| 摘要 |
A system is herein provided comprising mechanisms (114, 100, 110, 106, 107, 108, 200, 300) and methods of defining, creating, operating, and testing virtual robots ("BOT") (404). A virtual robot (404) as provided herein encompasses categories (510, 520, 530, 540, 550) and topics (710, 720, 730, 740, 750, 402, 820, 830, 840, 630) of natural conversation that can be encoded in a natural "script language" (108, 118, 120). During the course of operation, these categories (510, 520, 530, 540, 550) are activated according to the conversation (900 - 3002) taking place with a user. Different categories (510, 520, 530, 540, 550) are focused at different times according to changes in the conversation (900 - 3002). The system provides both automatic and explicit mechanisms (114, 100, 110, 106, 107, 108, 200, 300) for focusing categories (510, 520, 530, 540, 550) and topics (710, 720, 730, 740, 750, 402, 820, 830, 840, 630) during the course of conversation (900 - 3002). Additionally, if more than one category (510, 520, 530, 540, 550) seems appropriate to answer a particular user statement, the system provides mechanisms (114, 100, 110, 106, 107, 108, 200, 300) for selecting the most appropriate response (900 - 3002). Similarly, the system provides mechanisms (114, 100, 110, 106, 107, 108, 200, 300) for verifying the accuracy and appropriateness of the virtual robot's response (900 - 3002) by encoding test examples into the virtual robot script (108, 118, 120). |
