Sound Sensations!

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Sound Sensations! / sound_sensations.iso / voice / speechd2 / intro.doc < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1987-01-02 | 55.8 KB | 1,387 lines

ENABLE READER PROFESSIONAL SPEECH SYSTEM OPERATIONS MANUAL - VERSION 4.0 REVISED: JANUARY 1987 (c) Copyright 1983,84,85,86,87 ENABLE TALKING SOFTWARE, INC. BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA USA ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The ENABLE READER PROFESSIONAL SERIES of programs are the end result of countless hours of patient cooperation by a group of pioneers that was determined to eliminate another barrier in the way of disabled persons -- the use of computer technology. Most of the people in this group were blind, and could therefore tell me what blind people would require from a program which would enable them to use computers. After working or going to school all day, they gave up their evenings, and time with their families and friends for nearly a year to work with me while I wrote the original Enable Reader program. As new users joined the group, each person with different experiences, the concept of a "Universal Program" began to take shape. When the network started exchanging phone numbers and ideas, there was little doubt in my mind that blind people would design this program for their own needs. The users demanded excellence, and created functions that they needed. Jim Gammon needed the letter-to-word translator, Bill Kaiser wanted total portability, Don Breda asked for a punctuation filter, Robert Guyette was teaching other blind people in Seattle and needed an Echo GP version for CP/M 2.2, and Jim Beeson needed a version that he could run one-handed. There is only one way to meet the needs of users when designing computer software, and that is to listen to them. Although I instruct the design team how to use the Enable Reader System to do wordprocessing, programming, database management, and inter-computer communication, the truth is that we teach each other. The design testing team was Don Belew, Bill Kaiser, Jim Gammon, Don Breda, Dick Gage, Jim and Juanita Beeson, Ed Pryzyblek, Fletcher Hicks, and my teacher Allen Gelder. Special thanks to Phil Manfield for writing the Electric Webster Program so that it would not interfere with Enable Reader in memory. The unsung heroes of computer software design are the beta testers. They put up with first versions and tired, cranky programmers. Mr. Dick Gage was instrumental in shaking down the MSDOS version before release. ENABLE READER 4.0 OPERATIONS MANUAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS-2 For Miriam Berg, who gave me the benefit of her twenty-five years as a systems programmer with extensive knowledge of databases and word processors -- if the program was not named Enable Reader, it would be named the Miriam Reader. When they are older, the children can thank Bud McCrary, whose love for a five year old blind child helped me realize that the program must work for children as well as for adults. His generosity and support have kept us all going through years of development for both visually and physically challenged people. If it were not for Allen Gelder, who took time in the beginning to help me with the object code programming, none of this would have come to pass. Without the consistent professional support from the Engineers, Programmers, and Marketing personnel of the Digital Equipment Corporation, the DECtalk version of the Enable Reader 3.0 Speech System would have taken months to complete, instead of a few weeks. It is a pleasure to support their equipment. I have not mentioned many more people who have given when it was needed. Yet, along with the millions of bits and bytes of information in my head, they are remembered when I am programming alone at night, and they bring a smile to my heart. Robert Artusy Software Designer END OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ENABLE READER 4.0 OPERATIONS MANUAL INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION Welcome to the ENABLE READER COMMUNITY. The Operations Manual for the ENABLE READER PROFESSIONAL SPEECH SYSTEM is in three forms: Printed, recorded on audio cassette tapes, and recorded on a floppy disk. The manual is divided into 9 Chapters and an Appendix. Basically, it is meant to be read or listened to in the order in which it is written. You should start out by reading or listening to the first part of the Manual. Do this before trying to use the Enable Reader program. Chapter 2 Section 2.4 and Section 2.5 explain how to set up your speech synthesizer and your disks for Enable Reader; when you get to these sections, just follow the instructions. Once your disks are set up, you can then use the Enable Reader program and continue along in the Manual. At this point, you may also use Enable Reader to listen to the Operations Manual on the Enable Reader MANUAL disk. The first file on this disk is called README.DOC , and it contains additions and changes to both the printed and recorded versions of the Operations Manual. You should read or listen to the README.DOC file as soon as you can. CHAPTER 1 gives a general overview of the logic behind the development of the Enable Reader program, and some of the design concepts. Following the chapter is an article that was published in Closing The Gap. The View Inside gives a more detailed analysis of what decisions were made in developing the complete Enable Reader IBM Version. CHAPTER 2 details the contents of the Enable Reader package. It also explains how to set up your speech synthesizer and your disks in preparation for using the Enable Reader program. CHAPTER 3 introduces you to the actual use of Enable Reader. It covers the general organization of the commands, and relates them to the structure of the Enable Reader program. While this chapter is not strictly a tutorial, it does teach you how to use the program by describing the functions of Enable Reader, along with the basic commands that are tied to them. We recommend that you use Enable Reader and try out the commands as you read or listen to this chapter. CHAPTER 