Accent User's Manual, Version 4.0, February 15, 1991. Note: This is the diskette version of the Accent User's Manual which is generated from the print version. There is no variation in content. WARRANTY REGISTRATION To validate your product warranty, please complete and return this Warranty Registration within 30 days of purchase. Name Title Company Department Address City State/Country Zip Daytime phone ( ) Date purchased Product purchased Serial number Store Name/Phone ( ) Store Address Store City State/Country Zip Help Us Help You! Your answers to this brief questionnaire will help us meet your needs. 1. What type of computer is your Accent connected to? a. IBM PC/XT/AT, or compatible Model # b. IBM PS/2, or compatible Model # c. Toshiba Laptop Model # d. Other (specify) 2. What is your application for Accent? 3. What software packages will be used with Accent? 4. How did you first learn about Accent? a. Magazine ad/article d. Dealer/Computer Store b. Mail literature e. Company approved list c. Associate/co-worker f. Other (Specify) Thank you for your cooperation! First printing, December 1986 Second printing, April 1987 Third printing, November 1988 Fourth printing, April 1989 Fifth printing, February 1991 Copyright 1986,1987,1988,1989,1991 by Aicom Corporation. All rights reserved. Aicom Corporation believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date; such information is subject to change without notice. Aicom Corporation is not responsible for any inadvertent errors. Aicom is a registered trademark of Aicom Corporation. Accent is a registered trademark of Aicom Corporation. IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machine Corporation. IBM PC is a trademark of International Business Machine Corporation. PS/2 computer is a trademark of International Business Machine Corporation. Microchannel computer is a trademark of International Business Machine Corporation. Toshiba is a registered trademark of Toshiba International Corporation. ACCENT USER'S MANUAL (VERSION 4.0) Accent-PC - IBM PC/XT/AT & Compatibles Accent-MC - IBM Microchannel PS/2s Accent-SA - Stand-Alone for all computers Accent-mini - IBM PC/XT/AT & Compatibles Accent-1600 - Toshiba T1600, T1200 & Compatibles Accent-XE - Toshiba T1000SE Aicom Corporation 1590 Oakland Road, Suite B112 San Jose, CA 95131 Tel: (408) 453-8251 Fax: (408) 453-8255 FEDERAL COMMUNICATION COMMISSION RADIO FREQUENCY INTERFERENCE STATEMENT (Applies to Accent-PC and Accent-SA) WARNING : This equipment complies with the limits for a Class B computing device in accordance with the specifications in Subpart J of Part 15 of the FCC rules. These specifications are designed to minimize radio frequency interference in a residential installation. However, there is no guarantee that radio or television interference will not occur in any particular installation. If this equipment does cause interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on when the radio or television is on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures: (1) Reorient the radio or television receiving antenna. (2) Relocate the equipment with respect to the receiver. (3) Move the equipment away from the receiver. (4) Plug the equipment into a different outlet so that the equipment and the receiver are on different circuits. If necessary, the user should consult the dealer or an experienced radio/television technician for additional suggestions. The user may find the following booklet prepared by the Federal Communications Commission helpful: "How to Identify and Resolve Radio/TV Interference Problems" This booklet is available from the U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402 by ordering stock number 004-000-00345-4. TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION TITLE PAGE 1 ABOUT THE MANUAL 1.1 INTRODUCTION TO ACCENT 1 - 2 PRODUCTS 1.2 STANDARD FEATURES FOR ALL 1 - 3 ACCENT MODELS 1.3 DESCRIPTIONS OF MODELS 1 - 4 1.3.1 ACCENT-PC 1 - 4 1.3.2 ACCENT-MC 1 - 5 1.3.3 ACCENT-SA 1 - 6 1.3.4 ACCENT-mini 1 - 7 1.3.5 ACCENT-1600 1 - 8 1.3.6 ACCENT-XE 1 - 9 2 INSTALLATION 2.1 INSTALLING ACCENT-PC 2 - 1 2.1.1 SWITCH SETTINGS 2 - 1 2.1.2 JUMPER SETTINGS 2 - 2 2.1.3 INSTALLING ACCENT'S SOFTWARE 2 - 4 DEVICE DRIVER 2.1.4 INSTALLING ACCENT-PC 2 - 5 HARDWARE 2.1.5 SPEAKER CONNECTION 2 - 5 2.1.6 RUNNING THE DEMO PROGRAM 2 - 5 2.1.7 EXTERNAL POWER SUPPLY FOR 2 - 6 STAND-ALONE OPERATION 2.2 INSTALLING ACCENT-MC 2 - 6 2.2.1 JUMPER SETTINGS 2 - 7 2.2.2 INSTALLING ACCENT-MC 2 - 7 SOFTWARE DEVICE DRIVER 2.2.3 INSTALLING ACCENT-MC 2 - 7 HARDWARE 2.3 INSTALLING ACCENT-SA 2 - 7 2.3.1 RS232C CONNECTION 2 - 9 2.3.2 SPEAKER CONNECTION 2 - 9 2.3.3 POWERING UP ACCENT-SA 2 - 9 2.3.4 RUNNING THE DEMO PROGRAM 2 - 10 2.4 INSTALLING ACCENT-mini 2 - 10 2.4.1 JUMPER SETTINGS 2 - 12 2.4.2 INSTALLING ACCENT-mini 2 - 12 SOFTWARE DEVICE DRIVER 2.4.3 INSTALLING ACCENT-mini 2 - 12 HARDWARE 2.5 INSTALLING ACCENT-1600 2 - 12 2.5.1 INSTALLING ACCENT-1600 2 - 12 SOFTWARE DEVICE DRIVER 2.5.2 INSTALLING ACCENT-1600 2 - 13 HARDWARE 2.6 INSTALLING ACCENT-XE 2 - 13 2.6.1 INSTALLING ACCENT-XE 2 - 13 SOFTWARE DEVICE DRIVER 2.6.2 INSTALLING ACCENT-XE 2 - 13 HARDWARE 3 OPERATION 3.1 INTERFACE TO ACCENT 3 - 1 3.1.1 DEVICE DRIVER INTERFACE 3 - 1 3.1.2 RS-232C INTERFACE 3 - 3 3.2 SOFTWARE COMMANDS 3 - 5 3.2.1 SYSTEM OPTION COMMANDS 3 - 6 3.2.1.1 Reset 3 - 6 3.2.1.2 Initialize 3 - 6 3.2.1.3 Flush 3 - 7 3.2.1.4 RS-232C Echo On 3 - 7 3.2.1.5 RS-232C Echo Off 3 - 7 3.2.1.6 Enable Appending for Status Reply 3 - 7 3.2.1.7 Disable Appending for Status Reply3 - 8 3.2.1.8 Enable Speech Synthesizer 3 - 8 3.2.1.9 Disable Speech Synthesizer 3 - 8 3.2.1.10 Speech Pause 3 - 8 3.2.1.11 Speech Continue 3 - 9 3.2.1.12 Host Input Time-out 3 - 9 3.2.1.13 Enable as Alternative 3 - 9 Start-Speaking Character 3.2.1.14 Disable as Alternative 3 - 10 Start-Speaking Character 3.2.1.15 Enable CTL-Q/S as Xon/Xoff Characters 3 - 10 3.2.1.16 Disable CTL-Q/S as Xon/Xoff 3 - 10 Characters 3.2.1.17 Enable Fast Processing for Speech 3 - 11 3.2.1.18 Disable Fast Processing for Speech 3 - 11 3.2.1.19 Enable DCD Verbal Message 3 - 11 3.2.1.20 Disable DCD Verbal Message 3 - 11 3.2.1.21 Enable Delayed Process for Speech 3 - 12 Option Commands 3.2.1.22 Disable Delayed Process for Speech 3 - 12 Option Commands 3.2.1.23 Enable Verbal Stress on 3 - 12 Single-Character Alphabets 3.2.1.24 Disable Verbal Stress on 3 - 12 Single-Character Alphabets 3.2.1.25 Set Audio Output Volume 3 - 13 3.2.1.26 Increase Overall Volume by One Step 3 - 13 3.2.1.27 Decrease Overall Volume by One Step 3 - 13 3.2.1.28 Increase Average Pitch by One Step 3 - 13 3.2.1.29 Decrease Average Pitch by One Step 3 - 14 3.2.1.30 Increase Speech Rate by One Step 3 - 14 3.2.1.31 Decrease Speech Rate by One Step 3 - 14 3.2.1.32 Increase Voice Characteristic by One Step3 - 14 3.2.1.33 Decrease Voice Characteristic by One Step3 - 14 3.2.1.34 Increase Space Pause Time by One Step 3 - 15 3.2.1.35 Decrease Space Pause Time by One Step 3 - 15 3.2.1.36 Increase Sentence Intonation by One 3 - 15 Step 3.2.1.37 Decrease Sentence Intonation by One 3 - 15 Step 3.2.1.38 Enable PC to RS-232C Transmission 3 - 15 3.2.1.39 Disable PC to RS-232C Transmission 3 - 16 3.2.1.40 Command String Sent to Auxiliary Port 3 - 16 3.2.1.41 Command String Not Sent to Auxiliary 3 - 16 Port 3.2.1.42 Status Reply to Host Only 3 - 16 3.2.1.43 Status Reply to Auxiliary Port Only 3 - 17 3.2.1.44 Status Reply to Host and Auxiliary Port 3 - 17 3.2.1.45 Enable LPT Auxiliary Device Chained 3 - 17 Operation 3.2.1.46 Disable LPT Auxiliary Device Chained 3 - 17 Operation 3.2.1.47 Set PC Host 3 - 18 3.2.1.48 Set RS-232C Host 3 - 18 3.2.1.49 Enable CTL-X as the Instant Flush 3 - 18 Command 3.2.1.50 Disable CTL-X as the Instant Flush 3 - 19 Command 3.2.1.51 Enable Xon-Always-Sent after Flush 3 - 19 3.2.1.52 Disable Xon-Always-Sent after Flush 3 - 19 3.2.1.53 Enable Index Marker Auto-Prompt 3 - 19 3.2.1.54 Disable Index Marker Auto-Prompt 3 - 20 3.2.1.55 Enable Foot Switch Status Reply 3 - 20 3.2.1.56 Disable Foot Switch Status Reply 3 - 20 3.2.2 SPEECH OPTION COMMANDS 3 - 20 3.2.2.1 Text Mode 3 - 21 3.2.2.2 Spell Mode 3 - 21 3.2.2.3 Punctuation Not Spoken 3 - 21 3.2.2.4 Punctuation Spoken 3 - 21 3.2.2.5 <-> Not Spoken 3 - 22 3.2.2.6 <-> Spoken as DASH 3 - 22 3.2.2.7 <-> Spoken as MINUS 3 - 22 3.2.2.8 Enable Abbreviation Dictionary 3 - 22 3.2.2.9 Disable Abbreviation Dictionary 3 - 22 3.2.2.10 Full Set Punctuation Spoken 3 - 23 3.2.2.11 Subset Punctuation Spoken 3 - 23 3.2.2.12 and Always Spoken as /EI/ 3 - 23 3.2.2.13 and are Context Dependent 3 - 23 3.2.2.14 Set Average Pitch 3 - 23 3.2.2.15 Set Voice Characteristic 3 - 24 3.2.2.16 Set Speech Rate 3 - 24 3.2.2.17 Set Sentence Level Intonation 3 - 24 3.2.2.18 Set Space Pause Time 3 - 25 3.2.2.19 Set Number Processor 3 - 25 3.2.2.20 Direct Parameter Input to Synthesizer 3 - 26 Chip 3.2.2.21 Fixed Abbreviation Pronunciation 3 - 27 3.2.2.22 Automatic Abbreviation Pronunciation 3 - 27 3.2.3 STATUS REQUEST COMMANDS 3 - 27 3.2.3.1 Reply End of Speech 3 - 28 3.2.3.2 Reply Synthesizer Status 3 - 28 3.2.3.3 Verbal Reply Version Number 3 - 28 3.2.4 INDEX MARKER COMMANDS 3 - 29 3.2.4.1 Enable CTL-F as the Index Marker 3 - 30 3.2.4.2 Disable CTL-F as the Index Marker 3 - 30 3.2.4.3 Reply Y plus Index-Marker 3 - 30 Character for Auto-Prompt 3.2.4.4 Reply Index-Marker Character only for 3 - 30 Auto Prompt 3.2.4.5 Enable Index-Marker-Count Replying 3 - 31 for Status Reply 3.2.4.6 Disable Index-Marker-Count Replying 3 - 31 for Status Reply 3.2.4.7 User Defined Index-Marker 3 - 31 3.2.5 TABLE - 1 (Command Summary) 3 - 32 4 STANDARD ACCENT TEXT PROCESSOR 4.1 PRONUNCIATION RULES 4 - 1 4.1.1 ABBREVIATIONS 4 - 3 4.1.2 ALTERNATIVE PRONUNCIATIONS 4 - 4 4.1.3 MONETARY $ AMOUNTS 4 - 4 4.1.4 NUMERALS 4 - 5 4.1.5 TIME OF DAY 4 - 6 4.1.6 WORDS WITH NO VOWEL 4 - 6 4.2 PHONEME INPUT 4 - 7 4.2.1 TABLE-2 (Accent Phoneme List) 4 - 7 5 STANDARD ACCENT DCD UTILITY 5.1 DCD SOFTWARE OPERATION 5 - 1 5.2 RULES FOR BUILDING THE 5 - 2 CUSTOM DICTIONARY 5.2.1 THE ROOT WORD 5 - 3 5.2.2 THE PART-OF-SPEECH 5 - 4 5.2.3 WORDS WITH TWO 5 - 4 PRONUNCIATIONS 5.2.4 A SAMPLE DCD SOURCE FILE 5 - 5 5.2.5 ERROR MESSAGES 5 - 5 6 PROGRAMMING ACCENT 7 SPECIFICATIONS 7.1 ACCENT-PC SPECIFICATIONS 7 - 1 7.2 ACCENT-MC SPECIFICATIONS 7 - 2 7.3 ACCENT-SA SPECIFICATIONS 7 - 3 7.4 ACCENT-mini SPECIFICATIONS 7 - 3 7.5 ACCENT-1600 SPECIFICATIONS 7 - 4 7.6 ACCENT-XE SPECIFICATIONS 7 - 5 LIST OF TABLES TABLE-1 Command Summary 3 - 32 TABLE-2 Accent Phoneme List 4 - 7 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE-1 Accent-PC Hardware 2 - 3 FIGURE-2 Accent-SA Back Panel 2 - 8 FIGURE-3 Accent-mini Hardware 2 - 11 1. ABOUT THE MANUAL It is extremely important for the user to read this manual before trying to operate Accent, since the manual provides accurate, complete information for ALL ACCENT MODELS regarding installation, system options, and operation. The manual also provides a guide to applications. This manual has seven Sections. Section 1 serves as the general introduction to Accent products (models). Section 2 tells how to connect each specific Accent model for operation. Section 3 details Accent's hardware and software operation, and is particularly important for engineers or advanced users wishing to write application programs. Section 4 describes the standard Accent text processor; the specific pronunciation rules are covered as well as the phoneme input definitions. Section 5 describes the operation for the Downloadable Custom Dictionary (DCD) utility for advanced users. Section 6 provides hints and techniques for programming Accent products in general applications. Section 7 gives the specifications of each model. It is suggested the user read through Section 1 for all Accent models, then jump to model dependent sections from Section 2 on. The <> are used throughout this manual to bracket an ASCII character when confusion might occur, for example: Represents the Escape character Represents the Carriage Return character Represents the Line Feed character Represents the Space character Represents the Horizontal Tabulation character <-> Represents the Hyphen character WC Represents the Escape, W, and C character A table of contents, list of tables and list of figures have been provided at the beginning of this manual. Numbered paragraphs and subparagraphs allow for easy reference. 