Hybrid Dialogue Management in Frame-Based Dialogue Systems Exploiting VoiceXML

Mgr. Pavel Cenek

Advanced ('rigorózní') thesis

Abstract:

Spoken dialogue systems represent an interface between the user and a computer-based application that allows for spoken interaction with the application in a more or less natural manner. The heart of the dialogue system is the dialogue manager. It coordinates the activity of all components of the dialogue system, controls the dialogue flow, maintains a representation of the current state of the dialogue and communicates with external applications. The thesis will concentrate on the dialogue management issues in the frame-based dialogue systems, namely on exploring possible approaches to the task representation and searching for optimal dialogue strategies that guide users reliably to their goals. The dialogue strategies in the frame-based dialogue systems are, roughly said, concerned with the order in which the slots are discussed and with resolving situations when the conversation deviates from the progression towards the goal of the dialogue. The main objective is to propose a generic, adaptive and scalable dialogue management approach and use VoiceXML for its practical implementation. The dialogue management will exploit a novel, declarative specification of the task- and domain-dependent information. The dialogue will be driven by a set of task- and domain-independent dialogue strategies. The theory of decision under uncertainty and the information theory will be used to find the optimal decisions.

Keywords

spoken dialogue system, dialogue strategy, VoiceXML

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 30. 1. 2007

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 30. 1. 2007

Masaryk University

Faculty of Informatics

Advanced ('rigorózní řízení') programme / field:
Informatics / Informatics