Method of operating a speech dialogue system
First Claim
1. A method of operating a speech dialogue system (1) which communicates with a user while use is made of a speech recognition device (2) and a speech output device (3), various services (9, 10) being available to the user in the speech dialogue system (1) or via the speech dialogue system (1) and being selectable by the user in a dialogue held with the speech dialogue system (1), and then for controlling the dialogue for the selection of a service (9, 10) by the user, a database (6) is used having a hierarchical data structure (DS) and a plurality of nodes (K) and a plurality of paths (P) for connecting the nodes (K) mutually and for connecting nodes (K) to service objects (D) which are arranged at one end of each path (P) in the data structure (DS), the service objects (D) representing the services that are available (9, 10) and the nodes (K) representing the categories in which again other categories and/or services are classified which are represented by further nodes (K) or service objects (D) arranged in the hierarchical data structure (DS) on a level (II, III) below the respective node (K), characterized in that a plurality of paths (P) within the data structure (DS) leads at least to part of the service objects (D) and/or nodes (K) and to each node (K) and each service object (D) one or more keywords (S) are assigned, and when a spoken entry of the user is received search words are extracted from this spoken entry and, on the basis of the search words, a number of candidate nodes (K) and/or candidate service objects (D) are sought whose assigned keywords (S) match the search words according to a predefined acceptance criterion, a search being made in various search steps until after a search step the number of candidate nodes (K) and/or candidate service objects (D) found is situated above a predefined minimum number and below a predefined maximum number and then by means of the speech output device (3) a speech output menu is produced to announce to the user the categories and/or the services (9, 10) represented by the candidate nodes (K) and/or candidate service objects (D) found for the user to select a certain category or a certain service (9, 10).
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Abstract
A method of operating a speech dialogue system (1) is described. For controlling the dialogue for selecting one of various services (9, 10) of the dialogue system (1) by the user, a database (6) is used which has a hierarchical data structure (DS) with a plurality of nodes (K) and a plurality of paths (P) for interconnection of the nodes (K) and for connecting the nodes (K) to service objects (D) which are arranged at a respective end of the path (P). The service objects (D) represent the services available (9, 10). The nodes (K) represent respective categories in which further categories and/or the services classified thereunder are arranged. At least to part of these service objects (D) and/or nodes (K) leads a plurality of paths (P). To each node (K) and each service object (D) is furthermore assigned at least one keyword (S). Search words are extracted from a spoken entry of the user and on the basis of the search words a number of candidate nodes (K) and/or candidate service objects (D) is sought, whose assigned keywords (S) match the search words in accordance with a predefined acceptance criterion. The search method is executed in various search steps until the number of candidate nodes (K) and/or candidate service objects (D) is situated above a predefined minimum number and below a predefined maximum number. Then a speech output menu is generated and the categories represented by the candidate nodes (K) and/or candidate service objects (D) found and/or services (9, 10) are announced. In addition, a respective speech dialogue system (1) is described.
49 Citations
12 Claims
- 1. A method of operating a speech dialogue system (1) which communicates with a user while use is made of a speech recognition device (2) and a speech output device (3), various services (9, 10) being available to the user in the speech dialogue system (1) or via the speech dialogue system (1) and being selectable by the user in a dialogue held with the speech dialogue system (1), and then for controlling the dialogue for the selection of a service (9, 10) by the user, a database (6) is used having a hierarchical data structure (DS) and a plurality of nodes (K) and a plurality of paths (P) for connecting the nodes (K) mutually and for connecting nodes (K) to service objects (D) which are arranged at one end of each path (P) in the data structure (DS), the service objects (D) representing the services that are available (9, 10) and the nodes (K) representing the categories in which again other categories and/or services are classified which are represented by further nodes (K) or service objects (D) arranged in the hierarchical data structure (DS) on a level (II, III) below the respective node (K), characterized in that a plurality of paths (P) within the data structure (DS) leads at least to part of the service objects (D) and/or nodes (K) and to each node (K) and each service object (D) one or more keywords (S) are assigned, and when a spoken entry of the user is received search words are extracted from this spoken entry and, on the basis of the search words, a number of candidate nodes (K) and/or candidate service objects (D) are sought whose assigned keywords (S) match the search words according to a predefined acceptance criterion, a search being made in various search steps until after a search step the number of candidate nodes (K) and/or candidate service objects (D) found is situated above a predefined minimum number and below a predefined maximum number and then by means of the speech output device (3) a speech output menu is produced to announce to the user the categories and/or the services (9, 10) represented by the candidate nodes (K) and/or candidate service objects (D) found for the user to select a certain category or a certain service (9, 10).
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11. An automatic speech dialogue system (1)
comprising a speech recognition device (2) and a speech output device (3) for communication with a user comprising a plurality of services (9) that can be selected by the user in the speech dialogue system (1) and/or means (7) for transferring the user via the speech dialogue system (1) to services (10) that can be selected by the user, comprising a dialogue control unit (4) for controlling the dialogue for the selection of a service (9, 10) by the user and comprising a database (6) having a hierarchical data structure (DS) with a plurality of nodes (K) and a plurality of paths (P) to interconnect the nodes (K) and to connect the nodes (K) to service objects (D) which are arranged at a respective end of a path (P) in the data structure (DS), while the service objects (D) represent the services (9, 10) which are available and the nodes (K) represent the respective categories in which other categories and/or services are classified which are represented by further nodes (K) and/or service objects (D) arranged on a level (II, III) below the respective node (K) in the hierarchical data structure (DS), characterized in that a plurality of different paths (P) lead at least to part of the service objects (D) and/or nodes (K) in the data structure (DS), in that one or more keywords (S) are assigned to each node (K) and each service object (D) of the database (6) and in that the speech dialogue system (1) comprises: -
an analysis unit (11) for extracting search words from a spoken entry received from the user, a search unit (12) for searching on the basis of the search words a number of candidate nodes (K) and/or candidate service objects (D) within the database (6), whose assigned keywords (S) match the search words according to a predefined acceptance criterion, the search unit (12) having such a structure that it carries out a search in various search steps until after a search step the number of candidate nodes (K) and/or candidate service objects (D) found is situated above a predefined minimum number and below a predefined maximum number, and a prompt generation unit (13) for generating after a successful search step a speech output menu to announce to the user the categories and/or services (9, 10) represented by the candidate nodes (K) and/or candidate service objects (D) found for him to select a certain category or a certain service (9, 10) by means of a speech output device (3).
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Specification