Susan N Wingate

US Patent:

20020156629, Oct 24, 2002

Filed:

Jun 24, 2002

Appl. No.:

10/178807

Inventors:

Martin Carberry - Margate FL, US
Mark Epstein - Katonah NY, US
Glenn Puchtel - Boca Raton FL, US
Susan Wingate - Key Largo FL, US

Assignee:

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

International Classification:

G10L015/00

US Classification:

704/257000

Abstract:

A system and method for servicing natural language requests with a plurality of remote host systems. The system utilizes a computer program that comprises: (1) an input system for inputting an NL command; (2) a translation system that extracts a request from the NL command and stores the request in a host-independent format; and (3) a routing system for servicing the request, wherein the routing system comprises a mechanism for selecting a host, for converting the request into a host dependent directive, and for forwarding the directive to the selected host. The system may further include a voice recognition system, a local data source for servicing the NL command, templates for converting the request into the host dependent directive, a heuristic for selecting the host, and an output system for obtaining and outputting the response. The invention further comprises a context mechanism to interpret natural language instructions, wherein the context mechanism comprises: (1) a context database for storing sets of command elements and sets of response elements; (2) a context requirement mechanism that determines if a current NL command comprised of a current set of command elements is ambiguous; (3) a context retrieving mechanism that retrieves a previous set of response and/or command elements from the context database; and (4) a disambiguation mechanism that uses the retrieved set of response and/or command elements to disambiguate the current set of command elements.