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Home Products Services Support FAQ News/Forums Downloads Contact About AFT |
Frequently Asked QuestionsYou may select a topic from this list to see the answers to frequently asked questions about HomeVoice®. Choose "return to top" to return to this list of subjects.
1. About HomeVoice®HomeVoice® Voice Control Software, when used with an automation controller, allows you to control appliances and electronics in your home through voice commands. HomeVoice® with HomeVoice® Multi-room kits provides a hands-free, affordable, state of the art solution to control devices in your home such as lights, televisions, doors, heating/AC, draperies, security systems, and PC applications. No menus, no remotes, no keypads, no headsets, NO HANDS required. return to About HomeVoice® - return to top 1.2. What computing platforms are supported? HomeVoice® 2.3, the most recent version, runs on Microsoft Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, Me, and XP. AFT recommends a configuration with at least the following capabilities:
return to About HomeVoice® - return to top 1.3. Do I need additional hardware? You'll need automation control hardware to control your home devices, microphones to transfer your spoken commands to your computer, and additional hardware to carry the signals to the computer, such as mixers and cabling. This equipment can be purchased from authorized HomeVoice® dealer/installers. return to About HomeVoice® - return to top 1.4. What home automation controllers does HomeVoice® support? HomeVoice® supports a wide range of controllers, including:
return to About HomeVoice® - return to top 1.5. What is the most recent version of HomeVoice®? The most recent version of HomeVoice® is version 2.3. return to About HomeVoice® - return to top 1.6. Where can I purchase HomeVoice®? You may purchase HomeVoice® from one of our authorized dealers. Please see our Dealer Locator to find a dealer near you. return to About HomeVoice® - return to top 2. Installation2.1. Why do I get a " I tried to install the HomeVoice® demo on my PC
(Windows NT4, SP6) and it failed. First error: " The problem is HomeVoice® 2.1 will not run on Windows NT, only Windows 95 or 98. HomeVoice® 2.3 is required to run on Microsoft Windows NT, ME, 2000 and XP. return to Installation - return to top Did this happen during download? Try selecting with the right mouse button and using the save line as… menu item. This error normally occurs when the application is being started outside of the HomeVoic directory. return to Installation - return to top Delete the Homevoic directory, the program entries are in
return to Installation - return to top It is probably a problem in the acuvoice.ini file in the windows directory. If the file did not update properly, it is now pointing to the wrong place so acuvoice can not find its files. The file should look like: [AcuVoiceAppDir] DICTFLSDIR=c:\homevoic\LFW30\DICTFLS\ SNDBANK=c:\homevoic\LFW30\SNDBANK\ TEMPDIR=c:\homevoic\LFW30\TEMP\ changing the drive letter and installation directory if needed. For HomeVoice® version 2.3, LFW30 becomes LFW40. return to Installation - return to top The current version of HomeVoice® version 2.3 does work under Windows 2000, XP and NT as well as ME. return to Installation - return to top There are not any drivers for the card, your system will only see it if you are looking at the IO ports in the device manager. It uses IO ports 280-282. The documentation was inadvertently left off some of the version 2.1 CDs. Please download the online Adobe Acrobat version of the documentation at http://www.appliedfuture.com/documentation/HomeISA/ISA-README.pdf return to Installation - return to top 3. Configuration and FeaturesHomeVoice® version 2.1 and later provide the ability to create new speech interfaces for other applications. return to Configuration and Features - return to top ASCII is a well-documented standard and it looks just like it is typed. Ultimately everything is a string of binary bits. But in general, ASCII is what you normally see when typing on a computer using the english language. All the characters in this question and answer are ASCII characters. return to Configuration and Features - return to top 3.3. Does HomeVoice® Release 2.1 run on Windows 2000? HomeVoice® 2.1 will not run on Windows 2000, HomeVoice® 2.3 provides support for Windows ME, NT, 2000 and XP. return to Configuration and Features - return to top We do not currently have a DLL which would allow you to control the card with VB. return to Configuration and Features - return to top HomeVoice® currently can send a response with an ASCII command. HomeVoice® 2.3 will provide a response from an ASCII controller of type "other". In order to take advantage of this, the controller must do one of two things:
return to Configuration and Features - return to top 3.6. Do you have any recommendations for a very large installation? After playing with HomeVoice® with the Rolls RM81 microphone mixer and the RP252 limiter gate/compressor, we have some questions to resolve the best way for microphone mixing. Our situation is that we have a 30,000 sq.ft. home; we will probably have 25 to 35 different zones all with different mics. As you know, all of this is running into 1 computer sound card. The recognition is working fine with 1 mic into the RM81, then sending the "main out" into the RP252, then into the sound card of the computer. We are going to test this with 2 mics (with moved jumpers, cut resistors, and feeding the signal back into the RM81 from the RP252, then into the PC.) Will I need to purchase one (1) RM81 for every four (4) mics going through the RP252? How do I buss them all (RM81) together for just one input into the PC? What is the largest system that is done and operating flawlessly? Is there other hardware available that would better fit my