KNOWN PROBLEMS AND WORKAROUNDS IN KURZWEIL VOICEPAD
1. Minimizing Installation causes incomplete installation process
2. Kurzweil VoicePad does not support Word 6.0 format files or Write files under Windows 3.1x
3. Deleting a new file or directory may cause Kurzweil VoicePad to stop functioning
4. Print Preview screen is not voice-enabled
5. Active Words window becomes truncated when you exit the Print Preview screen
6. Dialog boxes do not fit on the screen
7. Mouse pointer turns to an hourglass after changing font type and font size by voice
8. Voice Alphabet Training
9. Commands added during 'Stop-listening' mode will not work
10. Enrollment Calculation and Screen Savers
FEATURES AND APPLICATION NOTES
1. Changing Kurzweil VoicePad System Files Using a Text Editor
2. Adding Commands
CONFIGURATION
1. Memory Requirements
2. System Requirements
AUDIO INPUT
1. Confirming Correct Installation
Confirm correct installation by starting Kurzweil VoicePad, adding yourself as a new user, checking sound levels, and adjusting the microphone gain as needed. Confirm proper operation by dictating to the system. Follow these steps:
A. Start Kurzweil VoicePad. Add your name to the user list as a new user. Read the initial Help dialog, and click OK. The Start User screen appears. Select your name from the start user screen and click OK. If a message appears saying "Kurzweil VoicePad cannot control the microphone gain," you will have to perform step C3, below.
B. Complete a sound levels check by saying "Sound Levels" and following the prompts on the screen. You will be prompted to record four seconds of silence and to say nine words, "testing, one, two, three,...six, seven, eight."If the sound levels meter does not respond to your voice during the sound levels check, refer to "Troubleshooting a deaf microphone" in on-line help (search on the keyword "microphone
C. Adjust the Microphone Gain as Needed:
1. If the difference between the level of silence and the level of your Kurzweil VoicePad is not greater than two ticks on the sound levels meter, press the Mike Gain button and raise the gain level by 1. Continue to raise the gain until the level for your Kurzweil VoicePad is in the appropriate range. For Windows 3.1x users of Kurzweil VoicePad, it may be necessary for you to set your microphone gain to 7 during your first Sound Levels check. If the difference between the level of silence and the level of your voice is significantly more than two ticks on the sound meter, you may want to lower the gain to avoid unwanted insertions that result from breath noises.
2. If the Sound Levels meter doesn't respond to your voice (even after you've raised the gain), check the following:
- Make sure the microphone plug is connected to the microphone jack on your sound board.
- If a microphone gain button is present in the Sound Levels dialog, press it, and raise the gain by a couple of ticks.
3. If the gain button is not present, the microphone gain must be set outside of Kurzweil VoicePad. See "Adjusting the Microphone Gain Outside of Kurzweil VoicePad" in online Help (search on the keyword "microphone").
4. If you still can't get a proper Sound Levels check, record a test sentence using the sound recorder icon in the Accessories program group. Playing it back will allow you to check the output sound quality of your sound board. See "Checking Sound Board Fidelity" (search on the keywords "sound board") in online Help for this procedure.
2. Sound Board Compatibility
Steps have been taken to insure that Kurzweil VoicePad is compatible with a wide range of 16-bit sound boards from Creative Labs as well as other Windows-compatible, 16-bit sound boards. If you experience recognition difficulty or find that the microphone doesn't hear anything you say, the problem may be due to one of the following:
A. Incorrect microphone gain. Because of the variations in microphone gain among sound boards, Kurzweil VoicePad's default microphone gain setting may be incorrect for your sound board. If recognition appears to be poor or erratic the first time you use Kurzweil VoicePad, see "Adjusting Microphone Gain Inside Kurzweil VoicePad" in online Help for information about correcting the problem (search on keyword "microphone").
B. Non-conforming sound board. You should be able to use Kurzweil VoicePad to control your microphone gain, but if your sound board does not conform to accepted Windows conventions, you may need to refer to "Adjusting Microphone Gain Outside Kurzweil VoicePad" in online Help for information about correcting the problem (search on keyword "microphone").
Kurzweil VoicePad is compatible with most notebook computers running with built-in 16-bit Windows-compatible sound boards including PCMCIA boards. Just select "Sound Blaster 16 Compatible" as the type of sound board when you install the software. The notebook's CPU must meet the Kurzweil VoicePad requirements (a Pentium microprocessor if you are running Windows 95; as well as 8 MB of DEDICATED RAM.)
3. Microphone Compatibility
Kurzweil VoicePad is compatible with a wide variety of microphones. Kurzweil VoicePad works best with a microphone that can be positioned close to the corner of your mouth, such as the Andrea Electronics NC-50 microphone. Kurzweil VoicePad may not work well with microphones built in to your computer or monitor. When you install a microphone similar to the Andrea microphone on a computer with a built-in microphone, avoid interference and poor recognition performance by verifying that the built-in microphone completely shuts off .
KNOWN PROBLEMS AND WORKAROUNDS IN KURZWEIL VOICEPAD
1. Minimizing Installation causes incomplete installation process
If you minimize the Install Shield application of Kurzweil VoicePad on Windows '95, the Kurzweil VoicePad setup icon remains minimized in the task bar and does not complete. Do NOT minimize installation.
2. Kurzweil VoicePad does not support Word 6.0 format files or Write files under Windows 3.1x
You cannot open Write files; nor can you open or save Word 6.0 format files using VoicePad under Windows 3.1x. Please save all file as 'text' in Windows 3.1x installations.
3. Deleting a new file or directory may cause Kurzweil VoicePad to stop functioning
If you use the right mouse button/delete function or the delete button, to delete a newly created or open file or directory from within Kurzweil VoicePad your system may stop responding and indicate that an invalid page fault has occured. Do not delete these items from within VoicePad's File/Open browser dialog.
4. Print Preview screen is not voice-enabled
When you access the File menu/Print preview option in Kurzweil VoicePad, you cannot navigate it by voice. It is necessary to use the mouse or keyboard to initiate an action in this window.
5. Active Words window becomes truncated when you exit the Print Preview screen
When you close the print preview window, the scroll bar at the bottom of the Active Words window disappears. To restore the scroll bar, resize the Kurzweil VoicePad window or close and reopen the Active Words window.
6. Dialog boxes do not fit on the screen
If your video resolution is set to 640x480 with large fonts, some dialog boxes will not fit on the screen. Change your video resolution to a different setting.
7. Mouse pointer turns to an hourglass after changing font type and font size by voice
When you change the font type or font size by voice, the mouse pointer changes to an hourglass until you move the mouse or issue another voice command.
8. Voice Alphabet Training
If you need to train the voice alphabet (e.g. 'ALPHA') which is used in some dialogs [e.g. keyboard windows], do so from the Recognition Wizard's "Does not recognize a word" option. Click on 'Solve' and type 'ALPHA'. All voice alphabet words will be shown in upper case.
9. Commands added during 'Stop-listening' mode will not work
Do not add commands while in 'stop-listening' mode. If you click on the 'Add Command' button while in 'Stop-listening' mode, the command will be added to the 'Listen To Me' list in the Active Words window. Although you are able to train this command, this command is not functional and cannot be deleted.
10. Enrollment Calculation and Screen Savers
Disable your screen saver and other applications before beginning enrollment. Enrollment calculations slow down considerably if a screen saver interrupts them. Calculations should take a couple of hours without a screen saver active.
FEATURES AND APPLICATION NOTES
1. Changing Kurzweil VoicePad System Files Using a Text Editor
When you add or edit commands using the Active Words window, Kurzweil VoicePad automatically formats these commands in Kurzweil VoicePad .kvv system files. If you are forced to edit .kvv files using a text editor (Notepad or Wordpad), you must insert an asterisk after the equal sign of each command you edited. The edited entry must be left justified. For example: "MY ADDRESS" =* "123 Main St.", , TEXT, Y, N
2. Adding Commands
When you use the 'Add Command' feature, you will
1) Fill in the 'Word is spelled' field,
2) Choose between the 'Word is' 'command' or 'text' radio buttons (the default is 'text'), and
3) Fill in the 'Define Action' field.
You might be confused about which radio button to select: 'command' or 'text'.
A command is an action. For example, if you wanted to add an easy command to quit the application spelled 'Close it' which had a 'Define Action' [Alt-F4], you would select the 'command' radio button.
[Please note: Entries in the 'Define Action' field will not exactly resemble the keys you typed. The keys you type are encoded, e.g [Alt-F4] will appear as %{{F4}} in this field.]
In addition, you might want to check off the 'Confirms before' checkbox. Then when you said: 'Close it', you would be warned with a message box asking: "Are you sure you want to: close it", before the action was taken.
Text is defined to add any keystroke to your document (including Tabs, Enter-Key etc) such as a pre-formatted entry of your name and street address. You could set it up the following way:
'Word is spelled': my-address
'Word is': 'text' radio button
'Define Action':
Kurzweil Applied Intelligence[Enter key]
411 Waverley Oaks Road[Enter key]
Suite 330[Enter key]
Waltham, MA 02154 [Enter key][Enter key][Enter key]
[Please note: Entries in the 'Define Action' field will not exactly resemble the keys you typed. The keys you type are encoded, e.g [Enter key] will appear as {Enter} in this field.]
In addition, for this entry to work correctly, you would also want to check off the 'No spaces before' and 'Initial Cap after' checkboxes, so that the formatting of the rest of your text before and after the 'Address' entry
would be formatted correctly.
CONFIGURATION
1. Memory Requirements
Kurzweil VoicePad ships with a 12,000 word active vocabulary. This includes 11,500 commonly spoken words and space for you to add 500 words or commands. It requires 8 MB of DEDICATED RAM. This does not include the memory required for the Windows operating system and any other applications you may be running. Your applications and the operating system typically require 8 MB of dedicated RAM. Consequently, you will need a total of 16 MB of RAM to run Kurzweil VoicePad.
2. System Requirements
Kurzweil VoicePad may perform adequately on a 486 DX4/75 microprocessor PC running Windows 3.1x, but a Pentium-based PC is required if you are running Windows 95.
