Patent ID: 7216080

Claim:
A handheld personal assistant operated by a user comprising: a categorizer configured to store a plurality of data items in a database organized by categories of information that are grouped into a calendar category, an address book category and a to-do-list category wherein each category of information includes one or more subcategories of information that are linked in a hierarchical structure; a voice-recognizer configured to recognize the user's voice and transform an expression input by the user into a different mode of information; a context processor configured to determine the category of information corresponding to the expression input by the user, based on a first inferred context of the expression input and maintain the storage of the data items by the categorizer in the determined category of information until a new category of information is determined based upon a second inferred context; and a natural-language processor configured to process the mode of information to extract a piece of information from the determined category of the database; wherein if there is ambiguity with the mode of information to extract from a first category of information, the natural-language processor provides a first response to the user having a plurality of options, the natural-language processor then provides a second response based upon the user's selection from the options.