4 gives a detailed description of each function key. It is a reference chapter. You should read through the commands once, to become familiar with the capabilities of Enable Reader. From then on, you can refer back to any particular command when you need details on its operation. CHAPTER 5 is the Talking Tutorial Programmer's Aid and is used as a reference section only. If you are not a programmer you can skip over this chapter. ENABLE READER 4.0 OPERATIONS MANUAL INTRODUCTION-2 CHAPTER 6 is the reference chapter for the Integration Keys, a special category of functions which was not described in Chapter 4 . CHAPTER 7 takes you through the use of Matchup Integration with the Wordstar wordprocessor program and the use of Macro Screen Review keys and automatic configuration. If you have Wordstar, you can practice the Integration features of Enable Reader as you read or listen to this chapter. The default parameters for all the Wordstar Integration Tables and Superkey Macros provided with Enable Reader are listed at the end of this chapter. CHAPTER 8 is similar to chapter 7 only it describes the Matchup setup for Word Perfect and the use of all three modes of screen review available. CHAPTER 9 provides an augmented tutorial for using Superkey. The short tutorial is designed to help with the instructions in the Superkey Manual. This chapter should be read before attempting to create your own macro keys. The APPENDIX contains reference tables and charts. The most useful will probably be the Enable Reader Command Summary listed in Appendix E . Complete charts of the Enable Reader Punctuation Word Table and the Letter-to-Word Translation Table are included. If you have any questions or comments WRITE the address below: ENABLE TALKING SOFTWARE CORPORATION TECHNICAL SUPPORT GROUP 3817 San Pablo Dam Road Suite 240 El Sobrante, California 94803-2878 USA END OF INTRODUCTION TABLE OF CONTENTS Page # ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT AND DESCRIPTION 1.0 Overview Of Enable Reader 3.0 1-1 1.1 The Read Mode And Home Base Strategy 1-2 1.2 Categories Of Function Keys 1-3 1.3 Integration 1-5 1.4 Design Goals 1-6 1.5 "The View Inside" An Analysis Of IBM 1-8 Screen Review Mode Concepts CHAPTER 2 GETTING STARTED 2.0 Preliminary Discussion 2-1 2.1 Versions of Enable Reader 3.0 2-1 2.2 The Operations Manual 2-3 2.3 Contents Of Enable Reader Disks 2-4 2.4 Attaching The Voice Synthesizer 2-9 2.5 Setting Up Your Disks 2-10 2.6 Auto Execution 2-17 CHAPTER 3 USING ENABLE READER 3.0 3.0 Using This Chapter Of The Manual 3-1 3.1 Starting The Enable Reader Program 3-1 3.2 Read Mode And Input Mode 3-2 3.3 Listening To The Contents Of The Screen 3-3 3.4 Working With The Functions 3-5 3.5 Table Save And Table Load 3-7 3.6 Matchup Integration 3-7 3.7 DOS Help Files 3-9 3.8 Communicating With Another Computer 3-9 CHAPTER 4 FUNCTION KEYS 4.0 Introduction 4-1 4.1 Using This Chapter Of The Manual 4-4 4.2 Help Keys 4-6 4.3 Cursor Movement Keys 4-19 4.4 Speaking Keys 4-26 4.5 Command Keys To The Synthesizer 4-37 4.6 System Control Keys 4-41 CHAPTER 5 TALKING TUTORIAL PROGRAMMER'S AID 5.0 Introduction 5-1 5.1 Function Calls 5-1 ENABLE READER 4.0 OPERATIONS MANUAL CONTENTS-2 Page # CHAPTER 6 INTEGRATION KEYS 6.0 Introduction 6-1 6.1 Table Save And Load 6-1 6.2 Audio Visual Interface 6-3 6.3 Matchup Initialization 6-5 6.4 Matchup Cursor Routing 6-7 CHAPTER 7 WORDSTAR INTEGRATION 7.0 Introduction 7-1 7.1 Overview Of Wordstar 7-2 7.2 Getting Started 7-2 7.3 Automation Systems 7-4 7.4 Using Matchup Cursor Routing 7-7 7.5 Wordstar Tables 7-8 CHAPTER 8 WORDPERFECT INTEGRATION 8.0 Introduction 8-1 8.1 Overview of Word Perfect 8-2 8.2 Getting Started 8-2 8.3 Automation Systems 8-4 8.4 Using Matchup Cursor Routing 8-8 8.5 Word Perfect Tables 8-9 CHAPTER 9 USING SUPERKEY 9.0 Introduction 9-1 9.2 Creating Runtime Macros 9-1 APPENDIX TABLES A Punctuation Word Table A-1 B Letter-To-Word Translation Table A-1 C Default Values Of Enable Reader A-2 D Alphabetical List Of Functions A-4 E Categorical List Of Functions A-5 F Left Hand Control Key Set A-8 G Resources and Trademarks A-9 END OF TABLE OF CONTENTS ENABLE READER 4.0 OPERATIONS MANUAL CHAPTER 1-1 CHAPTER 1 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT AND DESCRIPTION 1.0 OVERVIEW OF ENABLE READER 3.0 The Enable Reader 3.0 Speech System is actually two programs in one. The FULL SCREEN SPEECH REVIEW SYSTEM is designed for visually impaired and blind people. With Full Screen Speech Review, a visually impaired person has access to the wide selection of commercial software available for MSDOS compatible machines, such as the IBM PC and dozens of other machines. Whether it is Wordstar, dBase, or Lotus 1-2-3 , a visually impaired person can now use these programs efficiently. The second program built into the Enable Reader 3.0 Speech System is the TALKING TUTORIAL PROGRAMMER'S AID. Professional programmers now have access to many of the speech functions of the Enable Reader 3.0 Speech System for writing talking tutorials for their software. This gives blind and visually impaired people the best of both worlds. One, they have access to the Review Mode of the Enable Reader 3.0 Speech System for running commercial software. And two, any program that is written with the Talking Tutorial Programmer's Aid will run for them. In order to run application programs in any computer, the machine requires a program that will provide a means to communicate between its various parts. This program is called an Operating System. On a computer, the keyboard allows characters to be typed, and the video screen allows them to be viewed. The Operating System connects, or in computer jargon "interfaces", these two parts together with a small routine called the Monitor. When you type a character on the keyboard, the Monitor examines it and then prints it to the screen. Note that, unlike a typewriter keyboard which types characters onto a piece of paper, the computer keyboard does not send characters directly to the screen. The keyboard gives a typed character to the Monitor, and the Monitor may or may not send the character to the screen to be displayed. In general, the Enable Reader program