Lucent Technologies INTUITY CONVERSANT System Version 6.0 Guide

							INTUITY CONVERSANT System Version 6.0
Application Design Guidelines  
585-310-670  Issue 1.0
December 1996
Introduction to Voice Response Application Design 
Page 1-5 Important Terminology 
1
Important Terminology
It is a good  id ea to b ec ome familiar with the some of the terms and  c onc ep ts 
p resented in the rest of this b ook.  The list below is p rovid ed  to help  fac ilitate your 
familiarization.
announc ement Sp eec h played  b y the system to the c aller that informs, b ut 
d oes not instruc t the c aller to ac t.  Comp are to 
prompt.
ap plic ation The c omp uter p rog ram that d efines and  c ontrols the voic e 
response transac tion b etween the system and  the c aller.
barge-In The capability that allows callers to respond while a prompt 
is b eing  p layed .  This is similar to d ial throug h for touc h 
tones.
c aller The p erson who c alls for a servic e, g ets c onnec ted  to the 
system, and interac ts with an app lic ation.
c onnec ted -d ig it A sequenc e of d ig its sp oken b y a c aller without intentional 
or reg ular p auses in b etween d ig its.
d ial ahead The touc h-tone rec og nition c ap ab ility that allows the 
system to c ollec t touc h tones as they are entered  b y 
c allers, even b efore they are asked  for.  The touc h-tone 
input is then used in the order in whic h they were rec eived.  
This allows c allers to resp ond  to more than one p romp t at a 
time, without having to listen to the intermed iate p romp ts.
d ial throug h The touc h-tone c ap ab ility that allows c allers to resp ond  
while a prompt is being played.  The playback of speech 
c eases and  the ap p lic ation resp ond s to the key that was 
p ressed .  This is similar to b arg e-in for WholeWord  sp eec h 
rec ognition.  Also known as 
talk off.
fax The c apab ility that allows an ap p lic ation to send  stored  or 
d ynamically c reated  fax messag es at the caller’s request, 
or rec eive inc oming  faxes from the c aller.
Flex Word
 speech 
rec og nitionThe op tional system c ap ab ility that rec og nizes c allers 
spoken input based on matc hing caller speech to word 
models fashioned from representations of sub-words 
(phonemes), the smallest unit of sp eec h.
Flex Word
 Toolkit An op tional software p ac kag e that p rovid es a 
p oint-and -c lic k, grap hic al mec hanism for you to d efine 
c ustom list of word s for use with FlexWord  Sp eec h 
Rec og nition. 
						

							INTUITY CONVERSANT System Version 6.0
Application Design Guidelines  
585-310-670  Issue 1.0
December 1996
Introduction to Voice Response Application Design 
Page 1-6 Important Terminology 
1
g rammar The set of rules b y whic h speec h is rec og nized  b y 
WholeWord  sp eec h rec og nition.  For examp le, a Promp t & 
Collec t statement using  the US_1_5 g rammar will 
rec ognize the word s “ one,”  “ two,”  “ three,”  “ four,”  and  “ five”  
in US Eng lish.
Grap hic al Sp eec h 
Ed i t o rAn op tional software p ac kag e p rovid es a point-and -c lic k, 
g rap hic al mec hanism for you to rec ord  and  ed it p romp ts 
and  announc ements for use in your ap p lic ations.
key word One of the word s in a list of word s that the system is 
instruc ted  to rec ognize at a p artic ular p oint in the 
transac tion.
menu A p romp t that gives c allers a c hoic e of two or more op tions.  
For examp le, “ For sales, p ress or say 1.  For servic e, p ress 
or say 2.  For an attend ant, p ress or say 0.”
p hrase sc reening The speec h rec ognition c ap ab ility that d ec id es whether or 
not a c and idate key word  is a c lose enough matc h to b e 
d ec lared  a valid  key word .
Promp t & Collec t 
actionThe ac tion used  to p lay a p romp t to the c aller, ac c ep t the 
c aller’s resp onse, and  g o to the ap p rop riate p lac e in the 
ap p lic ation to proc ess the c aller’s req uest.
p romp t Sp eec h p layed  b y the system that instruc ts the c aller to 
enter information that is p art of a Promp t & Collec t ac tion.  
Comp are to 
Announc ement.
rec og nition The p roc ess within the system that c omp ares c aller sp eec h 
to internal mod els and returns a matc h to the ap p lic ation.
rec og nition typ e The c hoic es that are assoc iated  with the Rec og nition Typ e 
field  in the Promp t & Collec t ac tion form found  in the Sc rip t 
Builder program.  The values for recognition type, minimum 
number of digits, and maximum of digits work in 
c onjunc tion to allow the system to selec t a g rammar to b e 
used  for that rec og nition event.  See also 
grammar.
Sc rip t Build er An optional software p ac kag e that allows you to d efine and  
g enerate voic e resp onse ap p lic ations to run on the I
NTUITY 
C O N VERSA N T s y st e m .
sp eec h, c ustom The p art of the system sp eec h datab ase that inc ludes 
ap p lic ation-dep end ent, p rerec orded  sp eec h p hrases.
sp eec h, enhanc ed 
basicThe part of the system speech database that inc ludes 
prerecorded speech phrases corresponding to numbers, 
ord inal numb ers, d ays of the week, and  months of the year.  
Ap p lic ations use these p hrases to sp eak numb ers, 
amounts, dates, and  times in a natural-sound ing  way.
sp eec h, p rerec ord ed A promp t or announc ement that has been rec ord ed  b y a 
person. 
						

