US6839671B2
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Learning of dialogue states and language model of spoken information system
Assignee: British Telecommunications PLC
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Filing: 2000-12-19
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Granted: 2005-01-04
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Expires: 2020-12-19
Abstract
Abstract In this invention dialogue states for a dialogue model are created using a training corpus of example human—human dialogues. Dialogue states are modelled at the turn level rather than at the move level, and the dialogue states are derived from the training corpus. The range of operator dialogue utterances is actually quite small in many services and therefore may be categorized into a set of predetermined meanings. This is an important assumption which is not true of general conversation, but is often true of conversations between telephone operators and people. Phrases are specified which have specific substitution and deletion penalties, for example the two phrases “I would like to” and “can I” may be specified as a possible substitution with low or zero penalty. Thus allows common equivalent phrases are given low substitution penalties. Insignificant phrases such as ‘erm’ are given low or zero deletion penalties.
Inventors
- 👤 David J. Attwater
- 👤 Michael D. Edgington
- 👤 Peter J. Durston
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-24 16:21
CPC Classifications
G; G10; G10L; G10L15/00; G10L15/08; G10L15/18; G10L15/1822; G10L15/183
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 23
Claim 1
Independent Claim
100 words
A method of classifying a plurality of sequences of symbols to form a plurality of sets of sequences of symbols, the method comprising: a) determining a distance between each sequence and each other sequence in said plurality of sequences in dependence upon a set of semantically insignificant symbol sequences and a set of equivalent symbol sequence pairs; and b) grouping the plurality of sequences into a plurality of sets in dependence upon said distances; wherein the symbols are words transcribed from call center operator speech signals spoken to a caller during an inquiry by the caller to the call center.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
100 words
A method of classifying a plurality of sequences of symbols to form a plurality of sets of sequences of symbols, the method comprising: a) determining a distance between each sequence and each other sequence in said plurality of sequences in dependence upon a set of semantically insignificant symbol sequences and a set of equivalent symbol sequence pairs; and b) grouping the plurality of sequences into a plurality of sets in dependence upon said distances; wherein the symbols are words transcribed from call center operator speech signals spoken to a caller during an inquiry by the caller to the call center.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
23 words
A method according to claim 1 wherein the words are transcribed from call center operator speech signals using a speaker dependent speech recogniser.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
89 words
A method of generating a set of semantically insignificant symbol sequences for use in the method of claim 1 , comprising: classifying a plurality of sequences of symbols into a plurality of sets; for each of the sets, determining an optimal alignment between each sequence thereof and each other sequence in that set; and allocating a symbol or sequence of symbols to the set of semantically insignificant symbol sequences, the symbol or sequence of symbols having been deleted to obtain an optimal alignment between two sequences of a set.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
90 words
A method of generating a set of equivalent symbol sequence pairs for use in the method of claim 1 , comprising: classifying a plurality of sequences of symbols into a plurality of sets; determining an optimal alignment between each sequence in a set and each other sequence in that set; and allocating a pair of symbols or sequences of symbols to the set of equivalent symbol sequences, the symbols or sequences of symbols having been substituted for each other to obtain an optimal alignment between two sequences of a set.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
58 words
A method of generating a grammar for inquiries made to a call center, using the plurality of sets of sequences of words generated according to claim 1 , comprising: transcribing a plurality of inquiries according to which of the sets the sequences of words in the enquiry occur; and generating a grammar in dependence upon the resulting transcription.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
32 words
A method of measuring the occurrence of particular types of telephone inquiry received in a call center using the plurality of subsets of sequences of words generated according to claim 1 .
Claim 8
Independent Claim
137 words
An apparatus for classifying a plurality of sequences of symbols to form a plurality of sets of sequences of symbols, the symbols being words transcribed from call center operator speech signals spoken to a caller during an inquiry from the caller to the call center, the apparatus comprising: a store for storing a set of semantically insignificant symbol sequences; a store for storing a set of equivalent symbol sequence pairs; determining means connected to receive the transcribed call center operator speech signals and further arranged to determine a distance between each sequence and each other sequence in said plurality of sequences in dependence upon the set of semantically insignificant symbol sequences and the set of equivalent symbol sequence pairs; and means for grouping the plurality of sequences into a plurality of sets in dependence upon said distances.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
137 words
An apparatus for classifying a plurality of sequences of symbols to form a plurality of sets of sequences of symbols, the symbols being words transcribed from call center operator speech signals spoken to a caller during an inquiry from the caller to the call center, the apparatus comprising: a store for storing a set of semantically insignificant symbol sequences; a store for storing a set of equivalent symbol sequence pairs; determining means connected to receive the transcribed call center operator speech signals and further arranged to determine a distance between each sequence and each other sequence in said plurality of sequences in dependence upon the set of semantically insignificant symbol sequences and the set of equivalent symbol sequence pairs; and means for grouping the plurality of sequences into a plurality of sets in dependence upon said distances.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
31 words
An apparatus according to claim 7 , further comprising a speaker dependent recogniser for transcribing call center operator speech signals generated during the inquiry by the caller to the call center.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
97 words
An apparatus for generating a set of semantically insignificant symbol sequences for use by the apparatus of claim 7 , comprising: a classifier for classifying a plurality of sequences of symbols into a plurality of sets; alignment means for determining an optimal alignment for each of the sets between each sequence thereof and each other sequence in that set; and means for allocating a symbol or sequence of symbols to the set of semantically insignificant symbol sequences, the symbol or sequence of symbols having been deleted to obtain an optimal alignment between two sequences of a set.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
96 words
An apparatus for generating a set of equivalent symbol sequence pairs for use by the apparatus of claim 7 , comprising: a classifier for classifying a plurality of sequences of symbols into a plurality of subsets; means for determining an optimal alignment between each sequence in a set and each other sequence in set; and means for allocating a pair of symbols or sequences of symbols to the set of equivalent symbol sequences, the symbols or sequences of symbols having been substituted for each other to obtain an optimal alignment between two sequences of a set.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
78 words
An apparatus for generating a grammar for inquiries made to a call center by a caller comprising: a store for storing a plurality of sets of sequences of words, the sequences having been classified into the sets by an apparatus according to claim 7 ; means for transcribing a plurality of inquiries according to which of the sets of sequences of words in the inquiry occur; and means for generating a grammar in dependence upon the resulting transcription.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
24 words
A data carrier loadable into a computer and carrying instructions for causing the computer to carry out the method according to claim 1 .
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
23 words
A data carrier loadable into a computer and carrying instructions for enabling the computer to provide the apparatus according to claim 7 .
Claim 16
Independent Claim
87 words
A method of classifying a plurality of sequences of words to form a plurality of sets of sequences of words, the method comprising: transcribing the plurality of sequences of words from call center operator speech signals spoken to a caller during an inquiry by the caller to the call center; determining a distance between each sequence of words and each other sequence of words in said plurality of sequences; and grouping the plurality of sequences of words into a plurality of sets in dependence upon said distances.
Claim 17
Independent Claim
87 words
A method of classifying a plurality of sequences of words to form a plurality of sets of sequences of words, the method comprising: transcribing the plurality of sequences of words from call center operator speech signals spoken to a caller during an inquiry by the caller to the call center; determining a distance between each sequence of words and each other sequence of words in said plurality of sequences; and grouping the plurality of sequences of words into a plurality of sets in dependence upon said distances.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
25 words
A method according to claim 14 , in which the words are transcribed from call center operator speech signals using a speaker dependent speech recogniser.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
61 words
A method of generating a grammar for inquiries made by a caller to a call center, using the plurality of sets of sequences of words generated according to claim 14 , comprising: transcribing a plurality of inquiries according to which of the sets the sequences of words in the inquiry occur; and generating a grammar in dependence upon the resulting transcription.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
32 words
A method of measuring the occurrence of particular types of telephone inquiry received in a call center using the plurality of subsets of sequences of words generated according to claim 14 .
Claim 21
Independent Claim
108 words
An apparatus for classifying a plurality of sequences of words to form a plurality of sets of sequences of words, the apparatus comprising: transcribing means for transcribing the plurality of sequences of words from call center operator speech signals spoken to a caller during an inquiry by the caller to the call center; determining means connected to receive the transcribed call center operator speech signals and further arranged to determine a distance between each sequence and each other semantically insignificant symbol sequences and the set of equivalent symbol sequence pairs; and means for grouping the plurality of sequences into a plurality of sets in dependence upon said distances.
Claim 22
Independent Claim
108 words
An apparatus for classifying a plurality of sequences of words to form a plurality of sets of sequences of words, the apparatus comprising: transcribing means for transcribing the plurality of sequences of words from call center operator speech signals spoken to a caller during an inquiry by the caller to the call center; determining means connected to receive the transcribed call center operator speech signals and further arranged to determine a distance between each sequence and each other semantically insignificant symbol sequences and the set of equivalent symbol sequence pairs; and means for grouping the plurality of sequences into a plurality of sets in dependence upon said distances.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
36 words
An apparatus according to claim 18 , wherein the transcribing means further comprise a speaker dependent recogniser for transcribing the call center operator speech signals generated during the inquiry from the caller to the call center.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
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| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2008-01-04 | 2008-07-05 | 2009-01-04 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2012-01-04 | 2012-07-05 | 2013-01-04 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2016-01-04 | 2016-07-05 | 2017-01-04 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |