System and method for a cooperative conversational voice user interface

Abstract

A cooperative conversational voice user interface is provided. The cooperative conversational voice user interface may build upon short-term and long-term shared knowledge to generate one or more explicit and/or implicit hypotheses about an intent of a user utterance. The hypotheses may be ranked based on varying degrees of certainty, and an adaptive response may be generated for the user. Responses may be worded based on the degrees of certainty and to frame an appropriate domain for a subsequent utterance. In one implementation, misrecognitions may be tolerated, and conversational course may be corrected based on subsequent utterances and/or responses.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method of generating natural language system responses adapted based on a user's manner of speaking, the method being implemented by a computer system that includes one or more physical processors executing one or more computer program instructions which, when executed, perform the method, the method comprising:
 receiving, by the computer system, a user input comprising a natural language utterance;   recognizing, by the computer system, one or more words or phrases from the natural language utterance;   identifying, by the computer system, a context for the natural language utterance based on the one or more words or phrases recognized from the natural language utterance;   determining, by the computer system, an interpretation of the natural language utterance based on the identified context;   identifying, by the computer system, a manner in which the natural language utterance was spoken; and   generating, by the computer system, a response to the natural language utterance based on the interpretation and the identified manner in which the natural language utterance was spoken.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the manner in which the natural language utterance was spoken includes an indication of at least one of tone, pace, timing, inflection, word use, and/or jargon. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the response comprises a voice response, and wherein generating the voice response to the natural language utterance based on the identified manner comprises varying one or more of tone, pace, timing, inflection, word use, and/or jargon of the voice response. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , the method further comprising:
 obtaining, by the computer system, contextual signifiers and/or grammatical rules; and   generating, by the computer system, the response to the natural language utterance based further on the obtained contextual signifiers and/or grammatical rules.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , the method further comprising:
 accumulating, by the computer system, short-term knowledge based on one or more natural language utterances received during a predetermined time period, wherein the one or more natural language utterances received during the predetermined time period are related to a single conversation between a user and the computer system,   wherein the manner in which the natural language utterance was spoken is identified based on the short-term knowledge.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , the method further comprising:
 accumulating, by the computer system, long-term knowledge, wherein the long-term knowledge is accumulated based on one or more natural language utterances received prior to the predetermined time period,   wherein the manner in which the natural language utterance was spoken is identified based further on the long-term knowledge.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the long-term knowledge is associated with a first user, the method further comprising:
 generating, by the computer system, a profile associated with the first user based on the long-term knowledge, wherein the context for the natural language utterance is determined based further on the profile associated with the first user.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the response to the natural language utterance further comprises:
 generating, by the computer system, the response based on a response format associated with the identified manner.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein recognizing the one or more words or phrases from the natural language utterance comprises:
 providing, by the computer system, the natural language utterance as an input to a speech recognition engine; and   obtaining, by the computer system, the one or more words or phrases recognized from the natural language utterance as an output of the speech recognition engine.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , the method further comprising:
 causing, by the computer system, the response to the natural language utterance to be provided to the user.   
     
     
         11 . A system for generating natural language system responses adapted based on a user's manner of speaking, the system comprising:
 one or more physical processors programmed with one or more computer program instructions which, when executed, configure the one or more physical processors to:
 receive a user input comprising a natural language utterance; 
 recognize one or more words or phrases from the natural language utterance; 
 identify a context for the natural language utterance based on the one or more words or phrases recognized from the natural language utterance; 
 determine an interpretation of the natural language utterance based on the identified context; 
 identify a manner in which the natural language utterance was spoken; and 
 generate a response to the natural language utterance based on the interpretation and the identified manner in which the natural language utterance was spoken. 
   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the manner in which the natural language utterance was spoken includes an indication of at least one of tone, pace, timing, inflection, word use, and/or jargon. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the response comprises a voice response, and wherein to generate the voice response to the natural language utterance based on the identified manner, the one or more physical processors are further configured to:
 vary one or more of tone, pace, timing, inflection, word use, and/or jargon of the voice response.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more physical processors are further configured to:
 obtain contextual signifiers and/or grammatical rules; and   generate the response to the natural language utterance based further on the obtained contextual signifiers and/or grammatical rules.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more physical processors are further configured to:
 accumulate short-term knowledge based on one or more natural language utterances received during a predetermined time period, wherein the one or more natural language utterances received during the predetermined time period are related to a single conversation between a user and the computer system,   wherein the manner in which the natural language utterance was spoken is identified based on the short-term knowledge.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the one or more physical processors are further configured to:
 accumulate long-term knowledge, wherein the long-term knowledge is accumulated based on one or more natural language utterances received prior to the predetermined time period,   wherein the manner in which the natural language utterance was spoken is identified based further on the long-term knowledge.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the long-term knowledge is associated with a first user, and wherein the one or more physical processors are further configured to:
 generate a profile associated with the first user based on the long-term knowledge, wherein the context for the natural language utterance is determined based further on the profile associated with the first user.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein to generate the response to the natural language utterance, the one or more physical processors are configured to:
 generate the response based on a response format associated with the identified manner.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein to recognize the one or more words or phrases from the natural language utterance, the one or more physical processors are configured to:
 provide the natural language utterance as an input to a speech recognition engine; and   obtain the one or more words or phrases recognized from the natural language utterance as an output of the speech recognition engine.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more physical processors are further configured to:
 cause the response to the natural language utterance to be provided to the user.