USERS GUIDE
Version 1.3
February 20, 2001
By
Phil Scovell
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
CONTACT INFORMATION
CHAPTER 0 ABOUT THE VOICE MATE USERS GUIDE
CHAPTER 1 VOICE MATE FEATURES
Chapter 1.1 Optional Accessories.
CHAPTER 2 GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Chapter 2.1 Voice Mate Dimensions.
Chapter 2.2 Front Panel Description.
Chapter 2.3 Keyboard Layout.
Chapter 2.4 Earphone Jack And Computer Port.
Chapter 2.5 Back Panel Description.
Chapter 2.6 Reset Button.
Chapter 2.7 Location Of Battery Compartments.
CHAPTER 3 BATTERIES
Chapter 3.1 Battery Compartments.
Chapter 3.2 Battery Installation.
Chapter 3.3 Battery Replacement.
Chapter 3.4 Battery Life.
Chapter 3.5 Alternate Batteries.
Chapter 3.6 Low Battery Announcement.
CHAPTER 4 A BRIEF VOICE MATE TOUR
CHAPTER 5 CONTROL PANEL - CUSTOMIZING THE VOICE MATE
Chapter 5.1 Accessing The Control Panel.
Chapter 5.2 Control Panel Overview.
Chapter 5.3 Volume Setting.
Chapter 5.4 Help Mode.
Chapter 5.5 Accessibility Mode.
Chapter 5.6 Voice Mate Sounds.
Chapter 5.7 Shut Down Mode.
Chapter 5.8 Encode Mode.
Chapter 5.9 Training Sessions.
Chapter 5.10 Keyboard Lock.
Chapter 5.11 Sending And Receiving Data.
Chapter 5.12 Additional Notes On The Control Panel.
Chapter 5.13 Checking For Available Memory.
CHAPTER 6 THE CLOCK AND CALENDAR
Chapter 6.1 Setting The Time And Date.
Chapter 6.2 Setting The Alarm.
Chapter 6.3 Checking Current Time And Date.
Chapter 6.4 Turning The Alarm Off.
Chapter 6.5 Alarm Application.
Chapter 6.6 Changing The Time And Date.
Chapter 6.7 Date Formats.
Chapter 6.8 Clock Volume Settings.
CHAPTER 7 THE PHONE BOOK
Chapter 7.1 Customizing The Phone Book.
Chapter 7.11 Phone Numbers And The Address Field
Chapter 7.12 Setting The DTMF Volume.
Chapter 7.13 The Dialing Speed.
Chapter 7.2 Recording Phone Book Entries.
Chapter 7.3 Phone Book Data Retrieval.
Chapter 7.4 Modifying Phone Numbers.
Chapter 7.41 Erasing And Correcting Phone Numbers.
Chapter 7.42 Entering A New
Phone Number.
Chapter 7.5 Modifying The Address Field.
Chapter 7.6 Modifying The Name.
Chapter 7.7 Turning Phone Numbers Off And On.
Chapter 7.8 Locating Phone Numbers.
Chapter 7.9 Deleting Phone Book Entries.
CHAPTER 8 Memo Pad
Chapter 8.1 Recording A Memo.
Chapter 8.2 Replaying Memos.
Chapter 8.3 Reviewing All Memos.
Chapter 8.4 Deleting A Memo.
Chapter 8.5 Memo Menu Features.
Chapter 8.51 Edit Types.
Chapter 8.52 Recording Modes.
Chapter 8.53 Deleting All Memos.
Chapter 8.6 Memo Pad Editing Features And Keys.
Chapter 8.61 Memo Pause.
Chapter 8.62 Memo Rewind.
Chapter 8.63 Memo Fast Forward.
Chapter 8.64 Deleting Text.
Chapter 8.65 Undelete Or Abort.
Chapter 8.66 Text Replace.
Chapter 8.67 Text Insert.
Chapter 8.68 Appending Text.
Chapter 8.69 Cutting Text.
Chapter 8.610 Final Editing Notes.
CHAPTER 9 APPOINTMENT BOOK
Chapter 9.1 The Appointment Menu.
Chapter 9.2 Recording And Playing Appointments.