application? Is there a maximum number of microphones that can properly be mixed and feed into a single sound card on the PC? If distance for the mics is a problem, should we have 2 separate mixing locations with their own computers? For the basic multiroom kits, we have added two mini preamps to go with the Limiter/Gate, this removes the need to do destructive modifications to the mixer. If you are planning on gating ever channel using the destructive mod the limit would be four mics per mixer. I do not recommend this for your situation. We have a few 12 channel/zone systems in operation. There may be one with 16 mics, but that is the largest I have heard of. I believe all of the larger systems we have out there have been do-it-yourself types. As for operating flawlessly, I don't think there is such a thing. The performance of the system has a definite relationship between the environment, number of mics, number of noise sources, etc. The more information/sound feeding the sound card, the more the system must work with. The number of users may also become an issue in a house of that size. For your situation, I would recommend a different approach. The hardware you are working with is adequate for most sites with fewer than 16 zones, but for systems larger than that, I recommend using a different mixer. When you start to get over 16 channels, the component approach becomes more costly, less clean, and more problematic than an integrated system. The mixers we would recommend are somewhat dependent on the mounting requirements, equipment location and total number of zones required. The bigger mixers are not all rack mountable (if that is a requirement). You are in essence building a 30,000 sf. recording studio using minimal mic'ing techniques. One difference is that you do not have a sound engineer monitoring the system all day long, so getting the right balance can be tricky. Mic wire distances in general are not a problem. I would try to keep things under 500 ft. if possible, but greater distances can be maintained. I would encourage the use of multiple PCs if possible. The only real issue I see here is it would require a second serial port on the controller. I would strongly recommend you consider purchasing some sound engineering support. There are many factors to consider when dealing with a system this size. While in general the basic principles of voice control require a static system, most home environments are fairly dynamic. How each area is used will have a bearing on the ultimate design. return to Configuration and Features - return to top To send ASCII commands via HomeVoice®, use the following command syntax in the keystroke field of the associated spoken phrase: ASC=just type what you want to send Everything typed after the equal sign ("=") is sent to the
serial port just as it is typed. So in this case, " See Question 3.2. for additional information. return to Configuration and Features - return to top Please refer to this site for ASCII information: See Question 3.2. and Question 3.7. for additional information. return to Configuration and Features - return to top HomeVoice® version 2.1 and above allow for customization of the command verification prompt. HomeVoice® will allow you to prompt as you specified and add the command if desired or change it to another format. return to Configuration and Features - return to top 3.10. Will the HomeISA card work in my windows NT 4.0 machine with HomeVoice® 2.0? Currently HomeVoice® 2.0 and 2.1 do not work on NT. HomeVoice® 2.3 supports NT and 2000 and XP but can not at this time support the HomeISA card under these operating systems it is something we are trying to resolve. return to Configuration and Features - return to top The X10 event processing is not yet available for the HomeVision. Currently only CM11A, HomeISA and HouseLinc. Therefore it can not be invoked without using one of those controllers. for version 2.1, version 2.3 added support for JDS controllers. To activate this feature the file only needs to exist in the HomeVoice® installation directory. return to Configuration and Features - return to top You must create a list and reference it as a command. The list contains the words/phrases you want to say to have the command executed. You can also create a list for not having a command executed. For verification execution create a list in Verbex "Verification". Add to this list the words/phrases you wish to use. Create a new command; Spoken phrase: %Verification Keystrokes: "" Restart HomeVoice® or change user and change back. When prompted for verification reply with one of the words/phrases in the list. The command will then execute. Perform the similar operation using the list "Negative_Verification" to specify the words/phrases to be used of negative verification so the command will not be execute. Any recognized phrase other than the "Verification" phrases is considered a negative verification and neither the "verified phrase" or the recognized phrase will not be executed when waiting on a verification prompt response. return to Configuration and Features - return to top If you have HomeVoice® version 2.1 or 2.3, under the options menu is a Verification Prompt… selection. This will allow for three different formats that can be selected. return to Configuration and Features - return to top There is no response set for the negative verification, it just ignores what it "heard". return to Configuration and Features - return to top 3.15. Does AFT have recommended sound cards to be used with the software? The software requires a SoundBlaster 16 Compatible Sound Card. return to Configuration and Features - return to top 3.16. Can I "DIM=23" with this new version? What is the maximum value? I did not put a limit on the value of the dim so the maximum would be 99 as it is only a 2 digit field. return to Configuration and Features - return to top