Voice Browser Research Articles

Dialog management system based on user persona

Natural language processing (NLP) components are responsible for analysing and contextualising human-like discussions between chatbots or any voice browser or with any live users are known as dialogue management systems (DMS). Dialog management systems, also known as plug-ins, allow the chatbot to complete this functionality with ease. The dialogue management system features a module called the agent for dialogue management that allows the DMS to contextualise information and deliver replies. Chatter-bots frequently employ dialogue management systems, such as ChatScript, to regulate the conversation structure based on themes. In the developed application which emulates the behaviour of a DMS, the functionalities like voice assisted navigation, functional keys implementation, language neutral search are implemented. The system is developed by taking into consideration of user experience as the primary factor. The system facilitates physically disabled users to perform all the above mentioned functionalities using voice commands with approx.90% of accuracy.

VOICE ENABLE PERSONALIZED WEB SEARCH

The technology of voice browsing is rapidly evolving these days. It is because the use of cell phones is increasing at a very high rate, as compared to connected PCs. Speech interface integrated browser is a web browser that helps users by using an interactive voice user interface ,useful to those who have difficulties in seeing and reading a web content. Listening and speaking are the natural modes of communication and information gathering. As a result we are now heading towards a more voice based approach of browsing rather than operating on textual mode. A voice browser or speech browser will take and presents the information in the form of voice as well as text, using text to speech and speech to text conversion to render information. People want to get accurate and appropriate data at the top of search results in a user friendly manner. People also want to get a personal space over the internet when they are browsing on web, from this arises a need of personalization of the search history. Thus there is a need of a highly efficient and effective ranking algorithm that provides search results according to user preferences. This paper concentrates on this new technique, voice browsing, which unites speech recognition and speech synthesis with better personalized search that can be very fruitful in the coming years. In this paper we provide personalization by creating individual search history for each user on the browser and also focused on the search results to get customized according to the user demand.

Identification of Prosodic Features of Punjabi for Enhancing the Pronunciation Lexicon Specification (Pls) for Voice Browsing

Voice browsing requires speech interface framework. Pronunciation Lexicon Specification (PLS) 1.0 is a recommendation of Voice Browser Working Group of W3C (World-Wide Web Consortium), a machinereadable specification of pronunciation information which can be used for speech technology development. This global PLS standard is applicable across European and Asian languages and this specification is extendable to all human languages. However, it currently does not cover morphological, syntactic and semantic information associated with pronunciations. In Indian languages, grammatical information is relatively encoded in its morphology, than syntax unlike English where the grammatical information is an integral part of syntax. In this paper, PLS 1.0 has been examined from the perspective of augmentation of prosodic features of Punjabi such as tone, germination etc.

Akshara-to-sound rules for Hindi

The present paper brings to focus the main issues of regularity and inconsistency in orthography-phonology relation in Hindi arising out of an attempt at developing a program of Akshara-to-Sound rules for a pronunciation lexicon of Hindi for use in language technology for voice browser applications. The program of rules is based on interdisciplinary insights from research on writing systems, phonology and rule writing for a computer program. The paper first discusses the motivations for the Akshara-to-Sound rule set formulated to generate two levels of output—one of phoneme level and the other of phonemes and the prosodic structures of words in terms of strong and weak syllables. The irregularities in the correspondence between the Akshara and the sound are taken up next for an account. The paper ends with a discussion of the implications of the study for research on the acquisition and processing of written words in Hindi.

Efficient Voice Integrated Browser Using Naïve Approach

The World Wide Web contains huge information from all over world. It has information about simple things as well as very complex things. This makes it very useful for everyone. Nevertheless this enormous useful information is always accessible through browser which requires use of mouse and keyboard. Hence, it does always remain unreachable to specific community of people, especially to the people with visual impairment. The concept of voice browser is not new, however in this paper we have used nai ve approach to make this efficient Voice Integrated Browser (VIB). All existing voice browsers need VoiceXML page. The conversion of existing web pages to VoiceXML pages is very tedious task and it requires extra effort. In this paper we have explained that how VIB doesn't need VoiceXML pages. We elucidate this nai ve approach and challenges faced while evolving it and eventually discussed about the future work. 

Flexible Content Browsing for Impaired eLearners

Today web sites are designed in graphical mode for interaction with insufficient user assistance. Keen-sighted users can identify the content and quickly recognize relevant information in Web pages. On the contrary, individuals with visual disabilities have to use screen-readers to browse the Web. In this paper, we address the problem of information display in a non-visual Web interface. Access is made using the notion of context by assisting through the audio support and embodying our approach, by providing the standard features of a screen-reader along with browsing through voice browser. However, when a user follows a link, it captures the context of the link using a simple topic-boundary detection technique, and uses it to identify relevant information on the next page with the help of screen readers, and navigation is done through the voice browser. In order to aid the visually impaired users with a complete user friendly browsing approach we permit the content to be known by the screen-readers and voice browsers for the purpose of navigation.

