Establishing User Specified Interaction Modes in a Question Answering Dialogue

• US 20160171119A1
• Filed: 12/10/2014
• Published: 06/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AirBNB Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bufe, John P., Byron, Donna K., Swift, Mary D., Winkler, Timothy
• Granted Patent: US 9,898,170 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display

Abstract

An approach is provided for automatically generating user-specific interaction modes for processing question and answers at the information handling system by receiving a question from a user, extracting user context parameters identifying a usage scenario for the user, identifying first input and output presentation modes for the user based on the extracted user context parameters, monitoring user interaction with the system in relation to the question, and adjusting the first input and output presentation modes based on the extracted user context parameters and detected user interaction with the system.

Claims

1-8. -8. (canceled)

9. An information handling system comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory coupled to at least one of the processors;

a set of instructions stored in the memory and executed by at least one of the processors to generate user-specific interaction modes for processing question and answers, wherein the set of instructions are executable to perform actions of;

receiving, by the system, a question from a user;

extracting, by the system, a plurality of user context parameters identifying a usage scenario for the user;

identifying, by the system, a first input presentation mode and a first output presentation mode for the user based on the plurality of user context parameters extracted for the user;

monitoring, by the system, user interaction with the system in relation to the question; and

adjusting, by the system, the first input and output presentation modes based on the user interaction with the system.

10. The information handling system of claim 9, wherein extracting the plurality of user context parameters comprises identifying, by the system, the user'"'"'s input device type, output device type, input modality, location, and one or more user attributes selected from a group consisting of age, experience, demography, and topic.

11. The information handling system of claim 9, wherein identifying the first input and output presentation modes comprises selecting a default input presentation mode comprising specified question assistance settings and selecting a default output presentation mode comprising specified answer granularity options.

12. The information handling system of claim 11, wherein the specified question assistance settings are selected from a group consisting of a question clarification setting, question completion setting, spell correction setting, and disambiguation assistance setting.

13. The information handling system of claim 11, wherein the specified answer granularity options are selected from a group consisting of an enable exploration setting, a web link setting, a context setting, a precise response setting, a verbose response setting, an alternative response setting, a supporting evidence setting, an image setting, and an application launch setting.

14. The information handling system of claim 9, wherein monitoring user interaction with the system comprises monitoring user feedback and responses provided using the first input and output presentation modes to assess a dialog state indicating a user'"'"'s desired presentation mode.

15. The information handling system of claim 14, wherein monitoring user feedback and responses comprises detecting natural language corrections by the user to responses provided by the system using the first input and output presentation modes, monitoring user click-through frequencies for responses provided by the system using the first input and output presentation modes, and detecting user activation of a user interface control included in the first input and output presentation modes.

16. The information handling system of claim 11, wherein adjusting the first input and output presentation modes comprises modifying one or more of the specified question assistance settings or specified answer granularity options.

17. A computer program product stored in a computer readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions that, when executed by an information handling system, causes the system to generate user-specific interaction modes for processing question and answers by performing actions comprising:

receiving, by the system, a question from a user;

extracting, by the system, a plurality of user context parameters identifying a usage scenario for the user;

identifying, by the system, a first input presentation mode and a first output presentation mode for the user based on the plurality of user context parameters extracted for the user;

monitoring, by the system, user interaction with the system in relation to the question; and

adjusting, by the system, the first input and output presentation modes based on the user interaction with the system.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein extracting the plurality of user context parameters comprises identifying, by the system, the user'"'"'s input device type, output device type, input modality, location, and one or more user attributes selected from a group consisting of age, experience, demography, and topic, and wherein identifying the first input and output presentation modes comprises selecting a default input presentation mode comprising specified question assistance settings and selecting a default output presentation mode comprising specified answer granularity options.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the specified question assistance settings are selected from a group consisting of a question clarification setting, question completion setting, spell correction setting, and disambiguation assistance setting, and wherein the specified answer granularity options are selected from a group consisting of an enable exploration setting, a web link setting, a context setting, a precise response setting, a verbose response setting, an alternative response setting, a supporting evidence setting, an image setting, and an application launch setting.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein monitoring user interaction with the system comprises monitoring user feedback and responses provided using the first input and output presentation modes to assess a dialog state indicating a user'"'"'s desired presentation mode by detecting natural language corrections by the user to responses provided by the system using the first input and output presentation modes, monitoring user click-through frequencies for responses provided by the system using the first input and output presentation modes, and detecting user activation of a user interface control included in the first input and output presentation modes.