Domain-Level Reasoning for Spoken Dialogue Systems provides a logic¿based reasoning component for spoken language dialogue systems. This component, called the Problem Assistant is responsible for processing constraints on a possible solution obtained from various sources, namely user and the system's domain-specific information.

The authors present findings on the implementation of a dialogue management interface to the Problem Assistant. The dialogue system supports simple mixed¿initiative planning interactions in the TRAINS domain, which is still a relatively complex domain involving a number of logical constraints and relations forming the basis for the collaborative problem-solving behavior that drives the dialogue. The book also:

• Presents novel methods for enabling spoken dialogue systems to construct and manage complex tasks and interdependencies with different applications
• Describes late-breaking research on next-generation spoken dialogue systems
• Investigates how spoken dialogue systems may be improved in terms of usability and user friendliness