In some embodiments, the PVA may change the mode of communication it uses to communicate with the sender when the PVA presents options to the sender. That is, the PVA presents, to the sender, a plurality of options for arranging a future communication between the sender and the recipient, the plurality of options including at least one option determined based on the accessed schedule information, wherein the options are presented to the sender via a mode of communication different from the mode of communication used by the sender for the identified communication, step 410. For example, if the received communication is a telephone call, the PVA may determine that the quality of audio being communicated via the telephone connection is substandard, and that the sender is unlikely to be able to clearly understand the PVA when the PVA presents options to the sender. The PVA may then, for example, compose an e-mail to the sender that includes the options and requests a reply message, and thus the PVA presents the options via e-mail instead of the telephone connection.
 However the PVA presents options to the sender, in response the PVA, as described in greater detail above, receives a selection of an option for arranging a future communication, step 404, and executes the selected option to arrange the future communication, step 405 (analogous to steps 304 and 305 as described above with regards to FIG. 3). In some embodiments, including those not depicted in FIG. 4, the PVA may also inform the recipient and the sender of the arranged future communication by identifying a time and a mode of communication to be used for the future communication, step 411. For example, after the sender and the PVA arrange the future communication, the PVA may send an e-mail message to both the recipient and the sender, confirming that the recipient is going to call the sender at 4:30 PM on Tuesday. Informing both the sender and the recipient of the time and mode of communication for the future communication makes it easier for the sender or the recipient to make changes to the arranged future communication, if needed. Using the previous example, where the sender and the PVA of the recipient arranged a phone call from the recipient for 5 PM, the details contained in an e-mail sent to both, the sender may later discover that he needs to be present at a meeting lasting from 4 PM to 5:30 PM. The sender could then contact the recipient again, this time perhaps by an e-mail reply indicating that 4:30 PM is no longer a good time for the recipient to call, and could the recipient possibly call at 5:35 PM. Of course the sender and the recipient may use any means to re-arrange the future communication, including using the PVA. That is, in some embodiments, if the sender contacts the recipient again, and communicates with the PVA again, the PVA may be configured to identify the sender as someone with whom a future communication has already been arranged. The PVA may then include, in the options presented to the sender, an option to cancel or edit the previously arranged future communication. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the PVA may notice that the sender and the recipient are engaged in a communication that is not the arranged future communication, and may offer, in options presented to the user, an option to cancel or edit the previously arranged future communication.  FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment 500 of a personal virtual assistant negotiating a future communication between the recipient and the sender of a received communication, where the sender informs the PVA of the purpose of the received communication. The PVA first performs steps 501, 502, 503, and 504, which are analogous to steps 301, 302, 303, and 304, described above. When presenting the plurality of options to the sender, one or more of the options may include the ability for the sender to identify the purpose of the received communication. Should the sender select that kind of option, if, for example, the received communication is a telephone call, the sender may indicate to the PVA that the reason the sender called the recipient was to discuss a patent disclosure. The sender may do this by speaking the purpose over the telephone to the PVA when prompted to do so by the PVA. The PVA would then record the sender's voice stating the purpose of the telephone call. In other words, the PVA receives, from the sender, an identification of the purpose of the received communication, step 506. This purpose may be indicated in any number of ways, and how the purpose is received by the PVA may depend on the mode of communication between the PVA and the sender. For example, if the PVA and the sender are communicating in an instant message session, the sender may send a further instant message, containing the purpose, to the PVA.
 After the PVA executes the selected option to arrange the future communication, step 505, the PVA also informs the recipient and the sender of the arranged future communication by identifying a time and a mode of communication to be used for the future communication, step 507/step 508. If the PVA has received a purpose of the received communication, the PVA may also inform the recipient of the received identification of the purpose of the received communication, step 509. The PVA may include the purpose of the received communication in whatever message type the PVA uses to inform the recipient of the future communication. For example, if the PVA sends an e-mail to the recipient, indicating a future telephone call with the sender at 5 PM, and the sender spoke via telephone with the PVA, the PVA may attach an audio file of the purpose of the received communication as recorded by the PVA. Alternatively, if the PVA informs the recipient of the future communication by a voicemail left on the recipient's cellular telephone voicemail system, the PVA may append the audio recording of the purpose of the received communication to the voicemail message. Further, if the purpose of the received communication was received by the PVA in a text format, the PVA might, as part of the voicemail message, inform the user to check their text messages on their cell phone after the user finishes listening to the voicemail message. The PVA need not inform the sender of the purpose of the received communication, but in some embodiments, the PVA includes the purpose when informing the sender of the arranged future communication.
