Knowledge-based flexible natural speech dialogue system

• US 20040186730A1
• Filed: 12/11/2003
• Published: 09/23/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Voice Enabling Systems Technology Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Voice Enabling Systems Technology Incorporated
• Inventors: Basir, Otman A., Karray, Fakhreddine, Sun, Jiping
• Granted Patent: US 7,386,449 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/277
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/1822 Parsing for meaning understanding

Abstract

A knowledge-based natural speech dialogue system includes: (i) a knowledge support system, (ii) a flexible dialogue control system, and (iii) a context information system. Flexibilities of the conversation structure, inherent in mixed-initiative mode for dealing with complex user request, are managed because the knowledge structures involved are represented by additional, powerful knowledge representation tools, and because the context information is retained by more specific data structures, which covers larger temporal scopes by the logic of the conversation, rather than by a fixed locality of the grammar flow. This system provides a simple yet reliable method to compensate for these factors to enable more powerful conversation engines with mixed-initiative capabilities.

Claims

1. A knowledge support system that deals with knowledge search requests and provides effective feedback to dialogue control comprises:

a knowledge representation database;

a generalization algorithm and a similarity matching algorithm for associative searching among a network of conceptual relations; and

a search algorithm to map knowledge database search requests to relevant information items.

2. The knowledge support system of claim 1 further including:

a flexible dialogue act engine algorithm to control the effective flow of information between the individual components of the FNDS.

3. The knowledge support system of claim 2 wherein the flexible dialogue engine algorithm comprises an interpretation algorithm to apply general dialogue act rules to various situations of a multi-turn conversation and to make effective use of the knowledge base as well as the context information.

4. A context information management algorithm and system comprising:

at least one attribute-value data structure for storing useful information of the conversation in progress;

at least one dialogue act rule set that is applied on the combination of context information structure and the conceptual structure;

a communication channel between the context information structure and the dialogue control unit.