1.1 INTRODUCTION TO ACCENT PRODUCTS Accent speech synthesizer is a high quality text-to-speech convertor. It converts ordinary ASCII text into intelligible speech. Accent's unlimited vocabulary capability, plus its many feature options, comprise a useful voice-output device for various applications. To cover a wide range of the system configurations, cost requirements, and environmental requirements, six different Accent models are available to the user. These six models are: Accent-PC for PC plug-in; Accent-MC for IBM microchannel PS/2 plug in; Accent-SA for stand-alone operation; Accent-mini for PC plug-in; Accent-1600 for Toshiba laptop models T1100-plus, T1200, T1600, T3100SX, and Toshiba portable models T3100-20, T3100E, T5100, and T5200; and Accent-XE for Toshiba laptop model T1000SE. For the PC/PS2 and Toshiba plug-in models, the text and commands (three-character escape sequences) are sent to Accent through a re-entrant device driver provided, while the stand-alone model through an RS232C serial port with either hardware or Xon/Xoff protocol. All Accent models employ the standard Accent text-processor which can speak in two modes: the text mode and the spell mode. In the text mode, Accent will convert text into ordinary speech, employing grammatical rules for parsing phrases and sentences, for words having two pronunciations, for abbreviations, $ amounts, numbers, and special signs (#,%,& and so on). In the text mode, Accent also employs punctuation marks for sentential intonations. Through software commands, speech parameters such as average pitch, Accent's voice characteristic, and speech rate, among others, can be programmed. In the spell mode, all text including punctuation will be spoken letter by letter. Accent's standard vocabulary is larger than the 20,000 most commonly used words with precise pronunciation. For special, customized vocabulary, a standard DCD (Downloadable Custom Dictionary) utility is provided, in addition to the phoneme input capability. The DCD hardware is built in for all Accent models. 1.2 STANDARD FEATURES FOR ALL ACCENT MODELS Standard Accent text-processor; vocabulary over the 20,000 most commonly used words with precise pronunciation. Four groups of software commands; system option commands, speech option commands, status request commands, and index marker commands. Speech rate can be adjusted from about 60 to 800 words per minute. Control-X character as instant speech-flush command. Average response time less than 20 milliseconds in Fast- processing mode. Demo/Utility diskette including DCD development software. DCD hardware built in. On-board audio power amplifier with volume control; 0.5 Watt. 3.5mm miniature phone jack for 8-Ohm speaker, 4-Ohm speaker, or headphones. 1.3 DESCRIPTIONS OF MODELS The following sections describe the model dependent features for all six different Accent models. Throughout this manual, the general term "Accent" represents all Accent models. 1.3.1 ACCENT-PC Accent-PC is a self-sufficient, single-board microcomputer with a 640-byte, wrap-around text buffer. It can be plugged directly into any IBM PC, PC/XT, PC/AT or compatibles. A standard RS-232C serial port is also provided for interface with a computer, terminal, or printer. The user can select either the PC or the RS-232C as Accent-PC's host. Text and software commands are sent from the host to Accent-PC for processing by an on-board processor. FEATURES On-board microprocessor, 640-byte wrap-around text buffer. IBM PC bus compatible; I/O addresses switch selectable. Standard RS-232C serial port as a DCE device; baud rate, parity and data bits switch selectable. Power connector provided for stand-alone operation or system integrations. 3k-byte re-entrant device driver provides PC interface either through DOS (device name) or BIOS (LPT port) requiring no CPU time overhead or any hardware interrupt from the PC for the real-time speech processing. SETACNT.EXE utility program for changing Accent-PC's device name, I/O addresses, auxiliary device (LPT) number, and chained-LPT operations. 1.3.2 ACCENT-MC Accent-MC is a self-sufficient, single board microcomputer, text-to- speech convertor that can be plugged directly into IBM's microchannel PS/2 computers. All functions are performed through the microchannel, therefore no DIP switch settings are necessary. The speech output comes directly from the PS/2's system speaker if an external speaker or headphones is not connected. It uses the same Device Driver as Accent-PC. FEATURES Functionally compatible with Accent-PC and 60% faster response than Accent-PC. On-board microprocessor, 2k-byte text buffer. Two 3.5mm audio phone jacks on board; one mono, for an external speaker and one stereo, for external headphones. Adaptor Descriptive File provided for system configuration. A foot pedal switch is offered as an option. 1.3.3 ACCENT-SA Accent-SA is the stand-alone version of the Accent family. It is a self-sufficient, microcomputer subsystem that is fully battery operatable with a 2k-byte wrap-around text buffer housed in a compact metal case. For battery conservation, this board is built with low-power CMOS devices. A standard RS-232C serial port is provided for interface with a computer or terminal as the host. A wall-mount AC adaptor is provided for external power. FEATURES Self sufficient, stand-alone text-to-speech convertor. Battery operatable; fully charged battery tested over 15 hours of continuous use without recharge. 2k-byte wrap-around text buffer. Standard RS-232C serial port as a DCE device; baud rate, parity, and data bits switch selectable; hardware protocol as default, Xon/Xoff protocol may be selected via software command. Wall-mount AC adaptor included. Internal speaker for added portability. Two 3.5mm audio phone jacks on board; one mono, for an external speaker and one stereo, for external headphones. One thumb-wheel as power on/off switch and volume control. 1.3.4 ACCENT-mini Accent-mini consists of a half-length plug-in card and a re-entrant software device driver for the desktop IBM PC and compatibles. For battery conservation, when used with various portable computers, this board is built with low-power CMOS devices. This model fully supports EMS 3.2 or higher. The memory requirement for the device driver is 128k bytes of expanded memory and only 14k bytes of conventional memory. If the amount of expanded memory available is only 64k bytes, Accent- mini's device driver will utilize 64k bytes of expanded memory and 64k bytes of conventional memory. If the EMS is not installed prior to Accent-mini's device driver, 121k bytes of conventional memory will automatically be used. Accent-mini's utility program SETMINI.EXE is a powerful tool for users to set Accent-mini's system parameters and configurations, such as changing the Device Name, selecting the I/O addresses and Hardware Interrupt, assigning Accent-mini to any LPT number as an auxiliary device, setting the chained operation for multiple devices using the same Interrupt, etc. FEATURES Realtime text-to-speech synthesis; hardware interrupt driven. 2k-byte wrap-around internal phoneme buffer. SETMINI.EXE utility program for changing Accent-mini's device name, I/O addresses, hardware interrupts, auxiliary device (LPT) number, chained operations, etc. IBM PC bus compatible; I/O addresses and Interrupt jumpers selectable in conjunction with SETMINI.EXE utility. All commands and interface format compatible with Accent-PC device driver. Two 3.5mm audio phone jacks on board; one mono, for an external speaker and one stereo, for external headphones. Thumb-wheel type volume control. 1.3.5 ACCENT-1600 Accent-1600 is a plug-in Accent card for the Toshiba laptop models, T1100-plus, T1200, T1600 and T3100SX and Toshiba portable models, T3100-20, T3100E, T5100, and T5200. The board plugs directly into the Internal Modem slot of these computers, making this unit as portable as the laptop or portable computer. For battery conservation, this board is built with low-power CMOS devices. This model fully supports all the features for the above computers and uses the same device driver as Accent-mini. FEATURES Functionally compatible with Accent-mini. Internal speaker for added portability. Two 3.5mm audio phone jacks on board; one mono, for an external speaker and one stereo, for external headphones. Thumb-wheel type volume control. 1.3.6 ACCENT-XE Accent-XE is a plug-in Accent card for the Toshiba laptop model T1000SE. The board plugs directly into the Built-in Modem slot of the T1000SE. For battery conservation, this board is built with low-power CMOS devices. It fully supports all T1000SE features and uses the same Device Driver as Accent-mini. FEATURES Functionally compatible with Accent-mini. Internal speaker for added portability. Two 3.5mm audio phone jacks on the board; one mono, for an external speaker and one stereo, for external headphones. Thumb-wheel type volume control. 2. INSTALLATION The installation for each specific model may be carried out by the user and is described in the following sections. 2.1 INSTALLING ACCENT-PC This Section describes step-by-step how to install the Accent-PC in the PC for standard operation, and how to connect to an external power supply for stand-alone operation (custom system integrations only). When setting up the hardware, please refer to Figure-1 which shows the locations of the switches, jumpers, and connectors on Accent-PC's printed circuit board. 2.1.1 SWITCH SETTINGS SW1 SETTINGS SW1 is used to set up the RS-232C baud rate, the parity bit and the length of the data bits. Factory default is set to select 9600 baud rate, parity disabled, and 7 data bits. To change the baud rate, parity option or data bit length, please refer to Section 3.1.2. The default settings for SW1 have positions 4 and 8 ON and positions 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 OFF. SW2 SETTINGS SW2 is used to assign the PC's I/O addresses to Accent-PC. Factory default addresses are set to 2A8-2AB Hex, which will not conflict with any PC, PC/XT, or PC/AT standard or reserved I/O device. The default settings for SW2 have positions 1, 3, 5, 7 ON and 2, 4, 6, 8 OFF. Should these default addresses conflict with any custom built I/O device or if there is to be more than one Accent-PC installed in a single PC, please refer to the following paragraphs for appropriate address settings, and to Section 3.1.1 for changing the same addresses in Accent-PC's device driver. Four consecutive I/O addresses of the PC bus are possessed by each Accent-PC. The address always starts with an even number as a multiple of four. The starting address may be selected by setting SW2 (location shown in Figure 1). SW2 is an 8 position switch, each position (starting from 1) corresponding to an address bit (starting from 0) of the PC bus is listed as follows: SW2 POSITION: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ADDRESS BIT: A0 A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 When a SW2 position is set to "ON", its corresponding PC address bit is set to "0", and vice versa. "A0" and "A1" are ignored when setting up SW2; they are "0" for calculating the starting address. 