Dr. rer. nat. Dirk Bühler

rgtabs: Main Menue

PhD Thesis

Topic

Domain-Level Reasoning for Dialogue Systems

Status

completed

Description

Motivated by the need to make the human-machine information-seeking dialogue as efficient and user-friendly as possible the subject of this thesis is to propose a logic-based reasoning component for a Spoken Language Dialogue Systems architecture. It enables the integration of isolated services and devices into a unified domain model that serves as the basis for user assistance. Such assistance seems especially relevant in mobile environments, since an efficient and intelligent interaction is assumed to reduce the distraction of the driver and thus the safety risk.

The core component, called Problem Assistant, supports the Dialogue Management component. Specifically, the assistantaims at enabling hypothetical reasoning by maintaining concurrent knowledge contexts (possible worlds), signalling inferences and choice points that may initiate a negotiation dialogue between the user and the system, and detecting conflicts that arise from a user's specifications (goals) and suggesting possible solutions.

The core processing is finite model generation. This inference technique tries to find solutions that fit both the user's constraints and are consistent with the Problem Assistant's rule base. Since the assistant interactively generates transparent information about its inference process, the approach envisaged in this thesis will provide the basis for incremental explanation dialogues and collaborative conflict resolution.

Research Interests

Dialogue modelling
Integration of domain applications
Dialogue systems architecture

Publications

Embedded Aigaion Query 2011

D. Bühler and W. Minker
Domain-Level Reasoning for Spoken Dialogue Systems
Springer, Boston (USA), 2011
Link to Document
Bibtex

2009

W. Minker, J. Pittermann, A. Pittermann, P. Strauss and D. Bühler
Challenges in Speech-Based Human-Computer Interfaces
International Journal of Speech Technology, Vol. 10, Num. 2, pp. 109-119, 2009
Link to Document
DOI
Bibtex

2008

T. Heinroth and D. Bühler
ArriGator - Evaluation of a Speech-based Pedestrian Navigation System
4th IET International Conference on Intelligent Environments, Seattle (USA), July 2008
Link to Document
DOI
Bibtex

M. Pfeil, D. Bühler, R. Gruhn and W. Minker
Evaluating Text Normalization for Speech-Based Media Selection
Proceedings of the 4th IEEE Tutorial and Research Workshop Perception and Interactive Technology for Speech-Based Systems (PIT08), Kloster Irsee (Germany), June 2008
Link to Document
Bibtex

W. Minker, J. Pittermann, A. Pittermann, P. Strauss and D. Bühler
Intelligent and Empathic Speech Interfaces
Nova Science Publishers, Inc., Hauppauge, NY (USA), In: Speech Communication at the Leading Edge, pp. 71-105, 2008
Link to Document
Bibtex

2007

M. Aly, J. Pittermann, D. Bühler and W. Minker
A Semi-Automatic Tool for Emotion Corpora Annotation
3rd IET International Conference on Intelligent Environments, (Germany), pp. 251-254, September 2007
Link to Document
Bibtex

D. Bühler and W. Minker
HMM-Based Semantic Analysis for the ESST and MEDIA Tasks
3rd IET International Conference on Intelligent Environments, (Germany), pp. 131-134, September 2007
Link to Document
Bibtex

J. Pittermann, W. Minker, A. Pittermann and D. Bühler
PROBLEMO - Problem Solving and Emotion Awareness in Spoken Dialogue Systems
3rd IET International Conference on Intelligent Environments, (Germany), pp. 447-450, September 2007
Link to Document
Bibtex

S. Abdennadher, M. Aly, D. Bühler, W. Minker and J. Pittermann
BECAM Tool -- A Semi-automatic Tool for Bootstrapping Emotion Corpus Annotation and Management
European Conference on Speech and Language Processing (EUROSPEECH), Antwerp (Belgium), pp. 946-949, August 2007
Link to Document
Bibtex

2006

W. Minker, A. Albalate, D. Bühler, A. Pittermann, J. Pittermann, P. Strauss and D. Zaykovskiy
Recent Trends in Spoken Language Dialogue Systems
ITI 4th International Conference on Information and Communications Technology (ICICT 2006), Cairo (Egypt), pp. 1-2, December 2006
Link to Document
Bibtex

W. Minker, J. Pittermann, A. Pittermann, P. Strauss and D. Bühler
Next-Generation Human-Computer Interfaces - Towards Intelligent, Adaptive and Proactive Spoken Language Dialogue Systems
2nd IEE International Conference on Intelligent Environments, Athens (Greece), July 2006
Link to Document
Bibtex

A. Berton, D. Bühler and W. Minker
SmartKom-Mobile Car: User Interaction with Mobile Services in a Car Environment
Springer Verlag, Heidelberg (Germany), In: SmartKom: Foundations of Multi-Modal Dialogue Systems, Series: Cognitive Technologies, pp. 523-541, 2006
Link to Document
Bibtex

Y. Sun, D. Willett, R. Brueckner, R. Gruhn and D. Bühler
Experiments on Chinese Speech Recognition with Tonal Models and Pitch Estimation using the Mandarin SPEECON Data
International Conference on Speech and Language Processing (ICSLP), Pittsburgh (USA), 2006
Link to Document
Bibtex

D. Bühler and W. Minker
Stochastic Spoken Natural Language Parsing in the Framework of the French MEDIA Evaluation Campaign
International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), Genoa (Italy), 2006
Link to Document
Bibtex

2005

S. Hamerich and D. Bühler
Converging Dialogue Descriptions for Embedded and Server Platforms
10th International Conference on Speech and Computer (SPECOM), Patras (Greece), October 2005
Link to Document
Bibtex

D. Bühler and M. Riegler
Integrating Dialogue Management and Domain Reasoning
10th International Conference on Speech and Computer (SPECOM), Patras (Greece), October 2005
Link to Document
Bibtex

D. Bühler and S. Hamerich
Towards VoiceXML Compilation for Portable Embedded Applications in Ubiquitous Environments
European Conference on Speech and Language Processing (EUROSPEECH), Lisbon (Portugal), September 2005
Link to Document
Bibtex

D. Bühler, W. Minker and A. Elciyanti
Using Language Modelling to Integrate Speech Recognition with a Flat Semantic Analysis
6th SIGdial Workshop on Discourse and Dialogue, Lisbon (Portugal), September 2005
Link to Document
Bibtex

D. Bühler, J. Hernández and W. Minker
Connecting Spoken Language Dialogue Systems to the Internet
The IEE International Workshop on Intelligent Environments, Colchester (United Kingdom), pp. 304-310, June 2005
Link to Document
Bibtex

C. Beuschel, W. Minker and D. Bühler
Stochastically-Based Spoken Natural Language Parsing - Design and Evaluation of Flexible Learning and Decoding Methods
The IEE International Workshop on Intelligent Environments, Colchester (United Kingdom), pp. 283-290, June 2005
Link to Document
Bibtex

W. Minker, D. Bühler and L. Dybkjær
Introduction
Springer, Dordrecht (The Netherlands), In: Spoken Multimodal Human-Computer Dialogue in Mobile Environments, Series: Text, Speech and Language Technology, Vol. 28, pp. xxi-xxviii, 2005
Bibtex

W. Minker, D. Bühler and L. Dybkjær
Preface
Springer, Dordrecht (The Netherlands), In: Spoken Multimodal Human-Computer Dialogue in Mobile Environments, Series: Text, Speech and Language Technology, Vol. 28, pp. xi-xii, 2005
Bibtex

D. Bühler and W. Minker
A Reasoning Component for Information-Seeking and Planning Dialogues
Springer, Dordrecht (The Netherlands), In: Spoken Multimodal Human-Computer Dialogue in Mobile Environments, Series: Text, Speech and Language Technology, Vol. 28, pp. 77-91, 2005
Link to Document
Bibtex

C. Beuschel, W. Minker and D. Bühler
Hidden Markov Modeling for Semantic Analysis - On the Combination of Different Decoding Strategies
International Journal of Speech Technology, Vol. 8, pp. 295-305, 2005
Link to Document
Bibtex

D. Bühler and W. Minker
Mobile Multimodality - Design and Development of the SmartKom Companion
International Journal of Speech Technology, Vol. 8, Num. 2, pp. 193-202, 2005
Link to Document
Bibtex

W. Minker, D. Bühler and L. Dybkjær (Eds.)
Spoken Multimodal Human-Computer Dialogue in Mobile Environments
Springer, Dordrecht (The Netherlands), Series: Text, Speech and Language Technology, Vol. 28, 2005
Link to Document
Bibtex

D. Bühler and W. Minker
The SmartKom Mobile Car Prototype System for Flexible Human-Machine Communication
Springer, Dordrecht (The Netherlands), In: Spoken Multimodal Human-Computer Dialogue in Mobile Environments, Series: Text, Speech and Language Technology, Vol. 28, pp. 185-202, 2005
Link to Document
Bibtex

2004

D. Bühler
Enhancing Existing Form-Based Dialogue Managers with Reasoning Capabilities
International Conference on Speech and Language Processing (ICSLP), Jeju Island (Korea), pp. 3077-3080, October 2004
Link to Document
Bibtex

C. Beuschel, W. Minker and D. Bühler
Strategies for Optimizing a Stochastic Spoken Natural Language Parser
International Conference on Speech and Language Processing (ICSLP), Jeju Island (Korea), pp. 2177-2180, October 2004
Link to Document
Bibtex

D. Bühler and S. Hamerich
Towards Embedding VoiceXML Applications through Compilation
Workshop Dialogsysteme mit XML-Technologien, Berliner XML Tage, Berlin (Germany), October 2004
Link to Document
Bibtex

E. André, M. Rehm, W. Minker and D. Bühler
Endowing Spoken Language Dialogue Systems with Emotional Intelligence
Tutorial and Research Workshop Affective Dialogue Systems, Irsee (Germany), pp. 178-187, June 2004
Link to Document
Bibtex

2003

D. Bühler, S. Vignier, P. Heisterkamp and W. Minker
Safety and Operating Issues for Mobile Human-Machine Interfaces
International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI), Miami (USA), pp. 227-229, January 2003
Link to Document
Bibtex

2002

D. Bühler, W. Minker, J. Häussler and S. Krüger
Flexible Multimodal Human-Machine Interaction in Mobile Environments
International Conference on Speech and Language Processing (ICSLP), Denver (USA), pp. 167-172, September 2002
Link to Document
Bibtex

D. Bühler, W. Minker, J. Häussler and S. Krüger
Flexible Multimodal Human-Machine Interaction in Mobile Environments
ECAI Workshop on Artificial Intelligence in Mobile System (AIMS), Lyon (France), pp. 66-70, July 2002
Link to Document
Bibtex

D. Bühler and W. Minker
An Architecture for a Logic-Based Human-Machine Dialogue
ISCA Tutorial and Research Workshop (ITRW) on Multi-Modal Dialogue in Mobile Environments, Irsee (Germany), June 2002
Link to Document
Bibtex

D. Bühler, W. Minker, J. Häussler and S. Krüger
The SmartKom Mobile Multi-Modal Dialogue System
ISCA Tutorial and Research Workshop (ITRW) on Multi-Modal Dialogue in Mobile Environments, Irsee (Germany), June 2002
Link to Document
Bibtex

Alumni

Dr. rer. nat. Dirk Bühler

Graduation Date: 27.02.2009

First Employment: Harman/Becker, Germany