Patent ID: 12205588

Like numbers and references among the drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This document describes computer-based systems, methods, devices, and other techniques for detecting and suppressing illegitimate voice queries. In general, an illegitimate voice query is a voice query that is not issued under conditions that a voice query processing system deems acceptable such that the voice query can be safely processed. For example, some illegitimate voice queries may be issued by malicious actors in an attempt to exploit a voice query processing system, e.g., to invoke a fraudulent transaction or to invoke performance of operations that risk consuming an unwarranted amount of computational resources of the system. In some implementations, the techniques disclosed herein may be applied to detect and suppress a large-scale event in which voice queries are issued to many (e.g., tens, hundreds, or thousands) voice-based clients simultaneously or within a short timeframe in an attempt to overload the backend servers of a voice query processing system. The system may monitor characteristics of incoming voice query processing requests across a population of client devices to identify potential threats and suppress processing of illegitimate voice queries. The details of these and additional techniques are described with respect to the figures.

FIG.1Ais a conceptual diagram of an example process100for responding to a first voice query118aand suppressing a second voice query118b. For example, the first voice query118amay be a legitimate query that a voice query processing system108is configured to respond to in a manner expected by a user104, while the second voice query118bmay be an illegitimate voice query has been blacklisted so as to prevent the voice query processing system108from acting on the query in a requested manner.

As illustrated inFIG.1A, at stages A.sub.1and A.sub.2, respectively, a voice query client device102receives the first voice query118aand the second voice query118b. The client device102may be any suitable device that can receive voice queries and interact with a remotely located voice query processing system108to process the received voice queries and determine how to respond to such queries. For example, the client device102may be a smart appliance, a mobile device (e.g., a smartphone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer), a desktop computer, or a wearable computing device (e.g., a smartwatch or virtual reality visor).

In some implementations, the client device102is a voice-based client that primarily relies on speech interactions to receive user inputs and present information to users. For instance, the device102may include one or more microphones and a hotworder that is configured to constantly listen for pre-defined hotwords spoken in proximity of the device102(e.g., in a local environment of the device102). The device102may be configured to activate upon detecting ambient audio that contains a pre-defined hotword. For example, as shown inFIG.1A, the phrase “OK Voice Service” is a hotword that activates the device102in a mode that enables it to receive voice queries. In some implementations, a voice-based client device102can facilitate a substantially hands-free experience for a user so that the user can provide queries and obtain responses without needing to physically interact with the device102with his or her hands.

A voice query is generally a string of one or more words that are spoken to prompt a computing system to perform one or more operations indicated by the words. As an example, the first voice query118aincludes the phrase “What's traffic like to work today?” The first voice query118ais thus spoken in a natural and conversation manner that the voice query processing system108is capable of parsing to determine a meaning of the query and a response to the query. Similarly, the second voice query118bincludes the phrase “What's on my calendar today?”, which is spoken to prompt the client device102and/or the voice query processing system108to identify events on a user's calendar and to present a response to the user. Some voice queries may include a carrier phrase as a prefix that indicates a particular operation or command to be performed, followed by one or more words that indicate parameters of the operation or command indicated by the carrier phrase. For example, in the query “Call Teresa's school,” the word “Call” is a carrier term that is to prompt performance of a telephone dialing operation, while the words “Teresa's school” comprise a value of a parameter indicating the entity that is to be dialed in response to the voice query. The carrier phrase may be the same or different from a hotword for activating a device102. For example, a user104may first speak the “OK Voice Service” hotword to activate the device102and then speak the query “Call Teresa's school” to prompt a dialing operation.

Noticeably, in the example ofFIG.1A, the first voice query118ais uttered by a human user104, while the second voice query118bis a recording or synthesized speech played by speaker(s) of an audio device106. The audio device106may be any audio source that generates voice queries in audible range of the client device102, e.g., in the same room or other local environment of the client device102. For example, the audio device106may be a television, a multimedia center, a radio, a mobile computing device, a desktop computer, a wearable computing device, or other types of devices that include one or more speakers to playback a voice query.

In some instances, an audio device106may be caused to play an illegitimate voice query. For instance, an attacker may attempt to overload the voice query processing subsystem108by broadcasting the second voice query118bto many audio devices106in separate locations, so as to cause many instances of the second voice query118bto be played in close temporal proximity to each other. Client devices102located near the audio devices106may detect respective instances of the second voice query118band request the voice query processing system108to process the second voice query118bat substantially the same or similar times. Such a distributed attack may occur by leveraging playback of viral online videos or broadcasting video content (e.g., television shows or commercials) that includes a voice query having the pre-defined activation hotword for playback on audio devices106in various environments in proximity of client devices102As discussed with respect to stages B.sub.1through G.sub.2, the system108may determine that the first voice query118ais legitimate and provide a response to the first voice query118abased on performance of an operation indicated by the voice query118a. In contrast, the system108may determine that the second voice query18bis illegitimate and therefore selects to suppress performance of the operation indicated by the second voice query18b.

For each voice query received by the client device102, the device102may generate and transmit a request to the voice query processing system108requesting the system108to process the received voice query. A request can be, for example, a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) message that includes header information and other information that identifies the voice query that is to be processed. In some implementations, the other information that identifies the voice query can be audio data for the voice query itself such that data representing the voice query is embedded within the request. In other implementations, the information that identifies the voice query in a request may be an address or other pointer indicating a network location at which a copy of the voice query can be accessed. The voice query processing system108and the client device102can be remotely located from each other and can communicate over one or more networks (e.g., the Internet). The client device102may transmit voice query processing requests118a,118bover a network to the voice query processing system108, and in response, the voice query processing system108may transmit responses126a,126bto the requests118a,11bover the network to client device102.

The audio data representing a voice query indicated in a request may include audio data for the content of the query (e.g., “What's traffic like to work today?” or “What's on my calendar today?”), and optionally may include audio data for an activation hotword that precedes the content of the query (e.g., “OK Voice Service”). In some instances, the audio data may further include a representation of audio that precedes or follows the voice query for a short duration to provide additional acoustic context to the query. The client device102may use various techniques to capture a voice query.

In some implementations, the device102may record audio for a fixed length of time following detection of an activation hotword (e.g., 2-5 seconds). In some implementations, the device102may use even more sophisticated endpointing techniques to predict when a user has finished uttering a voice query.

