US Patent 10192550 Conversational software agent

Voice input is received from a user. An ASR system generates in memory a set of words it has identified in the voice input, and update the set each time it identifies a new word in the voice input to add the new word to the set. A condition indicative of speech inactivity in the voice input is detected. A response for outputting to the user is generated based on the set of identified words, in response to the detection of the speech inactivity condition. The generated response is outputted to the user after an interval of time—commencing with the detection of the speech inactivity condition—has ended and only if no more words have been identified in the voice input by the ASR system in that interval of time.