JP2007264199A - Interactive device, interactive method, interactive system, and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an interactive device, an interactive method, an interactive system, and a computer program capable of performing flexible interactive control on a newly introduced interactive content and currently implemented interactive. <P>SOLUTION: A subject information which can be updated is searched from a subject information management section 101 by a subject information reflection section 103, by introducing new subject information from an interactive progress section 102, and interactive progress state of the searched subject information which can be updated, is updated by using the information regarding the interactive progress state in new subject information. When a local subject is the subject to be updated in updating the interactive progress state, the subject to be updated is updated and the subject information in the subject information management section 101 is erased so that the subject to be updated may become a current subject. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a dialogue apparatus, a dialogue method, a dialogue system, and a computer program that perform a dialogue with a user.

  In recent years, research on interfaces that enable speech and natural language input has been active. In addition, many expert systems using such an interface have been developed, and a device that accepts input speech, text, and the like is also available to the general public.

  When inputting in a natural language, the user rarely inputs all the conditions required by the system at once, and exchange between the user and the system is required. For example, when the user input is incomplete, the system needs to inquire the user about the missing condition and integrate the user's answer to the inquiry. In order to perform such processing, dialogue processing technology between the user and the system is indispensable.

  Since such natural language input is an input method that is commonly used by humans, it is particularly desired to use it in an interface of a large-scale system that is complicated in operation. In such a large-scale system, it is necessary to have a dialogue that achieves a plurality of sub-purposes in order to achieve the overall purpose. For this reason, it is necessary to handle a plurality of topics corresponding to each purpose in the dialogue processing technology. At the same time, from the viewpoint of enabling white conversations that correspond to the user's conversation during the conversation, it is possible to specify topics that the user wants to execute freely rather than accepting only user input related to information desired by the system, and It is desirable to be able to have a dialogue that achieves the overall goal by integrating various topics introduced in the dialogue by

In the conventional interactive technology, for example, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, a method for managing topics in a stack has been proposed. In this method, topics that appear in a dialog with the user are managed by the stack, and topics that have not ended the conversation with the user because the purpose has not been achieved (unresolved topics) are accumulated in the stack. When a new topic is introduced by the user or the system, the topic is pushed onto the stack, and when the conversation with the user is finished for a certain topic (hereinafter referred to as “solved the topic”), it is popped from the stack Perform the operation. The topic that performs user interaction is the topic at the end of the stack (the top of the stack). Then, when a topic is solved, the result of searching the unresolved topic for resuming the conversation from the stack is selected as the next topic based on the conversation result of the topic.
JP 2004-212664 A

  In the method of Patent Document 1, when a new topic is introduced by a user input or the like during a conversation, the topic stack is operated so that the new topic becomes the top of the stack in order to immediately execute the conversation related to the new topic. In other words, when a new topic can be used to change the conversation content of an unresolved topic when a new topic is introduced, the conversation content of the current conversation topic is discarded in order to execute the conversation of the unresolved topic. Pop), or if the new topic cannot be used to change the conversation content of an unresolved topic, it is pushed onto the stack to interrupt the conversation of the new topic.

  However, depending on the type of new topic to be introduced, it may be better to solve the topic currently being talked about first and proceed with the conversation of the new topic using the solution result. Even in such a case, the conversation contents of the topic currently being talked about are discarded, or the conversation contents of the topic currently being talked about are ignored in order to push the new topic and advance the conversation. In any case, there is a problem that the user has to input the content of the topic currently being talked about again.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and includes a dialog apparatus, a dialog method, a dialog system, and a computer program capable of performing flexible dialog control on newly introduced dialog contents and a dialog that is currently being executed. The purpose is to provide.

The interactive apparatus according to the present invention is:
Dialogue progress means for performing progress of dialogue with the user and detecting introduction of new topic information during the dialogue;
Topic information management means for storing topic information including at least the type of topic and the progress state of the dialog appearing during the dialog with the user by the dialog progressing means in a priority order for proceeding with the dialog;
Search for topic information having a predetermined relationship from the topic information management means based on the new topic information detected by the dialog progress means, and prioritize the dialog based on the new topic information with respect to the searched topic information. Topic information reflecting means for updating the searched topic information or inserting the new topic information so as to proceed.

The interactive apparatus according to the present invention is:
Dialogue progress means for performing progress of dialogue with the user and detecting introduction of new topic information during the dialogue;
Topic information management means for storing topic information including at least the type of topic and the progress state of the dialog appearing during the dialog with the user by the dialog progressing means in a priority order for proceeding with the dialog;
The topic information management means searches for topic information that can be updated from the new topic information detected by the dialog progress means, and the dialog progress of the searched topic information that can be updated is the dialog progress in the new topic information. The topic information management unit updates the information using status information, and updates the progress of the conversation to a local topic when updating the topic to be the current topic together with the update of the update target. And topic information reflecting means for erasing the topic information.

The interactive apparatus according to the present invention is:
Dialogue progress means for performing progress of dialogue with the user and detecting introduction of new topic information during the dialogue;
Topic information management means for storing topic information including at least the type of topic and the progress state of the dialog appearing during the dialog with the user by the dialog progressing means in a priority order for proceeding with the dialog;
A topic dependency database that manages dependency relations for usage and usage in each topic;
The topic information management means is searched for the topic information for confirming the usage relationship with the new topic information detected by the dialog advancing means as the insertion confirmation target, and the topic dependency relation database is referred to for the searched insertion confirmation target. And determining the dependency relationship with respect to the new topic information, and including the topic information reflecting means that allows the new topic information to be inserted before the insertion confirmation target based on the determination result. To do.

  According to the present invention, it is determined whether or not the newly introduced dialogue content should be executed immediately, and the order of the newly introduced dialogue content and the currently executed dialogue is changed in accordance with the judgment result. Interactive control is possible.

  Hereinafter, a dialogue apparatus, a dialogue method, and a program according to embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  The interactive apparatus according to the present invention comprises a user interface of some application, and aims to effectively operate a function in the application. In particular, the interactive device according to the present invention handles one or more purposes in order to handle one or more types of functions depending on the application, and the user can use the topic associated with each purpose to achieve each purpose. Dialogue with

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an interactive apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  The dialogue apparatus includes a topic information management unit 101, a dialogue progression unit 102, and a topic information reflection unit 103. The topic information management unit 101 includes a list that stores topic information that appears during a conversation as a progress state (a dialog state) with the user A in order of priority in which the conversation with the user A proceeds. In this description, it is assumed that the topic information stored behind the list is the topic information having a high priority for interacting with the user A. Topic information is information including the type of topic and the progress of dialogue. As a result, the topic information stored at the end of the topic information management unit 101 is the topic information (current topic information) that is the object of dialogue with the user A in the dialogue progression unit 102.

  The topic information management unit 101 also accepts an update operation from the dialogue progression unit 102 or the topic information reflection unit 103. The content of the update operation includes inserting topic information at a specific position in the list, correcting the content of the topic information at the specific position, or deleting the topic information at the specific position.

  The dialogue advancing unit 102 conducts dialogue with the user A for the current topic information stored in the topic information management unit 101, and the purpose of the topic (current topic) of the current topic information is the dialogue with the user A. To achieve (solve the topic). In the dialog with the user A, the dialog progress unit 102 performs dialog processing such as input interpretation such as associating user input with values and topic information, and determination of a transmission prompt. Here, the transmission prompt is presented to the user A by an audio signal, text display, or the like. When the conversation progress unit 102 detects that the topic information management unit 101 is empty and there is no new topic information to be introduced, the conversation progress unit 102 ends the conversation with the user A.

  When the current topic is resolved, the dialogue progress unit 102 causes the application operation to be executed with the content of the topic information at the time of resolution, and erases the current topic information from the topic information management unit 101. Further, the dialogue progress unit 102 reflects the dialogue result regarding the current topic in the topic information management unit 101. Here, the dialogue result may be a value such as a database search result, or may be topic information to be newly dialogued. When the dialogue result is a simple value, the dialogue progression unit 102 searches the topic information management unit 101 for topic information for which the value of the dialogue result can be used, and notifies the topic information of the search result of the dialogue result. Reflect. On the other hand, when topic information to be newly talked is acquired as a dialogue result, the dialogue progression unit 102 uses the topic information to inform the topic information reflection unit 103 in order to reflect the dialogue result. 101 is updated. When the conversation progression unit 102 detects the introduction of new topic information (new topic information) during the conversation with the user A, the conversation progress unit 102 causes the topic information reflection unit 103 to update the topic information management unit 101 using the new topic information. . When the interpretation result of the user input is topic information, (b) the conversation progression unit 102 determines that another topic conversation is necessary as a procedure for solving the current topic, and the topic When new topic information is acquired as a conversation result of a certain topic (c), the introduction of new topic information is detected. After the topic information reflection unit 103 updates the topic information management unit 101 using the new topic information, the dialogue progress unit 102 conducts a dialogue with the user A for the current topic information in the updated topic information management unit 101. continue.

  In the input interpretation in the dialog progression unit 102, the natural language input from the user A is interpreted, and the user input is converted into some topic information or value. For example, when user A inputs a topic name, the conversation progress status is converted into topic information in an initial state, or when the user specifies a value as an operation condition, information on the type of the value (for example, part of speech) Information). In addition, even when the topic name is omitted, if a topic can be identified, a certain condition may be converted into topic information of a specified dialog progress status. Existing natural language interpretation methods can be used.

  The dialogue progression unit 102 conducts dialogue by referring to the dialogue procedure associated with each topic and the dialogue progress status in the topic information during dialogue. When the dialogue procedure is completed, the dialogue progression unit 101 determines that the topic has been solved. Dialog processing that resolves one topic is a method that refers to a scenario such as a dialog state transition diagram associated with each topic, advances the dialog, and considers that the topic is resolved when the dialog state transitions to the end of the scenario. Alternatively, an existing method such as a method of detecting information that is lacking for topic solution and requesting it from the user A, and assuming that the lack of information is eliminated can be used. In addition, the response (sending prompt) to be presented to the user A during the dialogue is automatically generated by giving information to a template sentence specified in the scenario or a response sentence template, and presenting the response sentence to the user A. It can be generated by using an existing method such as operating based on an operation specification such as screen output specified in.

  The dialogue procedure referred to by the dialogue progression unit 102 may be stored in any location inside or outside the dialogue apparatus. When stored outside the dialogue apparatus, the dialogue progression unit 102 accesses the dialogue procedure via the network.

  The topic information reflection unit 103 causes the topic information management unit 101 to reflect the new topic information that appears during the dialogue between the dialogue progression unit 102 and the user, and updates the topic information management unit 101. Details of the operation of the topic information reflection unit 103 will be described later.

  Next, the operation of the interactive apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  This dialogue apparatus performs dialogue with the user A on a predetermined topic. The stage where the dialogue is started by the user A or the dialogue apparatus corresponds to “Start” shown in FIG. 2, and the dialogue is terminated when it is no longer necessary to continue the dialogue. That is, the dialog is terminated at “End” shown in FIG.

  When the dialogue apparatus starts a dialogue with the user A, the dialogue progression unit 102 advances the dialogue with the user A (step S201). While the dialogue is in progress, a case where a system response is output and a user input is awaited is included. Such a state can be said to be a state in which the user input is temporarily stopped in step S201. In this case, the process of step S201 is continued by accepting a user input, a timer event, or the like. Furthermore, the dialog progressing unit 102 checks whether the dialog has ended (step S202) and whether new topic information has been introduced (step S203) at each stage where the dialog progresses, not limited to the timing of user input.

  When the dialog progression unit 102 detects the end of the dialog in step S202, the dialog with the user A is ended (End). If the dialog progression unit 102 cannot detect the introduction of new topic information in step S203, the conversation processing with the user A is continued as it is (step S201), and when the introduction of new topic information is detected, the topic information reflection unit 103, the topic information management unit 101 is updated using the new topic information. The topic information reflection unit 103 determines an update method of the topic information management unit 101 (step S204), and updates the content of the topic information management unit 101 according to the update method (step S205). When the content of the topic information management unit 101 is updated, the dialogue processing unit 102 proceeds with the dialogue with the user A for the updated current topic information (step S201). Details of processing (step S204, step S205) of the topic information reflection unit 103 will be described in detail later.

