JP4589843B2 - Dialogue method, dialogue apparatus, dialogue program, and recording medium - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technology for constructing a dialogue system that outputs an appropriate response based on an interpretation result of an input and a dialogue procedure described in a dialogue scenario, and more particularly, a plurality of dialogues dealing with different topics. It is related to the field of technology that realizes dialogue corresponding to a wide range of stories by using the system while switching automatically.

  A dialogue system that accepts input by voice or text and outputs an appropriate response generally transforms the input into an easy form for machine processing using a device that understands the input, and this transformation is based on a given dialogue scenario. A response corresponding to the input understanding result is output. Thus, a dialogue system that takes the form of giving a dialogue scenario in advance can handle a dialogue limited to a specific topic, but it is difficult to output an appropriate response to an input related to a wide range of topics. This is because the description of the dialogue scenario for determining the response to the input becomes complicated as the topic spreads. On the other hand, there is a problem that an interactive system that can handle only a narrow range of topics can only respond insufficiently to user requests or cannot be used unless the user fully understands the capabilities of the system in advance. Therefore, it is possible to construct a dialogue system that handles a wide range of topics in a pseudo manner by constructing a plurality of dialogue systems that handle a narrow range of topics that can be constructed relatively easily, and performing dialogue while appropriately switching between them. Has been tried.

In such an attempt, there has been a technique of determining which interactive system the input is strongly associated with for each input as in Patent Document 1 and outputting a response from the corresponding interactive system.
JP 2004-240150 A

In the method of performing dialogue while switching between a plurality of dialogue systems according to input, there is a technical difficulty in accurately determining which dialogue system the input is related to.
Consider a case in which, for example, a dialogue system having a schedule management function, a dialogue system having a weather forecast information guidance function, and a dialogue system having an airline ticket reservation function are used while being switched by the method of Patent Document 1. The dialog system that outputs a response immediately before is called a focal dialog system.
Consider a case where the focal dialogue system is a dialogue system having a schedule management function at a certain point in time, and the response is, for example, “Are you sure you want to read the schedule for December 4?”. In such a case, it is natural that the interactive system having the schedule management function returns a response to the next input. However, in this case, if the user inputs something that all dialog systems accept as input, such as “Yes” or “No”, the related dialog system can be accurately determined by only this one input. It is difficult.

As described above, in the conventional method, when determining which dialogue system the input is related to, only the corresponding input is determined as a clue. Therefore, the accuracy increases as the number of dialogue systems to be switched increases. However, there was a problem in that it became insufficient.
Further, in the method of Patent Document 1, the dialogue system is switched without going through a procedure for confirming the right or wrong of the determination result even though there is a possibility that the determination is erroneous. For this reason, a response from an interactive system that is not intended from the user's side may be output. If this happens, there is a problem in that the user does not know what input should be given in order to specify the intended dialogue system, and causes unnecessary confusion.

In order to solve the above-described problem, in the present invention, in addition to a plurality of dialog systems used while switching, a transition dialog scenario for handling a dialog generated when each dialog system is switched, and a focus whose input corresponds to the focus dialog system. An input determination device having a function of determining whether it is related to a dialogue scenario or a transition dialogue scenario is introduced.
In the present invention, in an apparatus for understanding input, input understanding using an input understanding model (hereinafter referred to as a first input understanding model) corresponding to a focused dialogue scenario, and an input understanding model (hereinafter referred to as a transition dialogue scenario) , Which is referred to as a second input understanding model) to obtain two understanding results (hereinafter referred to as a first input understanding result and a second input understanding result, respectively). In addition, the input determination device holds a previous utterance determination history, and performs determination by simultaneously considering the two first and second input understanding results and the previous utterance determination history.

  In addition, a dialog procedure for confirming whether or not the dialog system to be switched next is the system requested by the user is performed using the transition dialog scenario.