2.1.2 JUMPER SETTINGS J2 SETTINGS J2 is used to select Accent-PC's host. Factory default setting selects the PC as host. To select the PC as host, pin 1 and pin 2 of J2 should be jumpered together, using the jumper header provided. To select the RS-232C as host, pin 2 and pin 3 of J2 should be jumpered together. J4 SETTINGS J4 is used to connect the Reset signal from the PC bus to Accent-PC. Factory default provides jumpered J4. If J4 is jumpered, whenever the Reset signal from the PC bus is active (asserted), Accent-PC will be reset. If J4 is not jumpered, Accent-PC will automatically reset itself only during power-up. To use external power supply for stand-alone operation, J4 must not be jumpered. FIGURE-1 Accent-PC Hardware (Not Shown) 2.1.3 INSTALLING ACCENT'S SOFTWARE DEVICE DRIVER >From the Demo/Utility diskette provided, copy the following files to a system diskette or the hard disk which is to be used with Accent: SPKACNT.SYS (COPY to the filename CONFIG.SYS) SPKACNT.DVC DEMO.BAS DEMO.TXT NOTE: For Accent-mini/1600/XE, COPY SPKEMS.SYS instead of SPKACNT.SYS to the CONFIG.SYS file and COPY SPKEMS.DVC instead of SPKACNT.DVC for the device driver. If there are other device drivers already installed in the system diskette, the file CONFIG.SYS should reside in the system diskette. If this is the case, then instead of copying the file SPKACNT.SYS or SPKEMS.SYS from the Demo/Utility diskette, simply add (edit) the following statement(s) in the resident file CONFIG.SYS : DEVICE=SPKACNT.DVC for Accent PC/MC or DEVICE=EMM.SYS DEVICE=SPKEMS.DVC for Accent-mini/1600/XE Re-boot the PC with the system diskette, and if the message "Accent-PC/MC Device Driver (Version 4.0) Installed", or "Accent EMS Device Driver (Version 4.0) Installed" for Accent-mini/1600/ XE appears on the screen then Accent's device driver has been successfully installed. If not, carefully go through the device driver installation procedures again. Note: If you did not have the EMM.SYS loaded prior to the SPKEMS.DVC, or if you did not reserve at least 64k bytes of the expanded memory for Accent-mini/1600/XE, the statement "SPKEMS: EMS Manager Not Present or No Available Expanded Memory" will appear on the screen. In this case the SPKEMS.DVC will automatically use 121k bytes of the conventional memory. Accent's default device name and auxiliary device name are "SPK" and "LPT3" respectively. After the hardware installation, COPYing any text or text file to either "SPK" or "LPT3" will cause Accent to speak the COPYed text or text file. Also after the hardware installation, every time the Accent device driver is loaded, Accent will verbally prompt "ACCENT READY.". Accent's demonstration program DEMO.BAS is written in IBM PC's BASIC Language, so that the system diskette to be used with Accent must contain the BASIC Interpreter "BASIC.COM" or "BASICA.COM". 2.1.4 INSTALLING ACCENT-PC HARDWARE After turning off all power to the PC, Accent-PC may be plugged in the PC. First, the bottom of the metal bracket on the Accent-PC board should be slid into the bracket slot located at the edge of the PC mother board. Then Accent-PC should be held upright and pushed symmetrically down into the PC edge connector. Finally, install the screw tightly to secure Accent-PC's metal bracket against the PC frame. 2.1.5 SPEAKER CONNECTION An external speaker may be connected using a 3.5mm male miniature phone plug (mono). An 8-Ohm or 4-Ohm speaker is recommended. There is no external speaker needed for Accent- MC/1600/XE installations. 2.1.6 RUNNING THE DEMO PROGRAM Only when Accent-PC is properly installed, a speaker has been connected, and the volume has been turned up to approximately 1/3 (clock-wise), may the PC be powered up. When the PC prompts, type in "BASIC DEMO" or "BASICA DEMO" (DEMO232 for Accent-SA) to execute the demonstration program. If Accent says "AICOM..." at this point, Accent has been successfully installed. If not, turn off the power and go through the installation procedures again, making sure, among other things, that the switch settings are correct for your particular application. In the DEMO diskette provided, there is a document file named "READ.ME" which explains the applications of each file provided. 2.1.7 EXTERNAL POWER SUPPLY FOR STAND ALONE OPERATION If Accent-PC is to be integrated into a custom system for stand-alone operation, power to Accent-PC must be provided through PS1. PS1 is a 5-pin male power connector (Molex 09-64-1051 compatible). Any suitable female connector may be used to plug into PS1. Power requirements are listed in Section 7. Please note that stand-alone operation is for advanced users only. The Warranty is void for, and does not cover, stand-alone operation. Power connections for PS1 are the following: Pin-1 GND Pin-2 Key (not used) Pin-3 -12 volt Pin-4 +5 volt Pin-5 +12 volt Pin-6 Not Used 2.2 INSTALLING ACCENT-MC This Section describes step-by-step how to install Accent-MC in a microchannel PS/2. 2.2.1 JUMPER SETTINGS J1 SETTINGS J1 is used to connect the Reset signal from the microchannel bus to Accent-MC. Factory default provides jumpered J1. If J1 is jumpered, whenever the Reset signal from the microchannel bus is active (asserted), Accent-MC will be reset. If J1 is not jumpered, Accent-MC will automatically reset itself only during power-up. All other jumpers should not be installed for proper operation. 2.2.2 INSTALLING ACCENT-MC SOFTWARE DEVICE DRIVER All software installation procedures are identical to those of Accent-PC except the following: The first step in the software installation is to reconfigure your PS/2 with Accent-MC's Adapter Descriptive File, named @6152.ADF, from the Accent Demo/Utility diskette. Refer to Section 2.1.3 to install the software device driver. 2.2.3 INSTALLING ACCENT-MC HARDWARE After turning off all power to the PS/2, Accent-MC may be plugged into the PS/2. Slide Accent-MC into any slot of your PS/2 machine and install the screws tightly to secure the board. After hardware installation is complete, refer to Section 2.1.6 to run the Demo Program. 2.3 INSTALLING ACCENT-SA This Section describes how to connect Accent-SA to the AC adaptor, speaker, and RS-232C for operation. When setting up the hardware, please refer to Figure-2 which shows Accent-SA's back panel. FIGURE-2 Accent-SA Back Panel (Not Shown) 2.3.1 RS-232C CONNECTION Accent-SA's RS-232C interface is configured as a DCE device. Please refer to Section 3.1.2 if software Xon/Xoff handshaking is used. SW1 is used to set up the RS-232C baud rate, the parity bit and the length of the data bits. Factory default is set to select 9600 baud rate, parity disabled, and 7 data bits. To change the baud rate, parity option and data bit length, please refer to Section 3.1.2. The default settings for SW1 have positions 4 and 8 ON, and positions 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 OFF. 2.3.2 SPEAKER CONNECTION An external speaker may be connected using a 3.5mm male miniature phone plug (mono) or external headphones using a 3.5mm male miniature phone plug (stereo). An 8-Ohm or 4-Ohm speaker is recommended. 2.3.3 POWERING UP ACCENT-SA Turn on the Accent-SA power switch only after the following have been done: The Accent-SA is properly set up and connected to a host. An external speaker or external headsets are attached, if desired. The AC adaptor is connected to Accent-SA and plugged into the wall. The volume has been turned up to approximately 1/3 (clock-wise). Accent's power-on message, "ACCENT READY.", should be heard. If the message is not heard, turn off the power and carefully go through the installation procedures again. 2.3.4 RUNNING THE DEMO PROGRAM Accent-SA may be demonstrated with an IBM PC. First, connect a straight-through, 25-pin RS-232C cable from the PC's COM1 to Accent-SA's RS-232C port. Second, from the Accent Demo/Utility diskette provided, copy the DEMO232.BAS and DEMO.TXT files to a system diskette containing IBM PC's BASIC Interpreter "BASIC.COM" or "BASICA.COM". Then go to Section 2.1.6 to run the Demo program. 2.4 INSTALLING ACCENT-mini This Section describes step-by-step how to install Accent-mini in the PC. If your PC does not have any non-standard card, the default settings of Accent-mini's hardware and software device driver should function properly without any change. If your PC has any non-standard card, which uses I/O addresses 3EE-3EF Hex or hardware interrupt IRQ2/IRQ9 (IRQ2 is named for the PC/XT, and IRQ9 is named for the PC/AT), please refer to Figure-3 to resolve any conflict, and to Section 3.1.1 to change the same parameters in Accent-mini's device driver before the installation. When setting up the hardware, please refer to Figure 3 which shows the locations of the jumpers and connectors on Accent-mini's printed circuit board. FIGURE-3 Accent-mini Hardware (Not Shown) 2.4.1 JUMPER SETTINGS J1 SETTINGS J1 is used to select the PC's hardware interrupt for Accent-mini. Factory default setting selects IRQ2/IRQ9 (IRQ2 for the PC/XT, or IRQ9 for the PC/AT). J2 SETTINGS J2 is used to assign PC I/O addresses to Accent-mini. Two consecutive I/O addresses are used by each Accent-mini. Factory default addresses are set to 3EE-3EF Hex. 2.4.2 INSTALLING ACCENT-mini SOFTWARE DEVICE DRIVER The DOS version 2.11 or higher is required to run Accent-mini. With a system diskette containing DOS-2.11 or higher, go to Section 2.1.3 to install the software device driver. 2.4.3 INSTALLING ACCENT-mini HARDWARE Refer to Section 2.1.4 to install Accent-mini's hardware. After the hardware installation is complete, refer to Sections 2.1.5 and 2.1.6 to run the Demo Program. 2.5 INSTALLING ACCENT-1600 This Section describes step-by-step how to install Accent-1600 into your Toshiba laptop or portable computer. 2.5.1 INSTALLING ACCENT-1600 SOFTWARE DEVICE DRIVER Utilize the Toshiba computer's utility program to reserve 128k bytes of the expanded memory for Accent-1600. Refer to Section 2.1.3 to install the software device driver. 2.5.2 INSTALLING ACCENT-1600 HARDWARE After turning off all power to the Toshiba computer, Accent-1600 may be installed into the computer's Internal Modem slot. Carefully plug the Accent-1600 board into the Internal Modem slot, and tightly install any necessary screws to secure Accent-1600. Turn Accent-1600's volume up to 1/3, clock-wise. After the hardware installtion is complete, refer to Section 2.1.6 to run the Demo Program. 2.6 INSTALLING ACCENT-XE This Section describes step-by-step how to install Accent-XE into your Toshiba T1000SE laptop. Accent-XE comes with a custom drilled Built-in-Modem cover for the laptop. 2.6.1 INSTALLING ACCENT-XE SOFTWARE DEVICE DRIVER First, utilize the T1000SE's utility program to reserve 128k bytes of the expanded memory for Accent-XE. Refer to Section 2.1.3 to install the software device driver. 2.6.2 INSTALLING ACCENT-XE HARDWARE After turning off all power to the T1000SE, Accent-XE may be installed into the laptop's Built-in Modem slot. Carefully plug Accent-XE into the Built-in Modem slot and slowly move it up and down so that Accent-XE's female connector fits into the T1000SE's male connector. Tightly install the two screws to secure the Accent-XE board. Turn Accent-XE's volume up to 1/3. After the hadware installation is complete, refer to Section 2.1.6 to run the Demo Program. 3. OPERATION This Section describes Accent's user-interface and software command options. The hardware setup during the installation will define Accent's interface options, and the software commands will allow users to change the system options, and to request status from Accent. The host computer communicates with Accent as a peripheral device either via the software device driver or via the RS-232C port. If Accent is used with a software device driver on a PC, the PC BUS protocol is automatically handled in the device driver. The user-interface to the software device driver is explained in Section 3.1.1. If the RS-232C interface is used, the handshaking for the RS-232C can either be hardware (Default) or Xon/Xoff type. The RS-232C interface is described in Section 3.1.2. 3.1 INTERFACE TO ACCENT The following two sections (Section 3.1.1 through 3.1.2) are model dependent, the user may refer to the appropriate sections for any specific model. 