Intent Frame Suggestion for Natural Language Request Guidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users face difficulties in understanding the capabilities and limitations of natural language systems, often struggling to determine the breadth or narrowness of their requests and whether they should be contextually specific, leading to confusion between natural and programmatically formatted requests.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of intent frames, which are natural language phrases containing carrier phrases and slots, are suggested to users to help them frame their requests effectively, indicating supported actions and domains, and encouraging users to modify examples to achieve their intents.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If conventional natural language systems provide static textual examples and brief tutorials, then users are given information about system capabilities, but users tend to merely repeat examples verbatim rather than modifying them to achieve their intent
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms static textual examples into dynamic, interactive intent frames that adapt based on user input and system state. Intent frames include replaceable slots that guide users to modify examples while maintaining proper syntax and semantics, enabling dynamic interaction rather than static repetition
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces intent frames as an intermediary between the system's capability information and user requests. These frames serve as structured templates with carrier phrases and slots that mediate the interaction, helping users understand how to modify examples while preserving the intended meaning and system constraints
2Adaptability or versatility
If natural language systems accept broad freeform inputs, then users can express diverse intents, but users encounter difficulty understanding the breadth or narrowness of their requests and whether they remain within processing capabilities
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments freeform natural language requests into structured intent frames with distinct carrier phrases and slots. This segmentation breaks down the complexity of understanding request boundaries by organizing inputs into recognizable patterns with defined purposes, making it easier for users to understand what their requests entail
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by providing specific guidance for different parts of the request through slots within intent frames. Each slot represents a specific element (entity, action, attribute) that users need to fill, providing localized feedback about what is expected in each portion of the request while maintaining overall flexibility
3Ease of operation
If natural language systems do not provide contextual guidance, then the interface remains simple, but users are unable to discover new requests or actions to obtain the same or new outcomes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by providing intent frames with carrier phrases and slots before users formulate their complete requests. These pre-structured templates proactively guide users toward valid request formats and help them discover new requests and actions by showing them the available patterns and options
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates universal intent frames that can serve multiple functions: they provide structural guidance, suggest new requests, validate user input, and adapt to different contexts. The same intent frame structure can handle various types of requests across different domains, making the interface both simple and versatile
4Reliability
If natural language systems provide contextually significant domain constraints, then processing accuracy improves, but users may not clearly understand when requests should be confined to specific domains
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback by providing users with intent frames that show them how their requests align with or deviate from expected domain constraints. The system responds to user input by suggesting appropriate intent frames or indicating when a request should be confined to a specific domain, giving users real-time feedback about domain appropriateness
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are described herein that are capable of suggesting intent frame(s) for user request(s). For instance, the intent frame(s) may be suggested to elicit a request from a user. An intent frame is a natural language phrase (e.g., a sentence) that includes at least one carrier phrase and at least one slot. A slot in an intent frame is a placeholder that is identified as being replaceable by one or more words that identify an entity and/or an action to indicate an intent of the user. A carrier phrase in an intent frame includes one or more words that suggest a type of entity and/or action that is to be identified by the one or more words that may replace the corresponding slot. In accordance with these techniques, the intent frame(s) are suggested in response to determining that natural language functionality of a processing system is activated.