Information processing device, information processing program, and information processing method

Abstract

An information processing device is provided that can efficiently create dialogue knowledge for realizing a dialogue to answer a user's inquiry. [Solution] The information processing device of the present invention has an input means for accepting input of a flowchart, a slot definition generation means for generating a slot definition based on values ​​for each conditional branch in the flowchart, and a slot table generation means for generating a slot table for determining the branch destination of a conditional branch in the flowchart based on the flowchart and the slot definition.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing device, an information processing program, and an information processing method, and can be applied to, for example, an information processing device that generates structured data used by a dialogue device during dialogue from a flowchart. [Background technology]

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known a dialogue device that generates a sentence in response to an utterance by a speaker.

[0003] For example, the device described in Patent Document 1 uses an ontology (dialogue knowledge) that describes the expected dialogue content to be spoken to a speaker to make an utterance. The device described in Patent Document 1 judges nouns included in the text of the speaker's utterance content as positive or negative, selects highly relevant nodes from the ontology, and generates utterance sentences for the speaker using speech patterns linked to the highly relevant nodes.

[0004] Moreover, the device described in Patent Document 2 extracts a question sentence that is highly related to the content of a speaker's utterance from a collection of many question and answer pairs and utters it. A question and answer pair (dialogue knowledge) is composed of a question sentence, an answer sentence, and related keywords. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 6671672 [Patent Document 2] Patent Publication No. 2022-105186 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] Incidentally, the device described in Patent Document 1 is a technology proposed for a dialogue device that does not use a machine learning model. On the other hand, the device described in Patent Document 1 needs to create an ontology for associating and organizing the speaker's utterance content in order to generate an utterance. The ontology needs to be created by associating a large amount of information, such as node names indicating classes, node superior / subordinate relationships, and positive / negative values, and the creation load is high.

[0007] The device described in Patent Document 2 is a technology proposed to easily establish a system for responding to inquiries. On the other hand, the device described in Patent Document 2 requires question and answer pairs according to the content of the inquiry to be responded to, so the more inquiries there are, the more question and answer pairs are required. In addition, the device described in Patent Document 2 speaks based on the relevance to the question and answer pair, so it cannot speak while taking into account the context of the previous and following questions and answers.

[0008] Therefore, there is a demand for an information processing device, an information processing program, and an information processing method that can efficiently create dialogue knowledge for realizing a dialogue that answers a user's inquiry. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] The first information processing device of the present invention is characterized by having (1) an input means for accepting input of a flowchart, (2) a slot definition generation means for generating a slot definition based on a value for each conditional branch in the flowchart, and (3) a slot table generation means for generating a slot table for determining a branch destination of a conditional branch in the flowchart based on the flowchart and the slot definition.

[0010] The second information processing program of the present invention is characterized in that it causes a computer to function as (1) an input means for accepting input of a flowchart, (2) a slot definition generation means for generating a slot definition based on a value for each conditional branch in the flowchart, and (3) a slot table generation means for generating a slot table for determining the branch destination of a conditional branch in the flowchart based on the flowchart and the slot definition.

[0011] The third invention of the present invention is an information processing method for use in an information processing device, characterized in that (1) an input means accepts input of a flowchart, (2) a slot definition generation means generates a slot definition based on a value for each conditional branch in the flowchart, and (3) a slot table generation means generates a slot table for determining a branch destination of a conditional branch in the flowchart based on the flowchart and the slot definition. Effect of the Invention

[0012] According to the present invention, dialogue knowledge for realizing a dialogue for answering a user's inquiry can be efficiently created. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a dialogue knowledge creating device according to an embodiment. [Diagram 2] 4 is a flowchart showing the overall operation of the dialogue knowledge creating device according to the embodiment. [Diagram 3] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a flowchart according to an embodiment. [Figure 4] 11 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a slot definition generated by a slot definition generating unit according to the embodiment; FIG. [Diagram 5] FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a slot table generated by a slot table generating unit according to the embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0014] (A) Main embodiment Hereinafter, an embodiment of an information processing device, an information processing program, and an information processing method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0015] (A-1) Configuration of the embodiment FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a dialogue knowledge creating device according to an embodiment.

[0016] In FIG. 1, a dialogue knowledge creating device 1 has a flowchart input section 10, a slot definition generating section 20, and a slot table generating section 30. The dialogue knowledge creating device 1 includes a flowchart input section 10, a slot definition generating section 20, and a slot table generating section 30.

[0017] The dialogue knowledge creation device according to the embodiment may be configured as hardware, such as a dedicated IC chip equipped with each component shown in FIG. 1, or may be configured as software, primarily consisting of a CPU and a program executed by the CPU, but functionally it can be represented as shown in FIG. 1.

[0018] The dialogue knowledge creation device 1 is a device that creates a slot table SL, which is structured data used by a dialogue device (not shown) when dialogue with a speaker, from a flowchart F that indicates the dialogue content. The dialogue knowledge creation device 1 uses the flowchart F, which can reduce the burden of creating dialogue knowledge compared to the conventional method. Furthermore, the use of the flowchart F allows the user to organize the dialogue scenario more visually.

[0019] The flowchart input unit 10 accepts (reads) the input of a flowchart F that conforms to a predetermined data format.

[0020] The slot definition generating unit 20 generates a slot definition D by organizing values ​​for each conditional branch in the flowchart F read by the flowchart input unit 10.

[0021] Here, a slot is a variable for a question that is prepared by a dialogue device (dialogue system) that performs a slot-filling dialogue in order to ask a user a question and store the answer value. A slot definition is a pre-defined slot name and the value that the slot can take. For example, an answer value is input into a slot (variable). In this embodiment, the character string (question) in each condition branch block of flow chart F becomes the slot name. Also, the character string (answer to the question) placed near (at the exit of) each condition branch block becomes the value of each slot.

[0022] The slot table generating unit 30 generates a slot table SL based on the flowchart F read by the flowchart input unit 10 and the slot definition D generated by the slot definition generating unit 20 .

[0023] The slot table SL is structured data indicating the dialogue contents output by this device, and is a table indicating user inquiry items, slots required for determining their values, and dialogue sequences.

[0024] (A-2) Operation of the embodiment Next, the operation of the dialogue knowledge creating device 1 according to the embodiment having the above-mentioned configuration will be described.

[0025] 2 is a flowchart showing the overall operation of the dialogue knowledge creation device according to the embodiment. In the following, an example of a process in which the dialogue knowledge creation device 1 generates a slot table SL from a flowchart F showing dialogue contents will be described.

[0026] <s101> The dialogue knowledge creating device 1 receives an input of a flowchart F via the flowchart input unit 10.

[0027] FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a flowchart input to the dialogue knowledge creating device according to the embodiment.

[0028] In FIG. 3, a flow chart F has conditional branch blocks 101 and 102 (slots) and processing blocks 103 to 105 (user inquiry items).

[0029] In the flowchart F shown in FIG. 3, if the result of the conditional branch block 101 is affirmative (yes), the process proceeds to processing block 103, whereas if the result of the conditional branch block 101 is negative (no), the process proceeds to conditional branch block 102, and if the result of the conditional branch block 102 is affirmative, the process proceeds to processing block 104, whereas if the result of the conditional branch block 102 is negative, the process proceeds to processing block 105.

[0030] In this embodiment, it is assumed that the flowchart F is a flowchart that conforms to a predetermined data format. That is, the flowchart input unit 10 is capable of recognizing, by reading the flowchart F, the types of the blocks 101 to 105 (whether they are conditional branches or processing blocks), character information (yes, no, etc.) associated with each block, relationships between the blocks (transition relationships indicated by arrows), and the like as information.

[0031] <s102> The slot definition generation unit 20 generates slot definitions D from all the conditional branches shown in the flowchart F. Specifically, the slot definition generation unit 20 generates slot definitions D by associating character strings (Did it start?, Did an error occur?) in the conditional branch blocks 101 and 102 of the flowchart F with slot names and corresponding exit values ​​(Yes, No) of each block with the value range of the slot.

[0032] 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a slot definition generated by a slot definition generating unit according to the embodiment, in which a slot definition D defined based on the flowchart F in FIG.

[0033] <s103> The slot table generation unit 30 uses the values ​​of the slot value range described in the slot definition D to comprehensively search for combinations of values ​​to be input into each conditional branch of the flowchart F until a user inquiry item is determined, and generates a slot table SL by recording the combinations of values ​​input into each conditional branch for each arrow.

[0034] FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a slot table generated by a slot table generating unit according to the embodiment.

[0035] In FIG. 5, the slot table SL is made up of each slot name of the above-mentioned slot definition D and user inquiry items (slots for which inquiries from users are anticipated).

[0036] Each row (each piece of data) in the slot table SL indicates the state of the slot value. In the slot table SL in Fig. 5, a state in which a slot value has not been entered is represented by an "* (asterisk)", the next slot to be determined is represented by "*1", and slots that do not need to be determined are represented by blanks. In addition, the priority of the slots to be determined is determined by the order of conditional branches in the flowchart.

[0037] For example, the data in the first row of slot table SL indicates the starting state of flowchart F, with the slot name "Has it started?" having a value of "*1", the slot name "Has an error occurred?" having a value of "*", and the user query items being blank, indicating that the values ​​of each slot are empty, the user query items have not been determined, and the next slot to be determined is the one with the slot name "Has it started?".