 In FIG. 6, the PVA arranges a future communication by negotiating with another PVA that represents the sender according to, in one embodiment, a method 600 as shown. The PVA performs the usual actions in arranging a future communication. That is, the PVA receives a trigger command, the trigger command identifying a communication received for a recipient from a sender, step 601; access schedule information, the schedule information related to the recipient of the received communication, step 602; presents, to the sender, a plurality of options for arranging a future communication between the sender and the recipient, the plurality of options including at least one option determined based on the accessed schedule information, step 603; receives a selection of an option for arranging a future communication, step 604; and executes the selected option to arrange the future communication, step 605. (These steps are all analogous to steps 301-305 described in greater detail above.)

Here, however, at some point while performing these actions but prior to receiving a selection of an option, the PVA (denoted herein as the recipient PVA) receives a notification that the sender is represented by a sender personal virtual assistant, step 606. This notification may come in any variety of ways. For example, the sender PVA may transmit a signal or message to the recipient PVA that contains the notification. In some embodiments, the recipient PVA may present, as an option to the sender, “Transfer to [sender]'s PVA” or the like. The sender, upon selecting that option, would provide to the notification to the recipient PVA. At the same time, the sender would also need to activate his/her own PVA.
 At whatever point the recipient PVA received the notification, the recipient PVA proceeds to negotiate a future communication with the sender personal virtual assistant, step 607. The negotiation may be conducted in any of the ways described above, with the sender PVA taking over the decision-making from the sender. The actions of the sender PVA may mirror the actions of the recipient PVA; that is, the sender PVA may access schedule information related to the sender. Further, during the negotiation, the sender PVA may present a plurality of options (for arranging some aspect of the future communication) to the recipient PVA, from which the recipient PVA will have to choose an option. Also note that either user of either PVA may provide some basic instruction or instructions (for example, such as “arrange the future communication for any time tomorrow) to their respective PVA that sets up a framework or boundaries for that PVA to work within.
In some embodiments, the recipient PVA may negotiate with the sender PVA by exchanging at least one available time for the future communication with the sender personal virtual assistant, the at least one available time determined from the accessed schedule information, step 608, or exchanging at least one available mode of communication for the future communication with the sender personal virtual assistant, step 609, or by doing both.
At the conclusion of the negotiation between the recipient PVA and the sender PVA, the recipient PVA reaches an agreement with the sender personal virtual assistant on a time and a mode of communication for the future communication, step 610. The sender PVA and the recipient PVA may then each inform their respective users (i.e., the sender and the recipient) of the arranged future communication, as described above.
 In some embodiments, the recipient PVA may change the mode of communication for conducting the negotiation with the sender PVA. In these embodiments, when the PVA receives the trigger command, step 601, the PVA receives a trigger command, the trigger command identifying a communication received for a recipient from a sender and a mode of communication through which the identified communication was received, step 611. For example, the received communication from the sender (prior to the sender PVA becoming involved) may be a telephone call, so the trigger command will identify the mode of communication as a telephone call. Then, prior to negotiating, the recipient PVA may change the mode of communication used to communicate with the sender personal virtual assistant, step 612. For example, the recipient PVA and the sender PVA may find that communicating using synthesized audio signals via a telephone connection is a less efficient mode of communication that exchanging e-mails or instant messages. The recipient PVA would thus arrange with the sender PVA to establish an e-mail session or instant message session to conduct the negotiation through. Note that the sender PVA may initiate this action instead of the recipient PVA, and that some level of negotiation may occur on the mode of communication to change to. That is, if the recipient PVA wants to change to an instant message session, but the sender PVA is unable to access an instant message client on behalf of the sender, a different mode of communication will need to be used.
 FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example architecture of a computer system 110 that executes, runs, interprets, operates or otherwise performs a personal virtual assistant application 140-1 and a personal virtual assistant process 140-2 suitable for use in explaining example configurations disclosed above. The computer system 110 may be any type of computerized device such as a personal computer, workstation, portable computing device, console, laptop, network terminal or the like. As shown in this example, the computer system 110 includes an interconnection mechanism 111 such as a data bus or other circuitry that couples a memory system 112, a processor 113, an input/output interface 114, and a communications interface 115. An input device 116 (e.g., one or more user controlled devices such as a keyboard, mouse, touchpad, trackball, etc.) couples to the processor 113 through the I/O interface 114 and enables a user 108, such as the recipient of an incoming communication, to provide input commands and generally control a graphical user interface 160 shown on a display 130. The communications interface 115 enables the computer system 110 to communicate with other devices (e.g., other computers), on a network (not shown in FIG. 7).
