An object-oriented approach to dialogue management in spoken language systems

Abstract

This research examines spontaneous spoken disfluencies during human-computer interaction, presents a predictive model accounting for their occurrence, and outlines interface techniques for minimizing disfluent input. Data were collected during two studies in which people spoke to a highly interactive simulated system. Two factors were associated with an increase in speech disfluency rates: lengthiness of utterance, and lack of structure in the presentation format. In these studies, structural changes to the presentation format eliminated 70% of all disfluent speech. The long-term goal of this research is to provide empiriczd guidance for the design of robust spoken language technology. spoken language system, object-oriented design, user interface.We describe an object-oriented approach to dialog management for the design of spoken language interface to information services. In this approach, dialog states are abstract objects that encapsulate the information and behavior the system needs to interact successfully with the user at any given point in an extended dhdog. An inheritance hierarchy determines the properties of particular dialog states, which am instantiated dynamically during the user-system dialog. Dialog management rules are methods that respond to different types of user inputs in a manner appropriate for the current dialog state. This approach has been used to implement a prototype of a telephone-based information service.214

An object-oriented model for the design of cross-domain dialogue systems

“…An object-oriented development paradigm offers valuable insights into how these challenges might be addressed. In this respect the current approach builds on previous work involving an object-oriented approach to dialogue management (Sparks, Meiskey & Brunner, 1994), in which the main system components might be regarded as forming a developer's toolkit. We envisage system components that draw on the strength of an object-oriented architecture.…”