							INTUITY CONVERSANT System Version 6.0
Application Design Guidelines  
585-310-670  Issue 1.0
December 1996
Introduction to Voice Response Application Design 
Page 1-7 Important Terminology 
1
sub stitution error An error mad e b y the FlexWord  speec h rec og nition 
software where it mistakes one word  for another.
talk off See 
dial throug h.
Text-to-Speec h An op tional software p ac kag e that c onverts ASCII text into 
sp oken, c omp uter-g enerated  p romp ts and 
announc ements.  This pac kag e is supp orted  for the US 
Eng lish lang uag e only.
touc h-tone The sig nal sent when a c aller p resses any of the 12 keys on 
a p ush-b utton telep hone that send s d ual tones rather than 
rotary p ulses.
transac tion  The exc hang e of information b etween the c aller and  an 
ap p lic ation.  In a typic al transac tion, the c aller d ials in to or 
g ets transferred  to the system, then the system answers 
and  plays a g reeting .  The c aller enters information in 
response to sp oken p romp ts and  the system sp eaks 
information b ac k until the interac tion is c omp lete.  See also 
application.
usability The system q uality that reflec ts whether or not c allers c an 
learn and  use the features suc c essfully.  A system with 
hig h usab ility is c alled  
easy to use, or usable.
user Interfac e The asp ec t of the app lic ation with whic h c allers interac t; 
inc lud es p romp ts and announc ements from the system to 
whic h c allers resp ond  using  touc h-tone or sp eec h.
voc abulary The set of wordlists assoc iated with a partic ular FlexWord 
application.
WholeWord  speec h 
rec og nitionThe op tional system c ap ab ility that rec og nizes the 
lang uag e-sp ec ific  word s (and  c ommon synonyms) for the 
d ig its 0 throug h 9.  Rec og nition is b ased  on matc hing  
c aller sp eec h to word  mod els fashioned  from many 
samp les of p eop le saying  eac h entire, 
whole word .
word A FlexWord  sp eec h rec og nition voc ab ulary item c onsisting  
of either a sing le word  or a p hrase of several word s.
word spotting The speech recognition capability that allows the system to 
p ic k out key word s from a stream of c aller sp eec h, whic h 
may inc lud e extraneous sp eec h, b ac kg round noise, or 
c aller noises.  Works in c onjunc tion with p hrase sc reening .
wordlist A set of words used  with FlexWord  sp eec h rec og nition that 
can be recognized by the system. 
						

							INTUITY CONVERSANT System Version 6.0
Application Design Guidelines  
585-310-670  Issue 1.0
December 1996
Introduction to Voice Response Application Design 
Page 1-8 Important Terminology 
1 
						

							Voice Response Advanced Technologies 
Page 2-1 Overview 
2
INTUITY CONVERSANT System Version 6.0
Application Design Guidelines  
585-310-670  Issue 1.0
December 1996
2
2Voice Response Advanced 
Technologies
Overview
This c hap ter p rovid es an introd uc tion to the INTUITY™ C ON VERSAN T®  s y st e m  
ad vanc ed  tec hnolog ies inc lud ing  touc h-tone and  d ial p ulse rec og nition, sp eec h 
rec ognition, Text-to-Sp eec h, and  the Sc rip t Build er FAX Ac tions.
Purpose
The purp ose of this c hap ter is to d esc rib e what eac h ad vanc ed  tec hnolog y d oes, 
the typ es of ap p lic ations for whic h eac h is b est suited, and  how the tec hnolog ies 
c an work tog ether. 
						