links to the Operating System, allowing characters typed on the keyboard or printed to the video screen to be intercepted and sent to a special routine. The routine examines the characters before sending them to a speech synthesizer. This is only part of what is needed to give access to blind users. When information is spoken through a synthesizer as it is being printed on the screen, it sounds like a stream of information passing by. Once the characters have been spoken and displayed, they will not be spoken again. A sighted person can review what has been sent to the screen by just looking at the screen; a blind person has to rely on sound. The Review Mode of the Enable Reader 3.0 Speech Review System gives blind people the ability to GO BACK AND REVIEW ANY DATA ON THE SCREEN BY LISTENING TO IT. ENABLE READER 4.0 OPERATIONS MANUAL CHAPTER 1-2 The Enable Reader program has gone through many modifications during its evolution. The original Enable Reader 1.0 was written for Z-80 based, 8 bit computers. Improvements and new features, such as Column Read and Total Key Independence, were added until a complete rewrite was necessary, producing Enable Reader 2.0 . Moving the program to MSDOS was, once again, a complete rewrite and afforded me the opportunity to incorporate the hundreds of suggestions made by users from around the country. With the addition of the Talking Tutorial Programmer's Aid, and finally the Integration of Enable Reader to word processing programs, the new version has certainly earned the title THE ENABLE READER 4.0 SPEECH SYSTEM. 1.1 THE READ MODE AND HOME BASE STRATEGY In the beginning, the question most frequently asked was "Since the many different computers being used have non-standardized keyboards, don't we have to choose the machine first before the software is developed?" This "Machine Cult Consciousness" approach is only a further disadvantage to the members of the disabled community, since they would have to learn a different review program for each machine they want to work on. So how can a program be written so that the user does not have to learn a new set of commands if he runs the program on a different computer? Programs written using Control Keys may interfere with systems that use the same keys for other commands. If Function Keys are used, the visually impaired would have to take their hands off the keyboard and grope for the necessary Function Key, and then find their way back to the home row, all without accidentally typing or erasing something. Primitive drivers that run interactively without locking down the keyboard can be dangerous; if the user accidentally hits a wrong key while giving a command, unexpected results may happen to his work. Blind people may not realize that anything has changed, or at the least will have a hard time restoring their work. We found that the problem of non-standardization contained its own solution. The only standardized keys on the microcomputer are the letter and number keys, along with some punctuation characters such as the period and the comma. By using just these "standard typewriter keys" for the Speech Review Routines, the Enable Reader 3.0 program is totally portable and has the potential to standardize one program for almost all micro, mini, and mainframe computers. Once you have learned the Enable Reader Speech System, you will not have to learn different speech review commands to run Enable Reader on other computers. ENABLE READER 4.0 OPERATIONS MANUAL CHAPTER 1-3 To provide the security necessary to avoid input mistakes while reviewing, the concept of two modes was born. A user enters a different mode to use the Speech Review Functions, and exits that mode to return to his applications program. Since this second mode is separate and independent from the regular mode, the Speech Review Program can use any keys for its commands, without interfering with the commands of the applications program. By placing all the Speech Review commands inside this second mode, the user can be assured that the keys used by the Speech Review Program will not interfere with ANY program he runs on his computer. This also allows the Speech Review Program to provide as many speech functions as is necessary, with full security, before the user returns to the applications program. Thus, by implementing both design goals into the Enable Reader program -- Home Row Based Function Keys, and two modes of operation -- full security and standardization have been realized. The two modes of operation for Enable Reader are: 1 INPUT MODE -- For running the Operating System and applications programs. All data typed on the keyboard and/or printed on the video screen is spoken. 2 READ MODE -- The Screen Review Mode. It is entered and exited with a toggle key, and uses only Home Row Based Keys to provide more than 40 Speech Review Functions with complete security. 1.2 CATEGORIES OF FUNCTION KEYS Once the above modes and home row strategy were implemented, the design team was able to type input to the computer and hear it speak. The first problem encountered was not really a problem, because it allowed us to develop our own set of punctuation words. The speech synthesizer which we were using did not contain a full ASCII set of punctuation. A synthesizer has its own set of words that it speaks when punctuation characters are sent to it. Also, some synthesizers do not have a complete set of punctuation symbols. After listening to other systems, we decided that a Standard Punctuation Set should be designed, whether the synthesizer had one or not. This would allow the user to transfer easily between computers, and between synthesizers as well. The first two keys were the PUNCTUATION OFF and the PUNCTUATION ON keys. They have been upgraded in the MSDOS version of Enable Reader to be a User Defined Punctuation Filter and a key that has five Punctuation Levels. Thus the Enable Reader Punctuation Set will identify punctuation characters and speak them THE SAME WAY ON ANY SYNTHESIZER. This standardizes one set of punctuation words for all speech synthesizers you might use. ENABLE READER 4.0 OPERATIONS MANUAL CHAPTER 1-4 It is somewhat ironic that the third key needed was the QUIT key. We had just gotten the machine to speak when the members of the design group wanted me to give them the means to shut it up. This is where I got my first real lesson in listening to the users, and now I probably use the QUIT key more than any one else when testing new programs. We soon found that another needed feature was a Letter-to-Word Translation Set. Sometimes a synthesizer's speech quality or pronounciation of a word makes the word hard to understand. A Spell Mode was put into the Enable program, so that words could be spelled out letter-by-letter. Even so, sometimes it was still difficult to understand which letter the synthesizer was really speaking. (For instance, B as in BEETLE, and V as in VICTOR, are very hard to distinguish.) We needed a set of words that could be spoken in place of letters, in order to identify the letters. Many hours were spent by the users before we came up with a set of words that were representative of the letters, and could be identified when spoken by any synthesizer. After the toggle to the Read Mode was installed, the brainstorming to develop new keys nearly overwhelmed me. Within a matter of months there were ten, then thirty, then forty. When the users began to use commercial software, a definite pattern emerged -- a set of categories. The function keys are now divided into six categories. The first five of these are: 1 HELP KEYS -- Where the user can query any Function Key to identify itself, turn on or off a word Spell Mode, identify locations on the screen, translate hard-to-understand letters into whole words, designate various levels of Help Words, set punctuation levels and filters, identify capital letters and/or spaces and/or typed control characters. 2 CURSOR MOVEMENT KEYS -- Used to position the cursor anywhere on the screen, move up or down a line, move to the home position, or switch between the beginning and end of the current line. 3 READING KEYS -- Speaking Keys that speak a letter, a word forward or backward, a line, a window, or a full screen of text. 4 COMMAND KEYS -- Needed to send commands to the speech synthesizer to change its style and rate of speech, or make it QUIT speaking. 5 SYSTEM KEYS -- Used to turn on or off the video output to the synthesizer, or to type directly to the synthesizer. ENABLE READER 4.0 OPERATIONS MANUAL CHAPTER 1-5 1.3 INTEGRATION When you are running a program, you can go into the Read Mode to review the screen at any time, and then return to the Input Mode to continue with the program. Early in the development of Enable Reader, it became apparent that the Read Mode and the Input Mode were too isolated from each other. In some applications, you don't have to worry about choosing the screen location where your typed characters will appear. An example is the MSDOS Operating System with its A> prompt. The Operating System prompts you to type in responses at a cursor position that it picks for you. You just type in characters which are then displayed at the cursor position; you are not allowed to change that cursor position, even if you want to. You don't even have to know where the cursor is on the screen. Other applications require you to specify where you want your typed-in characters to appear on the screen. In word processing programs for example, you move a cursor around the screen, and then you overtype, insert, or delete characters at the cursor location. In both of the above types of applications, if you go into the Read Mode to review the screen, you are doing so in order to decide WHAT you will type in when you return to the Input Mode. In the word processing application, you are also deciding WHERE on the screen your typing will be displayed. For example, once you are back in the Input Mode you will first have to move the cursor to the location of an error before you can correct the error. This locating process can be a time-consuming task for someone who cannot see the screen and has to rely on sound. It involves finding the coordinates of the error, finding the coordinates of the cursor, and trying to move the cursor to the error by counting rows and columns. It involves going in and out of the Read Mode to speak words and characters and cursor locations, to verify that the cursor is where you think it is. Thus there arose a tremendous need to have Enable Reader automatically handle the locating process. Specifically, when the users found an error while reviewing the screen in the Read Mode, upon returning to the Input Mode they wanted to have the word processing cursor sitting on the location of that error so that they could immediately type in the correction. ENABLE READER 4.0 OPERATIONS MANUAL CHAPTER 1-6 This task of integrating Enable Reader with word processing programs proved to be a tremendous programming hurdle. Success was achieved with the version of Enable Reader for the TRS-80 Model 4 running with the Lazywriter word processing program. However, the cursor matchup routine in Enable Reader had to be written specifically for Lazywriter, and thus did not work with any other programs. Recently, the breakthrough with the MSDOS version of Enable Reader was achieved -- integration with word processor-type programs in general. Now blind computer users can do word processing without the need to know the physical location of the cursor on the screen. They can go into the Read Mode and position themselves audibly; then with a single keystroke they can return to their application and find the cursor positioned with them. Furthermore, the users can easily load in pre-configured tables that contain all the Enable Reader parameters and settings, including the Integration Initialization and screen windows to match the particular word processor that they are using. In this way, the Enable Reader program in the Read Mode, and a user's application program in the Input Mode, are no longer isolated, but are integrated and work as one program. Thus, the sixth category of function keys is as follows: 6 INTEGRATION KEYS -- Used to initialize the Matchup routine; and to exit the Read Mode, matching up the wordprocessing cursor to the position of the Read Mode Cursor in the process. Also used to load and save Enable Reader Tables. 