Event-Centric Commonsense Reasoning for Contextual Response Selection

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing task-oriented dialogue systems face challenges in incorporating scalable and diverse commonsense knowledge, particularly event-centric knowledge, due to the limitations of symbolic knowledge graphs, which are costly to construct and maintain, and do not scale well across domains and languages, leading to restricted reasoning capabilities and language expression mismatches.

Innovation Solution

A computer-implemented method and system that leverages a generative knowledge graph through an encoder-decoder architecture, utilizing neural event-centric commonsense reasoning to guide input data towards output responses, enabling scalable and meaningful human-machine interaction by inferring event-centric knowledge as an intermediate hop in multi-hop reasoning.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If symbolic knowledge graphs are used to represent external knowledge, then knowledge structure is clear and interpretable, but scalability to other domains and languages is poor

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveknowledge structure clarityVSAvoidscalability to domains and languages
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces the mechanical symbolic knowledge graph system with a neural embedding-based system. Instead of using explicit symbolic representations (triples, graphs), the system uses continuous vector embeddings to represent knowledge, enabling scalable cross-lingual and cross-domain applications while maintaining interpretability through attention mechanisms and visualization tools.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent changes the parameter representation from discrete symbolic values to continuous embedding vectors. This transformation allows the knowledge representation to capture nuanced relationships and enables scaling to multiple domains and languages through learned embeddings rather than hand-crafted symbolic structures.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

2Quantity of substance

If entity-centric symbolic knowledge graphs are used, then encyclopedic knowledge is well-represented, but reasoning capabilities are restricted

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveencyclopedic knowledge coverageVSAvoidreasoning capabilities
Core Design Contradiction:
Quantity of substanceVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent creates a universal knowledge representation that serves multiple functions simultaneously. The neural embedding system can represent encyclopedic knowledge while also enabling complex reasoning tasks, event detection, and relationship inference through the same unified framework, rather than requiring separate systems for each function.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent adds dimensional richness to knowledge representation by using multi-dimensional embedding vectors instead of flat symbolic structures. This allows the system to capture entity attributes, relationships, and contextual information in a unified vector space, enabling both knowledge storage and reasoning operations.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

3Loss of information

If fine-grained conditioned knowledge is added to knowledge bases, then knowledge completeness improves, but knowledge base complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveknowledge completenessVSAvoidknowledge base complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent merges multiple knowledge aspects (entities, events, conditions, relationships) into a unified neural embedding representation. Instead of maintaining separate knowledge bases for different types of information, the system integrates them all into a single continuous vector space, reducing overall system complexity while preserving fine-grained knowledge.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

4Quantity of substance

If symbolic knowledge graphs are incorporated into task-oriented dialogue, then external knowledge is available, but language expression mismatches occur

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveexternal knowledge availabilityVSAvoidlanguage expression matching
Core Design Contradiction:
Quantity of substanceVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces the rigid symbolic matching mechanism with flexible neural embedding-based similarity computation. Instead of requiring exact symbol matches between language expressions and knowledge graph nodes, the system uses vector similarity measures that can handle paraphrases, synonyms, and varied language expressions, greatly improving ease of operation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Data Source

PatentEP4071673B1System and method with neural representation of event-centric commonsense knowledge for response selection
Publication Date: 2026.05.06 ROBERT BOSCH GMBH
  • EP4071673B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4071673B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP4071673B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

A computer-implemented system and method relate to natural language processing and knowledge representation and reasoning. A first dataset is created that includes input data and situational data. The situational data provides context for the input data. An encoder is configured to generate an encoded representation of the first dataset. The encoder includes at least an encoding network of a first pre-trained generative machine learning model, which relates to a generative knowledge graph. A decoder includes a decoding network of a second pre-trained generative machine learning model. The decoder is configured to generate response data based on the first dataset by decoding the encoded representation. The decoder is also configured to generate event-centric knowledge based on the first dataset by decoding the encoded representation. The input data and the response data are connected to the same event-centric knowledge via the generative knowledge graph. For example, the event-centric knowledge includes goal data, which is inferred from the input data and the situational data.