							INTUITY CONVERSANT System Version 6.0
Application Design Guidelines  
585-310-670  Issue 1.0
December 1996
Voice Response Advanced Technologies 
Page 2-2 Touch-Tone and Dial Pulse Recognition 
2
Touch-Tone and Dial Pulse 
Recognition
The INTUITY CONVERSANT system p rovid es touc h-tone rec og nition and  d ial 
p ulse rec og nition as two method s for c allers to p rovid e non-sp oken input to the 
system.
Touch-Tone Recognition
Touc h-tone rec og nition is a c ommon feature of voic e resp onse ap p lic ations.  The 
majority of the telep hones in the United  States are eq uip p ed  with touc h-tone 
servic e, b ut touc h-tone telep hone availab ility will b e d ifferent based  on loc ations.  
A g reater p roportion of b usiness loc ations have touc h-tone c ap ab ilities than d o 
resid enc es.  If your c allers have touc h-tone telep hones, it is ec onomic al and  
effic ient to allow touc h-tone c aller inp ut for most transac tions.
Touch-Tone Recognition Uses
Touc h-tone inp ut may b e used  to selec t c hoic es from a sp oken menu.  It may 
also b e used  to enter numeric al d ata suc h as c red it c ard  numb ers or p ersonal 
id entific ation numb ers.
Touch-Tone Recognition Capabilities
Touc h-tone rec og nition rec og nizes the d ig its 0 throug h 9, as well as the asterisk 
(*) and pound sign (#).
With touc h-tone rec og nition, c allers have the op tion to resp ond  with a tone while 
a prompt is playing.  This capability is known as 
dial through (may also b e 
referred  to 
talkoff).  As soon as the system d etec ts the tone, the p romp t stops.
The system also sup p orts 
d ial ahead.  This c ap ab ility allows the system to c ollec t 
touc h-tone inp ut as it is entered  b y c allers, even b efore they are p romp ted  for it.  
The touc h-tone input is then used  in the ord er in whic h it was rec eived .  This 
allows c allers to resp ond  to more than one p romp t at a time, without having  to 
listen to the intermed iate p romp ts.  If exp erienc ed  c allers are familiar with the 
up c oming  p romp ts, they d o not have to wait until the next p romp t starts p laying 
b efore p ressing  the req uired  touc h-tone b uttons.
Tone-touc h rec og nition c an b e used  in c onjunc tion with other rec og nition 
method s, suc h as the Dial Pulse Rec og nition (DPR) software p ac kag e, as well as 
the two sp oken-inp ut rec og nition software p ac kag es (WholeWord  and  
FlexWord ™ sp eec h rec og nition) d isc ussed  later in this c hapter. 
						

							INTUITY CONVERSANT System Version 6.0
Application Design Guidelines  
585-310-670  Issue 1.0
December 1996
Voice Response Advanced Technologies 
Page 2-3 Touch-Tone and Dial Pulse Recognition 
2
Touch-Tone Recognition Accuracy
The INTUITY CONVERSANT system is very ac c urate when rec og nizing  
touc h-tone input.  However, c allers may make mistakes when entering 
touc h-tones, and  a well d esigned  ap p lic ation must hand le c aller errors 
g rac efully.
Dial Pulse Recognition
If touc h-tone servic e is not wid ely availab le in your area or c ountry of interest, you 
c an offer d ial p ulse rec og nition to p rovid e non-sp oken inp ut to the system.
Dial Pulse Recognition Uses
The DPR software allows c allers with rotary telep hones, or p ush-b utton 
telep hones that g enerate d ial pulses, to interac t with system ap p lic ations.  Muc h 
like tone-touc h inp ut, d ial p ulse inp ut may used  to enter menu c hoic es and  
numeric al d ata suc h as a b ank ac c ount numb er.
Dial Pulse Recognition Capabilities
The DPR software rec og nizes the d igits 0 throug h 9, but does not rec ognize the 
asterisk (*) or p ound  sig n (#).
DPR c an b e used  tog ether in an ap plic ation with touc h-tone rec og nition and  with 
sp eec h rec og nition (WholeWord  or FlexWord ).
Dial ahead and dial through are not supported for DPR.
Dial Pulse Recognition Accuracy
DPR is slig htly less ac c urate than touc h-tone rec og nition, but it d oes allow c allers 
to interac t with the ap p lic ation without talking  to an ag ent.  The ac c urac y of DPR 
c an b e imp roved , however, b y the use of sp ec ific  ap p lic ation d esig n tec hniq ues.  
These tec hniq ues are disc ussed  in g reater d etail in Chap ter 4, ‘‘Desig ning  a 
Voic e Resp onse Ap p lic ation.’’ 
						

