TOI Unity 5.0 Voice User Interface (VUI)

1. TOI Unity 5.0 Voice User Interface (VUI)

2. TOI Unity 5.0 Voice User Interface (VUI) • Jason Swager • UCBU Unity Developer • jswager@cisco.com

3. Module Introduction • This module will cover some aspects of the Unity 5.0 Voice User Interface (VUI) features (“press-or-say” and “VUI Address Searcher”) and some of the possible issues that may occur when using those features. It is assumed that the reader has already read the FFS/FSD on the features; this TOI is not covering the general nature of the features. Hopefully, the information contained in this document will help use, troubleshoot or explain VUI issues.

4. Module Objectives • After completing this module you will be able to: • Install and configure VUI in Unity 5.0 • Quick overview of “Press-or-say” and “VUI Address Searcher” • Troubleshoot simple VUI issues

5. VUI Installation and Configuration

6. Installation General • The VUI install program is located in the UnityVoiceRecognitionSetup folder on the Unity DVD. The setup program is called setup.exe. • The same setup program is used to install the Voice Recognition sofate onto both the Unity server and the Nuance server. The presence of Unity (or lack of thereof) determines that the setup program will install. • Recommended install process is to install on the Nuance server first, install on the Unity server second.

7. Installation (cont.) Nuance server • Running the Voice Recognition Setup program on the Nuance server will install the CuVrt server and the Nuance voice engine. • A reboot is required after the installation. • After the reboot, the Nuance Watcher Daemon service (watcher-daemon-win32-service.exe process) and the CuVrt service should both be running. • Note the IP address of the Nuance server; it will be needed during Unity VUI configuration.

8. Installation (cont.) Unity server • Unity must be fully installed before running the Voice Recognition Setup. • Only CuVrt is installed on the Unity system; very minimal space requirements, so the default location should be fine. • A reboot is not normally required after installation. Typically, the setup program will not ask for a reboot. • After running the install, the CuVrt service should be running.

9. Configuration Unity server • Both Unity and the Voice Recognition Setup must be fully installed. Unity should already be running and properly configured. • From the SA, select “Voice Recognition” under the System portion of the navigation bar. Screen should look like this:

10. Configuration (cont.) Unity server • Fill in the IP address of the Nuance server • Leave the socket port value alone. • Save the data. A pop-up window should appear saying “As the grammar engine IP address has changed, consider initiating a manual update.” Hit OK. • Click the “Start Manual Update” button. This will initiate a connection between the Unity and Nuance servers, transmit the updated Nuance license file and the initial name grammars to the Nuance server. • Wait 15 minutes for Nuance to process the newly received license files, restart its services and process the initial name grammars. • All done

11. Quick overview of VUI features: “Press-or-say” and “VUI Address Searcher”

12. Quick Overview of VUI Features General • VUI features are enabled on a per-user basis. • VUI features are dependant of the availability of a Nuance session. If the Nuance sessions are maxed out; new callers will not get VUI feature enable one of the sessions is closed. Sessions are closed at the end of a call. • If VUI is active, a caller should hear “Voice recognition is enabled” or “Voice ready” after the “Hello” prompt if the call supports VUI.

13. Quick Overview of VUI Features (cont.) “Press-or-say” • The feature is designed to accept spoken DTMF rather than pressed DTMF. Instead of pressing “1”, you say “one.” • In general, the feature is available to a properly configured subscriber in any portion of the any authenticated conversation. It is not available to outside callers or non-authenticated subscriber conversations. • “Barge-in” or “cut-through” (saying something while a prompt is being played), is supported.

14. Quick Overview of VUI Features (cont.) “VUI Address Searcher” • When enabled, the user can say the name of a person, public distribution group or private distribution group instead of spelling it. • During the “Say the name…” prompt, a user may also spell the name of the entity via DTMF. The press-or-say feature is disabled during the “Say the name…” prompt so you cannot spell the name via spoken DTMF. • During the “Say the name…” prompt, user needs to say the name in the same order (first-last, last-first) as they would spell it. Unity uses the subscriber’s spelling order (first-last, last-first) for spoken name entry.

15. Quick Overview of VUI Features (cont.) “VUI Address Searcher” • Subscriber’s now support Alternate Names. Common nicknames and English-equivalent spellings can be entered here. Automatic nickname support (like what Connection has) is not supported.

16. Troubleshooting simple VUI issues

17. Troubleshooting simple VUI issues General • The majority of VUI troubleshooting can be performed via the Port Status Monitor or AvCsMgr diagnostics. • Need full Phrase Server to Monitor traces enabled. • If possible, use one of the newer Port Status Monitor tools; they can resolve prompt names to the text. Makes troubleshooting much easier. • When a VUI problem is reported – first ensure that the problematic subscriber has VUI enabled. • When a VUI problem is reported – make sure that the problematic call had VUI enabled.

