VoiceXML Web Browser Dissertation Proposal Pierre Naquin
VoiceXML Web Browser Dissertation Proposal Pierre Naquin 21/04/2004
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VoiceXML Web Browser Dissertation Proposal Pierre Naquin
Table of Content Abstract.............................................................................................................. 3 Introduction: .................................................................................................... 3 Functionalities of the project: .............................................................................. 3 Objectives .......................................................................................................... 3 Skills improvement:........................................................................................... 4 Developing: ...................................................................................................... 4 Methods.............................................................................................................. 4 Research:......................................................................................................... 4 Technical choices and platforms: ......................................................................... 4 Extra: .............................................................................................................. 4 Resources........................................................................................................... 4 Information resources:....................................................................................... 4 Hardware resources:.......................................................................................... 5 Software resources:........................................................................................... 5 Schedule............................................................................................................. 6 Gantt Diagram: ................................................................................................. 6 Planning: ......................................................................................................... 7 Referencing/Bibliography .................................................................................. 8 VoiceXML: ........................................................................................................ 8 HTML:.............................................................................................................. 8 HTTP: .............................................................................................................. 8 Regular Expressions: ......................................................................................... 8 Perl: ................................................................................................................ 8
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VoiceXML Web Browser Dissertation Proposal Pierre Naquin
Abstract Introduction: My dissertation will focus on the realisation of a VoiceXML Web Browser. Internet wants to be more and more accessible to everybody... ...but not everybody has a computer at home. More and more solutions exists to provide access to Internet through equipments that are not computer such as TV sets, mobile phones,... But, wouldn’t it be great to be able to browse the Internet using a simple phone set, not necessarily a mobile phone? Wouldn’t it be great not to have to wait the computer to wake up, the computer to launch the web browser, the computer to reach the web site... but instead just pick the phone and ask for a specific website? We will try to do so...! This project will require some skills from some subjects studied in Oxford Brookes University but will use them in an original way: • VoiceXML and SGRS (the VoiceXML grammar), • CGI languages as PERL or Java, • Basis of the Database area (SQL), • HCI, as the main point of the project is to build an efficient voice interface. I will only implement transformations for the basis of HTML as this project already requires lots of work.
Functionalities of the project: • •
•
•
Trace Java Applet: enables debugging, o Check the log file and print it in a window, o Research in the log for a special connection or a special user. Web based configuration system: enables user configuration utility, o Setting Home Page, o Managing Favorites, o Managing special quick facilities for specific favorites websites, o Enables/Disables fast link forwarding, o Preferences settings for HTML to VoiceXML transformation, o ... HTML to VoiceXML translator: transforms HTML tags into VoiceXML that can be processed by a speech engine, o Recognition of HTML tags and act in the most efficient way for an efficient and easy understanding by the user. VoiceXML interface: enables the user to do the basic things asked to a web browser, o Access to a web page, o Back and Next facilities, o Go to Home Page, o Add a page to the Favorites, o ...
Objectives I have several objectives while choosing this project. They can be separates in two categories:
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VoiceXML Web Browser Dissertation Proposal Pierre Naquin
Skills improvement: • • • • •
Improve my skills in VoiceXML, Improve my skills in HCI by building an efficient voice interface, Improve my skills in CGI languages, Learn a little bit of Java, Acquire a “specialisation” in a relatively “new” area of computing.
Developing: • •
Push further the development of new kind of VoiceXML hosted application, To develop new kinds of efficient voice interfaces.
Methods Research: A quick research for any development of a Web Browser using VoiceXML has been totally unsuccessful. A longer research for “already done” work on the subject has to be done. For my research I have to focus on two aspects: • VoiceXML and its grammar (SGRS), • HTML efficient interpretation to be able to quickly interpret the structure of any HTML document using a CGI language like Perl (regular expressions).
Technical choices and platforms: I’ve chosen to use Perl as the main development language because of the strong string facilities of this language throw regular expressions that are built in the language. I need an HTTP server to be able to deal with requests for VoiceXML files. For this I will choose the world famous Apache Web Server because a lot of information can be founded on it, because I already know a little about it and because and because it is free. I will run the server on my own machine that is a Pentium PC running Windows, but it can easily be run on any computer (Mac or PC, running Windows or UNIX/Linux).
Extra: To help me on the programming part I plan to use two facilities: • Specialised companies in VoiceXML Hosting (eloquant.com) and their Research Teams, • An open-source work group (sourceforge.net). These two facilities are not essential to the project but may be a great help for the developing part as well as being an opportunity to offer a “future” to this project (further development or commercial use).
Resources There are three (3) different types of resources that I will use to build my dissertation and therefore my project:
Information resources: To help me in the realisation of my project, I will use materials on three • HTML interpretation, • VoiceXML and it’s grammar (SGRS),
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subjects:
VoiceXML Web Browser Dissertation Proposal Pierre Naquin
•
CGI languages (PERL, Java
(?),
especially on regular expressions (tag recognition).
Hardware resources: • •
During the development time: o A simple computer running as a Web Server. During the testing time: o For the testing it may be very useful to work with a VoiceXML hosting company to be able to test the application using real voice.
Software resources: •
•
During the development time: o An Apache Web Server, o A (may be optional) MySQL Database, o The ActivePerl Package, o A (may be optional) Java Compiler, o A good Text Editor (UltraEdit). During the testing time: o Here too, the VoiceXML hosting company has their hardware and software!
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VoiceXML Web Browser Dissertation Proposal Pierre Naquin
Schedule Gantt Diagram: “A Gantt chart is a popular type of bar chart, showing the interrelationships of how projects, schedules, and other time related systems progress over time” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gantt_chart/). This diagram will show what is needed for what. The planning in the next paragraph will show how I’ll organize my time to succeed in finishing the project.
The ● has to be considered as critical by opposition to the ●.
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VoiceXML Web Browser Dissertation Proposal Pierre Naquin
Planning: The following planning will show how I plan to organise my time starting from the end of Term 2 to the fateful date of the 20 of September.
Dates Sept. 6 to 17 August 23 to Sept. 3 August 16 to 20 August 9 to 13 ——— August 2 to 6 July 26 to 30 July 19 to 23 June 28 to July 16 June 21 to 25 May 31 to June 18 May 24 to 28 May 17 to 21 May 10 to 14 April 26 to May 7 April 5 to 23 March 28 to April 2 March 22 to 26
Week(s) Description 2 Re-reading and lasts modifications on the documentation 2 Final documentation writing 1 Last improvements on the project 1 Communication around the project: PR work 1 Creation of a visual identity for the project Testing 1 1 Building everything together 3 Work on the voice interface 1 Arg! Exams! Work on the HMTL to VoiceXML transformation 3 1 Creation of databases and web-based preferences editing tools 1 Creation of debug utilities 1 Brainstorming on efficient voice oriented browser interface Research on VoiceXML implementation 2 Research on HTML recognition and understanding 3 ● Contacts with companies 1 ● Presentation of the project on the sourceforge.net working group 1 Lauching of the project! : Critical : Non-critical
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VoiceXML Web Browser Dissertation Proposal Pierre Naquin
Referencing/Bibliography VoiceXML: • • •
Mark Green Teaching Material David Duce Teaching Material W3C VoiceXML Recommendation 2.0
•
VoiceXML Forum Organisation and website
•
VoiceXML Forum Tutorials
•
Eloquant SA Developer Section (french)
•
W3C Speech Recognition Grammar Specification 1.0 (SRGS)
•
W3C Speech Synthesis Markup Language 1.0 (SSML)
•
VoiceXML Tutorial by “Gazi” from the Faculty of Informatics in the Czech Republic
•
Getting Started with VoiceXML 2.0 by Dave Raggett form the W3C
•
VoiceXML Tutorial by BeVocal Café
•
Developing VoiceXML Applications by ibm/developerWorks
(w3.org/voice/) (voicexmlforum.org)
(voicexmlforum.org/tutorials/) (eloquant.com/dev.html)
(w3.org/TR/speech-grammar/)
(w3.org/TR/speech-synthesis/) (fi.muni.cz/~gazi/voicexml/) (w3.org/voice/guide/)
(cafe.bevocal.com/docs/tutorial/)
(cavi.univ-paris3.fr/ilpga/ed/ednews/voice-xml.pdf)
HTML: •
HTML Quick Reference Guide by DevGuru
• • •
HTML Reference by WebExpert (french) HTML Quick Reference by Jennifer Niederst form O’Reilly HTML Tidy Library Project initialised by Dave Raggett and maintained by a sourceforge dedicated team
•
W3C HTML 4.0 Specification
•
HTML Reference by allhtml.com (french)
(devguru.com/technologies/html/quickref/html_intro.html)
(tidy.sourceforge.net)
(w3.org/TR/1998/REC-html40-19980424/) (allhtml.com/html/)
HTTP: •
HTTP Made Really Easy by James Marshall (jmarshall.com/easy/http/)
Regular Expressions: •
How to Use Regular Expressions by Marck D. Pearlstone from The Bat!
•
Regular Expressions Tutorial by Zytrax Inc.
• •
Mastering Regular Expressions by Jeffrey E. F. Friedl from O’Reilly Chapter on Regular Expressions from Learning Java by Patrick Neimeyer and Jonathan Kundsen from O’Reilly
(silverstones.com/thebat/regex.html) (linuxpwg.org/lessons/regex.htm)
Perl: • •
Programming Perl by Larry Wall, Tom Christiansen and Randal L. Schwartz from O’Reilly Learning Perl by Randal L. Schwartz and Tom Phoenix from O’Reilly
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VoiceXML Web Browser Dissertation Proposal Pierre Naquin
• • •
Advanced Perl Programming by Sriram Srinivasan from O’Reilly Perl Quick Reference by Johan Vromans from O’Reilly Perl Guide by allhtml.com (french)
•
The Perl Directory Online Documentation
•
The Perl Directory Community
•
The PerlDoc.com Perl 5.8.0 Documentation
•
Introduction to Perl by labo-unix.org (french)
(allhtml.com/perl/)
(perl.org/docs.html)
(perl.org/community.html) (perldoc.com)
(labo-unix.org/index.html?section=Programmation&fichier=992-perl_intro.html)
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