Digital assistance device for facilitating multi-stage setup

A digital assistance device that at least partially automatically sets up a device so as to operate within a system of one or more other devices. The digital assistance device at least partially automates the setup process that would usually come in a quick start guide. This is made possible by digitalizing the quick start guide so as to be interpretable by the digital assistance device. The digital assistance device can thereby determine, for each step, what it can do based on its information and capability, but also how the instructions can be simplified based on what it knows, and for what it cannot do, it passes all or a portion of the quick start guide for that step to the user via an interactive interface. Accordingly, potential manual setup tasks are offloaded to automation, thereby simplifying the setup of a device through technical automation.

BACKGROUND

Computing systems and associated networks have revolutionized the way human beings work, play, and communicate. Nearly every aspect of our lives is affected in some way by computing systems. Conventional computing systems now take a wide variety of form factors are presently commercially available. For instance, smartphone and other handheld devices operate sophisticated processors to operate complex software. Computing systems are even now taking the form of various wearables, such as armbands, glasses, and so forth. Such small devices even often have the capability with communicating with one or more other devices through mostly wireless networks.

When such devices interact with other devices or collection of devices, the functionality of the collective whole can be greatly enhanced. For instance, a wristband that keeps time and takes biometric measurements need not rely just on its own processing, storage, and display capability for processing and reporting biometric measurements to a user. Rather, an account may be set up for the user on a local laptop or desktop computer, or in the cloud in a cloud computing environment, so as to allow more complex processing, greater storage, and more robust interaction with a user.

Nevertheless, it is often difficult, or at least more than trivial, for a user to connect a newly purchased device with an existing system of one or more devices. Typically, newly purchased devices will come with an instruction manual—perhaps a quick start guide. However, even the instruction manual is often difficult to follow, relies on the user knowing information that the user might not be immediately sure of, and can sometimes be frankly time consuming and frustrating for a user.

BRIEF SUMMARY

At least some embodiments described herein relate to a digital assistance device that at least partially automatically sets up a device so as to operate within a system of one or more other devices. The digital assistance device at least partially automates the setup process that would usually come in a quick start guide. This is made possible by digitalizing the quick start guide so as to be at least partially interpretable by the digital assistance device. The digital assistance device can thereby determine, for each step, what it can do based on its information and capability, but also how the instructions can be simplified based on what it knows, and for what it cannot do, it passes all or a portion of the quick start guide for that step to the user via an intractable interface. Accordingly, potential manual setup tasks are offloaded to automation, thereby simplifying the setup of a device through technical automation.

Upon determining that a particular device is to be set up within a system, the digital assistance device obtains recorded setup instruction describing instructions for multiple stages of setup of the particular device within the system. As an example, when a device provider releases a new device, the provider might provide setup instructions for setting up the new device with multiple different systems for each of those systems. They may then upload those digitized instructions into a store in a cloud computing environment. Wherever the instructions are placed, the digital assistance device obtains the setup instructions for the appropriate device to be set up, and the appropriate system into which the device is to be set up.

To perform the setup, the digital assistance device interprets the setup instructions in multiple stages. For one or more of the stages, the digital assistance device performs tasks automatically using perhaps state that is present on the digital assistance device. For instance, the digital assistance device may auto-populate certain fields such as cellular provider, zip code, and so forth. However, for one or more of the stages, the digital assistance device cannot perform a task, and so provides human readable instructions to the user. Thus, the setup instructions are a hybrid of machine-readable instructions, and human-readable instructions, such as multi-media data.

This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

At least some embodiments described herein relate to a digital assistance device that at least partially automatically sets up a device so as to operate within a system of one or more other devices. The digital assistance device at least partially automates the setup process that would usually come in a quick start guide. This is made possible by digitalizing the quick start guide so as to be at least partially interpretable by the digital assistance device. The digital assistance device can thereby determine, for each step, what it can do based on its information and capability, but also how the instructions can be simplified based on what it knows, and for what it cannot do, it passes all or a portion of the quick start guide for that step to the user via an intractable interface. Accordingly, potential manual setup tasks are offloaded to automation, thereby simplifying the setup of a device through technical automation.

