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Petrana
Support and Community |
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Share your discoveries of the best ways to use Petrana with other members of the Petrana community. Let Petrana know about problems, request new features, or just say hello.
Join the Petrana Users Group to receive the latest news and information for Petrana Users and to share information with other Petrana Users.
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"I watched a Movie with Petrana!" T-shirt
and other gear
Petrana FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
The
Petrana™ Voice Commands for DVD
provide an easy-to-use conversational interface for playback, operation, and
control of DVDs. The Petrana™
Voice Commands for DVD require Dragon NaturallySpeaking™
7.3 Professional from ScanSoft Inc. and currently support
the InterVideo WinDVD™ 5
and 4 DVD player software.
What can you use the Petrana™ Voice Commands for DVD
for?
The commands may be used
for:
1. Playback, operation,
and control of DVD discs during presentations and classes. In this case, the user
will probably use a wireless microphone system to control their computer
remotely.
2. Playback,
operation, and control of DVD discs on a voice-operated computer with a wall
display in the home or office. A voice-operated computer with a wall
display typically includes a wireless microphone system or a wide-area
microphone that allows the user to move freely throughout the home or
office.
3. Playback,
operation, and control of DVD discs by persons with various disabilities.
What or Who
is Petrana?
Petrana is an artificial personal assistant. The Petrana Voice Commands for DVD are a component of the full Petrana system. Petrana provides an easy-to-use conversational interface for
your computer that emulates a personal assistant to the extent feasible using
current technology.
Petrana is a
front-end for the Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7.3
Professional voice-recognition software from ScanSoft,
Inc. Technically, Petrana is implemented as a set of additional commands for
Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7.3 Professional.
Why Do You Need Petrana?
Petrana makes your computer act like a personal assistant and enables
you to ask your computer to perform tasks using intuitive commands similar to
spoken English and normal conversation.
Petrana makes it easier and more enjoyable to perform many common
computer tasks such as DVD playback or making presentations to a large
audience.
What Should You Expect?
Most of us are used
to television shows and movies such as Star Trek in which computers can
recognize and understand human speech perfectly. Talking to
science-fiction computers is like talking to human beings. These
computers can understand high-level English commands and perform sophisticated
tasks. While there has been significant progress in voice-recognition over the
last several years, present-day voice-recognition technology has not achieved
this level of performance.
The Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7.3 Professional voice-recognition
software used by Petrana typically
does not perform with 100% accuracy. With a normal healthy speaker, a
good sound system, and negligible background noise, as well as the influence of
other factors — based on tests at GFT Group Inc. — the voice-recognition
software may achieve an accuracy rate of about 95%, meaning that about 95% of
the words spoken by the user will be transcribed correctly during general
dictation. If you experience an accuracy rate of 90% or less, you may
need to reassess your system or you may have an atypical voice.
Modern-day computers
have been designed for computer keyboards and pointing devices such as a mouse
or trackball. Modern-day computers and software are not designed for
voice operation. As you work with voice-recognition software, you will
probably find that even with perfect accuracy in transcription of general
dictation, it would still be difficult to perform many common computer
tasks. For example, computer keyboards have many special characters and
action keys that are easy to press with your fingers but difficult to emulate
by speaking. Pointing devices such as the computer mouse or trackball are
inherently difficult to control and emulate by voice. Thus, computer
applications that rely heavily on special characters, action keys, or a
pointing device can be difficult to control by voice. Some computer
applications such as drawing or computer animation inherently require a
pointing device.
Unlike a human
listener, Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7.3 Professional
does not understand what you say. It is designed primarily to transcribe
what you say as accurately as possible given the limitations of current
voice-recognition technology. When we ask a human assistant to do
something, the human assistant usually understands what we are
asking. Similarly, to achieve the performance of computers in television
shows such as Star Trek, the computer must understand or simulate understanding
of spoken speech. Perfectly accurate transcription of spoken speech is
not sufficient.
How Does Petrana Improve the
Performance of Voice-recognition Software?
GFT Group has
developed Petrana to eliminate some of the limitations of current
voice-recognition technology, partly by adding some emulation of understanding
and intelligence. However, Petrana cannot duplicate the capabilities of a human listener
or science-fiction computer.
General dictation
can be difficult with present-day voice-recognition technology, mainly because
of limited accuracy which forces the user to break his or her train of thought
and frequently correct the dictated text. However, the use of voice-recognition
with Petrana can be used to perform a range of other computer
tasks such as DVD playback both successfully and enjoyably. Typically these
tasks require only light or moderate use of voice-recognition. Often in such
tasks, the user will wait for the computer to respond to a request or command
before continuing. In these cases, the user's train of thought is not broken if
the computer does not recognize the spoken request or command. The user
will simply repeat the spoken request or command, and then continue with what
he or she was doing.
Many practical
applications for a voice-operated computer with a wall display require light or
moderate use of voice-recognition, unlike dictation or computer programming
which require extensive use of voice-recognition. For
these practical applications, occasional errors in recognition by the
voice-recognition software are easy to tolerate and are offset by the many
benefits of the system. A Home Theater System using DVD player software
is an example of such an application.
Can I Control My Mouse
Pointer by Voice?
Dragon NaturallySpeaking
7.3 from ScanSoft Inc. includes Voice Commands to
control the mouse pointer. These include
"mouse up/down/right/left <number of pixels >" to move the
mouse pointer the specified number of pixels in the specified direction,
"mouse move up/down/right/left < | fast | very fast>" to start
the mouse pointer moving in the specified direction at the specified speech, a MouseGrid command to position a mouse pointer at a precise
location on the screen, and several other useful mouse commands.
The Petrana Voice Commands for DVD include Voice Commands to
quickly move the mouse pointer out-of-the-way while playing DVDs. This prevents the mouse pointer from
appearing in front of the video as it is playing and also avoids accidental
clicking on highlighted DVD menu items which may otherwise occur.
I find headsets
uncomfortable. Do I have to wear a headset?
No. You may wear a lavalier
microphone that clips on your shirt or blouse.
For example, the Sony WCS-999 wireless microphone system used in our initial
testing of the Petrana system comes with an inexpensive omni-directional lavalier microphone.
You should use a unidirectional Lavalier microphone. However, most inexpensive lavalier microphones are omni-directional
microphones with less ambient noise rejection than unidirectional microphones or headsets. For example, Dragon NaturallySpeaking
has an error rate of 9-10% in our tests with the Sony lavalier
microphone included in the box with the Sony WCS-999 wireless microphone system. In our tests, this error rate
is usually the very edge of usability for most users. With an inexpensive headset an error rate of
5% is frequently possible, which is much easier to use.
Unidirectional lavalier microphones enable better performance than omnidirectional lavalier microphones, up to 95% accuracy in a quiet room. Unidirectional lavalier
microphones are usually more expensive than omnidirectional lavalier
microphones, although more comfortable than headsets. We use the Sony ECM-DM5P unidirectional microphone (shown below) successfully at GFT Group.
A unidirectional lavalier microphone (the Sony ECM-DM5P unidirectional microphone) with wireless transmitter that can be clipped on your shirt, tie, or blouse.
You should choose the
microphone with the right combination of comfort, performance, and cost for you.
Buy the Petrana Voice
Commands for DVD Now
Copyright©
2004, GFT
Group Inc.,
Petrana Home Page
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a Movie with Petrana | Petrana Assistive Technologies |
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GFT Group Inc.
© 2004 GFT Group Inc., P.O. Box 66,
Mountain View, CA 94042. All rights reserved. Unauthorized redistribution of
this document is prohibited.