  Next, a specific example of topic information stored in the topic information management unit 101 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 shows an example of the topic information management unit 101 and topic information stored therein. In FIG. 4, the topic information management unit 101 shows a registration state of topic information when the conversation progresses in the order of the topic “route setting”, “destination setting”, and “address search”.

  The topic information is information including at least information on the type of topic and the progress of conversation of each topic. Information on the progress of dialogue depends on the method for specifying the dialogue procedure for each topic. For example, in the case of scenario specification based on a state transition diagram, it corresponds to a node that has transitioned due to dialogue, or in the case of dialogue processing that requires information necessary for solving a topic, a list of information necessary for solution is included.

  Here, the topic information used to describe the present invention and the notation thereof will be described with reference to FIG. Topic information can be divided into names and arguments. The name is information indicating the type of the topic, and is written on the left side of “(”. This corresponds to “daily location setting”, “address search”, etc. The argument is information from the user A through dialogue by the dialogue device. Is the attribute that should be acquired, and corresponds to the inside of “().” The number of arguments varies depending on the topic, and in the notation, each argument is separated by “,”. Is defined as a combination of attribute values, which are values specified by dialogue, and is expressed as (attribute name) :( attribute value) .If the attribute value is not acquired, "φ" For example, the topic information 403 in FIG.4 means that “the value“ XX prefecture ”is acquired from the user A as the prefecture name in the topic“ address ””. Indicates that the attribute value is not retrieved It should be noted that, if you do not need the notation of detailed attribute information, referred to only in the simple topic of the name of the topic information.

  Here, an example of a dialogue processing method for each topic in the dialogue progression unit 102 using the topic information shown in FIG. 4 will be described. There are two types of topic information attributes: mandatory attributes that must be acquired for topic resolution and non-essential attributes. If the required attribute for which no attribute value is specified is included in the current topic information, the dialog advancing unit 102 operates to acquire an attribute value to be substituted for the required attribute as dialog processing. For example, if user A is requested to input a value of a mandatory attribute, and user input is not associated with each attribute or does not need to be inquired to user A (current time, etc.), without requesting user A Or implicitly. Also, in the process of requesting information from the user A, if it is necessary to conduct a conversation on another topic as a procedure for requesting information, the topic information on the topic is introduced and the conversation is performed. Use the result of the conversation as the attribute value. At that time, the attribute for which information is requested is stored in the topic information. On the other hand, in the case of a simple command or the like, the number of topic information attributes may be zero. In such a topic, it can be considered that all essential attributes are designated. Then, when there is no essential attribute missing in the topic information, it is determined that the topic has been solved. In the following, for the sake of simplicity of description, unless otherwise specified, all attributes in each topic information are assumed to be essential attributes, and if all mandatory attributes are specified, the topic is solved.

  Next, the topic information reflecting unit 103 having an important role in the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of step S204 for determining the update method of the topic information management unit 101 in the topic information reflection unit 103 according to this embodiment.

  The topic information reflection unit 103 operates when the dialogue progress unit 102 detects the introduction of new topic information. The topic information reflection unit 103 first determines an update method of the topic information management unit 101 (step S204), and then updates the topic information management unit 101 based on the update method (step S205). Each process will be described below.

  The update information determination process (step S204) of the topic information management unit 101 in the topic information reflection unit 103 will be described with reference to FIG. First, the topic information reflecting unit 103 confirms a situation where new topic information is introduced (step S301). If this situation is a case where the dialog progression unit 102 introduces new topic information as a procedure for solving the current topic, it is necessary to immediately perform a conversation on the new topic information. Is determined to be added at the end of (step S309). Accordingly, the topic information management unit 101 stores topic information on a more topical topic, such as determining an attribute value, at a later position. Otherwise, the process proceeds to step S302.

  Here, the operation policy of the topic information reflection unit 103 after step S302 will be described. The topic information reflection unit 103 searches the topic information management unit 101 for topic information that can correct the content of the topic information (update topic information) with the new topic information. When certain topic information is updated, it can be considered that a local topic introduced as a procedure for the topic information has been solved. Therefore, after the update, a dialog for the updated topic information is executed. However, since updating topic information means updating the content of a conversation, if importance is attached to the continuity of the conversation, it is necessary to update topic information on a topic more locally from the topic information that can be updated. Therefore, the topic information reflection unit 103 searches the topic information stored in the topic information management unit 101 for topic information that can be updated with new topic information, starting from the current topic information in order, and is updated first. The topic information is updated as new topic information.

  The process after step S302 in the process of the topic information reflection unit 103 will be described. As an initial stage of searching for topic information that can be updated with new topic information, topic information (update confirmation target) for confirming update possibility is set as current topic information (step S302). It is confirmed whether or not the update confirmation target has been acquired (step S303), and if it cannot be acquired (step S303 Yes), it is determined that the new topic information is added to the end of the topic information management unit 101 in order to interrupt the conversation of new topic information (Step S309). If the update confirmation target can be acquired (No in step S303), whether the update confirmation target topic is the same as the topic of the new topic information in order to confirm whether the update confirmation target can be updated using the new topic information. Is confirmed (step S304), and if it is of a different type (step S304 No), the update confirmation target is set as topic information one step back (step S308).

  If the topic of the update confirmation target and the topic of the new topic information are the same type (Yes in step S304), update the conversation progress status of the update confirmation target using information (for example, attribute value) regarding the dialog progress status in the new topic information. Is possible. An update confirmation target determined to be updatable is called an update target.

  When a local topic is used as a procedure for solving a topic to be updated, the local topic may become unnecessary by the update process. The purpose of the local topic is to update the dialog progress status (or part of it) to be updated, but when the dialog progress status is updated based on new topic information, the local topic purpose has been achieved. become. Therefore, when the conversation progress status updated by the local topic is updated, the local topic conversation becomes unnecessary.

  In step S305, it is determined whether or not the dialog progress status for updating the local topic is updated. If it has been updated (Yes in step S305), it is determined that the topic information in the topic information management unit 101 is deleted so that the update target becomes the current topic along with the update of the update target because the topic conversation is unnecessary (step S305 Yes). Step S306). If it has not been updated (No in step S305), it is necessary to continue the conversation on the topic, so it is determined that only the update target is updated (step S307). Details of the confirmation process in step S305 will be described later.

  The topic information reflection unit 103 updates the topic information management unit 101 based on the above determination result (step S205). When the determination result is “add new topic information to the end of the topic information management unit 101 (passed through step S309)”, the new topic information is added to the end of the topic information management unit 101 and the new topic information is added to the current topic. Information. When the determination result is “update the update target and set the update target as the current topic (passed through step S306)”, the update target is updated and the update target stored in the topic information management unit 101 is updated. Subsequent topic information is deleted. When the determination result is “update the update target (pass through step S307)”, only the update process of the update target is executed. At this time, if the new topic information is the interpretation result of the user input, the dialogue progression unit 102 is made to present to the user A that the user input is accepted by a response sentence or the like. Then, the dialogue progression unit 102 continues the dialogue with the user A for the current topic information in the updated topic information management unit 101. The update process of the update target based on new topic information will be described in detail later.

  Next, the update process of the update target by the new topic information in the topic information reflection unit 103 and the confirmation process in step S305 will be described with reference to FIG. The update process is a process of “updating the dialog progress status to be updated using significant information in the dialog progress status in the new topic information”. For example, if the dialogue progress status is one state of a scenario in the state transition diagram format, this corresponds to transition to a state in which significant information in new topic information has been acquired. In step S305, the current dialog status indicates the acquisition target. If it is in a state where the information is to be acquired and there is significant information to be acquired in the new topic information, it can be determined that the information to be acquired has been updated (Yes in step S305).

  FIG. 5 schematically shows update processing of topic information “route setting” in the format shown in FIG. In such a topic information format, the update process is a process of “overwriting the attribute value to be updated with an attribute value other than“ φ ”in the new topic information”. That is, if the attribute value of the new topic information is “φ”, the attribute value to be updated is left (FIG. 5 (1)), and if the attribute value of the new topic information is not “φ”, the attribute value to be updated is overwritten. (2 (3) in FIG. 5) is executed. Based on such processing, in step S305, “If the attribute value of the new topic information is the same as“ φ ”or the attribute value to be updated, the attribute value is not updated, otherwise 0 is the attribute value update. It is determined. In the example of FIG. 5, if the attribute for which the attribute value is being acquired using the local topic in the update target (the attribute during the dialog) is “destination”, the attribute value is not updated ( In step S305, it is determined that it is necessary to continue a local conversation for acquiring the “destination”. On the other hand, since the attribute value is updated if the attribute in progress of the dialogue is “route point” or “calculation condition” (Yes in step S305), a local topic dialogue for acquiring the attribute values of these attributes is performed. It is determined that there is no need to continue.

  Next, as a specific example, a case where the present invention is applied to a car navigation system (hereinafter referred to as a car navigation system) will be described as an example, and the operation of the present embodiment will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS.

  Topics that can be interacted with by car navigation are “Route setting” that calculates the route under the specified conditions, “Destination setting” that registers the specified location as the destination, and when searching for a location This is an “address search” in which the address is specified by specifying the address in order from the prefecture name. The operation in the case of performing the dialogue as shown in FIG. 6 using such a car navigation will be described in detail.

  A dialog is started by the user input USR1 (step S201). When USR1 is interpreted, the input is “route setting (destination: φ, waypoint: φ, calculation condition: φ)”. The dialogue advancing unit 102 detects that new topic information is introduced by this user input (step S202 No, step S203 Yes), and requests the topic information reflection unit 103 to update the topic information management unit 101 (step S204). .

  In step S204, the topic information reflecting unit 103 updates the topic information management unit 101 using the new topic information “route setting (destination: φ, waypoint: φ, calculation condition: φ)” as shown in FIG. judge. Since the new topic information is notified from the user input, it is determined No in step S301. Since there is no current topic information at the initial stage, acquisition of the update confirmation target fails in step S302 (Yes in step S303), and therefore it is determined to add new topic information to the end of the topic information management unit 101 (step S309). .

  In step S205, the topic information reflection unit 103 updates the topic information management unit 101 based on the determination result in step S204. That is, the new topic information notified by user input is added to the end of the topic information management unit 101. The current topic information is “route setting”. The dialogue advancing unit 102 continues the dialogue with the user A for “route setting” (step S201). If it is determined that the attribute “destination” is acquired in order to solve the “route setting” in the dialog progress processing (step S201) of the dialog progressing unit 102, the dialog progressing unit 102 creates a new one based on the “route setting” dialog procedure. It is decided to use the topic “Destination setting”. Along with this determination, the dialogue progress unit 102 introduces new topic information “destination setting (destination: φ)”, and requests the topic information reflection unit 103 to update the topic information management unit 101 (step S202 No, step S203 Yes, Step S204).

  In step S204, the topic information reflection unit 103 determines an update method of the topic information management unit 101 using the new topic information “destination setting (destination: φ)”. Since the new topic information is used as a procedure of the dialogue progression unit 102 to solve the topic “route setting” (to acquire the attribute “destination”), it is determined as Yes in step S301. It is determined to add new topic information to the end of the topic information management unit 101 (step S309).

  The topic information reflection unit 103 updates the topic information management unit 101 in step S205. The new topic information “destination” is added to the end of the topic information management unit 101, and the current topic information is set as “destination setting”. The dialogue advancing unit 102 continues the dialogue with the user A for “Destination setting” (step S201).

  If it is determined that the attribute “destination” is acquired in order to solve the “destination setting” in the dialog progression process (step S201) of the dialog progression unit 102, the dialogue progression unit 102 uses the dialogue procedure of “destination setting”. Based on this, the user A is inquired about how to determine the “destination”. In response to this determination, a response SYS1 is output to the user A.

