Management of human-machine dialogue involving multiple parties

A method to process communications, the method comprising:

• determining, by executing an instruction with at least one processor, a conversation distance of a designated area based on (i) a first distance representative of a threshold hearing-based distance at which a first person, when speaking to a second person, would expect to be heard by the second person, and (ii) a second distance representative of a threshold sight-based distance at which the first person, when speaking to the second person, would expect to be seen as speaking by the second person;
• determining, by executing an instruction with the at least one processor, whether any of a plurality of parties has come within the conversation distance of the designated area;
• based on a first party of the plurality of parties coming within the conversation distance of the designated area, executing, with the at least one processor, a single party dialogue processing algorithm to process a first conversation with the first party;
• and
• based on a second party of the plurality of parties coming within the conversation distance of the designated area, halting execution of the single party dialogue processing algorithm and executing, with the at least one processor, a multi-party dialogue processing algorithm, the multi-party dialogue processing algorithm to process the first conversation with the first party and a second conversation with the second party.

At least one non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

• determine a conversation distance of a designated area based on (i) a first distance representative of a threshold hearing-based distance at which a first person, when speaking to a second person, would expect to be heard by the second person, and (ii) a second distance representative of a threshold sight-based distance at which the first person, when speaking to the second person, would expect to be seen as speaking by the second person;
• determine whether any of a plurality of parties has come within a conversation distance of a designated area;
• based on a first party of the plurality of parties coming within the conversation distance of the designated area, execute a single party dialogue processing algorithm to process a first conversation with the first party;
• and
• based on a second party of the plurality of parties coming within the conversation distance of the designated area, halt execution of the single party dialogue processing algorithm and execute a multi-party dialogue processing algorithm, the multi-party dialogue processing algorithm to process the first conversation with the first party and a second conversation with the second party.

A communication system comprising:

• means for determining whether any of a plurality of parties associated with portable electronic devices has come within a conversation distance of the communication system, the means for determining to determine the conversation distance based on (i) a first distance representative of a threshold hearing-based distance at which a first person, when speaking to a second person, would expect to be heard by the second person, and (ii) a second distance representative of a threshold sight-based distance at which the first person, when speaking to the second person, would expect to be seen as speaking by the second person;
• first means for executing a single party dialogue processing algorithm;
• second means for executing a multi-party dialogue processing algorithm;
• and
• means for selecting a dialogue mode, the means for selecting the dialogue mode to select one of the first means for executing or the second means for executing in response to an output supplied by the means for determining whether any of a plurality of parties associated with portable electronic devices has come within the conversation distance of the communication system.