Nuance Communications, Inc.
Speech Dialog System Aware of Ongoing Conversations

Abstract:

Disclosed are systems and methods aware of ongoing conversations and configured to intelligently schedule a speech prompt to an intended addressee. A method for intelligently scheduling a speech prompt in a speech dialog system includes monitoring 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, the method predicts a time that is convenient to present the speech prompt to the intended addressee, and schedules the speech prompt based on the predicted time and the measure of urgency. A measure of rudeness can be estimated using a cost function that includes cost for presence of an utterance, cost for presence of a conversation, and cost for involvement of the intended addressee in the conversation. Scheduling the speech prompt can include trading off the measure of urgency and the measure of rudeness.