At stage B1, the client device102transmits a first request122ato the voice query processing system108. At stage B2, the client device102transmits a second request122bto the voice query processing system108The requests122a,122binclude, or otherwise identify, audio data for the first voice query118aand the second voice query118b, respectively. Although the operations associated with processing voice queries118aand118bare described here in parallel by way of example, in practice the voice queries118aand118bmay be detected at different times and processed independently of each other in a serial manner.

In some implementations, upon receiving a request from the client device102, the voice query processing system108screens the request to determine whether the voice query identified by the request is legitimate. If a voice query is legitimate (e.g., benign), the system108may process the voice query in an expected manner by performing an operation indicated by the query. However, if a voice query is deemed illegitimate, the system108may suppress performance of one or more operations indicated by the query.

For example, upon receiving the first voice query processing request122a, the system108may provide the request122ato a gatekeeper110(stage C) that implements a voice query suppression service. The gatekeeper110generates an electronic fingerprint that distinctively models the first voice query118aidentified by the request122a. The fingerprint may represent acoustic features derived from audio data of the first voice query118aand, optionally, may include a textual transcription of the first voice query118a. The gatekeeper110may then compare the fingerprint for the first voice query118ato fingerprints stored in the database112(stage D), which are fingerprints of voice queries that have been blacklisted by the system108.

In the example ofFIG.1A, no match is identified between the electronic fingerprint for the first voice query118aand fingerprints in the blacklisted voice queries database112. Accordingly, the first voice query118ais validated as a legitimate query and is provided to a validated query processing subsystem116for further processing. The validated query processing subsystem116may transcribe and parse the first voice query118ato determine a requested operation, and may at least partially perform the requested operation (e.g., gather data about traffic conditions on a route to work for the user104). In contrast, the second voice query118bis also screened by the gatekeeper110and is determined to be an illegitimate voice query having a fingerprint that matches a fingerprint in the database of blacklisted queries112. As a result, the voice query processing system108suppresses complete performance of the operation indicated by the second voice query118b. For example, the system108may not provide the voice query118bto the validated query processing subsystem116in response to determining that the voice query118bis not a legitimate query.

At stage G1, the voice query processing system108returns a response126ato the client device's first request122aThe response126amay be, for example, text or other data that the client device102can process with a speech synthesizer to generate an audible response to the user's question about current traffic conditions on route to work. In some implementations, the voice query processing system108includes a speech synthesizer that generates an audio file which is transmitted to the client device102for playback as a response to the first query118a. However, because the second query118bwas determined to be illegitimate, the system108does not transmit a substantive response to the question about the current day's calendar events, as indicated by the second voice query118b. Instead, the system108may transmit an indication126bthat processing of the second voice query118bwas suppressed (e.g., blocked) or otherwise could not be performed. In other implementations, the voice query processing system108may not send any message to the client device102in response to a request that has been blocked for identifying an illegitimate voice query. The client device102may instead, for example, timeout waiting for a response from the system108. Upon timing out, the device102may re-enter a state in which it prepares to receive another voice query by listening for an occurrence of the activation hotword in the local environment.

In some implementations, the voice query processing system108further includes a traffic analyzer114. The traffic analyzer114monitors characteristics of requests received by the system over time from a range of client devices102that the system108services. In general, the traffic analyzer114can identify trends in network traffic received from multiple client devices102to automatically identify illegitimate voice queries. The traffic analyzer114may, for instance, determine a volume of requests received over a given time interval for a common voice query. If certain criteria are met, such as a spike in the level of system traffic, an increase in the number of requests received to process a common voice query over time, or a combination of these and other criteria, the traffic analyzer114may classify a voice query as illegitimate and add a fingerprint of the query to the database112. As such, so long as the fingerprint for the query is registered in the database112, the gatekeeper110may suppress voice queries that correspond to the blacklisted query. Additional detail about the traffic analyzer114is described with respect toFIGS.2B,3and4.

FIG.1Bis a conceptual diagram of the voice query processing system108in communication with a multiple client devices102a-iAlthoughFIG.1Afocused on the interaction between the voice query processing system108and a particular client device102,FIG.1Bshows that the system108may interact with many client devices102a-iconcurrently.

Each of the client devices102a-isends voice query processing requests118to the system108. In turn, the system108may screen the requests118with a gatekeeper110to classify voice queries identified in the requests118as legitimate or not. The system108may then either respond to the requests118as requested in the voice queries or suppress performance of operations indicated by the voice queries based on whether the queries have been classified as legitimate. Moreover, different ones of the client devices102a-imay be geographically distant from each other and located in different acoustic environments. An acoustic environment defines an area within aural range of a given client device102such that the device102can detect voice queries uttered at normal audible levels like those spoken by a human (e.g., 60-90 dB). Some environments can have multiple client devices located within them. For example, both client devices106aand106bare located in the same acoustic environment152a. As such, both devices106aand106bmay detect the same voice queries spoken within the common environment152a. Other environments, such as environment152b, may include just a single client device102that is configured to process voice queries uttered in the environment. In some implementations, the system108includes a traffic analyzer114that analyzes trends in the traffic of voice query processing requests received from many different client devices over time. If certain conditions in traffic patterns are met, the traffic analyzer114may identify voice queries that are common across multiple requests and register all or some of these queries as illegitimate. Future occurrences of the illegitimate voice queries may then be detected and, as a result, the system108may suppress performance of operations indicated by the queries.

Turning toFIGS.2A and2B, block diagrams are shown of an example client device200and an example voice query processing server system250. The client device200can be a computing device in a local acoustic environment that is configured to detect voice queries uttered in the local environment, and to communicate with the voice query processing server system to obtain responses to the detected voice queries. In some implementations, the client device200is configured in a like manner to client device102(FIGS.1A-1B). The voice query processing server system250is a system of one or more computers, which may be implemented in one or more locations. The system250is configured to perform backend operations on voice query processing requests corresponding to voice queries detected by client devices200. The system250may communicate with one or more client devices200over a network such as the Internet. In some implementations, the system250is configured in a like manner to system108(FIGS.1A-1B).

The client device200can include all or some of the components202-224. In some implementations, the client device200is a voice-based client that primarily relies on speech interactions to receive user inputs and to provide responses to users. For example, the client device200may be set in a local environment such as an office, a residential living room, a kitchen, or a vehicle cabin. When powered on, the device200may maintain a low-powered default state. In the low-powered state, the device200monitors ambient noise in the local environment until a pre-defined activation hotword is detected. In response to detecting the occurrence of an activation hotword, the device200transitions from the low-powered state to an active state in which it can receive and process a voice query.