[0038] In addition, the data in the second row of slot table SL indicates that "Yes" has been selected in conditional branch block 101 of "Has it started?" in flowchart F, so that "Yes" is entered into the value of the "Has it started?" slot, there is no need to determine the value of the "Has an error occurred?" slot, and the user inquiry item is determined to be "Contact the troubleshooting center."

[0039] Furthermore, the data in the third row of slot table SL indicates that "No" was selected in condition branch block 101 of "Has it started?" in flowchart F, and "No" is entered as the value of the "Has it started?" slot, but the value of the "Has an error occurred?" slot is "*1", and the user inquiry item is blank, indicating that the value of the "Has an error occurred?" slot needs to be determined next.

[0040] The data in the fourth row of slot table SL indicates that "No" has been selected in conditional branch block 101 for "Has it started?" in flowchart F, so that "No" has been entered into the slot value for "Has it started?", and indicates that "Yes" has been selected in conditional branch block 102 for "Has an error occurred?" in flowchart F, so that "Yes" has been entered into the slot value for "Has an error occurred?", and indicates that the user inquiry item is determined to be "Contact troubleshooting center."

[0041] In addition, the data in the fifth row of slot table SL indicates that "No" has been selected in conditional branch block 101 for "Has it started?" in flowchart F, "No" has been entered into the slot value for "Has it started?", indicates that "No" has been selected in conditional branch block 102 for "Has an error occurred?" in flowchart F, "No" has been entered into the slot value for "Has an error occurred?", and indicates that the user inquiry item is determined to be "Contact product inquiry desk."

[0042] (A-3) Effects of the embodiment According to this embodiment, the following effects are obtained.

[0043] The dialogue knowledge creation device 1 uses a general flowchart F as input data for generating dialogue knowledge, so the user does not need specialized knowledge to create dialogue data. By combining this device with a GUI (Graphical User Interface) for editing flowcharts, the user can create dialogue data more easily.

[0044] For example, when updating dialogue data, the user can update the dialogue data simply by modifying the flowchart F using the GUI and inputting the modified flowchart F into the dialogue knowledge creating device 1.

[0045] Furthermore, in the flowchart, the relationships between the blocks (slots) in the chart are clear by the character information related to each block, arrows, etc. Therefore, the dialogue knowledge creation device 1 does not require processing to recognize slots or processing to estimate the relationships between the blocks, compared to other devices that use a collection of rules, a manual, utterance history information, etc. as input data (it has the advantage of being light in processing).

[0046] (B) Other embodiments The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and modified embodiments such as those exemplified below can also be mentioned.

[0047] (B-1) In the above embodiment, no specific method of using the generated slot table SL was mentioned, but the slot table SL may be used in various devices, situations, etc. For example, the slot table SL can be applied to a dialogue device (dialogue engine) that uses ontology. That is, the slot table SL cooperates with a dialogue device or program to determine user inquiry items.

[0048] Furthermore, not only the interactive device but also a human being can use the slot table SL to ask the speaker appropriate questions and respond to the inquiry.

[0049] (B-2) The dialogue knowledge creating device 1 of the above embodiment can be used even when the speaker wishes to know a plurality of things in his / her inquiry, and of course, can also be used even when the speaker wishes to know only one thing.

[0050] (B-3) In the above embodiment, an example was shown in which the dialogue knowledge creation device 1 reads in the entire contents of a flowchart and generates the slot table SL. However, the user may specify the range of the flowchart in advance and generate the slot table SL from a portion of the contents of the flowchart. [Explanation of symbols]

[0051] 1... dialogue knowledge creation device, 10... flow chart input section, 20... slot definition generation section, 30... slot table generation section, D... slot definition, F... flow chart, SL... slot table.

Claims

1. An input means for accepting input of a flowchart; a slot definition generating means for generating a slot definition based on a value for each conditional branch in the flowchart; a slot table generating means for generating a slot table for determining a branch destination of a conditional branch in the flowchart based on the flowchart and the slot definition; 13. An information processing device comprising:

2. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the flow chart indicates a dialogue content.

3. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the slot definition generating means defines the slot definition by defining a value in each of the conditional branches in the flow chart as a slot name and a value at the exit of each of the conditional branches as a slot value range.

4. 4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said slot table is made up of each value of said slot name of said slot definition and a user inquiry item.

5. Computer, An input means for accepting input of a flowchart; a slot definition generating means for generating a slot definition based on a value for each conditional branch in the flowchart; a slot table generating means for generating a slot table for determining a branch destination of a conditional branch in the flowchart based on the flowchart and the slot definition; and causing the information processing program to function as described above.

6. An information processing method for use in an information processing device, comprising: The input means receives input of the flowchart; a slot definition generating means for generating a slot definition based on a value for each conditional branch in the flowchart; A slot table generating means generates a slot table for determining a branch destination of a conditional branch in the flowchart based on the flowchart and the slot definition.

23. An information processing method comprising:

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