Radio Shack VoxBox TRS-80 User manual

VOXBOX™
Speech
Recognition
Device
Catalog Number 26-1181
Radio /hack
TRS-BO™
MICRO
COMPUTER
SYSTEM
CUSTOM MANUFACTURED IN U.S-A. FOR RADIO SHACK ;S5 ADIVISION OF TANDY CORPORATION

Congratulations for selecting this Radio Shack
Computer Product!
The TRS-80 VOXBOX speech recognition unit allows you to enjoy
this new technology on your Level II TRS-80 computer. Now you
may use words and phrases to control and instruct your computer —
and to enter data. Focus on the work or play at hand —such as on the
Video Display —without the distraction of having to type on the
keyboard.
•Simple to use —connects directly to TRS-80 or to Expansion
Interface TRS-80 Bus Card Edge.
•Includes dynamic push-to-talk mic with coiled cord for
communication with the VOXBOX.
•Includes machine-language "driver" program and three application
programs.
•Using the examples and instructions in this manual, you can write
your own programs for custom applications.
•Use the training mode to teach the VOXBOX up to 32 words
or phrases, each word/phrase up to 1.2 seconds long.
•Re-train it at any time to recognize adifferent 32-word
vocabulary .... in any language!
Note: Speech recognition is anew technology. In fact, your Radio
Shack VOXBOX is one of the first such devices to be both available
and affordable to general consumers. For this reason, Radio Shack
recommends that the unit be used primarily for entertainment and
experimentation. Proceed advisedly before committing the unit to any
serious application.
Required Equipment
TRS-80 with 16K RAM
Cassette Recorder
Expansion Interface optional

Contents
1. Setting Up 3
2. Powering Up and Loading the Driver Program 5
3. Hints on Using VoxBox 7
4. Running the Application Programs 8
5. How to Write Your Own Application Programs 21
Appendices
A. Modifying the Driver Program parameters .
.
29
B. Table Summary of Important Addresses 30
C. Device Specifications 31

Setting Up
1. Setting Up
Connecting the VOXBOX to the TRS-80
(See Figure 1.)
1. Turn off the TRS-80; leave the VOXBOX unplugged.
2. Remove the curved hood on the left rear of the TRS-80, exposing
the TRS-80 card edge. Connect the VOXBOX cable to this card-
edge, with the ribbon cable exiting from the bottom of the
connector.
3. Plug the microphone into the DIN jack on the front of the
VOXBOX. Take care to make the correction properly.
4. Connect the power-supply mini-plug into the back of the
VOXBOX.
5. Plug the VOXBOX power supply into asource of 120 VAC.
6. Follow the power-up instructions below.
REMOVE DOOR OVER TRS-80 CARD EDGE
CONNECT VOXBOX CONNECTORIZED CABLE
WITH CABLE EXITING BOTTOM OF CONNECTOR
PLUG POWER UNIT IN HERE
VOXBOX POWER UNIT
PLUG INTO 120 VAC OUTLET
POWER ON/OFF SWITCH
(IN=ON)
MICROPHONE DIN
CONNECTOR
11111 1 1 1 1 1 1 111
1 1 1 1 11111111111
1 1 11 1 1 1 1 1 1 11
1
VOXBOX TRS-80
TOP VIEW
CONNECTING VOXBOX TO YOUR TRS-80
FIGURE 1

Setting Up
Connecting the VOXBOX to the Expansion Interface
(See Figure 2.)
1. Turn off the TRS-80; leave the VOXBOX unplugged.
2. Connect the other end of the VOXBOX cable to the TRS-80 Bus
Card-Edge (left side, front, on the Expansion Interface), with the
ribbon cable exiting from the bottom of the connector.
3. Plug the microphone into the DIN jack on the front of the
VOXBOX. Take care to mate the connection properly.
4. Connect the power-supply mini-plug into the back of the
VOXBOX.
5. Plug the VOXBOX power supply into asource of 120 VAC.
6. Follow the power-up instructions below.
VOXBOX CABLE TO EXPANSION INTERFACE
CABLE EXITS FROM BOTTOM OF CONNECTOR
EXPANSION INTERFACE
(VIDEO DISPLAY NOT SHOWN)
PLUG POWER UNIT IN HERE
VOXBOX POWER UNIT
PLUG INTO 120 VAC OUTLET
POWER ON/OFF SWITCH
(IN=ON)
MICROPHONE DIN
CONNECTOR
1 1 1 1 111 1 1
II II 111 1 11 1 1 1 1
II 1 1 1 11 1 1111
1 1 111III 1
VOXBOX TRS-80
TOP VIEW
CONNECTING VOXBOX TO YOUR EXPANSION INTERFACE
FIGURE 2