1.4 DESIGN GOALS The ENABLE READER 3.0 Project is a program with a unique history. It has gained its reputation by listening to the users BEFORE and DURING the writing of the program. The Enable Reader Program is not just another common machine-dependent speech review program that offers simple review strategies for blind persons to be able to use microcomputers. The project was initiated with a definite set of design goals that has guided its development through a maze of conflicting, and often contradictory programming problems. It has emerged, after over five years, meeting or exceeding the design criteria. ENABLE READER 4.0 OPERATIONS MANUAL CHAPTER 1-7 The design criteria are: 1 A properly designed program should have the capacity to become a lifelong learning system that meets the needs of visually impaired people from childhood through adulthood. The program should startup ready to run for the novice, be configurable for the expert user, and include the full set of functions needed to get the beginner through the computer literacy stage to the vocational skills development level. 2 All equipment must be off-the-shelf, and ideally be able to be purchased and serviced locally. The program should support different types of computer equipment so as to give visually impaired people a choice of the machines that best fit their needs. The synthesizers must be designed for commercial applications for sighted or blind people, since it is vocationally more acceptable when everyone uses mainstream equipment. 3 The system must be software oriented. This saves the user from having to purchase inferior speech in low-end systems produced by non-mainstream computer corporations. Many times, these hardware-based systems for blind people are priced ten times higher than the products a competitive market would produce. 4 The program should give the user security, so that when reviewing the screen there is no possibility of altering data (as could happen if you do not use two modes and Home Row function keys). 5 The program must load and run automatically, and be usable by both sighted and visually impaired persons. This allows both blind and sighted educators and students to teach each other. 6 HELP functions should be integrated into the program, and be accessible while running another program. 7 The Speech Review System must be designed to be transportable, and to run invisibly with the Operating System and applications software. 8 The system should be configurable to communicate with other computers, and should require no special cards or non-standard equipment. 9 Full use of the extended features of the hardware, both for the computer and the synthesizer, must be observed. 10 Above all, the program must run most of the available commercial software that is designed to run under the Operating System, provided the software observes professional programming standards by using the intended system interfaces. ENABLE READER 4.0 OPERATIONS MANUAL CHAPTER 1-8 The View Inside: "An Analysis Of IBM PC Talking Screen Review Mode Concepts" by Robert Artusy President Enable Talking Software, Inc. (C) Copyrighted 1986 Enable Talking Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved INTRODUCTION At the outset, it should be mentioned, that the endeavor to analyze every nuance of all the talking software available is far beyond the scope of this article. The Enable Talking Software Corporation has received many inquiries as to the nature of how Screen Review Programs work, and what differences exist between the various program types. Terms such as runtime, interactive, review and input modes, cursor routing, matchup, and float control, may describe in marketing terms what vendors want the customer to believe their products do, but in many instances, have no basis in physical reality. The greatest myth perpetuated about talking screen review software is that somewhere, there is a miracle "interactive" program that runs in "real-time" and reviews the screen without going into a review mode. This article will lay to rest this physically impossible concept. At Enable Talking Software, we have consistantly tried to provide blind people with accurate explanations of our products. I must apologize to the many blind people who bought screen review software without knowing what they were buying, due to the lack of accurate information describing the inner workings of the software. Many blind people have called us in utter desparation to find a program that would work for them, and many felt bitter having bought something and did not receive what they were promised. We hope that this article will expose the inner workings of Screen Review Modes on IBM PC and compatible computers. Blind people need the inside story in order to raise the level of information from slick advertising to physical reality - before they purchase screen review software. BRIEF HISTORY OF TALKING SCREEN REVIEW SOFTWARE Talking screen review software has a short history. The first programs we wrote were on the Tandy Radio Shack Model III Microcomputers, in 1982. At this same time, Ron Hutchinson was writing software on a TRS Model II computer and attempting to integrate speech review functions into existing wordprocessing software such as Scripsit. He did this by using re-defined keys to access the review mode, just as his Enhanced PC Talking Program does now. ENABLE READER 4.0 OPERATIONS MANUAL CHAPTER 1-9 The following is a brief history of how speech review has been handled on various versions of the Enable Reader program. When discussing talking computers I have found that it is easier for non-computer users to follow the discussion if it is presented in an historical context. Examining how problems were solved as we became cognizant of them, gives beginners a more logical step by step continuity, and doesn't presuppose a high degree of computer literacy. When we first began the Enable Reader Program, there were some basic problems that blind people in the Berkeley, California area compliled into a list. They called these the "criteria for developing a standard for screen review programs". Some of the concepts may seem simple at this time, but when the project began in 1982 there was virtually no access to commercial software for blind people. The major points they considered that must be addressed were: 1) If blind people are to be employed, they must be able to run standard off the shelf hardware and software. Then they can use the existing equipment in an office and have a support group of other employees. 