To detect an activation hotword and receive voice queries uttered in a local environment, the device200may include one or more microphones202. The device can record audio signals detected by the microphones202and process the audio with a hotworder204. In some implementations, the hotworder204is configured to process audio signals detected in the local environment of the device200to identify occurrences of pre-defined hotwords uttered in the local environment. For example, the hotworder204may determine if a detected audio signal, or features of the detected audio signal, match a pre-stored audio signal or pre-stored features of an audio signal for a hotword. If a match is determined, the hotworder204may provide an indication to a controller to trigger the device200to wake-up so that it may capture and process a voice query that follows the detected hotword. In some implementations, the hotworder204is configured to identify hotwords in an audio signal by extracting audio features from the audio signal such as filterbank energies or mel-frequency cepstral coefficients. The hotworder204may use classifying windows to process these audio features using, for example, a support vector machine, a machine-learned neural network, or other models.

In some implementations, the client device further includes an audio buffer206and an audio pre-processor208. The audio pre-processor208receives an analog audio signal from the microphones202and converts the analog signal to a digital signal that can be processed by the hotworder204or other components of the client device200. The pre-processor208may amplify, filter, and/or crop audio signals to determined lengths. For example, the pre-processor208may generate snippets of audio that contain a single voice query and, optionally, a short amount of audio preceding the voice query, a short amount of audio immediately following the voice query, or both. The voice query may or may not include the activation hotword that precedes the substance of the query. In some implementations, the audio-pre-processor208can process initial audio data for a voice query to generate a feature representation of a voice query that includes features (e.g., filterbank energies, spectral coefficients). The digital audio data generated by the pre-processor208(e.g., a processed digital waveform representation of a voice query or a feature representation of the voice query) can be stored in an audio buffer206on the device200.

The client device200can further include an electronic display212to present visual information to a user, speakers214to present audible information to a user, or both. If the device200is a voice-based client that is primarily configured for hands-free user interactions based on voice inputs and speech-based outputs, the device200may present responses to user queries using synthesized speech that is played through the speakers214.

In some instances, the device200may receive illegitimate voice queries that are subject to suppression so as to prevent exploitation of user account information, the client device200, or the voice query processing server system250. In some implementations, the client device200includes a local gatekeeper216to screen voice queries detected by the client device200and to determine whether to suppress operations associated with certain voice queries. The gatekeeper216can include a fingerprinter218, a database220of blacklisted voice queries, a suppressor222, and a suppression log224. The fingerprinter218is configured to generate an electronic fingerprint for a voice query. The electronic fingerprint is a model or signature of a voice query that identifies distinctive features of the query. The fingerprint can include an audio component that represents acoustic features of the query, a textual component that represents a transcription of the query, or both. Thus, the fingerprint may model both the substance of the query (what was spoken) as well as the manner in which it was spoken, which may vary based on the speaker or other factors.

The gatekeeper216may compare a fingerprint for a voice query detected in a local (e.g., acoustic) environment to fingerprints for blacklisted voice queries stored in the database220. If the gatekeeper216determines a match between the fingerprint and one or more of the fingerprints in database220, an indication may be provided to the suppressor222. The suppressor222suppresses performance of operations associated with voice queries that are determined to be illegitimate. In some implementations, the suppressor222may block an operation from being performed in the first instance. For example, if the query “What meetings do I have with Becky today?” is deemed illegitimate, the suppressor222may block the system from accessing calendar data to answer the question. In some implementations, the suppressor222may reverse an operation that was performed if a query was not immediately identified as being illegitimate, but is later determined to be illegitimate. For example, a change to a user account setting or a financial transaction requested in a voice query may be reversed if the query is determined to be illegitimate after the operation was initially performed.

In some implementations, the gatekeeper216maintains a suppression log224. The suppression log224is a data structure stored in memory of the client device200that includes data entries representing information about illegitimate voice queries and information about suppressed operations associated with illegitimate voice queries. The device200may periodically transmit information from the suppression log224to a remote server system, e.g., voice query processing server system250for analysis.

The gatekeeper216may screen every voice query received at the client device200to determine if it is an illegitimate query that corresponds to a blacklisted query. In other implementations, the gatekeeper216may select to screen only some voice queries received at the client device200, rather than all of them. The selection may be random or based on defined filtering criteria (e.g., every nth voice query received, voice queries received during certain times, voice queries received from particular users).

The client device200may also include a network interface210that enables the device200to connect to one or more wired or wireless networks. The device200may use the network interface210to send messages to, and receive messages from, a remote computing system over a packet-switched network (e.g., the Internet), for example. In some implementations, the client device200obtains fingerprints to add to the blacklisted voice queries database220from the voice query processing server system250over a network. In some implementations, the client device200may transmit audio data for received voice queries from the client device200to the voice query processing server system250. The audio data may be transmitted to the system250along with requests for the system250to process the voice query, including to screen the voice query for legitimacy, and to invoke any operations specified in a validated (legitimate) query.

The voice query processing server system250, as shown inFIG.2B, is configured to receive voice query processing requests from one or more client devices, along with audio data for voice queries identified in the requests. The voice query processing system250may communicate with the client devices (e.g., client device200) over one or more networks using a network interface256. In some implementations, the system250is distributed among multiple computers in one or more locations. The system250may also include a speech recognizer251, a natural language processor252, a service hub254, a gatekeeper258, and a traffic analyzer268, or a combination of all or some of components251-268.

The server gatekeeper258can perform the same or similar operations to those described with respect to the gatekeeper216at client device200. However, unlike the client-side gatekeeper216, the server gatekeeper258may screen voice queries from many devices connected to the system250. As an example, the fingerprinter260may process audio data for a voice query to generate an electronic fingerprint of the voice query. The generated fingerprint can be compared to fingerprints that have been registered with a voice query suppression service. The registered fingerprints are stored in database262. A suppressor264suppresses operations associated with illegitimate voice queries. The gatekeeper258may classify a voice query as illegitimate if the electronic fingerprint of the query matches one of the registered fingerprints in database262. In some implementations, the gatekeeper258may require an identical match to classify a voice query as illegitimate. In other implementations, an identical match may not be required. In these implementations, the gatekeeper258may allow for a non-zero tolerance to identify matches among fingerprints that are sufficiently similar so as to confidently indicate that the voice queries from which the fingerprints were derived are the same (e.g., common voice queries). For example, if a similarity score representing the similarity between two fingerprints meets a threshold value, the gatekeeper258may determine a match between fingerprints. The threshold value represents an acceptable tolerance for the match and may be a fixed value or a dynamic value that changes based on certain parameters Information about voice queries that have been classified as illegitimate and information about suppressed operations associated with illegitimate voice queries may be stored in suppression log266.

For voice queries that the gatekeeper258validated as being legitimate, the queries may be processed by a speech recognizer251, natural language processor252, service hub254, or a combination of these. The speech recognizer251is configured to process audio data for a voice query and generate a textual transcript that identifies a sequence of words included in the voice query. The natural language processor252parses the transcription of a voice query to determine an operation requested by the voice query and any parameters in the voice query that indicate how the operation should be performed. For example, the voice query “Call Bob Thomas” includes a request to perform a telephone calling operation and includes a callee parameter indicating that Bob Thomas should be the recipient of the call. Using information about which operation and parameters have been specified in a voice query, as indicated by the natural language processor252, the service hub254may then interact with one or more services to perform the operation and to generate a response to the query. The service hub254may be capable of interacting a wide range of services that can perform a range of operations that may be specified in a voice query. Some of the services may be hosted on the voice query processing system250itself, while other services may be hosted on external computing systems.

In some implementations, the voice query processing system250includes a traffic analyzer268. The traffic analyzer268is configured to aggregate and analyze data traffic (e.g., voice query processing requests) received by the system250over time. Based on results of the analysis, the traffic analyzer268may identify a portion of the traffic that likely pertains to illegitimate voice queries. The voice queries associated with such traffic may be blacklisted so that subsequent voice queries that match the blacklisted queries are suppressed. In some implementations, the traffic analyzer268may identify an illegitimate voice query without supervision and without a priori knowledge of the voice query. In these and other implementations, the traffic analyzer268may further identify an illegitimate voice query without identifying a pre-defined watermark in the voice query that is intended to signal that operations associated with the voice query should be suppressed (e.g., a television commercial that includes a watermark to prevent triggering voice-based client devices in audible range of the devices when an activation hotword is spoken in the commercial).

The traffic analyzer268may include all or some of the components270-280shown inFIG.2B. The fingerprinter270is configured to generate an electronic fingerprint of a voice query, e.g., like fingerprinters218and260in gatekeepers216and268, respectively. The fingerprint database272stores fingerprints for voice queries that the system250has received over a period of time. The collision detector274is configured to identify a number of collisions or matches between fingerprints in the fingerprint data base272. In some implementations, the collision detector274is configured to blacklist a voice query represented by a group of matching fingerprints in the fingerprint database272based on a size of the group. Thus, if the traffic analyzer268identifies that a common voice query appears in requests received by the system250with sufficient frequency over time, as indicated by the size of the matching group of fingerprints, then the common voice query may be blacklisted, e.g., by adding a fingerprint of the voice query to database262and/or database220.

In some implementations, traffic volume analyzer278monitors a volume of traffic received at the system250over time. The analyzed traffic may be global or may be only a portion of traffic that the traffic filter280has filtered based on criteria such as the geographic locations of users or client devices that submitted the voice queries, the models of client devices that submitted the voice queries, profile information of users that submitted the queries, or a combination of these and other criteria. If the volume of requests that the system250receives in a given time interval is sufficiently high (e.g., meets a threshold volume), the volume analyzer278may trigger the collision detector274to search for illegitimate voice queries in the received traffic. In some implementations, the collision detector274may identify an illegitimate voice query from a set of traffic based on identifying that a common voice query occurs in a significant portion of the traffic. For example, if a threshold number of voice query processing requests from various client devices, or a threshold portion of the requests in a sample set of traffic, are determined to include the same voice query, the analyzer268may blacklist the voice query and register its electronic fingerprint with a gatekeeper216or258(e.g., a voice query suppression service).

In some implementations, a policy manager276manages the criteria by which the traffic analyzer268determines to filter traffic, trigger searches for illegitimate voice queries, and blacklist common voice queries. In some implementations, the policy manager276can expose an application programming interface (“API”) or provide a dashboard or other interface for a system administrator to view and adjust these policies.

FIG.3is a flowchart of an example process300for analyzing traffic at a voice query processing system to identify an illegitimate voice query based on a volume of traffic experienced by the system over time. The process300may be carried out by a voice query processing server system, e.g., voice query processing server system108or250. The voice query processing server system may have a traffic analyzer, e.g., traffic analyzer268, to analyze voice query processing requests received by the system over time and detect illegitimate voice queries indicated by such requests.

At stage302, the voice query processing system receives requests from client devices to process voice queries that were detected by the client devices in their local environments. In some implementations, the system communicates with many client devices (e.g., tens, hundreds, thousands, or millions) over one or more networks, and therefore receives many voice query processing requests. A voice query processing request typically identifies a single voice query that the system is requested to process, although in some implementations a query may identify multiple voice queries. The voice query processing system may process a voice query by transcribing the voice query to text and performing an operation indicated by the content of the query. Further, the system may transmit to a client device a response to a voice query, which may be a confirmation that an operation was performed successfully, an indication that a requested operation has been suppressed, or an answer to a question, for instance. In some implementations, audio data (e.g., a compressed waveform or audio features) for a voice query is explicitly embedded within a voice query processing request. In some implementations, the audio data for a voice query can be transmitted to the server system in one or more messages separate from the request itself, but the request references the messages that provide the audio data. In some implementations, a voice query processing request may include a pointer or other address indicating a network storage location that the server system can access a copy of audio data for the voice query at issue.

At stage304, the system determines a volume of client requests (e.g., traffic) received over time. This stage may be performed, for example, by traffic volume analyzer278. The volume of received requests can be determined with respect to a defined window of time. In some implementations, the system determines the volume of client requests received during a most recent period of time (e.g., a number of requests received in the past 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, or 1 week). The time interval may be pre-defined and may be a static or dynamic parameter that can be set automatically or based upon user input. The volume of received requests represents a value that is based upon a total number of requests received by the system during the specified time interval. In a first example, the volume indicates an absolute number of requests received by the system during a specified time interval. In a second example, the volume indicates a relative number of requests received by the system during a specified time interval. In a third example, the volume indicates a rate of change in the number of requests received by the system during a specified time interval. In a fourth example, the volume indicates an acceleration in the number of requests received by the system during a specified time interval. In a fourth example, the volume is a value that is based upon a combination of factors such as two or more of an absolute number, a relative number, a rate of change, and an acceleration in the number of requests received by the system during a specified time interval.

