Abstract: An information-seeking dialogue system can be trained using a pipeline process having stages, or components, of passage retrieval (selecting passages relevant to a query from a corpus or knowledge base), re-ranking, and generating a response to the query based on one or more of the re-ranked passages. Each stage, or component, of the pipeline can be individually optimized based on ground truth data.

Abstract: The present invention discloses a method for implementing synchronous switching of cross connections of a CLOS cross connection matrix, comprising: the configuration controller calculating a new CLOS cross connection matrix according to the cross request, sending this new CLOS cross connection matrix to the cross nodes requiring synchronous switching, and sending synchronous switching signal to all the cross nodes requiring synchronous switching after receiving the ready signals returned by all the cross nodes requiring synchronous switching, and the cross nodes performing the synchronous switching immediately after receiving the synchronous switching signal. The present invention also discloses a digital cross connection equipment containing a configuration controller for implementing synchronous switching of a CLOS cross connection matrix. With the present invention, synchronous switching of the input stage, the central stage and the output stage can be guaranteed without instantaneous disconnections.