Speech Dialog System Aware of Ongoing Conversations

A speech dialog system for intelligently scheduling a speech prompt, the system comprising:

• a dialog manager configured to monitor an acoustic environment to detect an intended addressee's availability for a speech prompt having a measure of urgency corresponding therewith;
• a scheduler configured to schedule the speech prompt;
• and
• a processor in communication with the dialog manager and scheduler, and configured to (i) predict a time that is convenient to present the speech prompt to the intended addressee based on the intended addressee's availability, and (ii) cause the scheduler to schedule the speech prompt based on the predicted time and the measure of urgency.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium including computer code instructions stored thereon for intelligently scheduling a speech prompt in a speech dialog system, the computer code instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the system to perform at least the following:

• monitor an acoustic environment to detect an intended addressee's availability for a speech prompt having a measure of urgency corresponding therewith;
• based on the intended addressee's availability, predict a time that is convenient to present the speech prompt to the intended addressee;
• and
• schedule the speech prompt based on the predicted time and the measure of urgency.