3.1.1 DEVICE DRIVER INTERFACE This section is not for Accent-SA. A device driver is used so that an application program (usually written in a High Level Language) may communicate with a specific device such as a disk drive, a printer, or a COM port. If the system diskette used to boot the PC has a device driver in it, the PC will automatically load the device driver during boot time. Each device driver has its specified name. Accent's default device name is SPK. After the device driver has been loaded into the PC, any application program can OPEN or CLOSE the device as a disk file, READ and WRITE may be performed to that device. The device names are reserved (can't be used elsewhere) by the system once they are installed. Since Accent is a special device (not a standard device, such as a standard PC printer), a custom-built device driver is needed to allow the user to access Accent, that is, to OPEN, CLOSE, READ and WRITE Accent like a standard device with a specific name. In this case, the name of Accent's character device driver is SPK. Please refer to IBM PC DOS Technical Reference manual for detailed descriptions of Installable Device Drivers. Accent's device driver is a character device driver, and it provides the functions of INIT, INPUT, and OUTPUT as described in the DOS Technical Reference. Although Accent's device drivers are re-entrant, the Calls to DOS will not be re-entrant. Therefore an alternative entry is provided -- the LPT port. Since Calls to LPT port (by using INT 17H) is through the BIOS, which is re-entrant, only Calls from LPT to Accent will be re-entrant. The default LPT port for Accent is set to LPT3. The following shows the LPT interface definitions: FUNCTION: Print Character ENTRY: Same as IBM BIOS RETURN: Same as IBM BIOS NOTE: None FUNCTION: Initialize ENTRY: Same as IBM BIOS RETURN: Same as IBM BIOS NOTE: Accent will be Flushed. This includes all previous inputs, text and commands. FOR A QUICK FLUSH, USE THIS FUNCTION. FUNCTION: Status Read ENTRY: Same as IBM BIOS RETURN: Same as IBM BIOS for AH bit-0, and bit-3 to bit-7. AH bit-2,1 = 00 for not end-of-speech. AH bit-2,1 = 01 for complete end-of-speech. AH bit-2,1 = 10 for near end-of-speech (about 0.3 to 2 second to end.) DH = Index-marker-count (only if YZ command has been previously issued). NOTE: With the index marker feature enabled, if a constant status-check loop is performed to the device driver LPT BIOS call, Status Read, the loop time-period is recommended to be at least 20 milliseconds. FUNCTION: Accent's Foot Switch Status Read (For Accent-MC Version 4.0 or higher only). ENTRY: AH = 12 Hex RETURN: AL = Foot Switch Status; Bit 0 = Not used Bit 1 = 1 for Fast-forward (Left) switch being pressed Bit 2 = 1 for Play (Center) switch being pressed Bit 3 = 1 for Rewind (Right) switch being pressed NOTE: If a constant status-check loop is performed on the Foot Switch, the loop time period is recommended to be at least 20 milliseconds. If Factory default setups for the system parameters and configurations are not desired, the utility program SETACNT.EXE for Accent-PC/MC, or SETMINI.EXE for Accent-mini/1600/XE, may be used to change them. Please refer to the menu when running the SETACNT.EXE or SETMINI.EXE. 3.1.2 RS-232C INTERFACE This section is only for Accent-PC/SA. Accent's RS-232C is a standard serial interface port for Data Communication Equipment (DCE). If hardware hand-shaking is adopted, the RTS, DTR, CTS and DSR signals must be used/checked for proper operation. If software Xon/Xoff handshaking is adopted, the software command =V must be sent to Accent first after power-up for proper operation. After Accent has received the =V command, the CTS and DSR signals will be asserted by Accent at all times, and the RTS and DTR signals from the host will not be checked by Accent. To ensure hardware engineers of a clear understanding of the RS-232C signals, each signal on the 25-pin RS-232C D-connector is listed below for reference. 25-PIN I/O RS-232C RS-232C CONNECTOR TO/FROM SIGNAL SIGNAL PIN NUMBER ACCENT NAME SOURCE 1 BOTH PGND BOTH 2 INPUT TXD DTE 3 OUTPUT RXD DCE 4 INPUT RTS DTE 5 OUTPUT CTS DCE 6 OUTPUT DSR DCE 7 BOTH SGND BOTH 20 INPUT DTR DTE 22 OUTPUT RING DCE The RS-232C options include baud rate, parity, and data bit selections. SW1 (refer to FIGURE-1 for Accent-PC, and FIGURE-2 for Accent-SA) is used to set these options, as follows: BAUD RATE SW1 POSITION 1 2 3 4 5 75 ON OFF OFF OFF ON 150 OFF ON OFF OFF ON 300 ON OFF OFF OFF OFF 600 OFF ON OFF OFF OFF 1200 OFF OFF ON OFF ON 2400 OFF OFF OFF ON ON 4800 OFF OFF ON OFF OFF 9600 OFF OFF OFF ON OFF PARITY SW1 POSITION 6 7 NONE OFF OFF ODD ON OFF EVEN ON ON The data bit length is set up by SW1 position 8: ON for 7 data bits, OFF for 8 data bits. The stop bit is fixed at 1 bit. Factory default settings for these options are: 9600 baud, no parity, and 7 data bits. 3.2 SOFTWARE COMMANDS Once Accent hardware has been set up, operation is completely under control of the host. Accent can accept two kinds of data from its host: text (including phoneme input), and commands. Text may be translated into speech and commands will control Accent's operation. In the text mode, input text from the host is stored in Accent's text buffer and will not be spoken until a sentence punctuation mark is received, the time-out described in Section 3.2.1.12 is encountered, or a is received if the option in Section 3.2.1.13 is enabled. Section 4 describes Accent's text processing rules in detail. In the spell mode, the text input will be spelled out character by character immediately after it is received. Commands are sent from the host to Accent as escape sequences. An escape sequence is a string of ASCII characters preceded by an character (1B Hex and 27 decimal). There are four groups of commands: System option commands, speech option commands, status request commands, and index marker commands. An Accent command consists of the character immediately followed by two more characters. Unless otherwise noted, the speech option commands and the status request command ?S will not be executed until all text, previously sent from the host, has been processed, that is, until Accent's internal text buffer has been emptied. Other commands will be executed immediately upon receipt of the command. Illegal Escape Sequences SHOULD NOT be sent to Accent. Each command is described in detail in the following sections. A Commands Summary table (Table-1), which also gives Accent's software default settings, is located in Section 3.2.5. In these commands, the upper and lower cases are distinguished. The model dependent commands are noted in the descriptions. 3.2.1 SYSTEM OPTION COMMANDS Various system option commands are available for different application configurations. 3.2.1.1 Reset =R Reset Accent, equivalent to power up reset. If the RS-232C is used for host interface, allow at least two seconds for Accent to complete its self-diagnostics. No data should be sent to Accent during this two-second period or the data will be lost. "ACCENT READY." verbal message will be issued by Accent. All options will be reset to Accent's default state. 3.2.1.2 Initialize =X Reset Accent, equivalent to power up reset but with no power-on verbal message replied. If the RS-232C is used for host interface, allow at least 100 milli-seconds for Accent to complete its self- diagnostics. No data should be sent to Accent during this 100 milli-seconds period or the data will be lost. 3.2.1.3 Flush =x All Accent's internal text/speech buffers will be flushed and speech will be stopped immediately, all options and status remain unchanged. This command is most frequently used to flush the speech. Important notice: Also refer to Section 3.2.1.49 through 3.2.1.51 for Control-X character as instant Flush command and for Xon-always-sent after Flush. 3.2.1.4 RS-232C Echo On =E This command is only for Accent-PC/SA. Characters received from Accent's RS-232C will be echoed back to the host device immediately. 3.2.1.5 RS-232C Echo Off =e This command is only for Accent-PC/SA. Characters received from Accent's RS-232C will not be echoed back to the host device. This is the power-up default state. 3.2.1.6 Enable Appending for Status Reply =C The reply to the Status Request Commands in Section 3.2.3 will have a , Carriage Return, appended at the end. This command is useful for application software written with High-Level Languages. This is the power-up default state. 3.2.1.7 Disable Appending for Status Reply =c The reply to the Status Request Commands in Section 3.2.3 will not have a appended at the end. 3.2.1.8 Enable Speech Synthesizer =A Text received from the host will be converted to speech. 3.2.1.9 Disable Speech Synthesizer =a Text received from the host will not be converted to speech and will not be stored in the text buffer either. All other options are unaffected. 3.2.1.10 Speech Pause =Q Speech will be stopped (paused) immediately, or after the current syllable is spoken if Accent is speaking. Further text input from the host will be stored in the text buffer and not spoken until a Speech Continue Command described in Section 3.2.1.11 is received. If Accent is in the Speech Pause state, only the Speech Continue, Reset, Initialize, Flush, Set Average Pitch, Set Speech Rate, and Set Voice Characteristic commands will be accepted. 3.2.1.11 Speech Continue =q Accent will continue to speak, beginning where speech was stopped (paused) by the Speech Pause Command described in Section 3.2.1.10. 3.2.1.12 Host Input Time-out Tn This command is only for Accent-PC/MC/SA. The n in this escape sequence represents any digit 0 through 9, which determines the time-out period while Accent awaits text input from the host. The time-out period ranges approximately from 0.04 seconds to 20 seconds for digits 0 through 9. Any higher digit doubles the time-out period of the preceding lower digit. With any occurrence of time-out, if there is text in the text buffer with no end-of-sentence punctuation or a terminating (if the option in Section 3.2.1.13 is enabled), Accent will begin to speak out the text. Default time-out is set to 7, which gives a time-out period of about 5 seconds. 3.2.1.13 Enable as Alternative Start-Speaking Character =F Accent will start speaking when a is received. This command is useful for Screen-Review applications for the visually impaired. However, it may slightly affect sentence intonation. 3.2.1.14 Disable as Alternative Start-Speaking Character =f Accent will start speaking only when a sentence punctuation mark is received, or the host input time-out is encountered. This is the power-up default state. 3.2.1.15 Enable CTL-Q/S as Xon/Xoff Characters =V This command is only for Accent-PC/SA. Xon/Xoff software hand- shaking will be turned on for the RS-232C. The Xon character is Control-Q (11 Hex) and the Xoff character is Control-S (13 Hex). IMPORTANT NOTE: If Xon/Xoff is to be used, this command should be sent to Accent immediately after power-up. After Accent has sent an Xoff to the host, there are still 128 bytes free space for input. If further inputs exceed the 128-byte limit, buffer overrun will occur. For Accent-PC, Accent's host must be set to RS-232C before this command can be issued. 3.2.1.16 Disable CTL-Q/S as Xon/Xoff Characters =v This command is only for Accent-PC/SA. Accent's Xon/Xoff software handshaking will be turned off. The RS-232C protocol is controlled by the RTS, DTR, CTS, and DSR hardware signals. This is the power-up default state. 3.2.1.17 Enable Fast Processing for Speech =B If Accent's speech buffer is empty, Accent will process the input text immediately after a phrase or a word is received. This command is mainly used in applications requiring fast response time such as in the Screen-Review applications. Note that if this option is enabled with high speech rate, the sentence intonation will be affected. 3.2.1.18 Disable Fast Processing for Speech =b Accent will process the text when a complete sentence is received. This is the normal and power-up default state. 3.2.1.19 Enable DCD Verbal Message =J Upon completion of a DCD download, Accent will deliver a verbal message of "Custom Dictionary Download Completed." This is the power-up default state. 3.2.1.20 Disable DCD Verbal Message =j Upon completion of a DCD download, Accent will not deliver any verbal message. This command may be used if more than one set of DCD is to be used while Accent is active. 3.2.1.21 Enable Delayed Process for Speech Option Commands =K Speech option commands will only be processed after all text, previously sent from the host, has been processed. This is the normal and power-up default state. 3.2.1.22 Disable Delayed Process for Speech Option Commands =k Speech option commands will be processed immediately after they are received. This command is used only when an instant speech parameter change (such as pitch, speech rate, etc.) is required. 