Upon determining that a particular device is to be set up within a system, the digital assistance device obtains recorded setup instruction describing instructions for multiple stages of setup of the particular device within the system. As an example, when a device provider releases a new device, the provider might provide setup instructions for setting up the new device with multiple different systems for each of those systems. They may then upload those digitized instructions into a store in a cloud computing environment. Wherever the instructions are placed, the digital assistance device obtains the setup instructions for the appropriate device to be set up, and the appropriate system into which the device is to be set up.

To perform the setup, the digital assistance device interprets the setup instructions in multiple stages. For one or more of the stages, the digital assistance device performs tasks automatically using perhaps state that is present on the digital assistance device. For instance, the digital assistance device may auto-populate certain fields such as cellular provider, zip code, and so forth. However, for one or more of the stages, the digital assistance device cannot perform a task, and so provides human readable instructions to the user. Thus, the setup instructions are a hybrid of machine-readable instructions, and human-readable instructions, such as multi-media data.

Some introductory discussion of a computing system will be described with respect toFIG. 1. Then, the use of a digital assistance device to at least partially automated setup of a device to operate within a system will be described with respect to subsequent figures.

Computing systems are now increasingly taking a wide variety of forms. Computing systems may, for example, be handheld devices, appliances, laptop computers, desktop computers, mainframes, distributed computing systems, datacenters, or even devices that have not conventionally been considered a computing system, such as wearables (e.g., glasses). In this description and in the claims, the term “computing system” is defined broadly as including any device or system (or combination thereof) that includes at least one physical and tangible processor, and a physical and tangible memory capable of having thereon computer-executable instructions that may be executed by a processor. The memory may take any form and may depend on the nature and form of the computing system. A computing system may be distributed over a network environment and may include multiple constituent computing systems.

As illustrated inFIG. 1, in its most basic configuration, a computing system100typically includes at least one hardware processing unit102and memory104. The memory104may be physical system memory, which may be volatile, non-volatile, or some combination of the two. The term “memory” may also be used herein to refer to non-volatile mass storage such as physical storage media. If the computing system is distributed, the processing, memory and/or storage capability may be distributed as well.

The computing system100also has thereon multiple structures often referred to as an “executable component”. For instance, the memory104of the computing system100is illustrated as including executable component106. The term “executable component” is the name for a structure that is well understood to one of ordinary skill in the art in the field of computing as being a structure that can be software, hardware, or a combination thereof. For instance, when implemented in software, one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the structure of an executable component may include software objects, routines, methods that may be executed on the computing system, whether such an executable component exists in the heap of a computing system, or whether the executable component exists on computer-readable storage media.

The term “executable component” is also well understood by one of ordinary skill as including structures that are implemented exclusively or near-exclusively in hardware, such as within a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or any other specialized circuit. Accordingly, the term “executable component” is a term for a structure that is well understood by those of ordinary skill in the art of computing, whether implemented in software, hardware, or a combination. In this description, the terms “component”, “service”, “engine”, “module” or the like may also be used. As used in this description and in the case, these terms are also intended to be synonymous with the term “executable component”, and thus also have a structure that is well understood by those of ordinary skill in the art of computing.

In the description that follows, embodiments are described with reference to acts that are performed by one or more computing systems. If such acts are implemented in software, one or more processors (of the associated computing system that performs the act) direct the operation of the computing system in response to having executed computer-executable instructions that constitute an executable component. For example, such computer-executable instructions may be embodied on one or more computer-readable media that form a computer program product. An example of such an operation involves the manipulation of data.

The computer-executable instructions (and the manipulated data) may be stored in the memory104of the computing system100. Computing system100may also contain communication channels108that allow the computing system100to communicate with other computing systems over, for example, network110.

While not all computing systems require a user interface, in some embodiments, the computing system100includes a user interface112for use in interfacing with a user. The user interface112may include output mechanisms112A as well as input mechanisms112B. The principles described herein are not limited to the precise output mechanisms112A or input mechanisms112B as such will depend on the nature of the device. However, output mechanisms112A might include, for instance, speakers, displays, tactile output, holograms and so forth. Examples of input mechanisms112B might include, for instance, microphones, touchscreens, holograms, cameras, keyboards, mouse of other pointer input, sensors of any type, and so forth.

