https://www.nb.no/sbfil/dok/dok.tar.gz

1. © 2002 IBM Corporation
SPRÅKBANKEN
Teknologisk Plattform
IBM WebSphere Voice Server and Toolkit
Språkrådet 18.12.2007

2. © 2002 IBM Corporation
2
“Dette gjer Noreg til eit av dei første landa i verda med eit
fritt tilgjengeleg talesynteseprogram. Samtidig er det klart
at dette ikkje er ei løysing som dekkjer alle tekniske
plattformer. Regjeringa vil oppmode leverandørar og
utviklingsmiljø til å få fram fritt tilgjengelege og gode
løysingar for andre plattformer enn Windows”.
“Regjeringa ser det som ei utfordring å gjere
programvare for talesyntese tilgjengeleg, og då helst
med fri tilgang for dei som ynskjer det. Programvaren må
distribuerast via fleire kanalar, og ved bruk av Internett til
distribusjon må taleprogrammet kunne lagrast lokalt på
datamaskina”.
Fornyings- og administrasjonsminister Heidi Grande Røys
Statsråd

3. © 2002 IBM Corporation
3
Avtale undertegnet 5.1.2007

4. © 2002 IBM Corporation
4
IBM: Worldwide Voice Team (R&D, LBS)
Boca Raton
Yorktown Beijing
Tokyo
Seville
Hursley
Rome
Paris
Cairo
Haifa
Böblingen
Prague

5. © 2002 IBM Corporation
5
Why Voice?
 AT&T, Richard Cox, VP of Voice Enabled Services Research
– Speech is the most natural form of communication. As technology evolves, most people want to communicate with machines as easily
as they communicate with each other.
– http://www.research.att.com/news/2002/January/VES.html
 Microsoft
– Voice is the most natural way to communicate. Microsoft Research has a group in Beijing and another in Redmond collaborating to
improve spoken-language technologies for both enabling human-computer interaction by voice and enriching human-human voice
communication
– http://research.microsoft.com/speech/
 Christen Krogh, VP Engineering, Opera Software ASA
– "Voice is the most natural and effective way we communicate. In the years to come it will greatly facilitate how we interact with
technology," says Christen Krogh, VP Engineering, Opera Software ASA. "By making this technology available today for the wider Web
audience, the serious work of voice-enabling the Web can commence."
– http://www.scienceblog.com/community/article2499.html
Speech is the most natural form of interaction

6. © 2002 IBM Corporation
6
Enable Internet Applications For Access Through Voice
http://www.accuweather.com/weather.vxml
Human-Machine Interaction
Gartner, Steve Cramoysan, Lead Analyst Worldwide on Speech
– “IBM is the fastest growing vendor in Speech market”
– verbal comment, 4Q 2005
•Over Telephones
•With small Devices
•Interaction with PC

7. © 2002 IBM Corporation
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IBM Voice Technologies: Selected Key Events
1992 1997 1999
Data Entry (Dictation): Arabic, Chinese, French,
German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, US & UK English
2000
1961 1968 1969 1974 1986
Interaction Applications: standards-based architectures:
>15 languages
2002 2003
Horizon: Information & Communication
2004 2005
1994
Real-time PC-Based Isolated
Word Dictation (20k)
Speaker Verification System
Text-to-Speech Synthesis System
“Shoebox”: 10 digits + 6 commands recognizer
IBM Invention: Hidden Markov
Modeling for Speech Recognition
Real-Time Continuous
Dictation (20k)
Core Technology Research and Invention
IBM Speech Server Series:
Client / Server Solution
Discrete Dictation
ViaVoice 4.0 Gold: Continuous Dictation
ViaVoice Millennium: >200k words
VoiceType Dictation 1.0:
PC-based, Discrete Dictation
2001 2006
VoiceXML 1.0 specification
WebSphere Voice Server 1.0
Embedded ViaVoice 1.0
X+V: multi-modal standardization
Automated Contact Center: Natural Dialog Deployed
eVV: >100k lists (street/city names)
WVS 4.2: VXML 2.0, MRCP 1.0, NLU
WVS 2.0: VXML 1.0
eVV Multi-Modal Toolkit
eVV 4.4: free-form commands
WVS 3.1: Concatenative TTS
WVS 5.1 + VoiceEnabler: SIP stack
Conversational Biometrics Server
Audio-Visual Speech Recognition
Natural-Language Speech-to-Speech Translation
ViaScribe: Real-Time Video Sub-Titling
Real-time Broadcast News Transcription

8. © 2002 IBM Corporation
8
Det store bilde
Partner Tools
Tools,
Utilities
APIs,
Plug-Ins
3rd Party &
Open Source
Embedded
Voice
Toolkit
Everyplace
Toolkit
Voice
Toolkit
WSAD/WSSD or RAD/RWD
Monitoring
Workbench
Domino
Toolkit
Database
Tools
XDE
Design
Tools
Tivoli Lotus DB2 Rational
Software Platform
Multimodal
Toolkit
WebSphere
Micro
Environment
Toolkit
LINUX UNIX/AIX WINDOWS

9. © 2002 IBM Corporation
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WebSphere Voice Server
IVR
CCXML
ASR
VXML
TTS
WebSphere (WAS) foundation
MRCP standard speech interface
MRCP

10. © 2002 IBM Corporation
10
Hva er Voice Server
En WebSphere-basert implementering av
industristandarden MRCP
 Media Resource Control Protocol er en IETF standard.
 MRCP definerer en protokoll for aksessering av speech servers.
 WVS er basert på WebSphere Application Server architecture.

