From: Paul Fernhout <pdfernhout@kurtz-fernhout.com>
Neil Scott wrote:
> The Archimedes Total Access System interface allows you to use your Palm
> Pilot to emulate the keyboard and mouse functions on a computer. It is
> surprisingly convenient to use since the keyboard and mouse functions
> are performed on the same device. It is very comfortable to use for
> doing text editing and making corrections. It is infinitely better than
> the twiddler.
Sounds interesting. Do you have a URL for this?
> IBM has demonstrated speech recognition on the Palm Pilot which means it
> is possible to talk, point, and make corrections from a single hand-held
> device.
I spent 18 months as one of the developers on this particular IBM
project. The Personal Speech Assistant is a neat device (IMHO). While I
still can't comment in detail on the device, in general the speech
recognition is not done on the Pilot itself -- rather it is done on an
add-on device which wraps around the Palm. Inside that box is a faster
processor. It does not support full dictation -- just command and
control of several hundred commands. For more details see:
http://www.pc.ibm.com/europe/pcnews/ibms_new_speech-enabled_device.html
http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/02/29/hand.hear.idg/index.html
The PSA is one of several initiatives IBM has in the pervasive computing
space.
[Note: I don't claim to speak for IBM -- these opinions are my own.]
Other companies like Lernout & Hauspie and Microsoft have recently
announced their own hand-held devices you can talk to as well (L&H's
does dictation, I believe Microsoft just does command and control).
Vendors like AT&T/Lucent have demonstrated devices that do speech
recognition (again with the Palm) using wireless link to a centralized
server.
Based on industry trends, and the exponential growth in computing power
/ cost, you can expect to see some amazing handheld things in handheld
speech products over the next decade. A dictation product like IBM's
ViaVoice or Dragon Dictate takes around 200 MIPS to run well (obviously
more is better). A modern low-power CPU like the StrongArm can do about
200 MIPS (and a pair of AAAs can run this at full speed for somewhere
around 1/2 an hour).
http://research.compaq.com/wrl/itsy/talk-ee380/sld019.htm A new version
of the StrongArm coming out in the next few months will do 600 MIPS on
on 1/2 the power (or 200 MIPS on 1/6 the power). So you can do the math
and see what will be available when as MIPS/Watt doubles every year or
so...
Still, it is a well known fact in the speech industry that getting that
last few percent of accuracy under varying acoustic conditions and
multiple speakers is a difficult problem. So, this is a still a very
hot area of research.
-Paul Fernhout
Kurtz-Fernhout Software
=========================================================
Developers of custom software and educational simulations
Creators of the Garden with Insight(TM) garden simulator
http://www.kurtz-fernhout.com
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