System and method for a cooperative conversational voice user interface

A non-transitory computer readable medium containing computer-executable instructions for providing a cooperative conversational voice user interface, the computer-executable instructions operable when executed to:

• receive an utterance at a voice input device, during a current conversation with a user, wherein the utterance includes one or more words that have different meanings in different contexts;
• accumulate short-term shared knowledge about the current conversation, wherein the short-term shared knowledge includes knowledge about the utterance received at the voice during the current conversation;
• accumulate long-term shared knowledge about the user, wherein the long-term shared knowledge includes knowledge about one or more past conversations with the user;
• identify a context associated with the utterance, wherein a conversational speech engine identifies the context associated with the utterance from the short-term shared knowledge and the long-term shared knowledge;
• establish an intended meaning for the utterance within the identified context, wherein the conversational speech engine establishes the intended meaning within the identified context to disambiguate an intent that the user had in speaking the one or more words that have the different meanings in the different contexts;
• and
• generate a response to the utterance, wherein the conversational speech engine grammatically or syntactically adapts the response based on the intended meaning established within the identified context.

A system for providing a cooperative conversational voice user interface, comprising:

• a voice input device configured to receive an utterance during a current conversation with a user, wherein the utterance includes one or more words that have different meanings in different contexts;
• and
• a conversational speech engine, wherein the conversational speech engine includes one or more processors configured to:
• accumulate short-term shared knowledge about the current conversation, wherein the short-term shared knowledge includes knowledge about the utterance received during the current conversation;
• accumulate long-term shared knowledge about the user, wherein the long-term shared knowledge includes knowledge about one or more past conversations with the user;
• identify a context associated with the utterance from the short-term shared knowledge and the long-term shared knowledge;
• establish an intended meaning for the utterance within the identified context to disambiguate an intent that the user had in speaking the one or more words that have the different meanings in the different contexts;
• and
• generate a grammatically or syntactically adapted response to the utterance based on the intended meaning established within the identified context.

A method for providing a cooperative conversational voice user interface, comprising:

• receiving an utterance at a voice input device during a current conversation with a user;
• accumulating short-term shared knowledge about the current conversation, wherein the short-term shared knowledge includes knowledge about the utterance received during the current conversation;
• accumulating long-term shared knowledge about the user, wherein the long-term shared knowledge includes knowledge about one or more past conversations with the user;
• determining an intended meaning for the utterance, wherein determining the intended meaning for the utterance includes:
• identifying, at a conversational speech engine, a context associated with the utterance from the short-term shared knowledge and the long-term shared knowledge;
• inferring additional information about the utterance from the short-term shared knowledge and the long-term shared knowledge in response to determining that the utterance contains insufficient information to complete a request in the identified context;
• and
• establishing the intended meaning within the identified context based on the additional information inferred about the utterance;
• and
• generating a response to the utterance based on the intended meaning established within the identified context.

A non-transitory computer readable medium containing computer-executable instructions for providing a cooperative conversational voice user interface, the computer-executable instructions operable when executed to:

• receive an utterance at a voice input device during a current conversation with a user;
• accumulate short-term shared knowledge about the current conversation, wherein the short-term shared knowledge includes knowledge about the utterance received during the current conversation;
• accumulate long-term shared knowledge about the user, wherein the long-term shared knowledge includes knowledge about one or more past conversations with the user;
• identify a context associated with the utterance, wherein a conversational speech engine identifies the context associated with the utterance from the short-term shared knowledge and the long-term shared knowledge;
• infer additional information about the utterance from the short-term shared knowledge and the long-term shared knowledge in response to determining that the utterance contains insufficient information to complete a request in the identified context;
• establish an intended meaning for the utterance within the identified context based on the additional information inferred about the utterance;
• and
• generate a response to the utterance based on the intended meaning established within the identified context.

A system for providing a cooperative conversational voice user interface, comprising:

• a voice input device configured to receive an utterance during a current conversation with a user;
• and
• a conversational speech engine, wherein the conversational speech engine includes one or more processors configured to:
• accumulate short-term shared knowledge about the current conversation, wherein the short-term shared knowledge includes knowledge about the utterance received during the current conversation;
• accumulate long-term shared knowledge about the user, wherein the long-term shared knowledge includes knowledge about one or more past conversations with the user;
• identify a context associated with the utterance from the short-term shared knowledge and the long-term shared knowledge;
• infer additional information about the utterance from the short-term shared knowledge and the long-term shared knowledge in response to determining that the utterance contains insufficient information to complete a request in the identified context;
• establish an intended meaning for the utterance within the identified identify a context based on the additional information inferred about the utterance;
• and
• generate a response to the utterance based on the intended meaning established within the identified context.