 The memory system 112 is any type of computer readable medium and in this example is encoded with a personal virtual assistant application 140-1. The personal virtual assistant application 140-1 may be embodied as software code such as data and/or logic instructions (e.g., code stored in the memory or on another computer readable medium such as a removable disk) that supports processing functionality according to different embodiments described herein. During operation of the computer system 110, the processor 113 accesses the memory system 112 via the interconnection mechanism 111 in order to launch, run, execute, interpret or otherwise perform the logic instructions of the personal virtual assistant application 140-1. Execution of the personal virtual assistant application 140-1 in this manner produces processing functionality in a personal virtual assistant process 140-2. In other words, the personal virtual assistant process 140-2 represents one or more portions or runtime instances of the personal virtual assistant application 140-1 performing or executing within or upon the processor 113 in the computer system 110 at runtime.
Generally, while operating the computer system 110, the user 108 manipulates at least one input device 116, such as a computer mouse. Through the manipulation of the at least one input device 116, the user 108 may provide input to a graphical user interface 160 (though otherwise not shown in detail). For example, the user 108 might engage the personal virtual assistant application 140-1 by selecting an option displayed within the graphical user interface 160 on the display device 130. The personal virtual assistant application 140-1, executing as the personal virtual assistant process 140-2, receives that input, such as through signals, indicating how the user wishes the personal virtual assistant process 140-2 to deal with the incoming communication, as described herein.
 It is noted that example configurations disclosed herein include the personal virtual assistant application 140-1 itself including the personal virtual assistant process 140-2 (i.e., in the form of un-executed or non-performing logic instructions and/or data). The personal virtual assistant application 140-1 may be stored on a computer readable medium (such as a floppy disk), hard disk, electronic, magnetic, optical or other computer readable medium. The personal virtual assistant application 140-1 may also be stored in a memory system 112 such as in firmware, read only memory (ROM), or, as in this example, as executable code in, for example, Random Access Memory (RAM). In addition to these embodiments, it should also be noted that other embodiments herein include the execution of the personal virtual assistant application 140-1 in the processor 113 as the personal virtual assistant process 140-2. Those skilled in the art will understand that the computer system 110 may include other processes and/or software and hardware components, such as an operating system not shown in this example.
The display 130 need not be coupled directly to computer system 110. For example, the personal virtual assistant application 140-1 may be executed on a remotely accessible computerized device (such as, but not limited to, a cellular telephone) via the network interface 115. In this instance, the graphical user interface 160 may be displayed locally to a user of the remote computer and execution of the processing herein may be client-server based.
 The PVA has been described herein as dealing with only a single received communication/sender/sender PVA at a time, for purposes of a simple and clear description. However, the PVA is not so limited in practice, and those of ordinary skill in the art will easily be able to expand any embodiments described herein so that the PVA is able to deal with multiple communications/senders/sender PVAs at any given time.
The methods and systems described herein are not limited to a particular hardware or software configuration, and may find applicability in many computing or processing environments. The methods and systems may be implemented in hardware or software, or a combination of hardware and software. The methods and systems may be implemented in one or more computer programs, where a computer program may be understood to include one or more processor executable instructions. The computer program(s) may execute on one or more programmable processors, and may be stored on one or more storage medium readable by the processor (including volatile and non-volatile memory and/or storage elements), one or more input devices, and/or one or more output devices. The processor thus may access one or more input devices to obtain input data, and may access one or more output devices to communicate output data. The input and/or output devices may include one or more of the following: Random Access Memory (RAM), Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID), floppy drive, CD, DVD, magnetic disk, internal hard drive, external hard drive, memory stick, or other storage device capable of being accessed by a processor as provided herein, where such aforementioned examples are not exhaustive, and are for illustration and not limitation.
 The computer program(s) may be implemented using one or more high level procedural or object-oriented programming languages to communicate with a computer system; however, the program(s) may be implemented in assembly or machine language, if desired. The language may be compiled or interpreted.
As provided herein, the processor(s) may thus be embedded in one or more devices that may be operated independently or together in a networked environment, where the network may include, for example, a Local Area Network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), and/or may include an intranet and/or the internet and/or another network. The network(s) may be wired or wireless or a combination thereof and may use one or more communications protocols to facilitate communications between the different processors. The processors may be configured for distributed processing and may utilize, in some embodiments, a client-server model as needed. Accordingly, the methods and systems may utilize multiple processors and/or processor devices, and the processor instructions may be divided amongst such single- or multiple-processor/devices.
