The present disclosure relates to a server and a system including the same. The server according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes: a communicator configured to perform communication through a network; a storage configured to store data on at least one predetermined word; and a controller configured to: upon receiving an input signal, including data on speech, from a first electronic device through the communicator, determine whether a last part of the speech corresponds to any one of the at least one predetermined word; in response to there being a word corresponding to the last part of the speech among the at least one predetermined word, transmit a first response signal, including data on a response to the speech and data on at least one additional query, to the first electronic device through the communicator; and in response to there being no word corresponding to the last part of the speech among the at least one predetermined word, transmit a second response signal, including data on a response to the speech, to the first electronic device through the communicator. Various other embodiments are also possible.

An apparatus and method are capable of controlling the output of the system utterance upon the occurrence of barge-in utterance and enabling a smooth interactive between a user and the system. Fade processing is applied to lower at least one of volume, a speech rate, or a pitch (voice pitch) of system utterance from a starting time of the barge-in utterance acting as the user interruption utterance during executing the system utterance. Even after the completion of the fade processing, the output state upon completing the fade processing is maintained. In a case where the system utterance level is equal to or less than the predefined threshold during the fade processing, the system utterance is displayed on a display unit. One of stop, continuation, and rephrasing is executed based on an intention of the barge-in utterance and whether an important word is included in in the system utterance.

Human agents may be repeatedly provide the same content to customers. Often the content may be the result of an event giving no notice (e.g., a network outage). Systems and methods are provided herein to automatically determine when agent(s) are providing the same content to customers. As a result, the system may capture the agent's speech and, when encountering a precursor speech in a subsequent communication, the system automatically inserts the recording or generated speech into the communication.

A spoken dialogue device includes a recognition unit that recognizes an acquired user speech, a barge-in speech control unit that determines whether to engage a barge-in speech, a dialogue control unit that outputs a system response to a user based on a recognition result of the user speech other than the barge-in speech determined not to be engaged by the barge-in speech control unit, a response generation unit that generates a system speech based on the system response, and an output unit that outputs a system speech. When each user speech element included in the user speech corresponds to a predetermined morpheme included in the immediately previous system speech and does not correspond to a response candidate to the immediately previous system speech by a user, the barge-in speech control unit does not engage at least the user speech element.

Systems and methods are described for managing digital assistant interaction. A query is received from a user, and a reply to the query is generated for output. An interruption for the user is detected, and subsequently an end of the interruption is detected. In response to detecting the end of the interruption, a predicted query related to the initial query is identified, and a prompt to provide a reply to the predicted query may be generated for output.

Systems and methods are described herein for providing media guidance. Control circuitry may receive a first voice input and access a database of topics to identify a first topic associated with the first voice input. A user interface may generate a first response to the first voice input, and subsequent to generating the first response, the control circuitry may receive a second voice input. The control circuitry may determine a match between the second voice input and an interruption input such as a period of silence or a keyword or a phrase, such as “Ahh,”, “Umm,”, or “Hmm.” The user interface may generate a second response that is associated with a second topic related to the first topic. By interrupting the conversation and changing the subject from time to time, media guidance systems can appear to be more intelligent and human.

Methods, apparatus, systems, and computer-readable media are provided for storing incomplete dialog sessions between a user and an automated assistant in order that the dialog sessions can be completed in furtherance of certain actions. While interacting with an automated assistant, a user can become distracted and not complete the interaction to the point of the automated assistant performing some action. In response, the automated assistant can store the interaction as a dialog session. Subsequently, the user may express interest, directly or indirectly, in completing the dialog session, and the automated assistant can provide the user with a selectable element that, when selected, causes the dialog session to be reopened. The user can then continue the dialog session with the automated assistant in order that the originally intended action can be performed by the automated assistant.

The presentation of an automated assistant response may be selectively pre-empted in response to a hot-word free utterance that is received during the presentation and that is determined to be likely directed to the automated assistant. The determination that the utterance is likely directed to the automated assistant may be performed, for example, using an utterance classification operation that is performed on audio data received during presentation of the response, and based upon such a determination, the response may be pre-empted with another response associated with the later-received utterance. In addition, the duration that is used to determine when a session should be terminated at the conclusion of a conversation between a user and an automated assistant may be dynamically controlled based upon when the presentation of a response has completed.

One embodiment provides a method, including: engaging, at an information handing device, in a conversational session with a user; receiving an input from a source other than the user during the conversational session; and performing, at the information handling device, an action related to the conversational input in response to the received input. Other aspects are described and claimed.

An example method includes, at an electronic device: receiving an indication of a notification; in accordance with receiving the indication of the notification: obtaining one or more data streams from one or more sensors; determining, based on the one or more data streams, whether a user associated with the electronic device is speaking; and in accordance with a determination that the user is not speaking: causing an output associated with the notification to be provided.