  Subsequently, USR2 was input. When USR2 is interpreted, the input is “address search (location search method)”. This input is an answer to the response SYS1 in the dialog advancing unit 102, and it is determined that the topic “address search” is selected as the “destination” determination method. The dialog progress process (step S201) is continued, and the dialog progress unit 102 determines to execute the topic “address search” selected by the user A based on the dialog procedure of the topic “destination setting”. Along with this determination, the dialogue progress unit 102 introduces new topic information “address search (prefecture name: φ, city name: φ)”, and requests the topic information reflection unit 103 to update the topic information management unit 101. (Step S202 No, Step S203 Yes, Step S204).

  In step S204, the topic information reflection unit 103 determines an update method of the topic information management unit 101 using the new topic information “address search (prefecture name: φ, city name: φ)”. Since the new topic information is used as a procedure of the dialogue progression unit 102 to solve the topic “destination setting”, it is determined that the new topic information is added to the end of the topic information management unit 101 (step S301 Yes, Step S309). In step S205, the topic information reflection unit 103 adds “address search” to the end of the topic information management unit 101, and updates the current topic information to “address search”. The state of the topic information management unit 101 at this time is as shown in FIG.

  The dialogue progression unit 102 performs dialogue progression processing for “address search” (step S201). The dialogue advancing unit 102 determines to acquire the attribute “prefecture name” based on the dialogue procedure of “address search”. In response to this determination, a response SYS2 is output to the user A.

  Subsequently, USR3 was input. When USR3 is interpreted, the input is “route setting (destination: φ, waypoint: φ, calculation condition: high-speed priority)”. The dialogue advancing unit 102 detects that new topic information is introduced by this user input (step S202 No, step S203 Yes), and requests the topic information reflection unit 103 to update the topic information management unit 101 (step S204). .

  In step S204, the topic information reflection unit 103 determines an update method of the topic information management unit 101 using the new topic information “route setting (destination: φ, waypoint: φ, calculation condition: high-speed priority)”. Since the new topic information is notified from the user input, it is determined No in step S301. The topic information reflection unit 103 searches the topic information management unit 101 (FIG. 7) for topic information that can be updated with new topic information. The update possibility is confirmed in order from the last topic information (703) stored in the topic information management unit 101. However, since the topic information 703 and 702 is not “route setting”, it is determined that the types do not match (step S302). Step S303No, Step S304No, Step S308, Step S303No, Step S304No).

  Next, the update confirmation target is set in the topic information 701 (step S308). Since the topic information 701 is “route setting”, it is determined that updating with new topic information is possible (No in step S303, step S304 Yes). The topic information 701 is in a dialogue for acquiring the attribute “destination”. The new topic information is “route setting (destination: φ, waypoint: φ, calculation condition: high speed priority)”, and no attribute value is specified for this attribute “destination”, so the topic information 701 is updated. It can be determined that the “destination” which is the attribute being acquired by the process is not updated (No in step S305). Accordingly, the topic information reflecting unit 103 determines the update contents when the topic information 701 to be updated is updated with new topic information.

  The topic information reflection unit 103 updates the topic information management unit 101 with new topic information in step S205. The topic information 701 is updated with new topic information, and the update result is “route setting (destination: φ, waypoint: φ, calculation condition: high-speed priority)”. In addition, since the current topic information remains unchanged as 703 and the new topic information is input from the user input, the dialog progression unit 102 is notified of the user input acceptance content to the user A.

  The dialogue advancing unit 102 continues the dialogue with the user A for the topic information 703 (step S201). First, since the topic information reflecting unit 103 is designated to notify the user A of the contents of acceptance of USR3, the response SYS3 is output. Next, since the topic information 703 has the dialog progress status not changed by the user input (USR3), it is determined that the attribute “prefecture name” is acquired again, and the response SYS4 is output.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to determine whether or not to delete local topic information based on whether or not to update an attribute that is currently in a conversation. Therefore, the topic information 701 can be reflected in the topic information 701 without deleting the dialogue state that “the destination is being determined by“ address search ”” by the input USR3. On the other hand, a method of adding topic information based on USR3 as the current topic information to the end of the topic information management unit 101 is also conceivable. In such a case, the dialogue with the user A is resumed from the determination of the “destination” attribute again. As a result, the operation is the same as deleting (ignoring) the dialog state that “the destination is being determined by“ address search ””.

  Here, a case where an input of “setting destination to XX” is made at the user input USR3 will be described. This input is interpreted as “destination setting (destination: OO)”, and the dialog progression unit 102 determines that new topic information is introduced (No in step S202, step S203 Yes). The topic information reflection unit 103 determines an update method of the topic information management unit 101 using the new topic information “destination setting” (step S204). In the topic information of FIG. 7, since this new topic information “destination setting” is the same type as the topic information 702, it can be determined that the topic information 702 can be updated (Yes in step S304). The topic information 702 is determining the attribute “destination”, and the new topic information “destination setting (destination: XX)” stores “XX” in the attribute “destination”. It is determined that the attribute value of the attribute being acquired is updated (Yes in step S305). Therefore, the update content of the topic information management unit 101 determined by the topic information reflection unit 103 in step S204 is “update topic information 702 and use topic information 702 as current topic information”.

  The topic information reflection unit 103 updates the topic information management unit 101 based on the determined content (step S205). That is, the topic information 702 is updated based on the new topic information to be “destination setting (daily destination: OO)”, and the topic information 703 is deleted so that the topic information 702 becomes the current topic information. The dialogue advancing unit 102 continues the dialogue with the user A for the updated topic information 702 (step S201). In such a case, the dialogue advancing unit 102 returns a response such as presenting a response that asks the user A for confirmation such as “Set destination to XX. Are you sure?”.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, when new topic information that updates the attribute currently in progress of the dialogue is notified, the topic information during the dialogue is deleted and the dialogue with the user A is advanced. Is possible. In the above example, since user A has “designated“ XX ”as the destination”, “the destination is being determined by“ address search ””, which was the previous conversation state, is unnecessary. If this is left, even if user A “designates XX as the destination”, the dialogue apparatus resumes the dialogue for setting the destination by address search, and user A must cancel this dialogue. Don't be

  Therefore, according to the dialogue apparatus according to the first embodiment as described above, the dialogue progress is updated by the topic information newly introduced, and the topic is updated at that time. Determine whether the topic information currently being talked about is necessary for future conversations based on whether the situation is updated, and leave the topic information if topic information currently being talked about is needed for future conversations Thus, the information to be updated by the new topic information can be updated, and the conversation of the topic information that should continue the conversation with the user A can be continued.

  In the above description, topic information that can be updated with new topic information in step S304 in topic information reflection unit 103 is described as topic information of the same type as new topic information. It is not limited to such a determination method. For example, a similar topic may be defined, and the topic information of a topic similar to the topic of new topic information may be updated. Further, it may be determined whether updating is possible using a rule for determining whether topic information is similar. Alternatively, if the update confirmation target is topic information having an attribute common to the new topic information, it may be determined that the update is possible. In such a case, a plurality of pieces of topic information may be updatable. However, the processing after step S305 is executed on the topic information positioned last among the updatable topic information.

  Further, in the above description, when the conversation progression unit 102 determines that the new topic information is used as a procedure for solving a certain topic in step S301 in FIG. 3, the new topic information is unconditionally added to the topic information management unit 101. However, even in such a case, it is possible to go through the process of confirming the update possibility after step S302. Conversely, the conversation progression unit 102 may add new topic information to the end of the topic information management unit 101 without passing through the topic information reflection unit 103.

  In the above description, the topic information update method is described so as to overwrite the attribute value of the topic information to be updated with the valid attribute value in the new topic information as shown in FIG. If update processing as shown in FIG. 5 is performed at the interpretation stage, the topic information itself may be overwritten. Or the update process and the overwrite process of the topic information itself may be switched based on the scene of the introduction of new topic information, or the processing content may be switched based on a flag indicating whether the update process is necessary for the new topic information. good.

  Further, in the above description, in the update process of the topic information reflection unit 103, it is described that if the new topic information is introduced by user input, the accepted content of the user input is presented, but the new topic introduced from the system Even information may be presented as a response. By presenting such a response, the user A can grasp the dialog execution state of the system.

  Further, in the above description, the topic information reflecting unit 103 requests the dialogue progressing unit 102 to present it when it is determined that the contents of acceptance of the user input are presented, but the topic information reflecting unit 103 directly accepts the user A. The contents may be presented.

  Further, in the above description, it is described that a response (SYS3 shown in FIG. 6) for presenting the contents of acceptance of the user input is performed before the dialog with the user A is resumed. It may be inserted or inserted when waiting for user input.

  As described above, new topic information is introduced into the conversation state, and when the conversation state is updated, the current conversation content is determined based on whether or not the conversation progress status for which the local topic is updated is updated. It is within the scope of the gist of the present invention if it is determined whether or not it is necessary to continue, and the dialog in the current dialog progress state is continued according to the determination result.

(Second Embodiment)
In the first embodiment, it is determined whether or not it is necessary to continue the topic information update determination and the current dialogue when introducing new topic information based on the dialogue progress status in each topic information that appears by the dialogue with the user A. Judgment. On the other hand, in the second embodiment, an interactive device that determines whether or not topic information of a local topic is detailed in detail based on the dependency relationship regarding use / use in each topic, and is used for updating the conversation state Will be described.

  FIG. 8 shows a configuration diagram of the interactive apparatus according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 8, the dialogue apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a topic information management unit 101, a dialogue progression unit 102, a topic information reflection unit 803, and a topic dependency database 804. Here, the topic information management unit 101 and the dialogue progression unit 102 are the same as those described in the first embodiment, and thus description thereof is omitted here.

  The topic information reflection unit 803 updates the topic information management unit 101 by reflecting, in the topic information management unit 101, new topic information that appears during the dialogue between the dialogue progression unit 102 and the user A. During this update process, the topic dependency database 804 is referenced to determine in detail whether the topic information is local topic information, and update processing of the topic information management box 101 is executed based on the determination result. . Details of the operation of the topic information reflection unit 803 will be described later.

  The topic dependency relationship database 804 is a database representing the usage relationship between topics. For example, if it is necessary to execute “destination setting” and “route point setting” to solve “route setting”, it can be said that “route setting” uses “destination setting” and “route point setting”. In the usage / use relationship, the topic on the user side is a local topic used to solve the topic on the user side. The topic dependency relationship database 804 manages such usage relationships between topics.

  FIG. 10 shows an example of the topic dependency database 804. FIG. 10 shows the usage relationship between topics in a graph format. That is, each node in the graph corresponds to a topic, and a link between the nodes represents a topic usage / used relationship. Each link represents “use the topic at the link destination to solve the topic at the link source”. For example, the link 1001 expresses that “the route setting uses the waypoint setting”. When the usage relationship between topics is established, the side to be used is called a parent topic, and the side to be used is called a child topic. A topic having an indirect usage relationship that can be reached by recursively following links to child topics is called a descendant topic. Child topics and descendant topics are local topics compared to parent topics.

  Subsequently, the operation of the interactive apparatus in the present embodiment will be described. Also in this embodiment, the operation of the dialogue apparatus is as shown in FIG. However, in the present embodiment, the detailed processing (step S204, step S205 in FIG. 2) of the topic information reflection unit 803 is changed. Therefore, only the detailed operation description of the topic information reflecting unit 803, which is the changed part, will be described in the operation of the present embodiment. Other operations are the same as those in the first embodiment, and thus are omitted.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an update content determination process (corresponding to step S204) based on new topic information of topic information reflection unit 803 in the present embodiment. The update content determination process will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  The topic information reflection unit 803 is requested to update the topic information management unit 101 when introduction of new topic information is detected in the dialogue advancing unit 102 (step S202 No, step S203 Yes). The topic information reflection unit 803 first determines the update contents of the topic information management unit 101 based on new topic information (step S204). First, the topic information reflecting unit 803 determines whether or not new topic information has been introduced as a procedure for the dialog promoting unit 102 to solve the current topic (step S901). This is the same as step S301 of the topic information reflecting unit 103 in the first embodiment. If it is a procedure for solving another topic, new topic information is added to the end of the topic information management unit 101 in order to execute a dialogue for the topic information (step S913). Accordingly, the topic information management unit 101 stores topic information on a more topical topic, such as determining an attribute value, at a later position.

