JP2005004716A - Method and system for processing among different interactive languages, and program and recording medium thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and a system for enabling communications among different interactive languages by using a current-level voice recognition technology and a current-level machine translation technology which may not always output correct results. <P>SOLUTION: The system comprises an interactive controller 30 for controlling an interactive while confirming the result of an understanding speech between a user A and a user B, and a storage unit 40 for storing an interactive scenario used for referring to confirm the result of the understanding speech between the user A and the user B, and to determine whether either the user A or the user B responds to the other. Consequently, the system transfers to the other interactive user a responding content specified by the language used by the other interactive user if the system determines with a help of the interactive scenario that the other interactive user can respond to the user by using the language used by the other interactive user. Furthermore, the system registers predetermined interactive sentence data for each interactive scenario in a storage unit 50. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an interlingual dialog processing method and apparatus, and a program and a recording medium thereof, which enable communication between interrogators who use different languages in a plurality of terminal units.

In the technology related to the interlingual dialogue processing method in the past, one utterance recognizes all utterances input in one language with a speech recognition device, translates it into another language with a machine translation device, and synthesizes speech. A method of transmitting to another speaker in another language by using a device or the like was used (Ohm's "ATR Advanced Technology Series Automatic Translation Telephone" 1994 (see Non-Patent Document 1)).
That is, when considering simultaneous interpretation by a machine, it can be divided into three parts: (1) speech recognition level, (2) level of translation (translation) between languages, and (3) level of speech synthesis. The first level converts (translates) the input speech into a sequence of words (in the case of speech recognition in units of words) or recognizes as a sequence of more basic acoustic speech units such as VC or single syllables. Then, it is converted into a series of words using a dictionary and simple grammar (NTT R & D March 2000 issue (media processing technology) (see Non-Patent Document 2)).

In the second level, the understood content is converted from language A to language B. Conversion between languages belonging to the same language system with a similar grammatical structure is relatively easy, but conversion between completely different languages is not easy. Vision of 2000 (see Non-Patent Document 3)).
In the third level, a phrase or sentence consisting of a word or a series thereof is converted into information necessary for generating a voice, and a voice is generated (speech synthesis and recognition (general electronic publisher). Issued) (see Non-Patent Document 4).

Published by Ohm "ATR Advanced Technology Series Automatic Translation Telephone" 1994 NTT R & D March 2000 issue (media processing technology) Published by Asia-Pacific Machine Translation Association, “Machine Translation-Vision of the 21st Century” 2000 Published by General Electronic Publishing Company, Kazuo Nakata, “Synthesis and Recognition of Speech” 1980

  However, in the technology related to the conventional interlingual dialogue processing method, since the performance of speech recognition is not sufficient, a speech recognition result different from the input utterance content is often obtained. Moreover, since the performance of machine translation is not sufficient, it often results in translation into another language different from the utterance content. Because of this situation, it is often impossible to correctly communicate the content of one talker to the other talker, and communication between the talkers in different languages can be achieved at a practical level by conventional technology. Was extremely difficult.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide communication between different languages capable of realizing communication in different languages using technologies such as speech recognition and machine translation at the current technical level that do not always output correct results. An interactive processing method and apparatus, and a program and a recording medium thereof are provided.

  The principle of the present invention is to control the dialog while confirming the understanding result of the conversation person's utterance. That is, the speaker who spoke from the dialogue control unit by referring to the dialogue scenario stored in advance, instead of directly transmitting the utterance understanding result for the utterance of one dialoguer to the other dialoguer as in the prior art. Whether to confirm the utterance understanding result or to respond to the other interlocutor. Therefore, the dialogue control unit designates, in the dialogue scenario, a case where it can be determined that the other dialoguer different from the spoken dialogue person can respond correctly in the language used by the other dialogue person, Present technology-level speech recognition that does not always output the correct result by communicating the response content specified in the language used by the other speaker to the other speaker who is different from the speaker who spoke Using technology such as language translation and machine translation, communication between dialogues in different languages is realized.

  In addition, the key phrase stored in association with the dialogue scenario is included in the speech recognition result so that the dialogue can be continued even if the dialogue person performs an utterance that is not assumed in the dialogue scenario stored in advance. Only when it is configured to control the above dialogue based on the dialogue scenario, the translation result of the speech recognition result for one utterer's utterance, or the utterance understanding result is directly transmitted to the other dialoguer. If the other interlocutor can understand the content, it can be configured such that a response can be input regardless of the dialogue scenario.

Specifically, the inter-lingual dialogue processing method of the present invention connects a plurality of terminal units for performing dialogues by users who use different languages through the dialogue control unit, and the dialogue control unit uses the terminal unit to communicate with each other. An interlingual dialogue processing method for communicating between each other, wherein the dialogue control unit uses a voice recognition unit to transmit a sentence spoken by a first dialogue person in a first language through a first terminal unit. Recognize and understand the content of the spoken sentence, refer to the dialogue scenario stored in advance, and based on the result of understanding the utterance, (1) the response content for the first terminal unit used by the first dialogue person Determine and transmit the response content in the first language to the terminal unit, or (2) determine the response content for the second terminal unit used by the second dialoguer, and Communicate to the terminal in 2 languages, or (3) terminate the dialogue In the case of (1), the utterance for the response content is sought in the first terminal unit used by the first dialogue person, and the first step Step (2) is repeated, and in the case of (2) above, the second step of requesting the utterance for the response content to the second terminal unit used by the second dialog person, and the second dialog person Speak in the language through the second terminal unit, recognize the spoken utterance content by the voice recognition unit, understand the utterance content by the utterance understanding unit, and refer to the dialogue scenario stored in advance in the dialogue control unit, Depending on the result of understanding the utterance, (1 ′) determining a response content for the second terminal unit used by the second dialog person and transmitting the response content in the second language to the terminal unit, or , (2 ′) In response to the first terminal unit used by the first interlocutor A third step of selecting and executing whether to determine the content and transmitting the response content to the terminal unit in a first language or (3 ′) ending the dialogue;
In the case of (1 ′), the second terminal unit used by the second interrogator asks the utterance for the response content, repeats the third step, and in the case of (2 ′) Is characterized in that it has a fourth step in which the first terminal unit used by the first interrogator asks the utterance for the response content and repeats the first step.

  Further, when the response content is transmitted from the dialog control unit to the terminal unit used by the interlocutor, a standard dialog sentence is prepared for each response content described in the dialog scenario and specified by the collated response content It is characterized by transmitting the response contents using a dialogue sentence.

  Further, in the case where the response content is transmitted from the dialog control unit to the terminal unit used by the interlocutor, in particular, the response content is transmitted to the terminal unit used by the interlocutor different from the interlocutor who made the most recent speech. Is transmitted, the response content is transmitted by combining the standard dialogue sentence or a part of the standard dialogue sentence with the conversion result by the machine translation unit.

Further, the dialogue control unit
The speech recognition unit recognizes a sentence uttered by the first conversation person in the first language through the first terminal unit, and the translation result obtained by translating the recognition result into the second language is the second terminal unit. The speech recognition unit recognizes a sentence uttered by the second dialogue person in the second language via the second terminal unit, and translates the recognition result into the first language. A fifth step of communicating to one terminal unit,
(A) a free utterance state and (b) a dialogue understanding state,
(A) In the case of a free speech state, the fifth step is repeatedly executed, and if the recognition result includes a key phrase previously associated with a dialogue scenario and stored in the dialogue control unit, the state is set to (b ) Change to interactive state or
(B) If the dialogue understanding state, the first to fourth steps are executed,
In the first step, in addition to (1) to (3), any one of (4) changing the state to (b) conversation understanding state is selectively executed.

The first step further includes:
The speech recognition unit recognizes a sentence uttered by the first conversation person in the first language through the first terminal unit, and the translation result obtained by translating the recognition result into the second language is the second terminal unit. Communicate to
Accepts input in a second language from a second interlocutor and if there is an input,
In the case of (1), the determined response content is not transmitted to the first terminal unit, the input is translated into the first language and transmitted to the terminal unit,
The third step further comprises:
A sentence spoken by the second dialogue person in the second language via the second terminal unit is recognized by the voice recognition unit, and the translation result obtained by translating the recognition result into the first language is converted into the first translation result. To the terminal,
Accepts input in the first language from the first interlocutor and if there is input,
In the case of (1 ′), the input content is translated into the second language and transmitted to the second terminal unit without transmitting the determined response content to the second terminal unit. .

As described above, according to the present invention, since the dialogue is controlled while confirming the understanding result of the conversation person's utterance, the current technology level voice recognition and machine that do not always output the correct result. Using technology such as translation, it becomes possible to realize communication between the interlocutors in different languages.
In addition, even if a conversation person makes an unexpected utterance in a pre-stored conversation scenario, the system will continue to communicate between the conversation persons without responding unnaturally along the conversation scenario. can do.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
(Device configuration)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a cross-language dialogue processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, the interlingual dialogue processing apparatus (dialogue system) of the present embodiment includes a terminal unit 10 combined with a voice recognition unit 11 and an utterance understanding unit 12, a voice recognition unit 21, and an utterance understanding unit 22. The combined terminal unit 20, the dialog scenario storage unit 40, and the standard dialog sentence data storage unit 50 can be referred to, and the dialog control unit 30 is combined with the machine translation unit 31.
A conversation person A is input to the terminal unit 10 and a conversation person B is input to the terminal part 20 by voice, and plays a role of listening to the output voice.

In the following description, it is assumed that the conversation person A communicates in Japanese via the terminal unit 10 and the conversation person B communicates in English via the terminal part 20 by the dialogue system of the present embodiment.
First, in the dialogue system, the dialogue control unit 30 refers to the dialogue scenario storage unit 40, and asks the conversation person A through the conversation terminal unit 10 or asks the conversation person B through the terminal unit 20 to speak. The interrogators A and B who are requested to speak input the utterances via the terminal units 10 and 20, and use the voice recognition units 11 and 21 combined with the utterances to connect the utterances to the speech recognition units 11 and 21, respectively. obtain.

The utterance understanding units 12 and 22 understand the speech recognition result, and the dialogue control unit 30 determines the next processing corresponding to the utterance understanding result by referring to the dialogue scenario storage unit 40 and executes it. .
As an option for the next processing, in the language handled by the terminal unit 10 or 20 on the input side of the talker A or B, the response content corresponding to the utterance understanding result is obtained by speech synthesis or screen display, and the fixed dialogue text data storage unit 50 is transmitted using the standard dialogue sentence described in 50, and the next utterance is requested from the inputted dialogue persons A and B, or if the inputted dialogue person is A, the terminal section 20 through another terminal section 20 If the input conversation person is B in the language to be handled, the response content corresponding to the utterance understanding result is obtained by speech synthesis or screen display in the language handled by the terminal unit 10 via another terminal unit 10, and the fixed dialogue text data storage unit 50 and the translation result of the machine translation unit 31 are used for transmission. If the input dialog is A, the other dialog B is sent. If the input dialog is B, the other dialog is sent. Ask A for the next utterance or end the conversation Either, to select one of the.

In the dialog control unit 30, the interrogators A and B who are requested to speak input the utterances via the terminal units 10 and 20 on the side of the dialog A and B until the next processing is determined to be the end of the dialog. And continue the dialogue.
In utterance input at the terminal units 10 and 20, the system recognizes not only speech recognition but also a method in which the interrogators A and B input characters with the character recognition device and the system recognizes characters, or a character string input by the interrogator through the keyboard. It is also possible to implement this embodiment using a method of accepting it as it is.
In the transmission of the utterance content using the standard dialogue sentence in the terminal units 10 and 20, a method of outputting speech by a speech synthesizer, a method of screen display, or a voice output and screen display of the speech synthesizer are used together. This embodiment can be implemented by a method.

(Dialogue scenario)
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a dialogue scenario according to the embodiment of the present invention.
The dialogue scenario storage unit 40 in FIG. 1 stores contents in a format as shown in FIG. That is, the dialogue scenario storage unit 40 is configured in a tabular form having items of dialogue state, utterance understanding result, response destination, response content, and next dialogue state, and starts from the dialogue state in the initial state and ends in the conversation state. The transition of the conversation state during the continuous conversation until the conversation is completed, and for each utterance understanding result obtained in each conversation state, the system responds with which conversation person as the response destination and with what response content And specifies the next dialog state that will result.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of a dialogue scenario in which one of the interrogators inquires whether or not a reservation can be made based on the date and the number of people, and the other interrogator accepts the reservation. In FIG. 2, the notation such as date = X, time = Y in the utterance understanding result indicates that the utterance is understood as the date X and the time Y. X and Y are variable parts. Based on the utterance understanding result of a specific utterance made during the dialogue, X is a specific date such as 19th, and Y is assigned a specific time such as 7:00. The The values assigned to variables such as X and Y are retained until a new value is assigned and updated.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9, these dialogue scenarios can be configured to be associated with the key phrase and stored in the dialogue scenario storage unit 40.
By executing the associated dialogue scenario only when there is an utterance that includes a key phrase, even if there is an utterance that is not expected in the dialogue scenario, an unnatural response in accordance with the dialogue scenario Can be avoided.
In FIG. 9, the reservation scenario shown in FIG. 2 is stored in association with the key phrases “reservation” and “take a seat”, and the order scenario is stored in association with the key phrase “order”. Similar to the reservation scenario, the order scenario is a dialog scenario in which the product name and quantity of the order are obtained from the dialog person. The key phrase may be a plurality of words or phonetic symbols of those words.
If a plurality of dialogue scenarios are prepared as shown in FIG. 9, these dialogue scenarios can be properly used according to the dialogue situation desired by the dialogue person.

(Canonical dialogue data)
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the fixed dialog text data according to the embodiment of the present invention.
In FIG. 3, the standard dialog text data in which a corresponding standard dialog text is prepared for each response content is shown. As a specific method for generating a dialogue sentence such as Japanese or English from the response content, the standard dialogue sentence corresponding to the response content specified in the dialogue scenario as shown in FIG. 2 is obtained from the standard sentence dialogue data as shown in FIG. A dialogue sentence is generated using the found fixed dialogue sentence. Here, the present invention is implemented by a method of generating a dialogue sentence such as Japanese or English from a response content using the conventional technology of natural language sentence generation instead of the method of referring to the fixed form dialogue sentence data. It is also possible to do.

  In FIG. 3, for example, in order to hear the date and time, “Please tell me the date and time of reservation” is registered as a standard dialogue sentence. Similarly, in order to confirm the date = X, time = Y, and ask the number of people, “How many people from Y of X? Is registered. Also, when confirming the date after confirming the date = X, “What time is X? Is registered. On the other hand, when confirming the time after confirming the time = Y, when the date is asked, “How many days will Y be? Is registered. Also, in order to confirm the date = X, time = Y, and number of people = Z, “Are you sure you want to make a reservation from X to Y? Is registered. When you ask the date and time again, “Please make the reservation date and time again. Is registered. When you tell us that you can make a reservation and ask for your name, “You can make a reservation. What is your name and phone number? Is registered. When communicating the end of the dialogue, “Thank you. Is registered.

(Example of dialogue)
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of dialogue according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 shows an example of a cross-language dialogue that accepts reservations for restaurants, hotels, etc. according to the dialogue scenario of FIG. 2 and the standard dialogue text data of FIG.
Hereinafter, the process in which the dialogue of FIG. 4 is performed according to the dialogue scenario shown in FIG. 2 and the fixed dialogue data for each response content shown in FIG. 3 will be described.
The dialogue starts from the initial dialogue state, and the system asks the terminal unit 10 designated as the response destination for the reservation date and time as the response contents designated in FIG.

From the content of the utterance to hear the reservation date and time, refer to the standard dialogue text data shown in Fig. 3 and respond to the terminal unit 10 with a Japanese sentence "Please tell me the date and time of the reservation". The dialog state transitions from the initial state to A10.
In the dialog example in Fig. 4, in response to a response saying "Please tell me the date and time of the reservation", Dialogue A wants to ask you at 7 o'clock on the 19th. The system recognizes the date in the voice recognition unit 11 such that the date that actualizes [date = X, time = Y] for the utterance = 29 days, time = 7: 00. The utterance understanding unit 21 recognizes the wrong utterance.

  Since the utterance understanding of [date = X, time = Y] was performed in A10, referring to the standard dialogue sentence of the response content [confirm date = X and time = Y and ask the number of people] from FIG. Substitute 29 days for Y, and 7 o'clock for Y. ”To the conversation person A through the terminal unit 10. At this time, a transition is made from the dialog state A10 to the next dialog state A20 according to FIG. Interviewer A judges that the system is misrecognizing, “The date is different, 7 o'clock on the 19th. The speech recognition unit 11 performs speech recognition again, and the speech understanding unit 12 updates the value of the date = 19 days and X [date = X (correction)] and obtains the speech understanding result of FIG. According to the response contents specified in the above and the standard dialogue sentence in FIG. ”Responds to the conversation person A.

  The next dialog state remains A20. Next, Talker A determines that the system correctly recognizes and understands the date. From the recognition result of the speech recognition unit 11, the system understands the utterance by the utterance understanding unit 12 when the system has [number of people = Z] and the value of Z is 10, and the response content [date = X [Check the time = Y and the number of people = Z]] "Can I make a reservation from X to Y? ], "Is it OK to make a reservation for 10 people from 7 o'clock on the 19th?" ] And respond to the conversation person A, and transition to the next conversation state A30.

  Interviewer A says “Yes, please. ”And the system recognizes the utterance at the utterance understanding unit 12 based on the recognition result of the speech recognition unit 11 for this utterance, and responds to the response content [transmit date = X, time = Y, number of people = Z]. 19th, 7am, 10 people were machine translated into English for the corresponding "I have a request for a reservation on the X, at Y, for Z. Is this possible?", X, Y, Z To the terminal unit 20 in which the standard dialogue sentence “I have a request for a reservation on the nineteenth, at seven o'clock, for ten people. Is this possible?” Transition to dialog state B10 That.

Here, if machine translation can be used by the machine translation unit 31, it is possible to use date numbers and time phrases, such as 11th and 21st, one o'clock and one thirty, one person and two people, and the number of people. Translation can be done easily. The machine translation applied here can use a conventional machine translation technique.
Talker B utters “Yes, it's possible” in English, and the system recognizes the utterance from the recognition result by the speech recognition unit 21 and the utterance understanding unit 22, and the response content [ A typical dialogue sentence “Should I go ahead and tell the customer the request is possible?” Is sent to the dialogue B through the terminal unit 20. The dialogue state transitions from B10 to the next dialogue state B11. In B11, the speech recognition unit 21 recognizes the utterance “Yes” of the conversation person B, and the utterance understanding unit 22 understands the utterance.

Next, “Reservation can be taken. What is your name and phone number? ”Is communicated to the conversation person A via the terminal unit 10. Then, the transition is made from the dialog state B11 to the next dialog state A50.
It is assumed that the conversation between the conversation person A and the conversation person B via the system is continued through such a conversation process, and the state transitions to the conversation state A90. The speech recognition unit 11 recognizes the utterance of the conversation person A in the transitioned conversation state A90, and an understanding result of [confirmation] is obtained by the utterance understanding unit 12, and a fixed dialogue sentence “End” is displayed for the response content (confirmation of conversation completion). Do you think? ”Is communicated to the conversation person A via the terminal unit 10, and the state transitions to the next conversation state A 91. Here, Talker A says “Yes, it ends. ”And the system understands this from the recognition result by the speech recognition unit 11, and the utterance understanding unit 12 understands the utterance. . Is communicated to Dialogue A. Here, since the next dialog state is an end state, the dialog is ended.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 5 is a process flowchart of the interlingual dialogue processing method according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
In the first embodiment, the speech recognition units 11 and 21 use the conventional technology of speech recognition, and the speech understanding units 12 and 22 use the conventional technology of speech understanding. As a method of transmitting the response content and generating a sentence for requesting a response, the data in the standard dialog sentence data storage unit 50 and the conventional machine translation technique are used, or the conventional techniques of natural language sentence generation and machine translation are used.
The dialogue control unit 30 in FIG. 1 recognizes a sentence uttered by the conversation person A in the first language via the first terminal unit 10 by the voice recognition unit 11 (step 201), and determines the content of the spoken sentence. The dialogue scenario understood by the utterance understanding unit 12 and previously stored in the dialogue scenario storage unit 40 is referred to (step 202), and the next process is selected based on the result of understanding the utterance (step 203).
That is, (1) Determine the response contents for the terminal unit 10 used by the conversation person A and transmit the response contents to the terminal section 10 used by the conversation person A in the first language (step 204). (2) Determine the response contents for the terminal unit 20 used by the conversation person B and transmit the response contents to the terminal section 20 used by the conversation person B in the second language (step 205) or ( 3) Select whether to end the dialogue (step 206).

In the case of (1), the terminal unit 10 used by the conversation person A is requested to speak the response content (step 207), and the step 201 is repeatedly executed. In the case of (2), the conversation person The terminal unit 20 used by B obtains an utterance for the response content (step 208).
The utterance of the conversation person B in the second language is received via the terminal unit 20, the received utterance content is recognized by the speech recognition unit 21 (step 209), and the utterance content is understood by the utterance understanding unit 22. The dialogue scenario stored in advance in the dialogue scenario storage unit 40 is referred to (step 210), and the next process is selected based on the result of understanding the utterance (step 211). That is, (1 ′) whether to determine the response content for the terminal unit 20 used by the conversation person B, and to transmit the response content to the terminal unit 20 used by the conversation person B in the second language (step 212) Alternatively, (2 ′) determining the response content for the terminal unit 10 used by the conversation person A and transmitting the response content to the terminal unit 10 used by the conversation person A in the first language (step 213), or , (3 ′) Either the dialog is terminated (step 214).

  In the case of (1 ′), the terminal unit 20 used by the conversation person B is requested to speak the response content (step 215), and the step 209 is repeated, and in the case of (2 ′), the conversation person. The terminal unit 10 used by A requests the utterance for the response content, and the step 201 is repeatedly executed (step 216).

(Second embodiment)
FIG. 6 is a process flowchart of the interlingual dialogue processing method according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
In the second embodiment, when the response content is transmitted to the terminal units 10 and 20 of the dialog person, the standard dialog text is stored in the standard dialog text data storage unit 50 for each response content described in the dialog scenario storage unit 40. Is prepared, and the response contents are transmitted using a fixed dialogue sentence specified by the matched response contents.
That is, the dialogue scenario is referred to (step 301), and the standard dialogue text registered in the standard dialogue text data storage unit 50 is referred to for each response content of the dialogue scenario (step 302). It is checked whether or not there is a variable part such as X or Y in the standard dialog text referred to (step 303). If there is no variable part, the response content is used as it is by using the standard dialog text specified by the collated response content as it is. (Step 304).

  If there is a variable part (step 305), it is checked whether or not the response content is transmitted to the terminal unit of the conversation person different from the conversation person who spoke most recently (step 305). When the message is transmitted to a different dialogue person, the machine dialogue unit 31 converts the fixed form dialogue sentence or a part of the fixed form dialogue sentence to determine a phrase that embodies the variable part. (Step 306). In the case of transmitting to the talker who spoke most recently, a phrase that embodies the variable part is determined from the utterance understanding result (step 307). After step 306 or step 307, the variable part of the standard dialogue sentence is embodied and the response content is transmitted to the terminal units 10 and 20 (step 308).

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.
7 and 8 are flowcharts of the interlingual dialogue processing method according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
In the third embodiment, the dialogue control unit 30 has either (a) a free utterance state or (b) a dialogue understanding state. Further, the dialogue scenario storage unit 40 stores a plurality of dialogue scenarios as shown in FIG. 9 in association with key phrases.
First, the state of the dialogue control unit 30 is set to (a) free speech state (step 401).
When the state of the dialogue control unit 30 is (a) a free utterance state (step 402), the speech recognition unit 11 recognizes a sentence uttered by the dialogue person A through the first terminal unit 10 in the first language. (Step 403), it is determined whether or not the key phrase stored in the dialogue scenario storage unit 40 is included in the speech recognition result (Step 404). If a key phrase is included, the state is changed to (b) dialogue understanding state, and the dialogue scenario stored in association with the key phrase is read into the primary storage memory for reference from the next step (step 410). .

If the key phrase is not included, the result of translating the recognition result into the second language by the machine translation unit 31 is transmitted to the second terminal unit 20 (step 405). The utterance of the conversation person B is similarly processed (steps 406 to 408). If the end of the dialogue is instructed by either of the interlocutors, the dialogue is terminated (step 409). The instruction to end the dialogue is given by voice input or by an input device such as a keyboard or a mouse.
When the state of the dialogue control unit 30 is (b) dialogue understanding state, the flowchart of FIG. 8 is executed (step 402). The dialogue control unit 30 recognizes a sentence uttered by the conversation person A in the first language via the first terminal unit 10 by the voice recognition unit 11 (step 501), and the content of the uttered sentence is recognized by the utterance understanding unit. 12, refer to the dialogue scenario read into the primary storage memory in step 410 (step 502), and select and execute one of the processes (1) to (3) as in the first embodiment. (Step 503).

However, when the process (1) is selected, the speech recognition result is translated into the second language by the machine translation unit 31 and transmitted to the conversation person B, and the input from the conversation person B is performed for a certain period of time. (For example, 1 second) is accepted (step 504). The input may be a voice recognition result obtained by recognizing a sentence uttered by the conversation person B via the terminal unit 20 by the voice recognition unit 21 or a keyboard input.
When there is no input from the conversation person B, as in the first embodiment, the response content for the terminal unit 10 used by the conversation person A is determined and the response content is transmitted to the terminal part 10 in the first language. To do. When there is an input from the conversation person B, the translation result obtained by translating the input into the first language by the machine translation unit 31 is transmitted to the terminal unit 10 without transmitting the determined response content to the terminal unit 10. (Step 5041). Thereafter, a response is requested from the conversation person A again using the response content transmitted to the conversation person A immediately before (step 507).
Similarly, the utterance by the terminal person B is also processed (steps 509 to 516).
In step 503 or step 511, when (3) End of dialogue is selected, the process returns to the flowchart of FIG. That is, the state of the dialogue control unit 30 is changed to (a) free speech state (step 401), and the dialogue shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7 is executed unless a key phrase is included in the speech recognition result.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of interaction according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
The part * 1 in FIG. 10 indicates a dialog in which the state of the dialog control unit 30 is (a) a free utterance state, and the part * 2 indicates (b) a dialog in a dialog understanding state. A sentence in parentheses in each utterance indicates a sentence in which the speech recognition result is translated by the machine translation unit 31 and transmitted to the partner dialoger as it is.
* In the dialogue shown in part 1, communication such as greetings that are not assumed in the dialogue scenario is communicated to the other dialogue person as it is, thereby realizing communication.
Since the key phrase “reservation” is included in the utterance of the conversation person B, the reservation scenario is executed in the subsequent conversation. Here, if another key phrase is included in the utterance of the conversation person B, another scenario (for example, the order scenario) can be executed, and the conversation desired by the conversation person is selected and realized. Can do.

  In the dialogue shown in the part of * 2, a sentence in parentheses obtained by translating a sentence spoken by the conversation person A is transmitted to the conversation person B. Interviewer A asked, “How many people are all right? When the sentence that is not assumed in the dialogue scenario is uttered, the reservation scenario shown in FIG. 2 corresponds to the utterance comprehension failure. ”And an unnatural response along the dialogue scenario is transmitted to the dialogue person A. On the other hand, in the third embodiment, the utterance of the conversation person A is translated, and the result “How many seats do you have? ”Is transmitted to the dialogue person B, and the dialogue person B receives“ Thirty seats. It is possible to input a response to a dialogue that is not assumed in the dialogue scenario. The system is “Thirty seats. "Thirty seats." ”Is transmitted to the interlocutor A, and the response content transmitted to the interlocutor A immediately before is used again to ask the interrogator A for a response by using“ how many people are there from 7 o'clock on the 19th ”.

As described above, in the third embodiment, a natural dialogue can be executed even when a dialogue person utters a sentence that is not assumed in the dialogue scenario.
Then, when the execution of the dialogue scenario is finished, (a) it becomes a free utterance state, until the utterance including the key phrase is made again, the utterance of the conversation person is recognized by speech, the speech recognition result is translated, Tell the interlocutor. In the dialog shown in FIG. 10, after the reservation is completed, “Thank you very much. And “What more can I help?” Is spoken by the conversation person B. In the reservation scenario shown in FIG. 2, the dialog after completing the reservation is not assumed, but according to the third embodiment, these utterances are recognized by speech and translated by machine translation. To be told.
Here, Talker A asks, “Can I place an order? If the utterance including the key phrase is performed, the order scenario stored in association with the key phrase can be executed to proceed with the dialogue.

(Program and recording medium)
By using the method and apparatus of such an embodiment, in a dialogue in which one talker speaks using a language different from the other talker, the content spoken by the talker is erroneously recognized. Even in such a case, it is possible to finally achieve the purpose of the dialog, such as accepting an inquiry reservation as to whether reservation is possible.
If the processing flow shown in FIG. 5 is coded into a program and stored in a recording medium such as a CD-ROM, it is convenient for selling or lending the program, and an interactive system. It is possible to easily implement the present invention by installing a recording medium in the computer, installing the program, and executing the program.

It is a block block diagram of the interlingual dialogue processing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the content stored in the dialogue scenario memory | storage part in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the content stored in the fixed form dialog text data storage part in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the dialogue which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a processing flowchart of the interlingual dialogue processing method concerning a 1st example of the present invention. It is a process flowchart of the different language dialogue processing method which concerns on 2nd Example of this invention. It is a process flowchart of the different language dialogue processing method which concerns on 3rd Example of this invention. It is a process flowchart of the different language dialogue processing method which concerns on 3rd Example of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the content stored in the dialogue scenario memory | storage part in FIG. 1 based on 3rd Example of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the dialogue which concerns on 3rd Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Terminal part, 20 ... Terminal part, 30 ... Dialog control part, 11 ... Voice recognition part,
12 ... Speech understanding unit, 21 ... Speech recognition unit, 22 ... Speech understanding unit,
31 ... Machine translation unit, 40 ... Dialog scenario storage unit,
50: A fixed dialog sentence data storage unit.

Claims (16)

Inter-lingual dialogue processing method for connecting a plurality of terminal units for performing dialogue by users using different languages via the dialogue control unit, and for communicating between the users of the terminal unit by the dialogue control unit Because
A speech recognizer recognizes a sentence spoken by the first dialogue person in the first language via the first terminal part, and understands the content of the spoken sentence by the speech understanding part;
In the dialogue control unit, referring to a dialogue scenario stored in advance, and based on the result of understanding the utterance, (1) the response content for the first terminal unit used by the first dialogue person is determined, and the response content is determined. (2) Determine the response content for the second terminal unit used by the second dialogue person and transmit the response content in the second language to the terminal unit in the first language Or (3) a first step of selectively executing whether to terminate the dialogue;
In the case of the above (1), the first terminal unit of the first conversation person is asked for an utterance for the response content, and the first step is repeatedly executed. In the case of the above (2), the second terminal A second step of requesting an utterance for the response content from the second terminal unit used by
When the second conversation person speaks in the second language through the second terminal unit, the speech recognition unit recognizes the uttered utterance content, and the utterance understanding unit understands the utterance content.
In the dialogue control unit, referring to a dialogue scenario stored in advance, and based on the result of understanding the utterance, (1 ′) the response content for the second terminal unit used by the second dialogue person is determined, and the response content To the terminal unit in the second language, or (2 ′) determining the response content for the first terminal unit used by the first interrogator and transmitting the response content in the first language A third step of selecting and executing either the transmission to the terminal unit or (3 ′) termination of the dialogue;
In the case of (1 ′), the second terminal unit used by the second interrogator asks the utterance for the response content, repeats the third step, and in the case of (2 ′) Has a fourth step of requesting an utterance for the response content to the first terminal unit used by the first interlocutor and repeatedly executing the first step. Method.   The dialogue control unit prepares a regular dialogue sentence for each response content described in the dialogue scenario when the response content is transmitted to the terminal unit used by the conversation person, and the regular dialogue specified by the matched response content The interlingual dialogue processing method according to claim 1, wherein a response content is transmitted using a sentence.   The dialog control unit, when transmitting the response content to the terminal unit used by the dialog person, particularly when transmitting the response content to the terminal unit of the dialog person different from the dialog person who spoke most recently, That is, in the case of (2) or (2 ′) according to claim 1, the response content is obtained by combining the standard dialogue sentence or a part of the standard dialogue sentence with a conversion result by the machine translation unit. The interlingual dialogue processing method according to claim 2, wherein transmission is performed. In the dialog control unit,
The speech recognition unit recognizes a sentence uttered by the first conversation person in the first language through the first terminal unit, and the translation result obtained by translating the recognition result into the second language is the second terminal unit. And the speech recognition unit recognizes a sentence uttered by the second interlocutor in the second language through the second terminal unit, and translates the recognition result into the first language. A fifth step of transmitting to the first terminal unit, and having either (a) a free speech state or (b) a dialog understanding state,
(A) In the case of a free speech state, the fifth step is repeatedly executed, and if the recognition result includes a key phrase previously associated with a dialogue scenario and stored in the dialogue control unit, the state is represented by ( b) change to conversational state,
(B) In the case of the dialog understanding state, the first to fourth steps are executed,
In the first step, in addition to (1) to (3) above, (4) the state is selected and executed (b) the dialog understanding state is selected and executed,
In the third step, in addition to (1 ′) to (3 ′), any one of (4 ′) changing the state to (b) the dialogue understanding state is selectively executed. The interlingual dialogue method according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The first step further comprises:
The speech recognition unit recognizes a sentence uttered by the first conversation person in the first language through the first terminal unit, and the translation result obtained by translating the recognition result into the second language is the second terminal unit. Communicate to
Accepts input in a second language from a second interlocutor and if there is an input,
In the case of (1), without transmitting the determined response content to the first terminal unit, the input is translated into the first language and transmitted to the terminal unit,
The third step further comprises:
The speech recognition unit recognizes a sentence uttered by the second dialogue person in the second language via the second terminal unit, and the translation result obtained by translating the recognition result into the first language is the first terminal unit. Communicate to
Accepts input in the first language from the first interlocutor and if there is input,
In the case of (1 ′), the input content is translated into the second language and transmitted to the second terminal unit without transmitting the determined response content to the second terminal unit. The method for interactive dialogue between different languages according to any one of claims 1 to 4. Inter-lingual dialogue processing apparatus for connecting a plurality of terminal units for performing dialogue by users using different languages through the dialogue control unit, and for communicating between the users of the terminal unit by the dialogue control unit Because
A voice recognition unit that recognizes a sentence uttered by the first interlocutor in the first language through the first terminal unit;
An utterance understanding unit that understands the content of a sentence uttered from the result of the speech recognition;
Based on the result of understanding the utterance with reference to a pre-stored dialogue scenario, (1) the response content for the first terminal unit used by the first interlocutor is determined, and the response content in the first language Or (2) determining a response content for the second terminal unit used by the second interrogator and transmitting the response content in the second language to the terminal unit, or , (3) a first means for selectively executing either one of the dialogs to be terminated;
In the case of (1), the terminal unit used by the first interlocutor is asked to utter the response content, and the first means is repeatedly executed. In the case of (2), the second part A second means for requesting an utterance for the response content to the second terminal unit used by the interlocutor;
The second dialogue person speaks in the second language through the second terminal unit, the spoken speech content is recognized by the voice recognition unit, the speech content is understood by the speech understanding unit, and the dialogue control unit , Referring to a dialogue scenario stored in advance, and based on the result of understanding the utterance, (1 ′) determining a response content for the second terminal unit used by the second dialog person, and storing the response content in the second language To the terminal unit or (2 ′) determine the response content for the first terminal unit used by the first interlocutor and transmit the response content to the terminal unit in the first language Or (3 ′) a third means for selectively executing whether to terminate the dialog,
In the case of (1 ′), the second terminal unit used by the second interlocutor is asked to speak the response content, and in the case of (2 ′), the first interlocutor uses it. A dialogue control unit having a fourth means for obtaining an utterance for the response content in the first terminal unit, repeatedly executing the third means, and repeatedly executing the first means; Interlingual dialogue processing device. The dialog control unit further includes a standard dialog data storage unit that stores a standard dialog for each response content described in the dialog scenario when the response content is transmitted to the terminal unit of the dialog person,
7. The interlingual dialog processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the dialog control unit transmits the response content to the terminal unit using a standard dialog text specified by the response content collated with the standard dialog text. . The said dialog control part is a case where the said response content is transmitted to the terminal part which the dialog person different from the dialog person who spoke last time uses, ie, (2) or (2 ') of Claim 4 In Case of,