3.2.1.23 Enable Verbal Stress on Single-Character Alphabets =U Every single-character alphabet will be verbally stressed when spoken by Accent. This command is useful when Accent is reading a string of alphabets and/or mixed with digits such as a serial number. 3.2.1.24 Disable Verbal Stress on Single-Character Alphabets =u Normal text-processing rule will be employed to pronounce single-character alphabets. Verbal stress/non-stress is context dependent. This is the power-up default state. 3.2.1.25 Set Audio Output Volume An The n in this escape sequence represents any digit 0 through 9, which determines the overall volume of the audio output. The digit 9 has the highest volume which is the default state. Unless definitely needed for special effect, this parameter should be left as 9 for the best resolution. The volume is recommended to be controlled by the volume control knob/thumbwheel. 3.2.1.26 Increase Overall Volume by One Step +A The overall volume will be increased by one step instantaneously. NOTE: All + and - related commands will be processed instantly, and if the parameter has reached its upper or lower limit, it will stay at its limit. These zoom features are useful for locating the most comfortable voice for the user. 3.2.1.27 Decrease Overall Volume by One Step -A The overall volume is decreased by one step. 3.2.1.28 Increase Average Pitch by One Step +P The average pitch is increased by one step. 3.2.1.29 Decrease Average Pitch by One Step -P The average pitch is decreased by one step. 3.2.1.30 Increase Speech Rate by One Step +R The speech rate is increased by one step. 3.2.1.31 Decrease Speech Rate by One Step -R The speech rate is decreased by one step. 3.2.1.32 Increase Voice Characteristic by One Step +V The voice characteristic is increased by one step. 3.2.1.33 Decrease Voice Characteristic by One Step -V The voice characteristic is decreased by one step. 3.2.1.34 Increase Space Pause Time by One Step +S The space pause time is increased by one step. 3.2.1.35 Decrease Space Pause Time by One Step -S The space pause time is decreased by one step. 3.2.1.36 Increase Sentence Intonation by One Step +M The sentence level intonation is increased by one step. 3.2.1.37 Decrease Sentence Intonation by One Step -M The sentence level intonation is decreased by one step. 3.2.1.38 Enable PC to RS-232C Transmission =P This command is for Accent-PC only. Characters received from PC will immediately be sent to Accent-PC's RS-232C port. Refer to Section 3.2.1.40 and 3.2.1.41 for command character string. 3.2.1.39 Disable PC to RS-232C Transmission =p This command is for Accent-PC only. Characters received from PC will not be sent to the RS-232C port. 3.2.1.40 Command String Sent to Auxiliary Port =L This command is for Accent-PC only. Command character string (the three-character escape sequence) will be sent to the auxiliary port if the transmission path is enabled through Section 3.2.1.38. Note: If PC is set to be Accent-PC's host, then the RS-232C port is considered to be Accent's auxiliary port, and vise versa. This command has no effect if Accent-PC is set to RS-232C host. 3.2.1.41 Command String Not Sent to Auxiliary Port =l This command is for Accent-PC only. Command character string will not be sent to the auxiliary port whether or not the transmission path is enabled through Section 3.2.1.38. This is the power-up default state. 3.2.1.42 Status Reply to Host Only =G This command is for Accent-PC only. The reply to the Status Request Commands in Section 3.2.3 will be sent to the host only. This is the power-up default state. 3.2.1.43 Status Reply to Auxiliary Port Only =g This command is for Accent-PC only. The reply to the Status Request Commands in Section 3.2.3 will be sent to the auxiliary port only. 3.2.1.44 Status Reply to Host and Auxiliary Port =H This command is for Accent-PC only. The reply to the Status Request Commands in Section 3.2.3 will be sent to the host and to the auxiliary port. 3.2.1.45 Enable LPT Auxiliary Device Chained Operation =Z The description of this escape sequence is not for Accent-SA. Characters received from LPT auxiliary device will be processed by Accent, and the same characters will also be sent to the original software interrupt vector (by a FAR JUMP) previously saved by the device drivers during system-boot. For example, if the LPT number is set to 1 (by SETACNT.EXE or SETMINI.EXE) and the LPT chain flag is set, all text sent to Accent via LPT1 or PRN will be spoken by Accent, and will also be sent to the standard system printer to be printed. 3.2.1.46 Disable LPT Auxiliary Device Chained Operation =z This command is not for Accent-SA. Characters received from LPT auxiliary device will be processed by Accent only and will not be sent to the standard system printer. 3.2.1.47 Set PC Host HP This command is for Accent-PC only. Set the PC as Accent-PC's host. When Accent-PC is first powered up, the host is selected by Hardware J2 as described in Section 2.1.2. This command allows users to change the host and utilize the auxiliary port for communication with a second host or with a peripheral, as desired. Note: when Accent-PC's host is changed by a set-host command, all options and status in Accent-PC remain valid, except that they will then be referred to the newly designated host. 3.2.1.48 Set RS-232C Host HS This command is for Accent-PC only. It sets the RS-232C as Accent-PC's host. 3.2.1.49 Enable CTL-X as the Instant Flush Command =M This command will enable the Control-X character (18 Hex) as the instant Flush command. After this command has been issued to Accent, both the =x and the Control-X will cause Accent to flush. The Control-X will flush instantly since it is a single- character command. 3.2.1.50 Disable CTL-X as the Instant Flush Command =m Only the =x command will cause Accent to flush. This is the power-up default state. 3.2.1.51 Enable Xon-Always-Sent after Flush =I This command is only for Accent-PC/SA. If Accent is in Xon/Xoff protocol mode, this command will cause Accent to always send an Xon to the host after Accent has been Flushed by the host. This Xon is mainly used to signal the host that all index marker Auto-Prompts (as described in Section 3.2.1.53) have been sent to the host. 3.2.1.52 Disable Xon-Always-Sent after Flush =i This command is only for Accent-PC/SA. If Accent is in Xon/Xoff protocol mode, Accent will send an Xon to the host after a Flush only if an Xoff has been previously sent to the host. This is the power-up default state. 3.2.1.53 Enable Index Marker Auto-Prompt =Y This command is only for Accent-PC/SA. This command will enable Accent to automatically prompt each index marker to the host via the RS-232C, when Accent has spoken to the position of each index marker. 3.2.1.54 Disable Index Marker Auto-Prompt =y This command is only for Accent-PC/SA. No index marker will be prompted automatically. This is the power-up default state. 3.2.1.55 Enable Foot Switch Status Reply =W This command is for Accent-MC/SA Version 4.0 or higher. This command enables the foot switch status to be replied whenever a Status Request command is sent; refer to Section 3.2.3 for the replied information of the foot switch. This option allows for the control of such functions as fast forward, rewind, and resume. If a constant loop is used for the status request, a delay is recommended for each loop. The recommended delay time is the same as the Status Request (refer to Section 3.2.3). 3.2.1.56 Disable Foot Switch Status Reply =w This command is only for Accent-MC/SA Version 4.0 or higher. The foot switch status will not be replied when a Status Reply command is sent, refer to Section 3.2.3. This is the power-up default state. 3.2.2 SPEECH OPTION COMMANDS This command group applies to all Accent models, it allows the user to tailor Accent to speak text and punctuation marks in a number of desired formats according to the requirements of a specific application. Furthermore, the speech rate, the average (baseline) pitch, the voice characteristic, the Space pause time, sentence level intonation, as well as the internal abbreviation dictionary and schwa sound manipulations can be programmed through these commands. 3.2.2.1 Text Mode OT Text from the host will go through Accent's text processor for speech output. This is the normal text-to-speech operation. 3.2.2.2 Spell Mode Ot Text from the host will be spoken character by character (i.e., spelled out) by Accent. This includes all special signs and punctuation marks. For listing, please refer to Section 4.1. 3.2.2.3 Punctuation Not Spoken Op No punctuation mark will be spoken in the Text Mode. This is the normal text-to-speech operation. 3.2.2.4 Punctuation Spoken OP Punctuation marks will be spoken as described in Section 3.2.2.10 and Section 3.2.2.11. This command may be used, for example, in applications where the punctuation marks must be spoken out precisely, such as in reading a program written in a High-Level Language. 3.2.2.5 <-> Not Spoken Om The <-> sign will not be spoken by Accent. This is the normal text-to-speech operation and the power-up default state. 3.2.2.6 <-> Spoken as DASH OM The <-> sign will be spoken as DASH by Accent. 3.2.2.7 <-> Spoken as MINUS ON The <-> sign will be spoken as MINUS by Accent. 3.2.2.8 Enable Abbreviation Dictionary OI Accent's internal abbreviation dictionary will be searched during text-to-speech rule processing. This is the power-up default state. 3.2.2.9 Disable Abbreviation Dictionary Oi Accent's internal abbreviation dictionary will not be searched during text-to-speech rule processing. 3.2.2.10 Full Set Punctuation Spoken OR If Punctuation Spoken command is enabled as in Section 3.2.2.4, all punctuation marks will be spoken as described in Section 4.1. This is the power-up default state. 3.2.2.11 Subset Punctuation Spoken Or If Punctuation Spoken command is enabled as in Section 3.2.2.4, only ,.:;!? punctuation marks will be spoken as described in Section 4.1. 3.2.2.12 and Always Spoken as /EI/ OA The character and will always be pronounced as /EI/ phoneme rather than context dependent. 3.2.2.13 and Pronunciation are Context Dependent Oa The character will always be pronounced as /EI/ phoneme, while the character is context dependent. In most cases, the will be pronounced as the schwa phoneme /UU/. 3.2.2.14 Set Average Pitch Pn The n in this escape sequence represents any digit, 0 through 9, which determines the average pitch level of Accent. The range of the average pitch is from about 70Hz to 140Hz for digits 0 through 9. The nominal and default pitch level for Accent is 5, which gives an average pitch of about 115Hz. 3.2.2.15 Set Voice Characteristic Vn The n in this escape sequence represents any digit, 0 through 9, which determines the characteristic of Accent's voice. The lower numbers will give lower and deeper sounding voices. The higher numbers will give higher and sharper sounding voices. Usually, when the average pitch is set at a lower number, the voice characteristic will also be set at a lower number to match, and vice versa. However, for special applications such as Games, this parameter may be set to any number and, in conjunction with other Speech Option Commands, will provide two thousand voices representing different personalities. The default number for this parameter is set to 5 which will give a male voice of average tone. 3.2.2.16 Set Speech Rate Rn The n in this escape sequence represents any digit, 0 through F (in Hex), G, and H, which determines the speed of Accent's speech (speech rate). With the Space Pause Time set to 0, the speech rate runs from about 120 words per minute to about 800 words per minute for those 18 digits from 0 to H. 3.2.2.17 Set Sentence Level Intonation Mn The n in this escape sequence represents digits 0 through 4. If n is 0, the regular (full) intonation will be employed, and if n is 1, a robotic monotone pitch (using the average pitch level set by the command described in Section 3.2.2.14), ranging from 60 Hz to 150 Hz, will be employed. If n is 2, 3, or 4, the regular intonation is employed yet the sentence level intonation is reduced with respect to n=0, while n=4 has the least sentence level intonation reduction, and n=2 the most sentence level intonation reduction. For high speech rate output, for example, in Screen-Review applications, the reduced intonation (or the monotone) will provide a more comfortable listening. For proof-reading type of applications, the reduced intonation is also useful. This command applies to both the text mode and the spell mode. 3.2.2.18 Set Space Pause Time Sn The n in this escape sequence represents any digit, 0 through 9, which determines the pause time for the Space character between two words. Lower numbers represent shorter pauses, and higher numbers represent longer pauses. The default is set to 0, which gives the most natural sounding speech. 