In some implementations, the system determines the volume of requests received by the system globally over time (e.g., counts substantially all requests received by the system during a specified time interval without filtering the requests). In other implementations, the system determines the volume of requests only with respect to requests having characteristics that meet certain criteria. For example, the system may determine a volume of requests received from client devices having a limited set of internet protocol (IP) addresses, from client devices or users that are located in particular geographic regions, or from particular models of client devices.

At stage306, the system determines whether the volume of requests received by the system over time, as determined at stage304, meets one or more criteria for triggering a deep-dive traffic analysis. Stage306may be performed by a traffic volume analyzer178, for example. During a deep-dive traffic analysis, the system analyzes voice query processing requests received over a period of time in search of any illegitimate voice queries that should be blacklisted. In some implementations, the determining whether the volume of requests meets criteria for triggering a deep-dive traffic analysis includes comparing the volume of requests received during a particular time interval to a threshold value. For example, if the volume of requests indicates an absolute number of requests received by the system during a specified time interval, then the system may compare the absolute number of requests received to a threshold number of requests. If a traffic spike is indicated because the actual number of requests received exceeds the threshold, the system may proceed to a deep-dive traffic analysis at stage308. If the volume of requests indicates a rate of change in the number of requests received by the system over time, the system may compare the observed rate of change to a threshold rate to determine whether to perform a deep-dive traffic analysis. If the criteria for triggering a deep-dive analysis is not satisfied, the process300may end or return to stage302in some implementations.

At stage308, the system performs a deep-dive analysis of received requests to determine if the requests include any illegitimate voice queries that are not currently blacklisted. This stage308can be performed by a fingerprinter270, collision detector274, and traffic volume analyzer278in some implementations. If, for example, a malicious entity has launched a distributed campaign against the voice query processing system250(e.g., a distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack), the system may be flooded within a short time span with requests to process many instances of the same or similar voice query. For instance, a video broadcasted on television or over a computer network may be played, where the video is designed to trigger many voice-based clients in audible range of the played video to generate voice query processing requests containing a voice query uttered in the video. In some implementations, one objective of the system at stage308is to identify a common voice query that occurs within a significant number of requests received from client devices over a period of time. Because utterances for voice queries from legitimate users are typically distinctive, e.g., based on the unique voice patterns and speech characteristics of individual speakers, the system may classify a common voice query that occurs in many voice query processing requests from disparate client devices over time as illegitimate. For example, if the volume (e.g., quantity) of voice queries indicated by a set of requests received at the server system is at least a threshold volume, the system may then flag the voice query as illegitimate. In some implementations, the volume of common voice queries can be determined based on a count of a number of voice queries whose electronic fingerprints match each other, a number of voice queries whose text transcriptions match each other, or a combination of these. The volume may be an absolute count of the number of voice queries in a group of voice queries having matching electronic fingerprints and/or transcriptions, a relative count, a rate of change in counts over time, an acceleration of counts over time, or a combination of these. In some implementations, the analysis in stage308is limited to voice query processing requests received over a limited time interval. The time interval may be the same or different from the time interval applied in stage304. In other implementations, the analysis in stage308is not limited to voice query processing requests received over a specific time interval. For example, a video on an online video streaming service may be played a number of times by different users, even if not within a short time span. The system may detect common occurrences of a voice query in the video over time and determine that the voice query is not an actual user's voice, but is rather a feature of a reproducible media. Accordingly, the voice query may be deemed illegitimate and blacklisted.

At stage310, the system determines whether a set of requests that request processing of a common voice query meets one or more suppression criteria. The suppression criteria can include a volume of requests associated with the common voice criteria, characteristics of the common voice query (e.g., whether the query includes blacklisted terms), and/or additional criteria. For example, the system may classify as illegitimate a voice query that is common among a set of requests if it determines that the size of the set (e.g., the volume or quantity of requests in the set) meets a threshold size, thereby indicating for example that the common voice query occurs with sufficient frequency in received traffic.

In some implementations, signals in addition to or alternatively to the size of the set (e.g., a volume or count of the number of requests in the set having matching fingerprints for a common voice query) can be applied in determining whether the set of requests meets suppression criteria. These signals can include information about user feedback to a response to the voice query or to an operation performed as requested in the voice query. The system may obtain data that indicates whether a user accepted, rejected, or modified a response to a voice query. Depending on the distribution of users that accepted, rejected or modified responses or the results of operations performed as requested in respective instances of a common voice query, the system may bias its determination as to whether the voice query should be blacklisted or whether the set of requests meets prescribed suppression criteria. For example, if the system receives a large number of requests that each includes the voice query “What's the traffic like today between home and the park?”, the system may prompt users to confirm that they would like to obtain a response to this question. As more users confirm that the system accurately received the voice query and confirm that they desire to obtain a response to the question, the system may be influenced as less likely that the voice query is illegitimate (and less likely to meet the suppression criteria). In contrast, as more users cancel or modify the query in response to the prompt, the system may be influenced as more likely to classify the voice query as illegitimate (and more likely to meet the suppression criteria).

At stage312, the system selects a path in the process300based on whether the set of requests for the common voice query meets the suppression criteria. If the suppression criteria is met, the process300can advance to stage314. If the suppression criteria is not met, the process may, for example, return to stage302. In some implementations, the suppression criteria is a null set That is, any set of requests that identify a common voice query may be classified as illegitimate regardless of whether the set meets additional criteria.

At stage314, a fingerprinter, e.g., fingerprinter270, generates an electronic fingerprint to model the common voice query that occurs in a set of requests. The fingerprinter may generate an electronic fingerprint from audio data for the voice query, a textual transcription of the voice query, or both. In some implementations, the fingerprint is derived from a representative instance of the common voice query selected from among the set of voice queries identified by the set of requests. The representative instance of the common voice query may be selected in any suitable manner, e.g., by selecting an instance of the common voice query having a highest audio quality or by selecting the representative instance at random. In some implementations, the fingerprint is derived from multiple representative instances of the common voice query or from all of the common voice queries identified by the set of requests. For example, the audio data from multiple instances of the common voice query may be merged before generating a fingerprint. Alternatively, intermediate fingerprints may be generated for each instance, and the intermediate fingerprints then merged to form a final electronic fingerprint for the common voice query.