  According to the present invention, since the determination is performed by simultaneously considering the two input results and the previous utterance determination history in the input determination device, it is possible to perform the determination in consideration of the flow of dialogue. For example, the input understanding device failed in the understanding process based on the first input understanding model and could not obtain the first input understanding result, and also failed in the understanding process based on the second input understanding model and obtained the second input understanding result. If the previous utterance determination history is a focused conversation scenario, the current utterance is also related to the focused conversation scenario. If the previous utterance determination history is a transition conversation scenario, it is determined that the current utterance is also related to the transition dialog scenario. Is possible. In addition, when both the first input understanding result and the second input understanding result are obtained as in the case where the input is “Yes”, if the previous utterance determination history is a transition dialogue scenario, the current utterance is also related to the transition dialogue scenario. It is possible to determine that it is to be performed.

Also, in the present invention, since either one of the focused dialogue scenario or the transition dialogue scenario, that is, one of the two is always judged, the judgment accuracy is higher than when judging to any one of a plurality of dialogue systems. It is expected.
For these two reasons, the problem of low input determination accuracy can be avoided.
In addition, if the transition dialog scenario is used, for example, it is possible to go through an interactive procedure for confirming whether the dialog system to be switched next is a system requested by the user. Since there is no sudden switch, no unnecessary confusion is given to the user.

The interactive apparatus according to the present invention can be configured by hardware, but rather, the interactive program proposed in the present invention is installed in the computer, and the computer is executed as the interactive apparatus by causing the computer to execute the program. The embodiment that makes it function is the best embodiment.
When the computer functions as an interactive device, the computer includes at least an input understanding device, an input determination device, and a scenario execution device, and executes an interactive operation using the functions of these devices.

1 and 2 show an embodiment of an interactive apparatus according to claim 4 of the present invention. The dialogue device according to claim 4 is copied and inputted to the scenario understanding device 103 and the input understanding device 101 selectively in accordance with the input understanding device 101, the input determination device 102, the scenario execution device 103, and the focus dialogue switching command. A dialogue system group 104 including a first dialogue system 1041, a second dialogue system 1042,..., An n-th dialogue system 104n used as an understanding model or a focal dialogue scenario.
The input understanding device 101 can be configured by, for example, a combination of a speech recognition device 1013 that converts speech into a word string and a language understanding device 1014 that converts a word string into a pair of attributes and values. The speech recognition device 1013 includes a first speech recognition model 1015 and a second speech recognition model 1016, and the language understanding device 1014 includes a first language understanding model 1011 and a second language understanding model 1012.

The input determination device 102 includes a previous utterance determination history 1021, and the scenario execution device 103 further includes a focus dialog scenario 10311, a transition dialog scenario 10321, and a focus dialog that holds the history of the focus dialog scenario 10311 and the transition dialog scenario 10321. A history 10312 and a transition dialogue history 10322 are provided.
Further, the first dialog system 1041, the second dialog system 1042,... The nth dialog system 104n constituting the dialog system group 104 include dialog scenarios 10411, 10421... 104n1, language understanding models 10412, 10422,. Recognizing models 10413, 10423... 104n3, and dialogue histories 10414, 10424.

As the input 1090, for example, voice uttered by the user, text input, mouse input, touch panel input, button operation, gesture input, or a combination of some of them can be considered. The response content 1095 may be a command to output sound from a speaker, a command to output text, an image, an animation such as an agent character gesture, or a combination of some of them on a computer screen.
In this embodiment, the input is speech, the first and second input understanding results 1091 and 1092 are output as pairs and scores consisting of the attributes and values shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, and the response content 1095 is text and agent. Description will be made assuming a character motion command. In such a case, the input understanding device 101 uses a combination of a speech recognition device 1013 that converts speech into a word string and a language understanding device 1014 that converts a word string into a value and a pair consisting of an attribute and a pair. be able to. Further, language models and acoustic models for speech recognition are used for the first and second speech recognition models 1015 and 1016 provided in the language understanding device 1014, and words are used for the first and second language understanding models 1011 and 1012. A language understanding rule that associates a column pattern with a pair of an attribute and a value can be used. The response content 1095 can be presented to the user by converting the response content 1095 into speech or an image using a commercially available speech synthesizer or character image drawing software.

