Natural language machine interface
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsWide Roeland Hogenhout, Robert John Noble
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A user interface is provided for use with a machine which can use a number of natural language instructions to reach one of a plurality of possible machine states. In order to provide information to a user to enable them to more efficiently achieve the current machine state using natural language instructions, the current state of the machine is determined and used to generate information to inform the user of a natural language instruction which can be input to a machine to achieve the current state of the machine.
Claims30
A user interface apparatus for use with a machine which can execute a number of user instructions to reach one of a plurality of possible machine states, wherein said user instructions can be input to said machine using at least natural language, the user interface apparatus comprising:
- status means for obtaining a current state of said machine achieved by executing an instruction recieved from a user;
- generating means responsive to the obtained current state of said machine, for generating a natural language instruction which could have been excuted by said machine to achieve the current state of said machine, irrespective of the instruction which has actually been executed to achieve the current state;
- and
- output means for outputting information to inform the user of the generated natural language instruction.
A user interface method for use with a machine which can execute a number of user instructions to reach one of a plurality of possible machine states, wherein said user instructions can be input to said machine using at least natural language, the method comprising:
- obtaining a current state of said machine achieved by executing an instruction received from a user;
- in response to the obtained current state of said machine, generating a natural language instruction which could have been executed by said machine to achieve the current state of said machine, irrespective of the instruction which has actually been executed to achieve the current state;
- and
- outputting information to inform the user of the generated natural language instruction.
Program code for programming a processor to provide a user interface for a machine which can execute a number of user instructions to reach one of a plurality of possible machine states, wherein said user instructions can be input to said machine using at least natural language, the program code being operable to program the processor to:
- obtain a current state of said machine achieved by executing an instruction received from a user;
- in response to the obtained current state of said machine, generate a natural language instruction which could have been executed by said machine to achieve the current state of said machine, irrespective of the instruction which has actually been executed to achieve the current state;
- and
- output information to inform the user of the generated natural language instruction.
A user interface apparatus for use with a machine which can execute a number of user instructions to reach one of a plurality of possible machine states, wherein said user instructions can be input to said machine using at least natural language, the user interface apparatus comprising:
- a status obtainer operable to obtain a current state of said machine achieved by executing an instruction received from a user;
- a generator responsive to the obtained current state of said machine to generate a natural language instruction which could have been executed by said machine to achieve the current state of said machine, irrespective of the instruction which has actually been executed to achieve the current state;
- and
- an outputter operable to output information to inform the user of the generated natural language instruction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.