Integration of domain problem solving with natural language dialog: the missing axiom theory
Ronnie W. Smith · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 1992
An important problem in developing natural language dialog systems is to computationally specify when and why the system should speak. This paper proposes interruptible theorem proving as a solution. Theorem proving is used to determine when domain goals are complete. Language is used to acquire missing axioms that may be inhibiting proof completion. The paper describes this missing axiom theory for use of language and how it enables the needed dialog processing behaviors to be achieved. The theory is illustrated with a sample dialog segment obtained from actual use of an implemented dialog system. Performance results of this system based on more than 140 dialogs are also given.