Knowledge-based flexible natural speech dialogue system
First Claim
1. A natural speech dialogue system comprising:
- a natural language understanding engine;
a speech recognition engine operable to recognize words in a dialogue and to transmit the recognized words to the natural language understanding engine for further processing;
a knowledge support module, the knowledge support module comprising a knowledge representation database and a knowledge base interface;
a context information module, the context information module comprising a context information data structure, a context information interface, and at least one dialogue act rule set, wherein the context information data structure is an attribute-value data structure operable to store information of a conversation; and
a flexible dialogue management module operable to control a flow of information between the knowledge base interface, the context information interface, the speech recognition engine, and the natural language understanding engine, wherein the flexible dialogue management module is operable to apply a set of general dialogue act rules to a conversation in connection with context information from the context information module, and to generate a response to the conversation using the knowledge support module.
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Abstract
A knowledge-based natural speech dialogue system includes: (i) a knowledge support system, (ii) a flexible dialogue control system, and (iii) a context information system. Flexibilities of the conversation structure, inherent in mixed-initiative mode for dealing with complex user request, are managed because the knowledge structures involved are represented by additional, powerful knowledge representation tools, and because the context information is retained by more specific data structures, which covers larger temporal scopes by the logic of the conversation, rather than by a fixed locality of the grammar flow. This system provides a simple yet reliable method to compensate for these factors to enable more powerful conversation engines with mixed-initiative capabilities.
338 Citations
12 Claims
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1. A natural speech dialogue system comprising:
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a natural language understanding engine; a speech recognition engine operable to recognize words in a dialogue and to transmit the recognized words to the natural language understanding engine for further processing; a knowledge support module, the knowledge support module comprising a knowledge representation database and a knowledge base interface; a context information module, the context information module comprising a context information data structure, a context information interface, and at least one dialogue act rule set, wherein the context information data structure is an attribute-value data structure operable to store information of a conversation; and a flexible dialogue management module operable to control a flow of information between the knowledge base interface, the context information interface, the speech recognition engine, and the natural language understanding engine, wherein the flexible dialogue management module is operable to apply a set of general dialogue act rules to a conversation in connection with context information from the context information module, and to generate a response to the conversation using the knowledge support module. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method of processing dialogue, comprising:
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receiving a dialogue input signal; transmitting the dialogue input signal to a speech recognition engine operable to produce recognized words; transmitting the recognized words to a natural language understanding engine to obtain a conceptual information related to the recognized words; obtaining context information for the recognized words from a context information module; creating a user response using a knowledge support module; and converting the user response to an audio dialogue output signal using a text to speech engine. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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Specification