US 11,531,821 B2 · Intent resolution for chatbot conversations with negation and coreferences

Abstract

A system performs conversations with users using chatbots customized for performing a set of tasks. The system may be a multi-tenant system that allows customization of the chatbots for each tenant. The system processes sentences that may include negation or coreferences. The system determines a confidence score for an input sentence using an intent detection model, for example, a neural network. The system modifies the sentence to generate a modified sentence, for example, by removing a negation or by replacing a pronoun with an entity. The system generates a confidence score for the modified sentence using the intent detection model. The system determines the intent of the sentence based on the confidence scores of the sentence and the modified sentence. The system performs tasks based on the determined intent and performs conversations with users based on the tasks.

Claims37

Dependent claims

A computer implemented method for determining intent of a user in a chatbot conversation, the method comprising:

receiving, by an online system, a natural language sentence from the user during the chatbot conversation, wherein the natural language sentence includes a negation;
predicting an intent of the natural language sentence using an intent detection model, the intent detection model determining a confidence score for the predicted intent of the natural language sentence;
modifying the natural language sentence by removing the negation;
predicting an intent of the modified natural language sentence using the intent detection model, the intent detection model determining a confidence score for the predicted intent of the modified natural language sentence;
responsive to the confidence score for the predicted intent of the modified natural language sentence exceeding the confidence score for the predicted intent of the natural language sentence by a threshold value, determining a final intent of the natural language sentence to be a negation of the predicted intent of the modified natural language sentence;
generating a sentence in response to the final intent;
and
sending the generated sentence to the user in the chatbot conversation.

5 more elements

A computer system comprising:

a computer processor;
and
a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by the computer processor cause the computer processor to perform steps comprising:
receiving, by an online system, a natural language sentence from a user during a chatbot conversation, wherein the natural language sentence includes a negation;
predicting an intent of the natural language sentence using an intent detection model, the intent detection model determining a confidence score for the predicted intent of the natural language sentence;
modifying the natural language sentence by removing the negation;
predicting an intent of the modified natural language sentence using the intent detection model, the intent detection model determining a confidence score for the predicted intent of the modified natural language sentence;
responsive to the confidence score for the predicted intent of the modified natural language sentence exceeding the confidence score for the predicted intent of the natural language sentence by a threshold value, determining a final intent of the natural language sentence to be a negation of the predicted intent of the modified natural language sentence;
generating a sentence in response to the final intent;
and
sending the generated sentence to the user in the chatbot conversation.

8 more elements

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer processor cause the computer processor to perform steps comprising:

receiving, by an online system, a natural language sentence from a user during a chatbot conversation, wherein the natural language sentence includes a negation;
predicting an intent of the natural language sentence using an intent detection model, the intent detection model determining a confidence score for the predicted intent of the natural language sentence;
modifying the natural language sentence by removing the negation;
predicting an intent of the modified natural language sentence using the intent detection model, the intent detection model determining a confidence score for the predicted intent of the modified natural language sentence;
responsive to the confidence score for the predicted intent of the modified natural language sentence exceeding the predicted intent of the confidence score for the natural language sentence by a threshold value, determining a final intent of the natural language sentence to be a negation of the predicted intent of the modified natural language sentence;
generating a sentence in response to the final intent;
and
sending the generated sentence to the user in the chatbot conversation.

5 more elements

A computer implemented method for determining intent of a user in a chatbot conversation, the method comprising:

receiving, by an online system, a natural language sentence from the user during the chatbot conversation, wherein the natural language sentence includes a pronoun;
predicting a first intent of the natural language sentence using an intent detection model, the intent detection model determining a first confidence score for the first intent;
modifying the natural language sentence by replacing the pronoun with an entity referenced in the conversation;
and
predicting a second intent of the modified natural language sentence using the intent detection model, the intent detection model outputting a second confidence score for the second intent;
selecting a final intent as the first intent responsive to determining that the first confidence score is greater than the second confidence score or selecting the final intent as the second intent responsive to determining that the second confidence score is greater that the first confidence score;
and
generating a sentence based on the final intent;
and
sending the generated sentence to the user in the chatbot conversation.

7 more elements

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer processor cause the computer processor to perform steps comprising:

receiving, by an online system, a natural language sentence from a user during a chatbot conversation, wherein the natural language sentence includes a pronoun;
predicting a first intent of the natural language sentence using an intent detection model, the intent detection model determining a first confidence score for the first intent;
modifying the natural language sentence by replacing the pronoun with an entity referenced in the conversation;
and
predicting a second intent of the modified natural language sentence using the intent detection model, the intent detection model outputting a second confidence score for the second intent;
selecting a final intent as the first intent responsive to determining that the first confidence score is greater than the second confidence score or selecting the final intent as the second intent responsive to determining that the second confidence score is greater that the first confidence score;
and
generating a sentence based on the final intent;
and
sending the generated sentence to the user in the chatbot conversation.

7 more elements

A computer system comprising:

a computer processor;
and
a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by the computer processor cause the computer processor to perform steps comprising:
receiving a natural language sentence from a user during a chatbot conversation, wherein the natural language sentence includes a pronoun;
predicting a first intent of the natural language sentence using an intent detection model, the intent detection model determining a first confidence score for the first intent;
modifying the natural language sentence by replacing the pronoun with an entity referenced in the conversation;
and
predicting a second intent of the modified natural language sentence using the intent detection model, the intent detection model outputting a second confidence score for the second intent;
selecting a final intent as the first intent responsive to determining that the first confidence score is greater than the second confidence score or selecting the final intent as the second intent responsive to determining that the second confidence score is greater that the first confidence score;
and
generating a sentence based on the final intent;
and
sending the generated sentence to the user in the chatbot conversation.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Intent resolution for chatbot conversations with negation and coreferences

Life of this patent

Intent resolution for chatbot conversations with negation and coreferences

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims37