Apple patents voice assistant that waits for you to finish speaking
This patent describes a method where a digital assistant listens to your voice and uses semantic analysis to decide if you have finished your request. If the system detects that your sentence is incomplete, it waits for a set amount of time before responding, rather than interrupting you. It also adjusts how it displays visual cues on the screen depending on the type of task you are performing.
In the filing’s own words
An example process includes: receiving an audio stream; and while receiving the audio stream: in accordance with a determination, based on a semantic analysis of at least a portion of the audio stream, that a user request in the at least a portion of the audio stream is complete: providing a first response to the user request; and in accordance with a determination, based on the semantic analysis of the least a portion of the audio stream, that the user request is incomplete: forgoing providing, for a predetermined duration, an audible response to the user request.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions, which when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device with a microphone, cause the electronic device to: receive, via the microphone, an audio stream that includes a speech input; identify an endpoint of the speech input; and while receiving, via the microphone, the audio stream: in accordance with a determination that a first portion of the audio stream corresponds to a first type of task: display, before identifying the endpoint of the speech input, an affordance generated based on the first portion of the audio stream; and in accordance with a determination that a second portion of the audio stream, that is received after the first portion of the audio stream, satisfies a first set of criteria, update, before identifying the endpoint of the speech input, the display of the affordance based on the second portion of the audio stream; and in accordance with a determination that the first portion of the audio stream corresponds to a second type of task that is different from the first type of task: forgo displaying the affordance before identifying the endpoint of the speech input; and in accordance with identifying the endpoint of the speech input, display the affordance.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (Apple Inc.)
- Official title
- Systems and techniques for using a digital assistant with an enhanced endpointer
- Patent number
- US12744038B2
- Application number
- 18597758
- Filed
- Mar 6, 2024
- Granted
- Sep 22, 2026
- Inventors
- 4
- Claims
- 36
Classified under
G10L 15/22 Physics & computingG06F 3/167 Physics & computingG10L 15/1822 Physics & computingG10L 2015/223 Physics & computingMore from Apple in AI & software
- Apple patents AI that acts on voicemails for you Oct 15, 2026
- Apple patents letting users teach custom hand gestures to their devices Oct 22, 2026
- Apple patents AI that acts on voicemails for you Sep 1, 2026
- Apple patents video tool that swaps focus between subjects after filming Oct 20, 2026
- Apple patents system that changes room ambience based on what you look at Sep 3, 2026
Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.