FIG. 2illustrates an environment200in which the principles described herein may be employed. The environment200includes a digital assistance device201, a particular device210that is to be set up, multiple systems220, and a setup instruction store230. As represented by arrow202, the particular device201may be set up to operate with any given one of the multiple systems220or with potentially multiple of the systems220.

Because it does not matter the exact physical form of any of the devices201and210, systems220, or store230, these elements are symbolically represented inFIG. 2as being rectangular forms. The digital assistance device201may, for instance, be structured as described above for the computing system100and may indeed include a user interface such as the user interface112ofFIG. 1. The device210, systems220, and store230may be structured as described for the computing system100ofFIG. 1, and might or might not include a user interface112.

The digital assistance device201may be any device capable of performing computing and recognizing a command to set up the particular device210. Although not required, in one embodiment, such a command may be a voice command from a user. In that case, the digital assistance device201is capable of digitizing the audio command, and interpreting the digitized audio of the command so as to determine that the particular device is to be set up. The digital assistance device201has an executable component211that assists in performing the setup process, as well as state212that is used by the executable component211to perform the setup.

The multiple systems220may include any number of systems in which the particular device210might potentially be set up into. Each system220includes a collection of one or more devices or machines. In some cases, the particular device210may be set up to operate in a single system. In other cases, the particular device210may be set up to operate in multiple systems. The multiple systems220are illustrated as including a first system221and a second system222. However, the ellipses223represents that there may be any number of systems with which the particular device210may be set up to operate. The user commands to set up the particular device210, and might also specify the system in which to set up the particular device210. However, in other embodiments, the digital assistance device210uses the state212to determine which one or more of the systems220that the particular device201is to be set up into.

The setup instruction store230may be any store that can hold information, but in one embodiment, is a cloud computing environment, such as a public cloud. Cloud computing environments may be distributed, although not required, and may even be distributed internationally and/or have components possessed across multiple organizations.

In this description and the following claims, “cloud computing” is defined as a model for enabling on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services). The definition of “cloud computing” is not limited to any of the other numerous advantages that can be obtained from such a model when properly deployed.

For instance, cloud computing is currently employed in the marketplace so as to offer ubiquitous and convenient on-demand access to the shared pool of configurable computing resources. Furthermore, the shared pool of configurable computing resources can be rapidly provisioned via virtualization and released with low management effort or service provider interaction, and then scaled accordingly.

Referring back to the setup instruction store230ofFIG. 2, the setup instructions include many sets of setup instructions that are illustrated as organized by device to be setup. For instance, the setup instruction store230includes setup instructions231for the particular device201. However, there are multiple sets of setup instructions231A,231B,231C,231D illustrated. This represents that each setup instruction is for setting up a particular device to operate within a particular system. For instance, setup instructions231A might be for setting up the particular device201within the system221, and the setup instructions231B might be for setting up the particular device201within the system222. The setup instruction store230may include setup instructions for other devices also, such as setup instructions sets232and232, amongst potentially others as well as represented by the ellipses234. Accordingly, the setup instructions store230stores, for each of one or more devices, instructions for setting up the device within each of one or more systems.

FIG. 3illustrates setup instructions300, which represents an example of multi-stage instructions for setting up a particular device to operate within a particular system of one or more devices. For instance, the setup instructions300may be an example of the setup instructions231A ofFIG. 2, and represent setup instructions for setting up the particular device210to operate within the system221.

The setup instructions300are multi-stage setup instructions, and in this example, includes five instruction stages301through305(also called herein “stage setup instructions” or “stage instruction”). However, the number of stages is not critical to the principles described herein. Furthermore, although the five stages301through305are shown as being performed in series, the principles described herein honor any temporal dependencies between stages. For instance, there may be instances in which a stage of setup may be performed in parallel with another stage of setup. Furthermore, even a given stage may involve multiple tasks. In that case, the principles described herein honor any temporal dependencies between tasks.

The quick start instructions that typically come with a new product have instructions stages that are manual. In other words, although a computing system or device may be used to perform part of the setup, it is up to the user to interpret the human-readable instructions and follow them.FIG. 8illustrates an example of an instruction setup stage that is human readable, and is typical of what one might find in a quick start guide. In accordance with the principles described herein, at least one, some and potentially all of the setup stages may be automated. In the example ofFIG. 8, the system realizes that it lacks particular data, such as a password, that would allow for a connection to a WiFi network.