In this embodiment, the first dialogue system 1041 is a Tokyo sightseeing guidance system, and the nth dialogue system 104n is a Tokyo administrative service guidance system.
In the dialogue between the dialogue apparatus and the user according to the present invention, it is assumed that the user is talking with the system about the Tokyo sightseeing guide at a certain time. At this time, the dialogue scenario 10411 for processing only the Tokyo sightseeing guide is copied to the focus dialogue scenario 10311, and the first speech recognition model 1015 and the first language understanding model 1011 of the input understanding device 101 are related to the Tokyo sightseeing guide. A speech recognition model 10413 and a language understanding model 10412 that are assumed to be input only are copied. The transition dialog scenario 10321 describes a scenario for processing a dialog that occurs during the course of a topic transition from one dialog system to another dialog system. The second speech recognition model 1016 and the second language understanding model 1012 describe the transition dialog scenario 10321. Describes an input understanding model that assumes input related to a dialog that occurs during the transition of a topic from one dialog system to another.

5. When the input 1090 is input to the input understanding device 101, the first speech recognition model 1015 converts the input 1090 into a word string, and the first language understanding model 1011 receives the word string. Is converted into a first input understanding result 1091. The second speech recognition model 1016 also converts the input 1090 into a word string, and the second language understanding model 1012 also interprets the word string and converts it into a second input understanding result 1092. That is, two input understanding results are generated for one input.
For example, FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 show examples of two input understanding results when the input voice is “I want to receive a copy of a resident's card”. In this example, the first speech recognition model 1015 and the first language understanding model 1011 assume that words frequently appearing in the topic of Tokyo sightseeing guidance are input, whereas the second speech recognition model 1016 and the second language The understanding model 1012 assumes words related to Tokyo sightseeing guides, administrative services, and all other topics. Since the assumed input differs depending on the speech recognition model and the language understanding model, the score may be high when the input matches the assumed input, and the score may be low when the input is not expected. Also, in this embodiment, if the input is significantly different from that assumed by the speech recognition model or language understanding model, and the score becomes extremely low, it is assumed that the input understanding has failed and the input understanding result is not output. Perform the correct operation.

The input determination device 102 corresponds to the input determination result 1093 and the input determination result 1093 in consideration of the previous utterance determination history held in the previous utterance determination history 1021, the first input understanding result 1091, and the second input understanding result 1092. The input understanding result 1094 is output.
5 and 6 show an example of an operation flow of the input determination device 102. FIG. 5 and 6, it is first determined whether or not both the first and second input understanding results 1091 and 1092 exist (step S5-1).
When only the first input understanding result exists, the current input outputs the determination result 1093 that is “input related to the focal dialogue scenario 10311” (step S5-6).

If only the second input comprehension exists and the previous utterance determination result is not “focus dialogue scenario”, an input determination result 1093 that “input related to transition dialogue scenario” is output as the current input (steps S5-7, S5-). 8).
If only the second input understanding exists and the previous utterance determination result is “focus dialogue scenario”, the process branches to step S6-3 (FIG. 6) through step S5-7, and the second input understanding result is If the content related to the focused dialogue scenario is included, a determination result 1093 is output that the current input is “an input related to the focused dialogue scenario” in step S6-3 through step S6-3.

If neither the first input understanding result nor the second input understanding result exists and the previous utterance determination result is a focal conversation scenario, the process branches to step S5-9 via step S5-4, and this step S5- 9, the current input is “input relating to the focal dialogue scenario”, and an input result 1093 is output.
If neither the first input understanding result nor the second input understanding result exists and the previous utterance determination result is not the focal dialogue scenario, the current input is “input related to the transition dialogue scenario” in step S5-5. The input result 1093 is output.

If both the first input comprehension result and the second input comprehension result exist in step S5-1 and the previous utterance determination result is not the focal conversation scenario, the process branches from step S5-10 to step S5-11, and the first input comprehension is performed. The magnitude relationship between the result score and the second input understanding result score is compared. When the first input understanding result score is larger than the second input understanding result score obtained by adding β (step S5-11), the current input is “focus dialogue”. An input determination result 1093, “input relating to scenario” is output (step S5-13).
If the determination in step S5-11 is NO, an input determination result that the current input is “an input related to the transition dialogue scenario” is output (step S5-12).

