An intelligent automated assistant system engages with the user in an integrated, conversational manner using natural language dialog, and invokes external services when appropriate to obtain information or perform various actions. The system can be implemented using any of a number of different platforms, such as the web, email, smartphone, and the like, or any combination thereof. In one embodiment, the system is based on sets of interrelated domains and tasks, and employs additional functionally powered by external services with which the system can interact.

Intelligent Automated Assistant

A virtual assistant uses context information to supplement natural language or gestural input from a user. Context helps to clarify the user's intent and to reduce the number of candidate interpretations of the user's input, and reduces the need for the user to provide excessive clarification input. Context can include any available information that is usable by the assistant to supplement explicit user input to constrain an information-processing problem and/or to personalize results. Context can be used to constrain solutions during various phases of processing, including, for example, speech recognition, natural language processing, task flow processing, and dialog generation.

Using context information to facilitate processing of commands in a virtual assistant

https://kodu.ut.ee/~dumas/pubs/BetaWPSimilarity.pdf

Similarity of business process models: Metrics and evaluation

A method is provided for modifying an image. The method comprises displaying an image, the image comprising a portion of an object; and determining if an edge of the object is in a location within the portion. The method further comprises detecting movement, in a member direction, of an operating member with respect to the edge. The method still further comprises moving, if the edge is not in the location, the object in an object direction corresponding to the detected movement; and modifying, if the edge is in the location, the image in response to the detected movement, the modified image comprising the edge in the location.

Information processing apparatus, information processing method and program

An electronic device may capture a voice command from a user. The electronic device may store contextual information about the state of the electronic device when the voice command is received. The electronic device may transmit the voice command and the contextual information to computing equipment such as a desktop computer or a remote server. The computing equipment may perform a speech recognition operation on the voice command and may process the contextual information. The computing equipment may respond to the voice command. The computing equipment may also transmit information to the electronic device that allows the electronic device to respond to the voice command.

Electronic Devices with Voice Command and Contextual Data Processing Capabilities

A method for speech recognition includes providing a source of geographical information within a vehicle The geographical information pertains to a current location of the vehicle, a planned travel route of the vehicle, a map displayed within the vehicle, and/or a gesture marked by a user on a map Words spoken within the vehicle are recognized by use of a speech recognition module The recognizing is dependent upon the geographical information

Method and system for improving speech recognition accuracy by use of geographic information

Embodiments of a dialog system that utilizes contextual information to perform recognition of proper names are described. Unlike present name recognition methods on large name lists that generally focus strictly on the static aspect of the names, embodiments of the present system take into account of the temporal, recency and context effect when names are used, and formulates new questions to further constrain the search space or grammar for recognition of the past and current utterances.

System and method for recognizing proper names in dialog systems

A method of receiving input from a user includes providing a surface within reach of a hand of the user. A plurality of locations on the surface that are touched by the user are sensed. An alphanumeric character having a shape most similar to the plurality of touched locations on the surface is determined. The user is audibly or visually informed of the alphanumeric character and/or a word in which the alphanumeric character is included. Feedback is received from the user regarding whether the alphanumeric character and/or word is an alphanumeric character and/or word that the user intended to be determined in the determining step.

Gesture-based information and command entry for motor vehicle

Web service discovery is a key problem as the number of services is expected to increase dramatically. Service discovery at the present time is based primarily on keywords, or interfaces of Web services through the use of ontology. We argue that "behavior signatures" as operational level description should play an important role in the service discovery process. In this paper, we propose a new behavior model for Web services using automata and logic formalisms. Roughly, the model associates messages with activities and adopts the IOPR model in OWL-S to describe activities. A new query language is developed to express temporal and semantic properties on service behaviors. Query evaluation algorithms are developed; in particular, an optimization approach using RE-tree and heuristics is shown to improve the performance. Specifically, experimental results show that the use of RE-tree reduces query evaluation time by an order of magnitude and with heuristics it enhances the performance by two orders of magnitude. This is clearly an encouraging starting point.

/pdf/web-service-discovery-based-on-behavior-signatures-2b23aicdna.pdf

Web service discovery based on behavior signatures

A method of providing parking assistance in a vehicle includes identifying with a controller in a vehicle a plurality of available parking spaces for the vehicle, generating with a video output device operatively connected to the controller an interface with a graphical depiction of the vehicle and the plurality of available parking spaces, receiving a first input gesture with a gesture input device to select one parking space from the plurality of available parking spaces, and operating the vehicle to park the vehicle in the one parking space using the controller configured with a parking assistance service in the vehicle.

Zhongnan Shen

Papers

Method and system for improving speech recognition accuracy by use of geographic information

System and method for recognizing proper names in dialog systems

Gesture-based information and command entry for motor vehicle

Web service discovery based on behavior signatures

System and method for using gestures in autonomous parking