# US 2014/0156268 A1 · Incremental speech recognition for dialog systems > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2014/0156268 A1 - Document ID: US20140156268A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 13/691,005 - Filed: 2012-11-30 - Published: 2014-06-05 - Earliest claimed: 2012-11-30 - Assignees: AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. - Applicants: At&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.; Oregon Health & Science University - Technology - Inventors: Iker ARIZMENDI; Jason WILLIAMS; Ethan SELFRIDGE - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140156268A1 ## CPC - G10L 15/1822: {Parsing for meaning understanding} - G10L: SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING ## Abstract A system and method for integrating incremental speech recognition in dialog systems. An example system configured to practice the method receives incremental speech recognition results of user speech as part of a dialog with a user, and copies a dialog manager operating on the user speech to generate temporary instances of the dialog manager. Then the system evaluates actions the temporary instances of the dialog manager would take based on the incremental speech recognition results, and identifies an action that would advance the dialog and a corresponding temporary instance of the dialog manager. The system can then execute the action in the dialog and optionally replace the dialog manager with the corresponding temporary instance of the dialog manager. The action can include making a turn-taking decision in the dialog, such as whether, what, and when to speak or whether to be silent. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method comprising: receiving incremental speech recognition results of user speech as part of a dialog with a user; copying a dialog manager operating on the user speech to generate a temporary instance of the dialog manager; evaluating, via a processing device, an action the temporary instance of the dialog manager would take based on the incremental speech recognition results; determining that the action that would advance the dialog; and executing the action in the dialog. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: replacing the dialog manager with the temporary instance of the dialog manager. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein executing the action in the dialog comprises making a turn-taking decision in the dialog. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein the turn-making decision comprises deciding when to speak or when to be silent. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein executing the action further comprises providing a spoken response in the dialog. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: discarding the temporary instance of the dialog manager when the action would not sufficiently advance the dialog. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: deleting the dialog manager; and substituting the dialog manager with the temporary instance of the dialog manager. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: discarding incremental speech recognition results that do not correspond to a complete user utterance. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a stability score for each incremental speech recognition result; and discarding incremental speech recognition results having a corresponding stability score below a threshold. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein an incremental interaction manager receives the incremental speech recognition results. ### Claim 11 A system comprising: a processor; and a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform steps comprising: receiving, at a dialog manager an N-best list of incremental speech recognition results of user speech as part of a dialog with a user, wherein the incremental speech recognition results incorporate contextual information from a beginning of the dialog until the incremental speech recognition results were received; receiving, at the dialog manager, respective confidence scores for each incremental speech recognition result in the N-best list; and updating a dialog state associated with the dialog based on the respective confidence scores and the incremental speech results, and further based on an assumption that the incremental speech results are complete. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The system of claim 11, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor further to: advance the dialog based on the dialog state. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The system of claim 12, wherein advancing the dialog further comprises: executing, in the dialog, an action associated with the dialog state. ### Claim 14 (depends on 11) The system of claim 11, wherein updating the dialog state further comprises: copying the dialog manager operating to generate temporary instances of the dialog manager; evaluating actions the temporary instances of the dialog manager would take based on the incremental speech recognition results; and updating the dialog state based on the actions evaluated. ### Claim 15 A tangible computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method comprising: receiving an incremental speech recognition result of user speech as part of a dialog with a user; copying a dialog manager operating on the user speech to generate a temporary dialog manager; evaluating an action of the temporary dialog manager based on the incremental speech recognition result; and upon determining that the action would advance the dialog and that the action is different than an existing action of the dialog manager: executing the action in the dialog; and replacing the dialog manager with the temporary dialog manager. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein executing the action in the dialog comprises making a turn-taking decision in the dialog. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the turn-making decision comprises deciding when to speak or when to be silent. ### Claim 18 (depends on 15) The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein executing the action further comprises providing a spoken response in the dialog. ### Claim 19 (depends on 15) The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions, when executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method further comprising: discarding temporary instances of the dialog manager which do not sufficiently advance the dialog. ### Claim 20 (depends on 15) The tangible computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions, when executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method further comprising: discarding incremental speech recognition results that do not correspond to a complete user utterance.