Multi computational agent performance of tasks

Abstract

An example method includes receiving, by one or more processors, a representation of an utterance spoken at a computing device; identifying, by a first computational agent from a plurality of computational agents and based on the utterance, a multi-element task to be performed, wherein the plurality of computational agents includes one or more first party computational agents and a plurality of third-party computational agents; and performing, by the first computational agent, a first sub-set of elements of the multi-element task, wherein performing the first sub-set of elements comprises selecting a second computational agent from the plurality of computational agents to perform a second sub-set of elements of the multi-element task.

1 . A method implemented by one or more processors comprising:
 receiving a spoken utterance from a user of a computing device;   determining, based on processing the spoken utterance, that the spoken utterance includes a task to be performed;   determining, based on processing the spoken utterance, whether the spoken utterance includes a given trigger word or phrase for a given computational agent from among a plurality of disparate computational agents, the plurality of disparate computational agents including a first party computational agent and a plurality of third party computational agents;   in response to determining that the given trigger word or phrase is associated with the first party computational agent:
 selecting the first party computational agent to perform the task; and 
 causing the first party computational agent to perform the task; and 
   in response to determining that the given trigger word or phrase is associated with a given third party computational agent from among the plurality of third party computational agents:
 selecting the given third party computational agent to perform the task; and 
 causing the given third party computational agent to perform the task. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of disparate computing agents are associated with a corresponding trigger word or phrase. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein determining whether the spoken utterance includes the given trigger word or phrase for the given computational agent from among the plurality of disparate computational agents comprises:
 accessing an index that includes the corresponding trigger word or phrase for each of the plurality of disparate computing agents; and   determining, based on accessing the index, that the spoken utterance includes the given trigger word or phrase for the given computational agent   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 in response to determining that the given trigger word or phrase is not associated with the first party computational agent:
 determining that the given trigger word or phrase is associated with the given third party computational agent from among the plurality of third party computational agents. 
   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 in response to determining that the given trigger word or phrase is not associated with the first party computational agent and in response to determining that the given trigger word or phrase is not associated with any given third party computational agent from among the plurality of third party computational agents:
 selecting, based on corresponding capability levels associated with each of the plurality of computational agents, the given computational agent from among a plurality of disparate computational agents; and 
 causing the given computational agent to perform the task. 
   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the given computational agent is the first party computational agent. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the given computational agent is one of the plurality of third party computational agents. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 subsequent to causing the first party computational agent to perform the task or subsequent to causing the given third party computational agent to perform the task:
 causing a result of performance of the task to be provided for presentation to the user of the computing device. 
   
     
     
         9 . A computing device comprising:
 one or more hardware processors; and   memory comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more hardware processors, cause the one or more hardware processors to:
 receive a spoken utterance from a user of a computing device; 
 determine, based on processing the spoken utterance, that the spoken utterance includes a task to be performed; 
 determine, based on processing the spoken utterance, whether the spoken utterance includes a given trigger word or phrase for a given computational agent and from among a plurality of disparate computational agents, the plurality of disparate computational agents including a first party computational agent and a plurality of third party computational agents; 
 in response to determining that the given trigger word or phrase is associated with the first party computational agent:
 select the first party computational agent to perform the task; and 
 cause the first party computational agent to perform the task; and 
 
 in response to determining that the given trigger word or phrase is associated with a given third party computational agent from among the plurality of third party computational agents:
 select the given third party computational agent to perform the task; and 
 cause the given third party computational agent to perform the task. 
 
   
     
     
         10 . The computing device of  claim 9 , wherein each of the plurality of disparate computing agents are associated with a corresponding trigger word or phrase. 
     
     
         11 . The computing device of  claim 10 , wherein the instructions to determine whether the spoken utterance includes the given trigger word or phrase for the given computational agent from among the plurality of disparate computational agents comprise instructions to:
 access an index that includes the corresponding trigger word or phrase for each of the plurality of disparate computing agents; and   determine, based on accessing the index, that the spoken utterance includes the given trigger word or phrase for the given computational agent   
     
     
         12 . The computing device of  claim 9 , wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to:
 in response to determining that the given trigger word or phrase is not associated with the first party computational agent:
 determine that the given trigger word or phrase is associated with the given third party computational agent from among the plurality of third party computational agents. 
   
     
     
         13 . The computing device of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to:
 in response to determining that the given trigger word or phrase is not associated with the first party computational agent and in response to determining that the given trigger word or phrase is not associated with any given third party computational agent from among the plurality of third party computational agents:
 select, based on corresponding capability levels associated with each of the plurality of computational agents, the given computational agent from among a plurality of disparate computational agents; and 
 cause the given computational agent to perform the task. 
   
     
     
         14 . The computing device of  claim 13 , wherein the given computational agent is the first party computational agent. 
     
     
         15 . The computing device of  claim 13 , wherein the given computational agent is one of the plurality of third party computational agents. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to:
 subsequent to causing the first party computational agent to perform the task or subsequent to causing the given third party computational agent to perform the task:
 cause a result of performance of the task to be provided for presentation to the user of the computing device. 
   
     
     
         17 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more hardware processors, cause the one or more hardware processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:
 receiving a spoken utterance from a user of a computing device;   determining, based on processing the spoken utterance, that the spoken utterance includes a task to be performed;   determining, based on processing the spoken utterance, whether the spoken utterance includes a given trigger word or phrase for a given computational agent and from among a plurality of disparate computational agents, the plurality of disparate computational agents including a first party computational agent and a plurality of third party computational agents;   in response to determining that the given trigger word or phrase is associated with the first party computational agent:
 selecting the first party computational agent to perform the task; and 
 causing the first party computational agent to perform the task; and 
   in response to determining that the given trigger word or phrase is associated with a given third party computational agent from among the plurality of third party computational agents:
 selecting the given third party computational agent to perform the task; and 
 causing the given third party computational agent to perform the task.