PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-12175977-B2
Application Number: US-202318136710-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Intelligent digital assistant in a multi-tasking environment

Abstract:
Systems and processes for operating a digital assistant are provided. In one example, a method includes receiving a first speech input from a user. The method further includes identifying context information and determining a user intent based on the first speech input and the context information. The method further includes determining whether the user intent is to perform a task using a searching process or an object managing process. The searching process is configured to search data, and the object managing process is configured to manage objects. The method further includes, in accordance with a determination the user intent is to perform the task using the searching process, performing the task using the searching process; and in accordance with the determination that the user intent is to perform the task using the object managing process, performing the task using the object managing process.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for providing a digital assistant service, the method comprising:
 at a first electronic device with one or more processors and memory:
 while performing a task, receiving a speech input that requests to perform a continuation of the task at a second electronic device different from the first electronic device, wherein the second electronic device is capable of performing the continuation of the task, and wherein the second electronic device is communicatively connected to the first electronic device; 
 determining a user intent based on the speech input; and 
 in accordance with a determination that the user intent is to perform the continuation of the task at the second electronic device and that content for performing the task is located remotely to the second electronic device:
 providing, to the second electronic device, the content for performing the continuation of the task, wherein, based on the provided content, the second electronic device performs the continuation of the task based on where the task was previously stopped at the first electronic device. 
 
 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the user intent based on the speech input further comprises:
 determining one or more actionable intents; and 
 determining one or more parameters associated with the one or more actionable intents. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the user intent further comprises:
 identifying context information associated with the second electronic device; and 
 determining the user intent based on the speech input and the context information associated with the second electronic device. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3 , wherein the context information comprises at least one of:
 user-specific data; 
 sensor data; and 
 second electronic device configuration data. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining that the user intent is to perform the continuation of the task at the second electronic device further comprises:
 determining that performing the continuation of the task at the second electronic device satisfies one or more performance criteria. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5 , further comprising:
 in accordance with a determination that performing the continuation of the task at the second electronic device does not satisfy the one or more performance criteria, determining whether performing the continuation of the task at the first electronic device satisfies the one or more performance criteria. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 in accordance with a determination that performing the continuation of the task at the first electronic device satisfies the one or more performance criteria, determining that the continuation of the task is to be performed at the first electronic device; and 
 in accordance with a determination that the performing the continuation of the task at the first electronic device does not satisfy the one or more performance criteria, determining whether performing the continuation of the task at a third electronic device different from the first electronic device and the second electronic device satisfies the one or more performance criteria. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 5 , wherein the one or more performance criteria are determined based on one or more user preferences. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 5 , wherein the one or more performance criteria are determined based on second electronic device configuration data. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 5 , wherein the one or more performance criteria are dynamically updated. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , wherein providing, to the second electronic device, the content for performing the continuation of the task further comprises:
 receiving the content from a fourth electronic device; and 
 providing, to the second electronic device, the content for performing the continuation of the task. 
 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1 , wherein providing, to the second electronic device, the content for performing the continuation of the task, wherein, based on the provided content, the second electronic device performs the continuation of the task based on where the task was previously stopped at the first electronic device further comprises:
 providing a first response at the first electronic device. 
 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 12 , wherein providing the first response at the first electronic device further comprises:
 displaying a first user interface associated with the continuation of the task to be performed at the second electronic device. 
 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 1 , wherein providing, to the second electronic device, the content for performing the continuation of the task, wherein, based on the provided content, the second electronic device performs the continuation of the task based on where the task was previously stopped at the first electronic device further comprises:
 the second electronic device providing a second response. 
 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 14 , wherein the second electronic device providing the second response further comprises:
 the second electronic device displaying a second user interface associated with the continuation of the task. 
 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 14 , wherein the second electronic device providing the second response further comprises:
 the second electronic device providing a link associated with the continuation of the task. 
 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 1 , wherein providing, to the second electronic device, the content for performing the continuation of the task, wherein, based on the provided content, the second electronic device performs the continuation of the task based on where the task was previously stopped at the first electronic device further comprises:
 the second electronic device performing a portion of the task that has not been performed at the first electronic device using the content provided from the first electronic device. 
 
     
     
       18. A first electronic device, comprising:
 one or more processors; 
 memory; and 
 one or more programs stored in memory, the one or more programs including instructions for:
 while performing a task, receiving a speech input that requests to perform a continuation of the task at a second electronic device different from the first electronic device, wherein the second electronic device is capable of performing the continuation of the task, and wherein the second electronic device is communicatively connected to the first electronic device; 
 determining a user intent based on the speech input; and 
 in accordance with a determination that the user intent is to perform the continuation of the task at the second electronic device and that content for performing the task is located remotely to the second electronic device:
 providing, to the second electronic device, the content for performing the continuation of the task, wherein, based on the provided content, the second electronic device performs the continuation of the task based on where the task was previously stopped at the first electronic device. 
 
 
 
     
     
       19. The first electronic device of  claim 18 , wherein determining the user intent based on the speech input further comprises:
 determining one or more actionable intents; and 
 determining one or more parameters associated with the one or more actionable intents. 
 
     
     
       20. The first electronic device of  claim 18 , wherein determining the user intent further comprises:
 identifying context information associated with the second electronic device; and 
 determining the user intent based on the speech input and the context information associated with the second electronic device. 
 
     
     
       21. The first electronic device of  claim 20 , wherein the context information comprises at least one of:
 user-specific data; 
 sensor data; and 
 second electronic device configuration data. 
 
     
     
       22. The first electronic device of  claim 18 , wherein determining that the user intent is to perform the continuation of the task at the second electronic device further comprises:
 determining that performing the continuation of the task at the second electronic device satisfies one or more performance criteria. 
 
     
     
       23. The first electronic device of  claim 22 , the one or more programs further including instructions for:
 in accordance with a determination that performing the continuation of the task at the second electronic device does not satisfy the one or more performance criteria, determining whether performing the continuation of the task at the first electronic device satisfies the one or more performance criteria. 
 
     
     
       24. The first electronic device of  claim 23 , the one or more programs further including instructions for:
 in accordance with a determination that performing the continuation of the task at the first electronic device satisfies the one or more performance criteria, determining that the continuation of the task is to be performed at the first electronic device; and 
 in accordance with a determination that the performing the continuation of the task at the first electronic device does not satisfy the one or more performance criteria, determining whether performing the continuation of the task at a third electronic device different from the first electronic device and the second electronic device satisfies the one or more performance criteria. 
 
     
     
       25. The first electronic device of  claim 22 , wherein the one or more performance criteria are determined based on one or more user preferences. 
     
     
       26. The first electronic device of  claim 22 , wherein the one or more performance criteria are determined based on second electronic device configuration data. 
     
     
       27. The first electronic device of  claim 22 , wherein the one or more performance criteria are dynamically updated. 
     
     
       28. The first electronic device of  claim 18 , wherein providing, to the second electronic device, the content for performing the continuation of the task further comprises:
 receiving the content from a fourth electronic device; and 
 providing, to the second electronic device, the content for performing the continuation of the task. 
 
     
     
       29. The first electronic device of  claim 18 , wherein providing, to the second electronic device, the content for performing the continuation of the task, wherein, based on the provided content, the second electronic device performs the continuation of the task based on where the task was previously stopped at the first electronic device further comprises:
 providing a first response at the first electronic device. 
 
     
     
       30. The first electronic device of  claim 29 , wherein providing the first response at the first electronic device further comprises:
 displaying a first user interface associated with the continuation of the task to be performed at the second electronic device. 
 
     
     
       31. The first electronic device of  claim 18 , wherein providing, to the second electronic device, the content for performing the continuation of the task, wherein, based on the provided content, the second electronic device performs the continuation of the task based on where the task was previously stopped at the first electronic device further comprises:
 the second electronic device providing a second response. 
 
     
     
       32. The first electronic device of  claim 31 , wherein the second electronic device providing the second response further comprises:
 the second electronic device displaying a second user interface associated with the continuation of the task. 
 
     
     
       33. The first electronic device of  claim 31 , wherein the second electronic device providing the second response further comprises:
 the second electronic device providing a link associated with the continuation of the task. 
 
     
     
       34. The first electronic device of  claim 18 , wherein providing, to the second electronic device, the content for performing the continuation of the task, wherein, based on the provided content, the second electronic device performs the continuation of the task based on where the task was previously stopped at the first electronic device further comprises:
 the second electronic device performing a portion of the task that has not been performed at the first electronic device using the content provided from the first electronic device. 
 
     
     
       35. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising one or more programs for execution by one or more processors of a first electronic device, the one or more programs including instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the first electronic device to:
 while performing a task, receive a speech input that requests to perform a continuation of the task at a second electronic device different from the first electronic device, wherein the second electronic device is capable of performing the continuation of the task, and wherein the second electronic device is communicatively connected to the first electronic device; 
 determine a user intent based on the speech input; and 
 in accordance with a determination that the user intent is to perform the continuation of the task at the second electronic device and that content for performing the task is located remotely to the second electronic device:
 provide, to the second electronic device, the content for performing the continuation of the task, wherein, based on the provided content, the second electronic device performs the continuation of the task based on where the task was previously stopped at the first electronic device. 
 
 
     
     
       36. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 35 , wherein determining the user intent based on the speech input further comprises:
 determining one or more actionable intents; and 
 determining one or more parameters associated with the one or more actionable intents. 
 
     
     
       37. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 35 , wherein determining the user intent further comprises:
 identifying context information associated with the second electronic device; and 
 determining the user intent based on the speech input and the context information associated with the second electronic device. 
 
     
     
       38. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 37 , wherein the context information comprises at least one of:
 user-specific data; 
 sensor data; and 
 second electronic device configuration data. 
 
     
     
       39. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 35 , wherein determining that the user intent is to perform the continuation of the task at the second electronic device further comprises:
 determining that performing the continuation of the task at the second electronic device satisfies one or more performance criteria. 
 
     
     
       40. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 39 , wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the first electronic device to:
 in accordance with a determination that performing the continuation of the task at the second electronic device does not satisfy the one or more performance criteria, determine whether performing the continuation of the task at the first electronic device satisfies the one or more performance criteria. 
 
     
     
       41. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 40 , wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the first electronic device to:
 in accordance with a determination that performing the continuation of the task at the first electronic device satisfies the one or more performance criteria, determine that the continuation of the task is to be performed at the first electronic device; and 
 in accordance with a determination that the performing the continuation of the task at the first electronic device does not satisfy the one or more performance criteria, determine whether performing the continuation of the task at a third electronic device different from the first electronic device and the second electronic device satisfies the one or more performance criteria. 
 
     
     
       42. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 39 , wherein the one or more performance criteria are determined based on one or more user preferences. 
     
     
       43. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 39 , wherein the one or more performance criteria are determined based on second electronic device configuration data. 
     
     
       44. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 39 , wherein the one or more performance criteria are dynamically updated. 
     
     
       45. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 35 , wherein providing, to the second electronic device, the content for performing the continuation of the task further comprises:
 receiving the content from a fourth electronic device; and 
 providing, to the second electronic device, the content for performing the continuation of the task. 
 
     
     
       46. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 35 , wherein providing, to the second electronic device, the content for performing the continuation of the task, wherein, based on the provided content, the second electronic device performs the continuation of the task based on where the task was previously stopped at the first electronic device further comprises:
 providing a first response at the first electronic device. 
 
     
     
       47. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 46 , wherein providing the first response at the first electronic device further comprises:
 displaying a first user interface associated with the continuation of the task to be performed at the second electronic device. 
 
     
     
       48. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 35 , wherein providing, to the second electronic device, the content for performing the continuation of the task, wherein, based on the provided content, the second electronic device performs the continuation of the task based on where the task was previously stopped at the first electronic device further comprises:
 the second electronic device providing a second response. 
 
     
     
       49. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 48 , wherein the second electronic device providing the second response further comprises:
 the second electronic device displaying a second user interface associated with the continuation of the task. 
 
     
     
       50. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 48 , wherein the second electronic device providing the second response further comprises:
 the second electronic device providing a link associated with the continuation of the task. 
 
     
     
       51. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of  claim 35 , wherein providing, to the second electronic device, the content for performing the continuation of the task, wherein, based on the provided content, the second electronic device performs the continuation of the task based on where the task was previously stopped at the first electronic device further comprises:
 the second electronic device performing a portion of the task that has not been performed at the first electronic device using the content provided from the first electronic device.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/231,713, filed Apr. 15, 2021, entitled “INTELLIGENT DIGITAL ASSISTANT IN A MULTI-TASKING ENVIRONMENT,” which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/717,790, filed Dec. 17, 2019, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,037,565, entitled “INTELLIGENT DIGITAL ASSISTANT IN A MULTI-TASKING ENVIRONMENT,” which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/271,766, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,586,535, filed Sep. 21, 2016, entitled “INTELLIGENT DIGITAL ASSISTANT IN A MULTI-TASKING ENVIRONMENT,” which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/348,728, entitled “INTELLIGENT DIGITAL ASSISTANT IN A MULTI-TASKING ENVIRONMENT,” filed on Jun. 10, 2016. The contents of both applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes. 
    
