Here we will be providing the most 'up-to'date' exciting developments and information about our projects, customers and partners to you. The postings will occur from most recent on down to least recent and the highlighted titles of each update, below, will be linked for your direct topic jumping convenience to the update of choice.
Conversay Direct Voice Input Speech Recognition System Selected for Eurofighter Typhoon Flight Trials (September 30th, 2008)
Final Approval of JSAPI2 (May 5th, 2008)
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Conversay Direct Voice Input Speech Recognition System Selected for Eurofighter Typhoon Flight Trials
September 30th, 2008
Conversay announced today that the company has been selected by General Dynamics United Kingdom Limited for further trials of its speech recognition engine which has recently completed successful initial flight trials in the Eurofighter Typhoon. The technology demonstration project is aimed at identifying and proving an alternative speech recognition solution that could be used to enhance the Direct Voice Input (DVI) capability of the Eurofighter Typhoon.
Over the past three years, Conversay has worked closely with General Dynamics UK to integrate Conversay’s proprietary, state-of-the-art speech recognition engine into the Typhoon’s Communication and Audio Management systems. The DVI provides the flight crew voice control over more than 26 aircraft operational functions such as radar mode, display switching and navigation tasks, in order to reduce pilot workload. Conversay’s speech recognition engine is operated in English by pilots from four European countries, United Kingdom, Spain, Germany and Italy, participating in the Eurofighter Typhoon’s development. Through Conversay’s novel and unique approach to voice recognition, the DVI solution is tolerant of a wide variation in accents. There was also a need for extremely high reliability, recognition accuracy and real-time response in the challenging fighter aircraft cockpit conditions which typically include breathing regulators, G-load effects on voice and canopy wind noise. Conversay’s latest speaker-independent, noise-tolerant voice system was the answer.
Conversay worked in close collaboration with General Dynamics UK throughout the project to integrate the new speech engine into the real-time application for Typhoon. With EADS-CASA’s experience in integrating DVI into the cockpit environment, the combined expertise of the three companies realized a high performance DVI solution.
“We are pleased and excited about working with General Dynamics UK on this advanced technology aerospace project” says Peyvand Khademi, Conversay President-COO, “and we believe this is just the beginning. The cockpit of a modern, front-line strike fighter like the Typhoon is definitely a demanding and high workload environment, in which voice interface will add substantial functional efficiency and value. General Dynamics UK, and in turn EADS-CASA, the Spanish arm of EADS, recognize and appreciate our potential ability to implement this leading voice recognition technology to significantly improve flight crew effectiveness and safety while reducing pilot workload.”
“Next steps include integration with the Typhoon’s instrumentation to evaluate task completion effectiveness” says Khademi. “A number of other large aerospace companies are also investigating our voice recognition technology for improving functional efficiency, both in the cockpit and in the ‘back-of-the-bus’.”
Based in Redmond, WA, Conversay is a world leader in Speech Recognition systems and standards. The company develops and supplies voice technologies to a wide variety of global customers to implement versatile, robust voice interface platforms that deliver efficiency, accuracy, safety and value. Conversay’s speaker-independent voice recognition systems are market-proven for delivering the highest level of accuracy in extreme noise environments as well as real-time operations. Founded in 1994, Conversay’s embedded voice technologies have been deployed in over 11 million devices on a variety of platforms.
For more information, contact Conversay at 425-895-1800 or visit www.conversay.com.
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Conversay Announces the Final Approval of JSR 113 (JSAPI2), the World Standard for Speech-Enabling Java Devices
May 5th, 2008
The final approval ballot (FAB) of JSR 113 was announced today by the Sun Executive Committee for Java Micro Edition (ME). JSR 113 is the world standard for writing speech applications for Java devices (also referred to as JSAPI2 – Java Speech Application Programming Interface, version 2.0). As the Specification Lead for JSR 113, Conversay has led the effort to develop JSR 113 with the collaboration of Expert Group members including representatives from Nokia, Motorola, IBM, TI and Sun Microsystems. In its role as specification lead, Conversay has also created the Reference Implementation (RI) and Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK) for JSR 113.
JSAPI2 is the latest JSR (Java Specification Request) in the lineup of specifications for the Java platform. Java is one of the most popular software platforms throughout the world. According to an independent study provided at JavaOne (May 6-9, 2008, San Francisco), there are close to 6 billion total Java deployments in the world, including over 2 billion cell phones, growing by more than 400,000 each year. Java on cell phones is supported by every major wireless carrier throughout the world.
Thanks to Conversay’s leadership in bringing JSR 113 to market, over 6 million Java programmers worldwide can now speech-enable their Java applications using the world standard. Applications that benefit from this standard include mobile games and productivity applications, both of which have a significant market presence in the consumer space. A clear signal communicated by wireless carriers at JavaOne is that they will only put standards-compliant applications on their phones. This is a tremendous ratification of Conversay’s strategic path with JSR 113, as well as an incentive for developers to begin developing speech applications using the standard. A free PC version of the development kit is available to developers at www.conversay.com, as well as a comprehensive device-based, demonstration/development kit (C-3DK) that can also be purchased directly from the Website.
Plans for Promotion and Adoption
Sun Microsystems is the owner of the Java platform and the organizer of JavaOne. Annually, JavaOne is one of the largest developer conferences anywhere in the world, with over 15,000 attendees. In addition to the JSR 113 announcement, Conversay’s participation in JavaOne 2008 included a booth in the Exhibitor Pavilion and a featured presentation introducing JSR 113 to the developer community. Conversay held a number of official meetings during the course of the conference with key original device manufacturers (ODMs) and wireless carriers. Conversay plans to market the TCK and RI to these key market players. Licensing agreement discussions were held at JavaOne and are expected to be finalized over the next few months.
Conversay and Sun plan to work together in the coming months to promote adoption of JSR 113 with ODMs. Additionally, Conversay will pursue established contacts with wireless carriers and game developers. Today’s cell phone market is driven by customer demand for enhanced features and services, as well as by “the cool factor”. In this regard, speech made universally available through JSR 113 holds particular appeal. Additionally, safety and accessibility are growing in importance with existing and pending legislation. Conversay plans to leverage JSR 113 in conjunction with other highly-appealing speech applications including speech-enabled text messaging in a heightened marketing effort in the coming months.
About Conversay
Conversay is a world leader in speech technology and interfaces for mobile devices. Conversay's speech engine is industry-acknowledged for its small footprint, rapid execution, and high recognition accuracy in extreme noise. It is compatible with a wide range of embedded devices including cell phones, smartphones, enterprise-class PDA's, avionics, telematics, and custom platforms, and has shipped on millions of units worldwide.