In step S5-1, both the first and second input understanding results exist. In step S5-10, if it is determined that the previous utterance determination result is the “focus conversation scenario”, the first in step S6-1. Compare the magnitude of the score obtained by adding α to the input comprehension result and the second input comprehension result score. If the second input comprehension result score is small, the current input is “input related to the focal dialogue scenario”. The determination result 1093 is output (step S6-2).
If the second input understanding result score is larger than the first input understanding result score obtained by adding α, the process proceeds to step S6-3. In step S6-3, the second input understanding result includes contents related to the current focused dialogue scenario. If it is determined that the current input is determined, the input determination result 1093 is output in step S6-5, in which the current input is “input related to the focal dialogue scenario”.

When the determination in step S6-3 is NO, a determination result 1093 that the current input is “an input related to the transition dialogue scenario” is output (step S6-4).
Α and β used in steps S5-11 and S6-1 can be set to α = 0.3, β = 0.5, etc., for example. It is necessary to adjust accordingly.
The scenario execution apparatus 103 selects the focused dialogue scenario 10311 or the transition dialogue scenario 10321 according to the input determination result 1093 described above, and executes the scenario recorded in the focused dialogue history 10312 or the transition dialogue history 10322 that is the corresponding dialogue history. The scenario is executed from the location, and the response content 1095 is output.

  Further, when the scenario execution device 103 executes the transition dialog scenario 10321, a focus dialog switching command described in the transition dialog scenario 10321 may be detected. For example, when a focus dialog switching command for switching the focus dialog to the “administrative service” domain is detected, the scenario execution device 103 copies the dialog scenario 104n1 to the focus dialog scenario 10311, and the speech recognition model 104n3 to the first speech recognition model 1015. The language model 104n2 is further copied to the first language understanding model 1011. In addition, the initial response content of the dialog scenario 104n1 that has newly become the focus dialog scenario is output as the response content 1095. FIG. 8 shows an example of the response content 1095.

  FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of an interactive apparatus according to claim 5 of the present invention. The dialogue apparatus according to claim 5 shows an embodiment in which a navigator dialogue scenario 10331 acting as a so-called help function, a navigator dialogue history 10332, a navigator speech recognition model 10334, and a navigator language understanding model 10333 are held in the scenario execution device 103. In this embodiment, the focus dialogue switching command described in the transition dialogue scenario 10321 includes a command for designating a navigator. The navigator dialogue scenario 10331 includes a focal dialogue switching command for designating any dialogue system other than the navigator dialogue scenario 10331. When the scenario execution device 103 detects a focus dialogue switching command for designating a navigator, the navigator speech recognition model 10334 is copied to the first speech recognition model 1015 and the navigator language understanding model 10333 is copied to the first language understanding model 1011. Copy and send an input determination mode change command 1081 to the input determination device 102. When the input determination device 102 receives the input determination mode change command 1081, the input determination device 102 operates so as to always output an understanding result corresponding to the first input understanding result 1091 until the input determination mode change command 1081 is received again. When the scenario execution device 103 detects a focus dialogue switching command for designating a scenario other than the navigator, the scenario execution device 103 uses the dialogue system corresponding to the focal dialogue scenario, the speech recognition model, and the language understanding model as in the dialogue device described in claim 1. Copy and send an input determination mode change command 1081 to the input determination device 102. Thereby, the input determination apparatus 102 starts input determination again according to the procedure shown in FIGS. As a result, for example, when a phenomenon such as failure to understand continuous input multiple times occurs in the transition dialogue scenario 10321 or when the user inputs, for example, “call general guidance”, the navigator scenario is automatically set. It is possible to switch.

