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the utterance is a first utterance, wherein the task includes one or more parameters to be utilized by the computational assistant in performing the task, and the method further comprising: receiving, before performance of the task is completed, a representation of a second utterance spoken at the computing device, the second utterance comprising a request to modify one or more of the parameters of the task; and causing the computational assistant to modify performance of the task based the modified one or more parameters. ### Claim 10 A system comprising: at least one processor; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to: receive a representation of an utterance spoken at a computing device; identify, based on the utterance, a task to be performed by a computational assistant executing at least in part at the computing device; determine whether the task to be performed by the computational assistant involves the computational assistant interacting with a person other than a user of the computing device; in response to determining that the task to be performed by the computational assistant involves the computational assistant interacting with the person other than the user of the computing device: cause, to be output for playback by one or more speakers operably connected to the computing device, synthesized voice data that informs the user of the computing device that complete performance of the task will not be immediate; and subsequent to the computational assistant interacting with the person other than the user of the computing device: cause, to be output for playback by one or more of the speakers operably connected to the computing device, additional synthesized voice data that informs the user of the computing device of a result of the computational assistant interacting with the person other than the user of the computing device. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to: determine an estimated amount of time for the computational assistant to complete performance of the task, wherein the synthesized voice data that informs the user of the computing device that complete performance of the task will not be immediate includes the estimated amount of time for the computational assistant to complete performance of the task. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The system of claim 11, wherein the instructions to determine the estimated amount of time for the computational assistant to complete performance of the task comprise instructions to: determine, based on historical times for completing performance of other tasks of a same type as the task, the estimated amount of time for the computational assistant to complete performance of the task. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein the task to be performed by the computational assistant executing at least in part at the computing device comprises placing a phone call on behalf of the user of the computing device. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The system of claim 13, wherein the additional synthesized voice data that informs the user of the computing device of that performance of the task is completed includes a result from the phone call placed on behalf of the user of the computing device. ### Claim 15 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein causing the synthesized voice data that informs the user of the computing device that complete performance of the task will not be immediate is further in response to determining that the person other than the user of the computing device is not eligible for immediately interacting with the computational assistant. ### Claim 16 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions to interact with the person other than the user of the computing device comprise instructions to: causing, by the computational assistant and for playback by one or more additional speakers operably connected to an additional computing device that is associated with the person other than the user of the computing device, further additional synthesized voice data as part of a conversation with the person other than the user of the computing device. ### Claim 17 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein the utterance is a first utterance, wherein the synthesized voice data that informs the user of the computing device that complete performance of the task will not be immediate is output at a first time, and wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to: receive, at a second time that is later than the first time, a representation of a second utterance spoken at the computing device, the second utterance comprising a request for status update regarding performance of the task; and cause, to be output for playback by one or more of the speakers operably connected to the computing device, further additional synthesized voice data that informs the user of the computing device of the status update regarding performance of the task. ### Claim 18 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the utterance is a first utterance, wherein the task includes one or more parameters to be utilized by the computational assistant in performing the task, and wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to: receive, before performance of the task is completed, a representation of a second utterance spoken at the computing device, the second utterance comprising a request to modify one or more of the parameters of the task; and cause the computational assistant to modify performance of the task based the modified one or more parameters. ### Claim 19 A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations, the operations comprising: receiving a representation of an utterance spoken at a computing device; identifying, based on the utterance, a task to be performed by a computational assistant executing at least in part at the computing device; determining whether the task to be performed by the computational assistant involves the computational assistant interacting with a person other than a user of the computing device; in response to determining that the task to be performed by the computational assistant involves the computational assistant interacting with the person other than the user of the computing device: causing, to be output for playback by one or more speakers operably connected to the computing device, synthesized voice data that informs the user of the computing device that complete performance of the task will not be immediate; and subsequent to the computational assistant interacting with the person other than the user of the computing device: causing, to be output for playback by one or more of the speakers operably connected to the computing device, additional synthesized voice data that informs the user of the computing device of a result of the computational assistant interacting with the person other than the user of the computing device.