At stage316, the system's traffic analyzer registers the electronic fingerprint of the common voice query with a gatekeeper. In some implementations, registering the fingerprint includes adding the fingerprint to a database of voice queries, e.g., database262, which the gatekeeper checks new voice queries against to determine whether to suppress requested operations indicated by the new voice queries. In some implementations, a voice query may be blacklisted for only a subset of client devices which interact with the system, rather than being universally blacklisted. For example, if the system identifies that an illegitimate voice query is originating from a devices in a particular geographic region, the system may blacklist the voice query only with respect to client devices or users located in that region. In some implementations, the system may also attach temporal constraints to a blacklisted voice query. For example, a voice query may be blacklisted either in perpetuity (no expiration) or temporarily. After a voice query is removed from the blacklist, new instances of the voice query may not be subject to suppression. Temporal constraints, geographic constraints, and other rules that govern how a voice query is blacklisted can be registered along with the fingerprint for the voice query in a database of a gatekeeper. In some implementations where the client devices perform voice query screening locally, the server system can push updates to the client devices to keep the devices' local blacklist databases current. For example, a fingerprint for a voice query that the traffic analyzer at the server system has recently classified as illegitimate may be transmitted to multiple client devices. In some implementations, the system may push a fingerprint for a blacklisted voice query to all client devices without restriction. In other implementations, the system may push a fingerprint for a blacklisted voice query only to client devices that are covered by the blacklist, e.g., devices within a particular geographic region.

FIG.4is a flowchart of an example process400for analyzing traffic at a voice query processing system to identify an illegitimate voice query based on the frequency that a common voice query occurs in the traffic over time. The process400may be carried out by a voice query processing system, e.g., systems108or250. In some implementations, the process400is carried out at least in part by a traffic analyzer at a server system, e.g., traffic analyzer268.

At stage402, the voice query processing system receives requests from client devices to process voice queries that were detected by the client devices in their local environments. In some implementations, the system communicates with many client devices (e.g., tens, hundreds, thousands, or millions) over one or more networks, and therefore receives many voice query processing requests. A voice query processing request typically identifies a single voice query that the system is requested to process, although in some implementations a query may identify multiple voice queries. The voice query processing system may process a voice query by transcribing the voice query to text and performing an operation indicated by the content of the query. Further, the system may transmit to a client device a response to a voice query, which may be a confirmation that an operation was performed successfully, an indication that a requested operation has been suppressed, or an answer to a question, for instance. In some implementations, audio data (e.g., a compressed waveform or audio features) for a voice query is explicitly embedded within a voice query processing request. In some implementations, the audio data for a voice query can be transmitted to the server system in one or more messages separate from the request itself, but the request references the messages that provide the audio data. In some implementations, a voice query processing request may include a pointer or other address indicating a network storage location that the server system can access a copy of audio data for the voice query at issue.

At stages406-410, the system performs various operations on voice queries that correspond to a set of voice query processing requests. In some implementations, the operations are performed on voice queries corresponding to substantially all voice queries received by the system over a period of time. In other implementations, the system may sample the received requests and perform stages406-410on voice queries corresponding to only a selected (sampled) subset of the voice queries received by the system over a period of time. In these implementations, the system samples received voice query processing requests at stage404. Requests may be sampled according to one or more criteria such as the time the requests were transmitted by the client devices or received by the server system, the location or geographic region of client devices or users that submitted the requests, or a combination of these or other factors.

At stage406, a fingerprinter generates electronic fingerprints for voice queries identified in the requests received from the client devices. In some implementations, fingerprints are generated only for the voice queries that correspond to requests that were selected in the sample set from stage404. At stage408, the fingerprints for the voice queries are added to a database such as fingerprint database172. The fingerprint database can include a cache of electronic fingerprints for voice queries received by the system over a recent period of time (e.g., last 10 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2, minutes, 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, hour, 4 hours, 1 day, or 1 week).

At stage410, a collision detector of the voice query processing system, e.g., collision detector274, monitors a volume of collisions among fingerprints for each unique voice query represented in the fingerprint database. A collision occurs each time a fingerprint for a new voice query is added to the database that matches a previously stored fingerprint in the database. Generally, a collision indicates that a new instance of a previously detected voice query has been identified. In some implementations, each group of matching fingerprints within the database represent a same or similar voice query that is different from the voice queries represented by other groups of matching fingerprints in the database. That is, each group of matching fingerprints represents a unique voice query that was common among a set of processing requests. The collision detector may constantly monitor a volume of collisions in the fingerprint database for each unique voice query. In some implementations, the volume of collisions for a given voice query is determined based on a count of a number of matching fingerprints in a group detected by the system over time. The volume of collisions may indicate, for example, an absolute number of collisions, a relative number of collisions, a rate of change in collisions over time, an acceleration of collisions over time, or a combination of two or more of these.

At stage412, the system determines whether to classify one or more of the unique voice queries represented in the fingerprint database as illegitimate voice queries. A voice query may be deemed illegitimate based on the volume of collisions detected for the voice query over a recent period of time. For example, the system may determine to blacklist a voice query if the volume of collisions detected for the voice query over a recent period of time meets a threshold volume of collisions. The collision detector may keep track of groups of matching fingerprints in the fingerprint database and counts of the number of matching fingerprints in each group. Being as the groups are sorted based on having matching fingerprints, each group can represent a different voice query (e.g., a same voice query or sufficiently similar voice queries). The system can select to classify voice queries corresponding to one or more of the groups based on the counts of the number of matching fingerprints in each group. For example, voice queries for groups having the top-n (e.g., n:=1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or more) highest counts may be selected and classified as illegitimate, and/or voice queries for groups having counts that meet a threshold count may be classified as illegitimate.

In some implementations, signals in addition to or alternatively to the volume of collisions (e.g., values based on counts of matching fingerprints per group) can be applied in determining whether to classify a voice query as illegitimate and to blacklist the voice query. These signals can include information about user feedback to a response to the voice query or to an operation performed as requested in the voice query. The system may obtain data that indicates whether a user accepted, rejected, or modified a response to a voice query. Depending on the distribution of users that accepted, rejected or modified responses or the results of operations performed as requested in respective instances of a common voice query, the system may bias its determination as to whether the voice query should be blacklisted or whether the set of requests meets prescribed suppression criteria. For example, if the system receives a large number of requests that each includes the voice query “What's the traffic like today between home and the park?”, the system may prompt users to confirm that they would like to obtain a response to this question. As more users confirm that the system accurately received the voice query and confirm that they desire to obtain a response to the question, the system may be influenced as less likely that the voice query is illegitimate (and less likely to meet the suppression criteria). In contrast, as more users cancel or modify the query in response to the prompt, the system may be influenced as more likely to classify the voice query as illegitimate (and more likely to meet the suppression criteria).

At stage414, the system then blacklists an illegitimate voice query by registering a fingerprint for the voice query with gatekeepers at the server system and/or the client devices. In some implementations, the system registers a fingerprint with a gatekeeper (e.g., a voice query suppression service) in a similar manner to that described at stage316ofFIG.3.

