Method for natural dialog interface to car devices

• US 6,598,018 B1
• Filed: 12/15/1999
• Issued: 07/22/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Intertrust Technologies Corporation (Fidelio Acquisition Co LLC)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Junqua, Jean-Claude
• Primary Examiner(s): CHAWAN, VIJAY B
• Application Number:
  US09/464,016
• Time in Patent Office: 1,315 Days
• Field of Search: 704/275, 704/257, 704/9, 704/270, 704/260, 704/277, 704/254, 704/256, 704/231, 704/251, 704/258
• US Class Current: 704/251
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3608 using speech input, e.g. using speech recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/18 using natural language modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/1815 Semantic context, e.g. disambiguation of the recognition hypotheses based on word meaning
• 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 2015/228 of application context

Abstract

A computer-implemented method and apparatus for processing a spoken request from a user to control an automobile device. A speech recognizer recognizes a user'"'"'s speech input and a speech understanding module determines semantic components of the speech input. A dialogue manager determines insufficiency in the input speech, and also provides the user with information about a device in response to the input speech.

Claims

1. An apparatus for providing a natural dialog interface for a device installed on an automobile, comprising:

a speech recognizer, the speech recognizer recognizing input speech provided by a user;

a speech understanding module connected to the speech recognizer, the speech understanding module determining semantic components of the input speech_using a set of grammars;

a mapping module updating the set of grammars using at least one context module, the context module providing information about the devices;

a dialog manager connected to the speech understanding module, the dialog manager doing at least one of determining a condition of insufficient semantic information existing within the input speech based upon the determined semantic components and for providing information to the user about the device in response to the input speech.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a context module, the context module providing information to the speech understanding module to assist with determining the semantic components of the input speech.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of context modules, each context module providing information to the speech understanding module to assist with determining the semantic components of the input speech.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a device controller, the device controller receiving commands from the dialog manager and generating control commands to operate the device.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the dialog manager includes a speech synthesizer, the speech synthesizer providing the user with synthesized speech information about available selections.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the speech understanding module is a goal-oriented speech understanding module defining a plurality of goal-oriented frames having slots corresponding to control commands output by the device controller.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the speech understanding module is a natural language speech understanding module having a set of predefined grammars that correspond to control commands output by the device controller.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the dialog manager includes a user profile database for storing a representation of past use by a user of the apparatus, and wherein the dialog manager utilizes the profile database.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the profile database includes at least one of data for voice identification and data for adaptive voice recognition.

10. An apparatus for providing a natural dialog interface for an automobile navigation system, comprising:

a speech recognizer, the speech recognizer recognizing input speech provided by a user;

a speech understanding module connected to the speech recognizer, the speech understanding module determining semantic components of the input speech_using a set of grammars;

a mapping module updating the set of grammars using at least one context module, the context module providing information about the devices;

a dialog manager connected to the speech understanding module, the dialog manager doing at least one of determining a condition of insufficient semantic information for controlling the navigation system existing within the input speech based upon the determined semantic components and for providing information to the user about the navigation system in response to the input speech.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising a plurality of context modules, each context module providing navigation information to the speech understanding module to assist with determining the semantic components of the input speech.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising a context module, the context module providing navigation information to the speech understanding module to assist with determining the semantic components of the input speech.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 further comprising a navigation controller, the navigation controller receiving commands from the dialog manager and generating control commands to operate the navigation system.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the dialog manager includes a speech synthesizer, the speech synthesizer providing the user with synthesized speech information about the navigation system.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the speech understanding module is a goal-oriented speech understanding module defining a plurality of goal-oriented frames having slots corresponding to control commands output by the navigation controller.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the speech understanding module is a natural language speech understanding module having a set of predefined grammars that correspond to navigation control commands output by the navigation controller.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the dialog manager includes a user profile database for storing a representation of past use by a user of the apparatus, and wherein the dialog manager utilizes the profile database.

18. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the profile database includes at least one of data for voice identification and data for adaptive voice recognition.