Speech-enabled system with domain disambiguation

A method of disambiguating natural language utterances, the method comprising:

• using at least one computer to:
• interpret a natural language utterance according a first domain to create (i) a first interpretation that is unique to the first domain and (ii) a corresponding first relevancy score, the first domain having a first relevancy threshold associated therewith;
• interpret the same natural language utterance according to a second domain to create (i) a second interpretation that is unique to the second domain and different from the first interpretation and (ii) a corresponding second relevancy score, the second domain having a second relevancy threshold associated therewith,
• wherein each of the first and second domains represents a different subject area and comprises a different set of grammar rules;
• determine whether the first relevancy score exceeds the first relevancy threshold;
• determine whether the second relevancy score exceeds the second relevancy threshold;
• determine a number of candidate domains, including the first domain and the second domain, for which the corresponding relevancy score exceeds the relevancy threshold associated therewith;
• and
• responsive to the number of candidate domains being greater than a maximum number of domains that is reasonable to present to a user for disambiguation, ask the user to provide a general clarification;
• receive a response utterance with clarification information to determine a domain;
• and
• present, to the user, only one of the first interpretation and the second interpretation according to determined domain.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing code that, when executed by at least one computer, causes the one or more computer to:

• interpret a natural language utterance according to a first domain to create (i) a first interpretation that is unique to the first domain and (ii) a corresponding first relevancy score, the first domain having a first relevancy threshold associated therewith;
• interpret the same natural language utterance according to a second domain to create (i) a second interpretation that is unique to the second domain and different from the first interpretation and (ii) a corresponding second relevancy score, the second domain having a second relevancy threshold associated therewith,
• wherein each of the first and second domains represents a different subject area and comprises a different set of grammar rules;
• determine whether the first relevancy score exceeds the first relevancy threshold;
• determine whether the second relevancy score exceeds the second relevancy threshold;
• present, to a user, a list of candidate domains that includes (i) the first domain if the first relevancy score is determined to exceed the first relevancy threshold and (ii) the second domain if the second relevancy score is determined to exceed the second relevancy threshold;
• ask the user to choose a domain from the presented list;
• and
• present, to the user, only one of the first interpretation and the second interpretation according to a domain chosen by the user.

A speech-enabled system for disambiguating natural language utterances, the speech-enabled system comprising:

• means for performing disambiguation by:
• interpret a natural language utterance according to a first domain to create (i) a first interpretation that is unique to the first domain and (ii) a corresponding first relevancy score, the first domain having a first relevancy threshold associated therewith;
• interpret the same natural language utterance according to a second domain to create (i) a second interpretation that is unique to the second domain and different from the first interpretation and (ii) a corresponding second relevancy score, the second domain having a second relevancy threshold associated therewith,
• wherein each of the first and second domains represents a different subject area and comprises a different set of grammar rules;
• determine whether the first relevancy score exceeds the first relevancy threshold;
• determine whether the second relevancy score exceeds the second relevancy threshold;
• present, to a user, a list of candidate domains that includes (i) the first domain if the first relevancy score is determined to exceed the first relevancy threshold and (ii) the second domain if the second relevancy score is determined to exceed the second relevancy threshold;
• ask the user to choose a domain from the presented list;
• and
• present, to the user, only one of the first interpretation and the second interpretation according to a domain chosen by the user.

An automotive platform for disambiguating natural language utterances, the automotive platform comprising:

• a speech capture module enabled to capture a spoken utterance from a user;
• a speech recognition module that:
• interprets a natural language utterance according to a first domain to create (i) a first interpretation that is unique to the first domain and (ii) a corresponding first relevancy score, the first domain having a first relevancy threshold associated therewith;
• and
• interprets the same natural language utterance according to a second domain to create (i) a second interpretation that is unique to the second domain and different from the first interpretation and (ii) a corresponding second relevancy score, the second domain having a second relevancy threshold associated therewith,
• wherein each of the first and second domains represents a different subject area and comprises a different set of grammar rules;
• determine whether the first relevancy score exceeds the first relevancy threshold;
• determine whether the second relevancy score exceeds the second relevancy threshold;
• a speech generation module enabled to:
• produce speech, to a user, that comprises a list of candidate domains that includes (i) the first domain if the first relevancy score is determined to exceed the first relevancy threshold and (ii) the second domain if the second relevancy score is determined to exceed the second relevancy threshold;
• ask the user to choose a domain from the list;
• and
• produce speech, to the user, that comprises only one of the first interpretation and the second interpretation according to a domain chosen by the user.

A method of disambiguating natural language utterances, the method comprising:

• using at least one computer to:
• interpret a natural language utterance according to a first domain to create (i) a first interpretation that is unique to the first domain and (ii) a corresponding first relevancy score, the first domain having a first relevancy threshold associated therewith;
• interpret the same natural language utterance according to a second domain to create (i) a second interpretation that is unique to the second domain and different from the first interpretation and (ii) a corresponding second relevancy score, the second domain having a second relevancy threshold associated therewith,
• wherein each of the first and second domains represents a different subject area for interpretation;
• present, to a user, a list of candidate domains that includes (i) the first domain if the first relevancy score has been determined to exceed the first relevancy threshold and (ii) the second domain if the second relevancy score has been determined to exceed the second relevancy threshold;
• ask the user to choose a domain from the presented list;
• and
• present, to the user, only one of the first interpretation and the second interpretation according to a domain chosen by the user.