IMS-based interactive media system and method

An interactive media system for an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architecture includes a media resource function processor (MRFP) and a media resource function controller (MRFC). The MRFP includes media resources, such as automatic speech recognition (ASR) engines and text-to-speech (TTS) engines, and a voice browser. A caller places a call to a telephone number to reach an interactive media service, and the MRFC establishes a real-time packet media session between the media gateway and the MRFP. The voice browser queries a location server to determine the location of an interactive application associated with the called telephone number and then queries an application server corresponding to the location to obtain the interactive application as a voice extensible markup language (VXML) document. The browser interprets the VXML document and responsively invokes the media resources, via the MRFC, to provide the interactive media service to the caller.

Voice browser apparatus and voice browsing method

In a voice browser apparatus, an HTML document is obtained from a designated URL, the obtained document is analyzed based on a rule designated from a plurality of rules for defining voice input/output contents to fetch voice output contents, voice input candidates and designation information for designating a next object of processing corresponding to each voice input candidate, and the fetched voice output contents are voice-outputted. Then, the voice input from a user for this output is voice-recognized, and controls obtainment of a new document and next analysis based on designation information corresponding to the input candidate matching the recognition result. Thereby, contents for the graphical user interface can easily be browsed using voice input/output.

Analysis of navigability of Web applications for improving blind usability

Various accessibility activities are improving blind access to the increasingly indispensable WWW. These approaches use various metrics to measure the Web's accessibility. “Ease of navigation” (navigability) is one of the crucial factors for blind usability, especially for complicated webpages used in portals and online shopping sites. However, it is difficult for automatic checking tools to evaluate the navigation capabilities even for a single webpage. Navigability issues for complete Web applications are still far beyond their capabilities. This study aims at obtaining quantitative results about the current accessibility status of real world Web applications, and analyzes real users' behavior on such websites. In Study 1, an automatic analysis method for webpage navigability is introduced, and then a broad survey using this method for 30 international online shopping sites is described. The next study (Study 2) focuses on a fine-grained analysis of real users' behavior on some of these online shopping sites. We modified a voice browser to record each user's actions and the information presented to that user. We conducted user testing on existing sites with this tool. We also developed an analysis and visualization method for the recorded information. The results showed us that users strongly depend on scanning navigation instead of logical navigation. A landmark-oriented navigation model was proposed based on the results. Finally, we discuss future possibilities for improving navigability, including proposals for voice browsers.

VoiceBlog: Universally Designed Voice Browser

We developed VoiceBlog, a voice browser based on the concept of universal design. It has a cascading user interface, has a hierarchic structure, and can well parse strictly structured Web content such as blogs. We investigated whether VoiceBlog could function as a voice browser by observing blind users of VoiceBlog and then interviewing them. After using VoiceBlog for a while, most users felt that VoiceBlog made it much easier to read and understand Web content than common voice browsers. The cascading user interface is seen as one of the best methods for aural presentation. However, some users complained about the synthesized voice and key-mapping, mainly because these differed from the voice browsers' voice and key-mappings the users were familiar with. We also compared the operation logs of sighted and blind users and found that there were some differences in their demands. The results suggest that it is difficult to make one mechanism that suits both sighted and blind users. A universally designed voice browser should prepare different kinds of mechanisms (modes) and switch between them according to the users.

Web voice browser based on an ISLPC text-to-speech algorithm

A kind of Web voice browser based on improved synchronous linear predictive coding (ISLPC) and Text-to-Speech (TTS) algorithm and Internet application was proposed. The paper analyzes the features of TTS system with ISLPC speech synthesis and discusses the design and implementation of ISLPC TTS-based Web voice browser. The browser integrates Web technology, Chinese information processing, artificial intelligence and the key technology of Chinese ISLPC speech synthesis. It's a visual and audible web browser that can improve information precision for network users. The evaluation results show that ISLPC-based TTS model has a better performance than other browsers in voice quality and capability of identifying Chinese characters.

Distributed speech system with buffer flushing on barge-in

A distributed automatic speech recognition and text to speech system has components separated by a network. The components may be a voice interface device with jitter buffer, a voice browser and a text to speech engine. A barge-in detection feature may reside in any one of these components, to implement kill on barge in. The system, softwares and methods of the invention operate to flush the jitter buffer of the voice interface device when a barge-in is detected. Any packets that had been received are therefore not played out.

Web accessibility technology at the IBM Tokyo Research Laboratory

This paper provides an overview of Web accessibility technologies developed at the IBM Tokyo Research Laboratory. Home Page Reader provides an easy and comfortable way for the blind to read Web pages. Transcoding technology solves problems that arise when a voice browser, such as Home Page Reader, reads Web pages. It also offers more comfortable ways for visually impaired people and senior citizens to read Web pages. Accessibility Designer, the main focus of this paper, allows page designers to learn about disabilities and to create more accessible and usable Web pages at authoring time. It has two modes: a low-vision mode and a blind mode. The low-vision mode simulates the perception of people with low vision and detects inaccessible parts in the target page. The blind mode visualizes the usability of a voice browser for the target page and detects accessibility and usability problems. Accessibility Observer makes it easier for Web developers to detect accessibility problems.

Robust voice browser system and voice activated device controller

The present invention relates to a system for acquiring information from sources on a network, such as the Internet. A voice browsing system maintains a database containing a list of information sources, such as web sites, connected to a network. Each of the information sources is assigned a rank number which is listed in the database along with the record for the information source. In response to a speech command received from a user, a network interface system accesses the information source with the highest rank number in order to retrieve information requested by the user.

Whose Turn is it?: Designing for Overlapping Grammar between Applications and the Voice Browser

Voice applications commonly share grammar elements with a supporting voice browser. This overlap creates the need for a rule set to determine whether a given instance should be handled by the browser or the application. Further, the browser grammar may interfere with the recognition of the application grammar and the application developer must be able to mitigate for this potential problem. This paper describes an approach which allows the browser administrator to specify instances which must be handled by the browser and also gives the application developer the ability to weight the application grammar relative to the Global Grammar. The solution described here is consistent with the theory that usability professionals should be involved not only in application user interface design, but also in platform design.

Wireless access to the world wide web in an integrated CDMA system

We propose a wireless access mechanism for web traffic packets in an integrated wireless code-division multiple-access system that has both voice and Web traffic. The proposed scheme is a medium-access control layer/link layer (MAC/LL) scheduling algorithm that consists of a two level control: admission control and packet scheduling. The admission control restricts the number of users in the system such that quality-of-service requirements [target signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) and delay] for both voice and Web traffic can be met. The packet scheduling balances the system interference on a slot-by-slot basis such that the target SIRs can be achieved for all users (voice and Web browsing sessions) with a higher scheduling priority for voice. Designing admission control for Web users based on the average offered rate per session is difficult due to the high variations in the offered load generated by heavy tailed distributions for Web traffic. To overcome this problem, we propose an admission control algorithm that adaptively estimates the aggregate average load based on load measurements using a sliding observation window.

Method and apparatus for providing active help to a user of a voice-enabled application

A voice-enabled application, which may be a voice browser, is configured to provide active help to a user. The application maintains a usage history of each user with respect to dialog states. The usage history includes various user-specific variables, some of which are valid across multiple sessions. The application maintains a number of active help prompts capable of being played to a user as speech, each containing information on a different, specific help topic. The application further maintains a number of sets of conditions, each set corresponding to a different one of the active help prompts. The application monitors dialog states during a session of a user and generates an event based on the dialog states. The application applies certain ones of the conditions to certain ones of the user-specific variables in response to the event. The application then plays a active help prompt containing information on a specific help topic to the user if the applied conditions are satisfied.

Web Site Design for the Disabled: Issues for Human Factors Practitioners

Enhancing sites for accessibility allows disabled customers to interact effectively with web products using screen readers, voice browsers, TTY, etc. Human Factors practitioners must address several issues: obtaining a fundamental understanding of the various types of disabilities and the implications for design and testing, learning how to apply the Section 508 standards to design accessible web sites, and deciding on an approach to integrate accessibility compliance efforts into the product design and development process.

WIRE 3 : Driving Around the Information Super-Highway

Interactive voice browsers offer an alternative paradigm that affords ubiquitous mobile access to the WWW using a wide range of consumer devices. This technology can facilitate a safe, “hands-free” browsing environment that is of importance both to car drivers and various mobile and technical professionals. This paper describes the challenges of architecting an interactive voice browser that combines digital audio with the features of a speech synthesizer to make structural elements of the document explicit to the listener. The aesthetics of the audio rendition can simultaneously help reduce the monotony factor and enhance comprehension. The evolution of the voice browser gave rise to a new conceptual model of the HTML document structure and its mapping to a 3D audio space. A number of novel features are discussed for improving both the user’s comprehension of the HTML document structure and their orientation within it. These factors, in turn, can improve the effectiveness of the browsing experience.

Enhancing Web accessibility via the Vox Portal and a Web-hosted dynamic HTML⋚VoxML converter

Interactive voice browsers offer an alternative paradigm that enables both sighted and visually impaired users to access the World Wide Web. In addition to the desktop PC, voice browsers afford ubiquitous mobile access to the World Wide Web using a wide range of consumer devices. This technology can facilitate a safe, ‘hands-free’ browsing environment which is of importance both to car drivers and various mobile and technical professionals. By providing voice-mediated access, information providers can reach a wider audience and leverage existing investment in their World Wide Web content. In this paper we describe the Vox Portal, a scaleable VoxML client, and a World Wide Web Server-hosted dynamic HTML⋚VoxML converter.