    
     FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates generally to a digital assistant and, more specifically, to a digital assistant that interacts with a user to perform a task in a multi-tasking environment. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Digital assistants are increasing popular. In a desktop or tablet environment, a user frequently multi-tasks including searching files or information, managing files or folders, playing movies or songs, editing documents, adjusting system configurations, sending emails, etc. It is often cumbersome and inconvenient for the user to manually perform multiple tasks in parallel and to frequently switch between tasks. It is thus desirable for a digital assistant to have the ability to assist the user to perform some of the tasks in a multi-tasking environment based on a user&#39;s voice input. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY 
     Some existing techniques for assisting the user to perform a task in a multi-tasking environment may include, for example, dictation. Typically, a user may be required to manually perform many other tasks in a multi-tasking environment. As an example, a user may have been working on a presentation yesterday on his or her desktop computer and may wish to continue to work on the presentation. The user is typically required to manually locate the presentation on his or her desktop computer, open the presentation, and continue the editing of the presentation. 
     As another example, a user may have been booking a flight on his or her smartphone when the user is away from his desktop computer. The user may wish to continue booking the flight when the desktop computer is available. In existing technologies, the user needs to launch a web browser and start over on the flight booking process at the user&#39;s desktop computer. In other words, the prior flight booking progress that the user made at the smartphone may not be continued at the user&#39;s desktop computer. 
     As another example, a user may be editing a document on his or her desktop computer and wish to change a system configuration such as changing the brightness level of the screen, turning on Bluetooth connections, or the like. In existing technologies, the user may need to stop editing the document, find and launch the brightness configuration application, and manually change the settings. In a multi-tasking environment, some existing technologies are incapable of performing tasks as described in the above examples based on a user&#39;s speech input. Providing a voice-enabled digital assistant in a multi-tasking environment is thus desired and advantageous. 
     Systems and processes for operating a digital assistant are provided. In accordance with one or more examples, a method includes, at a user device with one or more processors and memory, receiving a first speech input from a user. The method further includes identifying context information associated with the user device and determining a user intent based on the first speech input and the context information. The method further includes determining whether the user intent is to perform a task using a searching process or an object managing process. The searching process is configured to search data stored internally or externally to the user device, and the object managing process is configured to manage objects associated with the user device. The method further includes, in accordance with a determination that the user intent is to perform the task using the searching process, performing the task using the searching process. The method further includes, in accordance with the determination that the user intent is to perform the task using the object managing process, performing the task using the object managing process. 
     In accordance with one or more examples, a method includes, at a user device with one or more processors and memory, receiving a speech input from a user to perform a task. The method further includes identifying context information associated with the user device and determining a user intent based on the speech input and context information associated with the user device. The method further includes, in accordance with user intent, determining whether the task is to be performed at the user device or at a first electronic device communicatively connected to the user device. The method further includes, in accordance with a determination that the task is to be performed at the user device and content for performing the task is located remotely, receiving the content for performing the task. The method further includes, in accordance with a determination that the task is to be performed at the first electronic device and the content for performing the task is located remotely to the first electronic device, providing the content for performing the task to the first electronic device. 
     In accordance with one or more examples, a method includes, at a user device with one or more processors and memory, receiving a speech input from a user to manage one or more system configurations of the user device. The user device is configured to concurrently provide a plurality of user interfaces. The method further includes identifying context information associated with the user device and determining a user intent based on the speech input and context information. The method further includes determining whether the user intent indicates an informational request or a request for performing a task. The method further includes, in accordance with a determination that the user intent indicates an informational request, providing a spoken response to the informational request. The method further includes, in accordance with a determination that the user intent indicates a request for performing a task, instantiating a process associated with the user device to perform the task. 
     Executable instructions for performing these functions are, optionally, included in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or other computer program product configured for execution by one or more processors. Executable instructions for performing these functions are, optionally, included in a transitory computer-readable storage medium or other computer program product configured for execution by one or more processors. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       For a better understanding of the various described embodiments, reference should be made to the Detailed Description below, in conjunction with the following drawings in which like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts throughout the figures. 
         FIG.  1    is a block diagram illustrating a system and environment for implementing a digital assistant according to various examples. 
         FIG.  2 A  is a block diagram illustrating a portable multifunction device implementing the client-side portion of a digital assistant in accordance with some embodiments. 
         FIG.  2 B  is a block diagram illustrating exemplary components for event handling according to various examples. 
         FIG.  3    illustrates a portable multifunction device implementing the client-side portion of a digital assistant according to various examples. 
         FIG.  4    is a block diagram of an exemplary multifunction device with a display and a touch-sensitive surface according to various examples. 
         FIG.  5 A  illustrates an exemplary user interface for a menu of applications on a portable multifunction device according to various examples. 
         FIG.  5 B  illustrates an exemplary user interface for a multifunction device with a touch-sensitive surface that is separate from the display according to various examples. 
         FIG.  6 A  illustrates a personal electronic device according to various examples. 
         FIG.  6 B  is a block diagram illustrating a personal electronic device according to various examples. 
         FIG.  7 A  is a block diagram illustrating a digital assistant system or a server portion thereof according to various examples. 
         FIG.  7 B  illustrates the functions of the digital assistant shown in  FIG.  7 A  according to various examples. 
         FIG.  7 C  illustrates a portion of an ontology according to various examples. 
         FIGS.  8 A- 8 F  illustrate functionalities of performing a task using a search process or an object managing process by a digital assistant according to various examples. 
         FIGS.  9 A- 9 H  illustrate functionalities of performing a task using a search process by a digital assistant according to various examples. 
         FIGS.  10 A- 10 B  illustrate functionalities of performing a task using an object managing process by a digital assistant according to various examples. 
         FIGS.  11 A- 11 D  illustrate functionalities of performing a task using a search process by a digital assistant according to various examples. 
         FIGS.  12 A- 12 D  illustrate functionalities of performing a task using a search process or an object managing process by a digital assistant according to various examples. 
         FIGS.  13 A- 13 C  illustrate functionalities of performing a task using an object managing process by a digital assistant according to various examples. 
         FIGS.  14 A- 14 D  illustrate functionalities of performing a task at a user device using remotely located content by a digital assistant according to various examples. 
         FIGS.  15 A- 15 D  illustrate functionalities of performing a task at a first electronic device using remotely located content by a digital assistant according to various examples. 
         FIGS.  16 A- 16 C  illustrate functionalities of performing a task at a first electronic device using remotely located content by a digital assistant according to various examples. 
         FIGS.  17 A- 17 E  illustrate functionalities of performing a task at a user device using remotely located content by a digital assistant according to various examples. 
         FIGS.  18 A- 18 F  illustrate functionalities of providing system configuration information in response to an informational request of the user by a digital assistant according to various examples. 
         FIGS.  19 A- 19 D  illustrate functionalities of performing a task in response to a user request by a digital assistant according to various examples. 
         FIGS.  20 A- 20 G  illustrate a flow diagram of an exemplary process for operating a digital assistant according to various examples. 
         FIGS.  21 A- 21 E  illustrate a flow diagram of an exemplary process for operating a digital assistant according to various examples. 
         FIGS.  22 A- 22 D  illustrate a flow diagram of an exemplary process for operating a digital assistant according to various examples. 
         FIG.  23    illustrates a block diagram of an electronic device according to various examples. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In the following description of the disclosure and embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in which it is shown by way of illustration, of specific embodiments that can be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments and examples can be practiced and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the disclosure. 
     Techniques for providing a digital assistant in a multi-tasking environment are desirable. As described herein, techniques for providing a digital assistant in a multi-tasking environment are desired for various purposes such as reducing the cumbersomeness of searching objects or information, enabling efficient object management, maintaining continuity between tasks performed at the user device and at another electronic device, and reducing the user&#39;s manual effort in adjusting system configurations. Such techniques are advantageous by allowing the user to operate a digital assistant to perform various tasks using speech inputs in a multi-tasking environment. Further, such techniques alleviate the cumbersomeness or inconvenience associated with performing various tasks in a multi-tasking environment. Furthermore, by allowing the user to perform tasks using speech, they are able to keep both hands on the keyboard or mouse while performing tasking that would require a context switch—effectively, allowing the digital assistant to perform tasks as if a “third-hand” of the user. As will be appreciated, by allowing the user to perform tasks using speech it allows the user to more efficiently complete tasks that may require multiple interactions with multiple applications. For example, searching for images and sending them to an individual in an email may require opening a search interface, entering search terms, selecting one or more results, opening am email for composition, copying or moving the resulting files to the open email, addressing the email and sending it. Such a task can be completed more efficiently by voice with a command such as “find pictures from X date and send them to my wife”. Similar requests for moving files, searching for information on the internet, composing messages can all be made more efficient using voice, while simultaneously allowing the user to perform other tasks using their hands. 
     Although the following description uses terms “first,” “second,” etc. to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by the terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first storage could be termed a second storage, and, similarly, a second storage could be termed a first storage, without departing from the scope of the various described examples. The first storage and the second storage can both be storages and, in some cases, can be separate and different storages. 
     The terminology used in the description of the various described examples herein is for the purpose of describing particular examples only and is not intended to be limiting. As used in the description of the various described examples and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will also be understood that the term “and/or” as used herein refers to and encompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. It will be further understood that the terms “includes,” “including,” “comprises,” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. 
     The term “if” may be construed to mean “when” or “upon” or “in response to determining” or “in response to detecting,” depending on the context. Similarly, the phrase “if it is determined” or “if [a stated condition or event] is detected” may be construed to mean “upon determining” or “in response to determining” or “upon detecting [the stated condition or event]” or “in response to detecting [the stated condition or event],” depending on the context. 
     1 System and Environment 
       FIG.  1    illustrates a block diagram of system  100  according to various examples. In some examples, system  100  can implement a digital assistant. The terms “digital assistant,” “virtual assistant,” “intelligent automated assistant,” or “automatic digital assistant” can refer to any information processing system that interprets natural language input in spoken and/or textual form to infer user intent, and performs actions based on the inferred user intent. For example, to act on an inferred user intent, the system can perform one or more of the following: identifying a task flow with steps and parameters designed to accomplish the inferred user intent, inputting specific requirements from the inferred user intent into the task flow; executing the task flow by invoking programs, methods, services, APIs, or the like; and generating output responses to the user in an audible (e.g., speech) and/or visual form. 
     Specifically, a digital assistant can be capable of accepting a user request at least partially in the form of a natural language command, request, statement, narrative, and/or inquiry. Typically, the user request can seek either an informational answer or performance of a task by the digital assistant. A satisfactory response to the user request can be a provision of the requested informational answer, a performance of the requested task, or a combination of the two. For example, a user can ask the digital assistant a question, such as “Where am I right now?” Based on the user&#39;s current location, the digital assistant can answer, “You are in Central Park near the west gate.” The user can also request the performance of a task, for example, “Please invite my friends to my girlfriend&#39;s birthday party next week.” In response, the digital assistant can acknowledge the request by saying “Yes, right away,” and then send a suitable calendar invite on behalf of the user to each of the user&#39;s friends listed in the user&#39;s electronic address book. During performance of a requested task, the digital assistant can sometimes interact with the user in a continuous dialogue involving multiple exchanges of information over an extended period of time. There are numerous other ways of interacting with a digital assistant to request information or performance of various tasks. In addition to providing verbal responses and taking programmed actions, the digital assistant can also provide responses in other visual or audio forms, e.g., as text, alerts, music, videos, animations, etc. 
     As shown in  FIG.  1   , in some examples, a digital assistant can be implemented according to a client-server model. The digital assistant can include client-side portion  102  (hereafter “DA client  102 ”) executed on user device  104  and server-side portion  106  (hereafter “DA server  106 ”) executed on server system  108 . DA client  102  can communicate with DA server  106  through one or more networks  110 . DA client  102  can provide client-side functionalities such as user-facing input and output processing and communication with DA server  106 . DA server  106  can provide server-side functionalities for any number of DA clients  102  each residing on a respective user device  104 . 
     In some examples, DA server  106  can include client-facing I/O interface  112 , one or more processing modules  114 , data and models  116 , and I/O interface to external services  118 . The client-facing I/O interface  112  can facilitate the client-facing input and output processing for DA server  106 . One or more processing modules  114  can utilize data and models  116  to process speech input and determine the user&#39;s intent based on natural language input. Further, one or more processing modules  114  perform task execution based on inferred user intent. In some examples, DA server  106  can communicate with external services  120  through network(s)  110  for task completion or information acquisition. I/O interface to external services  118  can facilitate such communications. 
     User device  104  can be any suitable electronic device. For example, user devices can be a portable multifunctional device (e.g., device  200 , described below with reference to  FIG.  2 A ), a multifunctional device (e.g., device  400 , described below with reference to  FIG.  4   ), or a personal electronic device (e.g., device  600 , described below with reference to  FIGS.  6 A- 6 B ). A portable multifunctional device can be, for example, a mobile telephone that also contains other functions, such as PDA and/or music player functions. Specific examples of portable multifunction devices can include the iPhone®, iPod Touch®, and iPad® devices from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, California. Other examples of portable multifunction devices can include, without limitation, laptop or tablet computers. Further, in some examples, user device  104  can be a non-portable multifunctional device. In particular, user device  104  can be a desktop computer, a game console, a television, or a television set-top box. In some examples, user device  104  can operate in a multi-tasking environment. A multi-tasking environment allows a user to operate device  104  to perform multiple tasks in parallel. For example, a multi-tasking environment may be a desktop or laptop environment, in which device  104  may perform one task in response to the user input received from a physical user-interface device and, in parallel, perform another task in response to the user&#39;s voice input. In some examples, user device  104  can include a touch-sensitive surface (e.g., touch screen displays and/or touchpads). Further, user device  104  can optionally include one or more other physical user-interface devices, such as a physical keyboard, a mouse, and/or a joystick. Various examples of electronic devices, such as multifunctional devices, are described below in greater detail. 
     Examples of communication network(s)  110  can include local area networks (LAN) and wide area networks (WAN), e.g., the Internet. Communication network(s)  110  can be implemented using any known network protocol, including various wired or wireless protocols, such as, for example, Ethernet, Universal Serial Bus (USB), FIREWIRE, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Wi-MAX, or any other suitable communication protocol. 
     Server system  108  can be implemented on one or more standalone data processing apparatus or a distributed network of computers. In some examples, server system  108  can also employ various virtual devices and/or services of third-party service providers (e.g., third-party cloud service providers) to provide the underlying computing resources and/or infrastructure resources of server system  108 . 
     In some examples, user device  104  can communicate with DA server  106  via second user device  122 . Second user device  122  can be similar or identical to user device  104 . For example, second user device  122  can be similar to devices  200 ,  400 , or  600  described below with reference to  FIGS.  2 A,  4 , and  6 A- 6 B . User device  104  can be configured to communicatively couple to second user device  122  via a direct communication connection, such as Bluetooth, NFC, BTLE, or the like, or via a wired or wireless network, such as a local Wi-Fi network. In some examples, second user device  122  can be configured to act as a proxy between user device  104  and DA server  106 . For example, DA client  102  of user device  104  can be configured to transmit information (e.g., a user request received at user device  104 ) to DA server  106  via second user device  122 . DA server  106  can process the information and return relevant data (e.g., data content responsive to the user request) to user device  104  via second user device  122 . 
     In some examples, user device  104  can be configured to communicate abbreviated requests for data to second user device  122  to reduce the amount of information transmitted from user device  104 . Second user device  122  can be configured to determine supplemental information to add to the abbreviated request to generate a complete request to transmit to DA server  106 . This system architecture can advantageously allow user device  104  having limited communication capabilities and/or limited battery power (e.g., a watch or a similar compact electronic device) to access services provided by DA server  106  by using second user device  122 , having greater communication capabilities and/or battery power (e.g., a mobile phone, laptop computer, tablet computer, or the like), as a proxy to DA server  106 . While only two user devices  104  and  122  are shown in  FIG.  1   , it should be appreciated that system  100  can include any number and type of user devices configured in this proxy configuration to communicate with DA server system  106 . 
     Although the digital assistant shown in  FIG.  1    can include both a client-side portion (e.g., DA client  102 ) and a server-side portion (e.g., DA server  106 ), in some examples, the functions of a digital assistant can be implemented as a standalone application installed on a user device. In addition, the divisions of functionalities between the client and server portions of the digital assistant can vary in different implementations. For instance, in some examples, the DA client can be a thin-client that provides only user-facing input and output processing functions, and delegates all other functionalities of the digital assistant to a backend server. 
     2. Electronic Devices 
     Attention is now directed toward embodiments of electronic devices for implementing the client-side portion of a digital assistant.  FIG.  2 A  is a block diagram illustrating portable multifunction device  200  with touch-sensitive display system  212  in accordance with some embodiments. Touch-sensitive display  212  is sometimes called a “touch screen” for convenience and is sometimes known as or called a “touch-sensitive display system.” Device  200  includes memory  202  (which optionally includes one or more computer-readable storage mediums), memory controller  222 , one or more processing units (CPUs)  220 , peripherals interface  218 , RF circuitry  208 , audio circuitry  210 , speaker  211 , microphone  213 , input/output (I/O) subsystem  206 , other input control devices  216 , and external port  224 . Device  200  optionally includes one or more optical sensors  264 . Device  200  optionally includes one or more contact intensity sensors  265  for detecting intensity of contacts on device  200  (e.g., a touch-sensitive surface such as touch-sensitive display system  212  of device  200 ). Device  200  optionally includes one or more tactile output generators  267  for generating tactile outputs on device  200  (e.g., generating tactile outputs on a touch-sensitive surface such as touch-sensitive display system  212  of device  200  or touchpad  455  of device  400 ). These components optionally communicate over one or more communication buses or signal lines  203 . 
     As used in the specification and claims, the term “intensity” of a contact on a touch-sensitive surface refers to the force or pressure (force per unit area) of a contact (e.g., a finger contact) on the touch-sensitive surface or to a substitute (proxy) for the force or pressure of a contact on the touch-sensitive surface. The intensity of a contact has a range of values that includes at least four distinct values and more typically includes hundreds of distinct values (e.g., at least 256). Intensity of a contact is, optionally, determined (or measured) using various approaches and various sensors or combinations of sensors. For example, one or more force sensors underneath or adjacent to the touch-sensitive surface are, optionally, used to measure force at various points on the touch-sensitive surface. In some implementations, force measurements from multiple force sensors are combined (e.g., a weighted average) to determine an estimated force of a contact. Similarly, a pressure-sensitive tip of a stylus is, optionally, used to determine a pressure of the stylus on the touch-sensitive surface. Alternatively, the size of the contact area detected on the touch-sensitive surface and/or changes thereto, the capacitance of the touch-sensitive surface proximate to the contact and/or changes thereto, and/or the resistance of the touch-sensitive surface proximate to the contact and/or changes thereto are, optionally, used as a substitute for the force or pressure of the contact on the touch-sensitive surface. In some implementations, the substitute measurements for contact force or pressure are used directly to determine whether an intensity threshold has been exceeded (e.g., the intensity threshold is described in units corresponding to the substitute measurements). In some implementations, the substitute measurements for contact force or pressure are converted to an estimated force or pressure, and the estimated force or pressure is used to determine whether an intensity threshold has been exceeded (e.g., the intensity threshold is a pressure threshold measured in units of pressure). Using the intensity of a contact as an attribute of a user input allows for user access to additional device functionality that may otherwise not be accessible by the user on a reduced-size device with limited real estate for displaying affordances (e.g., on a touch-sensitive display) and/or receiving user input (e.g., via a touch-sensitive display, a touch-sensitive surface, or a physical/mechanical control such as a knob or a button). 
     As used in the specification and claims, the term “tactile output” refers to physical displacement of a device relative to a previous position of the device, physical displacement of a component (e.g., a touch-sensitive surface) of a device relative to another component (e.g., housing) of the device, or displacement of the component relative to a center of mass of the device that will be detected by a user with the user&#39;s sense of touch. For example, in situations where the device or the component of the device is in contact with a surface of a user that is sensitive to touch (e.g., a finger, palm, or other part of a user&#39;s hand), the tactile output generated by the physical displacement will be interpreted by the user as a tactile sensation corresponding to a perceived change in physical characteristics of the device or the component of the device. For example, movement of a touch-sensitive surface (e.g., a touch-sensitive display or trackpad) is, optionally, interpreted by the user as a “down click” or “up click” of a physical actuator button. In some cases, a user will feel a tactile sensation such as an “down click” or “up click” even when there is no movement of a physical actuator button associated with the touch-sensitive surface that is physically pressed (e.g., displaced) by the user&#39;s movements. As another example, movement of the touch-sensitive surface is, optionally, interpreted or sensed by the user as “roughness” of the touch-sensitive surface, even when there is no change in smoothness of the touch-sensitive surface. While such interpretations of touch by a user will be subject to the individualized sensory perceptions of the user, there are many sensory perceptions of touch that are common to a large majority of users. Thus, when a tactile output is described as corresponding to a particular sensory perception of a user (e.g., an “up click,” a “down click,” “roughness”), unless otherwise stated, the generated tactile output corresponds to physical displacement of the device or a component thereof that will generate the described sensory perception for a typical (or average) user. 
     It should be appreciated that device  200  is only one example of a portable multifunction device, and that device  200  optionally has more or fewer components than shown, optionally combines two or more components, or optionally has a different configuration or arrangement of the components. The various components shown in  FIG.  2 A  are implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of both hardware and software, including one or more signal processing and/or application-specific integrated circuits. 
     Memory  202  may include one or more computer-readable storage mediums. The computer-readable storage mediums may be tangible and non-transitory. Memory  202  may include high-speed random access memory and may also include non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic disk storage devices, flash memory devices, or other non-volatile solid-state memory devices. Memory controller  222  may control access to memory  202  by other components of device  200 . 
     In some examples, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of memory  202  can be used to store instructions (e.g., for performing aspects of process  1200 , described below) for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer-based system, processor-containing system, or other system that can fetch the instructions from the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device and execute the instructions. In other examples, the instructions (e.g., for performing aspects of process  1200 , described below) can be stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (not shown) of the server system  108  or can be divided between the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of memory  202  and the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of server system  108 . In the context of this document, a “non-transitory computer-readable storage medium” can be any medium that can contain or store the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. 
     Peripherals interface  218  can be used to couple input and output peripherals of the device to CPU  220  and memory  202 . The one or more processors  220  run or execute various software programs and/or sets of instructions stored in memory  202  to perform various functions for device  200  and to process data. In some embodiments, peripherals interface  218 , CPU  220 , and memory controller  222  may be implemented on a single chip, such as chip  204 . In some other embodiments, they may be implemented on separate chips. 
     RF (radio frequency) circuitry  208  receives and sends RF signals, also called electromagnetic signals. RF circuitry  208  converts electrical signals to/from electromagnetic signals and communicates with communications networks and other communications devices via the electromagnetic signals. RF circuitry  208  optionally includes well-known circuitry for performing these functions, including but not limited to an antenna system, an RF transceiver, one or more amplifiers, a tuner, one or more oscillators, a digital signal processor, a CODEC chipset, a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, memory, and so forth. RF circuitry  208  optionally communicates with networks, such as the Internet, also referred to as the World Wide Web (WWW), an intranet and/or a wireless network, such as a cellular telephone network, a wireless local area network (LAN) and/or a metropolitan area network (MAN), and other devices by wireless communication. The RF circuitry  208  optionally includes well-known circuitry for detecting near field communication (NFC) fields, such as by a short-range communication radio. The wireless communication optionally uses any of a plurality of communications standards, protocols, and technologies, including but not limited to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA), high-speed uplink packet access (HSUPA), Evolution, Data-Only (EV-DO), HSPA, HSPA+, Dual-Cell HSPA (DC-HSPDA), long term evolution (LTE), near field communication (NFC), wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA), code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE), Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) (e.g., IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, and/or IEEE 802.11ac), voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Wi-MAX, a protocol for e mail (e.g., Internet message access protocol (IMAP) and/or post office protocol (POP)), instant messaging (e.g., extensible messaging and presence protocol (XMPP), Session Initiation Protocol for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE), Instant Messaging and Presence Service (IMPS)), and/or Short Message Service (SMS), or any other suitable communication protocol, including communication protocols not yet developed as of the filing date of this document. 
     Audio circuitry  210 , speaker  211 , and microphone  213  provide an audio interface between a user and device  200 . Audio circuitry  210  receives audio data from peripherals interface  218 , converts the audio data to an electrical signal, and transmits the electrical signal to speaker  211 . Speaker  211  converts the electrical signal to human-audible sound waves. Audio circuitry  210  also receives electrical signals converted by microphone  213  from sound waves. Audio circuitry  210  converts the electrical signal to audio data and transmits the audio data to peripherals interface  218  for processing. Audio data may be retrieved from and/or transmitted to memory  202  and/or RF circuitry  208  by peripherals interface  218 . In some embodiments, audio circuitry  210  also includes a headset jack (e.g.,  312 ,  FIG.  3   ). The headset jack provides an interface between audio circuitry  210  and removable audio input/output peripherals, such as output-only headphones or a headset with both output (e.g., a headphone for one or both ears) and input (e.g., a microphone). 
     I/O subsystem  206  couples input/output peripherals on device  200 , such as touch screen  212  and other input control devices  216 , to peripherals interface  218 . I/O subsystem  206  optionally includes display controller  256 , optical sensor controller  258 , intensity sensor controller  259 , haptic feedback controller  261 , and one or more input controllers  260  for other input or control devices. The one or more input controllers  260  receive/send electrical signals from/to other input control devices  216 . The other input control devices  216  optionally include physical buttons (e.g., push buttons, rocker buttons, etc.), dials, slider switches, joysticks, click wheels, and so forth. In some alternate embodiments, input controller(s)  260  are, optionally, coupled to any (or none) of the following: a keyboard, an infrared port, a USB port, and a pointer device such as a mouse. The one or more buttons (e.g.,  308 ,  FIG.  3   ) optionally include an up/down button for volume control of speaker  211  and/or microphone  213 . The one or more buttons optionally include a push button (e.g.,  306 ,  FIG.  3   ). 
     A quick press of the push button may disengage a lock of touch screen  212  or begin a process that uses gestures on the touch screen to unlock the device, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/322,549, “Unlocking a Device by Performing Gestures on an Unlock Image,” filed Dec. 23, 2005, U.S. Pat. No. 7,657,849, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. A longer press of the push button (e.g.,  306 ) may turn power to device  200  on or off. The user may be able to customize a functionality of one or more of the buttons. Touch screen  212  is used to implement virtual or soft buttons and one or more soft keyboards. 
     Touch-sensitive display  212  provides an input interface and an output interface between the device and a user. Display controller  256  receives and/or sends electrical signals from/to touch screen  212 . Touch screen  212  displays visual output to the user. The visual output may include graphics, text, icons, video, and any combination thereof (collectively termed “graphics”). In some embodiments, some or all of the visual output may correspond to user interface objects. 
     Touch screen  212  has a touch-sensitive surface, sensor, or set of sensors that accept input from the user based on haptic and/or tactile contact. Touch screen  212  and display controller  256  (along with any associated modules and/or sets of instructions in memory  202 ) detect contact (and any movement or breaking of the contact) on touch screen  212  and convert the detected contact into interaction with user interface objects (e.g., one or more soft keys, icons, web pages, or images) that are displayed on touch screen  212 . In an exemplary embodiment, a point of contact between touch screen  212  and the user corresponds to a finger of the user. 
     Touch screen  212  may use LCD (liquid crystal display) technology, LPD (light-emitting polymer display) technology, or LED (light-emitting diode) technology, although other display technologies may be used in other embodiments. Touch screen  212  and display controller  256  may detect contact and any movement or breaking thereof using any of a plurality of touch-sensing technologies now known or later developed, including but not limited to capacitive, resistive, infrared, and surface acoustic wave technologies, as well as other proximity sensor arrays or other elements for determining one or more points of contact with touch screen  212 . In an exemplary embodiment, projected mutual capacitance sensing technology is used, such as that found in the iPhone® and iPod Touch® from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, California. 
     A touch-sensitive display in some embodiments of touch screen  212  may be analogous to the multi-touch sensitive touchpads described in the following U.S. Pat. No. 6,323,846 (Westerman et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 6,570,557 (Westerman et al.), and/or U.S. Pat. No. 6,677,932 (Westerman), and/or U.S. Patent Publication 2002/0015024A1, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. However, touch screen  212  displays visual output from device  200 , whereas touch-sensitive touchpads do not provide visual output. 
     A touch-sensitive display in some embodiments of touch screen  212  may be as described in the following applications: (1) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/381,313, “Multipoint Touch Surface Controller,” filed May 2, 2006; (2) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/840,862, “Multipoint Touchscreen,” filed May 6, 2004; (3) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/903,964, “Gestures For Touch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed Jul. 30, 2004; (4) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/048,264, “Gestures For Touch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed Jan. 31, 2005; (5) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/038,590, “Mode-Based Graphical User Interfaces For Touch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed Jan. 18, 2005; (6) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/228,758, “Virtual Input Device Placement On A Touch Screen User Interface,” filed Sep. 16, 2005; (7) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/228,700, “Operation Of A Computer With A Touch Screen Interface,” filed Sep. 16, 2005; (8) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/228,737, “Activating Virtual Keys Of A Touch-Screen Virtual Keyboard,” filed Sep. 16, 2005; and (9) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/367,749, “Multi-Functional Hand-Held Device,” filed Mar. 3, 2006. All of these applications are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. 
     Touch screen  212  may have a video resolution in excess of 100 dpi. In some embodiments, the touch screen has a video resolution of approximately 160 dpi. The user may make contact with touch screen  212  using any suitable object or appendage, such as a stylus, a finger, and so forth. In some embodiments, the user interface is designed to work primarily with finger-based contacts and gestures, which can be less precise than stylus-based input due to the larger area of contact of a finger on the touch screen. In some embodiments, the device translates the rough finger-based input into a precise pointer/cursor position or command for performing the actions desired by the user. 
     In some embodiments, in addition to the touch screen, device  200  may include a touchpad (not shown) for activating or deactivating particular functions. In some embodiments, the touchpad is a touch-sensitive area of the device that, unlike the touch screen, does not display visual output. The touchpad may be a touch-sensitive surface that is separate from touch screen  212  or an extension of the touch-sensitive surface formed by the touch screen. 
     Device  200  also includes power system  262  for powering the various components. Power system  262  may include a power management system, one or more power sources (e.g., battery or alternating current (AC)), a recharging system, a power failure detection circuit, a power converter or inverter, a power status indicator (e.g., a light-emitting diode) and any other components associated with the generation, management, and distribution of power in portable devices. 
     Device  200  may also include one or more optical sensors  264 .  FIG.  2 A  shows an optical sensor coupled to optical sensor controller  258  in I/O subsystem  206 . Optical sensor  264  may include charge-coupled device (CCD) or complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) phototransistors. Optical sensor  264  receives light from the environment, projected through one or more lenses, and converts the light to data representing an image. In conjunction with imaging module  243  (also called a camera module), optical sensor  264  may capture still images or video. In some embodiments, an optical sensor is located on the back of device  200 , opposite touch screen display  212  on the front of the device so that the touch screen display may be used as a viewfinder for still and/or video image acquisition. In some embodiments, an optical sensor is located on the front of the device, so that the user&#39;s image may be obtained for video conferencing while the user views the other video conference participants on the touch screen display. In some embodiments, the position of optical sensor  264  can be changed by the user (e.g., by rotating the lens and the sensor in the device housing) so that a single optical sensor  264  may be used along with the touch screen display for both video conferencing and still and/or video image acquisition. 
     Device  200  optionally also includes one or more contact intensity sensors  265 .  FIG.  2 A  shows a contact intensity sensor coupled to intensity sensor controller  259  in I/O subsystem  206 . Contact intensity sensor  265  optionally includes one or more piezoresistive strain gauges, capacitive force sensors, electric force sensors, piezoelectric force sensors, optical force sensors, capacitive touch-sensitive surfaces, or other intensity sensors (e.g., sensors used to measure the force (or pressure) of a contact on a touch-sensitive surface). Contact intensity sensor  265  receives contact intensity information (e.g., pressure information or a proxy for pressure information) from the environment. In some embodiments, at least one contact intensity sensor is collocated with, or proximate to, a touch-sensitive surface (e.g., touch-sensitive display system  212 ). In some embodiments, at least one contact intensity sensor is located on the back of device  200 , opposite touch screen display  212 , which is located on the front of device  200 . 
     Device  200  may also include one or more proximity sensors  266 .  FIG.  2 A  shows proximity sensor  266  coupled to peripherals interface  218 . Alternately, proximity sensor  266  may be coupled to input controller  260  in I/O subsystem  206 . Proximity sensor  266  may perform as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/241,839, “Proximity Detector In Handheld Device”; Ser. No. 11/240,788, “Proximity Detector In Handheld Device”; Ser. No. 11/620,702, “Using Ambient Light Sensor To Augment Proximity Sensor Output”; Ser. No. 11/586,862, “Automated Response To And Sensing Of User Activity In Portable Devices”; and Ser. No. 11/638,251, “Methods And Systems For Automatic Configuration Of Peripherals,” which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. In some embodiments, the proximity sensor turns off and disables touch screen  212  when the multifunction device is placed near the user&#39;s ear (e.g., when the user is making a phone call). 
     Device  200  optionally also includes one or more tactile output generators  267 .  FIG.  2 A  shows a tactile output generator coupled to haptic feedback controller  261  in I/O subsystem  206 . Tactile output generator  267  optionally includes one or more electroacoustic devices such as speakers or other audio components and/or electromechanical devices that convert energy into linear motion such as a motor, solenoid, electroactive polymer, piezoelectric actuator, electrostatic actuator, or other tactile output generating component (e.g., a component that converts electrical signals into tactile outputs on the device). Contact intensity sensor  265  receives tactile feedback generation instructions from haptic feedback module  233  and generates tactile outputs on device  200  that are capable of being sensed by a user of device  200 . In some embodiments, at least one tactile output generator is collocated with, or proximate to, a touch-sensitive surface (e.g., touch-sensitive display system  212 ) and, optionally, generates a tactile output by moving the touch-sensitive surface vertically (e.g., in/out of a surface of device  200 ) or laterally (e.g., back and forth in the same plane as a surface of device  200 ). In some embodiments, at least one tactile output generator sensor is located on the back of device  200 , opposite touch screen display  212 , which is located on the front of device  200 . 
     Device  200  may also include one or more accelerometers  268 .  FIG.  2 A  shows accelerometer  268  coupled to peripherals interface  218 . Alternately, accelerometer  268  may be coupled to an input controller  260  in I/O subsystem  206 . Accelerometer  268  may perform as described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 20050190059, “Acceleration-based Theft Detection System for Portable Electronic Devices,” and U.S. Patent Publication No. 20060017692, “Methods And Apparatuses For Operating A Portable Device Based On An Accelerometer,” both of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. In some embodiments, information is displayed on the touch screen display in a portrait view or a landscape view based on an analysis of data received from the one or more accelerometers. Device  200  optionally includes, in addition to accelerometer(s)  268 , a magnetometer (not shown) and a GPS (or GLONASS or other global navigation system) receiver (not shown) for obtaining information concerning the location and orientation (e.g., portrait or landscape) of device  200 . 
     In some embodiments, the software components stored in memory  202  include operating system  226 , communication module (or set of instructions)  228 , contact/motion module (or set of instructions)  230 , graphics module (or set of instructions)  232 , text input module (or set of instructions)  234 , Global Positioning System (GPS) module (or set of instructions)  235 , Digital Assistant Client Module  229 , and applications (or sets of instructions)  236 . Further, memory  202  can store data and models, such as user data and models  231 . Furthermore, in some embodiments, memory  202  ( FIG.  2 A ) or  470  ( FIG.  4   ) stores device/global internal state  257 , as shown in  FIGS.  2 A and  4   . Device/global internal state  257  includes one or more of: active application state, indicating which applications, if any, are currently active; display state, indicating what applications, views, or other information occupy various regions of touch screen display  212 ; sensor state, including information obtained from the device&#39;s various sensors and input control devices  216 ; and location information concerning the device&#39;s location and/or attitude. 
     Operating system  226  (e.g., Darwin, RTXC, LINUX, UNIX, OS X, iOS, WINDOWS, or an embedded operating system such as VxWorks) includes various software components and/or drivers for controlling and managing general system tasks (e.g., memory management, storage device control, power management, etc.) and facilitates communication between various hardware and software components. 
     Communication module  228  facilitates communication with other devices over one or more external ports  224  and also includes various software components for handling data received by RF circuitry  208  and/or external port  224 . External port  224  (e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB), FIREWIRE, etc.) is adapted for coupling directly to other devices or indirectly over a network (e.g., the Internet, wireless LAN, etc.). In some embodiments, the external port is a multi-pin (e.g., 30-pin) connector that is the same as, or similar to and/or compatible with, the 30-pin connector used on iPod® (trademark of Apple Inc.) devices. 
     Contact/motion module  230  optionally detects contact with touch screen  212  (in conjunction with display controller  256 ) and other touch-sensitive devices (e.g., a touchpad or physical click wheel). Contact/motion module  230  includes various software components for performing various operations related to detection of contact, such as determining if contact has occurred (e.g., detecting a finger-down event), determining an intensity of the contact (e.g., the force or pressure of the contact or a substitute for the force or pressure of the contact), determining if there is movement of the contact and tracking the movement across the touch-sensitive surface (e.g., detecting one or more finger-dragging events), and determining if the contact has ceased (e.g., detecting a finger-up event or a break in contact). Contact/motion module  230  receives contact data from the touch-sensitive surface. Determining movement of the point of contact, which is represented by a series of contact data, optionally includes determining speed (magnitude), velocity (magnitude and direction), and/or an acceleration (a change in magnitude and/or direction) of the point of contact. These operations are, optionally, applied to single contacts (e.g., one finger contacts) or to multiple simultaneous contacts (e.g., “multitouch”/multiple finger contacts). In some embodiments, contact/motion module  230  and display controller  256  detect contact on a touchpad. 
     In some embodiments, contact/motion module  230  uses a set of one or more intensity thresholds to determine whether an operation has been performed by a user (e.g., to determine whether a user has “clicked” on an icon). In some embodiments, at least a subset of the intensity thresholds are determined in accordance with software parameters (e.g., the intensity thresholds are not determined by the activation thresholds of particular physical actuators and can be adjusted without changing the physical hardware of device  200 ). For example, a mouse “click” threshold of a trackpad or touch screen display can be set to any of a large range of predefined threshold values without changing the trackpad or touch screen display hardware. Additionally, in some implementations, a user of the device is provided with software settings for adjusting one or more of the set of intensity thresholds (e.g., by adjusting individual intensity thresholds and/or by adjusting a plurality of intensity thresholds at once with a system-level click “intensity” parameter). 
     Contact/motion module  230  optionally detects a gesture input by a user. Different gestures on the touch-sensitive surface have different contact patterns (e.g., different motions, timings, and/or intensities of detected contacts). Thus, a gesture is, optionally, detected by detecting a particular contact pattern. For example, detecting a finger tap gesture includes detecting a finger-down event followed by detecting a finger-up (liftoff) event at the same position (or substantially the same position) as the finger-down event (e.g., at the position of an icon). As another example, detecting a finger swipe gesture on the touch-sensitive surface includes detecting a finger-down event followed by detecting one or more finger-dragging events, and subsequently followed by detecting a finger-up (liftoff) event. 
     Graphics module  232  includes various known software components for rendering and displaying graphics on touch screen  212  or other display, including components for changing the visual impact (e.g., brightness, transparency, saturation, contrast, or other visual property) of graphics that are displayed. As used herein, the term “graphics” includes any object that can be displayed to a user, including, without limitation, text, web pages, icons (such as user-interface objects including soft keys), digital images, videos, animations, and the like. 
     In some embodiments, graphics module  232  stores data representing graphics to be used. Each graphic is, optionally, assigned a corresponding code. Graphics module  232  receives, from applications etc., one or more codes specifying graphics to be displayed along with, if necessary, coordinate data and other graphic property data and then generates screen image data to output to display controller  256 . 
     Haptic feedback module  233  includes various software components for generating instructions used by tactile output generator(s)  267  to produce tactile outputs at one or more locations on device  200  in response to user interactions with device  200 . 
     Text input module  234 , which may be a component of graphics module  232 , provides soft keyboards for entering text in various applications (e.g., contacts module  237 , e-mail client module  240 , IM module  241 , browser module  247 , and any other application that needs text input). 
     GPS module  235  determines the location of the device and provides this information for use in various applications (e.g., to telephone module  238  for use in location-based dialing; to camera module  243  as picture/video metadata; and to applications that provide location-based services such as weather widgets, local yellow page widgets, and map/navigation widgets). 
     Digital assistant client module  229  can include various client-side digital assistant instructions to provide the client-side functionalities of the digital assistant. For example, digital assistant client module  229  can be capable of accepting voice input (e.g., speech input), text input, touch input, and/or gestural input through various user interfaces (e.g., microphone  213 , accelerometer(s)  268 , touch-sensitive display system  212 , optical sensor(s)  264 , other input control devices  216 , etc.) of portable multifunction device  200 . Digital assistant client module  229  can also be capable of providing output in audio (e.g., speech output), visual, and/or tactile forms through various output interfaces (e.g., speaker  211 , touch-sensitive display system  212 , tactile output generator(s)  267 , etc.) of portable multifunction device  200 . For example, output can be provided as voice, sound, alerts, text messages, menus, graphics, videos, animations, vibrations, and/or combinations of two or more of the above. During operation, digital assistant client module  229  can communicate with DA server  106  using RF circuitry  208 . 
     User data and models  231  can include various data associated with the user (e.g., user-specific vocabulary data, user preference data, user-specified name pronunciations, data from the user&#39;s electronic address book, to-do lists, shopping lists, etc.) to provide the client-side functionalities of the digital assistant. Further, user data and models  231  can includes various models (e.g., speech recognition models, statistical language models, natural language processing models, ontology, task flow models, service models, etc.) for processing user input and determining user intent. 
     In some examples, digital assistant client module  229  can utilize the various sensors, subsystems, and peripheral devices of portable multifunction device  200  to gather additional information from the surrounding environment of the portable multifunction device  200  to establish a context associated with a user, the current user interaction, and/or the current user input. In some examples, digital assistant client module  229  can provide the contextual information or a subset thereof with the user input to DA server  106  to help infer the user&#39;s intent. In some examples, the digital assistant can also use the contextual information to determine how to prepare and deliver outputs to the user. Contextual information can be referred to as context data. 
     In some examples, the contextual information that accompanies the user input can include sensor information, e.g., lighting, ambient noise, ambient temperature, images or videos of the surrounding environment, etc. In some examples, the contextual information can also include the physical state of the device, e.g., device orientation, device location, device temperature, power level, speed, acceleration, motion patterns, cellular signals strength, etc. In some examples, information related to the software state of DA server  106 , e.g., running processes, installed programs, past and present network activities, background services, error logs, resources usage, etc., and of portable multifunction device  200  can be provided to DA server  106  as contextual information associated with a user input. 
     In some examples, the digital assistant client module  229  can selectively provide information (e.g., user data  231 ) stored on the portable multifunction device  200  in response to requests from DA server  106 . In some examples, digital assistant client module  229  can also elicit additional input from the user via a natural language dialogue or other user interfaces upon request by DA server  106 . Digital assistant client module  229  can pass the additional input to DA server  106  to help DA server  106  in intent deduction and/or fulfillment of the user&#39;s intent expressed in the user request. 
     A more detailed description of a digital assistant is described below with reference to  FIGS.  7 A- 7 C . It should be recognized that digital assistant client module  229  can include any number of the sub-modules of digital assistant module  726  described below. 
     Applications  236  may include the following modules (or sets of instructions), or a subset or superset thereof:
         Contacts module  237  (sometimes called an address book or contact list);   Telephone module  238 ;   Video conference module  239 ;   Email client module  240 ;   Instant messaging (IM) module  241 ;   Workout support module  242 ;   Camera module  243  for still and/or video images;   Image management module  244 ;   Video player module;   Music player module;   Browser module  247 ;   Calendar module  248 ;   Widget modules  249 , which may include one or more of: weather widget  249 - 1 , stocks widget  249 - 2 , calculator widget  249 - 3 , alarm clock widget  249 - 4 , dictionary widget  249 - 5 , and other widgets obtained by the user, as well as user-created widgets  249 - 6 ;   Widget creator module  250  for making user-created widgets  249 - 6 ;   Search module  251 ;   Video and music player module  252 , which merges video player module and music player module;   Notes module  253 ;   Map module  254 ; and/or   Online video module  255 .       

     Examples of other applications  236  that may be stored in memory  202  include other word processing applications, other image editing applications, drawing applications, presentation applications, JAVA-enabled applications, encryption, digital rights management, voice recognition, and voice replication. 
     In conjunction with touch screen  212 , display controller  256 , contact/motion module  230 , graphics module  232 , and text input module  234 , contacts module  237  may be used to manage an address book or contact list (e.g., stored in application internal state  292  of contacts module  237  in memory  202  or memory  470 ), including: adding name(s) to the address book; deleting name(s) from the address book; associating telephone number(s), email address(es), physical address(es) or other information with a name; associating an image with a name; categorizing and sorting names; providing telephone numbers or email addresses to initiate and/or facilitate communications by telephone module  238 , video conference module  239 , e-mail client module  240 , or IM module  241 ; and so forth. 
     In conjunction with RF circuitry  208 , audio circuitry  210 , speaker  211 , microphone  213 , touch screen  212 , display controller  256 , contact/motion module  230 , graphics module  232 , and text input module  234 , telephone module  238  may be used to enter a sequence of characters corresponding to a telephone number, access one or more telephone numbers in contacts module  237 , modify a telephone number that has been entered, dial a respective telephone number, conduct a conversation, and disconnect or hang up when the conversation is completed. As noted above, the wireless communication may use any of a plurality of communications standards, protocols, and technologies. 
     In conjunction with RF circuitry  208 , audio circuitry  210 , speaker  211 , microphone  213 , touch screen  212 , display controller  256 , optical sensor  264 , optical sensor controller  258 , contact/motion module  230 , graphics module  232 , text input module  234 , contacts module  237 , and telephone module  238 , video conference module  239  includes executable instructions to initiate, conduct, and terminate a video conference between a user and one or more other participants in accordance with user instructions. 
     In conjunction with RF circuitry  208 , touch screen  212 , display controller  256 , contact/motion module  230 , graphics module  232 , and text input module  234 , email client module  240  includes executable instructions to create, send, receive, and manage email in response to user instructions. In conjunction with image management module  244 , email client module  240  makes it very easy to create and send emails with still or video images taken with camera module  243 . 
     In conjunction with RF circuitry  208 , touch screen  212 , display controller  256 , contact/motion module  230 , graphics module  232 , and text input module  234 , instant messaging module  241  includes executable instructions to enter a sequence of characters corresponding to an instant message, to modify previously entered characters, to transmit a respective instant message (for example, using a Short Message Service (SMS) or Multimedia Message Service (MMS) protocol for telephony-based instant messages or using XMPP, SIMPLE, or IMPS for Internet-based instant messages), to receive instant messages, and to view received instant messages. In some embodiments, transmitted and/or received instant messages may include graphics, photos, audio files, video files, and/or other attachments as are supported in an MMS and/or an Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS). As used herein, “instant messaging” refers to both telephony-based messages (e.g., messages sent using SMS or MMS) and Internet-based messages (e.g., messages sent using XMPP, SIMPLE, or IMPS). 
     In conjunction with RF circuitry  208 , touch screen  212 , display controller  256 , contact/motion module  230 , graphics module  232 , text input module  234 , GPS module  235 , map module  254 , and music player module, workout support module  242  includes executable instructions to create workouts (e.g., with time, distance, and/or calorie burning goals); communicate with workout sensors (sports devices); receive workout sensor data; calibrate sensors used to monitor a workout; select and play music for a workout; and display, store, and transmit workout data. 
     In conjunction with touch screen  212 , display controller  256 , optical sensor(s)  264 , optical sensor controller  258 , contact/motion module  230 , graphics module  232 , and image management module  244 , camera module  243  includes executable instructions to capture still images or video (including a video stream) and store them into memory  202 , modify characteristics of a still image or video, or delete a still image or video from memory  202 . 
     In conjunction with touch screen  212 , display controller  256 , contact/motion module  230 , graphics module  232 , text input module  234 , and camera module  243 , image management module  244  includes executable instructions to arrange, modify (e.g., edit), or otherwise manipulate, label, delete, present (e.g., in a digital slide show or album), and store still and/or video images. 
     In conjunction with RF circuitry  208 , touch screen  212 , display controller  256 , contact/motion module  230 , graphics module  232 , and text input module  234 , browser module  247  includes executable instructions to browse the Internet in accordance with user instructions, including searching, linking to, receiving, and displaying web pages or portions thereof, as well as attachments and other files linked to web pages. 
     In conjunction with RF circuitry  208 , touch screen  212 , display controller  256 , contact/motion module  230 , graphics module  232 , text input module  234 , email client module  240 , and browser module  247 , calendar module  248  includes executable instructions to create, display, modify, and store calendars and data associated with calendars (e.g., calendar entries, to-do lists, etc.) in accordance with user instructions. 
     In conjunction with RF circuitry  208 , touch screen  212 , display controller  256 , contact/motion module  230 , graphics module  232 , text input module  234 , and browser module  247 , widget modules  249  are mini-applications that may be downloaded and used by a user (e.g., weather widget  249 - 1 , stocks widget  249 - 2 , calculator widget  249 - 3 , alarm clock widget  249 - 4 , and dictionary widget  249 - 5 ) or created by the user (e.g., user-created widget  249 - 6 ). In some embodiments, a widget includes an HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) file, a CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) file, and a JavaScript file. In some embodiments, a widget includes an XML (Extensible Markup Language) file and a JavaScript file (e.g., Yahoo! Widgets). 
     In conjunction with RF circuitry  208 , touch screen  212 , display controller  256 , contact/motion module  230 , graphics module  232 , text input module  234 , and browser module  247 , the widget creator module  250  may be used by a user to create widgets (e.g., turning a user-specified portion of a web page into a widget). 
     In conjunction with touch screen  212 , display controller  256 , contact/motion module  230 , graphics module  232 , and text input module  234 , search module  251  includes executable instructions to search for text, music, sound, image, video, and/or other files in memory  202  that match one or more search criteria (e.g., one or more user-specified search terms) in accordance with user instructions. 
     In conjunction with touch screen  212 , display controller  256 , contact/motion module  230 , graphics module  232 , audio circuitry  210 , speaker  211 , RF circuitry  208 , and browser module  247 , video and music player module  252  includes executable instructions that allow the user to download and play back recorded music and other sound files stored in one or more file formats, such as MP3 or AAC files, and executable instructions to display, present, or otherwise play back videos (e.g., on touch screen  212  or on an external, connected display via external port  224 ). In some embodiments, device  200  optionally includes the functionality of an MP3 player, such as an iPod (trademark of Apple Inc.). 
     In conjunction with touch screen  212 , display controller  256 , contact/motion module  230 , graphics module  232 , and text input module  234 , notes module  253  includes executable instructions to create and manage notes, to-do lists, and the like in accordance with user instructions. 
     In conjunction with RF circuitry  208 , touch screen  212 , display controller  256 , contact/motion module  230 , graphics module  232 , text input module  234 , GPS module  235 , and browser module  247 , map module  254  may be used to receive, display, modify, and store maps and data associated with maps (e.g., driving directions, data on stores and other points of interest at or near a particular location, and other location-based data) in accordance with user instructions. 
     In conjunction with touch screen  212 , display controller  256 , contact/motion module  230 , graphics module  232 , audio circuitry  210 , speaker  211 , RF circuitry  208 , text input module  234 , email client module  240 , and browser module  247 , online video module  255  includes instructions that allow the user to access, browse, receive (e.g., by streaming and/or download), play back (e.g., on the touch screen or on an external, connected display via external port  224 ), send an email with a link to a particular online video, and otherwise manage online videos in one or more file formats, such as H.264. In some embodiments, instant messaging module  241 , rather than email client module  240 , is used to send a link to a particular online video. Additional description of the online video application can be found in U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/936,562, “Portable Multifunction Device, Method, and Graphical User Interface for Playing Online Videos,” filed Jun. 20, 2007, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/968,067, “Portable Multifunction Device, Method, and Graphical User Interface for Playing Online Videos,” filed Dec. 31, 2007, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. 
     Each of the above-identified modules and applications corresponds to a set of executable instructions for performing one or more functions described above and the methods described in this application (e.g., the computer-implemented methods and other information processing methods described herein). These modules (e.g., sets of instructions) need not be implemented as separate software programs, procedures, or modules, and thus various subsets of these modules may be combined or otherwise rearranged in various embodiments. For example, video player module may be combined with music player module into a single module (e.g., video and music player module  252 ,  FIG.  2 A ). In some embodiments, memory  202  may store a subset of the modules and data structures identified above. Furthermore, memory  202  may store additional modules and data structures not described above. 
     In some embodiments, device  200  is a device where operation of a predefined set of functions on the device is performed exclusively through a touch screen and/or a touchpad. By using a touch screen and/or a touchpad as the primary input control device for operation of device  200 , the number of physical input control devices (such as push buttons, dials, and the like) on device  200  may be reduced. 
     The predefined set of functions that are performed exclusively through a touch screen and/or a touchpad optionally include navigation between user interfaces. In some embodiments, the touchpad, when touched by the user, navigates device  200  to a main, home, or root menu from any user interface that is displayed on device  200 . In such embodiments, a “menu button” is implemented using a touchpad. In some other embodiments, the menu button is a physical push button or other physical input control device instead of a touchpad. 
       FIG.  2 B  is a block diagram illustrating exemplary components for event handling in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, memory  202  ( FIG.  2 A ) or  470  ( FIG.  4   ) includes event sorter  270  (e.g., in operating system  226 ) and a respective application  236 - 1  (e.g., any of the aforementioned applications  237 - 251 ,  255 ,  480 - 490 ). 
     Event sorter  270  receives event information and determines the application  236 - 1  and application view  291  of application  236 - 1  to which to deliver the event information. Event sorter  270  includes event monitor  271  and event dispatcher module  274 . In some embodiments, application  236 - 1  includes application internal state  292 , which indicates the current application view(s) displayed on touch-sensitive display  212  when the application is active or executing. In some embodiments, device/global internal state  257  is used by event sorter  270  to determine which application(s) is (are) currently active, and application internal state  292  is used by event sorter  270  to determine application views  291  to which to deliver event information. 
     In some embodiments, application internal state  292  includes additional information, such as one or more of: resume information to be used when application  236 - 1  resumes execution, user interface state information that indicates information being displayed or that is ready for display by application  236 - 1 , a state queue for enabling the user to go back to a prior state or view of application  236 - 1 , and a redo/undo queue of previous actions taken by the user. 
     Event monitor  271  receives event information from peripherals interface  218 . Event information includes information about a sub-event (e.g., a user touch on touch-sensitive display  212 , as part of a multi-touch gesture). Peripherals interface  218  transmits information it receives from I/O subsystem  206  or a sensor, such as proximity sensor  266 , accelerometer(s)  268 , and/or microphone  213  (through audio circuitry  210 ). Information that peripherals interface  218  receives from I/O subsystem  206  includes information from touch-sensitive display  212  or a touch-sensitive surface. 
     In some embodiments, event monitor  271  sends requests to the peripherals interface  218  at predetermined intervals. In response, peripherals interface  218  transmits event information. In other embodiments, peripherals interface  218  transmits event information only when there is a significant event (e.g., receiving an input above a predetermined noise threshold and/or for more than a predetermined duration). 
     In some embodiments, event sorter  270  also includes a hit view determination module  272  and/or an active event recognizer determination module  273 . 
     Hit view determination module  272  provides software procedures for determining where a sub-event has taken place within one or more views when touch-sensitive display  212  displays more than one view. Views are made up of controls and other elements that a user can see on the display. 
     Another aspect of the user interface associated with an application is a set of views, sometimes herein called application views or user interface windows, in which information is displayed and touch-based gestures occur. The application views (of a respective application) in which a touch is detected may correspond to programmatic levels within a programmatic or view hierarchy of the application. For example, the lowest level view in which a touch is detected may be called the hit view, and the set of events that are recognized as proper inputs may be determined based, at least in part, on the hit view of the initial touch that begins a touch-based gesture. 
     Hit view determination module  272  receives information related to sub events of a touch-based gesture. When an application has multiple views organized in a hierarchy, hit view determination module  272  identifies a hit view as the lowest view in the hierarchy which should handle the sub-event. In most circumstances, the hit view is the lowest level view in which an initiating sub-event occurs (e.g., the first sub-event in the sequence of sub-events that form an event or potential event). Once the hit view is identified by the hit view determination module  272 , the hit view typically receives all sub-events related to the same touch or input source for which it was identified as the hit view. 
     Active event recognizer determination module  273  determines which view or views within a view hierarchy should receive a particular sequence of sub-events. In some embodiments, active event recognizer determination module  273  determines that only the hit view should receive a particular sequence of sub-events. In other embodiments, active event recognizer determination module  273  determines that all views that include the physical location of a sub-event are actively involved views and therefore determines that all actively involved views should receive a particular sequence of sub-events. In other embodiments, even if touch sub-events were entirely confined to the area associated with one particular view, views higher in the hierarchy would still remain as actively involved views. 
     Event dispatcher module  274  dispatches the event information to an event recognizer (e.g., event recognizer  280 ). In embodiments including active event recognizer determination module  273 , event dispatcher module  274  delivers the event information to an event recognizer determined by active event recognizer determination module  273 . In some embodiments, event dispatcher module  274  stores in an event queue the event information, which is retrieved by a respective event receiver  282 . 
     In some embodiments, operating system  226  includes event sorter  270 . Alternatively, application  236 - 1  includes event sorter  270 . In yet other embodiments, event sorter  270  is a stand-alone module or a part of another module stored in memory  202 , such as contact/motion module  230 . 
     In some embodiments, application  236 - 1  includes a plurality of event handlers  290  and one or more application views  291 , each of which includes instructions for handling touch events that occur within a respective view of the application&#39;s user interface. Each application view  291  of the application  236 - 1  includes one or more event recognizers  280 . Typically, a respective application view  291  includes a plurality of event recognizers  280 . In other embodiments, one or more of event recognizers  280  are part of a separate module, such as a user interface kit (not shown) or a higher level object from which application  236 - 1  inherits methods and other properties. In some embodiments, a respective event handler  290  includes one or more of: data updater  276 , object updater  277 , GUI updater  278 , and/or event data  279  received from event sorter  270 . Event handler  290  may utilize or call data updater  276 , object updater  277 , or GUI updater  278  to update the application internal state  292 . Alternatively, one or more of the application views  291  include one or more respective event handlers  290 . Also, in some embodiments, one or more of data updater  276 , object updater  277 , and GUI updater  278  are included in a respective application view  291 . 
     A respective event recognizer  280  receives event information (e.g., event data  279 ) from event sorter  270  and identifies an event from the event information. Event recognizer  280  includes event receiver  282  and event comparator  284 . In some embodiments, event recognizer  280  also includes at least a subset of: metadata  283  and event delivery instructions  288  (which may include sub-event delivery instructions). 
     Event receiver  282  receives event information from event sorter  270 . The event information includes information about a sub-event, for example, a touch or a touch movement. Depending on the sub-event, the event information also includes additional information, such as location of the sub-event. When the sub-event concerns motion of a touch, the event information may also include speed and direction of the sub-event. In some embodiments, events include rotation of the device from one orientation to another (e.g., from a portrait orientation to a landscape orientation, or vice versa), and the event information includes corresponding information about the current orientation (also called device attitude) of the device. 
     Event comparator  284  compares the event information to predefined event or sub-event definitions and, based on the comparison, determines an event or sub event, or determines or updates the state of an event or sub-event. In some embodiments, event comparator  284  includes event definitions  286 . Event definitions  286  contain definitions of events (e.g., predefined sequences of sub-events), for example, event 1 ( 287 - 1 ), event 2 ( 287 - 2 ), and others. In some embodiments, sub-events in an event ( 287 ) include, for example, touch begin, touch end, touch movement, touch cancellation, and multiple touching. In one example, the definition for event 1 ( 287 - 1 ) is a double tap on a displayed object. The double tap, for example, comprises a first touch (touch begin) on the displayed object for a predetermined phase, a first liftoff (touch end) for a predetermined phase, a second touch (touch begin) on the displayed object for a predetermined phase, and a second liftoff (touch end) for a predetermined phase. In another example, the definition for event 2 ( 287 - 2 ) is a dragging on a displayed object. The dragging, for example, comprises a touch (or contact) on the displayed object for a predetermined phase, a movement of the touch across touch-sensitive display  212 , and liftoff of the touch (touch end). In some embodiments, the event also includes information for one or more associated event handlers  290 . 
     In some embodiments, event definition  287  includes a definition of an event for a respective user-interface object. In some embodiments, event comparator  284  performs a hit test to determine which user-interface object is associated with a sub-event. For example, in an application view in which three user-interface objects are displayed on touch-sensitive display  212 , when a touch is detected on touch-sensitive display  212 , event comparator  284  performs a hit test to determine which of the three user-interface objects is associated with the touch (sub-event). If each displayed object is associated with a respective event handler  290 , the event comparator uses the result of the hit test to determine which event handler  290  should be activated. For example, event comparator  284  selects an event handler associated with the sub-event and the object triggering the hit test. 
     In some embodiments, the definition for a respective event ( 287 ) also includes delayed actions that delay delivery of the event information until after it has been determined whether the sequence of sub-events does or does not correspond to the event recognizer&#39;s event type. 
     When a respective event recognizer  280  determines that the series of sub-events do not match any of the events in event definitions  286 , the respective event recognizer  280  enters an event impossible, event failed, or event ended state, after which it disregards subsequent sub-events of the touch-based gesture. In this situation, other event recognizers, if any, that remain active for the hit view continue to track and process sub-events of an ongoing touch-based gesture. 
     In some embodiments, a respective event recognizer  280  includes metadata  283  with configurable properties, flags, and/or lists that indicate how the event delivery system should perform sub-event delivery to actively involved event recognizers. In some embodiments, metadata  283  includes configurable properties, flags, and/or lists that indicate how event recognizers may interact, or are enabled to interact, with one another. In some embodiments, metadata  283  includes configurable properties, flags, and/or lists that indicate whether sub-events are delivered to varying levels in the view or programmatic hierarchy. 
     In some embodiments, a respective event recognizer  280  activates event handler  290  associated with an event when one or more particular sub-events of an event are recognized. In some embodiments, a respective event recognizer  280  delivers event information associated with the event to event handler  290 . Activating an event handler  290  is distinct from sending (and deferred sending) sub-events to a respective hit view. In some embodiments, event recognizer  280  throws a flag associated with the recognized event, and event handler  290  associated with the flag catches the flag and performs a predefined process. 
     In some embodiments, event delivery instructions  288  include sub-event delivery instructions that deliver event information about a sub-event without activating an event handler. Instead, the sub-event delivery instructions deliver event information to event handlers associated with the series of sub-events or to actively involved views. Event handlers associated with the series of sub-events or with actively involved views receive the event information and perform a predetermined process. 
     In some embodiments, data updater  276  creates and updates data used in application  236 - 1 . For example, data updater  276  updates the telephone number used in contacts module  237 , or stores a video file used in video player module. In some embodiments, object updater  277  creates and updates objects used in application  236 - 1 . For example, object updater  277  creates a new user-interface object or updates the position of a user-interface object. GUI updater  278  updates the GUI. For example, GUI updater  278  prepares display information and sends it to graphics module  232  for display on a touch-sensitive display. 
     In some embodiments, event handler(s)  290  includes or has access to data updater  276 , object updater  277 , and GUI updater  278 . In some embodiments, data updater  276 , object updater  277 , and GUI updater  278  are included in a single module of a respective application  236 - 1  or application view  291 . In other embodiments, they are included in two or more software modules. 
     It shall be understood that the foregoing discussion regarding event handling of user touches on touch-sensitive displays also applies to other forms of user inputs to operate multifunction devices  200  with input devices, not all of which are initiated on touch screens. For example, mouse movement and mouse button presses, optionally coordinated with single or multiple keyboard presses or holds; contact movements such as taps, drags, scrolls, etc. on touchpads; pen stylus inputs; movement of the device; oral instructions; detected eye movements; biometric inputs; and/or any combination thereof are optionally utilized as inputs corresponding to sub-events which define an event to be recognized. 
       FIG.  3    illustrates a portable multifunction device  200  having a touch screen  212  in accordance with some embodiments. The touch screen optionally displays one or more graphics within user interface (UI)  300 . In this embodiment, as well as others described below, a user is enabled to select one or more of the graphics by making a gesture on the graphics, for example, with one or more fingers  302  (not drawn to scale in the figure) or one or more styluses  303  (not drawn to scale in the figure). In some embodiments, selection of one or more graphics occurs when the user breaks contact with the one or more graphics. In some embodiments, the gesture optionally includes one or more taps, one or more swipes (from left to right, right to left, upward, and/or downward), and/or a rolling of a finger (from right to left, left to right, upward, and/or downward) that has made contact with device  200 . In some implementations or circumstances, inadvertent contact with a graphic does not select the graphic. For example, a swipe gesture that sweeps over an application icon optionally does not select the corresponding application when the gesture corresponding to selection is a tap. 
     Device  200  may also include one or more physical buttons, such as “home” or menu button  304 . As described previously, menu button  304  may be used to navigate to any application  236  in a set of applications that may be executed on device  200 . Alternatively, in some embodiments, the menu button is implemented as a soft key in a GUI displayed on touch screen  212 . 
     In one embodiment, device  200  includes touch screen  212 , menu button  304 , push button  306  for powering the device on/off and locking the device, volume adjustment button(s)  308 , subscriber identity module (SIM) card slot  310 , headset jack  312 , and docking/charging external port  224 . Push button  306  is, optionally, used to turn the power on/off on the device by depressing the button and holding the button in the depressed state for a predefined time interval; to lock the device by depressing the button and releasing the button before the predefined time interval has elapsed; and/or to unlock the device or initiate an unlock process. In an alternative embodiment, device  200  also accepts verbal input for activation or deactivation of some functions through microphone  213 . Device  200  also, optionally, includes one or more contact intensity sensors  265  for detecting intensity of contacts on touch screen  212  and/or one or more tactile output generators  267  for generating tactile outputs for a user of device  200 . 
       FIG.  4    is a block diagram of an exemplary multifunction device with a display and a touch-sensitive surface in accordance with some embodiments. Device  400  need not be portable. In some embodiments, device  400  is a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a tablet computer, a multimedia player device, a navigation device, an educational device (such as a child&#39;s learning toy), a gaming system, or a control device (e.g., a home or industrial controller). Device  400  typically includes one or more processing units (CPUs)  410 , one or more network or other communications interfaces  460 , memory  470 , and one or more communication buses  420  for interconnecting these components. Communication buses  420  optionally include circuitry (sometimes called a chipset) that interconnects and controls communications between system components. Device  400  includes input/output (I/O) interface  430  comprising display  440 , which is typically a touch screen display. I/O interface  430  also optionally includes a keyboard and/or mouse (or other pointing device)  450  and touchpad  455 , tactile output generator  457  for generating tactile outputs on device  400  (e.g., similar to tactile output generator(s)  267  described above with reference to  FIG.  2 A ), sensors  459  (e.g., optical, acceleration, proximity, touch-sensitive, and/or contact intensity sensors similar to contact intensity sensor(s)  265  described above with reference to  FIG.  2 A ). Memory  470  includes high-speed random access memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, DDR RAM, or other random access solid state memory devices; and optionally includes non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic disk storage devices, optical disk storage devices, flash memory devices, or other non-volatile solid state storage devices. Memory  470  optionally includes one or more storage devices remotely located from CPU(s)  410 . In some embodiments, memory  470  stores programs, modules, and data structures analogous to the programs, modules, and data structures stored in memory  202  of portable multifunction device  200  ( FIG.  2 A ), or a subset thereof. Furthermore, memory  470  optionally stores additional programs, modules, and data structures not present in memory  202  of portable multifunction device  200 . For example, memory  470  of device  400  optionally stores drawing module  480 , presentation module  482 , word processing module  484 , website creation module  486 , disk authoring module  488 , and/or spreadsheet module  490 , while memory  202  of portable multifunction device  200  ( FIG.  2 A ) optionally does not store these modules. 
     Each of the above-identified elements in  FIG.  4    may be stored in one or more of the previously mentioned memory devices. Each of the above-identified modules corresponds to a set of instructions for performing a function described above. The above-identified modules or programs (e.g., sets of instructions) need not be implemented as separate software programs, procedures, or modules, and thus various subsets of these modules may be combined or otherwise rearranged in various embodiments. In some embodiments, memory  470  may store a subset of the modules and data structures identified above. Furthermore, memory  470  may store additional modules and data structures not described above. 
     Attention is now directed towards embodiments of user interfaces that may be implemented on, for example, portable multifunction device  200 . 
       FIG.  5 A  illustrates an exemplary user interface for a menu of applications on portable multifunction device  200  in accordance with some embodiments. Similar user interfaces may be implemented on device  400 . In some embodiments, user interface  500  includes the following elements, or a subset or superset thereof: 
     Signal strength indicator(s)  502  for wireless communication(s), such as cellular and Wi-Fi signals;
         Time  504 ;   Bluetooth indicator  505 ;   Battery status indicator  506 ;   Tray  508  with icons for frequently used applications, such as:
           Icon  516  for telephone module  238 , labeled “Phone,” which optionally includes an indicator  514  of the number of missed calls or voicemail messages;   Icon  518  for email client module  240 , labeled “Mail,” which optionally includes an indicator  510  of the number of unread emails;   Icon  520  for browser module  247 , labeled “Browser;” and   Icon  522  for video and music player module  252 , also referred to as iPod (trademark of Apple Inc.) module  252 , labeled “iPod;” and   
           Icons for other applications, such as:
           Icon  524  for IM module  241 , labeled “Messages;”   Icon  526  for calendar module  248 , labeled “Calendar;”   Icon  528  for image management module  244 , labeled “Photos;”   Icon  530  for camera module  243 , labeled “Camera;”   Icon  532  for online video module  255 , labeled “Online Video;”   Icon  534  for stocks widget  249 - 2 , labeled “Stocks;”   Icon  536  for map module  254 , labeled “Maps;”   Icon  538  for weather widget  249 - 1 , labeled “Weather;”   Icon  540  for alarm clock widget  249 - 4 , labeled “Clock;”   Icon  542  for workout support module  242 , labeled “Workout Support;”   Icon  544  for notes module  253 , labeled “Notes;” and   Icon  546  for a settings application or module, labeled “Settings,” which provides access to settings for device  200  and its various applications  236 .   
               

