Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Other

Google Inc.

Benny Schlesinger

Yuval Pinchas Borsutsky

Hen Fitoussi

Keren Damari

Shira Weinberg

Avichai Cohen

Blaise Aguera Y Arcas

Guy Kashtan

Eldar Cohen

William Ramsey

Eran Yariv

John Daniell Hebert

Delia Koren

Nir Levy

Christina Summer Chen

Saar Yahalom

Vadim Kuper

Dima Stopel

Kfir Karmon

Ron Jack Karidi

Daniel Sitton

Roy Varshavsky

Ami Turgman

Oded Elyada

Nadav Bar

Limor Lahiani

Ola Lavi

Sapir Caduri

Liat Segal

Michelle Tadmor Ramanovich

Danielle Cohen

Avi Sagiv

Michael Hassid

Dana Porter Rubinshtein

Evgeny Abramovich

Elinor Axlerod

Noga Amit

A method and system is disclosed for speech synthesis of streaming text. At a text-to-speech ('ITS) system, a real-time streaming text string having a starting point and an ending point may be received, and a first sub-string comprising a first portion of the text string received from an initial point to a first trigger point may be accumulated. The initial point is no earlier than the starting point and is prior to the first trigger point, and the first trigger point is no further than the ending point. A punctuation model of the ITS system may be applied to the first sub-string to generate a pre-processed first sub-string comprising the first sub-string with added grammatical punctuation as determined by the punctuation model. TTS synthesis processing may be applied to at least the pre-processed first sub-string to generate first synthesized speech, and audio play out of the first synthesized speech produced.

Method and system for text-to-speech synthesis of streaming text

Traffic data reconciliation and brokering are provided. A traffic data brokering system ingests traffic-related data provided from a plurality of data sources, analyzes the data, and reconciles the data for identifying accurate, up-to-date, and comprehensive traffic data. The system identifies current traffic conditions based on identified relationships between pieces of received data, calculates confidence scores, and determines which pieces of data are accurate based on the calculated confidence scores. The traffic data brokering system provides the reconciled traffic data to various users of traffic data, such as individuals or third-party services. One aspect includes a route generation engine that determines and provides recommended route(s) to clients. Another aspect includes a forecast engine that predicts traffic conditions based on past traffic data. The forecasted data can be used to determine recommended routes. The system provides APIs for enabling sources and clients to provide and receive traffic data.

Traffic data reconciliation and brokering

Implementations described herein disclose a method, an article of manufacture, and a system for displaying user profile information using extendible user profiles for user groups. A user profile with an application user profile is maintained. A value provided by a user joining a group for a group specific field is used to override a user profile field maintained in the application user profile.

Extendible user profiles

A computer-implemented technique is described herein by which a first user can forward notification information to one or more other users, including a second user. The first user can interact with the notification information via a first computing device, while the second user can interact with the notification information using a second computing device. In some implementations, both the first computing device and the second computing device have access to an application which has generated the notification information or to which the notification information otherwise pertains. In other implementations, the second computing device may lack access to the application. In some implementations, the first user receives the notification information and then explicitly and manually controls the forwarding of the notification information (or a version of the notification information) to the second user. In other implementations, decision logic automatically controls the forwarding of the notification information to the second user.

Forwarding notification information

Techniques for providing digital assistant devices with the capability to plan and execute complex macrotasks. In an aspect, a digital assistant device queries an online macrotask repository for task templates associated with a macrotask. The task templates may be designed and configured by Internet crowd-sourcing, with oversight from human editors. Based on a retrieved task template, a digital assistant device may automatically execute autonomous microtasks specified by the task template, and further elicit user input for executing certain microtasks requiring user oversight and/or confirmation. The online macrotask repository enables digital assistant devices to execute a broad range of complex macrotasks that would otherwise be difficult to execute in a satisfactory manner.

Macrotask execution for digital assistant devices

A method disclosed herein for allows users to avoid such undesirable encounters by determining whether an undesirable contact of the user has opted for sharing location information, in response to determining that the undesirable contact has opted for sharing location information, collecting location signal from the undesirable contact, forecasting anticipated locations of the undesirable contact over a period based on the location signal of the undesirable contact, forecasting anticipated locations of the user over the period, determining potential of encounter between the user and the undesirable contact based on analysis of anticipated locations of the user and the anticipated locations of the undesirable contact over the period, generating an undesirable contact avoidance scheme based on the potential of encounter, and optionally notifying the user of the undesirable contact avoidance scheme.

