System And Method For Causing Messages To Be Delivered To Users Of A Distributed Voice Application Execution System

What is this patent about?

’406 is related to the field of voice-controlled services and, more specifically, to systems that deliver voice applications to users. Traditional Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems rely on centralized, high-end computing devices connected to users via telephone lines. These systems are inflexible, costly to maintain, and have limited capacity, making it difficult to personalize services or handle large numbers of concurrent users. The patent addresses these limitations by distributing voice application processing to the user's local device.

The underlying idea behind ’406 is to shift the execution of voice applications from a central server to the user's local device, such as a set-top box or a smartphone. This is achieved by using a voice application agent (VAA) on the local device that can interpret and execute instructions received from a voice service provider (VSP). The VAA manages multiple runtime environments (RTEs) , each capable of performing specific voice application components. This distributed architecture reduces the load on central servers and enables more personalized and responsive voice services.

The claims of ’406 focus on a local device equipped with a VAA software client. This client is registered with a VSP and possesses credentials for secure communication. The VAA client is configured to manage multiple RTEs, each capable of performing voice application components. The VAA client also manages the connection between audio input/output devices and these RTEs. Crucially, the local device's configuration is controlled by the VSP, and the VAA client sends information about the device's state to the VSP and receives voice application components tailored to those states.

In practice, the local device continuously monitors its own state and sends updates to the VSP. The VSP, in turn, provides the local device with the necessary voice application components to respond to user requests or events. For example, if a user picks up a telephone connected to the local device, the device sends a message to the VSP. The VSP then sends the appropriate voice application components to the local device, allowing the user to interact with the system via voice commands.

This approach differs significantly from prior art centralized systems. By distributing the processing load to the local device, ’406 reduces the need for expensive central servers and dedicated telephone lines. It also enables more personalized services, as the VSP can tailor voice applications to the specific characteristics and state of each user's device. Furthermore, the distributed architecture improves scalability and reliability, as the system is less vulnerable to outages affecting central servers.