The device(s) or computer systems that integrate with the processor(s) may include, for example, a personal computer(s), workstation(s) (e.g., Sun®, HP®), personal digital assistant(s) (PDA(s)), handheld device(s) such as cellular telephone(s), laptop(s), handheld computer(s), or another device(s) capable of being integrated with a processor(s) that may operate as provided herein. Accordingly, the devices provided herein are not exhaustive and are provided for illustration and not limitation.
 References to “a microprocessor” and “a processor”, or “the microprocessor” and “the processor,” may be understood to include one or more microprocessors that may communicate in a stand-alone and/or a distributed environment(s), and may thus be configured to communicate via wired or wireless communications with other processors, where such one or more processor may be configured to operate on one or more processor-controlled devices that may be similar or different devices. Use of such “microprocessor” or “processor” terminology may thus also be understood to include a central processing unit, an arithmetic logic unit, an application-specific integrated circuit (IC), and/or a task engine, with such examples provided for illustration and not limitation.
Furthermore, references to memory, unless otherwise specified, may include one or more processor-readable and accessible memory elements and/or components that may be internal to the processor-controlled device, external to the processor-controlled device, and/or may be accessed via a wired or wireless network using a variety of communications protocols, and unless otherwise specified, may be arranged to include a combination of external and internal memory devices, where such memory may be contiguous and/or partitioned based on the application. Accordingly, references to a database may be understood to include one or more memory associations, where such references may include commercially available database products (e.g., SQL, Informix®, Oracle®) and also proprietary databases, and may also include other structures for associating memory such as links, queues, graphs, trees, with such structures provided for illustration and not limitation.
References to a network, unless provided otherwise, may include one or more intranets and/or the internet. References herein to microprocessor instructions or microprocessor-executable instructions, in accordance with the above, may be understood to include programmable hardware.
 Unless otherwise stated, use of the word “substantially” may be construed to include a precise relationship, condition, arrangement, orientation, and/or other characteristic, and deviations thereof as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, to the extent that such deviations do not materially affect the disclosed methods and systems.
Throughout the entirety of the present disclosure, use of the articles “a” or “an” to modify a noun may be understood to be used for convenience and to include one, or more than one of the modified noun, unless otherwise specifically stated.
Elements, components, modules, and/or parts thereof that are described and/or otherwise portrayed through the figures to communicate with, be associated with, and/or be based on, something else, may be understood to so communicate, be associated with, and or be based on in a direct and/or indirect manner, unless otherwise stipulated herein.
Although the methods and systems have been described relative to a specific embodiment thereof, they are not so limited. Obviously many modifications and variations may become apparent in light of the above teachings. Many additional changes in the details, materials, and arrangement of parts, herein described and illustrated, may be made by those skilled in the art.
 What is claimed is:
 1. A method of negotiating a future communication through a personal virtual assistant (PVA), the method comprising: identifying an incoming telephone call via execution of a recipient PVA that acts as a proxy on behalf of a recipient, wherein the incoming telephone call is intended for the recipient and is initiated by a sender, the recipient PVA being executed in parallel with a telephone communication system; accessing, by the recipient PVA, schedule information related to the recipient of the incoming telephone call; presenting, by the recipient PVA, a plurality of options to the sender for arranging a future communication between the sender and the recipient, wherein the plurality of options comprises at least one option determined by the recipient PVA based on the accessed schedule information; receiving, by the recipient PVA, a selection of one of the plurality of options; and executing, by the recipient PVA, the selected one of the plurality of options to arrange the future communication.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: prior to presenting the plurality of options to the sender, receiving, by the recipient PVA, a customized option for arranging the future communication, the customized option being determined by the recipient; wherein the plurality of options presented to the sender comprises the customized option.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: prior to presenting the plurality of options to the sender, presenting, by the recipient PVA, a plurality of response options to the recipient; and receiving, by the recipient PVA, a selection of one or more of the response options; wherein the plurality of options presented to the sender comprises the one or more selected response options.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the plurality of options to the sender comprises presenting the plurality of options to the sender via a mode of communication other than the telephone communication system.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: informing, by the recipient PVA, the recipient and the sender of a time and a mode of communication to be used for the future communication.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of options comprises an option for the sender to identify a purpose of the incoming telephone call, and wherein: receiving the selection of one of the plurality of options comprising receiving a selection of the option to identify the purpose of the incoming telephone call; and executing the selected one of the plurality of options to arrange the future communication comprises informing the recipient of the purpose of the incoming telephone call.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of options comprises a negotiation option for arranging the future communication, and wherein: receiving the selection of one of the plurality of options comprises receiving a selection of the negotiation option; and executing the selected one of the plurality of options to arrange the future communication comprises engaging in a negotiation of the future communication with the sender, the negotiation resulting in an agreed-upon time and mode of communication for the future communication.