3.2.2.19 Set Number Processor Nn The n in this escape sequence represents any digit, 0, 1, and 2, which determines Accent's number processing level. Accent's number processor is described in Section 4.1.3 and 4.1.4. For n=0, Accent's number processor is turned on. If a word has number(s) mixed in it, the word portion will be spelled out automatically. This is the power- up default state. For n=1, Accent's number processor is turned on. If a word has number(s) mixed in it, the word portion will be spoken as a word. This mode is most commonly used in the Screen-Review applications for faster speech delivery. For n=2, Accent's number processor is turned off. All numbers will be spoken digit by digit. If a word has number(s) mixed in it, the word portion will be spoken as a word. 3.2.2.20 Direct Parameter Input to Synthesizer Chip |~..~ This command is for advanced users only. It allows the host to send parameters directly to the synthesizer chip on the Accent board. The synthesizer chip on the Accent board is the AI901. The .. in this escape sequence represents the parameters (in ASCII Hex numbers) to be sent to the synthesizer chip. The direct Parameter Input may be terminated at any time with a ~ (tilde) character. The Interrupt will be handled internally. To use this feature, the parameters must meet the following conditions. Refer to the chip's specification for parameter definitions. Use upper case Hex numbers only: 0-9, A-F. Only the Phoneme Response and the Transitioned Pitch modes are allowed. The 5-byte parameters should be sent in reverse order: the Filter-Frequency byte first, the Phoneme and Duration byte last. The lower nibble of any given byte is sent first. Upon receiving the first 5-bytes of the parameters (10 characters), Accent will start speaking. The parameters sequence may be infinitely long. 3.2.2.21 Fixed Abbreviation Pronunciation OL This command is only for the abbreviated words designated by note 2 in the abbreviation table in Section 4.1.1. If this command is set, an abbreviated word designated by note 2 will always be pronounced in the non-note 2 form. 3.2.2.22 Automatic Abbreviation Pronunciation Ol This command is only for the abbreviated words designated by note 2 in the abbreviation table in Section 4.1.1. If this command is set, any abbreviated word will automatically be pronounced according to the abbreviation pronunciation rules contained in Section 4.1.1. This is the power-up default state. 3.2.3 STATUS REQUEST COMMANDS There are four commands for the host to request specific status from Accent. If a constant status-check loop is performed to Accent via the RS-232C port, the loop time-period is recommended to be at least 50 milli-seconds. The Foot Switch option is supported only for Accent-SA and Accent-MC; Version 4.0 or higher. If the Foot Switch Reply is enabled through the =W command, refer to Section 3.2.3.2 for Accent-SA's reply definition, and refer to Section 3.1.1 for Accent-MC's reply definition (through the device driver). The Reply Synthesizer Status command is most frequently used for checking Accent's speech buffer status. 3.2.3.1 Reply End of Speech ?S When speech has ended, Accent will reply with a capitalized character . 3.2.3.2 Reply Synthesizer Status ?s This request will be immediately replied with a status-character by Accent. If the synthesizer is idle (not speaking, speech ended), Accent will reply with a capitalized character . If the synthesizer is speaking, and is not near to the end, Accent will reply with a lower-case character . If the synthesizer is speaking but near to the end (about 0.3 second to 2 seconds of speech left, dependent on the speech rate), Accent will reply with an for more text to have uninterrupted speech. For host-interface using the RS-232C, the index-marker-count will be appended right after the status-character if (and only if) the index-marker-count replying is enabled as described in Section 3.2.4.5. If the Foot Switch is enabled, an extra byte will be appended to the above replied data. The reply definition is as follows: Bit 0 = Not Used Bit 1 = 1 for Fast-Forward (Left) switch being pressed Bit 2 = 1 for Play (Center) switch being pressed Bit 3 = 1 for Rewind (Right) switch being pressed 3.2.3.3 Verbal Reply Version Number |1 Accent will speak out its text-processor Version number for identification. 3.2.4 INDEX MARKER COMMANDS The index marker feature is mainly used in the Screen-Review applications. It allows the application programs to track exactly which word in a given text Accent has spoken to, so that the screen cursor (or pointer) movement can be synchronized with the speech. Accent can accept two kinds of index markers, the Control-F character or a user defined escape-sequence. The Control-F is recommended since it takes less memory space and less time to process. The marker will be treated as a Space character by the Accent text-processor, and it is recommended to be placed right after the word to be marked. If the host-interface is through Accent's RS-232C port, the host has two methods to obtain Accent's marker status: through the Auto-Prompt feature or through Accent's Status-Reply command ?s. With the Auto-Prompt feature (Section 3.2.1.53) enabled, Accent will automatically prompt the index marker character to the host each time a marked word has been spoken (also refer to Section 3.2.1.51 and 3.2.1.52). With the Status-Reply command enabled for replying the index-marker-count, Accent will append the index-marker-count (in one-byte binary form) to the status-character (S, M, or s), and then clear Accent's index-marker-counter for a new count. Either of the above two methods may be used, but NOT BOTH at the same time. If the host-interface is through Accent's device driver, the index marker is supported only through the LPT BIOS call, Status Read. With the Status-Reply command enabled for replying the index-marker-count, on return of the LPT BIOS call, Status Read, the DH register contains the index-marker-count (in one-byte binary form), and Accent's index-marker-counter is cleared for a new count. Refer also to Section 3.1.1. 3.2.4.1 Enable CTL-F as the Index Marker YX Accent will treat the Control-F character (06 Hex) as the index marker. 3.2.4.2 Disable CTL-F as the Index Marker Yx Accent will not treat the Control-F character (06 Hex) as the index marker. This is the power-up default state. 3.2.4.3 Reply Y plus Index-Marker Character for Auto-Prompt YY This command is only for Accent-PC/SA. The Y plus the index- marker character (one character) will be sent to the host via the RS-232C port when Accent is prompting the index marker in the Auto-Prompt mode. This three-character prompt is used only if the host needs an escape-sequence for index marker prompt. 3.2.4.4 Reply Index-Marker Character only for Auto-Prompt Yy This command is only for Accent-PC/SA. Only the index-marker character (one character) will be sent to the host via the RS-232C port when Accent is prompting the index marker in the Auto-Prompt mode. This is the power-up default state. 3.2.4.5 Enable Index-Marker-Count Replying for Status Reply YZ For host interface using the RS232C, the index-marker-count will be appended to the replied status for the ?s command. For host interface using the device driver, the index-marker-count will be returned in the DH register for LPT BIOS call, Status Read. Note: The index-marker-count should be checked frequently enough so that it does not overflow. It is recommended that the time between two checks should not be over five seconds if every word in the text has a marker. 3.2.4.6 Disable Index-Marker-Count Replying for Status Reply Yz No index-marker-count will be replied. This is the power-up default state. 3.2.4.7 User Defined Index-Marker Y_ This three-character escape-sequence is the user defined index- marker. The <_> character represents the user defined index- marker character which may be any character A-W, a-w, or 0-9. Once a <_> is used, it should not be altered. This user defined index-marker is used only if the host must use an escape-sequence as the index-marker. 3.2.5 TABLE-1 (Command Summary) The following Table summarizes the software commands for all Accent models. The model dependent commands are denoted as follows: * For Accent-PC only. ** For Accent-PC, Accent-SA only. *** For Accent-PC, Accent-MC, Accent-mini, Accent-1600, Accent-XE drivers only. **** For Accent-MC, Accent-SA only. SEL Selected for power-up default. The columns are in the following order: Command, Note, Default, Description. System Option Commands =R Reset Accent =X Initialize Accent per H/W set-up =x Flush all internal buffers =E ** RS-232C echo on =e ** SEL RS-232C echo off =C SEL Append for Status Reply =c Append no for Status Reply =A SEL Enable speech synthesizer =a Disable speech synthesizer =Q Speech pause =q SEL Speech continue Tn ** 7 Host input time-out; n = 0 to 9 =F Enable as alternative start-speaking character =f SEL Disable as alternative start-speaking character =V ** Enable CTL-Q/S as Xon/Xoff char. =v ** SEL Disable CTL-Q/S as Xon/Xoff char. =B Enable fast processing mode =b SEL Disable fast processing mode =J SEL Enable DCD verbal message =j Disable DCD verbal message =K SEL Process Speech Option Commands only when speech buffer is empty =k Process Speech Option Commands immediately =U Verbal stress on single character =u SEL No stress on single character An 9 Set Audio Volume; n = 0 to 9 +A Increase Audio Volume by 1 level -A Decrease Audio Volume by 1 level +P Increase Average Pitch by 1 level -P Decrease Average Pitch by 1 level +R Increase Speech Rate by 1 level -R Decrease Speech Rate by 1 level +V Increase Voice Characteristic by 1 level -V Decrease Voice Characteristic by 1 level +S Increase Space Pause Time by 1 level -S Decrease Space Pause Time by 1 level +M Increase Sentence Intonation by 1 level -M Decrease Sentence Intonation by 1 level =P * Enable PC to RS-232C transmission =p * SEL Disable PC to RS-232C transmission =L * Command string sent to Aux port =l * SEL Command string not sent to Aux port =G * SEL Status Reply to Host only =g * Status Reply to Aux port only =H * Status Reply to Host and to Aux port =Z *** Enable chained LPT operation for PC via device driver =z *** SEL Disable chained LPT operation for PC via device driver HP * SEL Set PC Host HS * Set RS-232C Host =M Enable CTL-X as the instant Flush command =m SEL Disable CTL-X as the instant Flush command =I ** Enable Xon-always-sent after Flush =i ** SEL Disable Xon-always-sent after Flush =Y ** Enable index marker Auto-Prompt =y ** SEL Disable index marker Auto-Prompt =W **** Enable foot switch status reply =w **** SEL Disable foot switch status reply Speech Option Commands OT SEL Text mode Ot Spell mode Op SEL Punctuation will not be spoken OP Punctuation will be spoken Om SEL <-> will not be spoken OM <-> will be spoken as DASH ON <-> will be spoken as MINUS OI SEL Enable Accent's standard abbreviation table Oi Disable Accent's standard abbreviation table OR SEL Full-set punctuation spoken Or Subset punctuation (,.;:!?) spoken OA or always spoken as /EI/ Oa SEL always spoken as /EI/, is spoken as /EI/ or UU/ dependent on context Pn 5 Average pitch level; n = 0 to 9 Vn 5 Voice characteristic; n = 0 to 9 Rn 5 Speech rate; n = 0 to F, G, and H Mn 0 Sentence level intonation; n = 0 (full intonation), 1 (monotone), 2, 3, or 4 Sn 0 Space pause time; n = 0 to 9 Nn 0 Set number processor n = 0,1,2 |~..