Powering Up and Loading the Driver Program
2. Powering Up and Loading the
Driver Program
Okay, you've got the hardware set up now. But the VOXBOXis still
only halfway installed.
That's because an essential part of the VOXBOX is the software—the
driver program that communicates back and forth between your
application program and the hardware. Before you can begin using
the VOXBOX, you have to "install" the driver program.
This driver program is amachine-language file stored on cassette, and
loaded into the highest RAM addresses in your machine. There are
three different machine-language tapes, SP16, SP32, SP48,
corresponding to the three possible memory sizes, 16K, 32K and
48K RAM.
1
.
Turn on the VOXBOX. The Power Button is on the rear of the case
at the left.
2. Turn on any other peripherals you are going to use.
3. Turn on the Computer as usual. (TRSDOS users should load and
execute the BASIC interpreter.)
4. Now it's time to reserve memory for the driver program. Answer
MEMORY SIZE? according to the following table:
IF YOU HAVE ANSWER MEMORY SIZE?
16K RAM 28671
32K RAM 45055
48K RAM 61439
5. Now locate the proper SPnn tape for your System. (For 16K RAM,
use SP16; 32K, SP32; 48K, SP48). Prepare your recorder to
play the tape.

Powering Up and Loading the Driver Program
6. TRSDOS users type CMD "T" yggggg before cassette
operations.
Type:
SYSTEM QSE3
*? SPnn EMUS nn=16, 32 or 48
The tape will now load, as indicated by the blinking asterisks
on the Display. If there is an error, one of the blinking asterisks on
the Display will be replaced by a"C." Wait till the tape stops,
adjust the volume, and repeat step 6. If the tape doesn't stop,
reset the and start over at step 1.(The program is recorded twice on
each side of the tape.)
7. Once the tape has loaded successfully, (t he *? returns and there's
no Cin the upper right corner), press BREAK
*9 BREAK
The VOXBOX is now completely "installed" and ready to run one
of the applications programs.
The driver program will remain intact until you turn off the computer
or replace the contents of the highest 4096 RAM bytes in your
computer. Pressing RESET will not affect the driver program. (But
always reserve memory as in the preceding table.)
Saving the Driver Program on Disk
With adisk system, you can save the driver program (SPnn) in adisk
file. Use the TAPEDISK utility program described in the
TRSDOS Reference Manual. Prepare the recorder to play the correct
SPnn tape, and type:
TAPEDISK
?C
?FSPnn/CMD:0 aaaa bbbb 402D
?EgJjJJ3|
Get values for nn, aaaa and bbbb from the table below.
ENTER
ENTER ENTER
Memory Size nn aaaa bbbb
16K 16 7000 7FFF
32K 32 B000 BFFF
48K 48 F000 FFFF
Once you've saved the driver program, you can load it in the
DOS READY mode by typing:
LOAD SPnn/CMD Q2EQ3 (nn=16,32 or 48)
Then load BASIC and answer MEMORY SIZE as described on the
preceding page.

Hints on Using VOXBOX
3. Hints on Using VOXBOX
Computer Speech Recognition is still in its early stages. You cannot,
for example, expect the VOXBOX to understand you unless you make
every effort to make yourself understood. Put another way, it is easy
to fool the VOXBOX; the goal is to communicate with your
Computer through it.
To obtain the best results from your VOXBOX, always follow the
following suggestions:
Environmental Conditions
Your VOXBOX, like you, will work best in aclean and quiet room.
Background noise will be picked up by the microphone and mixed
with speech, reducing the recognition accuracy of the VOXBOX.
Using the Microphone
Hold the microphone almost touching your lips. Movement of the
microphone introduces additional variations into the system which
increase the chance of recognition mistakes.
When VOXBOX is ready for you to talk, press the push-to-talk button
on the Mic; release the button when you have finished pronouncing
the word or phrase.
Speak slowly and distinctly into the Mic, using as little inflection as
possible. You will need to pronounce your words consistently, so don't
use aforced or unnatural pronunciation.
Choose Your Language and Words
You may use any language or words with VOXBOX, programming it
in the language and words of choice. Even though the video display
may "prompt" you in English, it is not necessary to use the same
English word.
Be consistent in your speech
Once you have trained the VOXBOX on agiven vocabulary,
pronounce the words consistently so the VOXBOX can recognize
them more reliably.

Running the Application Programs
4. Running the Application Programs
Three BASIC programs are included on tape to let you get used to
the VOXBOX:
•An Inventory Demonstrator that lets you specify items and
quantities from an imaginary inventory.
•ALunar Lander that simulates the landing of aspace craft on
the lunar surface. You control the rate of descent by commanding
the craft to fire specified fuel bursts.
•AVoice Plotter that gives you agraphic representation of any
sound you make.
In all these demonstration programs, the Computer will display adot
in the upper left corner of the Screen when it is listening. This means
it is time for you to press the push-to-talk button and say the
appropriate word or phrase.
To interrupt the Computer while it is waiting for speech input, hold
down the HHacid key while you speak into the Mic.
Loading the Programs
All the programs are designed to run under LEVELIIBASIC. If you
are operating under TRSDOS, type BASIC2 gJjJJS
Note: These three Applications programs will not run under
DISKBASIC because of differences in the USR function. However,
you can write programs (or modify these) to run under DISKBASIC.
(See Section 5.)
Prepare the recorder to play the desired tape program, then use
the BASIC command, CLOAD, to load the program. Instructions for
running each program follow.