A METHOD OF DEVELOPING AN INTERACTIVE SYSTEM

A method of developing an interactive system, including inputting application data representative of an application for the system, the application data including operations and parameters for the application, generating prompts on the basis of the application data, and generating grammar on the basis of the application data. The prompts and grammar are generated on the basis of a predetermined pattern or structure for the prompts and grammar. The grammar also includes predefined grammar. Grammatical inference is also executed to enhance the grammar. The grammatical inference method for developing the grammar may include processing rules of the grammar, creating additional rules representative of repeated phrases, and merging equivalent symbols of the grammar, wherein the rules define slots to represent data on which an interactive system executes operations and include symbols representing at least a phrase or term. The grammar is hierarchical and the rules include a reference count representing the number of other rules that reference the rule. Additional rules to be created during grammatical inference are determined on the basis of attribute constraints.