Automatic skill routing in conversational computing frameworks

• US 10,811,009 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2018
• Issued: 10/20/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Curtis, Bryce A., Nickolas, Stewart
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Thuykhanh
• Application Number:
  US16/019,727
• Publication Number:
  US 20200005776A1
• Time in Patent Office: 846 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3329 Natural language query formulation or dialogue systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/279 Recognition of textual entities
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/063 Training
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/30 Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/0635 updating or merging of old and new templates; Mean values; Weighting
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command

Abstract

An utterance is analyzed to identify an absence of a known invocation phrase. A skill set is constructed in response to the absence, the skill set including a first skill corresponding to the utterance and a first skill score corresponding to a likelihood that the first skill corresponds to the utterance. The first skill score is adjusted, based on the presence of the first skill in a skill history, where the skill history stores a set of history skills in an order of recency of use of each history skill in the set of history skills. The first skill score is adjusted, based on an association of the first skill with a default installed skill. An installed skill is selected, based on the adjusted first skill score, the installed skill performing an action in response to the utterance.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

analyzing an utterance to identify an absence of a known invocation phrase;

constructing, in response to the absence, using a processor and a memory, a skill set, the skill set including a first skill corresponding to the utterance and a first skill score corresponding to a likelihood that the first skill corresponds to the utterance;

adjusting, based on the presence of the first skill in a skill history, the first skill score, wherein the skill history stores a set of history skills in an order of recency of use of each history skill in the set of history skills;

further adjusting, based on an association of the first skill with a default installed skill, the adjusted first skill score; and

selecting, based on the further adjusted first skill score, an installed skill, wherein the installed skill performs an action in response to the utterance.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the adjusting, based on the presence of the first skill in a skill history, further comprises:

determining that the first skill matches a history skill associated with an installed skill other than the default installed skill; and

raising, responsive to the determining, the first skill score.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising raising the first skill score by an amount corresponding to a location of the history skill in the skill history.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the further adjusting, based on an association of the first skill with a default installed skill, further comprises:

determining that the first skill is associated with the default installed skill; and

raising, responsive to the determining, the adjusted first skill score.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting an installed skill further comprises selecting, responsive to determining that the first skill matches a history skill and that the first skill score is above a threshold, an installed skill corresponding to the history skill.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting an installed skill further comprises selecting, responsive to determining that the first skill does not match a history skill and that the first skill score is above a threshold, an installed skill corresponding to the first skill.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting an installed skill further comprises selecting, responsive to determining that the first skill does not match a history skill and that the first skill score is not above a threshold, the default installed skill.

8. A computer usable program product comprising one or more computer-readable storage devices, and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, the stored program instructions comprising:

program instructions to analyze an utterance to identify an absence of a known invocation phrase;

program instructions to construct, in response to the absence, using a processor and a memory, a skill set, the skill set including a first skill corresponding to the utterance and a first skill score corresponding to a likelihood that the first skill corresponds to the utterance;

program instructions to adjust, based on the presence of the first skill in a skill history, the first skill score, wherein the skill history stores a set of history skills in order of recency of use of each history skill in the set of history skills;

program instructions to further adjust, based on an association of the first skill with a default installed skill, the adjusted first skill score; and

program instructions to select, based on the further adjusted first skill score, an installed skill, wherein the installed skill performs an action in response to the utterance.

9. The computer usable program product of claim 8, wherein program instructions to adjust, based on the presence of the first skill in a skill history, further comprises:

program instructions to determine that the first skill matches a history skill associated with an installed skill other than the default installed skill; and

program instructions to raise, responsive to the determining, the first skill score.

10. The computer usable program product of claim 8, further comprising program instructions to raise the first skill score by an amount corresponding to a location of the history skill in the skill history.

11. The computer usable program product of claim 8, wherein program instructions to further adjust, based on an association of the first skill with a default installed skill, further comprises:

program instructions to determine that the first skill is associated with the default installed skill; and

program instructions to raise, responsive to the determining, the adjusted first skill score.

12. The computer usable program product of claim 8, wherein program instructions to select an installed skill further comprises program instructions to select, responsive to determining that the first skill matches a history skill and that the first skill score is above a threshold, an installed skill corresponding to the history skill.

13. The computer usable program product of claim 8, wherein program instructions to select an installed skill further comprises program instructions to select, responsive to determining that the first skill does not match a history skill and that the first skill score is above a threshold, an installed skill corresponding to the first skill.

14. The computer usable program product of claim 8, wherein program instructions to select an installed skill further comprises program instructions to select, responsive to determining that the first skill does not match a history skill and that the first skill score is not above a threshold, the default installed skill.

15. The computer usable program product of claim 8, wherein the computer usable code is stored in a computer readable storage device in a data processing system, and wherein the computer usable code is transferred over a network from a remote data processing system.

16. The computer usable program product of claim 8, wherein the computer usable code is stored in a computer readable storage device in a server data processing system, and wherein the computer usable code is downloaded over a network to a remote data processing system for use in a computer readable storage device associated with the remote data processing system.

17. A computer system comprising one or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories, and one or more computer-readable storage devices, and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via, at least one of the one or more memories, the stored program instructions comprising:

program instructions to analyze an utterance to identify an absence of a known invocation phrase;

program instructions to construct, in response to the absence, using a processor and a memory, a skill set, the skill set including a first skill corresponding to the utterance and a first skill score corresponding to a likelihood that the first skill corresponds to the utterance;

program instructions to adjust, based on the presence of the first skill in a skill history, the first skill score, Wherein the skill history stores a set of history skills in order of recency of use of each history skill in the set of history skills;

program instructions to further adjust, based on an association of the first skill with a default installed skill, the adjusted first skill score; and

program instructions to select, based on the further adjusted first skill score, an installed skill, wherein the installed skill performs an action in response to the utterance.

18. The computer system of claim 17, wherein program instructions to adjust, based on the presence of the first skill in a skill history, further comprises:

program instructions to determine that the first skill matches a history skill associated with an installed skill other than the default installed skill; and

program instructions to raise, responsive to the determining, the first skill score.

19. The computer system of claim 17, further comprising program instructions to raise the first skill score by an amount corresponding to a location of the history skill in the skill history.

20. The computer system of claim 17, wherein program, instructions to further adjust, based on an association of the first skill, with a default installed skill, further comprises:

program instructions to determine that the first skill is associated with the default installed skill; and

program instructions to raise, responsive to the determining, the adjusted first skill score.