  In the dialog device according to claim 6, when the scenario execution device 103 detects the focus dialog switching command, the scenario execution device 103 copies the current focus dialog history to the dialog history of the dialog system corresponding to the current focus dialog scenario, The dialogue history of the dialogue system specified by the focal dialogue switching command is copied to the current focal dialogue history. For example, when the current focal dialogue scenario is the dialogue scenario 104n1 and the focal dialogue switching command specifies the first dialogue system 1041, the focal dialogue history 10312 is transferred to the dialogue history 104n4 (see FIG. 1) of the nth dialogue system 104n. After copying, the dialogue history 10414 (see FIG. 1) of the first dialogue system 1041 is copied to the focal dialogue history 10312. As a result, for example, the conversation content when the conversation scenario of the first interaction system 1041 was the focal conversation scenario before can be switched to another interaction system several times and then can be started again. For example, if you switch to the administrative service guidance system after introducing the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's attractions in the Tokyo Tourist Information System, you can continue the dialogue from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's introduction scene if you switch back to the Tourist Information System I can do it. As a result, the user can proceed with the conversation smoothly without performing redundant input again.

  The dialogue apparatus according to the present invention described above is an embodiment in which a dialogue program for realizing the components shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is installed in a computer, and the computer is caused to function as the dialogue apparatus according to claims 4 to 6. Is the best embodiment. The interactive program according to the present invention is written in a computer-readable program language, and is recorded on a recording medium such as a magnetic disk or CD-ROM that can be read by the computer. The computer is installed from these recording media or through a communication line. The installed interactive program according to the present invention is decoded by a CPU provided in the computer, and causes the computer to function as an interactive device.

  The dialogue method, dialogue apparatus, and dialogue program according to the present invention are utilized when a dialogue system that handles a wider range of topics is constructed by combining a plurality of dialogue systems.

The block diagram for demonstrating the structural example of the dialogue system group used for the dialogue apparatus by this invention. The block diagram for demonstrating the example of a structure of the input device used for the dialogue apparatus by this invention, an input determination apparatus, and a scenario execution apparatus. The figure which shows the example of the input understanding result corresponding to a focus dialog scenario. The figure which shows the example of the input understanding result corresponding to a transition dialog scenario. The flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of the input determination apparatus by this invention. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the continuation of FIG. 5. The block diagram for demonstrating the deformation | transformation Example of this invention. The figure for demonstrating an example of the response content of the dialogue apparatus by this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Input device 104n nth dialogue system 1011 1st language understanding model 104n1 dialogue scenario 1012 2nd language understanding model 104n2 input understanding model 1015 1st speech recognition model 104n4 dialogue history
1016 Second language recognition model 1081 Input determination mode change command
102 Input Determination Device 1090 Input 1021 Previous Speech Determination History 1091 First Input Understanding Result 103 Scenario Execution Device 1092 Second Input Understanding Result 10311 Focus Dialog Scenario 1093 Input Determination Result 10312 Focus Dialog History 1094 Input Understanding Result 10321 Transition Dialog Scenario 1095 Response Content 10322 Transition dialogue history
10331 Navigator dialogue scenario
10332 Navigator dialog history
10333 Navigator language understanding model
10334 Navigator speech recognition model
104 Dialogue system group
1041 First dialog system 10411 Dialog scenario 10412 Input understanding model 10414 Dialog history

Claims (8)

An interactive method comprising an input understanding method, an input determination method, a scenario execution method, and a plurality of interactive systems,
The scenario execution method maintains a focal dialogue scenario and a transition dialogue history corresponding to a focal dialogue scenario and a transition dialogue scenario,
The input understanding method has two input understanding models respectively corresponding to the focus dialogue scenario and the transition dialogue scenario,
Input determination process holds a pre-format constant history, each of the plurality of interactive systems to retain the at least dialogue scenario input understanding model,
The input comprehension method uses two input comprehension models for the input, obtains two comprehension results, and outputs them to the input determination method.
Input determination method, and a pre-size constant history and two understanding result, the input is determined whether the corresponding one of the transition conversation scenarios and focus dialogue scenario, the determination result and combined understanding result corresponding to the determined scenario updated at the same time before-size constant history and output to the scenario execution method Te,
The scenario execution method is a scenario in which the dialogue scenario corresponding to the judgment result included in the output from the input judgment method is input from the scenario execution location held in the corresponding dialog history and the understanding result included in the output from the input judgment method is input. To output the response contents described in the scenario,
At the same time, the new scenario execution location is retained in the corresponding conversation history,
In the dialogue scenario, a focal dialogue switching command is described. When the scenario execution method detects the focal dialogue switching command when executing the dialogue scenario, the dialogue scenario of the dialogue system specified by the focal dialogue switching command is focused. A dialog method characterized in that an input understanding model of the specified dialog system is an input understanding model corresponding to a focal dialog scenario held by the input understanding method. The dialogue execution method according to claim 1, wherein the scenario execution method retains a navigator scenario, a navigator dialogue history, and a navigator input understanding model, and detects a focus dialogue switching command for designating a navigator when executing the dialogue scenario. The navigator input comprehension model is the input comprehension model corresponding to the focus dialogue scenario held by the input comprehension method, and the input judgment method unconditionally changes the focus dialogue side until a focus switching command for designating something other than the navigator is detected. As a result of the decision, the scenario execution method is based on the scenario execution location held in the navigator dialogue history, the understanding result is input, the navigator scenario is executed and the response contents described in the navigator scenario are output, and at the same time, a new content is added to the navigator dialogue history An interactive method characterized by holding a scenario execution location.   3. The dialogue method according to claim 1, wherein when the scenario execution method detects a focal dialogue switching command, the focal dialogue history is copied to the dialogue history of the dialogue system corresponding to the current focal dialogue scenario. A dialogue method characterized by copying a dialogue history of a dialogue system designated by a focal dialogue switching command to a focal dialogue history. An interactive device comprising an input understanding device, an input determination device, a scenario execution device, and a plurality of interactive systems,
The scenario execution device holds a focal dialogue scenario and a transition dialogue scenario corresponding to the focal dialogue scenario and the transition dialogue scenario, and the input understanding device has two input understanding models respectively corresponding to the focal dialogue scenario and the transition dialogue scenario. It holds, the input determination unit holds a pre-format constant history, each of the plurality of interactive systems retain at least dialogue scenario an input understanding model,
The input comprehension device uses the two input comprehension models for the input to obtain two understanding results and outputs them to the input determination device.
Input determination device, and a pre-size constant history and two understanding result, the input is determined whether the corresponding one of the transition conversation scenarios and focus dialogue scenario, the determination result and combined understanding result corresponding to the determined scenario updated at the same time before-size constant history and output to the scenario execution unit Te,
The scenario execution device is a scenario in which an interaction scenario corresponding to the determination result included in the output from the input determination device is input from the scenario execution location held in the corresponding dialog history and the understanding result included in the output from the input determination method is input. , Output the response contents described in the scenario, and simultaneously store the new scenario execution location in the corresponding dialogue history,
In the dialogue scenario, a focal dialogue switching command is described. When the scenario execution device detects a focal switching command when executing the dialogue scenario, the dialogue scenario of the dialogue system specified by the focal dialogue switching command is selected as the focal dialogue. A dialog device characterized in that the input understanding model of the specified dialog system is set as a scenario and is an input understanding model corresponding to a focal dialog scenario held by the input understanding device.   5. The dialogue apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the scenario execution device holds a navigator scenario, a navigator dialogue history, and a navigator input understanding model, and detects a focal dialogue switching command for designating a navigator when executing the dialogue scenario. The input comprehension model is the input comprehension model corresponding to the focus dialogue scenario held by the input comprehension method, and the input judgment device unconditionally judges the focus dialogue side until a focus switching command that designates something other than the navigator is detected. The scenario execution device executes the navigator scenario from the scenario execution location held in the navigator dialogue history as an input, outputs the response contents described in the navigator scenario, and simultaneously creates a new scenario execution location in the navigator dialogue history. An interactive apparatus characterized by holding   6. The dialogue apparatus according to claim 4, wherein when the scenario execution device detects a focal dialogue switching command, the focal dialogue history is copied to the dialogue history of the dialogue system corresponding to the current focal dialogue scenario. A dialogue apparatus for copying a dialogue history of a dialogue system designated by a focal dialogue switching command to a focal dialogue history.   An interactive program that is written in a program language that can be read by a computer and that causes the computer to function as the interactive device according to any one of claims 4, 5, and 6.   A recording medium comprising a computer-readable recording medium, wherein the interactive program according to claim 7 is recorded on the recording medium.

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