HomeVoice® can do some of those things currently. The focus of HomeVoice® is to be an interface to a control system. So in short if the controller can provide the information to HomeVoice®, HomeVoice® will output it as specified. With the addition of the PC applications we will be looking into providing web based information verbally. These features will be available in version 3.0 return to Configuration and Features - return to top 3.18. How can I get HomeVoice® to speak a ASCII string sent to by HomeVision? To have HomeVoice® "speak" and ASCII string sent by HomeVision the first part of the string must be the work "speak" (without the quotes). HomeVoice® will then synthesize or play whatever follows the word "speak". return to Configuration and Features - return to top 4. Operation4.1. I'm getting stuck in "not now" mode - What does it mean? The system is picking up some noise and associating it with the phrase "not now" which is in the Negative_Verification command. Go into the command editor and deactivate the phrase "Negative_Verification" that will stop the "not now" problem. return to Operation - return to top Look in the Homevo.grm file in the user directory (\homevoic\lfw20\larry\homevo.grm). If appropriate, use Notepad to edit that file. You should see the following section which identifies the Sample Noise command (#control_response):
;-------------------------------------------------------------------
; Vocabulary level Host response templates and translations
;-------------------------------------------------------------------
#host_response
#translations
#initiator ""
#separator ""
#terminator ""
#templates
#control_response
sample noise > \RECALIBRATE
;;---------------------------------------------------------------------------
;; Generic File Open for WIN 95 Applications
;;---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Then look down in the #grammar HomeVoice section and look for the sample noise phrase. The numbering will be different from that listed but everything else should be the same, e.g.,
#phr !1_26 ,\NO_MOD_ALL,1
#spoken sample noise
#end_phrase
return to Operation - return to top I added a command in sleep mode "hal wake up" and it has different responses that let me know Hal is in sleep mode. When I put the same command "hal wake up" in wake mode with a different response "I was not sleeping what is your command" I do not get this response. Instead I get the sleep mode responses. I experienced crashes and had to reload HomeVoice® with this command in awake mode. When I removed the "hal wake up" command from wake mode no crashes occured. HomeVoice® will respond with which ever command it reaches first if there are two identical commands in the wakeup and HomeVoice® grammars. It doesn't distinguish between states for responses it just goes on the command. return to Operation - return to top If I go into HomeVision and do the "Serial Command Test" with "Play wave file clock.wav" under the "others" menu the wave file plays out and I hear it. The path to the wave files is correct in both HomeVision and HomeVoice®; they both use C:\HomeVoic\wav\. HomeVoice® will only play a wave file if the HomeVision passes the ASCII string out in the format "speak clock.wav". return to Operation - return to top The problem is a space in the file name between the zero and 'E'. The file name is "X10EventFile.txt" no spaces. return to Operation - return to top Please do the following. From the HomeVoice® file menu select controller setup… and then default controller. Make sure the correct controller is selected and that the settings are correct. This should correct the problem. If everything is correct there using windows explorer or the desktop open the file Homevoic.ini in the HomeVoice® installation directory. The first line in the file should be your controller. If it is not change it so it is. This should fix the problem. If you are using the Houselinc controller specify "proxi" for the controller as this is a controller with the same IR command set as the Houselinc that the command editor understands. return to Operation - return to top 5. UpgradingI am a registered user of HomeVoice® 2.0 and have installed the upgrade to version 2.1. My controller is HouseLinc. I have verified all operations of the controller with the supplied Plato software and my hardware set up seems to be fully functional. My problem is with the commands sent out the serial
port (com2) to the controller. I can issue commands to the HouseLinc
controller for X10 seemingly without problem, but, periodically, when
two commands are closely spaced (as in multiple X10 commands in the same
voice command), I receive an error: " I have turned on the logging function to trap these errors. It appears that the wrong controller is specified because the right commands are not being sent. From the File menu on the HomeVoice® window, go to "Controller Setup" and select "Default Controller…" and verify that HouseLinc is the selected controller. If it is not, please select it and also verify the com port settings and two-way X10 selection. Then select OK. If this is not the problem, please verify that both "Command" and "Advanced" are selected (it didn't look like "Advanced" was checked in the output you sent.). From the "Watch" menu, select "Show Settings" and verify that the controller and com port settings are correct. return to Upgrading - return to top 6. Getting additional support6.1. My question wasn't answered here, where can I get additional support? First, try AFT's support web page at http://www.appliedfuture.com/support.shtml The support page has product documentation and other information that can help you solve your problem. If you can't find an answer to your question in the documentation or this FAQ, please email support@appliedfuture.com Email: support@appliedfuture.com |
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