     It should be noted that the icon labels illustrated in  FIG.  5 A  are merely exemplary. For example, icon  522  for video and music player module  252  may optionally be labeled “Music” or “Music Player.” Other labels are, optionally, used for various application icons. In some embodiments, a label for a respective application icon includes a name of an application corresponding to the respective application icon. In some embodiments, a label for a particular application icon is distinct from a name of an application corresponding to the particular application icon. 
       FIG.  5 B  illustrates an exemplary user interface on a device (e.g., device  400 ,  FIG.  4   ) with a touch-sensitive surface  551  (e.g., a tablet or touchpad  455 ,  FIG.  4   ) that is separate from the display  550  (e.g., touch screen display  212 ). Device  400  also, optionally, includes one or more contact intensity sensors (e.g., one or more of sensors  457 ) for detecting intensity of contacts on touch-sensitive surface  551  and/or one or more tactile output generators  459  for generating tactile outputs for a user of device  400 . 
     Although some of the examples which follow will be given with reference to inputs on touch screen display  212  (where the touch-sensitive surface and the display are combined), in some embodiments, the device detects inputs on a touch-sensitive surface that is separate from the display, as shown in  FIG.  5 B . In some embodiments, the touch-sensitive surface (e.g.,  551  in  FIG.  5 B ) has a primary axis (e.g.,  552  in  FIG.  5 B ) that corresponds to a primary axis (e.g.,  553  in  FIG.  5 B ) on the display (e.g.,  550 ). In accordance with these embodiments, the device detects contacts (e.g.,  560  and  562  in  FIG.  5 B ) with the touch-sensitive surface  551  at locations that correspond to respective locations on the display (e.g., in  FIG.  5 B,  560    corresponds to  568  and  562  corresponds to  570 ). In this way, user inputs (e.g., contacts  560  and  562 , and movements thereof) detected by the device on the touch-sensitive surface (e.g.,  551  in  FIG.  5 B ) are used by the device to manipulate the user interface on the display (e.g.,  550  in  FIG.  5 B ) of the multifunction device when the touch-sensitive surface is separate from the display. It should be understood that similar methods are, optionally, used for other user interfaces described herein. 
     Additionally, while the following examples are given primarily with reference to finger inputs (e.g., finger contacts, finger tap gestures, and/or finger swipe gestures), it should be understood that, in some embodiments, one or more of the finger inputs are replaced with input from another input device (e.g., a mouse-based input or stylus input). For example, a swipe gesture is, optionally, replaced with a mouse click (e.g., instead of a contact) followed by movement of the cursor along the path of the swipe (e.g., instead of movement of the contact). As another example, a tap gesture is, optionally, replaced with a mouse click while the cursor is located over the location of the tap gesture (e.g., instead of detection of the contact followed by ceasing to detect the contact). Similarly, when multiple user inputs are simultaneously detected, it should be understood that multiple computer mice are, optionally, used simultaneously, or a mouse and finger contacts are, optionally, used simultaneously. 
       FIG.  6 A  illustrates exemplary personal electronic device  600 . Device  600  includes body  602 . In some embodiments, device  600  can include some or all of the features described with respect to devices  200  and  400  (e.g.,  FIGS.  2 A and  4   ). In some embodiments, device  600  has touch-sensitive display screen  604 , hereafter touch screen  604 . Alternatively, or in addition to touch screen  604 , device  600  has a display and a touch-sensitive surface. As with devices  200  and  400 , in some embodiments, touch screen  604  (or the touch-sensitive surface) may have one or more intensity sensors for detecting intensity of contacts (e.g., touches) being applied. The one or more intensity sensors of touch screen  604  (or the touch-sensitive surface) can provide output data that represents the intensity of touches. The user interface of device  600  can respond to touches based on their intensity, meaning that touches of different intensities can invoke different user interface operations on device  600 . 
     Techniques for detecting and processing touch intensity may be found, for example, in related applications: International Patent Application Serial No. PCT/US2013/040061, titled “Device, Method, and Graphical User Interface for Displaying User Interface Objects Corresponding to an Application,” filed May 8, 2013, and International Patent Application Serial No. PCT/US2013/069483, titled “Device, Method, and Graphical User Interface for Transitioning Between Touch Input to Display Output Relationships,” filed Nov. 11, 2013, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. 
     In some embodiments, device  600  has one or more input mechanisms  606  and  608 . Input mechanisms  606  and  608 , if included, can be physical. Examples of physical input mechanisms include push buttons and rotatable mechanisms. In some embodiments, device  600  has one or more attachment mechanisms. Such attachment mechanisms, if included, can permit attachment of device  600  with, for example, hats, eyewear, earrings, necklaces, shirts, jackets, bracelets, watch straps, chains, trousers, belts, shoes, purses, backpacks, and so forth. These attachment mechanisms may permit device  600  to be worn by a user. 
       FIG.  6 B  depicts exemplary personal electronic device  600 . In some embodiments, device  600  can include some or all of the components described with respect to  FIGS.  2 A- 2 B and  4   . Device  600  has bus  612  that operatively couples I/O section  614  with one or more computer processors  616  and memory  618 . I/O section  614  can be connected to display  604 , which can have touch-sensitive component  622  and, optionally, touch-intensity sensitive component  624 . In addition, I/O section  614  can be connected with communication unit  630  for receiving application and operating system data using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, near field communication (NFC), cellular, and/or other wireless communication techniques. Device  600  can include input mechanisms  606  and/or  608 . Input mechanism  606  may be a rotatable input device or a depressible and rotatable input device, for example. Input mechanism  608  may be a button, in some examples. 
     Input mechanism  608  may be a microphone, in some examples. Personal electronic device  600  can include various sensors, such as GPS sensor  632 , accelerometer  634 , directional sensor  640  (e.g., compass), gyroscope  636 , motion sensor  638 , and/or a combination thereof, all of which can be operatively connected to I/O section  614 . 
     Memory  618  of personal electronic device  600  can be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, for storing computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by one or more computer processors  616 , for example, can cause the computer processors to perform the techniques described below, including process  1200  ( FIGS.  12 A- 12 D ). The computer-executable instructions can also be stored and/or transported within any non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer-based system, processor-containing system, or other system that can fetch the instructions from the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device and execute the instructions. Personal electronic device  600  is not limited to the components and configuration of  FIG.  6 B , but can include other or additional components in multiple configurations. 
     As used here, the term “affordance” refers to a user-interactive graphical user interface object that may be displayed on the display screen of devices  200 ,  400 , and/or  600  ( FIGS.  2 A,  4 , and  6 A- 6 B ). For example, an image (e.g., icon), a button, and text (e.g., link) may each constitute an affordance. 
     As used herein, the term “focus selector” refers to an input element that indicates a current part of a user interface with which a user is interacting. In some implementations that include a cursor or other location marker, the cursor acts as a “focus selector” so that when an input (e.g., a press input) is detected on a touch-sensitive surface (e.g., touchpad  455  in  FIG.  4    or touch-sensitive surface  551  in  FIG.  5 B ) while the cursor is over a particular user interface element (e.g., a button, window, slider or other user interface element), the particular user interface element is adjusted in accordance with the detected input. In some implementations that include a touch screen display (e.g., touch-sensitive display system  212  in  FIG.  2 A  or touch screen  212  in  FIG.  5 A ) that enables direct interaction with user interface elements on the touch screen display, a detected contact on the touch screen acts as a “focus selector” so that when an input (e.g., a press input by the contact) is detected on the touch screen display at a location of a particular user interface element (e.g., a button, window, slider, or other user interface element), the particular user interface element is adjusted in accordance with the detected input. In some implementations, focus is moved from one region of a user interface to another region of the user interface without corresponding movement of a cursor or movement of a contact on a touch screen display (e.g., by using a tab key or arrow keys to move focus from one button to another button); in these implementations, the focus selector moves in accordance with movement of focus between different regions of the user interface. Without regard to the specific form taken by the focus selector, the focus selector is generally the user interface element (or contact on a touch screen display) that is controlled by the user so as to communicate the user&#39;s intended interaction with the user interface (e.g., by indicating, to the device, the element of the user interface with which the user is intending to interact). For example, the location of a focus selector (e.g., a cursor, a contact, or a selection box) over a respective button while a press input is detected on the touch-sensitive surface (e.g., a touchpad or touch screen) will indicate that the user is intending to activate the respective button (as opposed to other user interface elements shown on a display of the device). 
     As used in the specification and claims, the term “characteristic intensity” of a contact refers to a characteristic of the contact based on one or more intensities of the contact. In some embodiments, the characteristic intensity is based on multiple intensity samples. The characteristic intensity is, optionally, based on a predefined number of intensity samples, or a set of intensity samples collected during a predetermined time period (e.g., 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10 seconds) relative to a predefined event (e.g., after detecting the contact, prior to detecting liftoff of the contact, before or after detecting a start of movement of the contact, prior to detecting an end of the contact, before or after detecting an increase in intensity of the contact, and/or before or after detecting a decrease in intensity of the contact). A characteristic intensity of a contact is, optionally based on one or more of: a maximum value of the intensities of the contact, a mean value of the intensities of the contact, an average value of the intensities of the contact, a top 10 percentile value of the intensities of the contact, a value at the half maximum of the intensities of the contact, a value at the 90 percent maximum of the intensities of the contact, or the like. In some embodiments, the duration of the contact is used in determining the characteristic intensity (e.g., when the characteristic intensity is an average of the intensity of the contact over time). In some embodiments, the characteristic intensity is compared to a set of one or more intensity thresholds to determine whether an operation has been performed by a user. For example, the set of one or more intensity thresholds may include a first intensity threshold and a second intensity threshold. In this example, a contact with a characteristic intensity that does not exceed the first threshold results in a first operation, a contact with a characteristic intensity that exceeds the first intensity threshold and does not exceed the second intensity threshold results in a second operation, and a contact with a characteristic intensity that exceeds the second threshold results in a third operation. In some embodiments, a comparison between the characteristic intensity and one or more thresholds is used to determine whether or not to perform one or more operations (e.g., whether to perform a respective operation or forgo performing the respective operation) rather than being used to determine whether to perform a first operation or a second operation. 
     In some embodiments, a portion of a gesture is identified for purposes of determining a characteristic intensity. For example, a touch-sensitive surface may receive a continuous swipe contact transitioning from a start location and reaching an end location, at which point the intensity of the contact increases. In this example, the characteristic intensity of the contact at the end location may be based on only a portion of the continuous swipe contact, and not the entire swipe contact (e.g., only the portion of the swipe contact at the end location). In some embodiments, a smoothing algorithm may be applied to the intensities of the swipe contact prior to determining the characteristic intensity of the contact. For example, the smoothing algorithm optionally includes one or more of: an unweighted sliding-average smoothing algorithm, a triangular smoothing algorithm, a median filter smoothing algorithm, and/or an exponential smoothing algorithm. In some circumstances, these smoothing algorithms eliminate narrow spikes or dips in the intensities of the swipe contact for purposes of determining a characteristic intensity. 
     The intensity of a contact on the touch-sensitive surface may be characterized relative to one or more intensity thresholds, such as a contact-detection intensity threshold, a light press intensity threshold, a deep press intensity threshold, and/or one or more other intensity thresholds. In some embodiments, the light press intensity threshold corresponds to an intensity at which the device will perform operations typically associated with clicking a button of a physical mouse or a trackpad. In some embodiments, the deep press intensity threshold corresponds to an intensity at which the device will perform operations that are different from operations typically associated with clicking a button of a physical mouse or a trackpad. In some embodiments, when a contact is detected with a characteristic intensity below the light press intensity threshold (e.g., and above a nominal contact-detection intensity threshold below which the contact is no longer detected), the device will move a focus selector in accordance with movement of the contact on the touch-sensitive surface without performing an operation associated with the light press intensity threshold or the deep press intensity threshold. Generally, unless otherwise stated, these intensity thresholds are consistent between different sets of user interface figures. 
     An increase of characteristic intensity of the contact from an intensity below the light press intensity threshold to an intensity between the light press intensity threshold and the deep press intensity threshold is sometimes referred to as a “light press” input. An increase of characteristic intensity of the contact from an intensity below the deep press intensity threshold to an intensity above the deep press intensity threshold is sometimes referred to as a “deep press” input. An increase of characteristic intensity of the contact from an intensity below the contact-detection intensity threshold to an intensity between the contact-detection intensity threshold and the light press intensity threshold is sometimes referred to as detecting the contact on the touch surface. A decrease of characteristic intensity of the contact from an intensity above the contact-detection intensity threshold to an intensity below the contact-detection intensity threshold is sometimes referred to as detecting liftoff of the contact from the touch-surface. In some embodiments, the contact-detection intensity threshold is zero. In some embodiments, the contact-detection intensity threshold is greater than zero. 
     In some embodiments described herein, one or more operations are performed in response to detecting a gesture that includes a respective press input or in response to detecting the respective press input performed with a respective contact (or a plurality of contacts), where the respective press input is detected based at least in part on detecting an increase in intensity of the contact (or plurality of contacts) above a press-input intensity threshold. In some embodiments, the respective operation is performed in response to detecting the increase in intensity of the respective contact above the press-input intensity threshold (e.g., a “down stroke” of the respective press input). In some embodiments, the press input includes an increase in intensity of the respective contact above the press-input intensity threshold and a subsequent decrease in intensity of the contact below the press-input intensity threshold, and the respective operation is performed in response to detecting the subsequent decrease in intensity of the respective contact below the press-input threshold (e.g., an “up stroke” of the respective press input). 
     In some embodiments, the device employs intensity hysteresis to avoid accidental inputs, sometimes termed “jitter,” where the device defines or selects a hysteresis intensity threshold with a predefined relationship to the press-input intensity threshold (e.g., the hysteresis intensity threshold is X intensity units lower than the press-input intensity threshold or the hysteresis intensity threshold is 75%, 90%, or some reasonable proportion of the press-input intensity threshold). Thus, in some embodiments, the press input includes an increase in intensity of the respective contact above the press-input intensity threshold and a subsequent decrease in intensity of the contact below the hysteresis intensity threshold that corresponds to the press-input intensity threshold, and the respective operation is performed in response to detecting the subsequent decrease in intensity of the respective contact below the hysteresis intensity threshold (e.g., an “up stroke” of the respective press input). Similarly, in some embodiments, the press input is detected only when the device detects an increase in intensity of the contact from an intensity at or below the hysteresis intensity threshold to an intensity at or above the press-input intensity threshold and, optionally, a subsequent decrease in intensity of the contact to an intensity at or below the hysteresis intensity, and the respective operation is performed in response to detecting the press input (e.g., the increase in intensity of the contact or the decrease in intensity of the contact, depending on the circumstances). 
     For ease of explanation, the descriptions of operations performed in response to a press input associated with a press-input intensity threshold or in response to a gesture including the press input are, optionally, triggered in response to detecting either: an increase in intensity of a contact above the press-input intensity threshold, an increase in intensity of a contact from an intensity below the hysteresis intensity threshold to an intensity above the press-input intensity threshold, a decrease in intensity of the contact below the press-input intensity threshold, and/or a decrease in intensity of the contact below the hysteresis intensity threshold corresponding to the press-input intensity threshold. Additionally, in examples where an operation is described as being performed in response to detecting a decrease in intensity of a contact below the press-input intensity threshold, the operation is, optionally, performed in response to detecting a decrease in intensity of the contact below a hysteresis intensity threshold corresponding to, and lower than, the press-input intensity threshold. 
     3. Digital Assistant System 
       FIG.  7 A  illustrates a block diagram of digital assistant system  700  in accordance with various examples. In some examples, digital assistant system  700  can be implemented on a standalone computer system. In some examples, digital assistant system  700  can be distributed across multiple computers. In some examples, some of the modules and functions of the digital assistant can be divided into a server portion and a client portion, where the client portion resides on one or more user devices (e.g., devices  104 ,  122 ,  200 ,  400 , or  600 ) and communicates with the server portion (e.g., server system  108 ) through one or more networks, e.g., as shown in  FIG.  1   . In some examples, digital assistant system  700  can be an implementation of server system  108  (and/or DA server  106 ) shown in  FIG.  1   . It should be noted that digital assistant system  700  is only one example of a digital assistant system, and that digital assistant system  700  can have more or fewer components than shown, may combine two or more components, or may have a different configuration or arrangement of the components. The various components shown in  FIG.  7 A  can be implemented in hardware, software instructions for execution by one or more processors, firmware, including one or more signal processing and/or application specific integrated circuits, or a combination thereof. 
     Digital assistant system  700  can include memory  702 , one or more processors  704 , input/output (I/O) interface  706 , and network communications interface  708 . These components can communicate with one another over one or more communication buses or signal lines  710 . 
     In some examples, memory  702  can include a non-transitory computer-readable medium, such as high-speed random access memory and/or a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium (e.g., one or more magnetic disk storage devices, flash memory devices, or other non-volatile solid-state memory devices). 
     In some examples, I/O interface  706  can couple input/output devices  716  of digital assistant system  700 , such as displays, keyboards, touch screens, and microphones, to user interface module  722 . I/O interface  706 , in conjunction with user interface module  722 , can receive user inputs (e.g., voice input, keyboard inputs, touch inputs, etc.) and process them accordingly. In some examples, e.g., when the digital assistant is implemented on a standalone user device, digital assistant system  700  can include any of the components and I/O communication interfaces described with respect to devices  200 ,  400 , or  600  in  FIGS.  2 A,  4 ,  6 A- 6 B , respectively. In some examples, digital assistant system  700  can represent the server portion of a digital assistant implementation, and can interact with the user through a client-side portion residing on a user device (e.g., devices  104 ,  200 ,  400 , or  600 ). 
     In some examples, the network communications interface  708  can include wired communication port(s)  712  and/or wireless transmission and reception circuitry  714 . The wired communication port(s)  712  can receive and send communication signals via one or more wired interfaces, e.g., Ethernet, Universal Serial Bus (USB), FIREWIRE, etc. The wireless circuitry  714  can receive and send RF signals and/or optical signals from/to communications networks and other communications devices. The wireless communications can use any of a plurality of communications standards, protocols, and technologies, such as GSM, EDGE, CDMA, TDMA, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, VoIP, Wi-MAX, or any other suitable communication protocol. Network communications interface  708  can enable communication between digital assistant system  700  with networks, such as the Internet, an intranet, and/or a wireless network, such as a cellular telephone network, a wireless local area network (LAN), and/or a metropolitan area network (MAN), and other devices. 
     In some examples, memory  702 , or the computer-readable storage media of memory  702 , can store programs, modules, instructions, and data structures including all or a subset of: operating system  718 , communications module  720 , user interface module  722 , one or more applications  724 , and digital assistant module  726 . In particular, memory  702 , or the computer-readable storage media of memory  702 , can store instructions for performing process  1200 , described below. One or more processors  704  can execute these programs, modules, and instructions, and read/write from/to the data structures. 
     Operating system  718  (e.g., Darwin, RTXC, LINUX, UNIX, iOS, OS X, WINDOWS, or an embedded operating system such as VxWorks) can include various software components and/or drivers for controlling and managing general system tasks (e.g., memory management, storage device control, power management, etc.) and facilitates communications between various hardware, firmware, and software components. 
     Communications module  720  can facilitate communications between digital assistant system  700  with other devices over network communications interface  708 . For example, communications module  720  can communicate with RF circuitry  208  of electronic devices such as devices  200 ,  400 , and  600  shown in  FIGS.  2 A,  4 ,  6 A- 6 B , respectively. Communications module  720  can also include various components for handling data received by wireless circuitry  714  and/or wired communications port  712 . 
     User interface module  722  can receive commands and/or inputs from a user via I/O interface  706  (e.g., from a keyboard, touch screen, pointing device, controller, and/or microphone), and generate user interface objects on a display. User interface module  722  can also prepare and deliver outputs (e.g., speech, sound, animation, text, icons, vibrations, haptic feedback, light, etc.) to the user via the I/O interface  706  (e.g., through displays, audio channels, speakers, touch-pads, etc.). 
     Applications  724  can include programs and/or modules that are configured to be executed by one or more processors  704 . For example, if the digital assistant system is implemented on a standalone user device, applications  724  can include user applications, such as games, a calendar application, a navigation application, or an email application. If digital assistant system  700  is implemented on a server, applications  724  can include resource management applications, diagnostic applications, or scheduling applications, for example. 
     Memory  702  can also store digital assistant module  726  (or the server portion of a digital assistant). In some examples, digital assistant module  726  can include the following sub-modules, or a subset or superset thereof: input/output processing module  728 , speech-to-text (STT) processing module  730 , natural language processing module  732 , dialogue flow processing module  734 , task flow processing module  736 , service processing module  738 , and speech synthesis module  740 . Each of these modules can have access to one or more of the following systems or data and models of the digital assistant module  726 , or a subset or superset thereof: ontology  760 , vocabulary index  744 , user data  748 , task flow models  754 , service models  756 , and ASR systems  731 . 
     In some examples, using the processing modules, data, and models implemented in digital assistant module  726 , the digital assistant can perform at least some of the following: converting speech input into text; identifying a user&#39;s intent expressed in a natural language input received from the user; actively eliciting and obtaining information needed to fully infer the user&#39;s intent (e.g., by disambiguating words, games, intentions, etc.); determining the task flow for fulfilling the inferred intent; and executing the task flow to fulfill the inferred intent. 
     In some examples, as shown in  FIG.  7 B , I/O processing module  728  can interact with the user through I/O devices  716  in  FIG.  7 A  or with a user device (e.g., devices  104 ,  200 ,  400 , or  600 ) through network communications interface  708  in  FIG.  7 A  to obtain user input (e.g., a speech input) and to provide responses (e.g., as speech outputs) to the user input. I/O processing module  728  can optionally obtain contextual information associated with the user input from the user device, along with or shortly after the receipt of the user input. The contextual information can include user-specific data, vocabulary, and/or preferences relevant to the user input. In some examples, the contextual information also includes software and hardware states of the user device at the time the user request is received, and/or information related to the surrounding environment of the user at the time that the user request was received. In some examples, I/O processing module  728  can also send follow-up questions to, and receive answers from, the user regarding the user request. When a user request is received by I/O processing module  728  and the user request can include speech input, I/O processing module  728  can forward the speech input to STT processing module  730  (or a speech recognizer) for speech-to-text conversions. 
     STT processing module  730  can include one or more ASR systems. The one or more ASR systems can process the speech input that is received through I/O processing module  728  to produce a recognition result. Each ASR system can include a front-end speech pre-processor. The front-end speech pre-processor can extract representative features from the speech input. For example, the front-end speech pre-processor can perform a Fourier transform on the speech input to extract spectral features that characterize the speech input as a sequence of representative multi-dimensional vectors. Further, each ASR system can include one or more speech recognition models (e.g., acoustic models and/or language models) and can implement one or more speech recognition engines. Examples of speech recognition models can include Hidden Markov Models, Gaussian-Mixture Models, Deep Neural Network Models, n-gram language models, and other statistical models. Examples of speech recognition engines can include the dynamic time warping based engines and weighted finite-state transducers (WFST) based engines. The one or more speech recognition models and the one or more speech recognition engines can be used to process the extracted representative features of the front-end speech pre-processor to produce intermediate recognitions results (e.g., phonemes, phonemic strings, and sub-words), and ultimately, text recognition results (e.g., words, word strings, or sequence of tokens). In some examples, the speech input can be processed at least partially by a third-party service or on the user&#39;s device (e.g., device  104 ,  200 ,  400 , or  600 ) to produce the recognition result. Once STT processing module  730  produces recognition results containing a text string (e.g., words, or sequence of words, or sequence of tokens), the recognition result can be passed to natural language processing module  732  for intent deduction. 
     More details on the speech-to-text processing are described in U.S. Utility application Ser. No. 13/236,942 for “Consolidating Speech Recognition Results,” filed on Sep. 20, 2011, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     In some examples, STT processing module  730  can include and/or access a vocabulary of recognizable words via phonetic alphabet conversion module  731 . Each vocabulary word can be associated with one or more candidate pronunciations of the word represented in a speech recognition phonetic alphabet. In particular, the vocabulary of recognizable words can include a word that is associated with a plurality of candidate pronunciations. For example, the vocabulary may include the word “tomato” that is associated with the candidate pronunciations of / / and / /. Further, vocabulary words can be associated with custom candidate pronunciations that are based on previous speech inputs from the user. Such custom candidate pronunciations can be stored in STT processing module  730  and can be associated with a particular user via the user&#39;s profile on the device. In some examples, the candidate pronunciations for words can be determined based on the spelling of the word and one or more linguistic and/or phonetic rules. In some examples, the candidate pronunciations can be manually generated, e.g., based on known canonical pronunciations. 
     In some examples, the candidate pronunciations can be ranked based on the commonness of the candidate pronunciation. For example, the candidate pronunciation / / can be ranked higher than / /, because the former is a more commonly used pronunciation (e.g., among all users, for users in a particular geographical region, or for any other appropriate subset of users). In some examples, candidate pronunciations can be ranked based on whether the candidate pronunciation is a custom candidate pronunciation associated with the user. For example, custom candidate pronunciations can be ranked higher than canonical candidate pronunciations. This can be useful for recognizing proper nouns having a unique pronunciation that deviates from canonical pronunciation. In some examples, candidate pronunciations can be associated with one or more speech characteristics, such as geographic origin, nationality, or ethnicity. For example, the candidate pronunciation / / can be associated with the United States, whereas the candidate pronunciation / / can be associated with Great Britain. Further, the rank of the candidate pronunciation can be based on one or more characteristics (e.g., geographic origin, nationality, ethnicity, etc.) of the user stored in the user&#39;s profile on the device. For example, it can be determined from the user&#39;s profile that the user is associated with the United States. Based on the user being associated with the United States, the candidate pronunciation / / (associated with the United States) can be ranked higher than the candidate pronunciation / / (associated with Great Britain). In some examples, one of the ranked candidate pronunciations can be selected as a predicted pronunciation (e.g., the most likely pronunciation). 
     When a speech input is received, STT processing module  730  can be used to determine the phonemes corresponding to the speech input (e.g., using an acoustic model), and then attempt to determine words that match the phonemes (e.g., using a language model). For example, if STT processing module  730  can first identify the sequence of phonemes / / corresponding to a portion of the speech input, it can then determine, based on vocabulary index  744 , that this sequence corresponds to the word “tomato.” 
     In some examples, STT processing module  730  can use approximate matching techniques to determine words in a voice input. Thus, for example, the STT processing module  730  can determine that the sequence of phonemes / / corresponds to the word “tomato,” even if that particular sequence of phonemes is not one of the candidate sequence of phonemes for that word. 
     Natural language processing module  732  (“natural language processor”) of the digital assistant can take the sequence of words or tokens (“token sequence”) generated by STT processing module  730  and attempt to associate the token sequence with one or more “actionable intents” recognized by the digital assistant. An “actionable intent” can represent a task that can be performed by the digital assistant and can have an associated task flow implemented in task flow models  754 . The associated task flow can be a series of programmed actions and steps that the digital assistant takes in order to perform the task. The scope of a digital assistant&#39;s capabilities can be dependent on the number and variety of task flows that have been implemented and stored in task flow models  754  or, in other words, on the number and variety of “actionable intents” that the digital assistant recognizes. The effectiveness of the digital assistant, however, can also be dependent on the assistant&#39;s ability to infer the correct “actionable intent(s)” from the user request expressed in natural language. 
     In some examples, in addition to the sequence of words or tokens obtained from STT processing module  730 , natural language processing module  732  can also receive contextual information associated with the user request, e.g., from I/O processing module  728 . The natural language processing module  732  can optionally use the contextual information to clarify, supplement, and/or further define the information contained in the token sequence received from STT processing module  730 . The contextual information can include, for example, user preferences, hardware and/or software states of the user device, sensor information collected before, during, or shortly after the user request, prior interactions (e.g., dialogue) between the digital assistant and the user, and the like. As described herein, contextual information can be dynamic, and can change with time, location, content of the dialogue, and other factors. 
     In some examples, the natural language processing can be based on, e.g., ontology  760 . Ontology  760  can be a hierarchical structure containing many nodes, each node representing either an “actionable intent” or a “property” relevant to one or more of the “actionable intents” or other “properties.” As noted above, an “actionable intent” can represent a task that the digital assistant is capable of performing, i.e., it is “actionable” or can be acted on. A “property” can represent a parameter associated with an actionable intent or a sub-aspect of another property. A linkage between an actionable intent node and a property node in ontology  760  can define how a parameter represented by the property node pertains to the task represented by the actionable intent node. 
     In some examples, ontology  760  can be made up of actionable intent nodes and property nodes. Within ontology  760 , each actionable intent node can be linked to one or more property nodes either directly or through one or more intermediate property nodes. Similarly, each property node can be linked to one or more actionable intent nodes either directly or through one or more intermediate property nodes. For example, as shown in  FIG.  7 C , ontology  760  can include a “restaurant reservation” node (i.e., an actionable intent node). Property nodes “restaurant,” “date/time” (for the reservation), and “party size” can each be directly linked to the actionable intent node (i.e., the “restaurant reservation” node). 
     In addition, property nodes “cuisine,” “price range,” “phone number,” and “location” can be sub-nodes of the property node “restaurant,” and can each be linked to the “restaurant reservation” node (i.e., the actionable intent node) through the intermediate property node “restaurant.” For another example, as shown in  FIG.  7 C , ontology  760  can also include a “set reminder” node (i.e., another actionable intent node). Property nodes “date/time” (for setting the reminder) and “subject” (for the reminder) can each be linked to the “set reminder” node. Since the property “date/time” can be relevant to both the task of making a restaurant reservation and the task of setting a reminder, the property node “date/time” can be linked to both the “restaurant reservation” node and the “set reminder” node in ontology  760 . 
     An actionable intent node, along with its linked concept nodes, can be described as a “domain.” In the present discussion, each domain can be associated with a respective actionable intent and refers to the group of nodes (and the relationships there between) associated with the particular actionable intent. For example, ontology  760  shown in  FIG.  7 C  can include an example of restaurant reservation domain  762  and an example of reminder domain  764  within ontology  760 . The restaurant reservation domain includes the actionable intent node “restaurant reservation,” property nodes “restaurant,” “date/time,” and “party size,” and sub-property nodes “cuisine,” “price range,” “phone number,” and “location.” Reminder domain  764  can include the actionable intent node “set reminder,” and property nodes “subject” and “date/time.” In some examples, ontology  760  can be made up of many domains. Each domain can share one or more property nodes with one or more other domains. For example, the “date/time” property node can be associated with many different domains (e.g., a scheduling domain, a travel reservation domain, a movie ticket domain, etc.), in addition to restaurant reservation domain  762  and reminder domain  764 . 
     While  FIG.  7 C  illustrates two example domains within ontology  760 , other domains can include, for example, “find a movie,” “initiate a phone call,” “find directions,” “schedule a meeting,” “send a message,” and “provide an answer to a question,” “read a list,” “providing navigation instructions,” “provide instructions for a task,” and so on. A “send a message” domain can be associated with a “send a message” actionable intent node, and may further include property nodes such as “recipient(s),” “message type,” and “message body.” The property node “recipient” can be further defined, for example, by the sub-property nodes such as “recipient name” and “message address.” 
     In some examples, ontology  760  can include all the domains (and hence actionable intents) that the digital assistant is capable of understanding and acting upon. In some examples, ontology  760  can be modified, such as by adding or removing entire domains or nodes, or by modifying relationships between the nodes within the ontology  760 . 
     In some examples, nodes associated with multiple related actionable intents can be clustered under a “super domain” in ontology  760 . For example, a “travel” super-domain can include a cluster of property nodes and actionable intent nodes related to travel. The actionable intent nodes related to travel can include “airline reservation,” “hotel reservation,” “car rental,” “get directions,” “find points of interest,” and so on. The actionable intent nodes under the same super domain (e.g., the “travel” super domain) can have many property nodes in common. For example, the actionable intent nodes for “airline reservation,” “hotel reservation,” “car rental,” “get directions,” and “find points of interest” can share one or more of the property nodes “start location,” “destination,” “departure date/time,” “arrival date/time,” and “party size.” 
     In some examples, each node in ontology  760  can be associated with a set of words and/or phrases that are relevant to the property or actionable intent represented by the node. The respective set of words and/or phrases associated with each node can be the so-called “vocabulary” associated with the node. The respective set of words and/or phrases associated with each node can be stored in vocabulary index  744  in association with the property or actionable intent represented by the node. For example, returning to  FIG.  7 B , the vocabulary associated with the node for the property of “restaurant” can include words such as “food,” “drinks,” “cuisine,” “hungry,” “eat,” “pizza,” “fast food,” “meal,” and so on. For another example, the vocabulary associated with the node for the actionable intent of “initiate a phone call” can include words and phrases such as “call,” “phone,” “dial,” “ring,” “call this number,” “make a call to,” and so on. The vocabulary index  744  can optionally include words and phrases in different languages. 
     Natural language processing module  732  can receive the token sequence (e.g., a text string) from STT processing module  730 , and determine what nodes are implicated by the words in the token sequence. In some examples, if a word or phrase in the token sequence is found to be associated with one or more nodes in ontology  760  (via vocabulary index  744 ), the word or phrase can “trigger” or “activate” those nodes. Based on the quantity and/or relative importance of the activated nodes, natural language processing module  732  can select one of the actionable intents as the task that the user intended the digital assistant to perform. In some examples, the domain that has the most “triggered” nodes can be selected. In some examples, the domain having the highest confidence value (e.g., based on the relative importance of its various triggered nodes) can be selected. In some examples, the domain can be selected based on a combination of the number and the importance of the triggered nodes. In some examples, additional factors are considered in selecting the node as well, such as whether the digital assistant has previously correctly interpreted a similar request from a user. 
     User data  748  can include user-specific information, such as user-specific vocabulary, user preferences, user address, user&#39;s default and secondary languages, user&#39;s contact list, and other short-term or long-term information for each user. In some examples, natural language processing module  732  can use the user-specific information to supplement the information contained in the user input to further define the user intent. For example, for a user request “invite my friends to my birthday party,” natural language processing module  732  can be able to access user data  748  to determine who the “friends” are and when and where the “birthday party” would be held, rather than requiring the user to provide such information explicitly in his/her request. 
     Other details of searching an ontology based on a token string is described in U.S. Utility application Ser. No. 12/341,743 for “Method and Apparatus for Searching Using An Active Ontology,” filed Dec. 22, 2008, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     In some examples, once natural language processing module  732  identifies an actionable intent (or domain) based on the user request, natural language processing module  732  can generate a structured query to represent the identified actionable intent. In some examples, the structured query can include parameters for one or more nodes within the domain for the actionable intent, and at least some of the parameters are populated with the specific information and requirements specified in the user request. For example, the user may say “Make me a dinner reservation at a sushi place at  7 .” In this case, natural language processing module  732  can be able to correctly identify the actionable intent to be “restaurant reservation” based on the user input. According to the ontology, a structured query for a “restaurant reservation” domain may include parameters such as {Cuisine}, {Time}, {Date}, {Party Size}, and the like. In some examples, based on the speech input and the text derived from the speech input using STT processing module  730 , natural language processing module  732  can generate a partial structured query for the restaurant reservation domain, where the partial structured query includes the parameters {Cuisine=“Sushi”} and {Time=“7 pm”}. However, in this example, the user&#39;s speech input contains insufficient information to complete the structured query associated with the domain. Therefore, other necessary parameters such as {Party Size} and {Date} may not be specified in the structured query based on the information currently available. In some examples, natural language processing module  732  can populate some parameters of the structured query with received contextual information. For example, in some examples, if the user requested a sushi restaurant “near me,” natural language processing module  732  can populate a {location} parameter in the structured query with GPS coordinates from the user device. 
     In some examples, natural language processing module  732  can pass the generated structured query (including any completed parameters) to task flow processing module  736  (“task flow processor”). Task flow processing module  736  can be configured to receive the structured query from natural language processing module  732 , complete the structured query, if necessary, and perform the actions required to “complete” the user&#39;s ultimate request. In some examples, the various procedures necessary to complete these tasks can be provided in task flow models  754 . In some examples, task flow models  754  can include procedures for obtaining additional information from the user and task flows for performing actions associated with the actionable intent. 
