Context-based automated task performance for user contacts

Abstract

A processing system including at least one processor may receive a task request for a user from a requesting party, identify a trust profile for the requesting party, identify a first automated system to access to fulfill the task request, determine whether the trust profile for the requesting party permits an access to the first automated system, and fulfill the task request via the first automated system when it is determined that the trust profile for the requesting party permits the access to the first automated system.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving, by a processing system including at least one processor, a task request for a user of the processing system from a requesting party, wherein the requesting party is a party other than the user, and wherein the user is unavailable to respond to the task request when the task request is received;   identifying, by the processing system, a trust profile for the requesting party, wherein the trust profile specifies at least one condition under which the requesting party is permitted to access information and to perform actions relating to a plurality of automated systems that is accessible to the processing system;   identifying, by the processing system, an automated system to access to fulfill the task request, wherein the automated system is one of the plurality of automated systems, and wherein access credentials are needed to access the automated system;   determining, by the processing system, that the trust profile for the requesting party does not permit an access to the access credentials needed to access the automated system;   submitting, by the processing system in response to the determining that the trust profile for the requesting party does not permit the access to the automated system, a request to override the trust profile; and   fulfilling, by the processing system in response to a grant of an authorization to override the trust profile in response to the request to override the trust profile, the task request on behalf of the user via the automated system, wherein the grant of the authorization to override the trust profile grants the access to the automated system without exposing the access credentials to the requesting party.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the task request comprises a request to perform at least one action via the automated system. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the task request comprises a query for information associated with the user, wherein the fulfilling the task request comprises:
 obtaining, by the processing system, the information from the automated system; and   fulfilling, by the processing system, the query for the requesting party in accordance with the information that is obtained from the automated system.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 identifying, by the processing system, a plurality of contacts of the user; and   assigning, by the processing system, trust profiles to the plurality of contacts.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the trust profiles are assigned from a plurality of available trust profiles. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the trust profiles are assigned based upon relationships between the user and the plurality of contacts. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the requesting party comprises one of the plurality of contacts of the user, and wherein the trust profile for the requesting party is identified from the trust profiles assigned to the plurality of contacts. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein each of the trust profiles comprises access permission settings for the plurality of automated systems. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 activating, by the processing system, a processing of task requests from requesting parties on behalf of the user prior to the receiving of the task request, wherein the activating is performed in response to a determination that the user is unavailable to respond to the task requests.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the determination is made in response to an input from the user indicating that the user is unavailable to respond to the task requests. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the determination is made in response to detecting a context of the user indicating that the user is unavailable to respond to the task requests. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 enrolling, by the processing system, the plurality of automated systems for fulfilling queries from requesting parties prior to the receiving of the task request.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the automated system comprises:
 a calendar system;   a contact management system;   a banking system;   a computing system;   a smart building system;   a biometric measurement system;   a document management system;   a location information system; or   a vehicle.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing, by the processing system, a notification to the user of the fulfilling of the task request; and   obtaining, by the processing system in response to the notification, an indication from the user to adjust the trust profile of the requesting party.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 adjusting, by the processing system, the trust profile of the requesting party in accordance with the indication.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the access credentials comprise a password needed to access the automated system. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the processing system, the authorization to override the trust profile, wherein the fulfilling the task request is performed via the automated system in accordance with the authorization.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 adjusting, by the processing system, at least one access permission setting for the automated system in the trust profile of the requesting party.   
     
     
         19 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a processing system including at least one processor, cause the processing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
 receiving a task request for a user of the processing system from a requesting party, wherein the requesting party is a party other than the user, and wherein the user is unavailable to respond to the task request when the task request is received;   identifying a trust profile for the requesting party, wherein the trust profile specifies at least one condition under which the requesting party is permitted to access information and to perform actions relating to a plurality of automated systems that is accessible to the processing system;   identifying an automated system to access to fulfill the task request, wherein the automated system is one of the plurality of automated systems, and wherein access credentials are needed to access the automated system;   determining that the trust profile for the requesting party does not permit an access to the access credentials needed to access the automated system;   submitting, in response to the determining that the trust profile for the requesting party does not permit the access to the automated system, a request to override the trust profile; and   fulfilling, in response to a grant of an authorization to override the trust profile in response to the request to override the trust profile, the task request on behalf of the user via the automated system, wherein the grant of the authorization to override the trust profile grants the access to the automated system without exposing the access credentials to the requesting party.   
     
     
         20 . A device comprising:
 a processing system including at least one processor; and   a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by the processing system, cause the processing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
 receiving a task request for a user of the processing system from a requesting party, wherein the requesting party is a party other than the user, and wherein the user is unavailable to respond to the task request when the task request is received; 
 identifying a trust profile for the requesting party, wherein the trust profile specifies at least one condition under which the requesting party is permitted to access information and to perform actions relating to a plurality of automated systems that is accessible to the processing system; 
 identifying an automated system to access to fulfill the task request, wherein the automated system is one of the plurality of automated systems, and wherein access credentials are needed to access the automated system; 
 determining that the trust profile for the requesting party does not permit an access to the access credentials needed to access the automated system; 
 submitting, in response to the determining that the trust profile for the requesting party does not permit the access to the automated system, a request to override the trust profile; and 
 fulfilling, in response to a grant of an authorization to override the trust profile in response to the request to override the trust profile, the task request on behalf of the user via the automated system, wherein the grant of the authorization to override the trust profile grants the access to the automated system without exposing the access credentials to the requesting party.