Subject: [speechsc] MRCPv2 WGLC

From: "Andrew Wahbe" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2007 12:44:46 -0700

The Voice Extensible Markup Language (VoiceXML) is a markup language for
creating voice user interfaces that use automatic speech recognition
(ASR) and text-to-speech synthesis (TTS). VoiceXML 2.0 has been
published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) as a "Recommendation" -
essentially, a Web standard. The VoiceXML 2.1 specification adds new
innovative features to VoiceXML 2.0 while maintaining backwards
compatibility; this specification is currently in the final phases of
the W3C process leading to Recommendation status. The W3C Voice Browser
working group is also currently working on a new version of VoiceXML -
VoiceXML 3.0.

The VoiceXML Forum is an industry organization formed to create and
promote VoiceXML. With the backing and contributions of its diverse
membership, including key industry leaders, the VoiceXML Forum has
successfully driven market acceptance of VoiceXML through a wide array
of speech-enabled applications. The VoiceXML Forum feels that MRCP v2 is
a key technology for enabling the continued success and adoption of
VoiceXML. This protocol is very important to the VoiceXML community as
it can be used by VoiceXML platforms to interoperate with 3rd party
speech engines without depending on vendor-specific interfaces and
protocols. The net effect is wider and better interoperability between
the VoiceXML platforms and speech engines on the market, providing
significant flexibility and choice to those deploying VoiceXML-based
systems. 

The VoiceXML Forum has formed the MRCP Liaison Committee to evangelize
and support MRCP v2 within the industry. This committee also aims to
offer educational sessions on MRCP v2 and will explore the creation of
certification and/or interoperability testing resources for MRCP
v2-based products. Additionally, the team aims to ensure that VoiceXML
Forum members are aware of this evolving standard and have the necessary
information to provide feedback to the IETF on specification drafts.

For over a year, the MRCP Liaison Committee has been analyzing and
reviewing the MRCP v2 specification to ensure that VoiceXML-compliant
platforms can be implemented using MRCP v2 to access and control media
resources for ASR, TTS, DTMF recognition and speech-triggered recording.
The committee finds that with draft 12, MRCP v2 is a comprehensive,
mature specification that is very well suited for this purpose. However,
one issue remains in the area of hotword mode speech recognition.

The specification contains a contradiction in sections 9.9 (the "For the
Hotword mode recognition" sub-section) and 9.4.7 (it explicitly defines
different behavior for the recognition timer than 9.9) related to the
behavior of timers in hotword mode speech recognition. The MRCP Liaison
Committee has proposed a clarification of the behavior of timers in
hotword mode recognition that is compatible with VoiceXML. 

This is in the SpeechSC issue tracker as issue 88:
http://www.softarmor.com/roundup/speechsc/issue88. The original request
to fix this was made here:
http://www1.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/speechsc/current/msg01733.html
(Follow the Thread Next links to see the discussion on this.) There were
a couple requests to fix this in the response to the last WGLC:
http://www1.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/speechsc/current/msg01990.html
http://www1.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/speechsc/current/msg01992.html and
it seemed that this would be done based on:
http://www1.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/speechsc/current/msg01999.html 

The MRCP Liaison Committee would like to encourage the IETF SpeechSC
work group to address this issue. Note that even if the full set of
recommended changes is not accepted, at a minimum the contradiction
between sections 9.9 and 9.4.7 should be resolved before moving the
specification forward. 

Regards,

Andrew Wahbe

VoiceXML Forum MRCP Liaison Committee

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