  If the new topic information is not a procedure for solving another topic, it is confirmed whether there is topic information that can be updated with the new topic information in the topic information management unit 101 (step S902). For the confirmation processing in step S902, the update content determination processing (FIG. 3) in the first embodiment is used. If the determination result in step S902 is not “add new topic information to the end of topic information management unit 101” (No in step S903), there is topic information whose contents can be updated with new topic information. The determination result is adopted (step S910). If the determination result in step S902 is “add new topic information to the end of topic information management unit 101” (Yes in step S903), the process proceeds to step S904 to determine the position where new topic information is to be inserted.

  As described above, the topic information management unit 101 stores topic information on a more topical topic on the back side. If the new topic information is not local topic information, it is better to insert the new topic information in front of the topic information management unit 101. In other words, it is preferable that the local topic currently being talked about is first resolved and the conversation of new topic information is started using the result. The topic information reflection unit 803 in the present embodiment refers to the usage relationship between the topic information and the new topic information in the topic information management unit 101 based on the topic dependency database 804 and determines the insertion position of the new topic information.

  The topic information reflection unit 803 uses variables “insertion confirmation target” and “insertion target” in order to determine the insertion position. Both indicate the topic information stored in the topic information management unit 101, but the insertion confirmation target is the topic information for which the usage relationship with the new topic information is confirmed, and the insertion target is the new topic information. Indicates topic information that can be inserted before. The initial setting of the insertion confirmation target is the last topic information of the topic information management unit 101, and the initial setting of the insertion target is invalid (step S904).

  When the topic information management unit 101 is empty, acquisition of the insertion confirmation target fails (No in step S905), and thus the topic information reflection unit 803 determines to add new topic information to the beginning of the topic information management unit 101 (step S912). ). If there is topic information to be inserted confirmation (Yes in step S905), the topic information reflection unit 803 sequentially checks whether the insertion confirmation target can be the insertion target and determines the insertion position.

  As a first step of confirming whether the insertion confirmation target can be the insertion target, it is confirmed whether there is a relationship in the dialog procedure between the insertion confirmation target and the topic information stored in the topic information management unit 101 before the insertion confirmation target. (Step S906). If the insertion confirmation target is topic information introduced for the purpose of solving the topic of the previous topic information, it can be said that the insertion confirmation target and the previous topic information have a relationship in the dialog procedure. Therefore, when there is a relationship in the conversation procedure with the topic information before the insertion confirmation target, it is not appropriate to insert new topic information between them. In this embodiment, if the insertion confirmation target is topic information added by the dialogue procedure in the dialogue progression unit 102, it is determined that there is a relationship in the dialogue procedure (Yes in step S906). (No in step S906). If there is a relationship in the dialog procedure (Yes in step S906), the insertion confirmation target is set to the previous one (step S908) because it is inappropriate as the insertion position, and the insertion position determination process is continued. If there is no procedural relationship (No at step S906), the process proceeds to step S907.

  The topic information reflection unit 803 confirms whether the insertion confirmation target is a descendant topic of the new topic information (step S907). If the insertion confirmation target is a descendant topic of the new topic information (Yes in step S907), the insertion confirmation target topic should be resolved first. Therefore, the topic information reflection unit 803 determines that new topic information can be inserted before the insertion confirmation target, and sets the insertion target as the insertion confirmation target (step S909). In this case, since the topic information before the insertion target may also be a descendant topic of the new topic information, the topic information reflection unit 803 sets the insertion confirmation target as the previous topic information (step S908), and creates a new topic information. It is confirmed whether the insertion confirmation target is a descendant topic of the new topic information (step S905). At this time, if a new insertion confirmation target cannot be acquired (No in step S905), the topic information reflection unit 803 determines that the first topic information of the topic information management unit 101 is a descendant topic of the new topic information. Is inserted at the head of the topic information management unit 101 (step S912).

  On the other hand, if the insertion confirmation target is not a descendant topic of the new topic information (No in step S907), the conversation of the new topic information should be executed first. Therefore, the topic information reflection unit 803 determines to insert new topic information before the insertion target that has already been determined to be insertable (step S911). However, in step S911, if the insertion target is invalid, it is determined that new topic information is added last.

  Next, an update process (step S205) of the topic information management unit 101 in the topic information reflection unit 803 will be described. In step S204 of the topic information reflection unit 803, in addition to the determination content of step S204 according to the first embodiment, the determination content of inserting topic information at a specific position (passing through step S911 and step S912) is added. . When this determination content is output, the topic information reflecting unit 803 performs a process of inserting new topic information at a designated position. If the new topic information is derived by user input and the insertion position is not the end of the topic information management unit 101, the dialogue progress unit 102 is made to present to the user A that the new topic information has been accepted. Other update processing is the same as the update processing in the first embodiment.

  Next, as a specific example, a case where the present invention is applied to a car navigation system (hereinafter referred to as a car navigation system) is taken as an example, and the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2, 3, 9, 10, and 11. This will be described in more detail.

  The topics that can be interacted with by car navigation are “route setting” (attribute = “destination”, “route via”, “calculation condition (not mandatory attribute))” that performs route calculation under specified conditions. ”Destination setting” (attribute = “Destination”) for registering the specified location as the destination, “Via-point setting” (attribute = “Via”) for registering the specified location as the waypoint, , “Address search” (attribute = “prefecture name”, “city name”) that specifies the location by specifying the address in order from the prefecture name, which is used when searching for a place. Dependency relationship information regarding these topics is stored in the topic dependency database 804 with the contents shown in FIG. The operation in the case of performing the dialogue as shown in FIG. 11 using such a car navigation will be described in detail.

  A dialog is started by the user input USR5 (step S201). When USR1 is interpreted, the input is “destination setting (destination: φ)”. The dialogue advancing unit 102 detects that new topic information is introduced by this user input (No in step S202, step S203), and requests the topic information reflection unit 803 to update the topic information management unit 101 (step S204). .

  In step S204, the topic information reflection unit 803 determines an update method of the topic information management unit 101 using the new topic information “Destination setting (daily destination: φ)” as shown in FIG. Since the new topic information is notified from the user input, it is determined No in step S901. In step S902, the update method is determined based on FIG. 3, but since the topic information management unit 101 is empty at the initial stage, there is no topic information that reflects the new topic information, and it is determined that new topic information is added last ( Step S903 Yes). Since the acquisition of the insertion confirmation target also fails after step S904 (step S905 No), it is determined that new topic information is inserted at the beginning of the topic information management unit 101 (step S912).

  In step S205, the topic information reflection unit 803 updates the topic information management unit 101 based on the determination result in step S204. That is, new topic information notified by user input is inserted at the beginning of the topic information management unit 101. However, since the topic information management unit 101 is empty at the initial stage, the inserted new topic information “destination setting” becomes the current topic information. The dialogue advancing unit 102 continues the dialogue with the user A for “Destination setting” (step S201).

  If it is determined that the attribute “destination” is acquired in order to solve the “destination setting” in the dialog progression process (step S201) of the dialog progression unit 102, the dialogue progression unit 102 uses the dialogue procedure of “destination setting”. Based on this, the user A is inquired about how to determine the “destination”. In response to this determination, a response SYS5 is output to the user A.

  Subsequently, USR6 is input, and when USR6 is interpreted, the input is “address search (location search method)”. This input is an answer to the response SYS5 in the dialog advancing unit 102, and it is determined that the topic “address search” is selected as the “destination” determination method. The dialog progress process (step S201) is continued, and the dialog progress unit 102 determines to execute the topic “address search” selected by the user A based on the dialog procedure of the topic “destination setting”. Along with this determination, the dialogue progression unit 102 introduces new topic information “address search (prefecture name: φ, city name: φ)”, and requests the topic information reflection unit 803 to update the topic information management unit 101. (Step S202 No, Step S203 Yes, Step S204).

  In step S204, the topic information reflection unit 803 determines a method for updating the topic information management unit 101 using the new topic information “address search (prefecture name: φ, city name: φ)”. Since the new topic information is used as a procedure of the dialogue progression unit 102 to solve the topic “destination setting”, it is determined that the new topic information is added to the end of the topic information management unit 101 (step S901 Yes, Step S913). In step S205, the topic information reflection unit 803 adds “address search” to the end of the topic information management unit 101, and updates the current topic information to “address search”.

  The dialogue progression unit 102 performs dialogue progression processing for “address search” (step S201). The dialogue advancing unit 102 determines to acquire the attribute “prefecture name” based on the dialogue procedure of “address search”. In response to this determination, a response SYS6 is output to the user A. The state of the topic information management unit 101 at this time is as shown in FIG.

  Subsequently, USR7 is input, and when USR7 is interpreted, the input becomes “route setting (route: XX tower)”. The dialogue advancing unit 102 detects that new topic information is introduced by this user input (No in step S202, step S203 Yes), and requests the topic information reflecting unit 803 to update the topic information management unit 101 (step S204). .

  In step S204, the topic information reflection unit 803 determines an update method of the topic information management unit 101 using the new topic information “route point setting (route point: XX tower)”. Since the new topic information is notified from the user input, it is determined No in step S901. In step S902, the update method is determined based on FIG. 3. However, since the topic information management unit 101 does not have “route place setting” as shown in FIG. 12, there is a topic that can reflect the new topic information “route place setting”. not exist. Therefore, the determination result in step S902 is added to the end of the topic information management unit 101 (step S903 Yes).

  The topic information reflecting unit 803 determines the insertion position of new topic information in step S904 and subsequent steps. The topic information “address search” (1202) is selected as the initial stage of the insertion confirmation target (step S904, step S905 Yes). Since the insertion confirmation target 1202 is topic information used to acquire the “destination” attribute of the “destination setting” (1201) in the dialogue progression unit 102, the topic information reflection unit 803 includes the insertion confirmation target 1202. Is determined to have a dialogue procedure relationship with 1201 (step S906 Yes), and the insertion confirmation target is set to the previous “destination setting” (1201) (step S908, step S905 Yes). Since the next insertion confirmation target 1201 is at the head of the topic information management unit 101, the topic information reflection unit 803 determines that there is no relationship in the conversation procedure with the previous topic information (No in step S906). Referring to the topic dependency database 804, it can be seen that the insertion confirmation target “destination setting” is not a descendant topic of the new topic information “route place setting” (No in step S907), so the topic information reflection unit 803 inserts in step S911. Based on the target being in an invalid state at the initial stage, it is determined that new topic information is added to the end of the topic information management unit 101 (step S911).

  In step S205, the topic information reflection unit 803 updates the topic information management unit 101 based on the determination result in step S204. That is, the new topic information notified by user input is added to the end of the topic information management unit 101. The dialogue advancing unit 102 continues the dialogue with the user A for “route place setting” (step S201).

  The dialogue advancing unit 102 executes a dialogue with the user A for the added topic information “route point setting (route point: XX tower)”, but since the route point has already been acquired, the topic “route point” Is determined to have been resolved. The dialogue advancing unit 102 requests the car navigation system to “set the XX tower as a transit point” based on the topic information of the solution result, and presents the response SYS7 to the user A based on the result. Further, the topic information “route point setting” of the resolved topic is removed from the topic information management unit 101. The topic information management unit 101 at this time is as shown in FIG.

  The dialogue progress unit 102 reflects the solved “route place setting” dialogue result in the topic information management unit 101. As a reflection method in this case, it is assumed that the dialogue progression unit 102 determines that topic information of the parent topic of the topic dependency database 804 is created. Since the parent topic of “route place setting” is “route setting”, the dialogue progression unit 102 stores the topic information storing the place “XX tower” set as the route place in “route place” of the topic “route setting”. It is determined that “route setting (destination: φ, waypoint: XX tower, calculation condition: φ)” is reflected in the topic information management unit 101 as a dialogue result. Also in this case, it is determined that the dialogue progression unit 102 introduces new topic information “route setting” (No in step S202, step S203 Yes), and the topic information reflection unit 803 is requested to update the topic information management unit 101 (step S204).

