TECHNIQUES FOR INCREMENTAL COMPUTER-BASED NATURAL LANGUAGE UNDERSTANDING

Number: 20210104236
Published: 2021-04-08
Filed: 2019-10-04
Assignee: DISNEY ENTERPRISES, INC.
Inventors: DOGGETT; Erika Varis, MODI; Ashutosh, NOCON; Nathan
CPC: G10L15/22; G10L15/197; G10L15/04; G10L15/1815; G10L15/24; G10L15/1822
Verdict: Set aside generic NLU research
Source: Google Patents · FreePatentsOnline

Abstract

Various embodiments disclosed herein provide techniques for performing incremental natural language understanding on a natural language understanding (NLU) system. The NLU system acquires a first audio speech segment associated with a user utterance. The NLU system converts the first audio speech segment into a first text segment. The NLU system determines a first intent based on a text string associated with the first text segment, wherein the text string represents a portion of the user utterance. The NLU system generates a first response based on the first intent prior to when the user utterance completes.

Background

BACKGROUND Field of the Various Embodiments

The various embodiments relate generally to computer-based language processing technology and, more specifically, to techniques for incremental computer-based natural language understanding. Description of the Related Art

Computer-based natural language understanding (NLU) has become a widely popular approach for facilitating human-machine interfaces (HMI) between human users and computer systems. Computer-based NLU is typically included as part of a dialogue system. Such dialogue systems are often deployed in automated chat-based applications, referred to herein as “chatbots,” personal digital assistants, and artificial intelligence (AI) avatars. Typically, a computer-based dialogue system receives audio input from a user via an audio input device, such as a microphone. Notably, the dialogue system waits until an entire spoken utterance from the user has been processed by an automatic speech recognition (ASR) module and received before taking any responsive actions. Such an ASR module can employ various techniques for determining that an entire utterance has been received from a user. For example, the ASR module could wait for a detectable pause in the audio input of a certain duration before concluding that the entirety of a user utterance has been received. The ASR module system then converts the audio input representing the user utterance into text. Then, the dialogue system analyzes the text, and generates an appr

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for performing incremental natural language understanding, the method comprising: acquiring a first audio speech segment associated with a user utterance; converting the first audio speech segment into a first text segment; determining a first intent based on a text string associated with the first text segment, wherein the text string represents a portion of the user utterance; and generating a first response based on the first intent prior to when the user utterance completes. || 11. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing program instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of: acquiring a first audio speech segment associated with a user utterance; converting the first audio speech segment into a first text segment; concatenating the first text segment to a text string that represents a portion of the user utterance; determining a first intent based on the text string; and generating a first response based on the first intent prior to when the user utterance completes. || 20. A system, comprising: a memory that includes instructions, and a processor that is coupled to the memory and, when executing the instructions, is configured to: acquire an audio speech segment associated with a user utterance; convert the audio speech segment into a text segment; determine an intent based on a text string associated with the text segment, wherein the text string represents a portion of the user utterance; and generate a response based on the intent prior to when the user utterance completes.