IP Library Granted Patent US 11,354,517
Granted Patent B2
US 11,354,517 · App. 16/491,301 · Granted Jun 7, 2022

Dialogue method, dialogue system, dialogue apparatus and program

Inventors: Hiroaki Sugiyama (Soraku-gun, JP); Hiromi Narimatsu (Soraku-gun, JP); Yuichiro Yoshikawa (Suita, JP); Takamasa Iio (Suita, JP); Tsunehiro Arimoto (Suita, JP); Hiroshi Ishiguro (Suita, JP)
Assignees: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION; OSAKA UNIVERSITY
G06F40/40G06F3/011G06F3/16G10L15/1815G10L15/22G10L2015/223
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,354,517
App. No.
16/491,301
Granted
Jun 7, 2022
Kind
B2
Abstract

It is an object of the present invention to prevent inattentive listening to a dialogue of an agent without taking it seriously and to make it easier to understand the dialogue with the agent. A dialogue system 100 conducts a dialogue with a user 101 . A humanoid robot 50 - 1 presents a leap-in-logic utterance, which is an utterance, of which a logical structure is partially missing. The user 101 expresses a confirmation action which is an action confirming the missing information in the leap-in-logic utterance. The humanoid robot 50 - 1 presents a supplementary utterance which is an utterance describing the missing information.

Claims (25)

1. A dialogue method executed by a dialogue system that conducts a dialogue with a user, the method comprising:

an utterance decision step in which, from contents of an utterance of a sentence structure made up of a premise, an interpretation and a conclusion decided by a predetermined procedure, an utterance decision part of the dialogue system generates a leap-in-logic utterance which is an utterance missing partially information of the premise, the interpretation and the conclusion in the sentence structure of the contents of the utterance;

an utterance presentation step in which a presentation part of the dialogue system presents the leap-in-logic utterance;

a confirmation receiving step in which an input part of the dialogue system receives a user action after the leap-in-logic utterance is presented; and

a supplementary presentation step in which where the user action is a confirmation action which is an action to confirm information missing in the leap-in-logic utterance, the presentation part of the dialogue system presents a supplementary utterance which is an utterance describing the missing information.

2. The dialogue method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a confirmation presentation step in which when the user action is not a confirmation action, the presentation part of the dialogue system presents an utterance confirming information missing in the leap-in-logic utterance.

3. The dialogue method according to claim 1 , wherein the leap-in-logic utterance is an utterance which is an utterance with a second topic which is a topic less relevant to the topic of the dialogue made before the leap-in-logic utterance and in which at least one of words representing the second topic is not included.

4. The dialogue method according to claim 1 , wherein the leap-in-logic utterance is an utterance with a topic less relevant to the topic of the dialogue made before the leap-in-logic utterance and which is an utterance, at a beginning of which a topic transition word indicating that a topic is changed is added.

5. The dialogue method according to claim 1 , wherein the supplementary utterance is an utterance including a question with contents with which the user can easily agree regarding the missing information.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having a program recorded thereon for causing a computer to execute each step of the dialogue method according to claim 1 .

7. A dialogue system that conducts a dialogue with a user, the dialogue system comprising processing circuitry configured to:

decide contents of an utterance of a sentence structure made up of a premise, an interpretation and a conclusion by a predetermined procedure;

generate a leap-in-logic utterance which is an utterance missing partially information of the premise, the interpretation and the conclusion in the sentence structure of the contents of the utterance;

present the leap-in-logic utterance;

decide a supplementary utterance which is an utterance describing information missing in the leap-in-logic utterance;

present the leap-in-logic utterance;

receive a user action after the leap-in-logic utterance is presented; and

present the supplementary utterance where the user action is a confirmation action which is an action for confirming the information missing in the leap-in-logic utterance.

8. A dialogue apparatus that decides an utterance presented by a dialogue system comprising at least a presentation part that presents an utterance and an input part receives a user action, the dialogue apparatus comprising processing circuitry configured to:

decide contents of an utterance of a sentence structure made up of a premise, an interpretation and a conclusion by a predetermined procedure;

generate a leap-in-logic utterance which is an utterance missing partially information of the premise, the interpretation and the conclusion in the sentence structure of the contents of the utterance;

and

decide a supplementary utterance which is an utterance describing information missing in the leap-in-logic utterance, where the supplementary utterance be presented where the user action presented after the leap-in-logic utterance is an action for confirming the information missing in the leap-in-logic utterance.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having a program recorded thereon for causing a computer to function as the dialogue apparatus according to claim 8 .

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 5, 2019
From: SUGIYAMA, HIROAKI; NARIMATSU, HIROMI; YOSHIKAWA, YUICHIRO; IIO, TAKAMASA; ARIMOTO, TSUNEHIRO; ISHIGURO, HIROSHI
To: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION; OSAKA UNIVERSITY
Reel/Frame 050280/0455 →
Priority Claims (1)
JP JP2017-046364 · Mar 10, 2017 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20200034434A1 · Jan 30, 2020