Training apparatus and method
First Claim
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1. Training apparatus for training a user to engage in transactions with another person whom the apparatus is arranged to simulate, the apparatus comprising:
- an output device for outputting of messages to a user;
an input for receiving input from the user;
a lexical store containing data relating to individual words of said input;
a rule store containing rules specifying grammatically allowable relationships between words of said input;
a transaction store containing data relating to allowable transactions between said user and said person, said data defining, for said output messages, types of allowable inputs from said user;
an output message buffer for storing data representative of the most recent message output by the output device and at least a preceding one of said messages output from the output device;
a processor having at least read access to the lexical store and the rule store, said processor being arranged to process the input by comparing the input with the words contained in said lexical store and with the relationships specified by the rules contained in said rule store, in order to recognize the occurrence in the input of words contained in said lexical store and in the relationships specified by the rules contained in said rule store, and, in dependence upon said recognition, to generate output indicating when correct input has been recognized; and
wherein said processor is further responsive to the data contained in the message buffer and the transaction store to;
(a) determine whether said input is an allowable response to a most recent one of the output messages represented by data stored in the output message buffer; and
(b) if said input is not determined to be an allowable response to a most recent one of the messages, determine whether said input is an allowable response to a preceding message represented by data stored in the output message buffer;
an output device for making the output available to the user so that said user can be trained to engage in transactions with another person.
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Abstract
Training apparatus for training a user to engage in transactions (e.g. a foreign language conversation) with another person whom the apparatus is arranged to simulate, the apparatus comprising:
- an input for receiving input dialogue from a user;
- a lexical store containing data relating to individual words of said input dialogue;
- a rule store containing rules specifying grammatically allowable relationships between words of said input dialogue;
- a transaction store containing data relating to allowable transactions between said user and said person;
- a processor arranged to process the input dialogue to recognise the occurrence therein of words contained in said lexical store in the relationships specified by the rules contained in said rule store in accordance with the data specified in the transaction store, and to generate output dialogue indicating when correct input dialogue has been recognised; and
- an output device for making the output dialogue available to the user.
37 Citations
28 Claims
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1. Training apparatus for training a user to engage in transactions with another person whom the apparatus is arranged to simulate, the apparatus comprising:
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an output device for outputting of messages to a user;
an input for receiving input from the user;
a lexical store containing data relating to individual words of said input;
a rule store containing rules specifying grammatically allowable relationships between words of said input;
a transaction store containing data relating to allowable transactions between said user and said person, said data defining, for said output messages, types of allowable inputs from said user;
an output message buffer for storing data representative of the most recent message output by the output device and at least a preceding one of said messages output from the output device;
a processor having at least read access to the lexical store and the rule store, said processor being arranged to process the input by comparing the input with the words contained in said lexical store and with the relationships specified by the rules contained in said rule store, in order to recognize the occurrence in the input of words contained in said lexical store and in the relationships specified by the rules contained in said rule store, and, in dependence upon said recognition, to generate output indicating when correct input has been recognized; and
wherein said processor is further responsive to the data contained in the message buffer and the transaction store to;
(a) determine whether said input is an allowable response to a most recent one of the output messages represented by data stored in the output message buffer; and
(b) if said input is not determined to be an allowable response to a most recent one of the messages, determine whether said input is an allowable response to a preceding message represented by data stored in the output message buffer;
an output device for making the output available to the user so that said user can be trained to engage in transactions with another person. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. Training apparatus for training a user to engage in transactions with another person whom the apparatus is arranged to simulate, the apparatus comprising:
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an input for receiving input dialogue from a user;
a lexical store containing data relating to individual words of said input dialogue;
a rule store containing rules specifying grammatically allowable relationships between words of said input dialogue;
a transaction store containing data relating to allowable transactions between said user and said person;
a processor having at least read access to the lexical store, the rule store and the transaction store, said processor being arranged to process the input dialogue by comparing the input dialogue with the words contained in said lexical store, with the relationships specified by the rules contained in said rule store, and with the data specified in the transaction store, in order to recognize the occurrence in the input dialogue of words contained in said lexical store, in the relationships specified by the rules contained in said rule store, in accordance with the data specified in the transaction store, and, in dependence upon said recognition, to generate output dialogue indicating when correct input dialogue has been recognized; and
an output device for making the output dialogue available to the user so that said user can be trained to engage in transactions with another person;
wherein said rule store contains first rules comprising criteria specifying correct relationships between words of said lexical store, and, associated with said first rules, one or more second rules each corresponding to one of said first rules but with one relationship criterion relaxed, said processor processing said input dialogue using both said first rules and second rules. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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21. An interactive dialogue apparatus for simulating dialogue with a user, the apparatus comprising:
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an output device for outputting messages to the user;
an input device for receiving input from the user in response to a message output from the output device in order to simulate dialogue;
a lexical store for storing data relating to individual words;
a rule store for storing rules specifying grammatically allowable relationships between words of said input;
a processor for processing said input to recognize occurrence in the input of words stored in said lexical store and in the relationships specified by the rules stored in said rule store;
an output message buffer for storing data representative of a plurality of messages output to said user; and
a transaction store for storing data defining, for each of said messages, a type of allowable response;
said processor being responsive to an input from said user, to the data stored in the output message buffer and to the data stored in the transaction store to;
(a) determine whether said input is an allowable response to a most recent one of the messages represented by data stored in the output message buffer; and
(b) if said input is determined not to be an allowable response to a most recent one of the messages, determine whether said input is an allowable response to another one of the messages represented by data stored in the output message buffer. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23)
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24. An interactive dialogue apparatus for simulating dialogue with a user, the apparatus comprising:
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an output device for outputting messages to the user;
an input device for receiving input from the user;
a lexical store for storing data relating to individual words;
a rule store for storing rules specifying grammatically allowable relationships between words of said input;
a processor for processing said input to recognize occurrence in the input of words stored in said lexical store and in the relationships specified by the rules stored in said rule store;
an output message buffer for storing data representative of a plurality of messages output to said user; and
a transaction store for storing data defining, for each of said messages, a type of allowable response;
said processor being responsive to an input from said user, to the data stored in the output message buffer and to the data stored in the transaction store to;
(a) determine whether said input is an allowable response to a most recent one of the messages represented by data stored in the output message buffer; and
(b) if said input is determined not to be an allowable response to a most recent one of the messages, determine whether said input is an allowable response to another one of the messages represented by data stored in the output message buffer;
wherein said rule store stores first rules comprising criteria specifying correct relationships between words of said lexical store, and, associated with said first rules, one or more second rules each corresponding to one of said first rules but with one relationship criterion relaxed, said processor processing said input using both said first rules and second rules.
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25. A method of operating an interactive dialogue apparatus for simulating dialogue with a user, the method comprising:
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outputting messages to the user;
receiving input from the user in response to a message output to the user in order to simulate dialogue;
storing data relating to individual words;
storing rules specifying grammatically allowable relationships between words of the input;
processing said input to recognize occurrence in the input of words related to stored data and relationships specified by the stored rules;
storing message data representative of a plurality of messages output to the user; and
storing data defining, for each of the output messages, a type of allowable response;
determining whether an input is an allowable response to a most recent one of the stored messages represented by stored message data; and
if the input is not determined to be an allowable response to a most recent one of the messages, determining whether the input is an allowable response to another stored message represented by stored message data.
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26. An interactive dialogue apparatus for simulating dialogue with a user, the apparatus comprising:
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an output device for outputting messages to the user;
an input device for receiving input from the user in response to a message output from the output device in order to simulate dialogue;
a processor for processing said input;
an output message buffer for storing a plurality of messages output to the user; and
a transaction store for storing a type of allowable response for each of the messages output to the user;
wherein the processor determines whether the input is an allowable response to a most recent one of the messages output to the user, and if not, determining whether the input is an allowable response to a previous one of the messages output to the user.
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27. Training apparatus for training a user to engage in transactions with another person whom the apparatus is arranged to simulate, the apparatus comprising:
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an output device for outputting of messages to a user;
an input for receiving input from the user;
a lexical store containing data relating to individual words of said input;
a rule store containing rules specifying grammatically allowable relationships between words of said input;
a transaction store containing data relating to allowable transactions between said user and said person, said data defining, for said output messages, types of allowable inputs from said user;
an output message buffer for storing data representative of the most recent message output by the output device and at least a preceding one of said messages output from the output device;
a processor having at least read access to the lexical store and the rule store, said processor being arranged to process the input by comparing the input with the words contained in said lexical store and with the relationships specified by the rules contained in said rule store, in order to recognize the occurrence in the input of words contained in said lexical store and in the relationships specified by the rules contained in said rule store, and, in dependence upon said recognition, to generate output indicating when correct input has been recognized; and
wherein said processor is further responsive to the data contained in the message buffer and the transaction store to;
(a) determine whether said input is an allowable response to a most recent one of the output messages represented by data stored in the output message buffer; and
(b) if said input is not determined to be an allowable response to a most recent one of the messages, determine whether said input is an allowable response to a preceding message represented by data stored in the output message buffer; and
an output device for making the output available to the user so that said user can be trained to engage in transactions with another person;
wherein said rule store stores first rules comprising criteria specifying correct relationships between words of said lexical store, and, associated with said first rules, one or more second rules each corresponding to one of said first rules but with one relationship criterion relaxed, said processor processing said input using both said first rules and second rules.
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28. A dialogue training apparatus for training a user to engage in dialogue transactions with another person whom the apparatus is arranged to simulate, the apparatus comprising:
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an output device for outputting of messages to a user;
an input for receiving input from the user;
a lexical store containing data relating to individual words of said input;
a rule store containing rules specifying grammatically allowable relationships between words of said input;
a transaction store containing data relating to allowable transactions between said user and said person, said data defining, for said output messages, types of allowable inputs from said user;
an output message buffer for storing data representative of the most recent message output by the output device and at least a preceding one of said messages output from the output device;
a processor having at least read access to the lexical store and the rule store, said processor being arranged to process the input by comparing the input with the words contained in said lexical store and with the relationships specified by the rules contained in said rule store, in order to recognize the occurrence in the input of words contained in said lexical store and in the relationships specified by the rules contained in said rule store, and, in dependence upon said recognition, to generate output indicating when correct input has been recognized; and
wherein said processor is further responsive to the data contained in the message buffer and the transaction store to;
(a) determine whether said input is an allowable response to a most recent one of the output messages represented by data stored in the output message buffer; and
(b) if said input is not determined to be an allowable response to a most recent one of the messages, determine whether said input is an allowable response to a preceding message represented by data stored in the output message buffer;
an output device for making the output available to the user for training the user to engage in dialogue transactions with another person.
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Specification