CONVERSATIONAL COMPUTING VIA CONVERSATIONAL VIRTUAL MACHINE

• US 20090313026A1
• Filed: 08/20/2009
• Published: 12/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Comeford, Liam D., Maes, Stephane H., Nahamoo, David, Gopalakrishnan, Ponani, DeGennaro, Steven, Coffman, Daniel, Epstein, Edward A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,082,153 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/285 Memory allocation or algorithm optimisation to reduce hardware requirements
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/228 of application context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72445 for supporting Internet browser applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/60 Medium conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/355 Interactive dialogue design tools, features or methods
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/74 with voice recognition means voice activated dialling H04M1/271; voice recognition algorithms G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42204 Arrangements at the exchange for service or number selection by voice at the terminal H04M1/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/44 Additional connecting arrangements for providing access to frequently-wanted subscribers, e.g. abbreviated dialling at the subscriber's set H04M1/27; automatic redialling H04M3/424
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4931 Directory assistance systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4936 Speech interaction details speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4938 comprising a voice browser which renders and interprets, e.g. VoiceXML
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/50 Centralised arrangements for answering calls; Centralised arrangements for recording messages for absent or busy subscribers H04M3/487 takes precedence; centralised dictation systems H04M11/10; Centralised arrangements for recording messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/00 Arrangements for interconnection between switching centres

Abstract

A conversational computing system that provides a universal coordinated multi-modal conversational user interface (CUI) 10 across a plurality of conversationally aware applications (11) (i.e., applications that “speak” conversational protocols) and conventional applications (12). The conversationally aware applications (11) communicate with a conversational kernel (14) via conversational application APIs (13). The conversational kernel 14 controls the dialog across applications and devices (local and networked) on the basis of their registered conversational capabilities and requirements and provides a unified conversational user interface and conversational services and behaviors. The conversational computing system may be built on top of a conventional operating system and APIs (15) and conventional device hardware (16). The conversational kernel (14) handles all I/O processing and controls conversational engines (18). The conversational kernel (14) converts voice requests into queries and converts outputs and results into spoken messages using conversational engines (18) and conversational arguments (17). The conversational application API (13) conveys all the information for the conversational kernel (14) to transform queries into application calls and conversely convert output into speech, appropriately sorted before being provided to the user.

Claims

1. A method for conversational computing comprising:

executing code embodying a conversational virtual machine;

receiving input queries and input events across different user interface modalities of different active applications;

generating output messages and output events in connection with the active applications;

generating a multi-modal dialog in response to the input queries and input events, and managing context associated with the active applications;

providing an interface between the active applications and a conversational kernel; and

registering a plurality of I/O resources with the conversational kernel.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising controlling and accessing a conversational engine through a conversational engine application program interface to process the input queries and input events and to generate the multi-modal dialog and output events.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing conversational services and behaviors accessible by the active applications through a conversational engine application program interface.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

managing dialog across the active applications and selecting an active dialog, context and application based on the input queries;

managing and allocating conversational engines during execution of conversational tasks;

coordinating and dispatching the conversational tasks; and

accumulating a context of an active discourse of a conversational task.

5. A computer program product for conversational computing, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to execute code embodying a conversational virtual machine, receive input queries and input events across different user interface modalities of different active applications, generate output messages and output events in connection with the active applications, generate a multi-modal dialog in response to the input queries and input events, and managing context associated with the active applications, provide an interface between the active applications and a conversational kernel, and register a plurality of I/O resources with the conversational kernel.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising controlling and accessing a conversational engine through a conversational engine application program interface to process the input queries and input events and to generate the multi-modal dialog and output events.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising providing conversational services and behaviors accessible by the active applications through a conversational engine application program interface.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

managing dialog across the active applications and selecting an active dialog, context and application based on the input queries;

managing and allocating conversational engines during execution of conversational tasks;

coordinating and dispatching the conversational tasks; and

accumulating a context of an active discourse of a conversational task.