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Template-based framework for building VoiceXML application

Template-based framework for building VoiceXML application. Jonathan Law. Agenda. What is VoiceXML ? System overview Development platform Template-based Application Framework Design process Deployment platforms. What is VoiceXML ?. VoiceXML is an extension of XML

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Template-based framework for building VoiceXML application

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  1. Template-based framework for building VoiceXML application Jonathan Law

  2. Agenda • What is VoiceXML ? • System overview • Development platform • Template-based Application Framework • Design process • Deployment platforms

  3. What is VoiceXML ? • VoiceXML is an extension of XML • VoiceXML 1.0 is a specification of VoiceXML Forum • VoiceXML is a Web-based markup language for representing human-computer dialogs • VoiceXML leverages the Internet for voice application development and delivery • VoiceXML is not a universal solution to making web pages voice accessible

  4. History of VoiceXML ? It started back in 1995 with AT&T researchers VoiceXML combined Phone Markup Language (PML- AT&T & Lucent), SpeechML (IBM) and VoxML (Motorola) The founding companies are Lucent, IBM, Motorola and AT&T VoiceXML 1.0 came out in March 2000 and accepted by W3C in May 2000 VoiceXML 2.0 draft released in January 2001

  5. Voice-centric Devices

  6. Multi-Channel System Architecture

  7. Multi-Channel System Architecture

  8. IDE Tools IBM Voice Server and Apache Forum IBM Voice Server PHP Apache Web Server PHP PHP mySQL PHP

  9. Voice Web Architecture

  10. Development Platform Open source Apache Forum Products on Windows NT 4.0 • Web Server - Apache HTTP Server • Database - mySQL • Server Side Scripting - PHP • VoiceXML server - IBM ViaVoice SDK

  11. Design Objectives • Distinct layers architecture (presentation layer, business logic layer and data access layer) • Scalable architecture based on J2EE (enable vendor independence, RAD workflow process) • Abstract data access layer (allow easy plug-n-play for new data access channels) • Easy of use and user-friendly (separate designer and programmer skill sets) • Abstract execution environment (allow multiple-content to multiple devices)

  12. VoiceXML Essentials • Each application has one or more VoiceXML documents • Each document has one or more dialogs • Each dialog can be either informational or interactive • Informational - prompts • Interactive - requests and responses

  13. Basic Elements • <vxml> - root element • <form> - define interactive or informational dialog • <block> - container for executable elements • <audio> - play audio file or synthesized speech (TTS) • <goto> - navigates to another dialog block

  14. Simple VoiceXML application The elements are arranged in a nested hierarchy according to the specification of VoiceXML DTD v 1.0 <vxml> <form> <block> <audio> welcome to Pace University Speech Lab </audio> </block> <form> </vxml>

  15. Template-based Application Framework Benefits • Ease of use, easy to understand • Short learning curve • Proven Apache Forum shareware • Based on J2EE standard, JSP compatible • Fast, Very Fast performance • Scalable, abstract architecture • Reusable component • Abstract execution environment • Flexible delivery system to multiple devices

  16. Template-based Application Framework Components Framework contains 6 modules • Resources - resource bundles, config files • Prompts - pre- recorded wave files, text for prompts • Grammars - grammars files • Templates - dialog designs • Includes - sources code, common • Common - XML DTD, DB abstract, generic codes

  17. Application Framework Design Classic Software Design Paradigm • Model - manages the behavior View, responds to request, and instruction to change state • View - manages the outputs • Controller - Interpret input from user, command the model and change the view as appropriate Model View Controller

  18. Application Framework mapping Model Controller View

  19. Implementation Process • Dialog Design • Pre-recorded or TTS • Build VXML component • speech objects • define grammar • Map dialog with contents from DB tables • build API for data retrieval • Apply Business Logic • map dynamic and static contents • Unit testing via browser using PHP • call up each component through URL • System Integration in VXML platforms

  20. Dialog DesignBasic Call Flow Control • A Voice application is a collection of dialogs. • The interpreter navigates from dialog to dialog in document source order. • A dialog is referenced via the value of its id attribute. • The id of each dialog within a document should be unique. • The URL consists of a hash symbol (#) followed by the value of the <form> element’s id attribute. • Outside the document, the URL consists of the absolute or relative HTTP path to the document

  21. Dialog DesignBasic Call Flow Control example <!-- action1.vxml --> <vxml> <form id=“say_hello”> <block> <audio> Welcome to Pace U</audio> <goto next=“#do_next”/> </block> </form> <form id=“do_next”> <block> <goto next=“main.vxml#goodbye”/> </block> </form> </vxml> <!-- main.vxml --> <vxml> <form id=“main”> <block> <goto next=“action1.vxml#say_hello”/> </block> </form> <form id=“goodbye”> <block> <audio>Good Bye</audio> <goto next=“_home”/> </block> </form> </vxml>