For instance, suppose that there was a stage that the digital assistance device might be able to perform automatically. The instructions for that stage may be completely machine-readable. For instance,FIG. 4Aillustrates a stage instruction400A for accomplishing a particular stage in the setup of a device to operate with a system, and includes machine-readable instructions401A. The fact that the instructions401A are machine-readable is represented by right-leaning hash marking within the box401A.

In some cases, however, it may not be certain when the setup instructions are being drafted whether or not the digital assistance device will be able to perform the stage of the instruction automatically. For instance, successful automatic performance of the stage may depend on state (e.g., information) being present on the digital assistance device, and/or certain functionality being present on the digital assistance device. When the device manufacturer (of the device210to be set up) generates the instructions for setting up that device210within the system221, the device manufacturer may not know what information the digital assistance device will have and/or what functionality it may accomplish.

Accordingly, in those cases, the stage of instructions may include both machine-readable instructions as well as human-readable instructions. For instance, stage400B of FIG. B is illustrated as including both machine-readable instructions401B and human-readable instructions402B. In this case, the instructions401B and402B may be for performing the same part of a task, but the human-readable instructions402B are provided in case the digital assistance device201determines that it cannot automatically perform the task. InFIGS. 4B and 4C, instructions that are human-readable (e.g., via some type of media that is interpretable by human senses as sense of sight, sound, feel, and so forth) are symbolized as a box that contains circles.

Alternatively or in addition, some portions of a stage may be performed automatically, and some portions of a stage may only be performed manually. That would be another reason for have a stage structured as illustrated inFIG. 4B. In that case, the machine-readable instructions401B may be used for performing one part (an automated part) of a stage, whilst the human-readable instructions402B may be used for performing another part (a manual part) of the same stage.

FIG. 4Cillustrates a stage400C in which the instructions402C are entirely human-readable and not machine-readable at all. In this case, the digital assistance device merely renders the human-readable instructions and waits for the user to confirm that they have abided by the instructions. In other cases, rather than wait for confirmation from the user, the digital assistance device is capable of detecting that the user completed the task, even if the digital assistance device is not capable of automatically performing the task.

FIG. 5illustrates a flowchart of a method500for setting up a particular device so as to operate within a system of one or more devices while offloading potential manual setup tasks to automation. The method500may be performed by, for instance, the executable component211of the digital assistance device201ofFIG. 2using potentially the state212of the digital assistance device201.FIG. 6illustrate a potential architecture600of the executable component211ofFIG. 2. Accordingly, the execution of the method500will now be described with respect to the architecture600ofFIG. 6.

The method500is initiated upon the digital assistance device determining that a particular device is to operate within a system (act501). This determination may be made by, for instance, the input component601of the executable component600. As an example, the input component601may detect user input that represents a user intent to set up the particular device in a particular system. Such might be, for instance, an explicit audible command issued by the user, picked up by a microphone of the digital assistance device201and rendered digitally for recognition of the command by the input component601. Accordingly, the input component601may have natural language recognition capability. Such capability is conventionally available, and can be quite sophisticated. As an example, APPLE® Corporation provides SIRI®, MICROSOFT® Corporation provides CORTANA®, Google Company provides GoogleNow™, and AMAZON® provides ALEXA™.

In determining that the particular device is to operate within a system (act501), the digital assistance device may identify multiple candidate systems in which the particular device might operate. However, the digital assistance device may make a selection of target system to set up the particular device into by interpreting the command as identifying the system, or perhaps using state available to the digital assistance device to select the target system in which the particular device is to operate. In the example ofFIG. 2, suppose that the digital assistance device201determines that the device210is to be set up to operate within the system221.

In response to this determination that setup is to occur (act501), the digital assistance device obtains recorded setup instruction describing instructions for multiple stages of setup of the particular device within the system (act502). In the executable component600ofFIG. 6, this may be accomplished by the instruction retrieval component602. Referring toFIG. 6, the instruction retrieval component602of the executable component211of the digital assistance device201may communicate with the setup instruction store to obtain the setup instructions231A appropriate for setting up the particular device210to operate within the system221. As previously mentioned, the setup instructions231A may involve multiple stage setup instructions for setting up the particular device210to operate within the system221.

