Apparatus and method for portable dialogue management using a hierarchial task description table

• US 6,505,162 B1
• Filed: 10/25/1999
• Issued: 01/07/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Inventors: Chiang, Tung-Hui, Wang, Huei-Ming, Lin, Yi-Chung
• Primary Examiner(s): SMITS, TALIVALDIS IVARS
• Application Number:
  US09/426,275
• Time in Patent Office: 1,170 Days
• Field of Search: 704/270, 704/275
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue

Abstract

A portable dialogue management system includes a dialogue manager and a hierarchical task description table. The hierarchical task description table has a plurality of base tables connected with a hierarchical structure. Each base table defines the strategy of a sub-dialogue and stores the dialogue states, a number of domain parameters, and a plurality of response actions corresponding to each dialogue state. The dialogue manager manages the dialogue state of a dialogue system, determines the dialogue state and executes the appropriate response action. Because the domain knowledge is defined in the hierarchical task description table and the dialogue manager is not dependent on the application domain, the dialogue management system is easily portable to different applications. A stack may also be used to push in or pop up a dialogue state so that dialogues of multiple purposes can be accomplished.

Claims

1. A portable dialogue management system comprising:

a dialogue manager managing dialogue states of a dialogue system and selecting at least one appropriate dialogue state and executing a plurality of response actions according to said selected at least one appropriate dialogue state, said dialogue manager receiving semantic input and generating semantic output according to instructions provided by a domain-dependent external knowledge base; and

a hierarchical task description table storing said dialogue states and defining dialogue strategy of said dialogue system for said external knowledge base, said hierarchical task description table including a plurality of base tables connected with a hierarchical structure and each base table defining the strategy of a sub-dialogue.

2. The portable dialogue management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each base table comprises a number of parameters, a plurality of dialogue states, and a plurality of response actions corresponding to each state.

3. The portable dialogue management system as claimed in claim 2, said dialogue states being determined by the conditions of said parameters.

4. The portable dialogue management system as claimed in claim 2, wherein a dialogue state is further set up with attributes including a priority attribute or a group attribute.

5. The portable dialogue management system as claimed in claim 4, wherein a dialogue state further has a priority which includes an explicit priority defined by said priority attribute and an implicit priority determined by said dialogue manager.

6. The portable dialopue management system as claimed in claim 2, wherein a response action includes responding to a user, sending a request to other system sources, changing the content of a system, state, and entering another base table for determining a plurality of dialogue states.

7. A portable dialogue management system comprising:

a dialogue manager managing dialogue states of a dialogue system and selecting at least one appropriate dialogue state and executing a plurality of response actions according to said selected at least one appropriate dialogue state, said dialogue manager receiving semantic input and generating semantic output according to instructions provided by a domain-dependent external knowledge base; and

a hierarchical task description table storing said dialogue states and defining dialogue strategy of said dialogue system for said external knowledge base, said hierarchical task description table including a plurality of base tables connected with a hierarchical structure and each base table defining the strategy of a sub-dialogue;

wherein said dialogue manager comprises;

a system state update module for updating a system state of said dialogue system;

a state matching module for determining a dialogue state by comparing the system state with the dialogue states stored in said hierarchical task description table;

an action selection module for selecting a plurality of response actions according to the dialogue states determined by said state matching module; and

an action execution module for executing a plurality of response actions selected by said action selection module.

8. The portable dialogue management system as claimed in claim 7, said dialogue manager further comprising a stack for pushing in or popping up a dialogue state to allow dialogues of more than one purpose.

9. The portable dialogue management system as claimed in claim 7, wherein each base table comprises a number of parameters, a plurality of dialogue states, and a plurality of response actions corresponding to each state.

10. The portable dialogue management system as claimed in claim 9, wherein a response action includes responding to a user, sending a request to other system sources, changing the content of a system state, and entering another base table and continuing matching.

11. The portable dialogue management system as claimed in claim 9, wherein a dialogue state is further set up with attributes including a priority attribute or a group attribute.

12. The portable dialogue management system as claimed in claim 11, wherein said action selection module selects said plurality of response actions according to said priority attribute or said group attribute.

13. A method of managing a portable dialogue system, comprising the steps of:

preparing a domain-dependent external knowledge base using a hierarchical task description table for storing dialogue states and defining dialogue strategy of said dialogue system, said hierarchical task description table including a plurality of base tables connected with a hierarchical structure and each base table defining the strategy of a sub-dialogue;

updating a system state of said dialogue system;

determining a plurality of dialogue states by comparing the system state with the dialogue states stored in said hierarchical task description table;

selecting a plurality of response actions according to the determined dialogue states; and

executing the selected response actions;

wherein updating the system state is accomplished according to semantic representation of user'"'"'s input, other resources in said dialogue system, or response actions that change said system state.

14. The method of managing a portable dialogue system as claimed in claim 13, further comprising a step for pushing in or popping up a dialogue state to allow dialogues of more than one purpose.

15. The method of managing a portable dialogue system as claimed in claim 13, wherein said hierachical task description table comprises a plurality of base tables, each base table comprising a number of parameters, a plurality of dialogue states, and a plurality of response actions corresponding to each state.

16. The method of managing a portable dialogue system as claimed in claim 15, wherein a response action includes responding to a user, sending a request to other system sources, changing the content of a system state, and entering another base table for determining a plurality of dialogue state.

17. The method of managing a portable dialogue system as claimed in claim 15, wherein a dialogue state is further set up with attributes including a priority attribute or a group attribute.

18. The method of managing a portable dialogue system as claimed in claim 15, wherein said plurality of response actions are selected further according to said priority attribute or group attribute.