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to receiving the selection of one of the plurality of options, receiving, by the recipient PVA, a notification that the sender is represented by a sender PVA; and negotiating, by the recipient PVA, the future communication with the sender PVA.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein negotiating the future communication with the sender PVA comprises exchanging, with the sender PVA, at least one of: an available time for the future communication, the at least one available time being determined from the accessed schedule information; or an available mode of communication for the future communication; the negotiation resulting in at least one of an agreed-upon time or an agreed-upon mode of communication for the future communication.
10. The method of claim 8, further comprising: prior to negotiating the future communication with the sender PVA, changing to a mode of communication other than the telephone communication system.
11. A computer program product comprising computer program code stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that, when executed by a processor, negotiates a future communication through a personal virtual assistant (PVA), wherein the PVA acts as a proxy on behalf of a recipient and is executed in parallel with a telephone communication system, the computer program product comprising: computer program code for identifying an incoming telephone call for a recipient from a sender; computer program code for accessing schedule information related to the recipient of the incoming telephone call; computer program code for presenting, to a sender, a plurality of options for arranging a future communication between the sender and the recipient, wherein the plurality of options comprises at least one option determined based on the accessed schedule information; computer program code for receiving a selection of one of the plurality of options; and computer program code for executing the selected one of the plurality of options to arrange the future communication.
 12. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising: computer program code for receiving a customized option for arranging the future communication prior to presenting the plurality of options to the sender, the customized option being determined by the recipient; wherein the plurality of options presented to the sender comprises the customized option.
13. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising: computer program code for presenting a plurality of response options to the recipient prior to presenting the plurality of options to the sender; and computer program code for receiving a selection of one or more of the response options; wherein the plurality of options presented to the sender comprises the one or more selected response options.
14. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer program code for presenting the plurality of options to the sender further comprises: computer program code for presenting the plurality of options to the sender via a mode of communication other than a telephone connection.
15. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising: computer program code for informing the recipient and the sender of a time and a mode of communication to be used for the future communication.
 16. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the plurality of options comprises an option for the sender to identify a purpose of the incoming telephone call, and wherein: the computer program code for receiving the selection of one of the plurality of options further comprises computer program code for receiving a selection of the option to identify the purpose of the incoming telephone call; and the computer program code for executing the selected one of the plurality of options to arrange the future communication further comprises computer program code for informing the recipient of the purpose of the incoming telephone call.
17. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the plurality of options comprises a negotiation option for arranging the future communication, and wherein: the computer program code for receiving the selection of one of the plurality of options further comprises computer program code for receiving a selection of the negotiation option; and the computer program code for executing the selected one of the plurality of options to arrange the future communication further comprises computer program code for engaging in a negotiation of the future communication with the sender, the negotiation resulting in an agreed-upon time and mode of communication for the future communication.
18. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising, computer program code for receiving, prior to receiving the selection of one of the plurality of options, a notification that the sender is represented by a sender PVA; and computer program code for negotiating the future communication with the sender PVA.
 19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the computer program code for negotiating the future communication with the sender PVA further comprises computer program code for exchanging at least one of: an available time for the future communication, the at least one available time being determined from the accessed schedule information; or an available mode of communication for the future communication; the negotiation resulting in at least one of an agreed-upon time or an agreed-upon mode of communication for the future communication.
20. A system comprising: a memory system encoded with personal virtual assistant (PVA) application for negotiating a future communication between a recipient and a sender; and a processor coupled to the memory system, wherein when executed by the processor, the PVA application causes the processor to: identify an incoming telephone call, wherein the incoming telephone call is intended for the recipient and is initiated by the sender, wherein the recipient PVA acts as a proxy on behalf of a recipient and is executed in parallel with a telephone communication system; access schedule information related to the recipient of the incoming telephone call; present, to the sender, a plurality of options for arranging a future communication between the sender and the recipient, wherein the plurality of options comprises at least one option determined by the recipient PVA based on the accessed schedule information; receive a selection of one of the plurality of options; and execute the selected one of the plurality of options to arrange the future communication..
