A

Action: A capability of Google Home. Google Home provides a set of built-in actions (such as playing music), and developers such as Bidgely/Utility can develop additional actions.

Alexa: Alexa is Amazon's digital assistant built into devices such as the Amazon Echo.

C

Custom skill/action: A skill/action that has been developed by a third party (such as Bidgely or a utility) and that has been defined to handle certain intents or requests. This is distinguished from built-in skills that come with the smart speaker such as telling the time or providing weather forecasts.

E

Example phrase: A phrase showing users what they need to say to begin using your custom skill/action.

Exit command: When the user says a command like exit or stop to end the interaction.

I

Intent: The main request or action associated with the user’s command for a custom skill/action. For example: “Alexa, what will my electricity bill be this month?” In this statement, “what will my electricity bill be” maps to a specific intent that can be handled by the Bidgely/Utility voice assistant.

Interaction: An exchange or dialogue between the user and the Energy Assistant. This may be a single request-response, or a more extended set of turns.

Invocation: The act of beginning an interaction with the Energy Assistant. Example: “Google, open my EnergyCo Energy Assistant” is an example of an invocation.

Invocation name: A name that represents the custom Bidgely/Utility skill/action the user wants to use. The user says a supported phrase in combination with the invocation name for a skill/action to begin interacting with that skill/action. For example: “Google, ask my EnergyCo Energy Assistant what my bill will be this month.”

P

Prompt: A string of text that should be spoken to the user to ask for more information. You include the prompt text in your response to a user’s request. Types of prompts:

• Open-ended: a prompt that asks the user a question intended to elicit a wide range of responses. Example: “What would you like to do?”
• Menu-style: a prompt that asks the user a question intended to elicit a response from a small set of possible options (recommended 5 or fewer). Example: “You may ask your current usage, projected bill, ways to save, and much more. Which would you like?”

S

Skill: A capability of Amazon Alexa. Alexa provides a set of built-in skills (such as playing music), and developers such as Bidgely/Utility can develop additional skills.

V

Voice Interface or Voice User Interface (VUI): A way of humans to interact with computers using primarily voice communication.

W

Wake word: A command that the user says to tell the Digital Assistant that they want to talk to it. Example: “Alexa, what time is it?” or “Google Home, what time is it?”  Here, “Alexa” and “Google Home” are the wake word. Users can select from a defined set of wake words.