~ Direct parameter input to synthesizer chip OL Fixed Abbreviation Pronunciation Ol SEL Automatic Abbreviation Pronunciation Status Request Commands ?S Reply when speech has ended ?s Reply synthesizer status immediately; for speech--end, for speech-not-end, and speech-near-end |1 Reply Accent's version verbally Index Marker Commands YX Enable CTL-F as the index marker Yx SEL Disable CTL-F as the index marker YY ** Reply Y plus index-marker character for Auto-Prompt Yy ** SEL Reply index-marker character only for Auto-Prompt YZ Enable index-marker-count replying for Status Reply Yz SEL Disable index-marker-count replying for Status Reply Y_ User defined index-marker 4. STANDARD ACCENT TEXT PROCESSOR Accent's text processor is standard for all Accent models. A set of legal ASCII characters is defined for Accent's text processor. Illegal characters will be ignored and not pronounced. The legal characters are here listed : !"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_` abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~ plus , , , and . The Accent text processor employs a highly sophisticated text-to-speech algorithm. Text may be input with or without capital letters (unless otherwise specified, as for the abbreviations). The key to, and the only requirement for, attaining natural, intelligible speech with Accent is that the input text must be properly punctuated as in normal writing. Hyphens should not be omitted in hyphenated words. Pauses are automatically inserted into speech by punctuation marks and rules. If longer pause is required, consecutive sentence ending punctuation marks (.:;!?) may be used. The following Sections describe each pronunciation rule in detail. 4.1 PRONUNCIATION RULES Punctuation marks will not be spoken by Accent in normal text mode unless the option is enabled by the command described in Section 3.2.2.4. To insure natural speech from Accent, any word (or special sign) with a punctuation mark following it may have only one or no Space character, , between the word and the punctuation mark. Each ASCII character which Accent considers to be a mark of punctuation is here listed : SIGN TYPE SPOKEN Word end Space , Phrase end Comma ( Phrase begin Left Paren [ Phrase begin Left Bracket { Phrase begin Left Brace ) Phrase end Right Paren ] Phrase end Right Bracket } Phrase end Right Brace " Phrase begin/end Quote . Sentence end Period ; Sentence end Semicolon : Sentence end Colon ? Sentence end Question ! Sentence end Exclamation The <`> (grave accent) character is used to mark a stress for its following syllable in a word. It may be placed anywhere within a word which is not an Arabic number, an abbreviation, or a special sign. ASCII characters which Accent considers to be special signs are listed with their pronunciations as follows: SIGN SPOKEN SIGN SPOKEN & And * Star @ At | Bar = Equals _ Underline > Greater < Less # Number % Percent / Slash \ Back Slash + Plus $ Dollar (also see Section 4.1.3) - (See Section 3.2.2.5 through 3.2.2.7) ^ Caret (spell mode only) ~ Tilde (spell mode only) ' Apostrophe (spell mode only) ` Grave (spell mode only) Return (spell mode only) Line feed (spell mode only) Tab (spell mode only) Space (spell mode only) 4.1.1 ABBREVIATIONS An abbreviation may be input without a period following it unless it is at a sentence end or otherwise noted. A capitalized initial letter (the first letter) may not be required unless otherwise noted. Accent's abbreviations list includes the following : APR. APRIL (1) MG. MILLIGRAMS APT. APARTMENT (2) MGS. MILLIGRAMS AUG. AUGUST MI. MICHIGAN AV. AVENUE ML. MILLILITERS AVE. AVENUE MM. MILLIMETERS BLVD. BOULEVARD MR. MISTER BLDG. BUILDING MRS. MISSES CA. CALIFORNIA MS. MIZ (2) CM. CENTIMETERS MON. MONDAY CMS. CENTIMETERS MT. MOUNT CO. COMPANY (2) NOV. NOVEMBER CT. COURT NY. NEW YORK CU. CUBIC OCT. OCTOBER DEC. DECEMBER OZ. OUNCES DEPT. DEPARTMENT OZS. OUNCES DR DRIVE PL. PLACE DR. DOCTOR (2) PG. PAGE EA. EACH PPD. POST PAID ETC. ET CETERA PRES. PRESIDENT EXT. EXTENSION RD. ROAD FEB. FEBRUARY REP. REPRESENTATIVE FIG. FIGURE (1) REV. REVEREND FRI. FRIDAY SAT. SATURDAY (2) FT FEET SEC. SECONDS FT. FORT (2) SECS. SECONDS GEN. GENERAL SEN. SENATOR GM. GRAMS (1) SEP. SEPTEMBER GOV. GOVERNOR SEPT. SEPTEMBER HQ. HEADQUARTERS SQ. SQUARE HR. HOURS SR. SENIOR HRS. HOURS ST STREET HZ. HERTZ ST. SAINT (2) INC. INCORPORATED SUN. SUNDAY (2) IL. ILLINOIS TX. TEXAS JAN. JANUARY (2) TUE. TUESDAY JUL. JULY TUES. TUESDAY JUN. JUNE THU. THURSDAY JR. JUNIOR THUR. THURSDAY KG. KILOGRAM THURS. THURSDAY KGS. KILOGRAMS UNIV. UNIVERSITY KM. KILOMETERS VOL. VOLUME LB. POUND VS. VERSUS LBS. POUNDS WED. WEDNESDAY (2) LTD. LIMITED YD. YARD MAR. MARCH (2) YDS. YARDS Note (1): Must have an ending period. Note (2): Must have a capitalized initial letter and an ending period. Besides the preceding abbreviations, Accent includes hundreds of other commonly used abbreviations which are normally "spelled out" (such as EIA, CCITT, CIA, USA, USSR, SOS, etc.) when pronounced. Such abbreviations are not listed here. Note: if there is no vowel letter in an abbreviated word , it will automatically be spelled out by Accent. 4.1.2 ALTERNATIVE PRONUNCIATIONS A special feature of Accent's text processor is that grammatical rules are applied to words with two pronunciations, and adjustments are automatic. If this feature is not desired (such as in a single-word pronunciation), a <^> immediately following an ambiguous word will elicit that word's alternative pronunciation. 4.1.3 MONETARY $ AMOUNTS The following examples show different ways of specifying monetary amounts, which may be spoken as high as trillion(s) : Input : $1 Speech: One dollar Input : $235 Speech: Two hundred thirty-five dollars Input : $.10 Speech: Ten cents Input : $0.10 Speech: Zero dollar and ten cents Input : $1.234 Speech: One point two three four dollars Input : $1.26 Speech: One dollar and twenty-six cents Input : $6723 Speech: Six seven two three dollars Input : $30,456.17 Speech: Thirty thousand four hundred fifty-six dollars and seventeen cents 4.1.4 NUMERALS Any number having five or more digits without a comma inserted is pronounced digit by digit. Four-digit numbers without leading zero(s) will be pronounced as two pairs of two-digit numbers. If a number has a comma inserted at every third digit, the following counting units are available : Hundred, Thousand, Million, Billion, and Trillion. For any number with a decimal point, a leading digit must be present, otherwise it will be treated as a period. Following are examples of how Accent pronounces numerals: Input : 16 Speech: Sixteen Input : 1986 Speech: Nineteen eighty-six Input : 168 Speech: One six eight Input : 0304 Speech: Zero three zero four Input : 1,663 Speech: One thousand six hundred sixty-three Input : 166-1688-K8 Speech: One six six, one six eight eight, K eight Input : 0.123 Speech: Zero point one two three Input : (408)453-8251 Speech: Four zero eight, four five three, eight two five one Input : #123-45-6789 Speech: Number one two three, four five, six seven eight nine 4.1.5 TIME OF DAY Input : 12:45 Speech: Twelve : forty-five Input : 7:07 Speech: Seven : zero seven 4.1.6 WORDS WITH NO VOWEL If a word has no vowel letter it can not be pronounced, and Accent will automatically spell it out. The vowel letters are A E I O U and Y. Examples of such words are PM, BC, KWPP, etc. If a word containing vowel letters goes through Accent's text processor but the resulting phoneme sequence has no vowel in it, that word will also be spelled out. Examples of such words are NE, YE, etc. 4.2 PHONEME INPUT The beginning and ending of a phoneme input string to Accent must be marked by a <~> character. Immediately following the beginning mark is a character. In a phoneme input string sequence, each phoneme is separated by the character, and the sequence must be ended by a character. The Space, Comma, and Period punctuation marks can also be embedded in a phoneme sequence. No word should exceed 32 phonemes in length. The standard phoneme symbols used for Accent products are listed in TABLE-2. The following shows an example of the phoneme input: Text: This is a test. Phoneme: ~/DH/X/I/S/ /I/Z/ /UU/ /T/'/E/S/T/./~ or This ~/I/Z/~ a ~/T/'/E/S/T/./~ 4.2.1 TABLE-2 (Accent Phoneme List) PHONEMES EXAMPLES Vowels: IY mEEt II sillY, marY, beautY I sIx, bEfore IE bEfore E bElt EA dAd AE After UH lOve UU About (Schwa sound) A gOt AA whAt O stOre OW Office U lOOk, cOUld OO cartOOn Diphthongs: ER bIRd EI dAY OU bOAt AI bUY AU hOUse OI bOY IU mUsic, nEW Consonants: M More N NiNe NG siNGiNG Y Year W Water R Rug, fiRing RU Roof (Used before phonemes OO and U) L Look K Kit G taG P Put B Buy T siT D DaD CH CHurCH J Just F aFter V loVe S Sit Z Zero SH diSH ZH pleaSure TH wiTH DH THere H Hat TX buTTer DX laDDer ' ~/T/'/E/S/T/~ (Word primary stress mark (TEST)) X ~/X/A/R/~ (Word secondary stress mark (ARE)) Q ~/F/'/AI/R/Q/A/R/M/~ (Morpheme boundary mark (FIREARM)) 5. STANDARD ACCENT DCD UTILITY The DCD utility is a development software which runs on an IBM PC for generating the user's own customized dictionary as DCD files. If needed, the DCD file can be uploaded from the PC to any host and then downloaded to Accent by the COPY Command appropriate to that host's Operating System. All Accent models have a built-in, 4k-byte memory block which can hold approximately 250 10-character words. Once the DCD is downloaded, Accent will always search through the DCD first for any given word during the text-to-speech processing. 5.1 DCD SOFTWARE OPERATION To generate a custom dictionary for Accent, the DCD development software (the program named DCD.EXE on the diskette provided) and a DCD source file are needed. The DCD source file may be created (with any Editor for straight ASCII characters) under any file name with any file extension. A sample DCD source file is shown in Section 5.2.4. The followings are general rules for creating the DCD source file. (1) Only upper case characters are allowed. (2) Legal characters for spelling are: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ (3) The spelling, phonemes, and part-of-speech are entered in that order, and are separated only by two commas. Phonemes should conform to the standard Accent phoneme input format as shown in Section 4.2.1. (4) The words containing the same first-letter should not exceed 255 in number. That is, each Alphabetic group should not have more than 255 words. (5) No Space character is allowed in the DCD source file. (6) No empty line is allowed in the DCD source file. After the DCD source file has been created, the DCD.EXE program must then be executed (by typing in "DCD xxxxxx.xxx ") to generate a Hex file and an absolute Object file. The Hex file will be used for download. Both the Hex file and the Object file have the same name as that of the DCD source file, and the file extensions are listed as follows: Hex file: xxxxxx.DLX Object file: xxxxxx.OBJ During the generation of the DCD, the <.> will be prompted to indicate the word count. Each <.> prompt indicates that ten words have been processed. After the DCD Hex file and Object file have been generated, the memory size (in bytes) of the DCD and the error message (if any) will be shown on the screen. The user should check to assure that the memory size does not exceed 4k bytes. To download the DCD to Accent, use the host computer's COPY Command to copy the Hex file to Accent through the communication link, the device driver or the RS-232C port. Since each time a DCD file is downloaded to Accent, it overwrites the old DCD that was in Accent, multiple DCD applications may be implemented easily. To totally disable Accent's DCD search after a DCD file has been downloaded, simply download the DUMMY.DLX file to Accent. The DUMMY.DLX file is in the Demo/Utility diskette provided. 5.2 RULES FOR BUILDING THE CUSTOM DICTIONARY Any word in the DCD source file must contain only the capitalized Alphabetic letters. Because the Accent Text Processor already processes numerous prefixes and suffixes, the DCD user will save memory by entering only the root words, and thereafter testing for any of their derivatives which he wishes Accent to speak. The correct part-of-speech for each entry word is required for the text processor to correctly parse the phrase/sentence and generate more-natural sounding speech. 