							INTUITY CONVERSANT System Version 6.0
Application Design Guidelines  
585-310-670  Issue 1.0
December 1996
Voice Response Advanced Technologies 
Page 2-4 Speech Recognition 
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Speech Recognition
It makes g ood  b usiness sense to p rovid e the c ap ab ilities offered  b y the sp eec h 
rec ognition software.  Sp eec h rec og nition allows your c allers to:
nSp eak their resp onses; a more natural interfac e for c aller inp ut.
nProvid e inp ut if they d o not have touc h-tone servic e.
nProvid e inp ut for some typ es of information, like names, that d o not have a 
natural translation to touc h-tone inp ut.
WholeWord Speech Recognition
The WholeWord  Sp eec h Rec og nition software p ac kag e is used to rec og nize 
sp oken inp ut of c onnec ted  d ig its and  yes/no resp onses.
WholeWord Speech Recognition Uses
WholeWord  speec h rec og nition is most suc c essful when it is used  to aug ment a 
touc h-tone ap p lic ation to p roc ess c allers who d o not have touc h-tone 
telep hones.
The b est app lic ations first ask c allers to ind ic ate whether they have a touc h-tone 
telep hone (usually b y p ressing  one on the keyp ad ).  If no tone is d etec ted , the 
ap plic ation p romp ts c allers to resp ond with sp oken inp ut (instead  of transferring 
the c all to an attend ant).  In this manner, c allers who want to p rovid e sp oken 
inp ut c an b e served  b y the system, instead  of req uiring  an attend ant.
If your ap p lic ation req uires inp ut that c an easily b e map p ed  to touc h-tone 
sig nals, d o not ig nore touc h-tone input in favor of sp eec h rec og nition.  For long er 
d ig it seq uenc es, touc h-tone inp ut is more ac c urate.
WholeWord  and FlexWord  sp eec h rec og nition c an b e used  in the same 
ap plic ation for inc reased  flexib ility.  When d evelop ing  your ap p lic ation, you c an 
sp ec ify a Promp t & Collec t ac tion to use either WholeWord or FlexWord  sp eec h 
rec ognition, d ep end ing  on what you want the c aller to say.  For examp le, you c an 
first p rompt “ Please say your ac c ount numb er.”   After the selec tion, the next 
p romp t is “ Choose from the following  transac tions.  Say ‘ac c ount balanc e,’ or say 
‘transfer,’ or say ‘attend ant’ to sp eak to a servic e rep resentative.”
Se e  ‘‘FlexWord  Sp eec h Rec og nition’’
 b elow for more information on FlexWord  
sp eec h rec og nition. 
						