Undesirable encounter avoidance

Implementations described herein disclose an informed join recommendation system that allows users to make informed decision about joining various information sources such as a feed, an application, a group, a blog, a news source, etc., based on an activity grade of the information sources. The informed join recommendation system analyzes information dissemination activity of information sources over a predetermined time period to determine an activity grade of the information source, and in response to the request from a user to join the information source, provides the user the activity grade of the information source.

Informed join recommendation

A computer system can conduct corresponding natural language dialogs with multiple computer-readable profiles using a computer proxy messaging bot. For example, a first set of natural language instructions can be received via a computer messaging proxy bot from a first computer-readable profile. The first set of natural language instructions can be analyzed via the proxy bot. Also, first and second natural language dialog scripts can be generated via the proxy bot using results of the analyzing of the first set of natural language instructions, with the second natural language dialog script including natural language data derived from the first set of natural language instructions. The first natural language dialog script can be sent to the first profile via the proxy bot and the second natural language dialog script can be sent to a second computer-readable profile via the proxy bot, both in response to the first set of instructions.

Computer proxy messaging bot

A computer-implemented technique is described for enabling a user to create a conversational bookmark in the course of the user's interaction with a BOT. The bookmark designates a particular juncture in the user's interaction with the BOT. When the user later invokes the bookmark, the computer-implemented technique resumes the user's interaction with the BOT, starting at the particular juncture. The technique can accomplish the above functions in a BOT-independent manner (which does not involve changes to the BOT) or a BOT-dependent manner (which involves changes to the BOT). The technique can also be extended to a task of creating and activating bookmarks in the course of a conversation among two or more humans.

Conversational bookmarks

Control and access of digital files for three dimensional (3D) model printing are supported by an authorized 3D model marketplace. At a system providing the 3D model marketplace, a 3D model file catalog can be searched using a search input that may be at least one image to identify possible results. At least two options for a specific result of the possible results can be available. The at least two options can include an original quality 3D model file and a degrade option 3D model file. The degrade option 3D model file may represent a lower quality or altered version of the original quality 3D model file and can be generated from the original quality 3D model file upon selection of the degrade mode option.

Control and access of digital files for three dimensional model printing

A user profile and messaging bots can be joined to participate in a group chat session. A first natural language requirement set can be received from the profile and sent to the bots. A first solution set from a first bot can be processed, with the set including a first natural language script describing a first solution to the requirement set. A second solution set from a second bot can be processed, with the set including a second natural language script that describes a second solution to the requirement set. The first and second scripts can be sent to the profile, and at least part of each solution set can be sent to the other bot. A selection of the first bot for providing a solution to the requirement set can be received from the profile, and an indication of the selection can be transmitted to the first bot.

Messaging bot selection in multi-bot chat sessions

A computer system may communicate metadata that identifies a current speaker. The computer system may receive audio data that represents speech of the current speaker, generate an audio fingerprint of the current speaker based on the audio data, and perform automated speaker recognition by comparing the audio fingerprint of the current speaker against stored audio fingerprints contained in a speaker fingerprint repository. The computer system may communicate data indicating that the current speaker is unrecognized to a client device of an observer and receive tagging information that identifies the current speaker from the client device of the observer. The computer system may store the audio fingerprint of the current speaker and metadata that identifies the current speaker in the speaker fingerprint repository and communicate the metadata that identifies the current speaker to at least one of the client device of the observer or a client device of a different observer.

Communicating metadata that identifies a current speaker

In the field of computing, many scenarios involve the execution of an application within a virtual environment of a device (e.g., web applications executing within a web browser). Interactions between applications and device components are often enabled through hardware abstractions or component application programming interfaces (API), but such interactions may provide more limited and/or inconsistent access to component capabilities for virtually executing applications than for native applications. Instead, the device may provide hardware interaction as a service to the virtual environment utilizing a callback model, wherein applications within the virtual environment initiate component request specifying a callback, and the device initiates the component requests with the components and invokes associated callbacks upon completion of a component request. This model may enable the applications to interact with the full capability set of the components, and may reduce blocked execution of the application within the virtual application in furtherance of application performance.

Inversion-of-control component service models for virtual environments

Growing community of inventors

Ramat Hasharon, Israel

Benny Schlesinger