FIG.5is a swim-lane diagram illustrating an example process500for detecting an illegitimate voice query and suppressing a voice query operation at a server system. In some implementations, the process500is performed between a client device, e.g., client106or200, and a voice query processing server system, e.g., system108or250. At stage502, the client device detects a hotword in its local environment. In response to detecting the hotword, the device activates and at stage504captures a voice query that includes a series of words following the hotword. At stage506, the client device pre-processes audio data for the received voice query. Optionally, pre-processing can include generating a feature representation of an audio signal for the received voice query. At stage508, the client device generates and transmits a voice query processing request for the voice query to the server system. The server system receives the request at stage510. Upon receiving the request, the server system generates an electronic fingerprint of the voice query. The electronic fingerprint is compared to other fingerprints that are pre-stored in a database of blacklisted voice queries at stage514. If the fingerprint for the received voice query matches any of the pre-stored fingerprints corresponding to a blacklisted voice query, then the system determines that the received voice query has been blacklisted and suppresses performance of an operation indicated by the received voice query (stage518). In some implementations, the server system may transmit an indication to the client device that the operation indicated by the received voice query has been suppressed (stage520) The client device receives the indication at stage522. The client may log the indication of a suppressed voice query and may generate a user notification about the suppressed operation.

FIG.6is a swim-lane diagram illustrating an example process600for detecting an illegitimate voice query and suppressing a voice query operation at a client device. In some implementations, the process600is performed between a client device, e.g., client106or200, and a voice query processing server system, e.g., system108or250. In contrast to the process500ofFIG.5, the process600ofFIG.6screens voice queries locally at the client device rather than at the server system. Nonetheless, the client device may obtain the model electronic fingerprints for blacklisted voice queries from a server system. The fingerprints for blacklisted voice queries may be generated by the server system in some implementations using the techniques described with respect toFIGS.3and4.

At stage602, the server system generates fingerprints of blacklisted voice queries. At stage604, the server system transmits registers the fingerprints for the blacklisted voice queries including transmitting the fingerprints to a client device that has a local gatekeeper fro screening voice queries. At stage606, the client device receives the model fingerprints for the blacklisted voice queries from the server system. At stage608, the client device stores the fingerprints in a local blacklisted voice queries database. At stage610, the client device detects an utterance of a hotword in the local environment of the device. In response to detecting the hotword, the client device activates and captures a voice query that includes one or more words following the hotword (stage612). At stage614, the device generates an electronic fingerprint of the received voice query. The electronic fingerprint is compared to other fingerprints that are pre-stored in a database of blacklisted voice queries at stage616. If the fingerprint for the received voice query matches any of the pre-stored fingerprints corresponding to a blacklisted voice query (stage618), then the device determines that the received voice query has been blacklisted and suppresses performance of an operation indicated by the received voice query (stage620).

FIG.7shows an example of a computing device700and a mobile computing device that can be used to implement the techniques described herein. The computing device700is intended to represent various forms of digital computers, such as laptops, desktops, workstations, personal digital assistants, servers, blade servers, mainframes, and other appropriate computers. The mobile computing device is intended to represent various forms of mobile devices, such as personal digital assistants, cellular telephones, smart-phones, and other similar computing devices. The components shown here, their connections and relationships, and their functions, are meant to be exemplary only, and are not meant to limit implementations of the inventions described and/or claimed in this document.

The computing device700includes a processor702, a memory704, a storage device706, a high-speed interface708connecting to the memory704and multiple high-speed expansion ports710, and a low-speed interface712connecting to a low-speed expansion port714and the storage device706. Each of the processor702, the memory704, the storage device706, the high-speed interface708, the high-speed expansion ports710, and the low-speed interface712, are interconnected using various busses, and may be mounted on a common motherboard or in other manners as appropriate. The processor702can process instructions for execution within the computing device700, including instructions stored in the memory704or on the storage device706to display graphical information for a GUI on an external input/output device, such as a display716coupled to the high-speed interface708. In other implementations, multiple processors and/or multiple buses may be used, as appropriate, along with multiple memories and types of memory. Also, multiple computing devices may be connected, with each device providing portions of the necessary operations (e.g., as a server bank, a group of blade servers, or a multi-processor system).

The memory704stores information within the computing device700. In some implementations, the memory704is a volatile memory unit or units. In some implementations, the memory704is a non-volatile memory unit or units. The memory704may also be another form of computer-readable medium, such as a magnetic or optical disk.

The storage device706is capable of providing mass storage for the computing device700. In some implementations, the storage device706may be or contain a computer-readable medium, such as a floppy disk device, a hard disk device, an optical disk device, or a tape device, a flash memory or other similar solid state memory device, or an array of devices, including devices in a storage area network or other configurations. The computer program product may also contain instructions that, when executed, perform one or more methods, such as those described above. The computer program product can also be tangibly embodied in a computer- or machine-readable medium, such as the memory704, the storage device706, or memory on the processor702.

The high-speed interface708manages bandwidth-intensive operations for the computing device700, while the low-speed interface712manages lower bandwidth-intensive operations Such allocation of functions is exemplary only. In some implementations, the high-speed interface708is coupled to the memory704, the display716(e.g., through a graphics processor or accelerator), and to the high-speed expansion ports710, which may accept various expansion cards (not shown). In the implementation, the low-speed interface712is coupled to the storage device706and the low-speed expansion port714. The low-speed expansion port714, which may include various communication ports (e.g., USB, Bluetooth, Ethernet, wireless Ethernet) may be coupled to one or more input/output devices, such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a scanner, or a networking device such as a switch or router, e.g., through a network adapter.

The computing device700may be implemented in a number of different forms, as shown in the figure. For example, it may be implemented as a standard server720, or multiple times in a group of such servers. In addition, it may be implemented in a personal computer such as a laptop computer722. It may also be implemented as part of a rack server system724. Alternatively, components from the computing device700may be combined with other components in a mobile device (not shown), such as a mobile computing device750. Each of such devices may contain one or more of the computing device700and the mobile computing device750, and an entire system may be made up of multiple computing devices communicating with each other.

The mobile computing device750includes a processor752, a memory764, an input/output device such as a display754, a communication interface766, and a transceiver768, among other components. The mobile computing device750may also be provided with a storage device, such as a micro-drive or other device, to provide additional storage. Each of the processor752, the memory764, the display754, the communication interface766, and the transceiver768, are interconnected using various buses, and several of the components may be mounted on a common motherboard or in other manners as appropriate.

