Dialog supporting apparatus

A dialog supporting system for supporting an on-going dialog made by dialog participants, said system comprising:

• a first dialog supporting apparatus;
• and
• a second dialog supporting apparatus,
• wherein said first dialog supporting apparatus includes:
• a first dialog history database in which a dialog history of one of the dialog participants is stored;
• and
• a first utterance prediction unit operable (a) to generate a first utterance prediction information, based on the dialog history stored in said dialog history database, and (b) to obtain a second utterance prediction information from said second dialog supporting apparatus, and to (c) predict a next utterance in the dialog of the dialog participant who uses said first dialog supporting apparatus, and
• said second dialog supporting apparatus includes:
• a second dialog history database in which a dialog history of the other dialog participant is stored;
• and
• a second utterance prediction unit operable (a) to generate a second utterance prediction information based on the dialog history stored in said second dialog history database, and (b) to obtain the first utterance prediction information from said first dialog supporting apparatus, and to (c) predict a next utterance in the dialog of the dialog participant who uses said second dialog supporting apparatus.

A dialog supporting method for supporting a dialog made by dialog participants, said method comprising utterance prediction which includes:

• generating a first utterance prediction information based on a past dialog history of one of the dialog participants;
• obtaining a second utterance prediction information from the other dialog supporting apparatus;
• and
• predicting a next utterance in the dialog of the dialog participant who uses said dialog supporting apparatus, based on the first utterance prediction information and the second utterance prediction information.

A program for supporting an on-going dialog made by dialog participants, said program causing a computer to execute utterance prediction which includes:

• generating a first utterance prediction information based on a past dialog history of one of the dialog participants;
• obtaining a second utterance prediction information from the other dialog supporting apparatus;
• and
• predicting a next utterance in the dialog of the dialog participant who uses said dialog supporting apparatus, based on the first utterance prediction information and the second utterance prediction information.