     As described above, in order to complete a structured query, task flow processing module  736  may need to initiate additional dialogue with the user in order to obtain additional information, and/or disambiguate potentially ambiguous speech inputs. When such interactions are necessary, task flow processing module  736  can invoke dialogue flow processing module  734  to engage in a dialogue with the user. In some examples, dialogue flow processing module  734  can determine how (and/or when) to ask the user for the additional information and receive and processes the user responses. The questions can be provided to and answers can be received from the users through I/O processing module  728 . In some examples, dialogue flow processing module  734  can present dialogue output to the user via audio and/or visual output, and receive input from the user via spoken or physical (e.g., clicking) responses. Continuing with the example above, when task flow processing module  736  invokes dialogue flow processing module  734  to determine the “party size” and “date” information for the structured query associated with the domain “restaurant reservation,” dialogue flow processing module  734  can generate questions such as “For how many people?” and “On which day?” to pass to the user. Once answers are received from the user, dialogue flow processing module  734  can then populate the structured query with the missing information or pass the information to task flow processing module  736  to complete the missing information from the structured query. 
     Once task flow processing module  736  has completed the structured query for an actionable intent, task flow processing module  736  can proceed to perform the ultimate task associated with the actionable intent. Accordingly, task flow processing module  736  can execute the steps and instructions in the task flow model according to the specific parameters contained in the structured query. For example, the task flow model for the actionable intent of “restaurant reservation” can include steps and instructions for contacting a restaurant and actually requesting a reservation for a particular party size at a particular time. For example, using a structured query such as: {restaurant reservation, restaurant=ABC Café, date=3/12/2012, time=7 pm, party size=5}, task flow processing module  736  can perform the steps of: (1) logging onto a server of the ABC Café or a restaurant reservation system such as OPENTABLE®; (2) entering the date, time, and party size information in a form on the website; (3) submitting the form; and (4) making a calendar entry for the reservation in the user&#39;s calendar. 
     In some examples, task flow processing module  736  can employ the assistance of service processing module  738  (“service processing module”) to complete a task requested in the user input or to provide an informational answer requested in the user input. For example, service processing module  738  can act on behalf of task flow processing module  736  to make a phone call, set a calendar entry, invoke a map search, invoke or interact with other user applications installed on the user device, and invoke or interact with third-party services (e.g., a restaurant reservation portal, a social networking website, a banking portal, etc.). In some examples, the protocols and application programming interfaces (API) required by each service can be specified by a respective service model among service models  756 . Service processing module  738  can access the appropriate service model for a service and generate requests for the service in accordance with the protocols and APIs required by the service according to the service model. 
     For example, if a restaurant has enabled an online reservation service, the restaurant can submit a service model specifying the necessary parameters for making a reservation and the APIs for communicating the values of the necessary parameter to the online reservation service. When requested by task flow processing module  736 , service processing module  738  can establish a network connection with the online reservation service using the web address stored in the service model and send the necessary parameters of the reservation (e.g., time, date, party size) to the online reservation interface in a format according to the API of the online reservation service. 
     In some examples, natural language processing module  732 , dialogue flow processing module  734 , and task flow processing module  736  can be used collectively and iteratively to infer and define the user&#39;s intent, obtain information to further clarify and refine the user intent, and finally generate a response (i.e., an output to the user, or the completion of a task) to fulfill the user&#39;s intent. The generated response can be a dialogue response to the speech input that at least partially fulfills the user&#39;s intent. Further, in some examples, the generated response can be output as a speech output. In these examples, the generated response can be sent to speech synthesis module  740  (e.g., speech synthesizer) where it can be processed to synthesize the dialogue response in speech form. In yet other examples, the generated response can be data content relevant to satisfying a user request in the speech input. 
     Speech synthesis module  740  can be configured to synthesize speech outputs for presentation to the user. Speech synthesis module  740  synthesizes speech outputs based on text provided by the digital assistant. For example, the generated dialogue response can be in the form of a text string. Speech synthesis module  740  can convert the text string to an audible speech output. Speech synthesis module  740  can use any appropriate speech synthesis technique in order to generate speech outputs from text, including, but not limited to, concatenative synthesis, unit selection synthesis, diphone synthesis, domain-specific synthesis, formant synthesis, articulatory synthesis, hidden Markov model (HMM) based synthesis, and sinewave synthesis. In some examples, speech synthesis module  740  can be configured to synthesize individual words based on phonemic strings corresponding to the words. For example, a phonemic string can be associated with a word in the generated dialogue response. The phonemic string can be stored in metadata associated with the word. Speech synthesis model  740  can be configured to directly process the phonemic string in the metadata to synthesize the word in speech form. 
     In some examples, instead of (or in addition to) using speech synthesis module  740 , speech synthesis can be performed on a remote device (e.g., the server system  108 ), and the synthesized speech can be sent to the user device for output to the user. For example, this can occur in some implementations where outputs for a digital assistant are generated at a server system. And because server systems generally have more processing power or resources than a user device, it can be possible to obtain higher quality speech outputs than would be practical with client-side synthesis. 
     Additional details on digital assistants can be found in the U.S. Utility application Ser. No. 12/987,982, entitled “Intelligent Automated Assistant,” filed Jan. 10, 2011, and U.S. Utility application Ser. No. 13/251,088, entitled “Generating and Processing Task Items That Represent Tasks to Perform,” filed Sep. 30, 2011, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     4. Exemplary Functions of a Digital Assistant—Intelligent Search and Object Management 
       FIGS.  8 A- 8 F,  9 A- 9 H,  10 A- 10 B,  11 A- 11 D,  12 A- 12 D, and  13 A- 13 C  illustrate functionalities of performing a task using a search process or an object managing process by a digital assistant. In some examples, the digital assistant system (e.g., digital assistant system  700 ) is implemented by a user device according to various examples. In some examples, the user device, a server (e.g., server  108 ), or a combination thereof, may implement a digital assistant system (e.g., digital assistant system  700 ). The user device can be implemented using, for example, device  104 ,  200 , or  400 . In some examples, the user device is a laptop computer, a desktop computer, or a tablet computer. The user device can operate in a multi-tasking environment, such as a desktop environment. 
     With references to  FIGS.  8 A- 8 F,  9 A- 9 H,  10 A- 10 B,  11 A- 11 D,  12 A- 12 D, and  13 A- 13 C , in some examples, a user device provides various user interfaces (e.g., user interfaces  810 ,  910 ,  1010 ,  1110 ,  1210 , and  1310 ). The user device displays the various user interfaces on a display (e.g., touch-sensitive display system  212 , display  440 ) associated with the user device. The various user interfaces provide one or more affordances representing different processes (e.g., affordances  820 ,  920 ,  1020 ,  1120 ,  1220 , and  1320  representing searching processes; and affordances  830 ,  930 ,  1030 ,  1130 ,  1230 , and  1330  representing object managing processes). The one or more processes can be instantiated directly or indirectly by the user. For example, a user instantiates the one or more processes by selecting the affordances using an input device such as a keyboard, a mouse, a joystick, a finger, or the like. A user can also instantiate the one or more processes using a speech input, as described in more detail below. Instantiating a process includes invoking the process if the process is not already executing. If at least one instance of the process is executing, instantiating a process includes executing an existing instance of the process or generating a new instance of the process. For example, instantiating an object managing process includes invoking the object managing process, using an existing object managing process, or generate a new instance of the object managing process. 
     As shown in  FIGS.  8 A- 8 F,  9 A- 9 H,  10 A- 10 B,  11 A- 11 D,  12 A- 12 D, and  13 A- 13 C , the user device displays, on a user interface (e.g., user interface  810 ,  910 ,  1010 ,  1110 ,  1210 , and  1310 ) an affordance (e.g., affordance  840 ,  940 ,  1040 ,  1140 ,  1240 , and  1340 ) to instantiate a digital assistant service. The affordance can be, for example, a microphone icon representing the digital assistant. The affordance can be displayed at any location on the user interfaces. For example, the affordance can be displayed on the dock (e.g., dock  808 ,  908 ,  1008 ,  1108 ,  1208 , and  1308 ) at the bottom of the user interfaces, on the menu bar (e.g. menu bar  806 ,  906 ,  1006 ,  1106 ,  1206 , and  1306 ) at the top of the user interfaces, in a notification center at the right side of the user interfaces, or the like. The affordance can also be displayed dynamically on the user interface. For example, the user device displays the affordance near an application user interface (e.g., an application window) such that the digital assistant service can be conveniently instantiated. 
     In some examples, the digital assistant is instantiated in response to receiving a pre-determined phrase. For example, the digital assistant is invoked in response to receiving a phrase such as “Hey, Assistant,” “Wake up, Assistant,” “Listen up, Assistant,” “OK, Assistant,” or the like. In some examples, the digital assistant is instantiated in response to receiving a selection of the affordance. For example, a user selects affordance  840 ,  940 ,  1040 ,  1140 ,  1240 , and/or  1340  using an input device such as a mouse, a stylus, a finger, or the like. Providing a digital assistant on a user device consumes computing resources (e.g., power, network bandwidth, memory, and processor cycles). In some examples, the digital assistant is suspended or shut down until a user invokes it. In some examples, the digital assistant is active for various periods of time. For example, the digital assistant can be active and monitoring the user&#39;s speech input during the time that various user interfaces are displayed, that the user device is turned on, that the user device is hibernating or sleeping, that the user is logged off, or a combination thereof. 
     With reference to  FIGS.  8 A- 8 F,  9 A- 9 H,  10 A- 10 B,  11 A- 11 D,  12 A- 12 D, and  13 A- 13 C , a digital assistant receives one or more speech inputs, such as speech inputs  852 ,  854 ,  855 ,  856 ,  952 ,  954 ,  1052 ,  1054 ,  1152 ,  1252 , or  1352 , from a user. The user provides various speech inputs for the purpose of, for example, performing a task using a searching process or an object managing process. In some examples, the digital assistant receives speech inputs directly from the user at the user device or indirectly through another electronic device that is communicatively connected to the user device. The digital assistant receives speech inputs directly from the user via, for example, a microphone (e.g., microphone  213 ) of the user device. The user device includes a device that is configured to operate in a multi-tasking environment, such as a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a tablet, a server, or the like. The digital assistant can also receive speech inputs indirectly through one or more electronic devices such as a headset, a smartphone, a tablet, or the like. For instance, the user may speak to a headset (not shown). The headset receives the speech input from the user and transmits the speech input or a representation of it to the digital assistant of the user device via, for example, a Bluetooth connection between the headset and the user device. 
     With reference to  FIGS.  8 A- 8 F,  9 A- 9 H,  10 A- 10 B,  11 A- 11 D,  12 A- 12 D, and  13 A- 13 C , in some embodiments, the digital assistant (e.g., represented by affordance  840 ,  940 ,  1040 ,  1140 ,  1240 , and  1340 ) identifies context information associated with the user device. The context information includes, for example, user-specific data, metadata associated with one or more objects, sensor data, and user device configuration data. An object can be a target or a component of a process (e.g., an object managing process) associated with performing a task or a graphical element currently displayed on screen, and the object or graphical element may have or may not currently have focus (e.g., be currently selected). For example, an object can include a file (e.g., a photo, a document), a folder, a communication (e.g., an email, a message, a notification, or a voicemail), a contact, a calendar, an application, an online resource, or the like. In some examples, the user-specific data includes log information, user preferences, the history of user&#39;s interaction with the user device, or the like. Log information indicates recent objects (e.g., a presentation file) used in a process. In some examples, metadata associated with one or more objects includes the title of the object, the time information of the object, the author of the object, the summary of the object, or the like. In some examples, the sensor data includes various data collected by a sensor associated with the user device. For example, the sensor data includes location data indicating the physical location of the user device. In some examples, the user device configuration data includes the current device configurations. For example, the device configurations indicate that the user device is communicatively connected to one or more electronic devices such as a smartphone, a tablet, or the like. As described in more detail below, the user device can perform one or more processes using the context information. 
     With reference to  FIGS.  8 A- 8 F,  9 A- 9 H,  10 A- 10 B,  11 A- 11 D,  12 A- 12 D, and  13 A- 13 C , in response to receiving a speech input, the digital assistant determines a user intent based on the speech input. As described above, in some examples, the digital assistant processes a speech input via an I/O processing module (e.g., I/O processing module  728  as shown in  FIG.  7 B ), an STT processing module (e.g., STT processing module  730  as shown in  FIG.  7 B ), and a natural language processing module (e.g., natural language processing module  732  as shown in  FIG.  7 B ). The I/O processing module forwards the speech input to an STT processing module (or a speech recognizer) for speech-to-text conversions. The speech-to-text conversion generates text based on the speech input. As described above, the STT processing module generates a sequence of words or tokens (“token sequence”) and provides the token sequence to the natural language processing module. The natural language processing module performs natural language processing of the text and determines the user intent based on a result of the natural language processing. For example, the natural language processing module may attempt to associate the token sequence with one or more actionable intents recognized by the digital assistant. As described, once the natural language processing module identifies an actionable intent based on the user input, it generates a structured query to represent the identified actionable intent. The structured query includes one or more parameters associated with the actionable intent. The one or more parameters are used to facilitate the performance of a task based on the actionable intent. 
     In some embodiments, the digital assistant further determines whether the user intent is to perform a task using a searching process or an object managing process. The searching process is configured to search data stored internally or externally to the user device. The object managing process is configured to manage objects associated with the user device. Various examples of determination of the user intent are provided below in more detail with respect to  FIGS.  8 A- 8 F,  9 A- 9 H,  10 A- 10 B,  11 A- 11 D,  12 A- 12 D, and  13 A- 13 C . 
     With reference to  FIG.  8 A , in some examples, a user device receives a speech input  852  from a user to instantiate the digital assistant. Speech input  852  includes, for example, “Hey, Assistant.” In response to the speech input, the user device instantiates the digital assistant represented by affordance  840  or  841  such that the digital assistant is actively monitoring subsequent speech inputs. In some examples, the digital assistant provides a spoken output  872  indicating that it is instantiated. For example, spoken output  872  includes “Go ahead, I am listening.” In some examples, the user device receives a selection of affordance  840  or affordance  841  from the user to instantiate the digital assistant. The selection of affordance is performed by using an input device such as a mouse, a stylus, a finger, or the like. 
     With reference to  FIG.  8 B , in some examples, the digital assistant receives a speech input  854 . Speech input  854  includes, for example, “Open the searching process and find the AAPL stock price today,” or simply “show me the AAPL stock price today.” Based on speech input  854 , the digital assistant determines the user intent. For example, to determine the user intent, the digital assistant determines that the actionable intent is obtaining online information and that one or more parameters associated with this actionable intent include “AAPL stock price,” and “today.” 
     As described, in some examples, the digital assistant further determines whether the user intent is to perform a task using a searching process or an object managing process. In some embodiments, to make the determination, the digital assistant determines whether the speech input includes one or more keywords representing the searching process or the object managing process. For example, the digital assistant determines that speech input  854  includes keywords or a phrase such as “open the searching process,” indicating the user intent is to use the searching process to perform the task. As a result, the digital assistant determines that the user intent is to perform a task using the searching process. 
     As shown in  FIG.  8 B , in accordance with a determination the user intent is to perform the task using the searching process, the digital assistant performs the task using the searching process. As described, the natural language processing module of the digital assistant generates a structured query based on the user intent and passes the generated structured query to a task flow processing module (e.g., task flow processing module  736 ). The task flow processing module receives the structured query from the natural language processing module, completes the structured query, if necessary, and performs the actions required to “complete” the user&#39;s ultimate request. Performing the task using the searching process includes, for example, searching at least one object. In some embodiments, at least one object includes a folder, a file (e.g., a photo, an audio, a video), a communication (e.g., an email, a message, a notification, a voicemail), a contact, a calendar, an application (e.g., Keynote, Number, iTunes, Safari), an online informational source (e.g., Google, Yahoo, Bloomberg), or a combination thereof. In some examples, searching an object is based on metadata associated with the object. For example, the searching of a file or folder can use metadata such as a tag, a date, a time, an author, a title, a type of the file, a size, a page count, and/or a file location associated with the folder or file. In some examples, the file or folder is stored internally or externally to the user device. For example, the file or folder can be stored on the hard disk of the user device or stored on a cloud server. In some examples, searching a communication is based on metadata associated with the communication. For example, the searching of an email uses metadata such as the sender of the email, the receiver of the email, the sent/receive dates of the email, or the like. 
     As illustrated in  FIG.  8 B , in accordance with the determination that the user intent is to obtain the AAPL stock price using the searching process, the digital assistant performs the searching. For example, the digital assistant instantiates a searching process, represented by affordance  820 , and causes the searching process to search today&#39;s AAPL stock price. In some examples, the digital assistant further causes the searching process to display a user interface  822  (e.g., a snippet or a window) providing text corresponding to speech input  854  (e.g., “Open the searching process and find the AAPL stock price today”). 
     With reference to  FIG.  8 C , in some embodiments, the digital assistant provides a response based on a result of performing the task using the searching process. As illustrated in  FIG.  8 C , as a result of searching the AAPL stock price, the digital assistant displays a user interface  824  (e.g., a snippet or a window) providing the result of performing the task using the searching process. In some embodiments, user interface  824  is located within user interface  822  as a separate user interface. In some embodiments, user interfaces  824  and  822  are integrated together as a single user interface. On user interface  824 , the search result of the stock price of AAPL is displayed. In some embodiments, user interface  824  further provides affordances  831  and  833 . Affordance  831  enables closing of user interface  824 . For example, if the digital assistant receives a user&#39;s selection of affordance  831 , user interface  824  disappears or closes from the display of the user device. Affordance  833  enables moving or sharing of the search result displayed on user interface  824 . For example, if the digital assistant receives the user&#39;s selection of affordance  833 , it instantiates a process (e.g., the object managing process) to move or share user interface  824  (or the search result thereof) with a notification application. As shown in  FIG.  8 C , the digital assistant displays a user interface  826  that is associated with the notification application to provide the search result of AAPL stock price. In some embodiments, user interface  826  displays an affordance  827 . Affordance  827  enables scrolling within user interface  826  such that the user can view the entire content (e.g., multiple notifications) within user interface  826  and/or indicates that relative position of the document with respect to its entire length and/or width. In some embodiments, user interface  826  displays results and/or dialog history (e.g., search results obtained from a current and/or past searching process) stored by the digital assistant. Further, in some examples, results of the performance the task are dynamically updated over time. For example, the AAPL stock price can be dynamically updated over time and displayed on user interface  826 . 
     In some embodiments, the digital assistant also provides a spoken output corresponding to the search result. For example, the digital assistant (e.g., represented by affordance  840 ) provides a spoken output  874  including “Today&#39;s AAPL price is $100.00.” In some examples, user interface  822  includes text corresponding to spoken output  874 . 
     With reference to  FIG.  8 D , in some examples, the digital assistant instantiates a process (e.g., the object managing process) to move or share the search result displayed on user interface  824  in response to a subsequent speech input. For example, the digital assistant receives a speech input  855  such as “Copy the AAPL stock price to my notes.” In response, the digital assistant instantiates a process to move or copy the search result (e.g., the AAPL stock price) to the user&#39;s note. As shown in  FIG.  8 D , in some examples, the digital assistant further displays a user interface  825  providing the copied or moved search result in user&#39;s note. In some examples, the digital assistant further provides a spoken output  875  such as “OK, the AAPL stock price is copied to your notes.” In some examples, user interface  822  includes text corresponding to spoken output  875 . 
     With reference to  FIG.  8 E , in some examples, the digital assistant determines that the user intent is to perform a task using the object managing process and performs the task using an object managing process. For example, the digital assistant receives a speech input  856  such as “Open the object managing process and show me all the photos from my Colorado trip,” or simply “Show me all the photos from my Colorado trip.” Based on speech input  856  and context information, the digital assistant determines the user intent. For example, the digital assistant determines that the actionable intent is to display photos and determines one or more parameters such as “all,” and “Colorado trip.” The digital assistant further determines which photos correspond to the user&#39;s Colorado trip using context information. As described, context information includes user-specific data, metadata of one or more objects, sensor data, and/or device configuration data. As an example, metadata associated with one or more files (e.g., file 1, file 2, and file 3 displayed in user interface  832 ) indicates that the file names includes the word “Colorado” or a city name of Colorado (e.g., “Denver”). The metadata may also indicate that a folder name includes the word “Colorado” or a city name of Colorado (e.g., “Denver”). As another example, sensor data (e.g., GPS data) indicates that the user was travelling within Colorado during a certain period of time. As a result, any photos the user took during that particular period of time are photos taken during the user&#39;s Colorado trip. As well, photos themselves may include geotagged metadata that associates the photo with the location at which it was taken. Based on the context information, the digital assistant determines that the user intent is to, for example, display photos stored in a folder having a folder name “Colorado trip,” or display photos taken during the period of time that the user was travelling within Colorado. 
     As described, in some examples, the digital assistant determines whether the user intent is to perform a task using a searching process or an object managing process. To make such determination, the digital assistant determines whether the speech input includes one or more keywords representing the searching process or the object managing process. For example, the digital assistant determines that speech input  856  includes keywords or a phrase such as “open the object managing process,” indicating that the user intent is to use the object managing process to perform the task. 
     In accordance with a determination the user intent is to perform the task using the object managing process, the digital assistant performs the task using the object managing process. For example, the digital assistant searches at least one object using the object managing process. In some examples, at least one object includes at least one of a folder or a file. A file can include at least one of a photo, an audio (e.g., a song), or a video (e.g., a movie). In some examples, searching a file or a folder is based on metadata associated with the folder or file. For example, the searching of a file or folder uses metadata such as a tag, a date, a time, an author, a title, a type of the file, a size, a page count, and/or a file location associated with the folder or file. In some examples, the file or folder can be stored internally or externally to the user device. For example, the file or folder can be stored on the hard disk of the user device or stored on a cloud server. 
     As illustrated in  FIG.  8 E , in accordance with the determination that the user intent is, for example, to display photos stored in a folder having a folder name “Colorado trip,” or display photos taken during the period of time that the user was travelling within Colorado, the digital assistant performs the task using the object managing process. For example, the digital assistant instantiates an object managing process represented by affordance  830  and causes the object managing process to search for photos from the user&#39;s Colorado trip. In some examples, the digital assistant also causes the object managing process to display a snippet or a window (not shown) providing text of the user&#39;s speech input  856 . 
     With reference to  FIG.  8 F , in some embodiments, the digital assistant further provides a response based on a result of performing the task using the object managing process. As illustrated in  FIG.  8 F , as a result of searching the photos of the user&#39;s Colorado trip, the digital assistant displays a user interface  834  (e.g., a snippet or a window) providing the result of performing the task using the object managing process. For example, on user interface  834 , a preview of the photos is displayed. In some examples, the digital assistant instantiates a process (e.g., the object managing process) to perform additional tasks on the photos, such as inserting the photos to a document or attaching the photos to email. As described in more detail below, the digital assistant can instantiate a process to perform the additional tasks in response to a user&#39;s additional speech input. As well, the digital assistant can perform multiple tasks in response to a single speech input, such as “send the photos from my Colorado trip to my Mom by email.” The digital assistant can also instantiate a process to perform such additional tasks in response to the user&#39;s input using an input device (e.g., a mouse input to select of one or more affordances or perform a drag-and-drop operation). In some embodiments, the digital assistant further provides a spoken output corresponding to the result. For example, the digital assistant provides a spoken output  876  including “Here are the photos from your Colorado trip.” 
     With reference to  FIG.  9 A , in some examples, user&#39;s speech input may not include one or more keywords indicating whether the user intent is to use the searching process or the object managing process. For example, the user provides a speech input  952  such as “What is the score of today&#39;s Warriors game?” Speech input  952  does not include keywords indicating “the searching process” or the “object managing process.” As a result, the keywords may not be available for the digital assistant to determine whether the user intent is to perform the task using the searching process or the object managing process. 
     In some embodiments, to determine whether the user intent is to perform the task using the searching process or the object managing process, the digital assistant determines whether the task is associated with searching based on the speech input. In some examples, a task that is associated with searching can be performed by either the searching process or the object managing process. For example, both the searching process and the object managing process can search a folder and a file. In some examples, the searching process can further search a variety of objects including online information sources (e.g., websites), communications (e.g., emails), contacts, calendars, or the like. In some examples, the object managing process may not be configured to search certain objects such as online information sources. 
     In accordance with a determination that the task is associated with searching, the digital assistant further determines whether performing the task requires the searching process. As described, if a task is associated with searching, either the searching process or the object managing process can be used to perform the task. However, the object managing process may not be configured to search certain objects. As a result, to determine whether the user intent is to use the searching process or the object managing process, the digital assistant further determines whether the task requires the searching process. For example, as illustrated in  FIG.  9 A , based on speech input  952 , the digital assistant determines that the user intent is, for example, to obtain the score of today&#39;s Warriors game. According to the user intent, the digital assistant further determines that performing the task requires searching online information sources and therefore is associated with searching. The digital assistant further determines whether performing the task requires the searching process. As described, in some examples, the searching process is configured to search online information sources such as websites, while the object managing process may not be configured to search such online information sources. As a result, the digital assistant determines that searching online information sources (e.g., searching Warriors&#39; website to obtain the score) requires the searching process. 
     With reference to  FIG.  9 B , in some embodiments, in accordance with a determination that performing the task requires the searching process, the digital assistant performs the task using the searching process. For example, in accordance with the determination that searching the score of today&#39;s Warriors game requires the searching process, the digital assistant instantiates a searching process represented by affordance  920 , and causes the searching process to search score of today&#39;s Warriors game. In some examples, the digital assistant further causes the searching process to display a user interface  922  (e.g., a snippet or a window) providing text of user speech input  952  (e.g., “What is the score of today&#39;s Warriors game?”). User interface  922  includes one or more affordances  921  and  927 . Similar to described above, affordance  921  (e.g., a close button) enables closing of user interface  922  and affordance  927  (e.g., a scrolling bar) enables scrolling within user interface  922  such that the user can view the entire content within user interface  922 . 
     With reference to  FIG.  9 B , in some examples, based on the search results, the digital assistant further provides one or more responses. As illustrated in  FIG.  9 B , as a result of searching the score of today&#39;s Warriors game, the digital assistant displays a user interface  924  (e.g., a snippet or a window) providing the result of performing the task using the searching process. In some embodiments, user interface  924  is located within user interface  922  as a separate user interface. In some embodiments, user interfaces  924  and  922  are integrated together as a single user interface. In some examples, the digital assistant displays the user interface  924  providing the current search results (e.g., the Warriors game score) together with another user interface (e.g., user interface  824  shown on  FIG.  8 C ) providing prior search results (e.g., the AAPL stock price). In some embodiments, the digital assistant only displays user interface  924  providing the current search results and does not display another user interface providing prior search results. As illustrated in  FIG.  9 B , the digital assistant only displays user interface  924  to provide the current search results (e.g., the Warriors game score). In some examples, affordance  927  (e.g., a scrolling bar) enables scrolling within user interface  922  such that the user can view the prior search results. Further, in some examples, prior search results dynamically update or refresh, e.g., such that stock prices, sports score, weather forecast, etc., update over time. 
     As illustrated in  FIG.  9 B , on user interface  924 , the search result of the score of today&#39;s Warriors game is displayed (e.g., Warriors 104-89 Cavaliers). In some embodiments, user interface  924  further provides affordances  923  and  925 . Affordance  923  enables closing of user interface  924 . For example, if the digital assistant receives a user&#39;s selection of affordance  923 , user interface  924  disappears or closes from the display of the user device. Affordance  925  enables moving or sharing of the search result displayed on user interface  924 . For example, if the digital assistant receives the user&#39;s selection of affordance  925 , it moves or shares user interface  924  (or the search result thereof) with a notification application. As shown in  FIG.  9 B , the digital assistant displays user interface  926  that is associated with the notification application to provide the search result of Warriors game score. As described, results of the performance the task are dynamically updated over time. For example, the Warriors game score can be dynamically updated over time while the game is ongoing and displayed on user interface  924  (e.g., the snippet or window) and/or on user interface  926  (e.g., the notification application user interface). In some embodiments, the digital assistant further provides a spoken output corresponding to the search result. For example, the digital assistant represented by affordance  940  or  941  provides a spoken output  972  such as “Warriors beats Cavaliers, 104-89.” In some examples, user interface  922  (e.g., a snippet or a window) provides text corresponding to spoken output  972 . 
     As described above, in some embodiments, the digital assistant determines whether the task is associated with searching, and in accordance with such a determination, the digital assistant determines whether performing the task requires the searching process. With reference to  FIG.  9 C , in some embodiments, the digital assistant determines that performing the task does not require the searching process. For example, as illustrated in  FIG.  9 C , the digital assistant receives a speech input  954  such as “Show me all the files called Expenses.” Based on speech input  954  and context information, the digital assistant determines that user intent is to display all the files having the word “Expenses” (or a portion, a variation, a paraphrase thereof) contained in their file names, the metadata, the content of the files, or the like. According to the user intent, the digital assistant determines that the task to be performed includes searching all the files associated with the word “Expenses.” As a result, the digital assistant determines that performing the task is associated with searching. As described above, in some examples, the searching process and the object managing process can both perform searching of files. As a result, the digital assistant determines that performing the task of searching all the files associated with the word “Expenses” does not require the searching process. 
     With reference to  FIG.  9 D , in some examples, in accordance with a determination that performing the task does not require the searching process, the digital assistant determines, based on a pre-determined configuration, whether the task is to be performed using the searching process or the object managing process. For example, if both the searching process and the object managing process can perform the task, a pre-determined configuration may indicate that the task is to be performed using the searching process. The pre-determined configuration can be generated and updated using context information such as user preferences or user-specific data. For example, the digital assistant determines that historically, for a particular user, the searching process was selected more frequently than the object managing process for file searching. As a result, the digital assistant generates or updates the pre-determined configuration to indicate that the searching process is the default process for searching files. In some examples, the digital assistant generates or updates the pre-determined configuration to indicate that the object managing process is the default process. 
     As illustrated in  FIG.  9 D , based on a pre-determined configuration, the digital assistant determines that the task of searching all the files associated with the word “Expense” is to be performed using the searching process. As a result, the digital assistant performs the searching of all the files associated with the word “Expenses” using the searching process. For example, the digital assistant instantiates a searching process represented by affordance  920  displayed on user interface  910 , and causes the searching process to search all files associated with the word “Expenses.” In some examples, the digital assistant further provides a spoken output  974 , informing the user that the task is being performed. Spoken output  974  includes, for example, “OK, searching all files called ‘Expenses’.” In some examples, the digital assistant further causes the searching process to display a user interface  928  (e.g., a snippet or a window) providing text corresponding to speech input  954  and spoken output  974 . 
     With reference to  FIG.  9 E , in some embodiments, the digital assistant further provides one or more responses based on a result of performing the task using the searching process. As illustrated in  FIG.  9 E , as a result of searching all files associated with the word “Expenses,” the digital assistant displays a user interface  947  (e.g., a snippet or a window) providing the search results. In some embodiments, user interface  947  is located within user interface  928  as a separate user interface. In some embodiments, user interfaces  947  and  928  are integrated together as a single user interface. On user interface  947 , a list of files that are associated with the word “Expenses” are displayed. In some embodiments, the digital assistant further provides a spoken output corresponding to the search result. For example, the digital assistant represented by affordance  940  or  941  provides a spoken output  976  such as “Here are all the files called Expenses.” In some examples, the digital assistant further provides, on user interface  928 , text corresponding to spoken output  976 . 
     In some embodiments, the digital assistant provides one or more links associated with the result of performing the task using the searching process. A link enables instantiating a process (e.g., opening a file, invoking an object managing process) using the search result. As illustrated in  FIG.  9 E , on user interface  947 , the list of files (e.g., Expenses File 1, Expenses File 2, Expenses File 3) represented by their file names can be associated with links. As an example, a link is displayed on the side of each file name. As another example, the file names is displayed in a particular color (e.g., blue) indicating that the file names are associated with links. In some examples, the file names associated with links are displayed in the same color as other items displayed on user interface  947 . 
     As described, a link enables instantiating a process using the search result. Instantiating a process includes invoking the process if the process is not already running. If at least one instance of the process is running, instantiating a process includes executing an existing instance of the process or generating a new instance of the process. For example, instantiating an object managing process includes invoking the object managing process, using an existing object managing process, or generating a new instance of the object managing process. As illustrated in  FIGS.  9 E- 9 F , a link displayed on user interface  947  enables managing an object (e.g., a file) associated with the link. For example, user interface  947  receives a user selection of a link (e.g., a selection by a cursor  934 ) associated with a file (e.g., “Expenses file 3”). In response, the digital assistant instantiates an object managing process represented by affordance  930  to enable managing of the file. As shown in  FIG.  9 F , the digital assistant displays a user interface  936  (e.g., a snippet or a window) providing the folder containing the file associated with the link (e.g., “Expenses file 3”). Using user interface  936 , the digital assistant instantiates the object managing process to perform one or more additional tasks (e.g., copying, editing, viewing, moving, compressing, or the like) with respect to the files. 
     With reference back to  FIG.  9 E , in some examples, a link displayed on user interface  947  enables direct viewing and/or editing of the object. For example, the digital assistant, via user interface  947 , receives a selection of a link (e.g., a selection by a cursor  934 ) associated with a file (e.g., “Expenses file 3”). In response, the digital assistant instantiates a process (e.g., a document viewing/editing process) to view and/or edit the file. In some examples, the digital assistant instantiates the process to view and/or edit the file without instantiating an object managing process. For example, the digital assistant directly instantiates a Number process or an Excel process to view and/or edit of the Expense file 3. 
     With reference to  FIGS.  9 E and  9 G , in some examples, the digital assistant instantiates a process (e.g., the searching process) to refine the search results. As illustrated in  FIGS.  9 E and  9 G , the user may desire to refine the search result displayed on user interface  947 . For example, the user may desire to select one or more files from the search results. In some examples, the digital assistant receives, from the user, a speech input  977  such as “Just the ones Kevin sent me that I tagged with draft.” Based on speech input  977  and context information, the digital assistant determines that the user intent is to display only the Expenses files that were sent from Kevin and that are associated with draft tags. Based on the user intent, the digital assistant instantiates a process (e.g., the searching process) to refine the search results. For example, as shown in  FIG.  9 G , based on the search result, the digital assistant determines that Expenses File 1 and Expense file 2 were sent from Kevin to the user and were tagged. As a result, the digital assistant continues to display these two files on user interface  947  and remove the Expense file 3 from user interface  947 . In some examples, the digital assistant provides a spoken output  978  such as “Here are just the ones Kevin sent you that you tagged with draft.” The digital assistant may further provide text corresponding to spoken output  978  on user interface  928 . 
     With reference to  FIG.  9 H , in some examples, the digital assistant instantiates a process (e.g., an object managing process) to perform an object managing task (e.g., coping, moving, sharing, etc.). For example, as shown in  FIG.  9 H , the digital assistant receives, from the user, a speech input  984  such as “Move the Expenses file 1 to Documents folder.” Based on speech input  984  and context information, the digital assistant determines that the user intent is to copy or move Expense file 1 from its current folder to Document folder. In accordance with the user intent, the digital assistant instantiates a process (e.g., the object managing process) to copy or move Expense file 1 from its current folder to Document folder. In some examples, the digital assistant provides a spoken output  982  such as “Ok, moving Expenses File 1 to your Documents folder.” In some examples, the digital assistant furthers provide text corresponding to spoken output  982  on user interface  928 . 
     As described, in some examples, a user&#39;s speech input may not include keywords indicating whether the user intent is to perform the task using the search process or the object managing process. With reference to  FIGS.  10 A- 10 B , in some embodiments, the digital assistant determines that performing the task does not require the searching process. In accordance with the determination, the digital assistant provides a spoken output requesting the user to select the searching process or the object managing process. For example, as shown in  FIG.  10 A , the digital assistant receives, from the user, a speech input  1052  such as “Show me all the files called ‘Expenses.’” Based on speech input  1052  and context information, the digital assistant determines that the user intent is to display all the files associated with the word “Expense.” In accordance with the user intent, the digital assistant further determines that the task can be performed by either the searching process or the object managing process, and therefore does not require the search process. In some examples, the digital assistant provides a spoken output  1072  such as “Do you want to search using the searching process or the object managing process?” In some examples, the digital assistant receives, from the user, a speech input  1054  such as “Object managing process.” Speech input  1054  thus indicates that the user intent is to perform the task using the object managing process. According to the selection, for example, the digital assistant instantiates an object managing process represented by affordance  1030  to search all the files associated with the word “Expenses.” As shown in  FIG.  10 B , similar to those described above, as a result of the searching, the digital assistant displays a user interface  1032  (e.g., a snippet or a window) providing a folder containing the files associated with the word “Expenses”. Similar to those described above, using user interface  1032 , the digital assistant instantiates the object managing process to perform additional one or more tasks (e.g., copying, editing, viewing, moving, compressing, or the like) with respect to the files. 
     With reference to  FIGS.  11 A- 11 B , in some embodiments, the digital assistant identifies context information and determines the user intent based on the context information and the user&#39;s speech input. As illustrated in  FIG.  11 A , the digital assistant represented by affordance  1140  or  1141  receives a speech input  1152  such as “Open the Keynote presentation I created last night.” In response to receiving speech input  1152 , the digital assistant identifies context information such as the history of the user&#39;s interaction with the user device, the metadata associated with files that the user recently worked on, or the like. For example, the digital assistant identifies the metadata such as the date, the time, and the type of files the user worked on yesterday from 6p.m.-2a.m. Based on the identified context information and speech input  1152 , the digital assistant determines that the user intent includes searching a Keynote presentation file associated with metadata indicating that the file was edited approximately 6p.m.-12a.m yesterday; and instantiating a process (e.g., a Keynote process) to open the presentation file. 
     In some examples, the context information includes application names or identifications (IDs). For example, a user&#39;s speech input provides “Open the Keynote presentation,” “find my Pages document,” or “find my HotNewApp documents.” The context information includes the application names (e.g., Keynote, Pages, HotNewApp) or application IDs. In some examples, the context information is dynamically updated or synchronized. For example, the context information is updated in real time after the user installs a new application named HotNewApp. In some examples, the digital assistant identifies the dynamically updated context information and determines the user intent. For example, the digital assistant identifies the application names Keynote, Pages, HotNewApp or their IDs and determines the user intent according to the application names/IDs and speech inputs. 
     In accordance with the user intent, the digital assistant further determines whether the user intent is to perform the task using the searching process or the object managing process. As described, the digital assistant makes such determination based on one or more keywords included in the speech input, based on whether the task requires the searching process, based on a pre-determined configuration, and/or based on the user&#39;s selection. As illustrated in  FIG.  11 A , speech input  1152  does not include keywords that indicate whether the user intent is to use the searching process or the object managing process. As a result, the digital assistant determines, for example, based on a pre-determined configuration that the user intent is to use the object managing process. In accordance with the determination, the digital assistant instantiate an object managing process to search a Keynote presentation file associated with metadata that indicates the file was edited approximately 6p.m.-12a.m yesterday. In some embodiments, the digital assistant further provides a spoken output  1172  such as “OK, looking for the Keynote presentation you created last night.” 
     In some embodiments, context information is used in performing the task. For example, application names and/or IDs can be used to form a query for searching the application and/or objects (e.g., files) associated with the application names/IDs. In some examples, a server (e.g., server  108 ) forms a query using the application names (e.g., Keynote, Pages, HotNewApp) and/or IDs and sends the query to the digital assistant of a user device. Based on the query, the digital assistant instantiates a searching process or an object managing process to search one or more applications and/or objects. In some examples, the digital assistant only searches the objects (e.g., files) that correspond to the application name/ID. For example, if a query includes an application name “Pages,” the digital assistant only searches Pages files and does not search other files (e.g., Word files) that can be opened by a Pages application. In some examples, the digital assistant searches all objects that is associated with the application name/ID in the query. 
     With references to  FIGS.  11 B- 11 C , in some embodiments, the digital assistant provides one or more responses in accordance with a confidence level associated with the results of performing the task. Inaccuracies may exist or arise during the determination of the user intent, the determination of whether the user intent is to perform the task using the searching process or the object managing process, and/or the performance of the task. In some examples, the digital assistant determines a confidence level representing the accuracy of determining the user intent based on the speech input and context information, the accuracy of determining whether the user intent is to perform the task using the searching process or the object managing process, the accuracy of performing the task using the searching process or the object managing process, or a combination thereof. 
     Continuing the above example illustrated in  FIG.  11 A , based on speech input  1152  such as “Open the Keynote presentation I created last night,” the digital assistant instantiates an object managing process to perform a search of a Keynote presentation file associated with metadata that indicates the file was edited approximately 6p.m.-12a.m yesterday. The search result may include a single file that fully matches the search criteria. That is, the single file is a presentation file that was edited approximately 6p.m.-12a.m yesterday. Accordingly, the digital assistant determines that the accuracy of the search is high and thus determines that the confidence level is high. As another example, the search result may include a plurality of files that partially match the search criteria. For instance, no file is a presentation file that was edited approximately 6p.m.-12a.m yesterday, or multiple files are presentation files that were edited approximately 6p.m.-12a.m yesterday. Accordingly, the digital assistant determines that the accuracy of the search is medium or low and thus determines that the confidence level is medium or low. 
     As illustrated in  FIGS.  11 B- 11 C , the digital assistant provides a response in accordance with the determination of the confidence level. In some examples, the digital assistant determines whether the confidence level is greater than or equal to a threshold confidence level. In accordance with a determination that the confidence level is greater than or equal to the threshold confidence level, the digital assistant provides a first response. In accordance with a determination that the confidence level is less than a threshold confidence level, the digital assistant provides a second response. In some examples, the second response is different from the first response. As shown in  FIG.  11 B , if the digital assistant determines that the confidence level is greater than or equal to a threshold confidence level, the digital assistant instantiates a process (e.g., a Keynote process represented by user interface  1142 ) to enable the viewing and editing of the file. In some examples, the digital assistant provides a spoken output such as “Here is the presentation you created last night,” and displays the text of the spoken output in a user interface  1143 . As shown in  FIG.  11 C , if the digital assistant determines that the confidence level is less than a threshold confidence level, the digital assistant displays a user interface  1122  (e.g., a snippet or a window) providing a list of candidate files. Each of the candidate files may partially satisfy the search criteria. In some embodiments, the confidence level can be pre-determined and/or dynamically updated based on user preferences, historical accuracy rates, or the like. In some examples, the digital assistant further provides a spoken output  1174  such as “Here are all the presentations created last night,” and displays the text corresponding to spoken output  1174  on user interface  1122 . 
     With reference to  FIG.  11 D , in some embodiments, the digital assistant instantiates a process (e.g., the Keynote presentation process) to perform additional tasks. Continuing with the above example, as shown in  FIGS.  11 B and  11 D , the user may desire to display the presentation file in a full screen mode. The digital assistant receives, from the user, a speech input  1154  such as “Make it full screen.” Based on speech input  1154  and context information, the digital assistant determines that the user intent is to display the presentation file in a full screen mode. In accordance with the user intent, the digital assistant causes the Keynote presentation process to display the slides in a full-screen mode. In some examples, the digital assistant provides a spoken output  1176  such as “OK, showing your presentation in full screen.” 
     With reference to  FIGS.  12 A- 12 C , in some embodiments, the digital assistant determines, based on a single speech input or an utterance, that the user intent is to perform a plurality of tasks. In accordance with the user intent, the digital assistant further instantiates one or more processes to perform the plurality of tasks. For example, as shown in  FIG.  12 A , the digital assistant represented by affordance  1240  or  1241  receives a single speech input  1252  such as “Show me all the photos from my Colorado trip, and send them to my mom.” Based on speech input  1252  and context information, the digital assistant determines that the user intent is to perform a first task and a second task. Similar to those described above, the first task is to display photos stored in a folder having a folder name “Colorado trip,” or display photos taken during the period of time that the user is travelling within Colorado. With respect to the second task, the context information may indicate that a particular email address stored in the user&#39;s contacts is tagged as the user&#39;s mom. Accordingly, the second task is to send an email containing the photos associated with the Colorado trip to the particular email address. 
     In some examples, the digital assistant determines, with respect to each task, whether the user intent is to perform the task using the searching process or the object managing process. As an example, the digital assistant determines that the first task is associated with searching and the user intent is to perform the first task using the object managing process. As illustrated in  FIG.  12 B , in accordance with a determination the user intent is to perform the first task using the object managing process, the digital assistant instantiates the object managing process to search photos associated with the user&#39;s Colorado trip. In some examples, the digital assistant displays a user interface  1232  (e.g., a snippet or a window) providing a folder including the search result (e.g., photos 1, 2, and 3). As another example, the digital assistant determines that the first task is associated with searching and the user intent is to perform the first task using the searching process. As illustrated in  FIG.  12 C , in accordance with a determination the user intent is to perform the first task using the searching process, the digital assistant instantiates the searching process to search photos associated with the user&#39;s Colorado trip. In some examples, the digital assistant displays a user interface  1234  (e.g., a snippet or a window) providing photos and/or links associated with the search result (e.g., photos 1, 2, and 3). 
     As another example, the digital assistant determines that the second task (e.g., sending an email containing the photos associated with the Colorado trip to the particular email address) is not associated with searching or associated with managing an object. In accordance with the determination, the digital assistant determines whether the task can be performed using a process that is available to the user device. For example, the digital assistant determines that the second task can be performed using an email process at the user device. In accordance with the determination, the digital assistant instantiates the process to perform the second task. As illustrated in  FIGS.  12 B- 12 C , the digital assistant instantiates the email process and displays user interfaces  1242  and  1244  associated with the email process. The email process attaches the photos associated with the user&#39;s Colorado trip to email messages. As shown in  FIGS.  12 B- 12 C , in some embodiments, the digital assistant further provides spoken outputs  1272  and  1274  such as “Here are the photos from your Colorado trip. I am ready to send the photos to your mom, proceed?” In some examples, the digital assistant displays text corresponding to spoken output  1274  on user interface  1244 . In response to spoken outputs  1272  and  1274 , the user provides a speech input such as “OK.” Upon receiving the speech input from the user, the digital assistant causes the email process to send out the email messages. 
     Techniques for performing a plurality of tasks based on multiple commands contained within a single speech input or an utterance may be found, for example, in related applications: U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/724,623, titled “MULTI-COMMAND SINGLE UTTERANCE INPUT METHOD,” filed May 28, 2015, which claims the benefit of priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/005,556, entitled “MULTI-COMMAND SINGLE UTTERANCE INPUT METHOD,” filed on May 30, 2014; and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/129,851, entitled “MULTI-COMMAND SINGLE UTTERANCE INPUT METHOD,” filed on Mar. 8, 2015. Each of these applications is hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. 
     As illustrated in  FIGS.  12 C- 12 D , in some examples, the digital assistant causes a process to perform additional tasks based on the user&#39;s additional speech inputs. For example, in view of the search result displayed in user interface  1234 , the user may desire to send some, but not all, of the photos. The user provides a speech input  1254  such as “Send only Photo 1 and Photo 2.” In some examples, the digital assistant receives speech input  1254  after the user selects affordance  1235  (e.g., a microphone icon displayed on user interface  1234 ). The digital assistant determines, based on speech input  1254  and context information, that the user intent is to send an email attaching only Photo 1 and Photo 2. In accordance with the user intent, the digital assistant causes the email process to remove Photo 3 from the email message. In some examples, the digital assistant provides a spoken output  1276 , such as “OK, attaching Photo 1 and Photo 2 to your email,” and displays the text corresponding to spoken output  1276  on user interface  1234 . 
     With reference to  FIG.  13 A , in some embodiments, in accordance with a determination that the task is not associated with searching, the digital assistant determines whether the task is associated with managing at least one object. As illustrated in  FIG.  13 A , for example, the digital assistant receives a speech input  1352  such as “Create a new folder on the desktop called Projects.” Based on speech input  1352  and context information, the digital assistant determines that the user intent is to generate a new folder at the desktop with a folder name “Projects.” The digital assistant further determines that the user intent is not associated with searching, and instead is associated with managing an object (e.g., a folder). Accordingly, the digital assistant determines that the user intent is to perform a task using the object managing process. 
     In some examples, in accordance with the determination that the user intent is to perform the task using the object managing process, the digital assistant performs the task using the object managing process. Performing the task using the object managing process can include, for example, creating at least one object (e.g., creating a folder or a file), storing at least one object (e.g., storing a folder, a file, or a communication), and compressing at least one object (e.g., compressing folders and files). Performing the task using the object managing process can further include, for example, copying or moving at least one object from a first physical or virtual storage to a second physical or virtual storage. For instance, the digital assistant instantiates an object managing process to cut and paste a file from the user device to a flash drive or a cloud drive. 
     Performing the task using the object managing process can further include, for example, deleting at least one object stored in a physical or virtual storage (e.g., deleting a folder or a file) and/or recovering at least one object stored at a physical or virtual storage (e.g., recovering a deleted folder or a deleted file). Performing the task using the object managing process can further include, for example, marking at least one object. In some examples, marking of an object can be visible or invisible. For example, the digital assistant can cause the object managing process to generate a “like” sign for a social media post, to tag an email, to mark a file, or the like. The marking may be visible by displaying, for example, a flag, a sign, or the like. The marking may also be performed with respect to the metadata of the object such that a storage (e.g., a memory) content of the metadata is varied. The metadata may or may not be visible. 
     Performing the task using the object managing process can further include, for example, backing up at least one object according to a predetermined time period for backing up or upon the user&#39;s request. For example, the digital assistant can cause the object managing process to instantiate a backup program (e.g., time machine program) to backup folders and files. The backup can be performed automatically according to a pre-determined schedule (e.g., once a day, a week, a month, or the like) or according to a user request. 
     Performing the task using the object managing process can further include, for example, sharing at least one object among one or more electronic devices communicatively connected to the user device. For example, the digital assistant can cause the object managing process to share a photo stored on the user device with another electronic device (e.g., the user&#39;s smartphone or tablet). 
     As illustrated in  FIG.  13 B , in accordance with the determination that the user intent is to perform the task using the object managing process, the digital assistant performs the task using the object managing process. For example, the digital assistant instantiates an object managing process to generate a folder named “Projects” on the desktop of user interface  1310 . In some examples, the digital assistant can cause the object managing process to further open the folder either automatically or in response to an additional user input. For example, the digital assistant provides a spoken output  1372  such as “OK, I&#39;ve created a folder on the desktop called Projects, would you like to open it?” The user provides a speech input  1374  such as “Yes.” In response to the user&#39;s speech input  1374 , the digital assistant causes the object managing process to open the Projects folder and display a user interface  1332  corresponding to the Projects folder. 
     With reference to  FIG.  13 C , in some embodiments, the digital assistant provides one or more affordances that enable the user to manipulate the result of performing the task using the searching process or the object managing process. The one or more affordances include, for example, an edit button, a cancel button, a redo button, an undo button, or the like. For example, as shown in  FIG.  13 C , after generating the folder named “Projects” on the desktop, the digital assistant provides a user interface  1334 , which displays an edit button  1336 A, an undo button  1336 B, and a redo button  1336 C. In some examples, the edit button  1336 A enables the user to edit one or more aspects of the object (e.g., edit the name of the Projects folder); the undo button  1336 B enables the user to reverse the last task performed by the object managing process (e.g., delete the Projects folder); and the redo button  1336 C enables the user to repeat the last task performed by the object managing process (e.g., creating another folder using the object managing process). It is appreciated that the digital assistant can provide any desired affordances to enable the user to perform any manipulation of the result of performing a task using the searching process or the object managing process. 
     As described, the digital assistant can determine whether the user intent is to perform a task using a searching process or an object managing process. In some examples, the digital assistant determines that the user intent is not associated with the searching process or the object managing process. For example, the user provides a speech input such as “start dictation.” The digital assistant determines that the task of dictation is not associated with searching. In some examples, in accordance with a determination that the task is not associated with searching, the digital assistant further determines whether the task is associated with managing at least one object. For example, the digital assistant determines that the task of dictation is also not associated with managing an object, such as copying, moving, or deleting a file, a folder, or an email. In some examples, in accordance with a determination that the task is not associated with managing an object, the digital assistant determines whether the task can be performed using a process available to the user device. For example, the digital assistant determines that the task of dictation can be performed using a dictation process that is available to the user device. In some examples, the digital assistant initiates a dialog with the user with respect to performing the task using a process available to the user device. For example, the digital assistant provides a spoken output such as “OK, starting dictation.” or “Would you like to dictate in this presentation you are working now?” After providing the spoken output, the digital assistant receives a response from the user, for example, confirming that the user intent is to dictate in the presentation the user is currently working on. 
     5. Exemplary Functions of a Digital Assistant—Continuity 
       FIGS.  14 A- 14 D,  15 A- 15 D,  16 A- 16 C, and  17 A- 17 E  illustrate functionalities of performing a task at a user device or a first electronic device using remotely located content by a digital assistant. In some examples, the digital assistant system (e.g., digital assistant system  700 ) is implemented by a user device (e.g., devices  1400 ,  1500 ,  1600 , and  1700 ) according to various examples. In some examples, the user device, a server (e.g., server  108 ), or a combination thereof, may implement a digital assistant system (e.g., digital assistant system  700 ). The user device can be implemented using, for example, device  104 ,  200 , or  400 . In some examples, the user device can be a laptop computer, a desktop computer, or a tablet computer. The user device operates in a multi-tasking environment, such as a desktop environment. 
     With references to  FIGS.  14 A- 14 D,  15 A- 15 D,  16 A- 16 C, and  17 A- 17 E , in some examples, a user device (e.g., devices  1400 ,  1500 ,  1600 , and  1700 ) provides various user interfaces (e.g., user interfaces  1410 ,  1510 ,  1610 , and  1710 ). Similar to those described above, the user device displays the various user interfaces on a display, and the various user interfaces enable the user to instantiate one or more processes (e.g., a movie process, a photo process, a web-browsing process). 
     As shown in  FIGS.  14 A- 14 D,  15 A- 15 D,  16 A- 16 C, and  17 A- 17 E , similar to those described above, the user device (e.g., devices  1400 ,  1500 ,  1600 , and  1700 ) displays, on a user interface (e.g., user interfaces  1410 ,  1510 ,  1610 , and  1710 ) an affordance (e.g., affordance  1440 ,  1540 ,  1640 , and  1740 ) to instantiate a digital assistant service. Similar to those described above, in some examples, the digital assistant is instantiated in response to receiving a pre-determined phrase. In some examples, the digital assistant is instantiated in response to receiving a selection of the affordance. 
     With reference to  FIGS.  14 A- 14 D,  15 A- 15 D,  16 A- 16 C, and  17 A- 17 E , in some embodiments, a digital assistant receives one or more speech inputs, such as speech inputs  1452 ,  1454 ,  1456 ,  1458 ,  1552 ,  1554 ,  1556 ,  1652 ,  1654 ,  1656 ,  1752 , and  1756  from a user. The user may provide various speech inputs for the purpose of, for example, performing a task at the user device (e.g., devices  1400 ,  1500 ,  1600 , and  1700 ) or at a first electronic device (e.g., electronic devices  1420 ,  1520 ,  1530 ,  1522 ,  1532 ,  1620 ,  1622 ,  1630 ,  1720 , and  1730 ) using remotely located content. Similar to those described above, in some examples, the digital assistant can receive speech inputs directly from the user at the user device or indirectly through another electronic device that is communicatively connected to the user device. 
     With reference to  FIGS.  14 A- 14 D,  15 A- 15 D,  16 A- 16 C, and  17 A- 17 E , in some embodiments, the digital assistant identifies context information associated with the user device. The context information includes, for example, user-specific data, sensor data, and user device configuration data. In some examples, the user-specific data includes log information indicating user preferences, the history of user&#39;s interaction with the user device (e.g., devices  1400 ,  1500 ,  1600 , and  1700 ), and/or electronic devices communicative connected to the user device, or the like. For example, user-specific data indicates that the user recently took a self-portrait photo using an electronic device  1420  (e.g., a smartphone); that the user recently accessed a podcast, webcast, movie, song, audio book, or the like. In some examples, the sensor data includes various data collected by a sensor associated with the user device or other electronic devices. For example, the sensor data includes GPS location data indicating the physical location of the user device or electronic devices communicatively connected to the user device at any time point or during any time period. For example, the sensor data indicates that a photo stored in electronic device  1420  was taken at Hawaii. In some examples, the user device configuration data includes the current or historical device configurations. For example, the user device configuration data indicates that the user device is currently communicatively connected to some electronic devices but disconnected from other electronic devices. The electronic devices includes, for example, a smartphone, a set-top box, a tablet, or the like. As described in more detail below, the context information can be used in determining a user intent and/or in performing one or more tasks. 
     With reference to  FIGS.  14 A- 14 D,  15 A- 15 D,  16 A- 16 C, and  17 A- 17 E , similar to those described above, in response to receiving a speech input, the digital assistant determines a user intent based on the speech input. The digital assistant determines the user intent based on a result of natural language processing. For example, the digital assistant identifies an actionable intent based on the user input, and generates a structured query to represent the identified actionable intent. The structured query includes one or more parameters associated with the actionable intent. The one or more parameters can be used to facilitate the performance of a task based on the actionable intent. For example, based on a speech input such as “show the selfie I just took,” the digital assistant determines that the actionable intent is to display a photo, and the parameters include a self-portrait that the user recently took during the past few days. In some embodiments, the digital assistant further determines the user intent based on the speech input and context information. For example, the context information indicates that the user device is communicatively connected to the user&#39;s phone using a Bluetooth connection and indicates that a self-portrait photo was added to the user&#39;s phone two days ago. As a result, the digital assistant determines that the user intent is to display a photo that is a self-portrait that was added to the user&#39;s phone two days ago. Determining the user intent based on speech input and context information is described in more detail below in various examples. 
     In some embodiments, in accordance with user intent, the digital assistant further determines whether the task is to be performed at the user device or at a first electronic device communicatively connected to the user device. Various examples of the determination are provided below in more detail with respect to  FIGS.  14 A- 14 D,  15 A- 15 D,  16 A- 16 C, and  17 A- 17 E . 
     With reference to  FIG.  14 A , in some examples, user device  1400  receives a speech input  1452  from a user to invoke the digital assistant. As shown in  FIG.  14 A , in some examples, the digital assistant is represented by affordances  1440  or  1441  displayed on user interface  1410 . Speech input  1452  includes, for example, “Hey, Assistant.” In response to speech input  1452 , user device  1400  invokes the digital assistant such that the digital assistant actively monitors subsequent speech inputs. In some examples, the digital assistant provides a spoken output  1472  indicating that it is invoked. For example, spoken output  1472  includes “Go ahead, I am listening.” As shown in  FIG.  14 A , in some examples, user device  1400  is communicatively connected to one or more electronic devices such as electronic device  1420 . Electronic device  1420  can communicate with user device  1400  using wired or wireless networks. For example, electronic device  1420  communicates with user device  1400  using Bluetooth connections such that voice and data (e.g., audio and video files) can be exchanged between the two devices. 
     With reference to  FIG.  14 B , in some examples, the digital assistant receives a speech input  1454  such as “Show me the selfie I just took using my phone on this device.” Based on speech input  1454  and/or context information, the digital assistant determines the user intent. For example, as shown in  FIG.  14 B , context information indicates that the user device  1400  is communicatively connected to electronic device  1420  using wired or wireless networks (e.g., a Bluetooth connection, a Wi-Fi connection, or the like). Context information also indicates that the user recently took a self-portrait, which is stored in electronic device  1420  with a name “selfie0001.” As a result, the digital assistant determines that the user intent is to display the photo named selfie0001 stored in electronic device  1420 . Alternatively, the photo may have been tagged with photo recognition software as containing the user&#39;s face and be identified accordingly. 
     As described, in accordance with the user intent, the digital assistant further determines whether the task is to be performed at the user device or at a first electronic device communicatively connected to the user device. In some embodiments, determining whether the task is to be performed at the user device or at the first electronic device is based on one or more keywords included in the speech input. For example, the digital assistant determines that speech input  1454  includes keywords or a phrase such as “on this device,” indicating the task is to be performed on user device  1400 . As a result, the digital assistant determines that displaying the photo named selfie0001 stored in electronic device  1420  is to be performed at user device  1400 . User device  1400  and electronic device  1420  are different devices. For example, user device  1400  can be a laptop computer, and electronic device  1420  can be a phone. 
     In some embodiments, the digital assistant further determines whether the content associated with the performance of the task is located remotely. Content is located remotely if at or near the time the digital assistant determines which device is to perform the task, at least a portion of the content for performing the task is not stored in the device that is determined to perform the task. For example, as shown in  FIG.  14 B , at or near the time the digital assistant of user device  1400  determines that the user intent is to display the photo named selfie0001 at user device  1400 , the photo named selfie0001 is not stored at user device  1400  and instead is stored at electronic device  1420  (e.g., a smartphone). Accordingly, the digital assistant determines that the photo is located remotely to user device  1400 . 
     As illustrated in  FIG.  14 B , in some embodiments, in accordance with a determination that the task is to be performed at the user device and content for performing the task is located remotely, the digital assistant of the user device receives the content for performing the task. In some examples, the digital assistant of the user device  1400  receives at least a portion of the content stored in the electronic device  1420 . For example, to display the photo named selfie0001, the digital assistant of user device  1400  sends a request to electronic device  1420  to obtain the photo named selfie0001. Electronic device  1420  receives the request and, in response, transmits the photo named selfie0001 to user device  1400 . The digital assistant of user device  1400  then receives the photo named selfie0001. 
     As illustrated in  FIG.  14 B , in some embodiments, after receiving the remotely located content, the digital assistant provides a response at the user device. In some examples, providing a response includes performing the task using the received content. For example, the digital assistant of user device  1400  displays a user interface  1442  (e.g., a snippet or a window) providing a view  1443  of the photo named selfie0001. View  1443  can be a preview (e.g., a thumbnail), an icon, or a full view of the photo named selfie0001. 
     In some examples, providing a response includes providing a link that is associated with the task to be performed at the user device. A link enables instantiating of a process. As described, instantiating a process includes invoking the process if the process is not already running. If at least one instance of the process is running, instantiating a process includes executing an existing instance of the process or generating a new instance of the process. As shown in  FIG.  14 B , user interface  1442  may provide a link  1444  associated with view  1443  of the photo named selfie0001. Link  1444  enables, for example, instantiating a photo process to view a full representation of the photo or edit the photo. As an example, link  1444  is displayed on the side of view  1443 . As another example, view  1443  can itself include or incorporate link  1444  such that a selection of view  1443  instantiates a photo process. 
     In some embodiments, providing a response includes providing one or more affordances that enable the user to further manipulate the results of the performance of the task. As shown in  FIG.  14 B , in some examples, the digital assistant provides affordances  1445  and  1446  on user interface  1442  (e.g., a snippet or a window). Affordance  1445  can include a button for adding a photo to an album, and affordance  1446  can include a button for canceling view  1443  of the photo. The user may select one or both of affordances  1445  and  1446 . In response to the selection of affordance  1445 , for example, a photo process adds the photo associated with view  1443  to an album. In response to the selection of affordance  1446 , for example, a photo process removes view  1443  from user interface  1442 . 
     In some embodiments, providing a response includes providing a spoken output according to the task to be performed at the user device. As illustrated in  FIG.  14 B , the digital assistant represented by affordances  1440  or  1441  provides a spoken output  1474  such as “Here is the last selfie from your phone.” 
     With reference to  FIG.  14 C , in some examples, based on a single speech input/utterance and context information, the digital assistant determines that the user intent is to perform a plurality of tasks. As shown in  FIG.  14 C , the digital assistant receives a speech input  1456  such as “Show me the selfie I just took using my phone on this device and set it as my wallpaper.” Based on speech input  1456  and context information, the digital assistant determines that the user intent is to perform a first task of displaying the photo named selfie0001 stored at electronic device  1420  and performs a second task of setting the photo named selfie0001 as the wallpaper. Thus, based on a single speech input  1456 , the digital assistant determines that the user intent is to perform multiple tasks. 
     In some embodiments, the digital assistant determines whether the plurality of tasks is to be performed at the user device or at an electronic device communicatively connected to the user device. For example, using the keywords “this device” included in speech input  1456 , the digital assistant determines that the plurality of tasks is to be performed at user device  1400 . Similar to those described above, the digital assistant further determines whether the content for performing at least one task is located remotely. For example, the digital assistant determines that the content for performing at least the first task (e.g., displaying the photo named selfie0001) is located remotely. In some embodiments, in accordance with a determination that the plurality of tasks is to be performed at the user device and content for performing at least one task is located remotely, the digital assistant requests the content from another electronic device (e.g., electronic device  1420 ), receives the content for performing the tasks, and provides a response at the user device. 
     In some embodiments, providing a response includes performing the plurality of tasks. For example, as illustrated in  FIG.  14 C , providing a response includes performing the first task of displaying a view  1449  of the photo named selfie0001, and performing the second task of setting the photo named selfie0001 as the wallpaper. In some examples, the digital assistant automatically configures the wallpaper to be the photo named selfie0001 using a desktop settings configuration process. In some examples, the digital assistant provides a link to desktop settings  1450 , enabling the user to manually configure the wallpaper using the photo named selfie0001. For example, the user may select the link to desktop settings  1450  by using an input device such as a mouse, a stylus, or a finger. Upon receiving the selection of the link to desktop setting  1450 , the digital assistant initiates the desktop setting configuration process that enables the user to select the photo named selfie0001 and set it as the wallpaper of user device  1400 . 
     As illustrated in  FIG.  14 C , in some examples, the digital assistant initiates a dialog with the user and facilitates the configuration of the wallpaper in response to receiving a speech input from the user. For example, the digital assistant provides a spoken output  1476  such as “Here is the last selfie from your phone. Set is as wallpaper?” The user provides a speech input such as “OK.” Upon receiving the speech input, the digital assistant instantiates the desktop settings configuration process to configure the wallpaper as the photo named selfie0001. 
     As described, in some examples, the digital assistant determines the user intent based on the speech input and context information. With reference to  FIG.  14 D , in some examples, the speech input may not include information sufficient to determine the user intent. For example, the speech input may not indicate the location of the content for performing the task. As shown in  FIG.  14 D , the digital assistant receives a speech input  1458  such as “Show me the selfie I just took.” Speech input  1458  does not include one or more keywords indicating which photo is to be displayed or the location of the selfie to be displayed. As a result, the user intent may not be determined based solely on speech input  1458 . In some examples, the digital assistant determines the user intent based on speech input  1458  and context information. For example, based on context information, the digital assistant determines that user device  1400  is communicatively connected to electronic device  1420 . In some examples, the digital assistant instantiates a searching process to search for photos that the user recently took at user device  1400  and electronic device  1420 . Based on the search result, the digital assistant determines that a photo named selfie0001 is stored in electronic device  1420 . Accordingly, the digital assistant determines that the user intent is to display the photo named selfie0001 located at electronic device  1420 . In some examples, if the user intent cannot be determined based on the speech input and context information, the digital assistant initiates a dialog with the user to further clarify or disambiguate the user intent. 
     As illustrated in  FIG.  14 D , in some examples, the speech input may not include one or more keywords indicating whether a task is to be performed at the user device or at an electronic device communicatively connected to the user device. For example, speech input  1458  does not indicate whether the task of displaying the selfie is to be performed at user device  1400  or at electronic device  1420 . In some examples, the digital assistant determines whether a task is to be performed at the user device or at an electronic device based on context information. As an example, the context information indicates that the digital assistant receives speech input  1458  at user device  1400 , not at electronic device  1420 . As a result, the digital assistant determines that the task of displaying the selfie is to be performed at user device  1400 . As another example, context information indicates that a photo is to be displayed on electronic device  1420  according to user preferences. As a result, the digital assistant determines that the task of displaying the selfie is to be performed at electronic device  1420 . It is appreciated that the digital assistant can determine whether a task is to be performed at the user device or at an electronic device based on any context information. 
     With reference to  FIG.  15 A , in some embodiments, a digital assistant determines that the task is to be performed at an electronic device (e.g., electronic device  1520  and/or  1530 ) communicatively connected to the user device (e.g., user device  1500 ) and determine that the content is located remotely to the electronic device. As shown in  FIG.  15 A , in some examples, the digital assistant receives a speech input  1552  such as “Play this movie on my TV.” As described, the digital assistant can determine the user intent based on speech input  1552  and context information. For example, context information indicates that user interface  1542  is displaying a movie named ABC.mov. As a result, the digital assistant determines that the user intent is to play the movie named ABC.mov. 
     In accordance with the user intent, the digital assistant furthers determine whether the task is to be performed at the user device or at a first electronic device communicatively connected to the user device. In some embodiments, determining whether the task is to be performed at the user device or at the first electronic device is based on one or more keywords included in the speech input. For example, speech input  1552  includes the words or phrase “on my TV.” In some examples, context information indicates that user device  1500  is connected to a set-top box  1520  and/or a TV  1530  using, for example, a wired connection, a Bluetooth connection, or a Wi-Fi connection. As a result, the digital assistant determines that the task of playing the movie named ABC.mov is to be performed on set-top box  1520  and/or TV  1530 . 
     In some embodiments, the digital assistant further determines whether the content associated with the performance of the task is located remotely. As described, content is located remotely if at or near the time the digital assistant determines which device is to perform the task, at least a portion of the content for performing the task is not stored in the device that is determined to perform the task. For example, as shown in  FIG.  15 A , at or near the time the digital assistant of user device  1500  determines that movie ABC.mov is to be played at set-top box  1520  and/or TV  1530 , at least a portion of the movie ABC.mov is stored at user device  1500  (e.g., a laptop computer) and/or a server (not shown) and is not stored at set-top box  1520  and/or TV  1530 . Accordingly, the digital assistant determines that the movie ABC.mov is located remotely to set-top box  1520  and/or TV  1530 . 
     With reference to  FIG.  15 B , in accordance with a determination that the task is to be performed at the first electronic device (e.g., set-top box  1520  and/or TV  1530 ) and the content for performing the task is located remotely to the first electronic device, the digital assistant of the user device provides the content to the first electronic device to perform the task. For example, to play the movie ABC.mov on set-top box  1520  and/or TV  1530 , the digital assistant of user device  1500  transmits at least a portion of the movie ABC.mov to set-top box  1520  and/or TV  1530 . 
     In some examples, instead of providing the content from the user device, the digital assistant of the user device causes at least a portion of the content to be provided from another electronic device (e.g., a server) to the first electronic device to perform the task. For example, the movie ABC.mov is stored in a server (not shown) and not at user device  1500 . As a result, the digital assistant of user device  1500  causes at least a portion of the movie named ABC.mov to be transmitted from the server to set-top box  1520  and/or TV  1530 . In some examples, the content for performing the task is provided to set-top box  1520 , which then transmits the content to TV  1530 . In some examples, the content for performing the task is provided to TV  1530  directly. 
     As illustrated in  FIG.  15 B , in some examples, after the content is provided to the first electronic device (e.g., set-top box  1520  and/or TV  1530 ), the digital assistant of user device  1500  provides a response at user device  1500 . In some examples, providing the response includes causing the task to be performed at set-top box  1520  and/or TV  1530  using the content. For example, the digital assistant of user device  1500  sends a request to set-top box  1520  and/or TV  1530  to initiate a multimedia process to play the movie ABC.mov. In response to the request, set-top box  1520  and/or TV  1530  initiates the multimedia process to play the movie ABC.mov. 
     In some examples, the task to be performed at the first electronic device (e.g., set-top box  1520  and/or TV  1530 ) is a continuation of a task performed remotely to the first electronic device. For example, as illustrated in  FIGS.  15 A- 15 B , the digital assistant of user device  1500  has caused a multimedia process of user device  1500  to play a portion of the movie ABC.mov at user device  1500 . In accordance with the determination that the user intent is to play the movie ABC.mov at the first electronic device (e.g., set-top box  1520  and/or TV  1530 ), the digital assistant of user device  1500  causes the first electronic device to continue playing the rest of the movie ABC.mov rather than start playing from the beginning. As a result, the digital assistant of user device  1500  enables the user to continuously watch the movie. 
     As illustrated in  FIG.  15 B , in some embodiments, providing a response includes providing one or more affordances that enable the user to further manipulate the results of the performance of the task. As shown in  FIG.  15 B , in some examples, the digital assistant provides affordances  1547  and  1548  on a user interface  1544  (e.g., a snippet or a window). Affordance  1547  can be a button for cancelling the playing of movie ABC.mov on the first electronic device (e.g., set-top box  1520  and/or TV  1530 ). Affordance  1548  can be a button to pause or resume the playing of movie ABC.mov that is playing on the first electronic device. The user may select affordance  1547  or  1548  using an input device such as a mouse, a stylus, or a finger. Upon receiving a selection of affordance  1547 , for example, the digital assistant causes the playing of movie ABC.mov on the first electronic device to stop. In some examples, after the playing on the first electronic device stops, the digital assistant also causes the playing of movie ABC.mov on user device  1500  to resume. Upon receiving a selection of affordance  1548 , for example, the digital assistant causes the playing of movie ABC.mov on the first electronic device to pause or resume. 
