Concept Cloud in Smart Phone Applications

• US 20140297283A1
• Filed: 04/02/2013
• Published: 10/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Hebert, Matthieu, Robichaud, Jean-Philippe
• Granted Patent: US 9,607,617 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/257
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/18 using natural language modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/1822 Parsing for meaning understanding
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command

Abstract

An automated arrangement is described for conducting natural language interactions with a human user. A user interface is provided for user communication in a given active natural language interaction with a natural language application during an automated dialog session. An automatic speech recognition (ASR) engine processes unknown user speech inputs from the user interface to produce corresponding speech recognition results. A natural language concept module processes the speech recognition results to develop corresponding natural language concept items. A concept item storage holds selected concept items for reuse in a subsequent natural language interaction with the user during the automated dialog session.

Claims

1. An automated arrangement employing at least one hardware implemented computer processor for conducting natural language interactions with a human user, the arrangement comprising:

a user interface for user communication in a given active natural language interaction with a natural language application during an automated dialog session;

an automatic speech recognition (ASR) engine for processing unknown user speech inputs from the user interface to produce corresponding speech recognition results;

a natural language concept module for processing the speech recognition results to develop corresponding natural language concept items; and

a concept item storage for holding selected concept items for reuse in a subsequent natural language interaction with the user during the automated dialog session.

2. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the user interface provides to the human user an interactive display of concept items held in the concept item storage.

3. The arrangement according to claim 2, wherein the interactive display of concept items is presented as an ordered list display.

4. The arrangement according to claim 2, wherein the interactive display of concept items is presented as a relative relationships cloud display.

5. The arrangement according to claim 2, wherein the interactive display is based on a user selectable concept item tab in a multi-tab layout portion of the user interface.

6. The arrangement according to claim 2, wherein the interactive display is based on a notification overlay mechanism in a text display portion of the user interface.

7. The arrangement according to claim 2, wherein the interactive display is adapted to allow the human user to drag a displayed concept item to a user selected natural language interaction displayed on the user interface for use therein.

8. The arrangement according to claim 2, wherein the interactive display is adapted to allow the human user to copy a displayed concept item to clipboard memory and then paste the concept item from the clipboard memory in a user selected natural language interaction displayed on the user interface for use therein.

9. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the subsequent natural language interaction includes a user modification of a given information field of a concept item in the concept item storage.

10. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein reuse in a subsequent natural language interaction includes using one or more information fields of a concept item in the concept item storage to develop a new natural language concept item for the subsequent natural language interaction.

11. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the user interface is an interface on a smartphone device.

12. A computer-implemented method employing at least one hardware implemented computer processor for conducting natural language interactions with a human user, the method comprising:

providing a user interface for user communication in a given active natural language interaction with a natural language application during an automated dialog session;

processing unknown user speech inputs from the user interface with an automatic speech recognition (ASR) engine to produce corresponding speech recognition results;

processing the speech recognition results to develop corresponding natural language concept items; and

holding in a concept item storage selected concept items for reuse in a subsequent natural language interaction with the user during the automated dialog session.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the user interface provides to the human user an interactive display of concept items held in the concept item storage.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the interactive display of concept items is presented as an ordered list display.

15. The method according to claim 13, wherein the interactive display of concept items is presented as a relative relationships cloud display.

16. The method according to claim 13, wherein the interactive display is based on a user selectable concept item tab in a multi-tab layout portion of the user interface.

17. The method according to claim 13, wherein the interactive display is based on a notification overlay mechanism in a text display portion of the user interface.

18. The method according to claim 13, wherein the interactive display is adapted to allow the human user to drag a displayed concept item to a user selected natural language interaction displayed on the user interface for use therein.

19. The method according to claim 13, wherein the interactive display is adapted to allow the human user to copy a displayed concept item to clipboard memory and then paste the concept item from the clipboard memory in a user selected natural language interaction displayed on the user interface for use therein.

20. The method according to claim 12, wherein the subsequent natural language interaction includes a user modification of a given information field of a concept item in the concept item storage.

21. The method according to claim 12, wherein reuse in a subsequent natural language interaction includes using one or more information fields of a concept item in the concept item storage to develop a new natural language concept item for the subsequent natural language interaction.

22. The method according to claim 12, wherein the user interface is an interface on a smartphone device.