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CHAPTER 8
Newton Services
8-22 Intelligent Assistant
Intelligent Assistant 8
The Intelligent Assistant is a system service that attempts to complete actions
specified by a user’s written input. You can think of the Assistant as an
alternate interface to Newton applications and services. The Assistant can
complete a number of tasks using the built-in applications and services, and
your application can extend the Assistant to carry out tasks that the application
performs. Users can also display an application’s online help from the
Assistant. This section describes the Assistant’s user interface in the context
of built-in applications. If your application uses Assistant services, it should
behave similarly.
Invoking the Assistant 8
A user invokes the Assistant by tapping the Assist button, which is a picture
button that looks like a light bulb. Before tapping the Assist button, a user
can write an action request or select existing text to be used as a request.
When a user taps the Assist button the system passes the Assistant any
currently selected text. If no text is selected, then the system passes the
Assistant the most recently written text. The Assistant classifies the words
in that text as actions, targets of actions, or unknown entities. Depending
on the results of this analysis, the Assistant may attempt to complete a task
or it may prompt the user to supply additional information. Figure 8-22
shows the Assist button initiating a fax operation.