Chapter 9.21 Playing Back Appointments With The
Side Key.
Chapter 9.22 Playing Back Appointments With Voice
Recognition.
Chapter 9.23 Playing Back Appointments Using Arrow
Keys.
Chapter 9.24 Playing Back Appointments With Daily
Planning.
Chapter 9.25 Playing Back Appointments Using
Planning.
Chapter 9.3 Appointment Reminder.
Chapter 9.4 Appointment Book Modification Features.
Chapter 9.41 Modifying The Appointment Date.
Chapter 9.42 Re-recording Appointment Text.
Chapter 9.43 Re-recording Appointment Keywords.
Chapter 9.44 Modify The Appointment Reminder.
Chapter 9.45 Modify The Appointment Beep.
Chapter 9.46 Appointments With Key Words.
Chapter 9.47 Automatic Delete.
Chapter 9.48 Deleting Individual Appointments.
Chapter 9.5 Important Appointment Book Notes.
CHAPTER 10 THE CALCULATOR
Chapter 10.1 Key Layout.
Chapter 10.2 Simple Calculations.
Chapter 10.21 Addition.
Chapter 10.22 Subtraction.
Chapter 10.23 Multiplication.
Chapter 10.24 Division.
Chapter 10.3 Advanced Calculations.
Chapter 10.4 Using Decimals.
Chapter 10.5 The Calculator Menu Features.
Chapter 10.51 Calculating Percentages.
Chapter 10.52 Memory Set.
Chapter 10.53 Memory Recall.
Chapter 10.54 Foreign Currency Conversions.
Chapter 10.55 Decimal Modification.
Chapter 10.6 Other Calculator Remarks.
CHAPTER 11 DIALING ASSISTANT
Chapter 11.1 Accessing The Dialing Assistant Menu.
chapter 11.2 The Prefix Mode.
Chapter 11.21 Turning The Prefix Mode Off.
Chapter 11.3 The International Dialing Mode.
Chapter 11.31 Turning International Mode Off.
CHAPTER 12 HINTS AND TIPS
Chapter 12.1 Losing Speech And Restoring It.
Chapter 12.2 Resetting The Date And Calendar.
Chapter 12.3 Voice Recognition Techniques.
Chapter 12.4 Memory Reset.
Chapter 12.5 Performing A Total Memory Dump.
CHAPTER 13 USING THE VOICE MATE SOFTWARE KIT
Chapter 13.1 The Contents Of The PC Kit.
Chapter 13.2 Installing The CDROM Software.
Chapter 13.3 Backing Up And Restoring Data.
Chapter 13.31 Installing The PC Cable.
Chapter 13.32 The Backup Procedure.
Chapter 13.33 Restoring Data.
Chapter 13.4 The Flashrom Software.
Chapter 13.41 The Flashrom Procedure.
Chapter 13.42 Flashrom Troubleshooting.
End Of Table
INTRODUCTION
I began, as a blind user, using the Parrot Plus hand held
voice recognition digital organizer made by Parrot S.A. in Paris,
France in late 1998. Because of its simplistic operation, ease
of data entry, quick retrieval of data using voice recognition
commands, its small portable size, and its built in voice
synthesizer, I became a distributor. I later began maintaining
their website for the Parrot Voice Mate product and then decided
to come out with a Users Guide to assist customers in learning
how to use their Voice Mate in detail. A set of instructional
audio cassettes is also available for those not wishing to read
the Users Guide in Braille.
When the Parrot Plus was first marketed in the United
states, we set up an electronic mailing list to exchange
information and ideas, not only among ourselves as product users,
but to correspond directly with the company in order to suggest
product changes. In less than a year, Parrot S.A. released their
Parrot Voice Mate. I am happy to say that nearly every
suggestion made by blind consumers was incorporated into the new
Voice Mate product. Parrot S.A. is one company that listens to
their blind consumers.
Because I am the list owner of the Parrot electronic mailing
list, many people just assume I am the spokesman for the Parrot
company. Although this is not true, I end up getting many phone
calls and many emails with questions on Voice Mate application.
the Users Guide is a result of many hours of conversing with
other Voice Mate users in problem solving and general
instruction. thank you to everyone who has helped develop this
Users Guide in some way.