  In step S204, the topic information reflection unit 803 determines a method for updating the topic information management unit 101 using the new topic information “route setting (destination: φ, waypoint: XX tower, calculation condition: φ)”. Since the new topic information is derived from the conversation result, No is determined in step S901. In step S902, the update method is determined based on FIG. 3, but since there is no “route setting” as shown in FIG. 12 in the topic information management unit 101, there is no topic that can reflect the new topic information “route setting”. . Therefore, the determination result in step S902 is added to the end of the topic information management unit 101 (step S903 Yes).

  The topic information reflecting unit 803 determines the insertion position of new topic information in step S904 and subsequent steps. The topic information “address search” (1202) is selected as the initial stage of the insertion confirmation target (step S904, step S905 Yes). Since the insertion confirmation target 1202 is topic information used to acquire the “destination” attribute of the “destination setting” (1201) in the dialogue progression unit 102, the topic information reflection unit 803 includes the insertion confirmation target 1202. Is determined to have a dialogue procedure relationship with 1201 (step S906 Yes), and the insertion confirmation target is set to the previous “destination setting” (1201) (step S908, step S905 Yes). Since the next insertion confirmation target 1201 is at the head of the topic information management unit 101, the topic information reflection unit 803 determines that there is no relationship in the conversation procedure with the previous topic information (No in step S906). Referring to the topic dependency database 804, it is understood that the insertion confirmation target “destination setting” is a descendant topic of the new topic information “route setting” (Yes in step S907), so topic information 1201 is set as the insertion target (step S907) S909). Furthermore, since the insertion confirmation target is set to the previous one (step S908), but the acquisition of the insertion confirmation target fails (No in step S905), the topic information reflection unit 803 sets the new topic information to the top of the topic information management unit 101. Is determined to be inserted (step S912).

  In step S205, the topic information reflection unit 803 updates the topic information management unit 101 based on the determination result in step S204. That is, new topic information derived from the conversation result is inserted at the beginning of the topic information management unit 101. The topic information management unit 101 at this time is as shown in FIG. The dialogue advancing unit 102 continues the dialogue with the user A for “address search” (1202) (step S201).

  The dialogue progression unit 102 performs dialogue progression processing for “address search” (step S201). The dialogue advancing unit 102 determines to acquire the attribute “prefecture name” based on the dialogue procedure of “address search”. In response to this determination, a response SYS8 is output to the user A.

  Subsequently, USR9 was input. When USR9 is interpreted, the input is “address search (prefecture name: □□ prefecture, city name: ΔΔ city)”. The dialogue advancing unit 102 detects that new topic information is introduced by this user input (No in step S202, step S203), and requests the topic information reflection unit 803 to update the topic information management unit 101 (step S204). .

  In step S204, the topic information reflection unit 803 determines a method for updating the topic information management unit 101 using the new topic information “address search (prefecture name: □□ prefecture, city name: ΔΔ city)”. Since the new topic information is notified from the user input, it is determined No in step S901. In step S902, the update method is determined based on FIG. The topic information management unit 101 at this time is as shown in FIG. 13, and since the current topic information is “address search” (1202), new topic information can be reflected in 1202, and it can be determined that all attributes are updated. . Accordingly, the determination result in step S902 is “reflect new topic information with topic information 1202 as an update target and set 1202 as current topic information” (No in step S903), so the topic information reflection unit 803 determines this determination result. Is adopted (step S910).

  In step S205, the topic information reflection unit 803 updates the topic information management unit 101 based on the determination result in step S204. That is, the topic information 1202 is updated with new topic information “address search (prefecture name: □□ prefecture, city name: ΔΔ city)”. Each attribute of the topic information 1202 is overwritten with the attribute of the new topic information, and the topic information 1202 is updated to “address search (prefecture name: □□ prefecture, city name: ΔΔ city)”. The dialogue advancing unit 102 continues the dialogue with the user A for the updated topic information 1202 (step S201).

  The dialogue progress unit 102 executes a dialogue with the user A for the updated topic information “address search (prefecture name: □□ prefecture, city name: △△ city)”, but already acquires all attributes. It is determined that the topic “address search” has been solved. The dialogue advancing unit 102 requests the car navigation system to “acquire location information of □□ prefecture ΔΔ city” based on the topic information of the solution result. Further, the topic information “address search” (1202) of the resolved topic is removed from the topic information management unit 101. The topic information management unit 101 at this time is as shown in FIG.

  The dialogue progression unit 102 reflects the dialogue result of the solved “address search” (1202) in the topic information management unit 101. Since the topic information 1202 is the topic information used to acquire the “destination” attribute of the topic information “destination setting” (1201), the dialog advancing unit 102 displays the location information “□□ prefecture Δ of the dialog result. “City” is assigned to the “Destination” attribute of the topic information 1201. The dialogue with the user A is further continued for the “destination setting” (1201) after the substitution (step S201).

  The dialogue progress unit 102 continues the dialogue with the user A for the updated topic information “Destination setting (daily destination: □□ prefecture △△ city)”, but since all attributes have already been acquired, the topic It is determined that “destination setting” has been solved. The dialogue advancing unit 102 requests the car navigation system to “set the destination in“ □□ prefecture ΔΔ city ”” based on the topic information of the solution result, and presents the response SYS9 to the user A based on the result. Furthermore, the topic information “destination setting” (1201) of the resolved topic is removed from the topic information management unit 101. Only the topic information “route setting” (1303) remains in the topic information management unit 101 at this time.

  The dialogue progress unit 102 reflects the solved “destination setting” dialogue result in the topic information management unit 101. As a reflection method in this case, it is assumed that the dialogue progression unit 102 determines that topic information of a parent topic in the topic dependency database 804 is created. Since the parent topic of “Destination setting” is “Route setting”, the dialogue progression unit 102 sets the location “□□ prefecture △△ city” set as the destination in the “daily destination” of the topic “Route setting”. It is determined that the stored topic information “route setting (destination: □□ prefecture △ Δ city, waypoint: φ, calculation condition: φ)” is reflected in the topic information management unit 101 as a conversation result. Also in this case, it is determined that the dialogue progression unit 102 introduces new topic information “route setting” (No in step S202, step S203 Yes), and the topic information reflection unit 803 is requested to update the topic information management unit 101 (step S204).

  In step S204, the topic information reflection unit 803 determines a method for updating the topic information management unit 101 using the new topic information “route setting (destination = □□ prefecture ΔΔ city, waypoint: φ, calculation condition 1φ)”. . Since the new topic information is derived from the conversation result, No is determined in step S901. In step S902, the update method is determined based on FIG. Only the topic information “route setting” (1303) remains in the topic information management unit 101 at this time, and it can be determined that new topic information can be reflected in the topic information 1303. Accordingly, since the determination result in step S902 is “reflect new topic information with the topic information 1303 as an update target” (No in step S903), the topic information reflection unit 803 adopts this determination result (step S910).

  In step S205, the topic information reflection unit 803 updates the topic information management unit 101 based on the determination result in step S204. That is, the topic information 1303 is updated with new topic information “route setting (destination 1 □□ prefecture ΔΔ city, waypoint: φ, calculation condition: φ)”. The “destination” attribute of the topic information 1303 is overwritten with the “daily destination” attribute of the new topic information, and the topic information 1303 is “route setting (destination: □□ prefecture △△ city, waypoint: XX tower, calculation Condition: φ) ”. The dialogue advancing unit 102 continues the dialogue with the user A for the updated topic information 1303 (step S201). The dialogue progression unit 102 continues the dialogue with the user A for the updated topic information “route setting (destination: □□ prefecture △△ city, waypoint: XX tower, calculation condition: φ)”. Since all required attributes (other than “calculation conditions”) in “Route setting” have already been acquired, the dialog progression unit 102 determines that “Route setting” has been solved, and operates and responds to the car navigation based on the dialog result. SYS10 is output. The dialogue advancing unit 102 removes the topic information “route setting” from the topic information management unit 101. At this time, since the topic information management unit 101 becomes empty, the dialogue progressing unit 102 determines that the dialogue with the user A has ended (Yes in step S202), and ends the dialogue with the user A.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to determine a position where topic information that is not local is inserted into a location that is not current topic information in the topic information management unit 101 based on the topic usage relationship. Therefore, “route setting”, which is a solution result of “route place setting” by the input USR 7, is inserted at the beginning of the topic information management unit 101, and route calculation conditions are also integrated by integrating the subsequent dialogue result of “destination setting”. It becomes possible. On the other hand, it is possible to add “route setting”, which is a resolution result of “route place setting”, to the topic information management unit 101 as current topic information. In such a case, the determination of the “destination” attribute is performed again. Therefore, the dialogue with the user A must be resumed, and as a result, the operation is the same as deleting (ignoring) the dialogue state that “the destination is being determined by“ address search ””.

  The insertion of “route setting” that occurs at the time of USR7 interpretation does not occur only at the time of topic resolution. For example, when the topic information management unit 101 is in the state of FIG. 12 and a user input “prioritized at high speed” is made, the interpretation result “route setting (destination: φ, waypoint: φ, calculation condition) : High-speed priority) "needs to be inserted before the topic information 1201. Even in such a case, in the present embodiment, it is possible to appropriately determine the insertion position based on the topic procedure database 804.

  As described above, according to the conversation device according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the conversation state is updated with the newly introduced topic information, and each topic information in the conversation state at that time and the newly introduced topic are updated. By inserting new topic information based on the usage / usage relationship with information, the local conversation that should be executed first is executed preferentially, and the result of the conversation is added to the newly introduced topic information. It becomes possible to integrate with the contents.

  In the above description, the topic dependency database 804 is expressed in a graph format having topics as nodes, and it is described that it is determined whether the topic is a descendant topic based on the parent-child relationship of the nodes. It is not limited to such a determination method. For example, a method may be used in which parent topics and child topics are distributed and specified for individual topics. In such a case, each topic to be referred to may be sequentially acquired to determine whether it is a child topic, or the topic dependency database 804 in a graph format may be configured by referring to all topics. Alternatively, for example, the usage / usage relationship of other topics may be estimated from the procedure information for solving each topic. Even in this other format, it is within the scope of the present embodiment as long as the topic on the use side is determined as the child topic based on the use / use relationship between topics.

  Further, in the explanation of the operation of the topic information reflecting unit 803 in FIG. 9, the topic information that can be updated with the new topic information is searched first (step S902). This processing and the insertion position determination processing (step S905 to step S909) ) May be performed in parallel. In such a case, update possibility and insertion possibility are checked in order from the last topic information, and the reflection contents can be determined when finding topic information with update possibility or specifying the insertion position. Is possible.

  Further, the determination method of “relevance / non-relevance in the dialog procedure” in step S906 in FIG. 9 is determined based on whether or not the topic information is directly used by the dialog progress unit 102 to solve the parent topic. However, the determination may be made based on the order relationship of the topic information stored in the topic information management unit 101. For example, when the attribute “destination” of the “destination setting” is in the determined state, it is possible to determine that all subsequent place search expressions are candidates for the destination.

  Further, in the above description, in the update process of the topic information reflecting unit 803, it is described that the received content of the user input is presented if the new topic information is introduced by the user input, but the new topic introduced from the system is described. Even information may be presented as a response. By presenting such a response, the user A can grasp the dialog execution state of the system.

  Further, in the above description, the topic information reflecting unit 803 requests the dialogue progressing unit 102 to present it when it is determined that the content of acceptance of the user input is presented, but the topic information reflecting unit 803 directly accepts the user A. The contents may be presented.

  As described above, when new topic information is introduced into the conversation state and the contents are reflected, new information is created based on the usage / use relationship between each topic information in the conversation state and the newly introduced topic information. It is within the scope of the present invention as long as the topic information insertion position is determined, new topic information is inserted, and the dialog in the current dialog progress state is continued according to the insertion position.

(Third embodiment)
In the first and second embodiments, the topic information management unit is immediately updated with the topic information that appears in the dialog with the user A. On the other hand, in the third embodiment, an interactive device capable of executing a dialog regarding the topic to be updated with the user A before updating the topic information management unit and executing the dialog with the user A more flexibly will be described. To do.

  FIG. 15 shows a configuration diagram of the interactive apparatus according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 15, the dialogue apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a topic information management unit 1501, a dialogue progression unit 1502, a topic information reflection unit 1503, a pre-update dialogue rule management unit 1504, and a topic dependency database 804. Yes. Here, since the topic dependency relation database 804 is the same as that described in the second embodiment, the description in this embodiment will be omitted.

  The topic information management unit 1501 is the same as the topic information management unit 101 in the first and second embodiments, and the topic information that appears during the dialogue with the user A is in a priority order in which the dialogue with the user A proceeds. This is an ordered list. The difference from the topic information management unit 101 in the first and second embodiments is that new topic information for updating the topic information list in the topic information management unit 1501 is stored separately from the topic information list. is there. Details of the topic information management unit 1501 will be described later.

  The dialogue progression unit 1502 is the same as the dialogue progression unit 102 in the first and second embodiments. When the dialogue progression unit 1502 conducts a dialogue with the user A and detects new topic information during the dialogue with the user A, the dialogue progression unit 1502 The information reflection unit 1503 is requested to update the topic information management unit 1501 using new topic information. The difference from the dialogue progression unit 102 in the first and second embodiments is that new topic information for updating the topic information management unit 1501 is targeted, and the dialogue procedure in the pre-update dialogue rule management unit 1504 is referred to. And providing a function of interacting with the user A. This dialogue progress process for new topic information before updating the topic information management unit 1501 is called a pre-update dialogue. Details of the dialog progression unit 1502 will be described later.

  The topic information reflection unit 1503 is the same as the topic information reflection unit 803 in the second embodiment, and causes the topic information management unit 1501 to reflect new topic information that appears during the dialogue between the dialogue progression unit 1502 and the user A. The topic information management unit 1501 is updated. The difference from the topic information reflecting unit 803 in the second embodiment is that a dialog before update by the dialog advancing unit 1502 is inserted between the determination of the update content by the new topic information and the update processing of the topic information management unit 1501. In addition, in the update process of the topic information management unit 1501, “when the new topic information is introduced by the user input, the dialog progress unit 1502 is requested to present the accepted contents” is omitted.

  The pre-update dialogue rule management unit 1504 stores a dialogue procedure for the dialogue progression unit 1502 to perform a pre-update dialogue with the user A. Details of the pre-update dialog rule management unit 1504 will be described later.

  Next, the operation of the interactive apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the operation of the dialogue apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

  This dialogue apparatus performs dialogue with the user A on a predetermined topic. The stage where the dialogue is started by the user A or the dialogue apparatus corresponds to “Start” shown in FIG. 16, and the dialogue is terminated when it is no longer necessary to continue the dialogue. That is, the dialog is terminated at “End” in FIG.

  When the dialogue apparatus starts the dialogue with the user A, the dialogue progression unit 1502 advances the dialogue with the user A (step S1601). This dialog progress process is the same as the dialog progress process (step S201) in the first and second embodiments. Furthermore, the dialog progressing unit 1502 checks whether the dialog has ended (step S1602) and whether new topic information has been introduced (step S1603) at each stage where the dialog progresses, not limited to the timing of user input.

  In step S1602, when the dialog progression unit 1502 detects the end of the dialog, the dialog with the user A is ended (End). If the dialog progression unit 1502 cannot detect the introduction of new topic information in step S1603, it continues the conversation process with the user A (step S1601). When the introduction of new topic information is detected, the dialog progression unit 1502 The topic information reflection unit 1503 is caused to determine the update method of the topic information management unit 1501 using the new topic information (step S1604).

  The topic information reflection unit 1503 determines the updating method of the topic information management unit 1501 (step S1604). When the topic information reflection unit 1503 determines the update method, the dialogue progress unit 1502 executes a pre-update dialogue for new topic information (step S1605). When the update process using new topic information is rejected during the pre-update conversation (Yes in step S1606), the topic information reflection unit 1503 discards the new topic information that was the target of the pre-update conversation (step S1607), and the conversation progresses. The unit 1502 resumes the conversation for the current topic information in the topic information management unit 1501 (step S1601). If the update process using new topic information is not rejected during the pre-update conversation (No in step S1606), the topic information reflection unit 1503 executes the update process of the topic information management unit 1501 using the new topic information (step S1606). In step S1608), the dialogue progression unit 1502 continues the dialogue progression process for the updated topic information management unit 1501 (step S1601).

  Note that specific examples of the update method determination process (step S1604) of the topic information management unit 1501 in the topic information reflection unit 1503 and the update process (step S1608) of the topic information management unit 1501 are the topic information reflection in the second embodiment. Since it is the same as that of the unit 803, detailed description thereof is omitted. Details of the pre-update dialogue process (step S1605) in the dialogue progression unit 1502 will be described later.

  Next, specific examples of topic information stored in the topic information management unit 1501 will be described with reference to FIGS. 17 and 18. In addition to the topic information list (1701) managed by the topic information management unit 101 in the first and second embodiments, the topic information management unit 1501 in the present embodiment adds new topic information for executing update processing. (Topic information before update) 1702 is stored. When storing the pre-update topic information 1702, the position (topic information to be updated or the insertion position) for reflecting the new previous topic information obtained as a result of determining the reflection method by the topic information reflection unit 1503 is also added. Remember. In the drawing, this position information is represented by an arrow (1705) from the pre-update topic information. FIG. 17 shows a state in which “route setting”, which is new topic information, is inserted at the lowest priority position while a place for “destination setting” is determined by “address search”. Therefore, the insertion position is below the topic information 1704, and the arrow 1705 points below the topic information 1704. On the other hand, when the content of the topic information in the topic information list 1801 is updated with the pre-update topic information 1802, the arrow 1805 indicating the position where the pre-update topic information is reflected is pointed to the center of the topic information 1806 in the list 1801. (FIG. 18).

  Next, details of the pre-update dialog rule management unit 1504 will be described with reference to FIG. The pre-update dialogue rule management unit 1504 manages a procedure for executing the pre-update dialogue in the dialogue progression unit 1502. In the present embodiment, an update method based on new topic information and rules (pre-update dialog rules) that can be applied according to the situation such as the progress state of the pre-update dialog are registered in the pre-update dialog rule management unit 1504.

  In FIG. 19, four types of pre-update dialogue rules are registered. The pre-update dialogue rule 1901 is a rule for giving priority to interrupting new topic information when new topic information is registered as current topic information. When the new topic information introduced by the user A is reflected in the position where the priority of the dialogue is lowered, the pre-update dialogue rule 1902 outputs the acceptance content in order to assert that the user input has been accepted. It is a rule. The pre-update dialogue rule 1903 is a rule applied when it is determined that new topic information is to be inserted into the topic information management unit 1501. When there is no direct use / use relationship between the topic information immediately after the insertion position of the new topic information (inserted topic information) and the new topic information (the inserted topic information is passed through one or more other topics It is unclear whether the introduction of new topic information is appropriate because it is not clear how to use the result of the conversation for the inserted topic information) And a rule for inquiring whether or not to execute the insertion process. The pre-update dialogue rule 1904 is a rule to be applied when new topic information insertion processing is permitted. When the path of the parent-child relationship in the topic dependency relation database 804 of inserted topic information and new topic information is not unique (relationship between “route search” (new topic information) and “address search” (inserted topic information) in FIG. 10) ) Is a rule for clarifying the route at the time of the pre-insertion dialogue, since the route using the result of the dialogue targeting the inserted topic information is not clear. As described above, the pre-update dialogue rule specifies that a dialogue related to the update processing by new topic information such as whether or not the update processing can be executed and acquisition / presentation of related information is performed.

  Next, details of the pre-update dialogue (step S1605) in the dialogue progression unit 1502 will be described. When the topic information reflection unit 1503 determines the update method of the topic information management unit 1501 (step S1604), the dialog progression unit 1502 adds a new topic to the pre-update topic information (for example, 1702 in FIG. 17) of the topic information management unit 1501. Register information. At the time of registration, a position where new topic information is reflected in the topic information management unit 1501 is also registered. Thereafter, the dialog progression unit 1502 executes a pre-update dialog with the user A (step S1605).

  When executing the pre-update dialog, the dialogue progress unit 1502 refers to the pre-update topic information stored in the topic information management unit 1501 and the pre-update dialogue rule management unit 1504 to perform a dialogue with the user A. The dialogue progression unit 1502 collects applicable rules in the pre-update dialogue rule management unit 1504, and repeatedly presents an operation based on the collected result as a response to the user A, thereby executing the pre-update dialogue with the user A. . Whether or not a rule using a position that reflects new topic information such as inserted topic information such as the pre-update conversation rules 1903 and 1904 is applicable is the position information when the pre-update topic information is registered in the topic information management unit 1501 To determine. In addition, the pre-update dialog rule that has been applied once is excluded from the collection target so that the same pre-update dialog rule is not applied many times.

  During the execution of the pre-update dialog, there is a state in which a response is presented to the user A and a user input is waited. In such a case, it is assumed that the pre-update dialog execution state (step S1605) is temporarily stopped. When another new topic information is notified by user input, the process exits the pre-update dialog state and determines the update method of the topic information management unit 1501 for the notified new topic information (step S1604). Migrate to

  In addition, when presenting a response to be presented to the user A using the pre-update dialog rule, information is automatically generated by giving information to a template or a response sentence template specified in the scenario and responding to the user A. It can be generated using an existing method such as presenting a sentence or operating based on an operation specification such as a screen output specified in a scenario. In addition, when applying a plurality of pre-update interaction rules, an existing method can be used such as defining a response sentence template or action designation for a combination of a plurality of rules, and operating by referring to them.

  When the user A cancels the pre-update dialog, or when the user A inputs an input that determines that the update process is rejected by the pre-update rule, the dialog progression unit 1502 ends the pre-update dialog and performs the update process. It determines with having been rejected (step S1606 Yes). When a rule for ending the pre-update dialog without rejecting the update process is applied, or when an applicable pre-update dialog rule is not found, the dialog progression unit 1502 ends the pre-update dialog. In this case, it is determined that the update process has been accepted (No in step S1606). The dialogue progression unit 1502 clears the pre-update topic information from the topic information management unit 1501 when the pre-update dialogue ends.

  Next, as a specific example, the operation of the present embodiment will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 10, 16, 19, and 20, taking the case where the present invention is applied to a car navigation system as an example. Topics that can be interacted with by car navigation are `` route setting '' (attribute = `` destination '', `` route via '', `` calculation condition (not mandatory attribute)) '' that calculates the route under the specified conditions `` Destination setting '' (attribute = `` Destination '') that registers the specified location as the destination, `` Route setting '' (attribute = `` Route '') that registers the specified location as the waypoint, and This is an “address search” (attribute = “prefecture name”, “city name”) that specifies a location by specifying an address in order from the prefecture name, which is used when searching for a place. Dependency relationship information regarding these topics is stored in the topic dependency database 804 with the contents shown in FIG. Further, the pre-update dialog rule management unit 1504 manages pre-update dialog rules as shown in FIG. The operation in the case of performing a dialogue as shown in FIG. 20 using such a car navigation will be described in detail.

  A dialog is started by the user input USR11 (step S1601). When USR11 is interpreted, the input is “address search (prefecture name: φ, city name: φ)”. The dialogue progress unit 1502 detects that new topic information is introduced by this user input (No in step S1602; step S1603 Yes), and requests the topic information reflection unit 1503 to update the topic information management unit 1501 (step S1604). .

  In step S1604, the topic information reflection unit 1503 determines a method for updating the topic information management unit 1501 using the new topic information “address search (prefecture name: φ, city name: φ)” (step S1604). Processing is performed in the same manner as the update method determination processing in the second embodiment. Since the topic information management unit 1501 is empty, it is determined that new topic information is inserted at the beginning of the topic information management unit 1501.

