Conversational understanding

• US 9,996,531 B1
• Filed: 03/29/2016
• Issued: 06/12/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Parastatidis, Savas, Dumoulin, Benoit F, Raux, Antoine, Subba, Rajen, Nelson-Lindall, Stefan, Yang, Wenhai
• Primary Examiner(s): Chawan, Vijay B
• Application Number:
  US15/084,292
• Time in Patent Office: 805 Days
• Field of Search: 704235, 704275, 704243, 704257, 704260, 704270, 7042701, 704 9, 707769, 707706, 707748, 707766, 707771, 709203, 715708, 719318
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3329 Natural language query formulation or dialogue systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/284 Lexical analysis, e.g. tokenisation or collocates
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/35 Discourse or dialogue representation
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue

Abstract

Exemplary embodiments relate to methods, mediums, and systems for managing a conversation. In an embodiment, a computer-implemented input interface is provided to receive an input comprising information in natural language. A dialog manager is configured to determine an intent of the input, determine information to fulfill the intent, and identify one or both of information available to the dialog manager or information that is unavailable to the dialog manager. A conversational understanding document documents the intent and the identified information. An output interface forwards the conversational understanding document towards a task completion handler separate and distinct from the dialog manager. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a task completion service, an input comprising information in a natural language;

determining, by a dialog manager of the task completion service, an intent of the input;

determining, by the dialog manager, target information to fulfill the intent;

identifying, by the dialog manager, one or both of information among the target information that is available to the dialog manager or information among the target information that is not available to the dialog manager;

generating a conversational understanding document comprising the intent and the identified information; and

forwarding the conversational understanding document to a task completion handler separate from the dialog manager.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting, at the task completion handler, missing information from among the identified information, and guiding, at the task completion handler, a conversation to request the selected information, wherein the updated information is received by the dialog manager in response to the conversation requesting the selected information.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining that the missing information is not relevant in a context in which the input was provided; and

refraining from requesting the determined irrelevant information during the conversation.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the task completion handler selects which missing information to request and determines an order to request the missing information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of task completion handlers are capable of servicing the conversational understanding document, and further comprising:

providing the conversational understanding document to a broker accessible to the plurality of task completion handlers; and

identifying, using the broker, one of the plurality of task completion handlers for servicing the conversational understanding document.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the intent of the input comprises searching among a list storing a plurality of predetermined intents, and further comprising:

adding a new custom intent to the list.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the dialog manager maintains a state of a conversation directed by the task completion handler, and further comprising:

receiving updated information at the dialog manager;

updating the conversational understanding document; and

forwarding the updated conversational understanding document towards the task completion handler.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that are configured to cause one or more processors to:

receive, at a task completion service, an input comprising information in a natural language;

determine, at a dialog manager of the task completion service, an intent of the input;

determine, at the dialog manager, target information to fulfill the intent;

identify, at the dialog manager, one or both of information among the target information that is available to the dialog manager or information among the target information that is not available to the dialog manager;

generate a conversational understanding document comprising the intent and the identified information; and

forward the conversational understanding document to a task completion handler separate from the dialog manager.

9. The non-transitory medium of claim 8, further storing instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to select, at the task completion handler, missing information from among the identified information, and guide, at the task completion handler, a conversation to request the selected information, wherein the updated information is received by the dialog manager in response to the conversation requesting the selected information.

10. The non-transitory medium of claim 9, further storing instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to:

determine that the missing information is not relevant in a context in which the input was provided; and

refrain from requesting the determined irrelevant information during the conversation.

11. The non-transitory medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions are configured to cause the task completion handler to select which missing information to request, and to determine an order to request the missing information.

12. The non-transitory medium of claim 8, wherein a plurality of task completion handlers are capable of servicing the conversational understanding document, and further storing instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to:

provide the conversational understanding document to a broker accessible to the plurality of task completion handlers; and

identify, using the broker, one of the plurality of task completion handlers for servicing the conversational understanding document.

13. The non-transitory medium of claim 8, wherein determining the intent of the input comprises searching among a list storing a plurality of predetermined intents, and further storing instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to add a new custom intent to the list.

14. The non-transitory medium of claim 8, wherein the dialog manager maintains a state of a conversation directed by the task completion handler, and further storing instructions for:

receiving updated information at the dialog manager;

updating the conversational understanding document; and

forwarding the updated conversational understanding document towards the task completion handler.

15. An apparatus comprising:

a computer-implemented input interface to receive an input comprising information in a natural language;

a dialog manager to determine an intent of the input, determine target information to fulfill the intent, and identify one or both of information among the target information that is available to the dialog manager or information among the target information that is not available to the dialog manager;

a conversational understanding document to comprise the intent and the identified information; and

an output interface to forward the intent document to a task completion handler separate from the dialog manager.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising the task completion handler, wherein the task completion handler is configured to select missing information from among the identified information and guide a conversation to request the selected information, wherein the updated information is received by the dialog manager in response to the conversation requesting the selected information.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the task completion handler is configured to determine that the missing information is not relevant in a context in which the input was provided, and to refrain from requesting the determined irrelevant information during the conversation.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the task completion handler is configured to select which missing information to request, and to determine an order to request the missing information.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein a plurality of task completion handlers are capable of servicing the intent document, and further comprising a broker accessible to the plurality of task completion handlers, the broker configured to:

receive the conversational understanding document; and

identify one of the plurality of task completion handlers for servicing the conversational understanding document.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein determining the intent of the input comprises searching among a list storing a plurality of predetermined intents, and further comprising logic configured to add a new custom intent to the list.