Phil Scovell
840 South Sheridan Boulevard
Denver, Colorado 80226 USA
Toll Free: 1-888-936-0001
Local: 1-303-934-7493
Email: phil@redwhiteandblue.org
http://www.redwhiteandblue.org The Zenith tube Website
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Besides help from the Parrot S.A. company in France and
their print manual, I want to thank all those who have offered
assistance through the Parrot electronic mailing list on the
internet. Additionally, a big thanks goes to Arianna Calesso and
Mathew J. Mirabella who proof read original drafts and found a
number of things which needed to be changed. If you, as a Users
Guide reader, find additional corrections, be sure and email me
or contact me in some way.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Parrot S.A
174 QUAI DE JEMMAPES
75010 PARIS, France
Phone: + 33 1 48 03 60 60
Fax: + 33 1 48 03 06 66
Direct Number: + 33 1 48 03 60 64
Website: http://www.voice-assistant.com
CHAPTER 0 ABOUT THE VOICE MATE USERS GUIDE
This Users Guide is written by a blind user of the Parrot
Voice Mate hand held voice recognition digital organizer. Many
other blind users have assisted in its contents and construction.
It may be updated and changed at any time. Check often on my
website, or on the Voice Assistant Parrot website, or on the
Parrot Voice Mate electronic mailing list for information on
current releases of this Users Guide.
This document is much more than a Users Guide. It is also a
reference manual. Many phrases and descriptions of functionality
are repetitive. This means many basic terms and descriptions are
repeated throughout the chapters. In this way, therefore, the
user of this reference guide can jump to the desired part of the
document and not be dependant upon knowing everything up to that
point in order to gain an understanding of that specific
function.
A free instructional audio cassette tape comes with the
purchase of every Voice Mate but it is also available as a free
demonstration tape to anyone requesting it. An expanded audio
recording is also available for purchase which goes into as much
detail as this Users Guide. Braille copies of this Users Guide
are also available for purchase and this complete text is
available on the voice-assistant-com website to read online or to
download.
Phil Scovell
Email: phil@redwhiteandblue.org
http://www.redwhiteandblue.org The Zenith tube Website
http://www.voice-assistant.com The Parrot Voice Mate Website
Parrot Mailing List: parrot-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
CHAPTER 1 VOICE MATE FEATURES
* The Voice Mate uses state of the art voice recognition
technology. This means the data is located by your own voice
commands and it then can be played back as you wish.
* Because the Voice Mate uses digitized recording, there are
no tapes, cassettes, or data cards to remove.
* The Voice Mate comes with its own built in voice synthesizer
and all prompts are spoken.
* The powerful Voice Mate phone book allows you to store
hundreds of telephone numbers. These phone numbers can be
recalled by speaking the person's name into the unit and the
number will not only be spoken but if you hold the Voice Mate up
to the telephone mouthpiece, the tones needed to dial that phone
number will be played directly into the telephone for you. In
other words, you do not even need to dial the telephone because
the Voice Mate will do it for you. The phone book also allows
you to record a person's address with the phone number entries.
Multiple phone numbers can be recorded under one person's name.
* Recording your own personal memos and notes with the Voice
Mate is simple. Each memo is stamped with the current date and
time you made the memo which is announced when you play back each
memo. You can also edit memos at any time by adding or
subtracting or inserting recorded modifications to your memos.
In short, the Voice Mate is a pocketsized digital recorder.
* Perhaps one of the most valuable features of the Voice
Mate is its ability to record appointments. You can store these
appointments with key words which allows you to retrieve any
appointment by simply speaking the key word into the unit. Then
you can play back the notation you have made concerning that
appointment as a reminder. You can program an alarm to sound at
the appointment date and time as well. Appointments can be
programmed to repeat automatically at the same time.
Appointments recorded in this fashion can be repeated every
minute, hour, day, week, month or year. For example, if you have
medication to take every day at certain times, the Voice Mate can
be programmed to remind you of these daily scheduled times. You
can likewise program in monthly reminders for paying bills on
certain days. You can even enter birthdays of which you wish to
be reminded by simply programming your Voice Mate with such
information in the appointment section. The Voice Mate can also
be instructed to delete old appointments when they have expired.