The digital assistance device then interprets the interpretable instructions (act503) to thereby set up the particular device210to operate within the system221. This may involve automatically performing some stages of setup automatically. This automatic setup may be accomplished by the setup component603of the executable component600interpreting machine-readable instructions (e.g., instructions401A) of the stage instruction400A. This may also involve facilitating manual stages of setup (act504). This manual setup stage may be facilitated by rendering the human readable content for that stage to the user. For instance, the setup component603may cause the user interface component604to render the human-readable content of the stage instruction (e.g., content402C of stage instruction400C). In other case, a stage may involve one or more tasks that are automatically performed, as well as one or more tasks that are manually performed. In that case, the setup component might, for instance, execute the machine-readable instructions401B of stage instructions400B to perform the automated task(s) and render the human-readable instructions402B via the user interface component604.

FIG. 7illustrates a method700for processing a stage of instructions. For instance, if performing setup involving stage instructions301through305, the method700may be performed for each of stage instructions301through305. First, it is determined that all dependent stages have completed (event701). In the case ofFIG. 3, for example, act701would be trivial in the case of performing method700for stage instruction301since that stage has no dependent stages. On the other extreme, in the case of performing stage instructions305, act701would involve confirming that all of the stage instructions301through304have first been completed (or more simply that the stage instruction304has been completed).

The remainder of the method700is performed for each task of the stage. A stage itself may involve one or more tasks, and in the case of multiple tasks, those tasks may again have dependencies. Accordingly, for each task, the method700involves verifying that the dependent tasks for the particular task has completed (act711).

The digital assistance device then determines whether or not digital assistance device is to automatically perform the task without contemporaneous human interaction (decision block712). This determination may be made by determining whether there exist corresponding machine-readable instructions in the stage instructions for that task. If not, then clearly the task cannot be automatically performed. On the other hand, if machine-readable instructions do exist, then perhaps the digital assistance device may attempt to perform the task, but if the task fails to perform automatically, the digital assistance device may determine that manual performance will be performed. Alternatively or in addition, if the machine-readable instructions includes a manifest of state and/or functionality required to complete the task, the digital assistance device may simply determine if it has that state and/or functionality, and if so, attempt to perform the task, and if not, determine that the task is to be performed manually.

If the digital assistance device determines that it can automatically perform the task (“Yes” in decision block712), the digital assistance device automatically performs (act713) the task automatically without contemporaneous user intervention. As an example, the digital assistance device might automatically populate one or more fields.

On the other hand, if the digital assistance device determines that it cannot automatically perform the task “No” in decision block712), the digital assistance device provides user interface (act714) to facilitate the user performing the at least the portion of another of the multiple stages manually. For example, the digital assistance device may present visual aids (such as screenshots, images, video), and/or audio aids (such as audio or video recordings) to a user. Such aids may be present within the human-readable instructions (e.g., human-readable instructions402B of stage instruction400B or human-readable instructions402C of stage instructions400C. An example, the user may be prompted for a password. In that case, much of the task may be automatically performed with a little manual help (providing the password) from the user.

Once the manual task is completed, the digital assistance device may determine that the task is completed (act715). This may be done by the user explicitly triggering a control of the user interface, by the digital assistance device identifying a completed state of the user interface, and/or by the digital assistance device using some other information.

Once the digital assistance device automatically performs the task (act713) or determines that a manual task is completed (act715), the digital assistance device updates the task status as completed (act720). This potentially frees up other tasks to be processed through box710since this updating may result in dependent being completed for yet other unperformed tasks of the stage. This updating may also be the last task of the entire stage potentially freeing up other stages for being performed. If this was the last task or the last stage, then the setup has been completed entirely.

Accordingly, the digital assistance device at least partially automates the setup process that would usually come in a quick start guide. This is made possible by digitalizing the quick start guide so as to be at least partially interpretable by the digital assistance device. The digital assistance device can thereby determine, for each step, what it can do based on its information and capability, but also how the instructions can be simplified based on what it knows, and for what it cannot do, it passes all or a portion of the quick start guide for that step to the user via an intractable interface. Accordingly, potential manual setup tasks are offloaded to automation, thereby simplifying the setup of a device through technical automation.