2) The program must be based on a set of standards that are upwardly compatible. This eliminates the need for constant retraining and the quick obsolesence of sensory aids that had been developed at that time. 3) The program must be usable by the novice and have methods of allowing for more advanced uses as the user becomes more proficient. 4) The system should not be dependent on keyboards as they are constantly changing and would require redefinition of keys to run commercial software on different machines. All of the above criteria has been met by the Enable Reader program. The selection of methods used to provide review has been one of trial and error, test and test again, and finally integrating the change into the program. The beta testers often have to run the software with little documentation. When the change is finalized the documentation is written to reflect the change. INSIDE THE IBM PC OPERATING SYSTEM Microcomputers have a program that loads in at startup called the operating system. For the IBM PC this is known as MSDOS or the IBM version of MSDOS called PCDOS. The operating system allows for user input through a variety of devices such as keyboards, optical character recognition, and speech recognition systems. It allows for output on devices such as video monitors, paper or braille printers, and speech synthesizers. ENABLE READER 4.0 OPERATIONS MANUAL CHAPTER 1-10 The MSDOS operating system is divided into two parts. The generic part, MSDOS, or MicroSoft Disk Operating System is the same for all IBM PC and Compatible computers. The machine dependent part, BIOS, is the Basic Input/Output System. This part is written for the different machines since their hardware may be different than that in the IBM PC. It is the BIOS where most of the action is for Talking Screen Review Programs. The BIOS is an area in the machine were the input and output devices are addressed and serviced. Text generated by the application program, running in the computer, is converted to speech by intercepting the data that is sent or returns from the devices, and then redirecting it to a speech synthesizer. There are two basic areas of the BIOS to be intercepted - the keyboard and the video. Data passed to these devices is redirected to and analyzed by a Screen Review Program. If it is usable for speech, the screen review progam will send it to the speech synthesizer to be spoken. If data that is generated by an application is being spoken as it is typed or printed to the screen it is called "interactive" speech. Once the information has been printed to the screen and spoken this ends the interactive portion of ALL speech review programs. Because of the physical nature of the IBM PC, once the "interactive" data has passed the keyboard and video intercept points, and is printed on the screen, a review mode must be entered to retreive it and speak it again. Whenever the user attempts to re-read a portion of the information on the screen they must enter a Review Mode, by typing a key, or a combination of keys that are intercepted and analyzed in order to initiate the selected screen review routine. Therefore, it doesn't matter what the review mode is called - ALL SCREEN REVIEW PROGRAMS HAVE REVIEW MODES. This holds true, even if the review mode is just echoing characters under the cursor as it moves over them. For example, first the character is typed to move the wordprocessor pointer left or right. The typed character is intercepted from the keyboard and analyzed as to whether the character corresponds to some review routine. If it does, the review mode is entered, and the correct routine is selected. Then the routine that fetches the character under the new pointer position is run. Once the character is sent to the speech synthesizer the review mode is exited. Finallly, the typed character is passed on to the wordprocessor, and the wordprocessor pointer is moved. If a screen review program intercepts the keyboard and video properly, it can not be any more "interactive" than another. It is the method of how the Review Mode is entered, and what routines are available, that distinguish the many different Screen Review Programs. ENABLE READER 4.0 OPERATIONS MANUAL CHAPTER 1-11 THE EARLY YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT The first Enable Reader program we wrote took almost six months. It was never released. The progam was scrapped when the concept of the "protected mode" or "home row based function keys" was carried over from the mainframe computer environment to the microcomputer by Mr. Donald Belew. Don is totally blind and works as a computer operator at one of the most advanced physics computer centers in the world - the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory's Real Time Systems Programming Group. The original version of the Enable Reader program used review keys that programs on the TRS-80 Model III did not use. The problems occurred when the Wordstar wordprocessing program ran under the CP/M 2.0 operating system. Wordstar used all of the keys we were using for review. The two programs interferred with one another. The new set of problems inherent in re-defining the review keys for every program was no solution. We ruled out using the ten key pad because other keyboards we examined, either didn't have them or didn't conform to any standard. Re-defining function keys or using alternate function keys may not work on newer styles of keyboards, or make the screen review program clumsy and slow to use. This is due to having to retrain yourself to move both hands in different directions for different programs. The new IBM PC-AT standard keyboard has the function keys on the top instead of on the left side. We needed a system that would run