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EP0543329A2
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Speech dialogue system for facilitating human-computer interaction
Assignee: Toshiba Corp
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Filing: 1992-11-17
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2012-11-17
Abstract
Abstract A speech dialogue system capable of realizing natural and smooth dialogue between the system and a human user, and easy maneuverability of the system. In the system, a semantic content of an input speech from a user is understood and a semantic determination of a response output content is made according to the understood semantic content of the input speech. Then, a speech response and a visual response according to the determined response output content are generated and outputted to the user. The dialogue between the system and the user is managed by controlling transitions between user states in which the input speech is to be entered and system states in which the system response is to be outputted. The understanding of a semantic content of an input speech from a user is made by detecting keywords in the input speech, with the keywords to be detected in the input speech limited in advance, according to a state of a dialogue between the user and the system.
Inventors
- 👤 Yoichi Takebayashi
- 👤 Hiroyuki Tsuboi
- 👤 Yoichi Sadamoto
- 👤 Yasuki Yamashita
- 👤 Yoshifumi Nagata
- 👤 Shigenobu Seto
- 👤 Hideaki Shinchi
- 👤 Hideki Hashimoto
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-24 21:13
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F3/00; G06F3/16; G10; G10L; G10L15/00; G10L15/26
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 45
Claim 1
Independent Claim
93 words
A speech dialogue system, comprising: speech understanding means for understanding a semantic content of an input speech from a user; dialogue management means for making a semantic determination of a response output content according to the semantic content of the input speech understood by the speech understanding means; response generation means for generating a speech response and a visual response according to the response output content determined by the dialogue management means; and output means for outputting the speech response and the visual response generated by the response generation means to the user.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
47 words
The speech dialogue system of claim 1, wherein the response generation means generates the visual response including an image of a human character to deliver the speech response, a text data of the speech response, and a content visualizing image of a content of the speech response.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
37 words
The speech dialogue system of claim 1, wherein the output means outputs the speech response and the visual response by controlling at least one of an output order, an output timing, and a visual response output position.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
54 words
The speech dialogue system of claim 1, further comprising user state detection means for detecting a physical state of the user, where the physical state of the user detected by the user state detection means is taken into account by the dialogue management means in making the semantic determination of the response output content.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
42 words
The speech dialogue system of claim 1, wherein the response generation means generates the visual response including an image of a human character to deliver the speech response, where the image incorporates a movement and a facial expression of the human character.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
32 words
The speech dialogue system of claim 5, wherein the response generation means generates the speech response incorporating a speech characteristic corresponding to the movement and the facial expression of the human character.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
26 words
The speech dialogue system of claim 6, wherein the speech characteristic of the speech response includes at least one of an emotional expression and an intonation.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
50 words
The speech dialogue system of claim 1, wherein the speech understanding means supplied a plurality of candidates for the semantic content of the input speech, and the dialogue management means makes the semantic determination of the response output content by evaluating said plurality of candidates according to a dialogue history.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
32 words
The speech dialogue system of claim 1, wherein the output means also outputs a visual indication for informing the user as to whether the system is ready to receive the input speech.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
43 words
The speech dialogue system of claim 1, wherein the response generation means generates the visual response including a content visualizing image formed by pictures of objects mentioned in the speech response and a numerical figure indicating a quantity of each of the objects.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
46 words
The speech dialogue system of claim 1, wherein the response generation means generates the speech response for making a confirmation on the semantic content of the input speech, while generating the visual response reflecting a past history of a dialogue between the user and the system.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
75 words
The speech dialogue system of claim 1, wherein the response generation means generates the visual response including a text data of the speech response and graphic images other than the text data, and the response generation means generates the speech response and the text data for making a confirmation on the semantic content of the input speech while generating the graphic images reflecting a past history of a dialogue between the user and the system.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
46 words
The speech dialogue system of claim 1, wherein the response generation means generates the speech response for making a confirmation on the semantic content of the input speech, where the speech response is changed according to a length of the speech response for making the confirmation.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
31 words
The speech dialogue system of claim 13, wherein the length of the speech response for making the confirmation is determined from a number of items to be confirmed by the confirmation.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
33 words
The speech dialogue system of claim 14, wherein the full speech response mentions all the items to be confirmed while the simplified speech response does not mention the items to be confirmed directly.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
23 words
The speech dialogue system of claim 15, wherein the the simplified speech response contains a demonstrative pronoun to refer to the visual response.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
31 words
The speech dialogue system of claim 13, wherein the full speech response recites the response output content explicitly while the simplified speech response does not recite the response output content explicitly.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
23 words
The speech dialogue system of claim 17, wherein the the simplified speech response contains a demonstrative pronoun to refer to the visual response.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
36 words
The speech dialogue system of claim 13, wherein the output means outputs the visual response at an earlier timing than a timing for outputting the visual response when the speech response is the full speech response.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
21 words
The speech dialogue system of claim 13, wherein the output means outputs the visual response before the visual response is outputted.
