SpeechTV

Objectives /Goals: The purpose of the specific project is to combine the IBM embedded speech recognition software with the INTRACOM TV set-top box embedded software in order to provide a prototype of a TV set-top box that is controlled both by voice commands and remote control. Incorporating the ability to interact with a device not only by pressing buttons but also by voice commands (or in other cases by visual commands, gestures etc.) is what is referred to in the literature as creating a multi-modal interface for the device.
Adding advanced multimodal interfaces to enhance the user experience is a hot research area and AIT in collaboration with IBM and INTRACOM will investigate how to best combine the advanced functionalities of the emerging home entertainment set-top boxes with the ease of voice commands and control.

A brief schematic follows that shows the overall system and each partner’s contribution.

The project was initiated by Dr. Lazaros Polymenakos, Head Autonomic & Grid Computing, AIT, in collaboration with Dr. David Nahamoo, World Wide Research Manager, Human Language Technologies, and Dr. Jan Sedivy, Manager, IBM Prague Speech Recognition Research. The project was technically defined and negotiated by Dr. Polymenakos in collaboration with Dr. Babis Karathanasis (Section Manager, Multimedia Systems) and Dr. John Vlontzos (Deputy General Manager, Digital Media and Internet Technologies) of the R&D Division of INTRACOM. Legal aspects and terms of agreement were negotiated between the legal offices of IBM and INTRACOM, and Ms. Didoe Prevedourou AIT’s Research Administration Director.

This 6-month collaboration project is the first one of a series to follow in the context of an Agreement for Sponsored Research Collaboration that AIT has recently signed (March 29th 2005) with the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York. The duration of the agreement is 4 years. Additional projects will be appended to the 4-year agreement; successful completion of each project assigned is required before a new project is defined/started.

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