18. Troubleshooting simple VUI issues (cont.) General • Background noise (fans, chairs squeaking, co-workers in your office talking, you talking to someone else) can cause recognition failures. Try to eliminate background noise if possible. • Not all devices (handset, speakerphone, headset, cell phones) will have the same audio qualities. If one consistently fails, try a better one. Handsets are usually best. • If recognition is failing on a cell phone, try a wired phone. Cell phones can have skips, breaks and static that can disrupt recognition.

19. Troubleshooting simple VUI issues (cont.) General • Speaking too fast – or too slow – can cause recognition failures. • Not all accents can be recognized. • Sometimes, Unity will recognize what you said, but it will recognize something undesired with a higher confidence score. Use Port Status Monitor to determine these cases.

20. Troubleshooting simple VUI issues (cont.) Port Status Monitor • Unity now outputs Conversation lines that show the speech results. • The line will contain the keyword “SPEECH” • The line will contain an “Input” value – the recognized text of the utterance. • The line will contain a “Meaning” value – this is used by Unity to determine what the speech utterance meant. • Use Port Status Monitor output to determine what Unity thought it heard. • If Unity recognized what you said (regardless of whether it was correct or not), it should appear in the Port Status Monitor. If nothing appears, then nothing was recognized.

21. Troubleshooting simple VUI issues (cont.) • Sample “press-or-say” • POS digits gets converted to a real digit.

22. Troubleshooting simple VUI issues (cont.) • Sample “press-or-say” failure; notice ConvUtilsNoSpeech jump.

23. Troubleshooting simple VUI issues (cont.) • Sample “VUI Address Searcher” • “Meaning” is the Unity object GUID

24. Troubleshooting simple VUI issues (cont.) • Sample “VUI Address Searcher” failure; notice the SPEECH_NOMATCH_EVENT event

25. Troubleshooting simple VUI issues (cont.) “Press-or-say” caveats • “Speak-ahead” - the spoken equivalent of DTMF “type-ahead” – is not supported. For example, a user can change menu types by pressing [423] via DTMF at the subscriber main menu. However, the user could not say “four two three” at the main menu and get the same result. They would have say “four”, wait for the next menu to begin, say” two”, wait for the next menu to begin, say “three”. • Invalid selection – normally, when a user presses the wrong DTMF, they can press the correct DTMF while the “I did not understand…” prompt is playing. With the “press-or-say” feature, this cannot be done. The user must wait for the “I did not undersatnd…” prompt to finish playing before speaking.

26. Troubleshooting simple VUI issues (cont.) “Unity didn’t hear the digit I said” • Make sure the user said an acceptable digit sequence at an acceptable menu (see previous caveats). Use Port Status Monitor to check. • Did the user pause too long between saying digits? Use Port Status Monitor to check. • Did Unity recognize multiple digit sequences (one valid, one or more invalid)? Use Port Status Monitor to check.

27. Troubleshooting simple VUI issues (cont.) “Unity didn’t hear the name I said.” • Did the user say the name in the right sequence in regards to first-last or last-first? • Did the user say the actual name that Unity expects? “Jeffery” may be the name in the database, but the user says “Jeff”. Add “Jeff” to the subscriber’s Alternate Names. • Was the name non-English? “Goulet” won’t recognize by default, but you can add the English-ified “Goolay” to the subscriber’s Alternate Names for better recognition.

28. Troubleshooting simple VUI issues (cont.) “Unity didn’t hear the name I said” • If the name was recently changed (in the last 24 hours), Unity may not yet have provided the updated name grammars to Nuance. This occurs at 1AM by default, but it can be changed. • An immediate update of all names can be done by clicking the “Start Manual Update” on the Voice Recognition page of the Unity SA. NOTE: There is a performance impact while the names are being built. Read the docs for a better understanding of when manual updating should be performed.

29. Insert relevant resources for your students that provide access to additional information, updates and communities of interest For Further Information • ECDS – FFS docs • http://wwwin-eng.cisco.com/Eng/ECSBU/Unity4x_Product_Team/SW_Specs/WOO/ffs-touch-or-say.doc • http://wwwin-eng.cisco.com/Eng/ECSBU/Unity4x_Product_Team/SW_Specs/WOO/ffs-vui-address-searcher.doc • http://wwwin-eng.cisco.com/Eng/ECSBU/Unity4x_Product_Team/SW_Specs/WOO/FFS-VUI_Server_Install.doc

30. Q&A