8. The interlingual dialogue processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein a response content is transmitted by combining a conversion result by a machine translation unit with respect to the fixed dialog sentence or a part of the fixed dialog sentence. The dialogue control unit recognizes, by the voice recognition unit, a sentence uttered by a first talker in a first language via a first terminal unit, and translates the recognition result into a second language. To the second terminal unit, the second speech unit recognizes a sentence uttered in the second language through the second terminal unit by the voice recognition unit, and the recognition result is recognized in the first language. And a fifth means for transmitting the translation result translated into the first terminal unit,
In the case of (a) free utterance state and (b) dialogue understanding state, and (a) free utterance state, the fifth means is repeatedly executed and associated with the dialogue scenario in advance. If the recognition result includes the key phrase stored in the dialogue control unit, the state is changed to the (b) dialogue state,
(B) In the case of the dialog understanding state, the first to fourth means are executed,
In the first means, in addition to (1) to (3), (4) the state is selected and executed (b) the state is changed to the dialog understanding state.
In the third means, in addition to (1 ′) to (3 ′), any one of (4 ′) changing the state to (b) conversation understanding state is selectively executed. The cross-language dialogue processing apparatus according to any one of claims 6 to 8. The fifth means further recognizes, by the voice recognition unit, a sentence spoken by the first dialogue person in the first language through the first terminal unit, and translates the recognition result into the second language. The translated result to the second terminal,
Accepts input in a second language from a second interlocutor and if there is an input,
In the case of (1), without transmitting the determined response content to the first terminal unit, the input is translated into the first language and transmitted to the terminal unit,
The third means further includes
The speech recognition unit recognizes a sentence uttered by the second dialogue person in the second language via the second terminal unit, and the translation result obtained by translating the recognition result into the first language is the first terminal unit. Communicate to
Accepts input in the first language from the first interlocutor and if there is input,
In the case of (1 ′), the input content is translated into the second language and transmitted to the second terminal unit without transmitting the determined response content to the second terminal unit. The cross-language dialogue processing apparatus according to any one of claims 6 to 9. For dialogue processing between different languages that connects multiple terminal units for dialogue by users who use different languages via the dialogue control unit, and communicates between the users of the terminal unit by the dialogue control unit A program,
A procedure for recognizing a sentence uttered by a first dialogue person in the first language through the first terminal unit by the voice recognition unit on the computer of the dialogue control unit, and the contents of the spoken sentence by the utterance understanding unit Based on the understanding procedure, the dialogue scenario stored in advance, and the result of understanding the utterance, (1) the response content for the terminal unit used by the first dialogue person is determined, and the response content in the first language Or (2) determining a response content for the second terminal unit used by the second interrogator and transmitting the response content in the second language to the terminal unit, Alternatively, (3) a first procedure in the dialog control unit for selectively executing either of the dialog is terminated,
In the case of (1), the first terminal unit used by the first interrogator asks the utterance for the response content, repeats the first procedure, and in the case of (2), A second procedure in the dialogue control unit that asks the terminal unit of the second dialoguer to utter the transmitted content;
A procedure in which a second conversation person speaks in the second language through the second terminal unit, recognizes the uttered utterance content by the voice recognition unit, and understands the utterance content by the utterance understanding unit, previously stored Based on the result of understanding the utterance in the dialogue control unit with reference to the dialogue scenario, (1 ′) the response content for the second terminal unit used by the second dialogue person is determined, and the response content is set to the second It is transmitted to the terminal unit by language, or (2 ′) the response content for the first terminal unit used by the first interrogator is determined, and the response content is transmitted to the terminal unit in the first language. Or (3 ′) a third procedure in the dialogue control unit for selectively executing the dialogue termination,
In the case of (1 ′), the second terminal unit used by the second dialog person is asked for an utterance for the response content, the third procedure is repeatedly executed, and in the case of (2 ′) Is a program for different language interaction processing for causing the terminal unit of the first dialogue person to obtain a response to the response content and causing the fourth procedure in the dialogue control unit to repeatedly execute the first procedure. . The program for interactive processing between different languages according to claim 11,
When the response content is transmitted to the computer of the dialog control unit to the terminal unit used by the interlocutor, a procedure for referring to the standard dialog prepared for each dialog scenario and the standard dialog specified by the collated response content are used. Program for different language interaction processing to execute the procedure of transmitting the response contents in response. The program for interactive processing between different languages according to claim 12,
When the response content is transmitted to the computer of the dialog control unit to a terminal unit used by a dialog person different from the dialog person who spoke most recently, the standard dialog text or the standard dialog text is used. A program for interlingual interaction processing for executing a procedure for transmitting a response content by combining a conversion result by a machine translation unit for a part of the program. The program for interlingual dialogue processing according to any one of claims 11 to 13,
The computer of the dialogue control unit recognizes a sentence spoken by the first dialogue person in the first language through the first terminal unit by the voice recognition unit, and translates the recognition result into the second language. The translation result is transmitted to the second terminal unit, and the speech recognition unit recognizes a sentence uttered by the second dialog person in the second language through the second terminal unit, and the recognition result is first Further executing a fifth procedure for transmitting the translation result translated into the first language to the first terminal unit,
(A) It has any state of a free utterance state and (b) a dialogue understanding state. In the case of (a) a free utterance state, the fifth procedure is repeatedly executed and associated with a dialogue scenario in advance. If the recognition result includes the key phrase stored in the dialogue control unit, the state is changed to the (b) dialogue state, and (b) the dialogue understanding state, the first to fourth steps are performed. Let it run
In the first procedure, in addition to the steps (1) to (3), a procedure for selecting and executing (4) changing the state to (b) the dialogue understanding state,
In the third means, in addition to (1 ′) to (3 ′), in order to execute a procedure for selecting and executing either (4 ′) the state or (b) changing the dialogue understanding state A program for interactive processing of different languages. The fifth procedure to be executed by the computer of the dialog control unit is further configured to recognize a sentence spoken by the first dialog person in the first language via the first terminal unit by the voice recognition unit, A procedure for transmitting a translation result obtained by translating the recognition result into the second language to the second terminal unit;
Accepts input in a second language from a second interlocutor and if there is an input,
In the case of (1), without transmitting the determined response content to the first terminal unit, the input is translated into the first language and transmitted to the terminal unit,
In the third procedure, the speech recognizer recognizes a sentence spoken by the second dialogue person in the second language through the second terminal unit, and translates the recognition result into the first language. To transmit the translated result to the first terminal unit,
Accepts input in the first language from the first interlocutor and if there is input,
In the case of (1 ′), it is a procedure of translating the input into the second language and transmitting it to the second terminal unit without transmitting the determined response content to the second terminal unit. 15. The program for cross-lingual dialogue processing according to any one of claims 11 to 14.   A computer-readable recording medium on which the interlingual dialogue processing program according to any one of claims 11 to 15 is recorded.

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