identically on all keyboards, with most software, and under any operating system. The primitive review modes, provided only single function, temporary access, and were painfully slow. The most distressing problem though, was that all the time the review keys were being sought, the keyboard was active. Many users accidentally typed keys they did not want when trying to find their way to the review keys and then back to the home row typewriter keys. The solution to these major problems was to provide two modes of operation, that did not require blind people to move their hands from the home row position to review the data on the video screen - a protected mode system. When using review keys the user would enter a review mode that would protect against accidentally typing keys while reviewing and provide more than just temporary access. By using keys close to the home row to access the review functions the "Home Row Based Review Mode" systems would prove to be the fastest and most accurate of all Screen Review methods for blind people. The "Home Row Review Mode" concept has revolutionized screen review software and is currently in use in most of the major programs on the market today. ENABLE READER 4.0 OPERATIONS MANUAL CHAPTER 1-12 Don Belew and I worked for eight months, side by side, to developed the first home row based screen review mode. Documentation was almost non existent for the machines at that time since many used proprietary operating systems. Don would sit patiently for many nights in a row while I wrote code for the Enable Reader 1.0 program. Much of the time the program didn't do what we wanted. Don would just say, "We will get it next time." As I look back now, it was Don Belew and his unwaivering encouragement and committment to produce a new set of standards for blind people that kept me going. TOWARD MORE STANDARDIZATION Since no major brand of speech synthesizer was designed for the exclusive use of blind people we decided to incorporate most of the features of speech synthesizers into the Enable Reader program. This gives the user, the same power for review whether they are using a low end or more expensive speech synthesizer. The user is paying for the quality of speech when they buy a speech synthesizer and not for features necessary for screen review. Another major complaint by the original users of the Enable Reader program was that they had to reset the program at startup and for every application program they ran. When we designed the IBM PC version it was from years of experience. All of the review features that can be changed can be saved to disk as a table for future use. A default table is automatically loaded when the program starts and initializes the program to the level of expertise that the user needs for a certain program or project. When running an application program all the changes made to the program can be saved to the disk as a table by any name and then later recalled. Tables for Wordstar are provided that allow a blind person to run Wordstar 3.0 without having to know where the data is located physically on the screen. The late, Mr. William Kaiser III, a true pioneer of sensory aids for blind people, once told me that if blind people are to become more independent through the use of talking computers, it will require that they can communicate with their sighted co-workers. The Enable Reader MSDOS version contains an Audio/Visual interface that provides a method for blind people to visually show sighted co-workers how they are using the Enable Reader program and what all the different review keys are set up to do. A special screen can be switched on that can be reviewed to determine how review keys have been setup for any table that is currently running. Another set of tables can be loaded into the Enable Reader MSDOS program that in essence seek to standardize all speech output synthesizers. Most of the major features of all speech synthesizer are incorporated into Enable Reader. and are included on a manual disk. The tables for the Dectalk, Votrax PSS, Votrax PSS/b, Votalker IB, Arctic, Echo GP, and Speech-PLUS 5050 speech synthesizers are provided. ENABLE READER 4.0 OPERATIONS MANUAL CHAPTER 1-13 These synthesizers were selected for support because they have the necessary basic criteria for standardization. For a synthesizer to be used with tables it should conform to four minimum performance standards. Each synthesizer must have 1) a command for stopping speech, 2) a command for starting speech, 3) can be addressed as a standard serial port, and 4) provides a means for handshaking between the Enable Reader Program and the voice synthesizer so characters don't get dropped. During data entry on a mainframe, another problem we encountered, was that information printed to the screen "interactively" needed more than just the words to be spoken. The Enable Reader program needed a speech fomatting system much like this wordprocessor I am writing with needs a print formatter in order to print text on a paper printer. Punctuation and spaces may need to be spoken or the control keys may need to identify themselves when typed. The HELP keys are selected in the review mode, but will work during both review mode and when interactive data is being passed. When data is presented to the screen it can be spoken as whole words or spelled, identify uppercase letters, identify spaces, and many other HELP functions. There are no exception rules as to which help keys will work with one another. All Help is "hierarchical". This means that if the character "D" is uppercase, in reverse video, and translates from a letter to the word "DELTA", it will be spoken as "REVERSE UPCASE DELTA". This works in both the review mode or the interactive mode. For absolute accuracy, Help functions have been extremely useful when doing data entry into an applications program or when using the IBM PC as a terminal connected to a mainframe computer. CURSOR ROUTING OR MATCHUP In some applications, you don't have to worry about choosing the screen location where your typed characters will appear. An example is the MSDOS command line A> prompt. The operating system prompts you to type in