5.2.1 THE ROOT WORD Any specific word which is entered into the DCD will always be pronounced as phonemically entered. In addition, that word may combine with various of its prefixes and/or suffixes to form yet other words which will also be pronounced correctly. Nevertheless, due to the complexity of the text processing rules, internal rule conflicts may result in skewed pronunciation of words derivative of the root word entered. Therefore it is suggested that when any root word is entered into the DCD, all related words for which the user requires accurate, correct pronunciation be tested as soon as the DCD has been downloaded. Should a related word or words be mispronounced (which might happen when, for example, the word has both a prefix and multiple suffixes), the user should simply enter the mispronounced word or words into the DCD. The Accent text processor supports the following prefixes and suffixes: PREFIXES: ab- down- mal- poly- sur- anti- en- micro- post- sus- auto- ex- mis- pre- tele- be- grand- mono- pro- trans- bi- half- multi- re- tri- co- im- non- right- ultra- com- in- out- semi- un- con- inter- over- short- under- counter- ir- para- sub- up- de- left- per- super- vice- dis- SUFFIXES: -ic -ible -ial -ern -est -d -wise -ual -ship -ist -ed -ate -ful -er -ency -hood -uate -ism -or -ly -ance -ure -n -s -ally -ence -ive -man -es -ery -side -ize -en -less -ory -age -ing -ion -ness -ty -like -ish -ation -ous -ity -able -al -son -ment 5.2.2 THE PART-OF-SPEECH Those parts-of-speech which are to be assigned by the DCD user as he enters vocabulary items, and which are supported by the Accent text processor, are listed as follows: PART-OF-SPEECH REPRESENTATION 1 Noun 2 Verb 3 Adjective 4 Adverb 7 Present Participle 8 Past Participle 13 Interjection 19 Verb or Noun (with same pronunciations) 62 Verb or Noun/Adjective having -ate as suffix (with different pronunciations) 63 Verb or Noun (with different pronunciations) 5.2.3 WORDS WITH TWO PRONUNCIATIONS If a word has two pronunciations with 63 as its part-of-speech, both words should be entered into the DCD adjacently. The first word should always have the verb pronunciation, with the part-of-speech as 63. If a word has two pronunciations with 62 as its part-of-speech, only the verb needs to be entered into the DCD. The Accent text processor will search for the correct pronunciation when parsing the sentence. 5.2.4 A SAMPLE DCD SOURCE FILE SUPERMAN,S/'/OO/P/ER/M/EA/N/,1 COMBO,K/'/A/M/B/OU/,1 ESTEEM,UU/S/T/'/IY/M/,19 GRADUATE,G/R/'/EA/J/U/EI/T/,62 EAT,'/IY/T/,2 EATING,'/IY/T/I/NG/,7 EATEN,'/IY/T/UU/N/,8 NICELY,N/'/AI/S/L/II/,4 RECORD,R/I/K/'/O/R/D/,63 RECORD,R/'/E/K/ER/D/,1 FINE,F/'/AI/N/,3 5.2.5 ERROR MESSAGES 0 Phoneme name too long, or missing the phoneme separator 1 Phoneme name not valid 4 Primary or secondary stress not followed by the 5 Part of speech not valid 6 Primary or secondary stress disallowed on non-vowel phoneme 7 DCD memory size exceeds 32k-bytes 6. PROGRAMMING ACCENT The following are some general rules and hints for programming Accent in various applications: (1) Once a specific voice (average pitch, speech rate, voice characteristic, sentence intonation, etc.) has been chosen for output, the escape sequences along with system option parameters and DCD (if any) may be sent to Accent as part of power-up initialization. The initialization for the Screen-Review applications is recommended to be =F =B OA M4 =M N1 OL. Other parameters may be user tailored or selected. (2) It is important that all text be punctuated normally, and that compound words be properly hyphenated. Any word not pronounced satisfactorily by Accent may be corrected by using the DCD, phoneme input, or intentional misspelling. (3) Speech is often better perceived when the pitch is set at a lower level. At low pitch, the speech rate may thus be set at a level higher than usual without losing intelligibility. From experiments and listening tests, P3 V4 settings give an average-low male voice with very intelligible, natural sounding speech for regular text at the default speech rate. (4) Text and escape-sequence commands for any application may be entered and tested first using the DEMO.BAS (or DEMO232.BAS) program provided or any suitable Editor. After which the text and/or the escape sequences may be saved as a file for further use or editing. (5) The =F and =B commands will affect sentence intonation. They are not recommended for general applications or for Screen-Review applications when slow speech-rate is used for proof-reading. (6) If, for the first-time synthetic speech listener, the word boundaries in a sentence are not perceived distinctly enough, the Set Space Pause Time command may be used to increase the pause between words. Medium short, descriptive type of sentences always give good comprehension to the listeners, especially when the listeners are expecting certain prompts. (7) For applications requiring different voices (by using speech option commands) as well as using the Flush command frequently, always try to Flush Accent first then send the speech option commands. Enable and use the Control-X character as the Flush command. (8) For applications requiring frequent, constant Flush of speech, unless the application program can assure that Accent's input text buffer is never full by using the Status Request command in Section 3.2.3.2, the following recommendations should be taken into consideration: If Accent's device driver is used for host interface, the LPT port interface should be adopted because it is re-entrant, speech may be flushed anytime with a Flush command (LPT's Initialize command). If the RS-232C is used for host interface, the Xon/Xoff protocol should be used because even when Accent has sent Xoff to the host, it still has 128-byte free space for further text input or Flush command. (9) This is for Accent-PC only. In applications requiring a multi-host configuration, if the text is both to be spoken and to be sent to the auxiliary port, it is the user's responsibility to guarantee that the auxiliary port (either the PC or the RS-232C port) has an uninterrupted receiving capability so that Accent does not get hung up waiting for the auxiliary port ready. 7. SPECIFICATIONS The following sections describe the specifications of each Accent model. 7.1 ACCENT-PC SPECIFICATIONS Parallel Bus: IBM Personal Computer Slot: One full-length slot in IBM PC, PC/XT, PC/AT or Compatibles Address: Switch-selectable (4 I/O Addresses, Default 2A8-2AB Hex) Serial I/O: RS-232C as DCE device Power: 500 mA Typical @ +5V 600 mA Maximum @ +5V 40 mA Typical @ +12V 80 mA Maximum @ +12V 10 mA Typical @ -12V 20 mA Maximum @ -12V Load: 1 TTL load/bus line Maximum Audio Output Power: 0.5W Maximum, 8-Ohm or 4-Ohm Speaker Physical Dimensions: 5.2" x 10.5" x 0.5" (Maximum component height) Weight: 0.75 lbs. Software Device Driver: DOS-2.11 or higher Size: 3k bytes FCC Authorization: Class-B, Part-15J 7.2 ACCENT-MC SPECIFICATIONS Parallel Bus: IBM PS/2, Microchannel; 8/16 bit I/O card slot Slot: One full-length slot in IBM PS/2 Microchannel computer Address: Card ID: 6152 Hex Power: 450 mA Typical @ +5V 550 mA Maximum @ +5V 30 mA Typical @ +12V 80 mA Maximum @ +12V Load: 1 TTL load/bus line Maximum Audio Output Power: 0.5W Maximum, 8-Ohm or 4-Ohm Speaker Physical Dimensions: 3.5" x 11.5" x 0.5" (Maximum component height) Weight: 0.75 lbs. Software Device Driver: DOS-4.01 or higher Size: 3k bytes 7.3 ACCENT-SA SPECIFICATIONS Serial I/O: RS-232C as DCE device Power: 9V/300mA AC Adaptor or Internal battery AC Adaptor Input: 110V/60HzAudio Output Power: 0.5W Maximum, 8-Ohm or 4-Ohm Speaker Audio Output Power: 0.5W Maximum, 8-Ohm or 4-Ohm Speaker Physical Dimensions: 5.7" x 8.5" x 1.6" Weight: 2.5 lbs. (AC adaptor and battery included) FCC Authorization: Class-B, Part-15J 7.4 ACCENT-mini SPECIFICATIONS Parallel Bus: IBM Personal Computer Slot: One half-length slot in IBM PC, PC/XT, PC/AT, or Compatibles Address: 3EE-3EF or 2EE-2EF Hex, jumper-selectable (2 I/O Addresses; Default 3EE-3EF Hex) Interrupt: IRQ2(PC/XT)/IRQ9(PC/AT), IRQ3, IRQ4, or IRQ7; Jumper-selectable (Default IRQ2/IRQ9) Power: All CMOS circuits, minimum power usage Load: 2 CMOS load/bus line Maximum Audio Output Power : 0.5W Maximum, 8-Ohm or 4-Ohm Speaker Physical Dimensions: 4.3" x 4.6" x 0.5" (Max. component height) Weight: 0.6 lbs. Software Device Driver: DOS-2.11 or higher Size: 128k bytes of expanded memory and 14k bytes of conventional memory 7.5 ACCENT-1600 SPECIFICATIONS Parallel Bus: Toshiba Proprietary Bus Slot: Internal Modem slot Address: 3EE-3EF Hex Interrupt: IRQ2 for PC/XT and IRQ9 for PC/AT Power: All CMOS circuits, minimum power usage Load: 2 CMOS load/bus line maximum Audio Output Power: 0.5W Maximum, 8-Ohm or 4-Ohm Speaker Physical Dimensions: 5.0" x 4.5" x 0.5" (Maximum component height) Weight: 0.5 lbs. Software Device Driver: DOS-2.11 or higher Size: 128k bytes of expanded memory and 14k bytes of conventional memory 7.6 ACCENT-XE SPECIFICATIONS Parallel Bus: Toshiba Proprietary Bus Slot: Built-in Modem slot Address: 2F8-2FF Hex Interrupt: IRQ3 Power: All CMOS circuits, minimum power usage Load: 2 CMOS load/bus line maximum Audio Output Power: 0.5W Maximum, 8-Ohm or 4-Ohm Speaker Physical Dimensions: 2.1" x 5.4" x 0.4" (Maximum component height) Weight: 0.3 lbs. Software Device Driver: DOS-2.11 or higher Size: 128k bytes of expanded memory and 14k bytes of conventional memory LIMITED WARRANTY We warrant, for a period of one year from the date of shipment to the original purchaser, that all Accent models are free from defects in workmanship and materials under normal use and service, provided the equipment is used in accordance with the User's Manual. This Warranty shall be void if the equipment is modified, the equipment's case (if any) is opened, or as mentioned elsewhere in the user's manual. If any failure to conform to this Warranty appears during the one year period, we will correct the defect by either suitable repair or replacement, at our option and at our expense, if you return the product, transportation prepaid, to Aicom Corporation, 1590 Oakland Road, Suite B112, San Jose, Ca. 95131. We will pay the cost of returning the repaired or replaced equipment to you. The equipment must be returned with proof of purchase in its original (or other adequate) packaging to the point of purchase or, by prior arrangement with Aicom Corporation, to Aicom Corporation. Aicom Corporation reserves the ultimate authority to determine what constitutes warranty repair. If it is determined that the product is not under Warranty, it will be repaired using our standard rates for parts and labor. Aicom Corporation advises you to make arrangements with Aicom Corporation directly or with your Aicom authorized vendor prior to your returning any equipment for repair. The above warranty is the only warranty authorized by Aicom Corporation. THE ABOVE WARRANTY STATES THE PURCHASER'S EXCLUSIVE REMEDY FOR ANY BREACH OF AICOM CORPORATION'S WARRANTY AND FOR ANY CLAIM, WHETHER SOUNDING IN CONTRACT, TORT OR NEGLIGENCE, FOR LOSS OR INJURY CAUSED BY THE SALE OF THIS PRODUCT. WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, AICOM CORPORATION SHALL IN NO EVENT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY LOSS OF BUSINESS OR PROFIT, DOWNTIME OR DELAY, LABOR, REPAIR, OR MATERIAL COSTS, INJURY TO PERSON OR PROPERTY OR ANY SIMILAR OR DISSIMILAR CONSEQUENTIAL LOSS OR DAMAGE INCURRED BY PURCHASER, EVEN IF AICOM CORPORATION HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH LOSSES OR DAMAGES. Some States do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages or limitations on how long an implied warranty lasts, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you. This Warranty shall not be applicable to the extent that any provision of this Warranty is prohibited by any Federal, State or Municipal Law which cannot be preempted. This Warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights which vary from State to State.