C O N F I D E N T I A L SpeechTEK West 2007 Upgrading Your Grammars Making Them Work Harder Jenni...

C O N F I D E N T I A LSpeechTEK West 2007

Upgrading Your Grammars

Making Them Work Harder

Jenni McKienzie

February 23, 2007

C O N F I D E N T I A L 2 SpeechTEK West 2007

Special thanks


Background

• Travelocity revamped its IVR in 2006

• The old system was six years old and hadn’t kept up with the maturation of the industry

• Replaced almost everything–New platform–New recognizer–New design–New voice talent–New grammars


Big ideas

1. Use expected answers to improve recognition

2. Know the data

3. Only use built-ins as a starting point

4. Use appropriate weighting

5. Take advantage of nbest processing

6. Be flexible


Itinerary access by confirmation number

• Have two different varieties that follow distinct patterns and have different host transactions

• Third digit tells which of the two it is

• Lots of digit strings don’t fit either of the patterns

• Recognizer is more apt to incorrectly recognize a valid string than the caller is to give an incorrect string

• No reason to hit the database with a number we know is invalid

• So do we process input in the code or restrict the grammar?


Confirmation number grammar

• Number 2: Know the data (the numeric patterns)

• Number 3: Don’t rely on built-ins (digits)


Itinerary access by phone number

• Started with a standard phone number grammar–7-digit phone numbers–3-digit special numbers (411 or 911)

• Sometimes duplicates

• Not the most secure way to access trip information–Destination–Departure date


Phone number grammar

• Number 3: Don’t rely on built-ins (phone number)


Destination city

• Three clarification issues–Sound alikes: Boston/Austin–Two airports: Chicago Midway/O’Hare

–Two cities with the same name: Athens Georgia/Greece

• Big advantage in knowing where they’re going

• Also take advantage of knowing which cities see the most traffic


City/airport grammar

• Number 1: Use expected answers (we know where they’re going)

• Number 4: Use appropriate weighting (where they’re going and what gets the most traffic)

• Number 5: Nbest processing (use the list to compare against their itineraries)


Travel dates differ from other dates

• Year isn’t needed–Future or very recent past only–Not that far out in the future (no more than a year)

• Sometimes month isn’t needed–“The 27th” is a perfectly valid response for later this month

• Callers add a “the” between month and date–July the 28th

–Could be a stall, thinking about it–Could be conceptually different


Travel date grammar

• Number 1: Expected answers (have itineraries)

• Number 2: Know the data (restricted range, extra formats)

• Number 3: Built-ins (date)

• Number 4: Weighting (expected higher)

• Number 5: Nbest (compare against itineraries)

• Number 6: Be flexible (lots of formats)


Put it together

To see what I have on file for you now, say or enter your phone number. (pause) You can also say one of the following: use my trip ID, shop for new reservations…

682 605 4069

Just a moment while I look that up. (pause)

(Found San Francisco on February 22nd and Kahului on March 8th)

OK. I found more than one reservation for that number. To get the right one, please tell me where you’re going and when, like Miami on March 13th.

San Francisco on February 22nd

(nbest for city = Sacramento, San Francisco, date = Feb 2nd, Feb 22nd)

Thanks. Now choose from one of the following…


Flight information

• Callers can search various ways–Airline and flight number–Airline, city pair, and time–City pair and time

• For either of the last two, we often find more than one good match

• Caller then has to choose the right one.


Choosing the flight

I found three that are close. Tell me which one you want.

First at 9:53 is Aloha Airlines flight 476. (pause) Second at 9:24 is United Airlines flight 82. (pause) Third at 9:00 PM is American Airlines flight 162.

That’s it. Tell me which of those you want, or say repeat, all of them, or none of them.

The first one…Flight 476…The one on Aloha…9:53


Flight selection grammar

• Number 1: Expected answers (gave them a list)

• Number 5: Nbest (compare against list)

• Number 6: Be flexible (any distinguishing piece)


Summary (a.k.a. reprise of big ideas)

1. Use expected answers to improve recognition

2. Know the data

3. Only use built-ins as a starting point

4. Use appropriate weighting

5. Take advantage of nbest processing

6. Be flexible


Thank you!

Jenni McKienzie

[email protected]

682.605.4069

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