4.2 FSA-based dialogue systems

A common technique in dialogue processing is the use of a kind of FSA to specify the dialogues that a sysem can handle. The Saarbrücken Computational Linguistics department has a speaking elevator, whose dialogue engine is based on such a FSA. The elevator is the standard elevator in building 17.2. Should you ever come to Saarbrücken, it is a must to have a ride with it. Try to imagine what kind of thing you would expect it to do and see if you can get it to do it. For example, change your mind about the floor you have asked it to take you to and request another floor at different points in the dialogue.

Since we don't have the elevator here, here's an example of the kind of dialogue it handles (of course the original Saarbrücken elevator speaks German):

User:	Elevator.
System:	Which floor do you want?
User:	Professor Bill Barry.
System:	I'm taking you to the Fifth floor.
User:	Thank you.
	(Mechanical command execution follows).

• 4.2.1 Processing dialogue with finite state systems

• 4.2.2 A simple FSA example

• 4.2.3 Extending FSA

• 4.2.4 Grounding extension

• Grounding Extension 1

• Grounding Extension 2

• Grounding Extension 3

• And what about Repair?