Changes between Version 27 and Version 28 of dialogmanager


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Timestamp:
01/04/24 15:13:55 (11 months ago)
Author:
wouter
Comment:

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  • dialogmanager

    v27 v28  
    6666* The parameter named "phase" is special, it refers to the name of the current phase. If this variable is changed, the dialog jumps to the phase with the given name.
    6767
    68 
    6968== Dialog specification
    7069The dialog specification specifies the different states/phases of the dialog, and the set of questions (options) available at each phase. The following objects are used to represent this
    7170
    72 * DialogSpecification. A kind of finite state machine. The nodes and edges are contained on  a per-node basis in  DialogPhases.
    73 * DialogPhase. Each dialog phase represents a situation where we want the user to answer some question. Each has a unique label. 
    74 In each phase, a number of similar questions called DialogOption are available. Also the DialogPhase defines the NestPhase which can determine what is the next DialogPhase to go.
    75 *  A DialogOption is one of multiple ways to proceed in a given {@link DialogPhase}. It consists of a simulation (something presented to the user, eg a question) and the answer type expected from the user (eg, a number between 0 and 10).
    76 * Dialog state. The current state of the dialogL the DialogSpecification, a set of Parameters comprising the culmination of the user's answers so far, and the (randomly) chosen DialogOption for the current Phase.
    77 * The Evaluation is a list of UpdateFunction s.
     71* DialogSpecification. A kind of finite state machine. The nodes and edges are contained on  a per-node basis in {{{DialogPhase}}}s. 
     72
     73The details of the DialogPhase are discussed below.
     74
     75== Dialog state
     76The dialog state is the entire state of the dialog, which is the DialogSpecificatino plus the Parameters.
     77
     78== Serialization
     79The entire DialogState, that is the Parameters and the DialogSpecification, including computation calls, are all json-serializable. All contained data structures can be (de)serialized to JSON. Parameters can be used to store the user's answers. But this is optional. The dialog can also proceed without storing any answers.
    7880
    7981
     82== DialogPhase
     83Each {{{DialogPhase}}} represents a situation where
     84 * the user is asked a specific question
     85 * An answer of a specific type is retrieved
     86 * the next DialogPhase is determined based on the given answer.
    8087
    81 * All data structures can be (de)serialized to JSON.
    82 * Various datastructures available to store key elements for dialog management
    83  * a DialogState represent the entire dialog state plus the entire dialog specification in a single file. Useful to store/recover the entire user state in one single file
    84  * A DialogSpecification represents all possible dialog phases. Useful to storethe entire dialog tree but without the user's answers so far
    85  * Parameters that store the user's answers so far
    86  * The NextPhase mechanism determines the next phase, based on the current parameter settings. The GoToIf selects the phase that has parameters that are smallest distance to the current state ++. The GoTo unconditionally jumps to the given state. 
    87  * A DialogPhase can have multiple options, from which the one with the smallest distance to the current state++  is chosen.
    88  * Parameters can be manipulated programmatically, eg to update fields or incorporate data external to the dialog system such as system time, network state, database fields, etc.
    89  * Parameters can be used directly in the sentences and the available answers
    90  * The sentences can contain HTML code.
     88It contains specifically:
     89* a preparation which is a list of {{{UpdateFunction}}}s that allow preliminary computations to be done eg to prepare the stimulus
     90* a {{{Stimulus}}} which presents some sort of question to the user
     91* A {{{AnswerType}}} which defines how the user can specify his response
     92* An evaluuation which is again a list of {{{UpdateFunction}}}s, but these are typically used to determine the next {{{DialogPhase}}} by setting the "phase" parameter.
    9193
    92 ++picks one at raodom from the list of nearest
     94The following sections discuss elements of this
    9395
    9496== AnswerType
    95 There are a number of AnswerTypes built in standard:
     97The AnswerType specifies what type of answers the user can give. There are a number of AnswerTypes built in standard:
    9698||type||description||extra parameters||
    9799||BoolAnswer||this allows yes/no type answers.|| ||