     In some embodiments, providing a response includes providing a spoken output according to the task to be performed at the first electronic device. As illustrated in  FIG.  15 B , the digital assistant represented by affordance  1540  or  1541  provides a spoken output  1572  such as “Playing your movie on TV.” 
     As described, in accordance with a determination that the task is to be performed at a first electronic device and the content for performing the task is located remotely to the first electronic device, the digital assistant provides the content for performing the task to the first electronic device. With reference to  FIG.  15 C , the content for performing the task can include, for example, a document (e.g., document  1560 ) or location information. For instance, the digital assistant of user device  1500  receives a speech input  1556  such as “Open this pdf on my tablet.” The digital assistant determines that the user intent is to perform a task of displaying document  1560  and determines that the task is to be performed at a tablet  1532  that is communicatively connected to user device  1500 . As a result, the digital assistant provides document  1560  to tablet  1532  to be displayed. As another example, the digital assistant of user device  1500  receives a speech input  1554  such as “Send this location to my phone.” The digital assistant determines that the user intent is to perform a task of navigation using the location information and determines that the task is to be performed at phone  1522  (e.g., a smartphone) that is communicatively connected to user device  1500 . As a result, the digital assistant provides location information (e.g., 1234 Main St.) to phone  1522  to perform the task of navigation. 
     As described, in some examples, after providing the content for performing the task to the first electronic device, the digital assistant provides a response at the user device. In some embodiments, providing the response includes causing the task to be performed at the first electronic device. For example, as shown in  FIG.  15 D , the digital assistant of user device  1500  transmits a request to phone  1522  to perform the task of navigating to the location 1234 Main St. The digital assistant of user device  1500  further transmits a request to tablet  1532  to perform the task of displaying document  1560 . In some examples, providing the response at the user device includes providing a spoken output according to the task to be performed at the first electronic device. As illustrated in  FIG.  15 D , the digital assistant provides a spoken output  1574  such as “Showing the pdf on your tablet” and a spoken output  1576  such as “navigating to 1234 Main St on your phone.” 
     As described, in some examples, the speech input may not include one or more keywords indicating whether a task is to be performed at the user device or at a first electronic device communicatively connected to the user device. With reference to  FIG.  16 A , for example, the digital assistant receives a speech input  1652  such as “Play this movie.” Speech input  1652  does not indicate whether the task of playing the movie is to be performed at user device  1600  or at a first electronic device (e.g., set-top box  1620  and/or TV  1630 , phone  1622 , or tablet  1632 ). 
     In some embodiments, to determine whether the task is to be performed at the user device or at a first electronic device, the digital assistant of the user device determines whether performing the task at the user device satisfies performance criteria. Performance criteria facilitate evaluating the performance of the task. For example, as illustrated in  FIG.  16 A , the digital assistant determines that the user intent is to perform the tasking of playing the movie ABC.mov. Performance criteria for playing a movie include, for example, the quality criteria of playing a movie (e.g., 480p, 720p, 1080p), the smoothness criteria of playing the movie (e.g., no delay or waiting), the screen size criteria (e.g., a minimum screen size of 48 inches), the sound effect criteria (e.g., stereo sounds, number of speakers), or the like. The performance criteria can be pre-configured and/or dynamically updated. In some examples, the performance criteria are determined based on context information such as user-specific data (e.g., user preferences), device configuration data (e.g., screen resolution and size of the electronic devices), or the like. 
     In some examples, the digital assistant of user device  1600  determines that performing the task at the user device satisfies the performance criteria. For example, as illustrated in  FIG.  16 A , user device  1600  may have a screen resolution, a screen size, and sound effect that satisfy the performance criteria of playing the movie ABC.mov, which may be a low-resolution online video. In accordance with a determination that performing the task at user device  1600  satisfies the performance criteria, the digital assistant determines that the task is to be performed at user device  1600 . 
     In some examples, the digital assistant of user device  1600  determines that performing the task at the user device does not satisfy the performance criteria. For example, user device  1600  may not have the screen size, the resolution, and/or the sound effect to satisfy the performance criteria of playing the movie ABC.mov, which may be a high-resolution Blu-ray video. In some examples, in accordance with a determination that performing the task at the user device does not satisfy the performance criteria, the digital assistant of user device  1600  determines whether performing the task at the first electronic device satisfies the performance criteria. As illustrated in  FIG.  16 B , the digital assistant of user device  1600  determines that performing the task of playing the movie ABC.mov at set-top box  1620  and/or TV  1630  satisfies the performance criteria. For example, set-top box  1620  and/or TV  1630  may have a screen size of 52 inches, may have a 1080p resolution, and may have eight speakers connected. As a result, the digital assistant determines that the task is to be performed at set-top box  1620  and/or TV  1630 . 
     In some examples, the digital assistant of user device  1600  determines that performing the task at the first electronic device does not satisfy the performance criteria. In accordance with the determination, the digital assistant determines whether performing the task at the second electronic device satisfies the performance criteria. For example, as illustrated in  FIG.  16 B , TV  1630  may have a screen resolution (e.g., 720p) that does not satisfy the performance criteria (e.g., 1080p). As a result, the digital assistant determines whether any one of phone  1622  (e.g., a smartphone) or tablet  1632  satisfies the performance criteria. 
     In some examples, the digital assistant determines which device provides the optimum performance of the task. For example, as illustrated in  FIG.  16 B , the digital assistant evaluates or estimates the performance of the task of playing movie ABC.mov on each of user device  1600 , set-top box  1620  and TV  1630 , phone  1622 , and tablet  1632 . Based on the evaluation or estimation, the digital assistant determines whether performing the task at one device (e.g., user device  1600 ) is better than at another device (e.g., phone  1622 ) and determines a device for optimum performance. 
     As described, in some examples, in accordance with the determination of a device for performing the task, the digital assistant provides a response at user device  1600 . In some embodiments, providing a response includes providing a spoken output according to the task to be performed at the device. As illustrated in  FIG.  16 B , the digital assistant represented by affordances  1640  or  1641  provides a spoken output  1672  such as “I will play this movie on your TV, proceed?” In some examples, the digital assistant receives a speech input  1654  such as “OK” from the user. In response, the digital assistant causes the movie ABC.mov to be played at, for example, set-top box  1620  and TV  1630  and provides a spoken output  1674  such as “Playing your movie on your TV.” 
     In some examples, providing a response includes providing one or more affordances that enable the user to select another electronic device for performance of the task. As illustrated in  FIG.  16 B , for example, the digital assistant provides affordances  1655 A-B (e.g., a cancel button and a tablet button). Affordance  1655 A enables the user to cancel playing the movie ABC.mov at set-top box  1620  and TV  1630 . Affordance  1655 B enables the user to select tablet  1632  to continue playing the movie ABC.mov. 
     With reference to  FIG.  16 C , in some embodiments, to determine a device for performing a task, the digital assistant of user device  1600  initiates a dialog with the user. For example, the digital assistant provides a spoken output  1676  such as “Should I play your movie on the TV or on the tablet?” The user provides a speech input  1656  such as “On my tablet.” Upon receiving speech input  1656 , the digital assistant determines that the task of playing the movie is to be performed at tablet  1632 , which is communicatively connected to user device  1600 . In some examples, the digital assistant further provides a spoken output  1678  such as “Playing your movie on your tablet.” 
     With reference to  FIG.  17 A , in some embodiments, a digital assistant of a user device  1700  continues to perform a task that was partially performed remotely at a first electronic device. In some embodiments, the digital assistant of a user device continues to perform the task using content received from a third electronic device. As illustrated in  FIG.  17 A , in some examples, phone  1720  may have been performing a task of flight booking using content from a third electronic device such as a server  1730 . For example, the user may have been using phone  1720  to book flights from Kayak.com. As a result, phone  1720  receives content transmitted from server  1730  that is associated with Kayak.com. In some examples, the user may be interrupted while booking his or her flight on phone  1720  and may desire to continue the flight booking using user device  1700 . In some examples, the user may desire to continue the flight booking simply because using user device  1700  is more convenient. Accordingly, the user may provide a speech input  1752  such as “Continue the flight booking on Kayak from my phone.” 
     With reference to  FIG.  17 B , upon receiving speech input  1752 , the digital assistant determines the user intent is to perform a task of flight booking. In some examples, the digital assistant further determines that the task is to be performed at user device  1700  based on context information. For example, the digital assistant determines that speech input  1752  is received at user device  1700  and therefore determines that the task is to be performed at user device  1700 . In some examples, the digital assistant further uses context information such as user preferences (e.g., user device  1700  is used frequently in the past for flight booking) to determine that the task is to be performed at user device  1700 . 
     As shown in  FIG.  17 B , in accordance with the determination that the task is to be performed at the user device  1700 , and the content for performing the task is located remotely, the digital assistant receives the content for performing the task. In some examples, the digital assistant receives the at least a portion of the content from phone  1720  (e.g., a smartphone) and/or at least a portion of the content from server  1730 . For example, the digital assistant receives data representing the status of flight booking from phone  1720  such that user device  1700  can continue the flight booking. In some examples, the data representing the status of flight booking is stored at server  1730 , such as a server associated with Kayak.com. The digital assistant thus receives data from server  1730  for continuing the flight booking. 
     As illustrated in  FIG.  17 B , after receiving the content from phone  1720  and/or server  1730 , the digital assistant provides a response at user device  1700 . In some examples, providing the response includes continuing to perform the task of flight booking that was partially performed remotely at phone  1720 . For example, the digital assistant displays a user interface  1742  enabling the user to continue booking the flight on Kayak.com. In some examples, providing the response includes providing a link associated with the task to be performed at user device  1700 . For example, the digital assistant displays a user interface  1742  (e.g., a snippet or a window) providing the current status of flight booking (e.g., showing available flights). User interface  1742  also provides a link  1744  (e.g., a link to a web browser) for continuing performing the task of flight booking. In some embodiments, the digital assistant also provides a spoken output  1772  such as “Here is the booking on Kayak. Continue in your web browser?” 
     As shown in  FIGS.  17 B- 17 C , for example, if the user selects link  1744 , the digital assistant instantiates a web browsing process and displays a user interface  1746  (e.g., a snippet or a window) for continuing the flight booking task. In some examples, in response to spoken output  1772 , the user provides a speech input  1756  such as “OK” confirming that the user desires to continue flight book using a web browser of user device  1700 . Upon receiving speech input  1756 , the digital assistant instantiates a web browsing process and displays user interface  1746  (e.g., a snippet or a window) for continuing the flight booking task. 
     With reference to  FIG.  17 D , in some embodiments, a digital assistant of a user device  1700  continues to perform a task that was partially performed remotely at a first electronic device. In some embodiments, the digital assistant of the user device continues to perform the task using content received from the first electronic device, rather than a third electronic device such as a server. As illustrated in  FIG.  17 D , in some examples, the first electronic device (e.g., phone  1720  or tablet  1732 ) may have been performing a task. For example, the user may have been using phone  1720  to compose an email or using tablet  1732  to edit a document such as a photo. In some examples, the user is interrupted while using phone  1720  or tablet  1732 , and/or desires to continue the performance of the task using user device  1700 . In some examples, the user may desire to continue the performance of the task simply because using user device  1700  is more convenient (e.g., a larger screen). Accordingly, the user may provide a speech input  1758  such as “Open the document I was just editing” or speech input  1759  such as “Open the email I was just drafting.” 
     With reference to  FIG.  17 D , upon receiving speech input  1758  or  1759 , the digital assistant determines the user intent is to perform a task of editing a document or composing an email. Similar to those described above, in some examples, the digital assistant further determines that the task is to be performed at user device  1700  based on context information, and determines that the content for performing the task is located remotely. Similar to described above, in some examples, the digital assistant determines, based on context information (e.g., user-specific data), that the content is located remotely at the first electronic device (e.g., at phone  1720  or tablet  1732 ), rather than at a server. As shown in  FIG.  17 D , in accordance with the determination that the task is to be performed at the user device  1700  and the content for performing the task is located remotely, the digital assistant receives the content for performing the task. In some examples, the digital assistant receives the at least a portion of the content from phone  1720  (e.g., a smartphone) and/or at least a portion of the content from tablet  1730 . After receiving the content from phone  1720  and/or tablet  1732 , the digital assistant provides a response at user device  1700 , such as displaying a user interface  1748  for the user to continue editing the document and/or displaying a user interface  1749  for the user to continue composing the email. It is appreciated that the digital assistant of user device  1700  can also cause a first electronic device to continue performing a task that was partially performed remotely at the user device  1700 . For example, the user may be composing an email on user device  1700  and may need to leave. The user provides a speech input such as “Open the email I was drafting on my phone.” Based on the speech input, the digital assistant determines the user intent is to continue performing the task on phone  1720  and the content is located remotely at the user device  1700 . In some examples, the digital assistant provides the content for performing the task to the first electronic device and causes the first electronic device to continue performing the task, similar to those described above. 
     With reference to  FIG.  17 E , in some embodiments, continuing to performing a task is based on context information that is shared or synchronized among a plurality of devices including, for example, user device  1700  and first electronic device (e.g., phone  1720 ). As described, in some examples, the digital assistant determines a user intent based on the speech input and context information. The context information can be stored locally or remotely. For example, as shown in  FIG.  17 E , the user provides a speech input  1760  such as “What is the weather like in New York?” to phone  1720 . A digital assistant of phone  1720  determines the user intent, performs the task to obtain the weather information in New York, and displays the weather information of New York on a user interface of phone  1720 . The user subsequently provides a speech input  1761  such as “How about in Los Angeles?” to user device  1700 . In some examples, the digital assistant of user device  1700  determines the user intent using context information stored at and/or shared by phone  1720 , either directly or through a server. The context information includes, for example, historical user data associated with phone  1720 , conversational state, system state, etc. Both the historical user data and conversational state indicate that user was inquiring about weather information. Accordingly, the digital assistant of user device  1700  determines that the user intent is to obtain the weather information in Los Angeles. Based on the user intent, the digital assistant of user device  1700  receives the weather information from, for example, a server, and provides a user interface  1751  displaying the weather information on user device  1710 . 
     6. Exemplary Functions of a Digital Assistant—Voice-Enabled System Configuration Management 
       FIGS.  18 A- 18 F and  19 A- 19 D  illustrate functionalities of providing system configuration information or performing a task in response to a user request by a digital assistant. In some examples, the digital assistant system (e.g., digital assistant system  700 ) can be implemented by a user device according to various examples. In some examples, the user device, a server (e.g., server  108 ), or a combination thereof, may implement a digital assistant system (e.g., digital assistant system  700 ). The user device is implemented using, for example, device  104 ,  200 , or  400 . In some examples, the user device is a laptop computer, a desktop computer, or a tablet computer. The user device operates in a multi-tasking environment, such as a desktop environment. 
     With references to  FIGS.  18 A- 18 F and  19 A- 19 D , in some examples, a user device provides various user interfaces (e.g., user interfaces  1810  and  1910 ). Similar to those described above, the user device displays the various user interfaces on a display and the various user interfaces enable the user to instantiate one or more processes (e.g., system configuration processes). 
     As shown in  FIGS.  18 A- 18 F and  19 A- 19 D , similar to those described above, the user device displays, on a user interface (e.g., user interfaces  1810  and  1910 ), an affordance (e.g., affordance  1840  and  1940 ) to facilitate the instantiation of a digital assistant service. 
     Similar to those described above, in some examples, the digital assistant is instantiated in response to receiving a pre-determined phrase. In some examples, the digital assistant is instantiated in response to receiving a selection of the affordance. 
     With reference to  FIGS.  18 A- 18 F and  19 A- 19 D , in some embodiments, a digital assistant receives one or more speech inputs, such as speech inputs  1852 ,  1854 ,  1856 ,  1858 ,  1860 ,  1862 ,  1952 ,  1954 ,  1956 , and  1958  from a user. The user provides various speech inputs for the purpose of managing one or more system configurations of the user device. The system configurations can include audio configurations, date and time configurations, dictation configuration, display configurations, input device configurations, notification configurations, printing configurations, security configurations, backup configurations, application configurations, user interface configurations, or the like. To manage audio configurations, a speech input may include “Mute my microphone,” “Turn the volume all the up,” “Turn the volume up 10%,” or the like. To manage date and time configurations, a speech input may include “What is my time zone?”, “Change my time zone to Cupertino Time,” “Add a clock for London time zone,” or the like. To manage dictation configurations, a speech input may include “Turn on dictation,” “Turn off dictation,” “Dictation in Chinese,” “Enable advanced commands,” or the like. To manage display configurations, a speech input may include “Make my screen brighter,” “Increase the contrast my 20%,” “Extend my screen to a second monitor,” “Mirror my display,” or the like. To manage input device configurations, a speech input may include “Connect my Bluetooth keyboard,” “Make my mouse pointer bigger,” or the like. To manage network configurations, a speech input may include “Turn Wi-Fi on,” “Turn Wi-Fi off,” “Which Wi-Fi network am I connected to?”, “Am I connected to my phone?”, or the like. To manage notification configuration, a speech input may include “Turn on Do not Disturb,” “Stop showing me these notifications,” “Show only new emails,” “No alert for text message,” or the like. To manage printing configurations, a speech input may include “Does my printer have enough ink?”, “Is my printer connected?”, or the like. To manage security configurations, a speech input may include “Change password for John&#39;s account,” “Turn on firewall,” “Disable cookie,” or the like. To manage backup configurations, a speech input may include “Run backup now,” “Set backup interval to once a month,” “Recover the July 4 backup of last year,” or the like. To manage application configurations, a speech input may include “Change my default web browser to Safari,” “Automatically log in to Messages application each time I sign in,” or the like. To manage user interface configurations, a speech input may include “Change my desktop wallpapers,” “Hide the dock,” “Add Evernote to the Dock,” or the like. Various examples of using speech inputs to manage system configurations are described below in more details. 
     Similar to those described above, in some examples, the digital assistant receives speech inputs directly from the user at the user device or indirectly through another electronic device that is communicatively connected to the user device. 
     With reference to  FIGS.  18 A- 18 F and  19 A- 19 D , in some embodiments, the digital assistant identifies context information associated with the user device. The context information includes, for example, user-specific data, sensor data, and user device configuration data. In some examples, the user-specific data includes log information indicating user preferences, the history of user&#39;s interaction with the user device, or the like. For example, user-specific data indicates the last time the user&#39;s system was backed up; and that the user&#39;s preferences of a particular Wi-Fi network when several Wi-Fi networks are available or the like. In some examples, the sensor data includes various data collected by a sensor. For example, the sensor data indicates a printer ink level collected by a printer ink level sensor. In some examples, the user device configuration data includes the current and historical device configurations. For example, the user device configuration data indicates that the user device is currently communicatively connected to one or more electronic devices using Bluetooth connections. The electronic devices may include, for example, a smartphone, a set-top box, a tablet, or the like. As described in more detail below, the user device can determine user intent and/or perform one or more processes using the context information. 
     With reference to  FIGS.  18 A- 18 F and  19 A- 19 D , similar to those described above, in response to receiving a speech input, the digital assistant determines a user intent based on the speech input. The digital assistant determines the user intent based on a result of natural language processing. For example, the digital assistant identifies an actionable intent based on the user input, and generates a structured query to represent the identified actionable intent. The structured query includes one or more parameters associated with the actionable intent. The one or more parameters can be used to facilitate the performance of a task based on the actionable intent. For example, based on a speech input such as “Turn the volume up by 10%,” the digital assistant determines that the actionable intent is to adjust the system volume, and the parameters include setting the volume to be 10% higher than the current volume level. In some embodiments, the digital assistant also determines the user intent based on the speech input and context information. For example, the context information may indicate that the current volume of the user device is at 50%. As a result, upon receiving the speech input such as “Turn the volume up by 10%,” the digital assistant determines that the user intent is to increase the volume level to 60%. Determining the user intent based on speech input and context information is described in more detail below in various examples. 
     In some embodiments, the digital assistant further determines whether the user intent indicates an informational request or a request for performing a task. Various examples of the determination are provided below in more detail with respect to  FIGS.  18 A- 18 F and  19 A- 19 D . 
     With reference to  FIG.  18 A , in some examples, the user device displays a user interface  1832  associated with performing a task. For example, the task includes composing a meeting invitation. In composing the meeting invitation, the user may desire to know the time zone of the user device so that the meeting invitation can be properly composed. In some examples, the user provides a speech input  1852  to invoke the digital assistant represented by affordance  1840  or  1841 . Speech input  1852  includes, for example, “Hey, Assistant.” The user device receives the speech input  1852  and, in response, invokes the digital assistant such that the digital assistant actively monitors subsequent speech inputs. In some examples, the digital assistant provides a spoken output  1872  indicating that it is invoked. For example, spoken output  1872  includes “Go ahead, I am listening.” 
     With reference to  FIG.  18 B , in some examples, the user provides a speech input  1854  such as “What is my time zone?” The digital assistant determines that the user intent is to obtain the time zone of the user device. The digital assistant further determines whether the user intent indicates an informational request or a request for performing a task. In some examples, determining whether the user intent indicates an informational request or a request for performing a task includes determining whether the user intent is to vary a system configuration. For example, based on the determination that the user intent is to obtain the time zone of the user device, the digital assistant determines that no system configuration is to be varied. As a result, the digital assistant determines that the user intent indicates an informational request. 
     In some embodiments, in accordance with a determination that the user intent indicates an informational request, the digital assistant provides a spoken response to the informational request. In some examples, the digital assistant obtains status of one or more system configurations according to the informational request, and provides the spoken response according to the status of one or more system configurations. As shown in  FIG.  18 B , the digital assistant determines that the user intent is to obtain the time zone of the user device, and this user intent indicates an informational request. Accordingly, the digital assistant obtains the time zone status from the time and date configuration of the user device. The time zone status indicates, for example, the user device is set to the Pacific time zone. Based on the time zone status, the digital assistant provides a spoken output  1874  such as “Your computer is set to Pacific Standard Time.” In some examples, the digital assistant further provides a link associated with the informational request. As illustrated in  FIG.  18 B , the digital assistant provides a link  1834 , enabling the user to further manage the data and time configurations. In some examples, the user uses an input device (e.g., a mouse) to select link  1834 . Upon receiving the user&#39;s selection of link  1834 , the digital assistant instantiates a date and time configuration process and displays an associated date and time configuration user interface. The user can thus use the date and time configuration user interface to further manage the date and time configurations. 
     With reference to  FIG.  18 C , in some examples, the user device displays a user interface  1836  associated with performing a task. For example, the task includes playing a video (e.g., ABC.mov). To enhance the experience of watching the video, the user may desire to use a speaker and may want to know whether a Bluetooth speaker is connected. In some examples, the user provides a speech input  1856  such as “Is my Bluetooth speaker connected?” The digital assistant determines that the user intent is to obtain the connection status of the Bluetooth speaker  1820 . The digital assistant further determines that obtaining the connection status of the Bluetooth speaker  1820  does not vary any system configuration and therefore is an informational request. 
     In some embodiments, in accordance with a determination that the user intent indicates an informational request, the digital assistant obtains status of system configurations according to the informational request, and provides the spoken response according to the status of the system configurations. As shown in  FIG.  18 C , the digital assistant obtains the connection status from the network configuration of the user device. The connection status indicates, for example, user device  1800  is not connected to a Bluetooth speaker  1820 . Based on the connection status, the digital assistant provides a spoken output  1876  such as “No, it is not connected, you can check Bluetooth devices in the network configurations.” In some examples, the digital assistant further provides a link associated with the informational request. As illustrated in  FIG.  18 C , the digital assistant provides a link  1838 , enabling the user to further manage the network configurations. In some examples, the user uses an input device (e.g., a mouse) to select link  1838 . Upon receiving the user&#39;s selection of link  1838 , the digital assistant instantiates a network configuration process and displays an associated network configuration user interface. The user can thus use the network configuration user interface to further manage the network configurations. 
     With reference to  FIG.  18 D , in some examples, the user device displays a user interface  1842  associated with performing a task. For example, the task includes viewing and/or editing a document. The user may desire to print out the document and may want to know whether a printer  1830  has enough ink for the printing job. In some examples, the user provides a speech input  1858  such as “Does my printer have enough ink?” The digital assistant determines that the user intent is to obtain printer ink level status of the printer. The digital assistant further determines that the obtaining the printer level status does not vary any system configuration and therefore is an informational request. 
     In some embodiments, in accordance with a determination that the user intent indicates an informational request, the digital assistant obtains status of system configurations according to the informational request, and provides the spoken response according to the status of the system configurations. As shown in  FIG.  18 D , the digital assistant obtains the printer ink level status from the printing configuration of the user device. The printer ink level status indicates, for example, the printer ink level of printer  1830  is at 50%. Based on the connection status, the digital assistant provides a spoken output  1878  such as “Yes, your printer has enough ink. You can also look up printer supply levels in the printer configurations.” In some examples, the digital assistant further provides a link associated with the informational request. As illustrated in  FIG.  18 D , the digital assistant provides a link  1844 , enabling the user to further manage the printer configurations. In some examples, the user uses an input device (e.g., a mouse) to select link  1844 . Upon receiving the user&#39;s selection of the link, the digital assistant instantiates a printer configuration process and displays an associated printer configuration user interface. The user can thus use the printer configuration user interface to further manage the printer configurations. 
     With reference to  FIG.  18 E , in some examples, the user device displays a user interface  1846  associated with performing a task. For example, the task includes browsing Internet using a web browser (e.g., Safari). To browse the Internet, the user may desire to know available Wi-Fi networks and select one Wi-Fi network to connect. In some examples, the user provides a speech input  1860  such as “Which Wi-Fi networks are available?” The digital assistant determines that the user intent is to obtain a list of available Wi-Fi networks. The digital assistant further determines that obtaining the list of available Wi-Fi networks does not vary any system configuration and therefore is an informational request. 
     In some embodiments, in accordance with a determination that the user intent indicates an informational request, the digital assistant obtains status of system configurations according to the informational request, and provides the spoken response according to the status of the system configurations. As shown in  FIG.  18 E , the digital assistant obtains status of currently available Wi-Fi networks from the network configuration of the user device. The status of currently available Wi-Fi networks indicates, for example, Wi-Fi network 1, Wi-Fi network 2, and Wi-Fi network 3 are available. In some examples, the status further indicates the signal strength of each of the Wi-Fi networks. The digital assistant displays a user interface  1845  providing information according to the status. For example, user interface  1845  provides the list of available Wi-Fi networks. The digital assistant also provides a spoken output  1880  such as “Here is a list of available Wi-Fi networks.” In some examples, the digital assistant further provides a link associated with the informational request. As illustrated in  FIG.  18 E , the digital assistant provides a link  1847 , enabling the user to further manage the network configurations. In some examples, the user uses an input device (e.g., a mouse) to select link  1847 . Upon receiving the user&#39;s selection of the link  1847 , the digital assistant instantiates a network configuration process and displays an associated network configuration user interface. The user can thus use the network configuration user interface to further manage the configurations. 
     With reference to  FIG.  18 F , in some examples, the user device displays a user interface  1890  associated with performing a task. For example, the task includes preparing a meeting agenda. In preparing a meeting agenda, the user may desire to find a date and time for the meeting. In some examples, the user provides a speech input  1862  such as “Find a time on my calendar for next Tuesday&#39;s meeting in the morning.” The digital assistant determines that the user intent is to find an available time slot on the user&#39;s calendar on Tuesday morning. The digital assistant further determines that finding a time slot does not vary any system configuration and therefore is an informational request. 
     In some embodiments, in accordance with a determination that the user intent indicates an informational request, the digital assistant obtains status of system configurations according to the informational request, and provides the spoken response according to the status of the system configurations. As shown in  FIG.  18 F , the digital assistant obtains status of user&#39;s calendar from calendar configurations. The status of user&#39;s calendar indicates, for example, 9a.m. or 11a.m. on Tuesday is still available. The digital assistant displays a user interface  1891  providing information according to the status. For example, user interface  1891  provides the user&#39;s calendar in the proximity of the date and time the user requested. In some examples, the digital assistant also provides a spoken output  1882  such as “It looks like Tuesday 9a.m. or 11 a.m is available.” In some examples, the digital assistant further provides a link associated with the informational request. As illustrated in  FIG.  18 F , the digital assistant provides a link  1849 , enabling the user to further manage the calendar configurations. In some examples, the user uses an input device (e.g., a mouse) to select link  1849 . Upon receiving the user&#39;s selection of link  1849 , the digital assistant instantiates a calendar configuration process and displays an associated calendar configuration user interface. The user can thus use the calendar configuration user interface to further manage the configurations. 
     With reference to  FIG.  19 A , the user device displays a user interface  1932  associated with performing a task. For example, the task includes playing a video (e.g., ABC.mov). While the video is playing, the user may desire to turn up the volume. In some examples, the user provides a speech input  1952  such as “Turn the volume all the way up.” The digital assistant determines that the user intent is to increase the volume to its maximum level. The digital assistant further determines whether the user intent indicates an informational request or a request for performing a task. For example, based on the determination that the user intent is to increase the volume of the user device, the digital assistant determines that an audio configuration is to be varied, and therefore the user intent indicates a request for performing a task. 
     In some embodiments, in accordance with a determination that the user intent indicates a request for performing a task, the digital assistant instantiates a process associated with the user device to perform the task. Instantiating a process includes invoking the process if the process is not already running. If at least one instance of the process is running, instantiating a process includes executing an existing instance of the process or generating a new instance of the process. For example, instantiating an audio configuration process includes invoking the audio configuration process, using an existing audio configuration process, or generating a new instance of the audio configuration process. In some examples, instantiating a process includes performing the task using the process. For example, as illustrated in  FIG.  19 A , in accordance with the user intent to increase the volume to its maximum level, the digital assistant instantiates an audio configuration process to set the volume to its maximum level. In some examples, the digital assistant further provides a spoken output  1972  such as “OK, I turned the volume all the way up.” 
     With reference to  FIG.  19 B , the user device displays a user interface  1934  associated with performing a task. For example, the task includes viewing or editing a document. The user may desire to lower the screen brightness for eye protection. In some examples, the user provides a speech input  1954  such as “Set my screen brightness to 10% lower.” The digital assistant determines the user intent based on speech input  1954  and context information. For example, context information indicates that the current brightness configuration is at 90%. As a result, the digital assistant determines that the user intent is to reduce the brightness level from 90% to 80%. The digital assistant further determines whether the user intent indicates an informational request or a request for performing a task. For example, based on the determination that the user intent is to change the screen brightness to 80%, the digital assistant determines that a display configuration is to be varied, and therefore the user intent indicates a request for performing a task. 
     In some embodiments, in accordance with a determination that the user intent indicates a request for performing a task, the digital assistant instantiates a process to perform the task. For example, as illustrated in  FIG.  19 B , in accordance with the user intent to change the brightness level, the digital assistant instantiates a display configuration process to reduce the brightness level to 80%. In some examples, the digital assistant further provides a spoken output  1974  such as “OK, I turned your screen brightness to 80%.” In some examples, as illustrated in  FIG.  19 B , the digital assistant provides an affordance  1936  enabling the user to manipulate a result of performing the task. For example, affordance  1936  can be a sliding bar allowing the user to further change the brightness level. 
     With reference to  FIG.  19 C , the user device displays a user interface  1938  associated with performing a task. For example, the task includes providing one or more notifications. A notification can include an alert of an email, a message, a reminder, or the like. In some examples, notifications are provided in user interface  1938 . A notification can be displayed or provided to the user in real time or shortly after it is available at the user device. For example, a notification appears on user interface  1938  and/or user interface  1910  shorted after the user device receives it. Sometimes, the user may be performing an important task (e.g., editing a document) and may not want to be disturbed by the notifications. In some examples, the user provides a speech input  1956  such as “Don&#39;t notify me about incoming emails.” The digital assistant determines that the user intent is to turn off the alert of emails. Based on the determination that the user intent is to turn off the alert of incoming emails, the digital assistant determines that a notification configuration is to be varied, and therefore the user intent indicates a request for performing a task. 
     In some embodiments, in accordance with a determination that the user intent indicates a request for performing a task, the digital assistant instantiates a process to perform the task. For example, as illustrated in  FIG.  19 C , in accordance with the user intent, the digital assistant instantiates a notification configuration process to turn off the alert of emails. In some examples, the digital assistant further provides a spoken output  1976  such as “OK, I turned off notifications for mail.” In some examples, as illustrated in  FIG.  19 C , the digital assistant provides a user interface  1942  (e.g., a snippet or a window) enabling the user to manipulate a result of performing the task. For example, user interface  1942  provides an affordance  1943  (e.g., a cancel button). If the user desires to continue receiving notification of emails, for example, the user can select affordance  1943  to turn the notifications of emails back on. In some examples, the user can also provide another speech input, such as “Notify me of incoming emails” to turn on the notification of emails. 
     With reference to  FIG.  19 D , in some embodiments, the digital assistant may not be able to complete a task based on user&#39;s speech input and can thus provide a user interface to enable the user to perform the task. As shown in  FIG.  19 D , in some examples, the user provides a speech input  1958  such as “Show a custom message on my screen saver.” The digital assistant determines that the user intent is to change the screen saver settings to show a custom message. The digital assistant further determines that the user intent is to vary a display configuration, and therefore the user intent indicates a request for performing a task. 
     In some embodiments, in accordance with a determination that the user intent indicates a request for performing a task, the digital assistant instantiates a process associated with the user device to perform the task. In some examples, if the digital assistant cannot complete the task based on the user intent, it provides a user interface enabling the user to perform the task. For example, based on speech input  1958 , the digital assistant may not be able to determine the content of the custom message that is to be shown on the screen saver and therefore cannot complete the task of displaying the custom message. As illustrated in  FIG.  19 D , in some examples, the digital assistant instantiates a display configuration process and provides a user interface  1946  (e.g., a snippet or a window) to enable the user to manually change the screen saver settings. As another example, the digital assistant provides a link  1944  (e.g., a link to the display configurations) enabling the user to perform the task. The user selects link  1944  by using an input device such as a mouse, a finger, or a stylus. Upon receiving the user&#39;s selection, the digital assistant instantiates a display configuration process and displays user interface  1946  to enable the user to change the screen saver settings. In some examples, the digital assistant further provides a spoken output  1978  such as “You can explore screen saver options in the screen saver configurations.” 
     7. Process for Operating a Digital Assistant—Intelligent Search and Object Management. 
       FIGS.  20 A- 20 G  illustrate a flow diagram of an exemplary process  2000  for operating a digital assistant in accordance with some embodiments. Process  2000  may be performed using one or more devices  104 ,  108 ,  200 ,  400 , or  600  ( FIG.  1 ,  2 A,  4   , or  6 A- 6 B). Operations in process  2000  are, optionally, combined or split, and/or the order of some operations is, optionally, changed. 
     With reference to  FIG.  20 A , at block  2002 , prior to receiving a first speech input, an affordance to invoke a digital assistant service is displayed on a display associated with a user device. At block  2003 , the digital assistant is invoked in response to receiving a pre-determined phrase. At block  2004 , the digital assistant is invoked in response to receiving a selection of the affordance. 
     At block  2006 , a first speech input is received from a user. At block  2008 , context information associated with the user device is identified. At block  2009 , the context information includes at least one of: user-specific data, metadata associated with one or more objects, sensor data, and user device configuration data. 
     At block  2010 , a user intent is determined based on the first speech input and the context information. At block  2012 , to determine the user intent, one or more actionable intents are determined. At block  2013 , one or more parameters associated with the actionable intent are determined. 
     With reference to  FIG.  20 B , at block  2015 , it is determined whether the user intent is to perform a task using a searching process or an object managing process. The searching process is configured to search data stored internally or externally to the user device, and the object managing process is configured to manage objects associated with the user device. At block  2016 , it is determined whether the speech input includes one or more keywords representing the searching process or the object managing process. At block  2018 , it is determined whether the task is associated with searching. At block  2020 , in accordance with a determination that the task is associated with searching, it is determined whether performing the task requires the searching process. At block  2021 , in accordance with a determination that performing the task does not require the searching process, a spoken request to select the searching process or the object managing process is outputted, and a second speech input is received from the user. The second speech input indicates the selection of the searching process or the object managing process. 
     At block  2022 , in accordance with a determination that performing the task does not require the searching process, it is determined, based on a pre-determined configuration, whether the task is to be performed using the searching process or the object managing process. 
     With reference to  FIG.  20 C , at block  2024 , in accordance with a determination that the task is not associated with searching, it is determined whether the task is associated with managing at least one object. At block  2025 , in accordance with a determination that the task is not associated with managing the at least one object, at least one of the following is performed: determining whether that task can be performed using a fourth process available to the user device and initiating a dialog with the user. 
     At block  2026 , in accordance with a determination the user intent is to perform the task using the searching process, the task is performed using the searching process. At block  2028 , at least one object is searched using the searching process. At block  2029 , the at least one object includes at least one of a folder or a file. At block  2030 , the file includes at least one of a photo, audio, or a video. At block  2031 , the file is stored internally or externally to the user device. At block  2032 , searching at least one of the folder or the file is based on metadata associated with the folder or the file. At block  2034 , the at least one object includes a communication. At block  2035 , the communication includes at least one of an email, a message, a notification, or a voicemail. At block  2036 , metadata associated with the communication is searched. 
     With reference to  FIG.  20 D , at block  2037 , the at least one object includes at least one of a contact or a calendar. At block  2038 , the at least one object includes an application. At block  2039 , the at least one object includes an online informational source. 
     At block  2040 , in accordance with the determination that the user intent is to perform the task using the object managing process, the task is performed using the object managing process. At block  2042 , the task is associated with searching, and the at least one object is searched using the object managing process. At block  2043 , the at least one object includes at least one of a folder or a file. At block  2044 , the file includes at least one of a photo, an audio, or a video. At block  2045 , the file is stored internally or externally to the user device. At block  2046 , searching at least one of the folder or the file is based on metadata associated with the folder or the file. 
     At block  2048 , the object managing process is instantiated. Instantiating the object managing process includes invoking the object managing process, generating a new instance of the object managing process, or executing an existing instance of the object managing process. 
     With reference to  FIG.  20 E , at block  2049 , the at least one object is created. At block  2050 , the at least one object is stored. At block  2051 , the at least one object is compressed. At block  2052 , the at least one object is moved from a first physical or virtual storage to a second physical or virtual storage. At block  2053 , the at least one object is copied from a first physical or virtual storage to a second physical or virtual storage. At block  2054 , the at least one object stored in a physical or virtual storage is deleted. At block  2055 , the at least one object stored at a physical or virtual storage is recovered. At block  2056 , the at least one object is marked. Marking of the at least one object is at least one of visible or associated with metadata of the at least one object. At block  2057 , the at least one object is backup according to a predetermined time period for backing up. At block  2058 , the at least one object is shared among one or more electronic devices communicatively connected to the user device. 
     With reference to  FIG.  20 F , at block  2060 , a response is provided based on a result of performing the task using the searching process or the object managing process. At block  2061 , a first user interface is displayed providing the result of performing the task using the searching process or the object managing process. At block  2062 , a link associated with the result of performing the task using the searching process is displayed. At block  2063 , a spoken output is provided according to the result of performing the task using the searching process or the object managing process. 
     At block  2064 , it is provided an affordance that enables the user to manipulate the result of performing the task using the searching process or the object managing process. At block  2065 , it is instantiated a third process that operates using the result of performing the task. 
     With reference to  FIG.  20 F , at block  2066 , a confidence level is determined. At block  2067 , the confidence level represents the accuracy in determining the user intent based on the first speech input and context information associated with the user device. At block  2068 , the confidence level represents the accuracy in determining whether the user intent is to perform the task using the searching process or the object managing process. 
     With reference to  FIG.  20 G , at block  2069 , the confidence level represents the accuracy in performing the task using the searching process or the object managing process. 
     At block  2070 , the response is provided in accordance with the determination of the confidence level. At block  2071 , it is determined whether the confidence level is greater than or equal to a threshold confidence level. At block  2072 , in accordance with a determination that the confidence level is greater than or equal to the threshold confidence level, a first response is provided. At block  2073 , in accordance with a determination that the confidence level is less than a threshold confidence level, a second response is provided. 
     8. Process for Operating a Digital Assistant—Continuity. 
       FIGS.  21 A- 21 E  illustrate a flow diagram of an exemplary process  2100  for operating a digital assistant in accordance with some embodiments. Process  2100  may be performed using one or more devices  104 ,  108 ,  200 ,  400 ,  600 ,  1400 ,  1500 ,  1600 , or  1700  ( FIGS.  1 ,  2 A,  4 ,  6 A- 6 B,  14 A- 14 D,  15 A- 15 D,  16 A- 16 C, and  17 A- 17 E ). Operations in process  2100  are, optionally, combined or split and/or the order of some operations is, optionally, changed. 
     With reference to  FIG.  21 A , at block  2102 , prior to receiving a first speech input, an affordance to invoke a digital assistant service is displayed on a display associated with a user device. At block  2103 , the digital assistant is invoked in response to receiving a pre-determined phrase. At block  2104 , the digital assistant is invoked in response to receiving a selection of the affordance. 
     At block  2106 , a first speech input is received from a user to perform a task. At block  2108 , context information associated with the user device is identified. At block  2109 , the user device is configured to provide a plurality of user interfaces. At block  2110 , the user device includes a laptop computer, a desktop computer, or a server. At block  2112 , the context information includes at least one of: user-specific data, metadata associated with one or more objects, sensor data, and user device configuration data. 
     At block  2114 , a user intent is determined based on the speech input and the context information. At block  2115 , to determine the user intent, one or more actionable intents are determined. At block  2116 , one or more parameters associated with the actionable intent are determined. 
     With reference to  FIG.  21 B , at block  2118 , in accordance with user intent, it is determined whether the task is to be performed at the user device or at a first electronic device communicatively connected to the user device. At block  2120 , the first electronic device includes a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a server, a smartphone, a tablet, a set-top box, or a watch. At block  2121 , determining whether the task is to be performed at the user device or at the first electronic device is based on one or more keywords included in the speech input. At block  2122 , it is determined whether performing the task at the user device satisfies performance criteria. At block  2123 , the performance criteria are determined based on one or more user preferences. At block  2124 , the performance criteria are determined based on the device configuration data. At block  2125 , the performance criteria are dynamically updated. At block  2126 , in accordance with a determination that performing the task at the user device satisfies the performance criteria, it is determined that the task is to be performed at the user device. 
     With reference to  FIG.  21 C , at block  2128 , in accordance with a determination that performing the task at the user device does not satisfy the performance criteria, it is determined whether performing the task at the first electronic device satisfies the performance criteria. At block  2130 , in accordance with a determination that performing the task at the first electronic device satisfies the performance criteria, it is determined that the task is to be performed at the first electronic device. At block  2132 , in accordance with a determination that performing the task at the first electronic device does not meet the performance criteria, it is determined whether performing the task at the second electronic device satisfies the performance criteria. 
     At block  2134 , in accordance with a determination that the task is to be performed at the user device and content for performing the task is located remotely, the content for performing the task is received. At block  2135 , at least a portion of the content is received from the first electronic device. At least a portion of the content is stored in the first electronic device. At block  2136 , at least a portion of the content is received from a third electronic device. 
     With reference to  FIG.  21 D , at block  2138 , in accordance with a determination that the task is to be performed at the first electronic device and the content for performing the task is located remotely to the first electronic device, the content for performing the task is provided to the first electronic device. At block  2139 , at least a portion of the content is provided from the user device to the first electronic device. At least a portion of the content is stored at the user device. At block  2140 , at least a portion of the content is caused to be provided from a fourth electronic device to the first electronic device. At least a portion of the content is stored at the fourth electronic device. 
     At block  2142 , the task is to be performed at the user device. A first response is provided at the user device using the received content. At block  2144 , the task is performed at the user device. At block  2145 , performing the task at the user device is a continuation of a task partially performed remotely to the user device. At block  2146 , a first user interface is displayed associated with the task to be performed at the user device. At block  2148 , a link associated with the task is to be performed at the user device. At block  2150 , a spoken output is provided according to the task to be performed at the user device. 
     With reference to  FIG.  21 E , at block  2152 , the task is to be performed at the first electronic device, and a second response is provided at the user device. At block  2154 , the task is to be performed at the first electronic device. At block  2156 , the task to be performed at the first electronic device is a continuation of a task performed remotely to the first electronic device. At block  2158 , a spoken output is provided according to the task to be performed at the first electronic device. At block  2160 , a spoken output is provided according to the task to be performed at the first electronic device. 
     9. Process for Operating a Digital Assistant—System Configuration Management. 
       FIGS.  22 A- 22 D  illustrate a flow diagram of an exemplary process  2200  for operating a digital assistant in accordance with some embodiments. Process  2200  may be performed using one or more devices  104 ,  108 ,  200 ,  400 ,  600 , or  1800  ( FIGS.  1 ,  2 A,  4 ,  6 A- 6 B, and  18 C- 18 D ). Operations in process  2200  are, optionally, combined or split, and/or the order of some operations is, optionally, changed. 
     With reference to  FIG.  22 A , at block  2202 , prior to receiving a speech input, an affordance to invoke a digital assistant service is displayed on a display associated with a user device. At block  2203 , the digital assistant is invoked in response to receiving a pre-determined phrase. At block  2204 , the digital assistant is invoked in response to receiving a selection of the affordance. 
     At block  2206 , a speech input is received from a user to manage one or more system configurations of the user device. The user device is configured to concurrently provide a plurality of user interfaces. At block  2207 , the one or more system configurations of the user device comprise audio configurations. At block  2208 , the one or more system configurations of the user device comprise date and time configurations. At block  2209 , the one or more system configurations of the user device comprise dictation configurations. At block  2210 , the one or more system configurations of the user device comprise display configurations. At block  2211 , the one or more system configurations of the user device comprise input device configurations. At block  2212 , the one or more system configurations of the user device comprise network configurations. At block  2213 , the one or more system configurations of the user device comprise notification configurations. 
     With reference to  FIG.  22 B , at block  2214 , the one or more system configurations of the user device comprise printer configurations. At block  2215 , the one or more system configurations of the user device comprise security configurations. At block  2216 , the one or more system configurations of the user device comprise backup configurations. At block  2217 , the one or more system configurations of the user device comprise application configurations. At block  2218 , the one or more system configurations of the user device comprise user interface configurations. 
     At block  2220 , context information associated with the user device is identified. At block  2223 , the context information comprises at least one of: user-specific data, device configuration data, and sensor data. At block  2224 , the user intent is determined based on the speech input and the context information. At block  2225 , one or more actionable intents are determined. At block  2226 , one or more parameters associated with the actionable intent are determined. 
     With reference to  FIG.  22 C , at block  2228 , it is determined whether the user intent indicates an informational request or a request for performing a task. At block  2229 , it is determined whether the user intent is to vary a system configuration. 
     At block  2230 , in accordance with a determination that the user intent indicates an informational request, a spoken response is provided to the informational request. At block  2231 , status of one or more system configurations is obtained according to the informational request. At block  2232 , the spoken response is provided according to the status of one or more system configurations. 
     At block  2234 , in addition to providing the spoken response to the informational request, a first user interface is displayed to provide information according to the status of the one or more system configurations. At block  2236 , in addition to providing the spoken response to the informational request, a link associated with the informational request is provided. 
     At block  2238 , in accordance with a determination that the user intent indicates a request for performing a task, a process associated with the user device is instantiated to perform the task. At block  2239 , the task is performed using the process. At block  2240 , a first spoken output is provided according to a result of performing the task. 
     With reference to  FIG.  22 D , at block  2242 , a second user interface is provided to enable the user to manipulate a result of performing the task. At block  2244 , the second user interface comprises a link associated with the result of performing the task. 
     At block  2246 , a third user interface is provided to enable the user to perform the task. At block  2248 , the third user interface includes a link enabling the user to perform the task. At block  2250 , a second spoken output associated with the third user interface is provided. 
     10. Electronic Device—Intelligent Search and Object Management 
       FIG.  23    shows a functional block diagram of electronic device  2300  configured in accordance with the principles of the various described examples, including those described with reference to  FIGS.  8 A- 8 F,  9 A- 9 H,  10 A- 10 B,  11 A- 11 F,  12 A- 12 D,  13 A- 13 C,  14 A- 14 D,  15 A- 15 D,  16 A- 16 C,  17 A- 17 E,  18 A - 18 F, and  19 A- 19 D. The functional blocks of the device can be optionally implemented by hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software to carry out the principles of the various described examples. It is understood by persons of skill in the art that the functional blocks described in  FIG.  23    can be optionally combined or separated into sub-blocks to implement the principles of the various described examples. Therefore, the description herein optionally supports any possible combination, separation, or further definition of the functional blocks described herein. 
     As shown in  FIG.  23   , electronic device  2300  can include a microphone  2302  and processing unit  2308 . In some examples, processing unit  2308  includes a receiving unit  2310 , a an identifying unit  2312 , a determining unit  2314 , a performing unit  2316 , a providing unit  2318 , an instantiating unit  2320 , a displaying unit  2322 , an outputting unit  2324 , an initiating unit  2326 , a searching unit  2328 , a generating unit  2330 , an executing unit  2332 , a creating unit  2334 , an instantiating unit  2335 , a storing unit  2336 , a compressing unit  2338 , a copying unit  2340 , a deleting unit  2342 , a recovering unit  2344 , a marking unit  2346 , a backing up unit  2348 , a sharing unit  2350 , a causing unit  2352 , and an obtaining unit  2354 . 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to receive (e.g., with the receiving unit  2310 ) a first speech input from a user; identify (e.g., with the identifying unit  2312 ) context information associated with the user device; and determine (e.g., with the determining unit  2314 ) a user intent based on the first speech input and the context information. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to determine (e.g., with the determining unit  2314 ) whether the user intent is to perform a task using a searching process or an object managing process. The searching process is configured to search data stored internally or externally to the user device, and the object managing process is configured to manage objects associated with the user device. 
     In some examples, in accordance with a determination the user intent is to perform the task using the searching process, the processing unit  2308  is configured to perform (e.g., with the performing unit  2316 ) the task using the searching process. In some examples, in accordance with the determination that the user intent is to perform the task using the object managing process, the processing unit  2308  is configured to perform (e.g., with the performing unit  2316 ) the task using the object managing process. 
     In some examples, prior to receiving the first speech input, the processing unit  2308  is configured to display (e.g., with the displaying unit  2322 ), on a display associated with the user device, an affordance to invoke the digital assistant service. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to invoke (e.g., with the invoking unit  2320 ) the digital assistant in response to receiving a pre-determined phrase. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to invoke (e.g., with the invoking unit  2320 ) the digital assistant in response to receiving a selection of the affordance. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to determine (e.g., with the determining unit  2314 ) one or more actionable intents; and determine (e.g., with determining unit  2314 ) one or more parameters associated with the actionable intent. 
     In some examples, the context information comprises at least one of: user-specific data, metadata associated with one or more objects, sensor data, and user device configuration data. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to determine (e.g., with the determining unit  2314 ) whether the speech input includes one or more keywords representing the searching process or the object managing process. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to determine (e.g., with the determining unit  2314 ) whether the task is associated with searching. In accordance with a determination that the task is associated with searching, the processing unit  2308  is configured to determine (e.g., with the determining unit  2314 ) whether performing the task requires the searching process; and in accordance with a determination that the task is not associated with searching, determine (e.g., with the determining unit  2314 ) whether the task is associated with managing at least one object. 
     In some examples, the task is associated with searching, and in accordance with a determination that performing the task does not require the searching process, the processing unit  2308  is configured to output (e.g., with the outputting unit  2324 ) a spoken request to select the searching process or the object managing process and receive (e.g., with the receiving unit  2310 ), from the user, a second speech input indicating the selection of the searching process or the object managing process. 
     In some examples, the task is associated with searching, and in accordance with a determination that performing the task does not require the searching process, the processing unit  2308  is configured to determine (e.g., with the determining unit  2314 ), based on a pre-determined configuration, whether the task is to be performed using the searching process or the object managing process. 
     In some examples, the task is not associated with searching, and in accordance with a determination that the task is not associated with managing the at least one object, the processing unit  2308  is configured to perform (e.g., with the performing unit  2316 ) at least one of: determining (e.g., with the determining unit  2314 ) whether that task can be performed using a fourth process available to the user device; and initiating (e.g., with the initiating unit  2326 ) dialog with the user. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to search (e.g., with the searching unit  2328 ) at least one object using the searching process. 
     In some examples, the at least one object includes at least one of a folder or a file. The file includes at least one of a photo, audio, or a video. The file is stored internally or externally to the user device. 
     In some examples, searching at least one of the folder or the file is based on metadata associated with the folder or the file. 
     In some examples, the at least one object includes a communication. The communication includes at least one of an email, a message, a notification, or a voicemail. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to search (e.g., with the searching unit  2328 ) metadata associated with the communication. 
     In some examples, the at least one object includes at least one of a contact or a calendar. 
     In some examples, the at least one object includes an application. 
     In some examples, the at least one object includes an online informational source. 
     In some examples, the task is associated with searching, and the processing unit  2308  is configured to search (e.g., with the searching unit  2328 ) the at least one object using the object managing process. 
     In some examples, the at least one object includes at least one of a folder or a file. The file includes at least one of a photo, an audio, or a video. The file is stored internally or externally to the user device. 
     In some examples, searching at least one of the folder or the file is based on metadata associated with the folder or the file. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to instantiate (e.g., with the instantiating unit  2335 ) the object managing process. Instantiating of the object managing process includes invoking the object managing process, generating a new instance of the object managing process, or executing an existing instance of the object managing process. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to create (e.g., with the creating unit  2334 ) the at least one object. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to store (e.g., with the storing unit  2336 ) the at least one object. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to compress (e.g., with the compressing unit  2338 ) the at least one object. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to move (e.g., with the moving unit  2339 ) the at least one object from a first physical or virtual storage to a second physical or virtual storage. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to copy (e.g., with the copying unit  2340 ) the at least one object from a first physical or virtual storage to a second physical or virtual storage. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to delete (e.g., with the deleting unit  2342 ) the at least one object stored in a physical or virtual storage. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to recover (e.g., with the recovering unit  2344 ) at least one object stored at a physical or virtual storage. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to mark (e.g., with the marking unit  2346 ) the at least one object. Marking of the at least one object is at least one of visible or associated with metadata of the at least one object. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to back up (e.g., with the backing up unit  2348 ) the at least one object according to a predetermined time period for backing up. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to share (e.g., with the sharing unit  2350 ) the at least one object among one or more electronic devices communicatively connected to the user device. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to provide (e.g., with the providing unit  2318 ) a response based on a result of performing the task using the searching process or the object managing process. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to display (e.g., with the displaying unit  2322 ) a first user interface providing the result of performing the task using the searching process or the object managing process. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to provide (e.g., with the providing unit  2318 ) a link associated with the result of performing the task using the searching process. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to provide (e.g., with the providing unit  2318 ) a spoken output according to the result of performing the task using the searching process or the object managing process. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to provide (e.g., with the providing unit  2318 ) an affordance that enables the user to manipulate the result of performing the task using the searching process or the object managing process. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to instantiate (e.g., with the instantiating unit  2335 ) a third process that operates using the result of performing the task. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to determine (e.g., with the determining unit  2314 ) a confidence level; and provide (e.g., with providing unit  2318 ) the response in accordance with the determination of the confidence level. 
     In some examples, the confidence level represents the accuracy in determining the user intent based on the first speech input and context information associated with the user device. 
     In some examples, the confidence level represents the accuracy in determining whether the user intent is to perform the task using the searching process or the object managing process. 
     In some examples, the confidence level represents the accuracy in performing the task using the searching process or the object managing process. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to determine (e.g., with the determining unit  2314 ) whether the confidence level is greater than or equal to a threshold confidence level. In accordance with a determination that the confidence level is greater than or equal to the threshold confidence level, the processing unit  2308  is configured to provide (e.g., with the providing unit  2318 ) a first response; and in accordance with a determination that the confidence level is less than a threshold confidence level, the processing unit  2308  is configured to provide (e.g., with the providing unit  2318 ) a second response. 
     11. Electronic Device—Continuity 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to receive (e.g., with the receiving unit  2310 ) a speech input from a user to perform a task; identify (e.g., with the identifying unit  2312 ) context information associated with the user device; and determine (e.g., with the determining unit  2314 ) a user intent based on the speech input and context information associated with the user device. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to, in accordance with user intent, determine (e.g., with the determining unit  2314 ) whether the task is to be performed at the user device or at a first electronic device communicatively connected to the user device. 
     In some examples, in accordance with a determination that the task is to be performed at the user device and content for performing the task is located remotely, the processing unit  2308  is configured to receive (e.g., with the receiving unit  2310 ) the content for performing the task. 
     In some examples, in accordance with a determination that the task is to be performed at the first electronic device and the content for performing the task is located remotely to the first electronic device, the processing unit  2308  is configured to provide (e.g., with the providing unit  2318 ) the content for performing the task to the first electronic device. 
     In some examples, the user device is configured to provide a plurality of user interfaces. 
     In some examples, the user device includes a laptop computer, a desktop computer, or a server. 
     In some examples, the first electronic device includes a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a server, a smartphone, a tablet, a set-top box, or a watch. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to, prior to receiving the speech input, display (e.g., with the displaying unit  2322 ), on a display of the user device, an affordance to invoke the digital assistant. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to invoke (e.g., with the invoking unit  2320 ) the digital assistant in response to receiving a pre-determined phrase. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to invoke (e.g., with the invoking unit  2320 ) the digital assistant in response to receiving a selection of the affordance. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to determine (e.g., with the determining unit  2314 ) one or more actionable intents; and determine (e.g., with the determining unit  2314 ) one or more parameters associated with the actionable intent. 
     In some examples, the context information comprises at least one of: user-specific data, sensor data, and user device configuration data. 
     In some examples, determining whether the task is to be performed at the user device or at the first electronic device is based on one or more keywords included in the speech input. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to determine (e.g., with determining unit  2314 ) whether performing the task at the user device satisfies performance criteria. 
     In some examples, in accordance with a determination that performing the task at the user device satisfies the performance criteria, the processing unit  2308  is configured to determine (e.g., with the determining unit  2314 ) that the task is to be performed at the user device. 
     In some examples, in accordance with a determination that performing the task at the user device does not satisfy the performance criteria, the processing unit  2308  is configured to determine (e.g., with the determining unit  2314 ) whether performing the task at the first electronic device satisfies the performance criteria. 
     In some examples, in accordance with a determination that performing the task at the first electronic device satisfies the performance criteria, the processing unit  2308  is configured to determine (e.g., with the determining  2314 ) that the task is to be performed at the first electronic device. 
     In some examples, in accordance with a determination that the performing the task at the first electronic device does not meet the performance criteria, the processing unit  2308  is configured to determine (e.g., with the determining unit  2314 ) whether performing the task at the second electronic device satisfies the performance criteria. 
     In some examples, the performance criteria are determined based on one or more user preferences. 
     In some examples, the performance criteria are determined based on the device configuration data. 
     In some examples, the performance criteria are dynamically updated. 
     In some examples, in accordance with a determination that the task is to be performed at the user device and content for performing the task is located remotely, the processing unit  2308  is configured to receive (e.g., with the receiving unit  2310 ) at least a portion of the content from the first electronic device, wherein at least a portion of the content is stored in the first electronic device. 
     In some examples, in accordance with a determination that the task is to be performed at the user device and content for performing the task is located remotely, the processing unit  2308  is configured to receive (e.g., with the receiving unit  2310 ) at least a portion of the content from a third electronic device. 
     In some examples, in accordance with a determination that the task is to be performed at the first electronic device and the content for performing the task is located remotely to the first electronic device, the processing unit  2308  is configured to provide (e.g., with the providing unit  2318 ) at least a portion of the content from the user device to the first electronic device, wherein at least a portion of the content is stored at the user device. 
     In some examples, in accordance with a determination that the task is to be performed at the first electronic device and the content for performing the task is located remotely to the first electronic device, the processing unit  2308  is configured to cause (e.g., with the causing unit  2352 ) at least a portion of the content to be provided from a fourth electronic device to the first electronic device. At least a portion of the content is stored at the fourth electronic device. 
     In some examples, the task is to be performed at the user device, and processing unit  2308  is configured to provide (e.g., with the providing unit  2318 ) a first response at the user device using the received content. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to perform (e.g., with the performing unit  2316 ) the task at the user device. 
     In some examples, performing the task at the user device is a continuation of a task partially performed remotely to the user device. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to display (e.g., with the displaying unit  2322 ) a first user interface associated with the task to be performed at the user device. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to provide (e.g., with the providing unit  2318 ) a link associated with the task to be performed at the user device. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to provide (e.g., with the providing unit  2318 ) a spoken output according to the task to be performed at the user device. 
     In some examples, the task is to be performed at the first electronic device, and the processing unit  2308  is configured to provide (e.g., with the providing unit  2318 ) a second response at the user device. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to cause (e.g., with the causing unit  2352 ) the task to be performed at the first electronic device. 
     In some examples, the task to be performed at the first electronic device is a continuation of a task performed remotely to the first electronic device. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to provide (e.g., with the providing unit  2318 ) a spoken output according to the task to be performed at the first electronic device. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to provide (e.g., with the providing unit  2318 ) an affordance that enables the user to select another electronic device for performance of the task. 
     12. Electronic Device—System Configuration Management 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to receive (e.g., with the receiving unit  2310 ) a speech input from a user to manage one or more system configurations of the user device. The user device is configured to concurrently provide a plurality of user interfaces. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to identify (e.g., with the identifying unit  2312 ) context information associated with the user device; and determine (e.g., with the determining unit  2314 ) a user intent based on the speech input and context information. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to determine (e.g., with the determining unit  2314 ) whether the user intent indicates an informational request or a request for performing a task. 
     In some examples, in accordance with a determination that the user intent indicates an informational request, the processing unit  2308  is configured to provide (e.g., with the providing unit  2318 ) a spoken response to the informational request. 
     In some examples, in accordance with a determination that the user intent indicates a request for performing a task, the processing unit  2308  is configured to instantiate (e.g., with the instantiating unit  2335 ) a process associated with the user device to perform the task. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to, prior to receiving the speech input, display (e.g., with the displaying unit  2322 ) on a display of the user device, an affordance to invoke the digital assistant. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to invoke (e.g., with the invoking unit  2320 ) the digital assistant service in response to receiving a pre-determined phrase. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to invoke (e.g., with the invoking unit  2320 ) the digital assistant service in response to receiving a selection of the affordance. 
     In some examples, the one or more system configurations of the user device comprise audio configurations. 
     In some examples, the one or more system configurations of the user device comprise date and time configurations. 
     In some examples, the one or more system configurations of the user device comprise dictation configurations. 
     In some examples, the one or more system configurations of the user device comprise display configurations. 
     In some examples, the one or more system configurations of the user device comprise input device configurations. 
     In some examples, the one or more system configurations of the user device comprise network configurations. 
     In some examples, the one or more system configurations of the user device comprise notification configurations. 
     In some examples, the one or more system configurations of the user device comprise printer configurations. 
     In some examples, the one or more system configurations of the user device comprise security configurations. 
     In some examples, the one or more system configurations of the user device comprise backup configurations. 
     In some examples, the one or more system configurations of the user device comprise application configurations. 
     In some examples, the one or more system configurations of the user device comprise user interface configurations. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to determine (e.g., with the determining unit  2314 ) one or more actionable intents; and determine (e.g., with the determining unit  2314 ) one or more parameters associated with the actionable intent. 
     In some examples, the context information comprises at least one of: user-specific data, device configuration data, and sensor data. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to determine (e.g., with the determining unit  2314 ) whether the user intent is to vary a system configuration. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to obtain (e.g., with the obtaining unit  2354 ) status of one or more system configurations according to the informational request; and provide (e.g., with the providing unit  2318 ) the spoken response according to the status of one or more system configurations. 
     In some examples, in accordance with a determination that the user intent indicates an informational request, the processing unit  2308  is configured to, in addition to providing the spoken response to the informational request, display (e.g., with the displaying unit  2322 ) a first user interface providing information according to the status of the one or more system configurations. 
     In some examples, in accordance with a determination that the user intent indicates an informational request, the processing unit  2308  is configured to, in addition to providing the spoken response to the informational request, provide (e.g., with the providing unit  2318 ) a link associated with the informational request. 
     In some examples, in accordance with a determination that the user intent indicates a request for performing a task, the processing unit  2308  is configured to perform (e.g., with the performing unit  2316 ) the task using the process. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to provide (e.g., with the providing unit  2318 ) a first spoken output according to a result of performing the task. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to provide (e.g., with the providing unit  2318 ) a second user interface enabling the user to manipulate a result of performing the task. 
     In some examples, the second user interface comprises a link associated with the result of performing the task. 
     In some examples, in accordance with a determination that the user intent indicates a request for performing a task, the processing unit  2308  is configured to provide (e.g., with the providing unit  2318 ) a third user interface enabling the user to perform the task. 
     In some examples, the third user interface includes a link enabling the user to perform the task. 
     In some examples, the processing unit  2308  is configured to provide (e.g., with the providing unit  2318 ) a second spoken output associated with the third user interface. 
     The operation described above with respect to  FIG.  23    is, optionally, implemented by components depicted in  FIG.  1 ,  2 A,  4 ,  6 A -B, or  7 A- 7 B. For example, receiving operation  2310 , identifying operation  2312 , determining operation  2314 , performing operation  2316 , and providing operation  2318  are optionally implemented by processor(s)  220 . It would be clear to a person of ordinary skill in the art how other processes can be implemented based on the components depicted in  FIG.  1 ,  2 A,  4 ,  6 A -B, or  7 A- 7 B. 
     It is understood by persons of skill in the art that the functional blocks described in  FIG.  23    are, optionally, combined or separated into sub-blocks to implement the principles of the various described embodiments. Therefore, the description herein optionally supports any possible combination or separation or further definition of the functional blocks described herein. For example, processing unit  2308  can have an associated “controller” unit that is operatively coupled with processing unit  2308  to enable operation. This controller unit is not separately illustrated in  FIG.  23    but is understood to be within the grasp of one of ordinary skill in the art who is designing a device having a processing unit  2308 , such as device  2300 . As another example, one or more units, such as the receiving unit  2310 , may be hardware units outside of processing unit  2308  in some embodiments. The description herein thus optionally supports combination, separation, and/or further definition of the functional blocks described herein. 
     The foregoing description, for purpose of explanation, has been described with reference to specific embodiments. However, the illustrative discussions above are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the techniques and their practical applications. Others skilled in the art are thereby enabled to best utilize the techniques and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. 
     Although the disclosure and examples have been fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications are to be understood as being included within the scope of the disclosure and examples as defined by the claims.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20230419
Publication Date: 20241224
Grant Date: 20241224
Priority Date: 20160610
Inventors: KUDURSHIAN, ARAM D.
JONES, Bronwyn
CRANFILL, ELIZABETH CAROLINE FURCHES
SADDLER, HARRY J.
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "G10L2015/223", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G10L15/30", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G10L15/1815", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G10L13/02", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F16/9032", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G10L2015/228", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F3/167", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F16/951", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F16/685", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G10L2015/228", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G10L2015/223", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G10L15/30", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G10L15/1815", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G10L13/02", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F3/167", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F16/951", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F16/685", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F16/9032", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G10L2015/223", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F16/9032", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G10L2015/228", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F3/167", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G10L15/065", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G10L15/00", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G10L15/1822", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F3/167", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F9/4843", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G10L15/22", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G10L15/22", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G10L15/22", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G10L15/22", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F9/453", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G10L2015/228", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G10L2015/223", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G10L15/30", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G10L15/1815", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G10L13/02", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F16/951", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F16/9032", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F16/685", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F3/167", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G10L15/22", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 60573039