Belief tracking and action selection in spoken dialog systems
US8676583B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 30, 2011 |
| Grant date | Mar 18, 2014 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 14, 2032 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG10L15/22
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An action is performed in a spoken dialog system in response to a user's spoken utterance. A policy which maps belief states of user intent to actions is retrieved or created. A belief state is determined based on the spoken utterance, and an action is selected based on the determined belief state and the policy. The action is performed, and in one embodiment, involves requesting clarification of the spoken utterance from the user. Creating a policy may involve simulating user inputs and spoken dialog system interactions, and modifying policy parameters iteratively until a policy threshold is satisfied. In one embodiment, a belief state is determined by converting the spoken utterance into text, assigning the text to one or more dialog slots associated with nodes in a probabilistic ontology tree (POT), and determining a joint probability based on probability distribution tables in the POT and on the dialog slot assignments.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.