							INTUITY CONVERSANT System Version 6.0
Application Design Guidelines  
585-310-670  Issue 1.0
December 1996
Voice Response Advanced Technologies 
Page 2-5 Speech Recognition 
2
WholeWord Speech Recognition Capabilities
This section describes the different WholeWord speech recognition capabilities.
WholeWord Speech Recognition Languages
The WholeWord  Sp eec h Rec og nition software is used  to rec og nize word s in the 
following  lang uag es:
nAustralian Eng lish
nBrazilian Portug uese
nCanad ian Frenc h
nCastilian Sp anish
nDutch
nFren c h
nGerman
nJap anese
nLatin-Americ an Sp anish
nUK English
nUS English
Eac h lang uag e c an rec ognize:
nEq uivalents for “ yes”  and  “ no”
nSing le d ig its (zero throug h nine) and  c ommonly used  synonyms
nA series of digits (also known as connected digits)
Bilingual Applications
Any two of the lang uag es listed  ab ove c an b e used  tog ether on a sing le system 
to sup p ort biling ual ap plic ations.
A b iling ual p erson c an rec og nize two lang uag es simultaneously.  A b iling ual 
ap plic ation, however, c an only rec ognize sp eec h in a sing le lang uag e at any one 
Promp t & Collec t ac tion.  You c an d esig n an ap plic ation that asks c allers to 
ind ic ate their p referred  lang uag e, then play p romp ts and  announc ements, and 
rec ognize the word s “ yes”  and  “ no”  as well as sp oken d ig its in one of the two 
lang uag es installed  in your system.  This allows your system to und erstand  
c allers who resp ond  in either lang uage you make availab le.  See ‘‘Biling ual, 
Multilingual, and Non-US English Applications’’ in Chapter 4, ‘‘Designing a Voice 
Resp onse Ap p lic ation,’’ for more information. 
						

							INTUITY CONVERSANT System Version 6.0
Application Design Guidelines  
585-310-670  Issue 1.0
December 1996
Voice Response Advanced Technologies 
Page 2-6 Speech Recognition 
2
WholeWord Speech Recognition and Key Word Spotting
WholeWord  speech rec og nition also sup p orts key word  sp otting .  A key word  is 
one of the word s in a list of word s that the system is instruc ted  to rec og nize at a 
p artic ular p oint in the transac tion.  Key word  sp otting  is the ab ility of the 
rec og nizer to isolate a key word  from a stream of c aller input, inc lud ing  
extraneous sp eec h, b ac kg round  noise, or c aller noises.  For this reason, c allers 
d o not have to say the key word  in isolation.  For examp le, if the rec og nizer is 
listening for c allers to say “ yes”  or “ no,”  it c an also rec og nize “ yes”  if c allers say 
“ Yes, I d o.”   However, the rec og nizer find s a key word  most ac c urately when it is 
said  alone, without any other word s or other noises b efore or after it.
WholeWord Speech Recognition and Barge-in
WholeWord speech recognition supports barge-in.  Experienced callers do not 
have to wait until the end  of a promp t to b eg in sp eaking  their resp onses.  As 
soon as the system rec og nizes something the c aller says, the p romp t stop s 
playing.  This allows a single application to support both inexperienced and 
exp erienc ed  c allers.
WholeWord Speech Recognition Accuracy
Dec ide c arefully where to allow sp oken inp ut.  Sp oken input is not the most 
ap prop riate inp ut for all ap p lic ations.  Touc h-tone inp ut may b e faster and  more 
ac c urate if your c allers are often sp eaking  from a noisy environment suc h as a 
c ar or an airp ort.  Some c allers may have sec urity c onc erns ab out speaking 
p rivate information (like an ac c ount numb er) aloud  if they use your servic e from 
outsid e their homes.  If c allers must enter a long  series of d ig its or several d ata 
items, touc h-tone inp ut may ac hieve b etter ac c urac y than WholeWord sp eec h 
rec ognition.
FlexWord Speech Recognition
Another way for the system to proc ess sp oken inp ut is with the FlexWord  Sp eec h 
Rec og nition software p ac kag e.  FlexWord  sp eec h rec og nition is used  to 
rec ognize sp oken word s from a spec ific  set of word s, a 
voc ab ulary, that you, the 
ap plic ation d esig ner, d efine.  Allowing  c allers to say the op tion they want instead  
of saying a number assigned to the option can make the interaction more natural 
and  easier to use.
FlexWord Speech Recognition Uses
FlexWord  sp eec h rec og nition p rovides an intuitive, natural interfac e to the c allers 
and  may be most suc c essful in ap p lic ations where it would  b e awkward  or 
inc onvenient for c allers to enter touc h-tone input, suc h as when entering  a name.  
FlexWord  sp eec h rec og nition ap p lic ations c an sup p ort more menu c hoic es than 
either touc h-tone inp ut or WholeWord  sp eec h rec og nition.  Menus c an rang e 
from small, suc h as a c hoic e of c lothing  sizes, up  throug h larg e, suc h as the 
names of all 500 p eop le in your c omp any.