The processor752can execute instructions within the mobile computing device750, including instructions stored in the memory764. The processor752may be implemented as a chipset of chips that include separate and multiple analog and digital processors. The processor752may provide, for example, for coordination of the other components of the mobile computing device750, such as control of user interfaces, applications run by the mobile computing device750, and wireless communication by the mobile computing device750.

The processor752may communicate with a user through a control interface758and a display interface756coupled to the display754. The display754may be, for example, a ITT (Thin-Film-Transistor Liquid Crystal Display) display or an OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) display, or other appropriate display technology. The display interface756may comprise appropriate circuitry for driving the display754to present graphical and other information to a user. The control interface758may receive commands from a user and convert them for submission to the processor752. In addition, an external interface762may provide communication with the processor752, so as to enable near area communication of the mobile computing device750with other devices. The external interface762may provide, for example, for wired communication in some implementations, or for wireless communication in other implementations, and multiple interfaces may also be used.

The memory764stores information within the mobile computing device750. The memory764can be implemented as one or more of a computer-readable medium or media, a volatile memory unit or units, or a non-volatile memory unit or units. An expansion memory774may also be provided and connected to the mobile computing device750through an expansion interface772, which may include, for example, a SIMM (Single In Line Memory Module) card interface. The expansion memory774may provide extra storage space for the mobile computing device750, or may also store applications or other information for the mobile computing device750. Specifically, the expansion memory774may include instructions to carry out or supplement the processes described above, and may include secure information also. Thus, for example, the expansion memory774may be provide as a security module for the mobile computing device750, and may be programmed with instructions that permit secure use of the mobile computing device750. In addition, secure applications may be provided via the SIMM cards, along with additional information, such as placing identifying information on the SIMM card in a non-hackable manner.

The memory may include, for example, flash memory and/or NVRAM memory (non-volatile random access memory), as discussed below. The computer program product contains instructions that, when executed, perform one or more methods, such as those described above. The computer program product can be a computer- or machine-readable medium, such as the memory764, the expansion memory774, or memory on the processor752. In some implementations, the computer program product can be received in a propagated signal, for example, over the transceiver768or the external interface762.

The mobile computing device750may communicate wirelessly through the communication interface766, which may include digital signal processing circuitry where necessary. The communication interface766may provide for communications under various modes or protocols, such as GSM voice calls (Global System for Mobile communications), SMS (Short Message Service), EMS (Enhanced Messaging Service), or MMS messaging (Multimedia Messaging Service), CDMA (code division multiple access), TDMA (time division multiple access), PDC (Personal Digital Cellular), WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), CDMA2000, or GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), among others. Such communication may occur, for example, through the transceiver768using a radio-frequency. In addition, short-range communication may occur, such as using a Bluetooth, WiFi, or other such transceiver (not shown). In addition, a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver module770may provide additional navigation- and location-related wireless data to the mobile computing device750, which may be used as appropriate by applications running on the mobile computing device750.

The mobile computing device750may also communicate audibly using an audio codec760, which may receive spoken information from a user and convert it to usable digital information. The audio codec760may likewise generate audible sound for a user, such as through a speaker, e.g., in a handset of the mobile computing device750. Such sound may include sound from voice telephone calls, may include recorded sound (e.g., voice messages, music files, etc.) and may also include sound generated by applications operating on the mobile computing device750.

The mobile computing device750may be implemented in a number of different forms, as shown in the figure. For example, it may be implemented as a cellular telephone780. It may also be implemented as part of a smart-phone782, personal digital assistant, or other similar mobile device.

Various implementations of the systems and techniques described here can be realized in digital electronic circuitry, integrated circuitry, specially designed ASICs (application specific integrated circuits), computer hardware, firmware, software, and/or combinations thereof. These various implementations can include implementation in one or more computer programs that are executable and/or interpretable on a programmable system including at least one programmable processor, which may be special or general purpose, coupled to receive data and instructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a storage system, at least one input device, and at least one output device.

These computer programs (also known as programs, software, software applications or code) include machine instructions for a programmable processor, and can be implemented in a high-level procedural and/or object-oriented programming language, and/or in assembly/machine language. As used herein, the terms machine-readable medium and computer-readable medium refer to any computer program product, apparatus and/or device (e.g., magnetic discs, optical disks, memory, Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs)) used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor, including a machine-readable medium that receives machine instructions as a machine-readable signal. The term machine-readable signal refers to any signal used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor.

To provide for interaction with a user, the systems and techniques described here can be implemented on a computer having a display device (e.g., a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor) for displaying information to the user and a keyboard and a pointing device (e.g., a mouse or a trackball) by which the user can provide input to the computer. Other kinds of devices can be used to provide for interaction with a user as well; for example, feedback provided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback (e.g., visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback); and input from the user can be received in any form, including acoustic, speech, or tactile input.

The systems and techniques described here can be implemented in a computing system that includes a back end component (e.g., as a data server), or that includes a middleware component (e.g., an application server), or that includes a front end component (e.g., a client computer having a graphical user interface or a Web browser through which a user can interact with an implementation of the systems and techniques described here), or any combination of such back end, middleware, or front end components. The components of the system can be interconnected by any form or medium of digital data communication (e.g., a communication network). Examples of communication networks include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), and the Internet.

The computing system can include clients and servers. A client and server are generally remote from each other and typically interact through a communication network. The relationship of client and server arises by virtue of computer programs running on the respective computers and having a client-server relationship to each other.

In situations in which the systems, methods, devices, and other techniques here collect personal information (e.g., context data) about users, or may make use of personal information, the users may be provided with an opportunity to control whether programs or features collect user information (e.g., information about a user's social network, social actions or activities, profession, a user's preferences, or a user's current location), or to control whether and/or how to receive content from the content server that may be more relevant to the user. In addition, certain data may be treated in one or more ways before it is stored or used, so that personally identifiable information is removed. For example, a user's identity may be treated so that no personally identifiable information can be determined for the user, or a user's geographic location may be generalized where location information is obtained (such as to a city, ZIP code, or state level), so that a particular location of a user cannot be determined. Thus, the user may have control over how information is collected about the user and used by a content server.

Although various implementations have been described in detail above, other modifications are possible. In addition, the logic flows depicted in the figures do not require the particular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirable results. In addition, other steps may be provided, or steps may be eliminated, from the described flows, and other components may be added to, or removed from, the described systems. Accordingly, other implementations are within the scope of the following claims.