  In response to the update method determination result from the topic information reflection unit 1503, the dialogue progression unit 1502 executes the pre-update dialogue (step S1605). The dialogue progression unit 1502 first registers the pre-update topic information in the topic information management unit 1501. That is, the new topic information is registered in the pre-update topic information, and the position where the new topic information is reflected is registered as the first topic information management unit 1501. Next, the dialogue progression unit 1502 executes a pre-update dialogue for the pre-update topic information. The dialogue progression unit 1502 collects applicable rules from the pre-update dialogue rule management unit 1504. Since the topic information management unit 1501 is empty, new topic information is inserted at the end of the topic information management unit 1501. Therefore, since the new topic information is registered as the current topic information, the dialog progression unit 1501 determines that the pre-update dialog rule 1901 is applicable. According to the pre-update dialog rule 1901, it is specified that the pre-update dialog is to be ended, and thus the dialog progression unit 1502 ends without executing the pre-update dialog with the user A. The dialogue progression unit 1502 clears the pre-update topic information from the topic information management unit 1501.

  Since the update process was not rejected by the user A during the pre-update dialogue (No in step S1606), the dialogue progression unit 1502 requests the topic information reflection unit 1503 to update the topic information management unit 1501 (step S1608). The topic information reflection unit 1503 inserts new topic information “address search (prefecture name: φ, city name: φ)” at the beginning of the topic information management unit 1501 (step S1608).

  The dialogue advancing unit 1502 continues the dialogue with the user A for “address search” that is current topic information (step S1601). The dialogue advancing unit 102 determines to acquire the attribute “prefecture name” based on the dialogue procedure of “address search”. In response to this determination, a response SYS11 is output to the user A.

  Subsequently, USR12 was input. When USR12 is interpreted, the input becomes “route setting (destination: Φ, waypoint: φ, calculation condition: high-speed priority)”. The dialog progression unit 1502 detects that new topic information has been introduced by this user input (No in step S1602 and step S1603), and requests the topic information reflection unit 1503 to update the topic information management unit 1501 (step S1602). S1604).

  The topic information reflection unit 1503 determines the updating method of the topic information management unit 1501 using the new topic information “route setting” in step S1604 (step S1604). Processing similar to the update method determination processing in the second embodiment is performed, and “address search” registered only in the topic information management unit 1501 is a descendant topic of “route setting”. It is determined that “setting” is inserted before “address search”.

  In response to the update method determination result from the topic information reflection unit 1503, the dialogue progression unit 1502 executes the pre-update dialogue (step S1605). The dialogue progression unit 1502 first registers the pre-update topic information in the topic information management unit 1501. That is, the new topic information is registered in the pre-update topic information, and the position where the new topic information is reflected is registered as the first topic information management unit 1501. The state of the topic information management unit 1501 at this time is as shown in FIG. Next, the dialogue progression unit 1502 executes a pre-update dialogue for the pre-update topic information.

  The dialogue progression unit 1502 collects applicable rules from the pre-update dialogue rule management unit 1504. Since the new topic information is inserted before the topic information 2101, it is not the current topic information, and since the new topic information is introduced by user input, the pre-update dialog rule 1902 can be applied. The inserted topic information is “address search” (2101), the new topic information is “route setting”, and when the topic dependency database 804 (FIG. 10) is referenced, the inserted topic information is a descendant topic of the new topic information. However, it turns out that it is not a child topic. Accordingly, the dialog progression unit 1502 determines that the pre-update dialog rule 1903 can be applied.

  According to the pre-update dialogue rules 1902 and 1903, it is designated to perform an operation of “presenting acceptance contents to the user A and confirming whether or not new topic information can be inserted into the topic information management unit 1502”. Yes. Accordingly, the dialogue progression unit 1502 presents the response SYS12 to the user A as the pre-update dialogue processing and waits for user input. The processing state of the interactive device is temporarily stopped in S1605.

  Subsequently, USR13 was input. When USR13 is interpreted, the input becomes “affirmative”. In the dialog advancing unit 1502, this input is an answer to the response SYS12, and is determined to be an input permitting execution of the update process. The dialogue advancing unit 1502 continues the pre-update dialogue processing (S1605).

  The dialogue progression unit 1502 collects applicable rules from the pre-update dialogue rule management unit 1504. The pre-update dialog rules 1902 and 1903 are excluded from the collection targets. Insertion of new topic information is permitted by the user A, and referring to the topic dependency / existence relationship database 804 includes a route that follows the inserted topic information “address search” (2101) and the new topic information “route setting”. There are two types: one that goes through the topic “Destination setting” and one that goes through “Route setting”. Accordingly, the dialog progression unit 1502 determines that the pre-update dialog rule 1904 can be applied. According to the pre-update dialogue rule 1904, it is designated to perform an operation of “inquiring which usage / use relationship in the new topic information the inserted topic information is intended”, and this operation is referred to as “address search”. Corresponding to the relationship of “route setting”, an operation of “confirm whether“ address search ”is intended for“ destination setting ”or“ route setting ”” is performed. Accordingly, the dialogue advancing unit 1502 presents a response SYS13 to the user A as a pre-update dialogue process in order to confirm whether ““ address search ”is intended for“ destination setting ”” and waits for user input. The processing state of the interactive device is temporarily stopped in step S1605.

  Subsequently, USR14 was input. When USR14 is interpreted, the input becomes “affirmative”. This input is a reply to the response SYS13 in the dialog advancing unit 1502, and it is determined that the inserted topic information “address search” is topic information intended for “destination setting”. The dialogue advancing unit 1502 registers that the inserted topic information is topic information intended for “destination setting”, and continues the pre-update dialogue processing (step S1605).

  The dialogue progression unit 1502 collects applicable rules from the pre-update dialogue rule management unit 1504. If the pre-update interaction rules 1902, 1903, and 1904 are excluded from the collection targets, there is no applicable pre-update interaction rule, and therefore collection of applicable pre-update interaction rules fails. Accordingly, the dialogue progress unit 1502 determines that the pre-update dialogue has ended, and clears the pre-update topic information from the topic information management unit 1501.

  Since the update process was not rejected during the pre-update dialogue (No in step S1606), the topic information reflection unit 1503 sets the new topic information “route setting (destination: φ, waypoint: φ, calculation condition: high-speed priority)” as the topic information. It is inserted at the head of the management unit 1501 (step S1608). Thereafter, the dialog progression unit 1502 resumes the dialog progress for the current topic information (step S1601). Since the current topic information remains “address search” and remains unchanged, a response SYS14 is presented to the user A to acquire the attribute “prefecture name” again.

  As described above, in this embodiment, it is possible to execute the pre-update dialog before updating the topic information management unit 1501 using the new topic information. Therefore, when new topic information of a topic that is not directly related to the inserted topic information such as the input USR 12 is inserted, an inquiry is made as to whether or not the update process can be executed (SYS 12), and at the same time, the inserted topic information intended by the user A It is possible to confirm the usage method (SYS13). By registering the confirmation result for the SYS 13 in the topic information “address search”, after the resolution of the “address search”, it is possible to inquire whether the location information of the search result is “route setting” or “destination setting”. It is possible to proceed with the conversation as it is used for “destination setting”, and it is possible to proceed with the conversation with the user A smoothly. As described above, in the present embodiment, more flexible dialog management is possible than when immediate update processing is performed using new topic information.

  In the above description, the pre-update dialog rule management unit 1504 describes only general-purpose pre-update dialog rules that can be applied regardless of the topic type of the new topic information. For example, as shown in FIG. It is also possible to add a pre-update dialog rule according to the type of topic.

  The pre-update dialog rule management unit 1504 in FIG. 22 adds a pre-update dialog rule group (2201) applicable when adding the topic “route setting” as new topic information to the pre-update dialog rule group (2202) in FIG. ing. The pre-update dialog rule 2201 in the pre-update dialogue rule group 2201 has “inquire when an update to a value considered inappropriate by the update process occurs” (2203), “dialogue order (attribute determination order)” If it is fixed, a topic rule is partially registered until the situation according to the order is reached (2204). As described above, in the pre-update dialog rule group that specifies the type of new topic information, it is possible to register the pre-update dialog rule corresponding to the semantic content of the new topic information.

  Further, topic information before update in the topic information management unit 1501 may be a list (topic information list before update) that stores topic information in order of priority of dialogue instead of one topic information. Similarly to the topic information management unit 101, the topic information list before update stores the topic information that gives the highest priority to dialogue. During the dialogue before update, the last topic information in the topic information list before update is targeted for step S1601. Proceed with the dialogue in the same way. When new topic information is introduced during the pre-update dialogue, it is added to the end of the pre-update topic information list. However, when the number of pieces of topic information in the pre-update topic information list becomes only the first one, the pre-update dialogue rule in the pre-update dialogue rule management unit 1504 is applied.

  A description will be given of a case where a dialogue as shown in FIG. 23 is performed when the content is registered in the pre-update dialogue rule management unit 1504 as shown in FIG. 22 with the modified configuration as described above. In the car navigation system of this example, it is assumed that a place must be determined in order of destination and waypoint in order to set a route. It is assumed that the dialogue scenario related to the topic “route setting” and the dialogue rule before update (2204) are designed to proceed with the dialogue while keeping this restriction.

  USR11 to SYS13 in FIG. 23 are the same as those in the above-described dialog example. That is, the dialogue progress unit 1502 detects new topic information “route setting” in the USR 12 (Yes in step S1603), and the topic information reflection unit 1503 determines to insert the new topic information at the head of the topic information management unit 1501 ( Step S1604). The pre-update dialogue is performed from the SYS 12 (step S1605), and the topic information management unit 1501 at this time is as shown in FIG. Since the usage intended by the user A in the inserted topic information “address search” has been denied by the USR 15 for “destination setting”, the dialog progression unit 1502 determines that “use via point setting”.

  Since the user A intends to solve “route place setting” first, it operates when the pre-update dialog rule 2204 is applied and “destination setting” is solved first. The dialogue progression unit 1502 presents this to the user A in the SYS 15, refers to the dialogue scenario of “route setting” (not for the dialogue before update), and executes the dialogue with the user A. For example, the topic information “Destination setting (Destination: φ)” is added to the end of the pre-update topic information list as the target of the dialogue progress, and the pre-update dialogue with the user A is continued. Then, the user A determines the attribute “destination” as “XX tower”, and the content of the pre-update topic information list is “route setting (destination: XX tower, waypoint: φ, calculation condition = high speed priority)” When the number becomes one, the dialogue progress unit 1502 refers to the pre-update dialogue rule management unit 1504 again and collects applicable pre-update dialogue rules. However, since there is no applicable pre-update dialog rule, the dialog progression unit 1502 ends the pre-update dialog.

  Since the update of the topic information management unit 1501 by “route setting” was not rejected during the pre-update conversation (No in step S1606), the topic information “route setting (destination: XX tower, waypoint: is inserted at the top of the topic information management unit 1501 (step S1608). Then, the conversation with the user A is continued for the current topic information “address search” in the topic information management unit 1501 (step S1601).

  As described above, in such a modification, a detailed pre-update dialog rule that goes into the content of topic information is referred to, and the new topic information is corrected until update processing with new topic information is possible. It is possible to execute a part of a normal dialogue scenario that is not a pre-update dialogue rule. Therefore, in the present embodiment, before updating the topic information management unit 1501 using new topic information, it is possible to execute a pre-update dialog for collecting necessary information before executing the update process.

  As described above, according to the dialogue apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention, the pre-update dialogue is performed with the user A before the update processing of the topic information management unit 1501 by the newly introduced topic information is executed. Thus, flexible interactive control such as acquiring in advance information to be acquired before the update process or confirming whether or not the update process can be performed is possible.

  In the above description, the topic information management unit 1501 describes the topic information before update or the topic information list before update as if there is only one, but this embodiment has such a configuration. It is not limited to. For example, the configuration may be such that the pre-update topic information list is recursively added to the pre-update topic information list. In such a case, when the introduction of new topic information is detected during the pre-update conversation for the pre-update topic information list (step S1605), the topic information reflection unit 1503 updates the pre-update topic information list. The method is determined, and the pre-update topic information list is recursively constructed based on the determination result. In such a configuration, it is possible to operate recursively to execute the pre-update dialog.

  In the above description, the topic information management unit 1501 describes the topic information management unit 101 as if it were configured to include the topic information before update or the topic information list before update. Is not limited to such a configuration. For example, a flag indicating that the conversation state before update is given to the new topic information, and the current topic information may be added to the topic information management unit 1501. In such a case, if the current topic information is in the pre-update dialog state, the dialog progression unit 1502 executes the pre-update dialog, and when the pre-update dialog ends, requests the topic information reflection unit 1503 to perform update processing, Alternatively, the topic information for which the pre-update dialogue has ended is regarded as new topic information, and the determination of the update content in step S1604 is executed again. In such an operation, the topic information management unit 1501 does not need pre-update topic information (list).

  In the above description, the pre-update interaction rule management unit 1504 manages the interaction procedure in the form of individual interaction rules, but the present embodiment is not limited to such an interaction method. For example, it is possible to describe the procedure of the pre-update dialog in a scenario in the form of a state transition diagram. Alternatively, the pre-update dialog procedure may be incorporated in a dialog scenario related to an individual topic. In such a case, the pre-update dialog rule management unit 1504 may be regarded as a means for acquiring the pre-update dialog procedure in the conversation scenario of each topic. Is possible.

  In the above description, it is described that the end of the dialogue with the user A is not detected during the pre-update dialogue. However, for example, when it is detected that the user A refuses to continue the dialogue, the user A You may end the conversation with.

  In the above description, the topic dependency database 804 is provided, and the detailed operation of the topic information reflection unit 1503 is described as if it is almost the same as the topic information reflection unit 803 in the second embodiment. The topic dependency database 804 may be excluded from this configuration, and the detailed operation of the topic information reflection unit 1503 may be performed by the topic information reflection unit 103 in the first embodiment.

  As described above, if the pre-update conversation is performed when the conversation state is updated by the new topic information, such a thing is within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

  According to the embodiment described above, it is possible to perform flexible dialog control by changing the order of newly introduced dialog contents and the order of dialogs currently being executed.

  In each of the above-described embodiments, the topic information management units 101 and 1501 are topic information lists. However, the topic information management units 101 and 1501 may be configured to refer to the topic information that appears in the dialog with the user A in the priority order of the dialog. Such a configuration is within the scope of the present invention.

  In the above-described embodiments, the new topic information reflected by the topic information reflecting units 103 and 803 is described as single topic information, but a plurality of topic information may be targeted. For example, a parent topic can be acquired retrospectively based on the topic dependency database 804 when new topic information is introduced, and all parent topics can be reflected in advance. In such a case, the new topic information may be reflected individually so as to maintain the order relationship of the individual topic information. As another method, the plurality of pieces of topic information may be reflected together. Search for topic information that can be updated from the topic information management unit 101 for all the topic information groups to be reflected. If topic information that can be updated is found, the target topic information is updated, and other topic information groups to be reflected It is inserted before and after the topic information updated so as to maintain the order relationship. If topic information that can be reflected is not found, the insertion position is determined for the topic information in the last order in the topic information group to be reflected. As described above, even when a plurality of new topic information is introduced, the contents can be reflected in the conversation state.

  In each of the above-described embodiments, when the timing of detecting the introduction of new topic information during a conversation is determined to use another topic to acquire information necessary for the progress of the conversation at the time of user input, However, the timing for detecting the introduction of a new topic clearing is not limited to that. For example, when new topic information is introduced according to an application event, a candidate for new topic information is prepared in advance and the candidate is introduced in conjunction with some event. Even in such a case, the topic information reflection units 103, 803, and 1503 can perform update determination / update processing for new topic information determined to be introduced.

  In each of the above-described embodiments, the topic information management units 101 and 1501, the topic dependency database 804, and the pre-update dialogue rule management unit 1504 are described as if they are one device. As shown in FIG. 24, each configuration of the topic information management unit 101 (1501), the dialogue progression unit 102 (1502), the topic information reflection unit 103 (803, 1503), the topic dependency relationship database 804, and the pre-update dialogue rule management unit 1504 The elements may be arranged independently, and the respective constituent elements may be connected via a communication medium 200 such as a network or a wireless line to transmit / receive information.

  Note that although the interactive device of the present invention is described as if it is a configuration separated from the application, the present invention can also be applied to an interactive device that includes application functions. For example, consider the case of an interactive apparatus that holds a database for managing information to be presented to user A and contains a function for searching the database based on conditions requested by user A. In such an interactive device, when a database search condition is acquired by interaction with the user A, the database is searched based on the acquired search condition, and an answer is returned to the user A, such an operation is performed. The database search function is a function of the application in the present invention, and acquiring the database search condition corresponds to the topic in the present invention. Further, even if the interactive device has various functions in addition to the database search, when the user A interacts with the user A to determine the operating conditions of the various functions and operate the various functions based on the operating conditions, all the functions are This can be regarded as the same as the function of the application in the present invention. For example, even in a configuration in which various functions are operated under conditions specified by a dialog with the user A, or in a configuration in which various functions are operated by obtaining an operation condition from the dialog device and obtaining consent from the user A, It can be said that the various functions to be performed are functions of the application in the present invention.

  In addition, the application is described as if it is a single application, but it is also possible to use functions of a plurality of applications. In the present invention, each function included in a plurality of applications can be executed as an individual topic for the purpose of executing each function.

  Also, in the description of each embodiment, it is described as if the application function is executed only once at the time of topic resolution, but the topic in the present invention is that “the function in the application operates effectively. If the execution result is not significant (if the number of search results is 0 or too many, command execution failure, etc.) The function of the application may be executed a plurality of times by changing the execution condition of the function. The execution condition can be interactively changed from the user A or can be changed dynamically from the interactive apparatus. Alternatively, a function necessary as a procedure for progressing the dialog with the user A may be executed in the middle of the conversation on a certain topic. Further, in the description of each embodiment, the conversation is started by introducing the topic information from the user A. However, the topic information may be introduced from the dialog device side before the user input based on the scenario. In the description of each embodiment, a car navigation is described as an example. However, the present invention can also be applied to applications other than car navigation such as operation of home appliances.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, In the implementation stage, it can change variously in the range which does not change the summary.

  Furthermore, the above embodiments include inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriately combining a plurality of disclosed constituent elements. For example, even if some constituent requirements are deleted from all the constituent requirements shown in the embodiment, the problem described in the column of the problem to be solved by the invention can be solved, and is described in the column of the effect of the invention. If the above effect is obtained, a configuration from which this configuration requirement is deleted can be extracted as an invention.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an interactive device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the dialogue apparatus according to the first embodiment. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of a topic information reflection unit used in the first embodiment. The figure explaining the topic information management part used for 1st Embodiment. Explanatory drawing of the topic information update method in 1st Embodiment. The figure which shows the example of a conversation in 1st Embodiment. The figure explaining the topic information management part in 1st Embodiment. The block diagram which shows the structure of the dialogue apparatus which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. The flowchart explaining operation | movement of the topic information reflection part used for 2nd Embodiment. Explanatory drawing of the topic dependence relationship database used for 2nd Embodiment. The figure which shows the example of a conversation in 2nd Embodiment. The figure explaining the topic information management part in 2nd Embodiment. The figure explaining the topic information management part in 2nd Embodiment. The figure explaining the topic information management part in 2nd Embodiment. The block diagram which shows the structure of the dialogue apparatus which concerns on the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. The flowchart explaining operation | movement of the dialogue apparatus which concerns on 3rd Embodiment. The figure explaining the topic information management part in 3rd Embodiment. The figure explaining the topic information management part in 3rd Embodiment. The figure explaining the pre-update dialog rule management part used for 3rd Embodiment. The figure which shows the example of a conversation in 3rd Embodiment. The figure explaining the topic information management part in 3rd Embodiment. The figure explaining the pre-update dialog rule management part used for 3rd Embodiment. The figure which shows the example of a conversation in 3rd Embodiment. The figure which shows schematic structure of the other example of the dialogue apparatus which concerns on this invention.

Explanation of symbols

101, 1501 ... Topic information management unit 102, 1502 ... Dialogue progress unit 103, 803, 1503 ... Topic information reflection unit 804 ... Topic dependency database 1504 ... Pre-update dialogue rule management unit 401 , 402, 403, 701, 702, 703, 1201, 1202, 1303, 1703, 1704, 2101... Topic information 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 2203, 2204. -Dialog rules before update

Claims (9)

Dialogue progress means for performing progress of dialogue with the user and detecting introduction of new topic information during the dialogue;
Topic information management means for storing topic information including at least the type of topic and the progress state of the dialog appearing during the dialog with the user by the dialog progressing means in a priority order for proceeding with the dialog;
Search for topic information having a predetermined relationship from the topic information management means based on the new topic information detected by the dialog progress means, and prioritize the dialog based on the new topic information with respect to the searched topic information. And a topic information reflecting means for updating the searched topic information or inserting the new topic information so as to proceed. Dialogue progress means for performing progress of dialogue with the user and detecting introduction of new topic information during the dialogue;
Topic information management means for storing topic information including at least the type of topic and the progress state of the dialog appearing during the dialog with the user by the dialog progressing means in a priority order for proceeding with the dialog;
The topic information management means searches for topic information that can be updated from the new topic information detected by the dialog progress means, and the dialog progress of the searched topic information that can be updated is the dialog progress in the new topic information. The topic information management unit updates the information using status information, and updates the progress of the conversation to a local topic when updating the topic to be the current topic together with the update of the update target. A conversation apparatus characterized by comprising topic information reflecting means for erasing topic information. The conversation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the topic information that can be updated by the new topic information is the same type of topic information as the new topic information. Dialogue progress means for performing progress of dialogue with the user and detecting introduction of new topic information during the dialogue;
Topic information management means for storing topic information including at least the type of topic and the progress state of the dialog appearing during the dialog with the user by the dialog progressing means in a priority order for proceeding with the dialog;
A topic dependency database that manages dependency relations for usage and usage in each topic;
The topic information management means is searched for the topic information for confirming the usage relationship with the new topic information detected by the dialog advancing means as the insertion confirmation target, and the topic dependency relation database is referred to for the searched insertion confirmation target. And determining the dependency relationship with respect to the new topic information, and the topic information reflecting means for enabling the new topic information to be inserted before the insertion confirmation target based on the determination result. Interactive device. It further has a pre-update dialogue rule management means for registering a pre-update dialogue rule,
The topic information reflecting means refers to the pre-update dialog rule management means before updating the topic information management means using the new topic information, and the pre-update dialog rules registered in the pre-update dialog rule management means 5. The dialogue apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the dialogue before update can be executed according to the above. 6. The dialogue apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the pre-update dialogue rule management means registers an update method based on new topic information and a progress state of the pre-update dialogue as a pre-update dialogue rule. A first step of performing a progress process of a dialog with a user and detecting introduction of new topic information during the dialog;
A second step of storing topic information including at least a type of topic and a progress state of the dialog appearing during the dialog with the user in a priority order for proceeding with the dialog;
The topic information having a predetermined relationship is searched from the content stored in the second step by the new topic information, and the dialog based on the new topic information is advanced with respect to the searched topic information. And a third step of updating the searched topic information or inserting the new topic information so as to make it happen. A dialogue progress unit for performing a dialogue progress process with the user and detecting introduction of new topic information during the dialogue;
A topic information management unit for storing topic information including at least the type of topic and the progress state of the dialog that appeared during the dialog with the user by the dialog progress unit in a priority order for the dialog to proceed;
Search for topic information having a predetermined relationship from the topic information management unit based on the new topic information detected by the dialog progression unit, and prioritize the dialog based on the new topic information with respect to the searched topic information. Updating the searched topic information or inserting the new topic information so as to proceed,
A communication system comprising: a communication medium that connects and transmits at least two of the dialog progression unit, the topic information management unit, and the topic information reflection unit. A computer program for controlling a dialog device for executing a dialog with a user,
A first step of performing a progress process of a dialog with a user and detecting the introduction of new topic information during the dialog;
A second step of storing topic information including at least the type of topic and a progress state of the dialog appearing during the dialog with the user in a priority order for proceeding with the dialog;
The topic information having a predetermined relationship is searched from the content stored in the second step by the new topic information, and the dialog based on the new topic information is prioritized with respect to the searched topic information. And a third step of executing the update of the searched topic information or the insertion of the new topic information so as to cause the computer program to be executed.

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