This is a description of slides by Toby Nixon, Microsoft, for the Standards session at the conference on accessible voice systems and services.

 

Slide 1:  Progress toward standards for accessible total conversation by Toby Nixon, Senior Program Manager, Exchange Server Voice Services, Microsoft Corporation, tnixon@microsoft.com.

 

Slide 2:  Acknowledgement.  Much of the content of this presentation was provided by Gunnar Hellstrom of Omnitor AB, who is Rapporteur for Question 9 on “Accessibility to Multimedia for People with Disabilities” in ITU-T Study Group 16.

 

Slide 3:  Total Conversation combines features of video text, and voice telephony.  A standardized concept for telecommunication for all.  (shows pictures of video telephone, text telephone, and voice telephone, with arrows to a picture of a person seated in front of a computer, which has a camera)

 

Slide 4.  Typical Use with Hard of hearing user.  Shows graphic of a person at left and one at right.  Bi-directional arrows are between the two people; one arrow says “voice,” one says “speech-reading,” and one says “text when needed.”

 

Slide 5.  Typical use with speech impaired user.  Shows graphic of person at computer and label “speech impaired” and person at right, labeled “Hearing”.  Three bi-directional arrows are labeled “text,” “voice,” and (dotted line) “video for agreeing, turn taking, and better understanding.  An arrow pointing from speech-impaired to hearing person says “voice for conversation.”

 

Slide 6.  Typical use between deaf and hearing users.  Graphic of person at left labeled deaf, at right labeled hearing.  Two bi-directional arrows are between them, labeled “text for conversation,” and “video for recognition”.

 

Slide 7.  Typical use between deaf users.  Graphic of person at terminal at left labeled “deaf” and person at right labled “deaf” also.  Two bi-directional arrows between them are labeled “video for sign language” and “text for phone numbers, addresses.”

 

Slide 8.  Typical use between hearing users.  Graphics at left and right of people, both labeled “hearing”.  Two bi-directional arrows between them are labeled “voice” and “text for names, addresses.”

 

Slide 9.  Use of video relay services.  Three graphics, one showing person at terminal, labeled “deaf”, one showing woman at terminal, labeled “video relay service”, and a third showing “hearing.”  Between the “deaf” graphic and the “video relay service graphic” are two arrows labeled sign language (bi-directional) and “text for phone numbers” (in deaf-to-relay direction only).  One arrow between the “video relay” graphic and the “hearing graphic” is labeled “voice.”

 

Slide 10.  Use of text relay service with simultaneous voice.  There are three graphics of people, one labeled “deafened”, one labeled text relay service, and one labeled “hearing”.  An arrow from “deafened” to “hearing” is labeled “voice.”  An arrow from “text relay service” to “deafened” is labeled “text”.  A bi-directional arrow between the “text relay service” and “hearing” is labeled “voice.”

 

Slide 11.  Example of total conversation user interface.  Shows multimedia screen.  The screen includes (1)video image of distant person, (2) self video image (3) text chat screen at bottom, (4) address book, and (5) command icons.  The distant partner is gesturing hello.  He is wearing a binaural headset. 

 

Slide 12.  Total conversation standardization.  (no graphics on this one)  Started in Europe in ETSI HF from COST 219 and COST 220 in 1993, and USA from Gallaudet University.  The activity center:  ITU-T Study Group 16 on Multimedia Systems and Services, question 9:  accessibility to multi media; rapporteur 1997-2000:  Gunnar Hellstrom.  Decisions in ITU 18 Feb 2000 made the standards family complete.

 

Slide 13.  V.18 harmonizes text telephony.  This shows a terminal, labeled V.18 terminal.  Lines come out from the terminal to show V.18’s relationship to text telephone codes and their respective countries.  Baudot, Bell, DTMF, EDT, Minitel, V.18, and V.21.

 

Slide 14.  Total conversation, a standard family for all networks.  This is an extremely complex chart showing the names of about 20 ITU standards and the networks and functions they support.  At the bottom is a graphic showing that H.248 Annex F Gateway for text, voice, and video unifies all of these standards for different networks. 

 

Slide 15.  Total Conversation:  Products are emerging!  1999:  first standardized total conversation terminal with T.140 and V.18 available.  1999:  Interpreter centre offers total conversation distance interpretation.  2000:  V.18-based virtual text network announced in UK.  2000:  Major text telephone vendor in USA announced a semi-V.18 text telephone.

 

Slide 16.  Mobile networking.  Mobile total conversatin.  Shows a text telephone, Nokia 9110 PDA plus phone, and a video phone with wireless link between screen and keyboard.  Interworking with the existing and emerging forms of text conversation is the key to success.

 

Slide 17.  Repeat of slide 14.

 

Slide 18.  Unified messaging.  Including all communication modes.  Anytime, anywhere access to a unified mailbox containing email, text, voice, video, fax, and pager messages.  Access from PC, PDA, telephone (IP or PSTN), web phone, TTY, two way pager…; automatic conversion between media types; speech user interfaces facilitate mobile use; Micrsoft is committed to TTY/V.18 support in Exchange Server-based unified messaging.

 

Slide 19.  Thanks!  Any questions?