Dialogue system and dialogue processing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11004450-B2
Application number	US-201816207540-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 3, 2018
Priority date	Jul 3, 2018
Publication date	May 11, 2021
Grant date	May 11, 2021

Abstract

A dialogue system for a vehicle may include: an input processor configured to receive a dialogue among occupants of the vehicle including a driver and at least one passenger, to detect vehicle operation information, to identify the at least one passenger based on the dialogue among the occupants or the vehicle operation information, to generate passenger number information which estimates a change in a number of passengers in the vehicle based on the dialogue among the occupants when the vehicle arrives at a stop-over point, and to acquire a pre-utterance message according to the passenger number information; and a result processor configured to output a pre-utterance according to the pre-utterance message.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A dialogue system for a vehicle comprising:
an input processor configured to receive a dialogue among occupants of the vehicle including a driver and at least one passenger, to detect vehicle operation information, to identify the at least one passenger based on the dialogue among the occupants or the vehicle operation information, to generate passenger number information which estimates a change in a number of passengers in the vehicle based on the dialogue among the occupants when the vehicle arrives at a stop-over point, and to acquire a pre-utterance message according to the passenger number information; and
a result processor configured to output a pre-utterance according to the pre-utterance message,
wherein the pre-utterance message indicates at least one of: a possibility of each of the at least one passenger exiting the vehicle at the stop-over point, a possibility of each of the at least one passenger re-boarding the vehicle after exiting the vehicle at the stop-over point, and a possibility of a prospective passenger boarding the vehicle at the stop-over point.

2. The dialogue system of claim 1 , wherein the input processor comprises:
a speech input processor configured to determine whether the at least one passenger boards the vehicle based on one or more speech characteristics of speech of the at least one passenger contained in the dialogue among the occupants; and
a context information processor configured to determine whether the at least one passenger boards the vehicle based on the vehicle operation information.

3. The dialogue system of claim 2 , wherein
when it is determined that the at least one passenger is boarding the vehicle, the input processor is configured to acquire a pre-utterance message corresponding to the boarding of the at least one passenger, to receive an utterance of the at least one passenger related to the pre-utterance message, and to identify the at least one passenger by applying a natural language understanding algorithm to the utterance of the at least one passenger, and
when it is determined that the at least one passenger is not boarding the vehicle, the input processor is configured to acquire a pre-utterance message corresponding to the non-boarding of the at least one passenger, to receive an utterance of the driver related to the pre-utterance message, and to verify a presence of the at least one passenger by applying a natural language understanding algorithm to the utterance of the driver.

4. The dialogue system of claim 1 , wherein
the input processor is configured to determine the possibility of each of the at least one passenger exiting the vehicle at the stop-over point and the possibility of each of the at least one passenger re-boarding the vehicle after exiting the vehicle at the stop-over point by applying a natural language understanding algorithm to the dialogue among the occupants, and to generate the passenger number information based on the determined possibility of the at least one passenger exiting the vehicle at the stop-over point and possibility of the at least one passenger re-boarding the vehicle after exiting the vehicle at the stop-over point.

5. The dialogue system of claim 1 , wherein
the input processor is configured to receive a call conversation in the vehicle, to determine the possibility of the prospective passenger boarding the vehicle at the stop-over point by applying a natural language understanding algorithm to the received call conversation, and to generate the passenger number information based on the possibility of the prospective passenger boarding the vehicle at the stop-over point.

6. The dialogue system of claim 4 , wherein
after the vehicle departs the stop-over point, the input processor is configured to determine the change in the number of passengers in the vehicle based on the dialogue among the occupants and the vehicle operation information, to compare an estimated change in the number of passengers in the vehicle based on the passenger number information with the determined change in the number of passengers, and to acquire the pre-utterance message based on a result of the comparison.

7. The dialogue system of claim 6 , wherein
after the vehicle departs the stop-over point, the input processor is configured to acquire the pre-utterance message to determine the change in the number of passengers in the vehicle, to receive an utterance of the at least one passenger related to the pre-utterance message, and to determine the change in the number of passengers in the vehicle by applying a natural language understanding algorithm to the utterance of the at least one passenger.

8. The dialogue system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a storage configured to store driving related information of the vehicle and passenger information of each of the at least one passenger when the vehicle stops driving.

9. The dialogue system of claim 8 , wherein
the passenger information includes at least one of passenger identification information, speech characteristic information, seating location information, boarding time information, boarding location information, exit time information, or information related to location for exiting the vehicle.

10. The dialogue system of claim 8 , wherein
the input processor is configured to receive the dialogue among the occupants and the vehicle operation information, to determine whether the at least one passenger boards the vehicle based on the dialogue among the occupants and the vehicle operation information, to determine whether a characteristic of each of the at least one passenger corresponds to the passenger information, and to acquire the pre-utterance message by verifying whether a first passenger having a characteristic corresponding to the passenger information participated in a previous driving.

11. The dialogue system of claim 10 , wherein
the input processor is configured to receive an utterance of the at least one passenger relating to the pre-utterance message, to verify whether the first passenger participated in the previous driving by applying a natural language understanding algorithm to the utterance of the passenger, and to generate the passenger number information based on the dialogue among the occupants and the passenger information when the first passenger participated in the previous driving.

12. A dialogue processing method for a vehicle comprising;
receiving a dialogue among occupants of the vehicle including a driver and at least one passenger;
detecting vehicle operation information;
identifying the at least one passenger based on the dialogue among the occupants or the vehicle operation information;
generating passenger number information which estimates a change in a number of passengers in the vehicle based on the dialogue among the occupants when the vehicle arrives at a stop-over point;
acquiring a pre-utterance message according to the passenger number information; and
outputting a pre-utterance according to the pre-utterance message,
wherein the pre-utterance message indicates at least one of: a possibility of each of the at least one passenger exiting the vehicle at the stop-over point, a possibility of each of the at least one passenger re-boarding the vehicle after exiting the vehicle at the stop-over point, and a possibility of a prospective passenger boarding the vehicle at the stop-over point.

13. The dialogue processing method of claim 12 , further comprising:
determining whether the at least one passenger boards the vehicle based on one or more speech characteristics of speech of the at least one passenger contained in the dialogue among the occupa

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Motors Corp

Inventors

• Park Jung Mi
• Seok Donghee
• Shin Dongsoo
• Lee Jeong-Eom
• Kim Ga Hee
• Kim Seona
• Ro Heejin
• Kim Kye Yoon

Classifications

• G10L2015/225

  Feedback of the input speech · CPC title

• G10L15/24

  Speech recognition using non-acoustical features · CPC title

• G10L15/22 Primary

  Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue · CPC title

• G10L15/18

  using natural language modelling · CPC title

• G10L15/06

  Creation of reference templates; Training of speech recognition systems, e.g. adaptation to the characteristics of the speaker's voice (G10L15/14 takes precedence) · CPC title