Troubleshooting

• Make sure the host variable is the correct machine name for the host you are actually running the Facilitator on.

• Try a different port number (larger than 2000) to see if it was simply the case that the port was already being used.

• Perhaps the format of the host is wrong (Quintus's TCP library does not accept all representations of host addresses). Try the following trick: set the host value to a Prolog variable (e.g. -oaa_host X -oaa_port 3366) and then start the Facilitator. If the Facilitator starts up correctly, note the exact name of the host printed by the Facilitator (in the example below, it's "trestle") and use exactly this value for oaa_host next time.

  Loading setup file: '/home/trestle2/cheyer/setup.pl'
   
  Listening on trestle port 3347
  Ready.
  

Solution 2:

2. Start-It

Problem:

% ./startit -noexpect ../office.config
Warning: locale not supported by Xlib, locale set to C
Warning: X locale modifiers not supported, using default
Segmentation fault (core dumped)

Solution:

Problem:

Solution:

• Start-It currently only supports a "csh" or "tcsh" user environment. It does not work when run from "sh".

• You must be able to rsh FROM the machine startit is running on, TO every machine which you will run things on, ==> INCLUDING the "from" machine itself (check the /etc/hosts.equiv file for this)

• make sure any info that needs to be in the user's environment, e.g. the $path variable, get set in the "interactive shell" portion of the user's .cshrc (i.e. outside of any checks for "$?prompt", or more explicitly, when "$?prompt" is allowed to be false) )

Problem:

Solution:

Example:

	setenv XUSERFILESEARCHPATH ./%N:/home/trestle4/OAA/demo/%N

3. Nuance Speech Recognition

3.1 Testing audio configuration

Be aware that there are two input sources on a Sun (mic and line) but that these are mutually exclusive (ie it's a toggle). If soundtool doesn't appear to hear you, this is probably the problem.

Once you have found ideal setting values for your audio configuration, you probably will want to make them permanent with respect to Nuance by storing them in ~/nuance-resources. This is described in a later section.

3.2 Creating and compiling a speech grammar

Setup environment

   setenv NUANCE /home/YourNuancePath
   source $NUANCE/SETUP

Create a grammar

Grammar files always end in a '.grammar' extension.

Remember that speech grammars are made up of NONTERMINALS (which start with a capital letter) and combinations of non-terminal vocabulary words.

   NON_TERM  (a b)    # means a AND b
   NON_TERM2 [a b]    # means a OR b
   NON_TERM3 ?a       # means optionally a
   NON_TERM3 *a       # means 0 or more occurrences of a
   NON_TERM4 +a       # means 1 or more occurrences of a

Special Non-Terminals starting with a '.' are called top-level Non-Terminals and provide the starting point of the tree to be recognized.

Here's a simple test grammar, in file 'test.grammar'.

   Statement    (testing [one two three])

   Question     (is this a ?great test)

   .TOP         [Statement Question]

Compile the grammar

   nuance-compile test ptm6

If a word in your grammar file is unknown in Nuance's default dictionary, the compile will print an error and put the word into a file called 'test.missing'. You should then create a file called 'test.dictionary' where you give the pronunciation for all missing words in 'test.grammar'. You must specify the pronunciation using using phonemes listed in the nuance manual (or in the ADT users manual). An easy way to figure out the pronunciations for a word is to look up pronunciations for words that sound similar using the command 'pronounce word'.

After a successful compilation, Nuance creates a directory named 'test' containing all the required files for speech recognition. This directory is now called a 'package'.

3.3 Testing grammar with Nuance tools

To test your grammar, try :

     sample-application -package ./test
                OR
     Xapp -package ./test

      testing one
      is this a great test
      is this a test
      testing two

        audio.InputSource       line    # may also be mic
        audio.InputVolume       200     # range 0-255
        audio.OutputVolume      200     # range 0-255
        client.WriteWaveforms   FALSE   # don't save utterances
        ep.EndSeconds           0.75    # end of speech silence wait
        rec.BacktraceFinalsOnly  TRUE   # only allow complete sentences
        config.ServerDebugWindow TRUE   # show server trace window

   Example: sample-application -package test audio.InputVolume=150

1.2.4 Testing OAA speech agent

First, of course, run a Facilitator.

Start srx using

   srx -rf srx.rf -package ./test

If Nuance complains about an incompatible version number, then the version of srx that you are not using is not compatible with the version of Nuance defined by your $NUANCE variable. Either:

1. You must obtain a version of srx that is compiled with the library files used by your current version of $NUANCE
2. You must obtain a version of Nuance that is compatible with your version of srx.

srx opens up an XWindows display which lets you test locally. Clicking on the NextGrammar button will cycle through all the top-level nonterminals in your grammar file. When you see one you like, press enter in the Do: textfield.

Pressing clickToTalk button will start recognition. Abort will abort recognition. You should set Trace to be On in the Edit menu.

You can also test speech recognition by sending speech solvables from another agent. For instance, from the XWindows oaa interface agent, you could try solve(recognize(X),[]) to start recognition.

4. Automated Office

4.1 Adding user bitmaps

Problem

Solution

[Configuration]
Use Mailtalk Agent=0
NumUsers=5
CurrentUser=1
 
[User Data]
LastName1=Cheyer
FirstName1=Adam
Picture1=C:\AGENT\BITMAPS\CHEYER.BMP
 
LastName2=Moran
FirstName2=Douglas
Picture2=C:\AGENT\BITMAPS\MORAN.BMP
 
LastName3=Martin
FirstName3=David
Picture3=C:\AGENT\BITMAPS\MARTIN.BMP
 
LastName4=Perrault
FirstName4=Raymond
Picture4=C:\AGENT\BITMAPS\PERRAULT.BMP
 
LastName5=Julia
FirstName5=Luc
Picture5=C:\AGENT\BITMAPS\JULIA.BMP
 
LastName6=
FirstName6=
Picture6=
 
LastName7=
FirstName7=
Picture7=
 
LastName8=
FirstName8=
Picture8=

5. Computerfone

Problem

Solution 1

If you don't know if your cable is a modem cable or null modem cable, try inserting a null modem into the connection chain (modem + null-modem = null-modem; null-modem + null-modem = modem).

Solution 2

Solution 3

For the Sun SPARCstation 10, see "Changing the Serial Port Jumpers" (pages 60-61) in the "Desktop SPARC Hardware Owner's Guide--December 1992".
For the Sun SPARCstation 20, see "Changing the RS423/232 Jumpers" (chapter 6; pages 24-27) in the "SPARCstation 20 Installation Guide").
In both the SS-10 and SS-20, the pair of jumpers that control this selection are labeled J0801 and J0802 and are located very close to the rear panel (requires some dexterity to switch the jumpers).
For the Sun Ultra, ****???