IBM Aptiva M41
(250-0442) IBM VoiceType Control Faxback Doc. # 17840
Getting Started with Voice Manager
Copyright IBM Corporation, 1994
IBM VoiceType Control for Windows Version 2 (VTC) is a speech recognition
application which allows you to navigate Windows 3.1 and execute commands
by simply speaking to your computer. VTC's Voice Manager listens to your
voice commands and tells the computer what to do.
This README document is organized into two sections. The first offers the
new user a short introduction to using and getting started with Voice
Manager. The second section is a series of Important Notes on the usage of
Voice Manager. Please review both sections.
Using Voice Manager
1. If not already started, select the Voice Manager icon. Be sure your
microphone is turned on.
2. Voice Manager adjusts itself for your microphone and sound card when
you start it. Press the Record button and say, "This is how I speak to
my computer" into the microphone, and then choose the OK button.
3. You can start speaking when the Voice Manager status is
Microphone ON (green)
When Voice Manager hears your voice it shows
Listening (purple)
4. Examples of things you can say:
always on top (The Voice Manager window will stay on top of other
windows)
what can I say (Two windows appear:
-- Voice Manager Commands
-- Always Active Commands)
where can I go (A list of the programs you can use with Voice Manager
appears)
Saying the following phrases, one at a time in the order listed, will start
the Notepad program and open a file:
switch to notepad (Notepad starts)
file open (File open dialog)
drive charlie (Drive C is selected)
directories (Directory List has focus)
move down 3 (Move to directory)
enter (Select directory)
file name list (Selects file name list box)
move down 4 (Select file)
ok (Choose file)
close notepad (Closes Notepad)
The following phrases start the Clock program and change the display
from analog to digital:
start clock (Clock starts)
digital (Switches clock to digital)
show seconds (Seconds are added to display)
close clock (Closes the Clock program)
The following phrases start the calculator and perform a simple
calculation:
switch to calculator (Calculator starts)
one million five hundred thirty (1000530 appears)
plus
seven thousand six hundred (7600 appears)
equals (1008130 appears)
four plus sixteen equals (20 appears)
one five plus six one equals (76 appears)
close calculator (Closes the Calculator program)
NOTE: Do NOT insert "and" when saying numbers: Say five hundred thirty.
Wrong numbers or words may appear if you say five hundred and
thirty.
5. To use programs other than the Windows desktop applets:
a. Say: where can I go
The Where Can I Go list gets the focus.
b. Say: move down <1 to 20>
Highlight the program you want to use.
c. Say: modify program
The Modify Program Properties dialog appears.
d. Add the path information in the Command Line field.
You can find the path information from the Windows Program Manager in the
Properties dialog. The Properties dialog shows the path and optional
working directory information. Follow these steps:
switch to Program Manager (Program Manager becomes active)
open Main group (The Main group gets the focus)
* next group (Say this repeatedly, until the group for your
program is selected. Later, you'll be able
to teach Voice Manager the names of your
program groups.)
open group (The program group opens)
* next icon (Say this until the icon for your program is
selected.)
properties (The Properties dialog opens)
next field (The Command Line text is selected)
copy to clipboard (The text is copied to the clipboard)
cancel (The Properties dialog closes)
Where Can I Go? (The Modify Program Properties dialog becomes
active)
next field (The Command Line field is selected)
paste from clipboard (The text from the Program Manager is pasted
from the clipboard)
* It might be easier to do these two steps with the mouse. You can always
freely intermix mouse and keyboard commands with Voice Manager commands.
e. Say: ok
Important Notes on Using IBM VoiceType Control
Reducing Required Disk Space
If you would like to reduce the amount of disk space required by VoiceType
Control, you can delete all of the *.wav files from your VoiceType Control
directory. These files are only needed the first time you run VoiceType
Control.
Which application is receiving my voice commands?
When talking to Voice Manager, the active program is the one you speak to.
Its title bar is highlighted, and the Voice Manager program specific
Commands window has the program's name in its title.
Recognition accuracy and 8-bit sound cards
The text <Pardon Me?> appears in the Voice Manager status display when
Voice Manager cannot recognize what you said. Our testing indicates that
using a 16-bit sound card results in much better recognition accuracy than
using an 8-bit card. If you have an 8-bit sound card such as the
SoundBlaster or SoundBlaster Pro and you have problems with recognition
accuracy you may want to consider upgrading to a 16-bit sound card.
Too many occurrences of <Pardon Me?>
Hints and tips to resolve the problem:
- The command you are saying is not appropriate to the program that
currently has the focus. Switch to the appropriate program and try
again.
- Speak distinctly and clearly. Pauses are not necessary. Try different
microphone positions to obtain best results.
- Select Configure on the Voice Manager window. Adjust the slider more
towards "Best Guess". This relaxes the screening for commands that
don't match. Also, select the Record button and say "This is how I
speak to my computer" to readjust the noise level.
- Use continuous digits (one four seven) instead of natural numbers (one
hundred forty seven) where appropriate.
Too many false recognitions
- Select Configure on the Voice Manager window. Adjust the slider more
towards "Exact Match".
- During background conversations on the phone or with visitors, say
go-to-sleep to make Voice Manager ignore commands. When the background
conversation is complete, say wake-up.
Unexpected "switch-to" behavior after Add Program or
Cannot start program after learning an active program
Some Windows applications have different start up names than the names used
once started. When Voice Manager encounters one of these applications one
of two symptoms appears. If after you perform an Add Program for an
application and you say switch to the new application a new instance of the
program is started instead of switching to an existing instance of the
program, you are experiencing the first symptom. To resolve this problem,
switch to the "Where Can I Go?" list, select the new application, and
perform "Learn Program". The other symptom is related to "learning" an
active program. If the new application cannot be started by voice command,
switch to the "Where Can I Go?" list, select the new application and
perform "Modify Program". Correct the start up program name on the Command
Line. The start up program name can be found by using the Program Manager
and using the File Properties function for the application's icon. After
correcting either of these items normal operation should resume.
Sound card utilities and applications
Most sound cards come with a set of utilities such as mixers and sound
recorders. While Voice Manager waits for you to speak, it controls the
sound card. Most of the time, if you try to start one of your sound card
utilities while Voice Manager is running, the utility displays an error
message which tells you that the sound card is in use. In some cases, you
may get results where Windows appears to freeze, or other unpredictable
results. In any case, you can solve this problem by adding your sound card
utilities to the Voice Manager program list, and telling Voice Manager that
the utility needs to use the sound card. Once you have done that, Voice
Manager will automatically release control of the sound card when you use
the utility program.
IBM ACPA/M-ACPA usage
If you are using Voice Manager with the IBM Audio Capture and Playback
Adapter (ACPA), there are a couple of potential problem areas.
Specifically, if you try to format a diskette, or install another product
while the Voice Manager is listening, you may get an intermittent system
failure. This may also happen if your screen saver starts while the Voice
Manager is listening. You can avoid this problem by turning the microphone
off in Voice Manager. We have not noticed this problem with any other
sound card that we tested.
Microsoft Word for Windows support
By default, Voice Manager supports Microsoft Word for Windows version 6.0.
Support for version 2.0 is available, but is not automatically recognized.
(This is because both Word 2.0 and Word 6.0 use the same executable program
name: winword.exe.) In order to use Word for Windows version 2.0 with
Voice Manager, follow these steps:
1. In File Manager, display the \voicemgr\map directory.
2. Locate the files winword.map and winword.ctx and rename them to
winword6.map and winword6.ctx respectively.
3. Locate the files winword2.map and winword2.ctx and rename them to
winword.map and winword.ctx respectively.
(CSC/all-09/14/95)
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