responses at a cursor postion that it picks for you. Other applications require you to specify where you want your typed-in characters to appear on the screen. In word processing programs for example, you move the cursor around the screen, and then overtype, insert, or delete characters at the cursor position. In both of the above types of applications, if you go into a review mode to review the screen, you are doing so to decide WHAT you will type in when you return to the application program. In a wordprocessing application you are also deciding WHERE on the screen your typing will be displayed. This locating problem can be time-consuming and frustrating. ENABLE READER 4.0 OPERATIONS MANUAL CHAPTER 1-14 Wordprocessing for blind people has been an extremely difficult task using commercial wordprocessing programs. The most common problem was entering into a review mode, finding a spelling mistake, exiting the review mode and then using the word processor movement keys to locate the misspelled word and correct it. The method used most was to find the position on the screen of the entry point and the mistake, do some simple math and type the corect number of movement keys to approximate the position and then check to see if the wordprocessor is over the mistake. Although, people did it and amazed me with some of the fasinating ways they found the mistakes it never was fast enough to be considered a solution. Another major problem with this method, is that the cursor movement keys in the wordprocessor may not move the cursor up or down in a straight line on the screen. In Wordstar, for example, if the line is blank or does not end at the right margin, the cursor is automatically moved to the last character typed on the line. If the line was blank the cursor moves to the left margin. We tried using the arrow keys to echo the character under the cursor, when the wordprocessing cursor was moved over letters on the video screen. This spelled out the line and gained some time. In tests, it proved to be much too slow. Moving laterally along a line showed some promise, but once the cursor was moved off the line by going up or down, most people got lost and were constantly checking their position as they moved around the screen. The solution was to provide a function that would automatically move the wordprocessor position to the review mode position. This would let the user find the mistake in review mode and then type a key that would return them to the wordprocesser sitting at the location of the error ready to correct it. The first version of the Cursor Matchup function was programmed into the TRSDOS version of Enable Reader and was program dependent in that it would only run with the Lazy Writer word processing program. The upgrade in MSDOS runs with most word processors and provides complete error checking before the function will run. It also works with the UNIX Visual Editor on Digital Equipment Vax Minicomputers when the IBM PC is used as a terminal. The Matchup function in Enable Reader is one of the easiest to use. It requires only a basic knowledge of how a wordprocessor works and can dramatically increase the productivity of a blind computer user. A complete set of eighteen tables for the Wordstar 3.0 wordprocessor are included free for the speech synthesizer you choose. These tables are pre-set. The windows are designed to read the menus, the Matchup function is turned on, and selected punctuation is filtered off. The manual conatins a complete tutorial on how to use the tables and what their parameters are. ENABLE READER 4.0 OPERATIONS MANUAL CHAPTER 1-15 DOCUMENTATION AND UPWARD COMPATIBILITY The Enable Reader Program has extensive documentation. It is provided in print, on disk, and cassette. The 130 page manual has taken over three years to write through the development of fourteen versions of the Enable Reader Program running under six operating systems. The manual is available on disk to be read with a wordprocessor. The five 90 minute cassettes of the manual contains instructions for setting up your machine, a short tutorial to get you up and running, and an extensive discussion of how the program works. The cassettes are more than just another feature, we feel they are an absolute necessity, and encourage other screen review software companies to provide the manuals in the most accessible form. Cassettes of the manual, makes the documentation portable, and does not require that you have a computer present, or know how to use one to get started with the Enable Reader program. Many of our users listen to the tapes on Sony Walkman cassette players while riding the bus to school or work. The program itself comes ready to run and is configured for the synthesizer of your choice. The default settings are for the complete novice. IN CONCLUSION The Enable Talking Software Corporation has listened to hundreds of suggestions from blind people worldwide for over four years and examines each one on its merit. If the suggestion can be a standard on any machine it may be incorporated into the Enable Reader Program. This guarantees for the upward compatibility as new computers and operating systems are introduced. We welcome suggestions and will try to help you in solving problems relating to your system at home, school, or work. So many have given so much over the years. The amount of information we have processed in order to create, upgrade, and maintain the Enable Reader Speech System would fill volumes. With the release of Enable Reader 4.0 as a shareware program I hope that the goal of reaching more blind people worldwide will become a reality. As of January, 1987 there are less than 1% of U.S. Blind People using a talking computer. After five years of research, this is disappointing. If it is access to the software that is holding blind people back from attending school or getting training where there are IBM compatible computers then this freeware release should remedy that problem. If blind people worldwide need a tool to enhance their ability to be self supporting I hope they find Enable Reader will do the job. END OF CHAPTER ONE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT