Implementation of IntelliMedia Interface By Tony Griffiths ... · 1.2 Conclusion Chapter 2 Œ Background 2.0 Introduction 2.1 What is Intelligent Multimedia? 2.2 Spoken Dialog Systems

Intelligent Multimedia Assignment 2

Tony Griffiths Christopher O�Neill

Implementation of IntelliMedia Interface

By

Tony Griffiths

&

Christopher O�Neill

BSc Hons Computing Science DIS

Final Year



Contents Chapter 1 � Introduction 1.0 Introduction

1.1 Structure of Report

1.2 Conclusion Chapter 2 � Background 2.0 Introduction

2.1 What is Intelligent Multimedia?

2.2 Spoken Dialog Systems

2.3 Importance of Spoken Dialogue Systems

2.4 Advantages of Spoken Dialog Systems

2.5 CSLU Toolkit

2.5.1 Speech recognition

2.5.2 Speech synthesis

2.5.3 Facial animation

2.5.4 Authoring tools

2.5.5 Waveform analysis tools

2.5.6 Programming environment

2.6 Rapid Application Developer (RAD)

2.7 Conclusion

Chapter 3 � Requirements Analysis 3.1 Introduction

3.2 Gathering and Analysis of Requirements

3.3 System Requirements



3.4 Functional Requirements

3.5 Non-Functional Requirements

3.6 Conclusion

Chapter 4 � Design 4.1 Introduction

4.2 UML

4.3 Interface Design

4.4 Human �computer Interaction and Interface Design

4.5 Conclusion

Chapter 5 � Implementation 5.0 Introduction

5.1 Hardware/ Software Configuration

5.2 Implementation Method

5.3 Implementing Media Object Images and Shapes

5.4 Conclusion

Chapter 6 � Testing

6.0 Introduction

6.1 White Box Testing

6.2 Black Box Testing



6.5 Conclusion



Chapter 7 � Evaluation Chapter 8 � Conclusion Story Board References



Chapter 1 Introduction 1.0 Introduction The following report documents the development of a European travel software

package called �Travel in Europe�. This application has been designed for

travelers departing on Easyjet flights from Belfast International Airport to Europe.

The �Travel in Europe� application will allow users to:

(1) Choose their intended destination.

(2) View/hear information on chosen location.

Users will then be able to progress on to get information on local attractions or

accommodation for the chosen destination through the use of the CSLU toolkit.

1.3 Structure of Report

This Project is sectioned into several different chapters. Below provides a brief

summary of what encompasses each section.

Chapter 1: Introduction

Brief synopsis of the project and its aims.

Chapter 2: Background

Discussion of what Intelligent Multimedia is along with descriptions of the

software that is used to implement the system.



Chapter 3: Requirements Analysis

Discussion of User Requirements in the form of functional and non-functional.

Chapter 4: Design

This chapter uses UML and story boards to discuss the various features the

system offers.

Chapter 5: Implementation & Testing

This chapter offers a discussion of how the system was implemented using the

CSLU Toolkit.

Chapter 6: Critical Analysis & Conclusion

A critical analysis of the system is given in this chapter along with overall

conclusions of the project.

1.4 Conclusion This chapter offered a brief introduction to the project stating its aims and

objectives. Next we shall discuss relevant background knowledge in terms of

Intelligent Multimedia.



Chapter 2

Background

2.0 Introduction

This chapter aims to discuss what Intelligent Multimedia is along with a

description of the various technologies available which will be used during the

design of this project.

2.1 What is Intelligent Multimedia?

Essentially, Intelligent Multimedia involves the development of a system using

�computer processing and understanding perceptual input from speech, text and

visual images, and reacting to it� (McKevitt 1997). The field of Intelligent

Multimedia is an ever-expanding process which continues to evolve rapidly; in

fact, it would be unusual to find any computer application nowadays that exists

without any form of Intelligent Multimedia within it.

One of the aims of Intelligent Multimedia is to create a visually enhanced

interaction or communication with users. It conveys this by combining both

features of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence.

As this field of computing continues to aspire, it seems likely that intelligent

systems will be the future, in terms of how end users interact with applications.



2.2 Spoken Dialog Systems

Lucent Technologies (2000) refer to spoken dialogue systems as a method that

�enables users to interact with computer systems via natural and intelligent

dialogues, as they would with human agents�. Essentially, the aim of such a

system is to provide a communication link between a user and a computer

interface. Spoken dialogue systems are quickly becoming used in many different

environments, Kamm (1997) reiterates this by stating �Recent advances in

speech technologies, natural language processing, and dialogue modeling have

made it possible to build dialogue agents for a wide range of applications from

voice dialing to accessing information about the weather, train schedules, cultural

events or local restaurants�.

Development of Spoken Dialogue Systems require a wide range of speech and

language technologies, these include the use of automatic speech recognition,

which functions to convert audio signals of human speech into text strings.

Natural language and dialogue processing is also used to determine the meaning

and intention of what is actually being said by the user in order to generate a

response. Text-to-speech synthesis is also used in order for system utterances to

be converted into speech output to the user.

2.3 Importance of Spoken Dialogue Systems

For Spoken Dialogue Systems to be accepted, they must conform to a number of

standards. The interface which the end user will be presented must follow human

computer interaction (HCI) guidelines in order for it to be deemed usable.



2.4 Advantages of Spoken Dialog Systems

Spoken Dialog Systems offer numerous advantages if put into practice. The first

of these being the familiarity they present to users. Because humans

communicate mainly through speech, by using Spoken Dialog Systems it makes

the user feel as if they are in a natural and familiar environment. This will

therefore result in the users working without any hesitance or reluctance.

Another benefit of using these systems is that it allows the user to issue

commands while remaining �hands-free� and �eyes-free�. This therefore enables

the user to perform tasks by only using speech, whereas previously, it may have

taken both hands/ eyes to perform that task.

Spoken Dialog Systems are also extremely beneficial to people with disabilities.

For example, �Baldi� within the CSLU toolkit, can be used to aid children who are

deaf or hard of hearing by displaying visible speech on the screen or by allowing

the users to lip read the movements of the animated character.

2.5 CSLU Toolkit

The development and implementation of spoken language systems are

extremely costly and time consuming with each application usually taking several

months or even years to complete. The systems are usually only designed in

laboratories with expensive equipment and by experts in the field of language

systems. These factors all contribute in making the development of spoken

language systems a complex process.

Because of the complexities surrounding a normal method of creating a spoken

language system, developers decided that they needed a tool which would

enable them to create a rapid design and implementation. The Centre for Spoken

Language Research (CSLR) of the University of Colorado addressed this



problem by providing a solution in the form of the CLSU toolkit. This application is

a powerful spoken language system which offers several features including,

speaker and vocabulary independent recognition technology, facial animation

and text-to-speech synthesis. These are only a few of the abilities this application

possesses, but maybe most important of all is that it is extremely easy to use yet

is able to create real world applications. The Centre for Spoken Language

Research (1997) defines in greater detail the main components of the system.

2.5.1 Speech recognition

The toolkit supports several approaches to speech recognition including artificial

neural network (ANN) classifiers, hidden Markov models (HMM) and segmental

systems. It comes complete with a vocabulary-independent speech recognition

engine, plus several vocabulary-specific recognizers.

2.5.2 Speech synthesis

The toolkit integrates the Festival text-to-speech synthesis system and has

developed a waveform-synthesis "plug-in" component including six voices, male

and female versions of American English and Mexican Spanish.

2.5.3 Facial animation

The toolkit features Baldi, an animated 3D talking head developed at the

University of California, Santa Cruz. Baldi, driven by the speech recognition and

synthesis components, is capable of automatically synchronizing natural or

synthetic speech with realistic lip, tongue, mouth and facial movements.



2.5.4 Authoring tools

The toolkit includes the Rapid Application Developer (RAD), which makes it

possible to quickly design a speech application using a simple drag-and-drop

interface.

2.5.5 Waveform analysis tools

The toolkit provides a complete set of tools for recording, representing, displaying

and manipulating speech. Signal representations such as spectrograms, pitch

contours and formant tracks can be displayed and manipulated in separate

windows.

2.5.6 Programming environment

The toolkit comes with complete programming environments for both C and Tcl,

which incorporate a collection of software libraries and a set of API's. These

libraries serve as basic building blocks for toolkit programming. They are portable

across platforms and provide the speech, language, networking, input, output,

and data transport capabilities of the toolkit.



Figure 1.0 showing an overview of the CSLU Toolkit

2.6 Rapid Application Developer (RAD)

CSLU (2000) refer to the Rapid Application Developer tool as �a tool for creating

structured dialogues between users and the computer. With it you can create a

wide variety of interactive programs that run both over the telephone and on the

desktop. In RAD you drag and drop dialogue states onto a canvas, connect them

together, and configure them to do things like play audio files, create animated

text-to-speech, recognize spoken language, or display images�. This

Language Resources

Audio Tools

Display Tools

Speech Recognition

Speech Generation

Animated Faces

CSLU Toolkit Dialog Authoring Tools / Language

Tutors / Tutorials / Visualisation Tools / Labelling

High Schools Universities Researchers Industry

Fundamental Components

System Integration

Technology Transfer



development tool will be used during the implementation of this project. It offers

the developer the ability to create rapid real world applications in a less costly

environment.

2.7 Conclusion

This chapter offered a definition of what Intelligent Multimedia involved as well as

providing an insight into the area of Spoken Language Systems. A detailed

description of the CSLU Toolkit was all provided. The Next chapter will discuss

and describe the system requirements which were established.



Chapter 3

Requirements Analysis

3.1 Introduction The purpose of this chapter is to identify the requirements of the system to be

developed, namely �Travel in Europe�. These requirements will be classified as

either: functional, non-functional or system requirements.

3.2 Gathering and Analysis of Requirements It is frequently argued that the initial analysis of systems requirements is the

single most important phase in the software development process. It involves the

system developer identifying what a new system is expected to do. It is extremely

important that correct information needs are established so the system developer

can set about designing a system that exactly matches the requirements of the

user.

We looked at a number of existing tourist related software packages and

analysed each in turn. From the analysis of these, we have arrived at the

following requirements in relation to the proposed system to be developed. Each

of the following were used as the basis for the requirements of the user with

regard to the �Travel in Europe� application.

• Language used within the system developed must be clear and simple so

as the user can understand it with ease.

• It is vital that screens designed adhere to GUI guidelines with respect to:

ensuring screens are not cluttered and that the interface implemented is

both visually pleasing and �eye-catching�.



• Finally, as the system is to facilitate various classification of user � the

system designed must be easily navigated and a clear path throughout the

various screen must evident. This is of extreme importance as we don�t

want the user to suffer from the �Lost in Cyberspace� syndrome.

3.3 System Requirements A number of system requirements have been identified that are essential in order

of the �Travel in Europe� system to function at its optimal performance level.

These are detailed below:

CPU Speed Minimum 600 MHz

Memory Minimum 256MB RAM

Internet Connection Dial-Up or Broadband Access

Software CSLU Toolkit � Available to download

at: http://cslu.cse.ogi.edu/toolkit

Operating System Windows 2000, Windows XP

Hardware Personal Computer (PC), Monitor,

Keyboard, Mouse, Microphone &

Earphones




There are a number of different descriptions of what exactly functional

requirements are. As Sommerville (2000) states: �Functional requirements are

the statements of the services the system should provide, how the system should

provide these and how the system should react to particular inputs and how the

system should behave in particular situations�.

In order to best manipulate intelligent multimedia technologies and

methodologies, we believe that the �Travel in Europe� system users should be

able to input their choices using speech. The system should be able to

understand what they mean. The first step in the tourist information system

proposed would be to allow the user to select their intended destination from a

map displayed on the screen. The map will highlight all outbound easyjet flights

from Belfast International Airport to Britain and Europe. The user should be able

to use a mouse to �click� on the city they want information on. Once the

destination has been selected, a spoken description of the city will be conversed

to the user via an artificially generated voice that is a constitute part of the CSLU

Toolkit environment.

The next logical step in the process is for the system to allow user input in the

form of spoken dialogue, with regard to weather or not they wish to receive

information on accommodation or local attractions. The user should be able to

make their choice and consequently receive information in both spoken dialogue

and image representation formats. I.e. A picture of the chosen

accommodation/local attraction will be displayed on the screen as well as a

�running commentary� on specific information that relates to these.



Another important consideration is that the system be designed to handle

incorrect or invalid input. When such an event occurs, the system must provide a

message to inform the user of what has happened, and if possible provide

guidance on how to go about rectifying the error.

3.5 Non-Functional Requirements Non-functional requirements are often described as the aspects and constraint of

a system that have no bearing on how well a system is able to carryout its

fundamental requirements. With respect to the proposed system, it must be able

to cater for different users who possess differing levels of computational

expertise. Any such application designed as part of this project must be

engineered with maintainability and portability in mind. The system arrived at

needs to be easily updated and maintained as things like accommodation are

constantly changing. With respect to portability, the application designed must be

easily accessed from different location, for example to facilitate access from

multiple kiosks in an airport environment.

3.6 Conclusion As mentioned earlier, how well requirements are gathered will determine the

overall success of the end product. A number of requirements have been

highlighted in this chapter and it is essential that they be incorporated into the

final design of the �Travel in Europe� application.

The next chapter will detail the design of the proposed tourist information

application.



Chapter 4

Design

4.1 Introduction The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the overall design of the proposed

system being developed. We also consider the overall architecture of the system

for the �Travel in Europe� application.

4.2 UML � Unified Modeling Language and system design It is widely perceived as good practice to use UML to aid the design of a piece of

software. UML is the industry standard language for specifying, visualizing,

constructing and documenting the components that compose a software system.

Using UML helps the user to get a clear understanding of the structure of the

system, as well as the processes that drive the system.

Rational Software Corporation (2001) states it is an �integrated lifecycle

development solution that unifies the cross functional development team while

optimizing productivity�.

Making efficient use of UML helps the system developer to represent a system

structure in a visually appealing and easily understood manner. It is therefore

easier to arrive at a good system design as the visualization used helps those

concerned to understand what is required of the proposed application. The



requirements identified in the previous chapter can therefore be incorporated into

the final design with relative ease.

Here is a use case diagram depicting the actions that take place within the

�Travel in Europe� application:

USER Choose a travel destination from map

Hear information on chosen destination

Choose to get information on accomodation

Hear & See accomodation related infomation

Choose to get infomation on local attractions

Hear & See local attraction related information

Return to the 'Choice of destination' screen

4.3 Interface Design In addition to designing the actual architecture of the system, it�s as important to

ensure that the user interface be well constructed. As this is the physical



representation that the user sees, it important that it make a good impression

with them. In general terms it must be user friendly, be consistently laid-out and

must appeal to both the expert and novice user.

4.4 Human �computer Interaction and Interface Design Human Computer Interaction (HCI) guidelines are often overlooked in the

development of user interfaces. Occasionally, developers are too focused in

creating fascinating code, introducing new colour codes and graphics instead of

actually following the actual user requirements. Essentially, they are ignoring

what the user actually wants, one of the major ways of guaranteeing that the

application will not be used as the user will be unhappy with the end product.

What the users specify is for the creator/ developer of the application to follow

the user requirements and meet their needs so that the final system will be user-

friendly (Pearrow 2000). When setting about designing a GUI (Graphical User Interface), there are certain

standards and guidelines that must be followed. One such set of guidelines relate

to human-computer interaction.

According to ACM SIGCHI:

�Human-computer interaction is a discipline concerned with the design,

evaluation and implementation of interactive computing systems for

human use and with the study of major phenomena surrounding them�.

Throughout the design of the �Travel in Europe� application, all the identified

guidelines were adhered to. It can therefore be argued that the system

developed illustrates good design.



4.5 Conclusion This chapter details the design of the �Travel in Europe� application. As

suggested in many texts, the design of the system is possibly the most important

element to follow in the implementation process. As well as designing the actual

structure of the application, equal consideration must be given to ensuring good

interface design.

The following chapter will focus on the implementation of the identified design for

the system.



Chapter 5

Implementation

5.0 Introduction The proceeding chapter will discuss the implementation procedure of the

planning and designs in chapter four.

5.1 Hardware/ Software Configuration

The hardware/ software used in order to implement the system is listed below:

• P.C.

• 2.4 GHz

• 540 MB Ram

• Windows XP

• CSLU Toolkit

5.2 Implementation Method

Using the requirements that were established in chapter three (Requirements

Analysis), the developers began the implementation of the �Travel in Europe�

system.

Throughout implementation, the developers continually tested the system. By

doing so, it meant that the initial user requirements were more likely to be

achieved.



As stated above, the CSLU Toolkit was the main software application used to

implement the system. Below gives a description of each of the various functions

used within it.

Figure 5.0 shows the �Start Object�. This was used in order to start the

implementation of the system and to point where the dialogue starts. The

direction of how the system flows is indicated by arrows, similar to that shown

below.

Figure 5.0

Figure 5.1 illustrates a �Generic Object� which is used to connect dialogues

together. It allows the built in function of �Baldi� to communicate to the user or

else to provide �branching� depending upon the speech input.

Figure 5.1

The �Sub Dialogue� object (Figure 5.2) is used mainly to organise the system into

components. Each of these sub-dialogues can be regarded as a mini �RAD�

canvas that can be saved within the main canvas. This then allows the developer

to reuse system parts which results in an uncluttered canvas.



Figure 5.2

Figure 5.3 provides an example of the �media object� that is used to insert image

maps and pictures. Essentially an image map is an image which can be clicked

upon to perform a function. Each image map can be presented in two formats,

�present� and �remove� media. These two functions are self explanatory, with

�present� displaying an image to the canvas, and �remove� removing the image

from the canvas.

Figure 5.3

Figure 5.4 displays the �Goodbye Object� which is used in order to exit or end the

application.

Figure 5.4

5.3 Implementing Media Object Images and Shapes

By loading an image onto the RAD media object creates image maps. Within the

image map editor one can define clickable regions. To enter the image map



editor, the user can click on the �media� tab and then choose �present media�.

This will display the image map option. From here, click �Edit�, this will in turn

open the image map editor. In order to create an image map which offers

clickable regions, the image must first be loaded into the image map editor. Once

completed, use the draw tool to define each region. For this system, the various

European cities were deemed clickable from the map provided. To name each of

the various regions, the user should double click on the clickable area and then

select �properties�. Each of these named regions are regarded as identifiers.

Within this system, the user will be prompted with a map of Europe (Figure 5.5)

from which they can select a clickable region to gain various tourist information.

5.4 Conclusion This chapter offered a view as to how the system was implemented suing the

CSLU Toolkit. The next chapter now test the system on how it met its

requirements.



6.0 Introduction

This chapter in concerned with the testing and evaluation of the �Travel in

Europe� application. The functional and non-functional requirements that have

been identified in chapter 3 will be tested to make sure that the system as a

whole meets with these identified criteria.

It is widely believed that testing is one of the most important stages in the greater

software development lifecycle. Comprehensive testing of the entire project is

required to ensure that the final project is of a high enough standard and to check

that it meets all of the requirements identified by the users or potential users of

the system. A procedural testing process is used in this chapter to uncover errors

that exist within the system. Identifying errors early means that there is a better

chance of resolving them. This will help to ensure that the system is as �error-

free� as possible before it is released to the customer.

There are a number of different testing methods that can be used in testing this

system. These are.

6.1 White Box Testing

White box testing is also a dynamic test case method; however, it is based on

how an item is processed internally. Vlient (2003, p.399) states that white box

testing is a �complementary approach, in which we consider the internal logical

structure of the software in the derivation of test cases�. Unlike black-box testing,

white box testing requires a good understanding of programming code in order to

examine outputs. However, the test is only accurate if the tester knows exactly

what the program is suppose to do, therefore they can see whether or not the

program derives from its intended functions.



6.2 Black Box Testing Pressman (1997, p.486) refers to black box testing as a technique that �focuses

on the functional requirements of the software. That is, black-box testing enables

the software engineering to derive sets of input conditions that will fully exercise

all functional requirements for a program�. Black-box testing, also known as

functional or specification testing, is a dynamic test case method in which test

cases are designed without regard to how the item is processed internally, its

only concern is based on the result associated with the inputs.

In order to test the �Travel in Europe� application � a number of test cases were

created. With this testing technique � users entered sample input data, the

expected output from the system was stated and the actual output given by the

system was recorded. The test cases can be seen below.

Testing of the �Travel in Europe� application was undertaken by four students

who study within the University of Ulster at Magee. These individuals come from

different educational backgrounds within our community. We carried these tests

out in this manner as we wanted to verify that the system designed could be

used by a variety of people, from novice to expert.

Nielson (2000) suggests that: �The best results come from testing no more than 5

users and running as many small tests as you can afford. After the fifth user, you

are wasting your time by observing the same findings repeatedly as you are not

learning much new information�.




Requirement Users must be able to input their choice via speech, e.g.,

Use speech to give their menu option selection.

Result Pass � Users are able to input their choice via speech.

Comment When the user speaks to the system � it recognises the

input and provides the user with a suitable response.

Requirement User uses speech to respond to the system and is

understood by the system.

Result Pass � Users speech input is recognised and understood

by the system.

Comment When the user speaks to the system � it recognises and

understands the input and provides the user with a

suitable response.

Requirement User should be able to select a destination by clicking on it

from a map displayed on screen

Result Pass � User is provided with an Easyjet map of

destinations in Europe and can select a destination by

clicking on it

Comment The system displays a map of European destinations to

the user � the user can select their choice by clicking on

one of the thirteen travel destinations. The destinations

are: Luton, Gatwick, Malaga, Glasgow, Liverpool,

Stansted, Nice, Edinburgh, Alicante, Amsterdam,

Newcastle, Paris and Bristol.



Requirement Once user has selected a destination � they should be

able to hear a spoken description of that holiday

destination.

Result Pass � Users are provided with a comprehensive

description of the destination choose.

Comment Baldi relays information about the chosen destination to

the user in spoken form.

Requirement Once user has heard the description of a destination �

they should be able to select if they want to hear

information about accommodation or local attractions

specific to that region.

Result Pass � Users are able to choose YES or NO at this point.

This input is in spoken dialog form.

Comment If the user selects YES: They are required to select either

accommodation or local attraction. All input at this stage is

in spoken form. If they select NO: They are asked is they

want to select another destination.



Requirement If user selects accommodation information they should be

able to hear a list of various accommodation types

available in a particular region and select one using

speech.

Result Pass � Users are provided with a list of accommodation

types and can select one using speech.

Comment Baldi tells the user the various types of accommodation

available. Accommodation types include various

classifications of hotels and Bed & Breakfasts.

Requirement If user selects local attraction information they should be

able to hear a list of various local attractions that are

located in a particular region and select one using speech.

Result Pass � Users are provided with a list of local attractions

and can choose to find out more about one by selecting it

via speech input.

Comment Baldi lists to the user, the various local attractions in a

particular area. The user must select one of these using

speech � the result is a spoken description of the

attraction provided by Baldi. Various attractions included

in the application are: Disneyland Paris, The London Eye

and the Van Gogh Museum.



Requirement If the user inputs an incorrect or unavailable answer � s/he

is prompted to re-enter.

Result Pass � Users are asked to enter their choice again if the

system does not recognise their response or input.

Comment Baldi relays the question to the user when an incorrect

choice or input is given and the user is asked to make

their choice again.


Requirement The system must be easy to understand and use by both

local tourists and those from further a field.

Result Pass � system is very easy to understand and use.

Comment This was tested by a number of students, both local and

international. They all found the system easy to

understand and use.

6.5 Conclusion

This chapter has outlined the various testing procedure that were used to ensure

that the �Travel in Europe� application fulfilled the requirements stated earlier in

the report. After testing the system and all the options that are possible

throughout � the application is successful and meets the requirements identified. All the users of the system found it easy to use and understand.



The following chapters were the responsibility of Arron Mahon � however, due to

unforeseen circumstances he is no longer studying within the University of Ulster

at this time. We therefore summarise the areas he was to cover as follows:

7.0 Evaluation The system �Travel in Europe� designed fulfilled the requirements that were

stated in chapter three of this report. The system allowed users to communicate

with the system using multiple input modes (speech & mouse input) � to view the

various travel destinations within Europe. Once a destination had been chosen �

the user could then choose to receive information on either accommodation or

local attractions.

According to Oviatt (2000), �Multimodal interfaces are expected to support a

wider range of diverse applications, to be usable by a broader spectrum of the

average population and to function more reliably under realistic and challenging

usage conditions�.

Although the system designed fulfilled the various requirements identified in

chapter three of this project, there are a number of things which could be

improved if more time was available to us. The program we have developed is

currently only in English. With more time and a greater knowledge of both the

CSLU Toolkit and relevant European languages � the application domain could

have been extended to incorporate a wider range of languages and dialect so as

to appeal to as many different nationalities of user as possible.



8.0 Conclusion The main aim of this project was to develop a speech dialogue system, which

would allow tourists wishing to travel on easyjet flights from Belfast to

destinations in Britain and Europe to access information on the destination of

their choice. Once they had their destination chosen � they could then go about

getting additional information on various accommodation types in the area as

well as information on local attractions and places to see. This application is

aimed at a broad range of people; from the people of Ireland to individuals from

further a field.

This report provides an overview of the requirements analysis, design,

implementation and testing of the �Travel in Europe� application. The report

investigated the area of Intelligent Multimedia and Spoken Dialogue Systems and

the benefits these systems have to offer. The report also looked at how

technology has become an important aspect of the tourism industry.

The conclusions that can be drawn from the completion of this report is that,

overall, it was a success. The application developed met all the objectives

identified and some progress has been made in relation to enhancing the

interactive experience of accessing travel information.



Storyboard This story board navigates the user through one sample route within the �Travel

in Europe� information system. Its purpose is to give a brief insight into the

operation of the system developed.

On running the �Travel in Europe� application, the user is asked to select an

intended destination. The above map is displayed to the user, using the �Media

Object� within the CSLU Toolkit. The map has certain �clickable-regions� that we

identified as the locations that Easyjet fly to, from Belfast International Airport.

The user is required to input their choice by clicking on the appropriate

destination. This advances them to the next stage in the process.



If the user chooses to view information on Paris, the above picture is displayed

on screen. The �Media Object� again is used to display this form of media.

However, in this instance in addition to displaying a graphic - a spoken dialogue

has also been included. The spoken dialogue is used to give the user a

description of the location selected. In this case the following is read to the user:

�Paris is one of the world's most beautiful, fashionable and cultural capital

cities. Walking through the heart of Paris you often feel like you've

wandered onto an art film set; much of the city has been scrubbed clean in

recent years and it's never looked more fabulous. Its inhabitants are the

definition of style, its architecture includes some of the most spectacular

buildings and monuments in Europe and the ambience is by turns exciting,

alluring and effortlessly romantic�.



Once the user has received both the picture and spoken description of the

intended destination � they are asked if they require information on

accommodation or local attractions. To progress to the next state, the user is

required to make a spoken input of either: YES or NO. Choosing YES gives the

user a choice as to what information they receive. They must again use spoken

dialogue to state either �Accommodation� or �Local Attractions�.

For the purpose of this system walkthrough, we will show what happens when

the user chooses to receive information on �Local Attractions�. In relation to Paris

� the user is required to choose between receiving information on either �The

Eiffel Tower� or �Euro Disney�. This input is again spoken into the system.

Depending on what the user inputs, one of the following two instances will occur.



If the user selects �The Eiffel Tower� � the above picture is displayed and the

following script is dictated to the system user:

�With 2 million visitors the first year and almost 6 million people a year

today, the Eiffel Tower is a real crowd pleaser. At the crossroads of the

entire world, more than 200 million visitors have come since its

construction.

It's not surprising when you consider the Eiffel Tower is the monument that

best symbolizes Europe. It's also the one tourists prefer�.



However, if the user selects �Euro Disney� � the above image of the Disneyland

resort is displayed and the following script is dictated to the system user:

�Disneyland Paris, situated in the heart of France and easily accessed

from all over Europe is the biggest tourist attraction in Europe, and is only

surpassed world-wide by Disney's other parks in Florida and California.

Around 12.5 million visitors enter the park every year, ready to enjoy all

the magical fun and laughter that only Disney can deliver�.

Once this process is complete, the user is returned to the initial state of the

system where the following question is posed:

�Do you want to select another destination?�

Selecting �NO� at this point causes the system to closedown.



References Centre for Spoken Language Research, 1997, CSLU Toolkit defined, Available at: http://cslu.cse.ogi.edu/ Centre for Spoken Language Research, 1997, Rapid Application Developer Defined, Available at: http://cslu.cse.ogi.edu/ Hewett et al. 1996, ACM SIGCHI Curricula for Human Computer Interaction [Online], Available at: http://sigchi.org/sigchi/cdg/cdg2.html#2_1 Kamm, C. 1997, INTERACTIVE SPOKEN DIALOG SYSTEMS: Bringing Speech and NLP Together in Real Applications [Online], Available at: http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~radev/acl/ACL97/interactive-spoken.html Lucent Technologies, 2000, Spoken Dialogue Systems [Online], Available at: http://www.bell-labs.com/org/1133/Research/SpokenDialogSystems/ McKevitt, P., Gammack, J. 1996, The Sensitive Interface. In: McKevitt, P. ed. Integration of Natural Language and Visual Processing. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Page 275-298. Nielson, J (2000), Heuristic Evaluation Explained [Online], Available at: http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_evaluation.html Oviatt, S. (2000), Multimodal Interfaces That process what comes naturally [Online], Available at: http://www.cse.ogi.edu/CHCC/ Pearrow, M. 2000, Website Usability Handbook, Charles River Media. Pressman, R. 1997, Software Engineering, McGraw Hill. Rational Rose Corporation, 2001, Rational Rose Document [Online], Available at: http://www.rational.com/media/products/rose/D185F_Rose.pdf



Sommerville, L. 1997, Software Engineering, 5th Edition, Addison-Wesley. Vliet, H. 2003, Software Engineering, Wiley Publishers.

Documents

Implementation of IntelliMedia Interface By Tony Griffiths ... · 1.2 Conclusion Chapter 2 Œ Background 2.0 Introduction 2.1 What is Intelligent Multimedia? 2.2 Spoken Dialog Systems