System and method for updating information for various dialog modalities in a dialog scenario according to a semantic context

• US 7,742,924 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2004
• Issued: 06/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Kitagawa, Eiji, Miyata, Ryosuke, Fukuoka, Toshiyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Hudspeth; David R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rider; Justin W
• Application Number:
  US10/952,807
• Publication Number:
  US 20050256717A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,091 Days
• Field of Search: 704/9, 704/270
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/30 Semantic analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/1822 Parsing for meaning understanding

Abstract

The present invention provides a dialog system, a dialog execution method and a computer program which are capable of easily updating input information and output information of a dialog scenario and easily changing a plurality of modalities by using a general-purpose dialog scenario. In a dialog system that receives information from outside, controls the pursuit of dialog along the stored dialog scenario and outputs information along the dialog scenario to the outside, a dialog scenario written by using information for identifying the meaning of words/phrases used in the input information and the output information is stored, one or a plurality of words/phrases are stored in association with information for identifying the meaning of words/phrases, input information is analyzed, a corresponding word/phrase is extracted based on the derived information for identifying the meaning of words/phrases, and output information along a dialog scenario stored, based on the extracted word/phrase is outputted.

Claims

1. A dialog system, comprising:

a word/phrase database that associates a set of one or more words/phrases that are represented according to one or more modalities of a written representation, a voice recognition grammar, or a pronunciation for voice synthesis, with a concept identifier (ID) for identifying a meaning of the word/phrases in the set of words/phrases;

a dialog template storage section storing a dialog template written by using the concept ID for identifying a meaning of input words/phrases in input information and output information for a pursuit of a dialog, said dialog templates specifying fixed portions of output information to be output and changeable portions specified by the concept ID for identifying the meaning of the input words/phrases in the input information, in association with information for identifying the template;

an analyzing section analyzing the input information, including determining a type of modality of the input information, and selecting from the word/phrase database a concept ID as a meaning of the input words/phrase in the input information based upon the type of the modality and a match with a word/phrase in a set of the words/phrases associated with the concept ID; and

an information output section inserting in the dialog template the selected concept ID corresponding to the changeable portions of the dialog template, and outputting the output information along the dialog template.

2. The dialog system of claim 1, wherein a plurality of sets of one or more words/phrases are associated with a concept ID,

the word/phrase database stores history information about a history of selecting a set of words/phrases from the plurality of sets of words/phrases corresponding to a concept ID, and

the analyzing section selects a set of words/phrases associated with a concept ID based on the history information.

3. The dialog system of claim 2, wherein a set of words/phrases that is selected most recently is to be selected based on the history information.

4. The dialog system of claim 2, wherein a set of words/phrases that is selected a greatest number of times is to be selected based on the history information.

5. A dialog execution method for allowing a computer to receive input information to control a pursuit of dialog along a stored scenario, and output information along the dialog scenario, comprising:

associating a set of one or more words/phrases that are represented according to one or more modalities of a written representation, a voice recognition grammar, or a pronunciation for voice synthesis, with a concept identifier (ID) for identifying a meaning of the word/phrases in the set of words/phrases, using a computer processor;

storing a dialog template written by using the concept ID for identifying a meaning of input words/phrases in input information and output information for a pursuit of a dialog, said dialog templates specifying fixed portions of output information to be output and changeable portions specified by the concept ID for identifying the meaning of the input words/phrases in the input information, in association with information for identifying the template;

analyzing the input information, including determining a type of modality of the input information, and selecting from the word/phrase database a concept ID as a meaning of the input words/phrase in the input information based upon the type of the modality and a match with a word/phrase in a set of the words/phrases associated with the concept ID; and

inserting in the dialog template the selected concept ID corresponding to the changeable portions of the dialog template, and outputting the output information along the dialog template.

6. A computer memory product storing a computer program for causing a computer to receive input information to control a pursuit of dialog along a stored scenario, and output information along the dialog scenario, said computer program which when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform operations comprising:

associating a set of one or more words/phrases that are represented according to one or more modalities of a written representation, a voice recognition grammar, or a pronunciation for voice synthesis, with a concept identifier (ID) for identifying a meaning of the word/phrases in the set of words/phrases, using a computer processor;

storing a dialog template written by using the concept ID for identifying a meaning of input words/phrases in input information and output information for a pursuit of a dialog, said dialog templates specifying fixed portions of output information to be output and changeable portions specified by the concept ID for identifying the meaning of the input words/phrases in the input information, in association with information for identifying the template;

analyzing the input information, including determining a type of modality of the input information, and selecting from the word/phrase database a concept ID as a meaning of the input words/phrase in the input information based upon the type of the modality and a match with a word/phrase in a set of the words/phrases associated with the concept ID; and

inserting in the dialog template the selected concept ID corresponding to the changeable portions of the dialog template, and outputting the output information along the dialog template.

7. A dialog system, comprising:

a word/phrase database of one or more words/phrases for each word/phrase storing word/phrase information including one or more of a written representation, a voice recognition grammar, or a pronunciation for voice synthesis, in association with information for identifying a meaning of each word/phrase;

a dialog template storage section storing a dialog template written by using the information for identifying the meaning of the words/phrases used in input information and output information for a pursuit of a dialog, said dialog templates specifying fixed portions of output information to be output and changeable portions specified by the information for identifying the meaning of the words/phrases, in association with information for identifying the template;

an information receiving section receiving the input information;

an analyzing section analyzing the input information and extracting a word/phrase including the meaning of the extracted word/phrase, based upon the word/phrase information;

a dialog control section controlling the pursuit of dialog along the stored dialog templates; and

an information output section inserting the words/phrases corresponding to the changeable portions of the dialog template based on both the information for identifying the dialog template and the information for identifying the meaning of the words/phrases, and outputting the output information along the dialog template, based on the extracted word/phrase,

wherein history information about a history of a word/phrase selected from the plurality of words/phrases corresponding to the information for identifying the meaning of words/phrases is stored, in case that a plurality of words/phrases are stored in association with information for identifying the meaning of words/phrases, and a word/phrase corresponding to the information for identifying the meaning of words/phrases is selected based on the history information.

8. A dialog execution method for allowing a computer to receive input information to control a pursuit of dialog along a stored scenario, and output information along the dialog scenario, comprising:

storing one or more words/phrases, for each word/phrase storing word/phrase information including one or more of a written representation, a voice recognition grammar, or a pronunciation for voice synthesis, in association with information for identifying a meaning of each word/phrase;

storing a dialog template written by using the information for identifying the meaning of the words/phrases used in input information and output information for a pursuit of a dialog, said dialog templates specifying fixed portions of output information to be output and changeable portions specified by the information for identifying the meaning of the words/phrases, in association with information for identifying the template;

analyzing the input information and extracting a word/phrase including the meaning of the extracted word/phrase, based upon the word/phrase information;

inserting the words/phrases corresponding to the changeable portions of the dialog template based on both the information for identifying the dialog template and the information for identifying the meaning of the words/phrases, and outputting the output information along the dialog template, based on the extracted word/phrase; and

storing history information about a history of a word/phrase selected from the plurality of words/phrases corresponding to the information for identifying the meaning of words/phrases, in case that a plurality of words/phrases are stored in association with information for identifying the meaning of words/phrases, and selecting a word/phrase corresponding to the information for identifying the meaning of words/phrases based on the history information.

9. A computer memory product storing a computer program for causing a computer to receive input information to control a pursuit of dialog along a stored scenario, and output information along the dialog scenario, said computer program which when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform operations comprising:

storing one or more words/phrases, for each word/phrase storing word/phrase information including one or more of a written representation, a voice recognition grammar, or a pronunciation for voice synthesis, in association with information for identifying a meaning of each word/phrase;

a dialog template written by using the information for identifying the meaning of the words/phrases used in input information and output information for a pursuit of a dialog, said dialog templates specifying fixed portions of output information to be output and changeable portions specified by the information for identifying the meaning of the words/phrases in association with information for identifying the template;

analyzing the input information and extracting a word/phrase including the meaning of the extracted word/phrase, based upon the word/phrase information;

inserting the words/phrases corresponding to the changeable portions of the dialog template based on both the information for identifying the dialog template and the information for identifying the meaning of the words/phrases, and outputting the output information along the dialog template, based on the extracted word/phrase; and

storing history information about a history of a word/phrase selected from the plurality of words/phrases corresponding to the information for identifying the meaning of words/phrases, in case that a plurality of words/phrases are stored in association with information for identifying the meaning of words/phrases, and selecting a word/phrase corresponding to the information for identifying the meaning of words/phrases based on the history information.