11. © 2002 IBM Corporation
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Språkbanken og tilhørende nettverk
WVT
WVS WVT
WVT
WVT
WVT
Språkbanken
UiO
UiB/AKSIS UiT
Medialt
IBM Prag/CTU
WVT
WVT
IBM Norge
NST++
WVT

12. © 2002 IBM Corporation
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Voice Technologies for Interaction Applications
http://www.accuweather.com/weather.vxml
Human-Machine Interaction
Telephone
Network
Telephone Gateway
(PSTN, VoIP)
1. Voice Technologies
2. Application Scenarios
Audio
Audio
Audio
Words & Scores
Dialog Voice Technologies
Voice
Application
Browser Verify Speaker
Prompt
Recognize

13. © 2002 IBM Corporation
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Proprietary
Proprietary
WVS 5.1 (on WAS)
WAS-based Voice Architecture, Programming Model
Telephone
Network
any VoIP GW
WVR
1. WebSphere Voice Server
2. Programming Model
VoiceEnabler (on WAS) WVS 5.1 (on WAS)
Verify
Prompt
Recognize
Voice team
IBM
Partner
Dialog Server Speech Server
Telephony Gateway
MRCP
SIP
VXML
CCXML
Siplet
VXML
Edge Server
Load Balancer
-workload balancing
-failover
-serviceability
SIP
IP
MRCP
Proprietary
MRCP
Cisco
Genesys
Avaya
VoiceGenie
WVR
Cell
Cell

14. © 2002 IBM Corporation
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Some IBM Voice Technology customers

15. © 2002 IBM Corporation
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Application Development
 User Interface Design
– How the user interfaces with the application
– How the application delivers information
to the user
– “Presentation”
 Application Framework
– Breakdown of application into scalable components
– “Structure”
 Business Logic (a.k.a. “back-end” or data access)
– Database queries based on application logic and user choices
– What the application does inside the “black box”
– “Work”
Note that Structure and Work are orthogonal to the Presentation (which could be graphical,
voice, multimodal, or otherwise rendered to the user).

16. © 2002 IBM Corporation
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Voice User Interface Development Tasks
Dialogue Design
Persona Selection
Iterative Usability
Evaluative Usability
User Experience Research
Refine Persona Prompts
Transcription
Audio Production
Grammar Development
Dictionary Development
Application Development
Recognition Test
Application Testing
Grammar Updates
The steps that go into making
a “good” voice application that
will provide customer satisfaction
No “coding” necessary until this phase
Post-deployment testing/maintenance
Call
Flow
Design
and
Prototype

17. © 2002 IBM Corporation
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Voice Toolkit - Overview
Speech User
Interface
Design
Application
Execution
Analysis
Audio Prompt
Production and
Management
Audio File
Recording and
Analysis
VoiceXML
Development
and Debugging
Grammar
Development
and Testing
Voice Portal
Development
Environment
Pronunciation
Validation and
Customization
CCXML
Development
and Validation
Application
Simulation and
Debugging
VoiceXML
Code
Generation
MRCP
Interface for
Grammar
Evaluation
One-Stop-Shop
Development
Solution for
Web-Centric
Speech
Applications
Integration with
Rational Tools
(RAD/RWD)

18. © 2002 IBM Corporation
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A look at the WebSphere Voice Toolkit
Eclipse framework
provides default
views, icons,
layouts, XML
editor
functionality, etc. Editor panel
allows for
multiple files to
be edited
simultaneously
Navigator
panel shows
file view of
the project
Tabbed views show
words with
unknown
pronunciations or a
hierarchical view of
your application file
Pronunciation
composer enables
creation of
customized
phonetic
pronunciations
Informational
panels display
tasks, warnings,
errors, to-dos,
file properties,
and application
logs

19. © 2002 IBM Corporation
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Voice Toolkit 6.0 Strategy
 IBM Products/Technology
–Rational (RAD, RWD, RSA)
–WebSphere (WAS, Portal)
–Voice Middleware (WVS, WVAA, WVR)
–Voice Technologies (ASR, TTS)
 Open Standards
–Markup (XML, VoiceXML, CCXML, SRGS, etc.)
–Protocols and connectivity (MRCP, Web, JSP, SIP, etc.)
–Tools (Eclipse, Voice Tools Project, Reusable Dialog Components)
 Ease-of-use and Productivity
–End-to-End integrated development environment
–Graphical modeling
–Code assistance and validation
–Application components
 Partners/Voice Platforms
–Extensibility/Adaptability for other platforms
–Incorporation of additional features and requirements
–Componentization of plugins/tools for bundling by partners and other products