  22. Dialog DesignCompare Audio and TTS Pre-recorder Audio Text-To-Speech Resource Large Small Vocabulary Small Unlimited Intelligibility High Highly Intelligible Voice Quality Natural Pleasant Mechanical Voice Customizability Must re-record Unlimited Cost Expensive Negligible Flexibility None Unlimited vocabulary

  23. Build VXML componentsA simple dialog template <form id="login"> <field name="userid"> {USERID_GRAMMAR} {USERID_PROMPT} <noinput count="1"> <reprompt/> </noinput> </field> <field name="password"> {USERPWD_GRAMMAR} {USERPWD_PROMPT} <filled> <assign name="application.userid" expr="userid"/> <submit next=”{GOTO_PAGE}" namelist=”{GOTO_PARAMETERS}"/> </filled> </field> </form>

  24. Build VXML componentsDefine Prompts and Grammars Example of a prompt file for US_EN <?php $USERID_PROMPT='<prompt><audio>Please say your six digit user ID.</audio></prompt>'; $USERPWD_PROMPT='<prompt><audio>Say your four digit password.</audio></prompt>'; $MENU_USERID_INVALID_PROMPT='<prompt><audio>That user ID does not exist. Login again.</audio></prompt>'; $MENU_USERPWD_INVALID_PROMPT='<prompt><audio>That password is incorrect. Login again.</audio></prompt>'; ?>

  25. Build VXML componentsDefine Grammars <?php $USERID_GRAMMAR='src=builtin:grammar/digits?length={USERID_LENGTH}"></grammar>’; $USERPWD_GRAMMAR=src=builtin:grammar/digits?length={USERPWD_LENGTH}"></grammar>’; ?>

  26. Integrate into Application Template Framework <?php include "includes/class.FastTemplate.php"; include "includes/common.php"; include "includes/functions.php"; include "includes/abstractdatabase.php"; # to have language specific prompts, and grammars include (RESOURCES_DIR . "/login_" . LANGUAGE . ".php"); Common Include files Configurations $db = new db(); $db->open(DATABASE, HOST, USER, PASSWORD); # create a new query object $q = new query($db); Database Abstract

  27. Apply Business Logic # any thing that you want to do at the beginning of the page common all pages. pageStart(); # don't really need to declare as global since there are # no functions using $tpl global $tpl; # initialize FastTemplace class $tpl = new FastTemplate(TEMPLATE_DIR); $tpl->define(array("main" => "main.tpl", "login" => "login.tpl")); $tpl->assign(array("USERID_LENGTH" => LOGIN_ID_LENGTH, "USERPWD_LENGTH" => LOGIN_PASSWORD_LENGTH, "USERID_PROMPT" => $USERID_PROMPT, "USERPWD_PROMPT" => $USERPWD_PROMPT, "LOGIN_GRAMMAR" => createLoginGrammar(LOGIN_ID_LENGTH), "PASSWORD_GRAMMAR" => createPasswordGrammar(LOGIN_PASSWORD_LENGTH))); template mappings Variables substitution

  28. Apply Business Logic cont. # doing a search and replace here # variable CONTENT will get the value of the list template after the search and replace $tpl->parse("CONTENT", "login"); # variable MAIN will get the value of the main template # NOTE how the CONTENT variable assigned in the previous instruction gets replaced in the template. $tpl->parse("MAIN", "main"); #print out the last variable: MAIN $tpl->FastPrint(); # any thing that you want to do at the end of the page common to # all pages pageEnd();

  29. Unit Testing via browser Login.php

  30. VoiceXML Application Tools • BeVocal Café, BeVocal, Inc. • http://café.bevocal.com • WebSphere Voice Server SDK, IBM Corp. • http://www.ibm.com/software/speech/enterprise/ep_11.html • Mobile ADK, Motorola, Inc. • http://mix.motorola.com/audiences/developers/madk_intro_dev.asp • V-Builder, Nuances Communication • http://extranet.nuance.com/developer • Tellme Studio, Tellme Networks, Inc • http://studio.tellme.com • VoiceGenie Dev. Workshop • http://developer.voicegenie.com • voxeo community, voxeo Corporation • http://community.voxeo.com

  31. Application Tools References • Apache Software Foundation • http://www.apache.org • VoiceXML Forum • http://www.voicexml.org • IBM VoiceXML Resources • http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/voicexml • PHP • http://www.php.net • mySQL • http://www.mysql.com

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