Claim 21
Independent Claim
88 words
A method of speech dialogue between a human user and a speech dialogue system, comprising the steps of: understanding a semantic content of an input speech from a user; making a semantic determination of a response output content according to the semantic content of the input speech understood at the understanding step; generating a speech response and a visual response according to the response output content determined at the making step; and outputting the speech response and the visual response generated at the generating step to the user.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
44 words
The method of claim 21, wherein said generating step generates the visual response including an image of a human character to deliver the speech response, a text data of the speech response, and a content visualizing image of a content of the speech response.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
35 words
The method of claim 21, wherein said outputting step outputs the speech response and the visual response by controlling at least one of an output order, an output timing, and a visual response output position.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
46 words
The method of claim 21, further comprising the step of detecting a physical state of the user, and wherein said making step makes the semantic determination of the response output content by taking the physical state of the user detected at the detecting step into account.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
39 words
The method of claim 21, wherein said generating step generates the visual response including an image of a human character to deliver the speech response, where the image incorporates a movement and a facial expression of the human character.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method of claim 25, wherein said generating step generates the speech response incorporating a speech characteristic corresponding to the movement and the facial expression of the human character.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
24 words
The method of claim 26, wherein the speech characteristic of the speech response includes at least one of an emotional expression and an intonation.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
46 words
The method of claim 21, wherein said understanding step obtains a plurality of candidates for the semantic content of the input speech, and said making step makes the semantic determination of the response output content by evaluating said plurality of candidates according to a dialogue history.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 21, wherein said outputting step also outputs a visual indication for informing the user as to whether the system is ready to receive the input speech.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
40 words
The method of claim 21, wherein said generating step generates the visual response including a content visualizing image formed by pictures of objects mentioned in the speech response and a numerical figure indicating a quantity of each of the objects.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
46 words
The method of claim 21, wherein at the generating step, the speech response for making a confirmation on the semantic content of the input speech is generated, while the visual response reflecting a past history of a dialogue between the user and the system is generated.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
70 words
The method of claim 21, wherein at the generating step, the visual response includes a text data of the speech response and graphic images other than the text data, and the speech response and the text data for making a confirmation on the semantic content of the input speech is generated while the graphic images reflecting a past history of a dialogue between the user and the system is generated.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
55 words
The method of claim 21, wherein at the generating step, the speech response for making a confirmation on the semantic content of the input speech is generated, where the speech response is changed from a full speech response to a simplified speech response, according to a length of the speech response for making the confirmation.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method of claim 33, wherein the length of the speech response for making the confirmation is determined from a number of items to be confirmed by the confirmation.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 34, wherein the full speech response mentions all the items to be confirmed while the simplified speech response does not mention the items to be confirmed directly.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
23 words
The speech dialogue system of claim 35, wherein the the simplified speech response contains a demonstrative pronoun to refer to the visual response.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method of claim 33, wherein the full speech response recites the response output content explicitly while the simplified speech response does not recite the response output content explicitly.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method of claim 37, wherein the the simplified speech response contains a demonstrative pronoun to refer to the visual response.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method of claim 33, wherein at the outputting step, the visual response is outputted at an earlier timing than a timing for outputting the visual response when the speech response is the full speech response.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method of claim 33, wherein at the outputting step, the visual response is outputted before the visual response is outputted.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
94 words
A speech dialogue system, comprising: speech understanding means for understanding a semantic content of an input speech from a user; response output means for outputting a system response according to the semantic content of the input speech understood by the speech understanding means; and dialogue management means for managing the dialogue between the user and the system by controlling transitions between user states in which the input speech is to be entered into the speech understanding means and system states in which the system response is to be outputted from the response output means.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
38 words
The speech dialogue system of claim 41, wherein the dialogue management system controls the transitions between the user states and the system states according to the semantic content of the input speech understood by the speech understanding means.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
85 words
A speech dialogue system, comprising: speech understanding means for understanding a semantic content of an input speech from a user by detecting keywords in the input speech; dialogue management means for limiting the keywords to be detected in the input speech by the speech understanding means in advance, according to a state of a dialogue between the user and the system; and response output means for outputting a system response according to the semantic content of the input speech understood by the speech understanding means.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
91 words
The speech dialogue system of claim 43, wherein the dialogue management means makes a semantic determination of the system response to be outputted by the response output means according to the semantic content of the input speech understood by the speech understanding means, and limits the keywords to be detected in the input speech by the speech understanding means in advance by using the semantic determination of the system response for a previous input speech which is indicative of a current state of the dialogue between the user and the system.
Claim 45
Dependent Claim
41 words
The speech dialogue system of claim 43, wherein the dialogue management means also limits syntactic and semantic rules to be used by the speech understanding means in advance, according to a state of a dialogue between the user and the system.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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