20. © 2002 IBM Corporation
20
Graphical Enhancements
Communication Flow Builder
Grammar Builder
SIP-based Call Simulator

21. © 2002 IBM Corporation
21
Multimodal Scenario – Single Field Entry
Miami, Florida
Boston, Massachusetts
9/27/2004
Business Class
Boston,
Massachusetts
Where would you like to travel?
Please say your departure city.
Miami, Florida
Please say your destination city.
Departure date?
September 27th
Seating class?
Business

22. © 2002 IBM Corporation
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WVS Simulator Architecture
VoiceXML
Browser
Web
Server
HTTP
MRCP
Server
MRCP
IVR
Gateway
SIP
Stack
Voice
Toolkit
Virtual
Phone
Log
Analysis
------
------
------
------
------
------
------
------
------
------
------
------
DB
WAS
SIP
Prox
y
RTP
Audio
ASR
TTS

23. © 2002 IBM Corporation
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What is ASR, TTS, SIV, Voice Dialog
 Automatic Speech Recognition (Speech-To-Text) is the transformation of speech signals into text and
actions
– Goal: most people are recognized speaking naturally in any acoustic environment
– Status: natural sentences, reasonable noise level, wide application range
– Examples: Applications for Banks, Funds, Information Queries
 Speech Synthesis (Text-To-Speech) is the automatic generation of speech signals from text
– Goal: listeners can not distinguish it from human speech
– Status: “Concatenative TTS” is almost natural, especially when optimized for particular applications
– Examples: General Purpose Out-of-Box Voice, Application and/or Corporate Specific Voices
 Speaker Identity Verification (SIV) verifies the identity of an individual from their speech
– Goal: identify an individual or verify the claim to be a certain individual with highest accuracy
– Status: to be introduced speaker identity verification to support MRCP V2
– Examples: access to secure applications (phone, PDA), verify through whole interaction
 Voice Dialog models the applications interaction behavior between human and machine
– Goal: speak to an application as if it is a human counterpart
– Status: system can take initiative to request missing elements to complete a transaction
– Examples: Form-Filling Applications (e.g. Bank Transfers), Free-Form Dialogs (e.g. Mutual Funds)

24. © 2002 IBM Corporation
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IBM pSeries model 55A
Partisjonering
Konsolidering
Ytelse ... lisensiering
Applikasjonsstøtte - konvertering
Etc.
16 GB minne
Oppgraderingsmuligheter uten konvertering til ny server
Krever lite nedetid
Krever nytt CPU-kort installert (kurant)
Teknologisk plattform - Språkbanken

25. © 2002 IBM Corporation
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 WVS:
 - HW: x86 or p-series (Power) system
WITH 2GB RAM (3GB for "fifth
generation voices" - higher quality
speech synthesis, some languages
only)
 - OS: one of the following:
 - AIX 5L v 5.3, ML 3
 - RedHat Enterprise Linux v.3
(Update 3 or 4) or 4 (Update 2)
 - SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
v.8, SP 2a or 3
 - Windows 2003 Enterprise or
Standard
 VE:
 - x86. Caution: VE must run on a
different machine from WVS.
 - OS: one of the following:
 - Windows 2003 Enterprise or
Standard
 - RedHat Enterprise Linux v.3
(Update 3 or 4) or 4 (Update 2)

26. © 2002 IBM Corporation
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IBM Språkteknologi på mobile enheter

27. © 2002 IBM Corporation
27
Aktuelle prosjekter for bruk av IBM WebSphere
Voice teknologi
Videreutvikling av HENRIK-stemmen
Prosjektet går ut på å utvikle taleteknologisk
programvare for norske språkbrukere, og evaluere
ulike systemers verdi som støtte for brukere med
kommunikasjons-, språk-, tale-, lese- og
skrivevansker. Prosjektets tar utgangspunkt i
eksisterende teknologi utviklet av selskapet NST i
samarbeid med IBM, dvs. talesyntesestemmen kalt
Henrik
Et samarbeide mellom Bredtvet
Kompetansesenter, Medialt, Aksis og IBM
IBM Business Partner
SMUDI

28. © 2002 IBM Corporation
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Workshop at IBM Research lab in Prag
(preliminary agenda):
The telephony architecture overview
Installation of the Voice Enabler
Installation of the WebSphere Voice
Server
Configuration of the Asterisk PBX
Installation and use of the Voice
toolkit
Case study - presentation of the
development cycle and usage
Videre aktiviteter
IBM Research Lab. Prag
Deltagere
 Medialt
 Språkrådet
 Aksis
 UiO, UiB, NTNU
 IBM Norge

29. © 2002 IBM Corporation
29
IBM: Worldwide Voice Team (R&D, LBS)
Boca Raton
Yorktown Beijing
Tokyo
Seville
Hursley
Rome
Paris
Cairo
Haifa
Böblingen
Prague
Oslo