* The Voice Mate comes with a talking clock complete with
date, and time, and programmable alarm.
* Non-volatile memory is used to store your recorded data.
This means, if you remove all the batteries, you will not lose
any of your recorded data.
* The Voice Mate has a talking calculator which allows
standard mathematical calculations to be performed. This
includes multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction.
Percentage calculations are likewise available in the calculator
and currency conversions for those traveling abroad are made
possible using the Voice Mate calculator. It also has memory
store and memory recall features.
* The Voice Mate stores up to 40 minutes of data.
* You can check available remaining database memory at any time.
* The unit comes with earphones for private listening and
batteries are included. The Voice Mate will also speak to you
and inform you when batteries are low.
* The Voice Mate will interface with a PC through the use of
special Windows based software written to backup data. The
software also allows the unit to be updated with future software
releases through flashrom technology.
* The Voice Mate is Y2K compliant.
* It comes with a one year warranty and a thirty day money
back guarantee.
* Technical support is available via the telephone in the
United States and via the internet through at least two websites
and via email from several sources.
* A free instruction cassette comes with each Voice Mate
purchase.
Chapter 1.1 Optional Accessories.
A leather carrying case is available for the Voice Mate which has
a belt clip on the back. Additionally, the PC flashrom and
backup kit comes with a cable for interfacing to the computer and
a CDROM with the software programs.
CHAPTER 2 GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The Voice Mate is lightweight, compact, and can fit easily
into a shirt pocket or purse.
Chapter 2.1 Voice Mate Dimensions.
The Voice Mate is 5.4 inches high, 2.7 inches wide, and 0.6
inches thick. It weighs just 5.3 ounces with the batteries
installed.
Chapter 2.2 Front Panel Description.
Holding the Voice Mate in the palm of your hand, feel for a
smooth glassy surface. This is the visual display. The back of
the unit is mostly smooth while the front of the Voice Mate has
buttons and bumps which can be easily felt. The display should
be, of course, at the top of the unit and facing you as you hold
it. The display is a little more than an inch in height and
covers the entire top of the unit from left to right. Just below
the display is a ledge and just below the ledge, are two bumps.
You will quickly feel the difference between these two bumps
because the left hand bump is actually a rubber button. This is
called the Function Selector or just the Function Button. Each
time you press the Function Selector, the Voice Mate will
announce the various categories available. They are, in this
order:
Phone Book
Memo
Appointment
Clock
Calculator
Dialing Assistant
Control Panel
Just to the right of this rubber button is another bump
which is the microphone grill.
On the left side of the Voice Mate and on the upper outer
edge, you will discover a large button which has ridges on it and
protrudes from the side of the unit. This button is the switch
used to record data and to recall information from the Voice
Mate. It is referred to as the Side Key. If you hold the Voice
Mate in the palm of your right hand, your index finger will
easily curl around the side of the unit to rest on this Side Key.
Immediately below the Function Selector and the microphone,
are two triangular holes near the outer edges of the unit. These
holes are just large enough to allow the tip of your finger to be
inserted into one of the holes to pry open the door. The door
pulls outward and toward you. It is hinged at the bottom.
The Voice Mate will speak to you in some of the various
categories when the door is opened. For example, if you are on
the Phone Book and the door is opened, it will say, "Phone Book."
When the door is closed, you will notice two raised areas on
the outside of the door near the top of the door. They are about
the size of the tip of your index finger. Between these two
raised shapes, there is a grill cut into the door which allows
the speaker to be clearly heard when the door is closed.
Chapter 2.3 Keyboard Layout.
When the door is opened, a number of additional keys will
become available. At the very top of the inside panel, you will
feel the speaker well. It is about the size of the tip of your
index finger.
Around the speaker grill are four rubber buttons. The upper
left hand button is the MENU key, the upper right hand button is
the ERASE key, the lower right hand button is the NO key, and the
lower left hand button is the YES key. The functionality of
these buttons will be described in detail in the sections to
follow.
Below these four buttons around the speaker are two keys
which serve as left and right arrow keys for most applications.
When pressed, they will allow the user to move through menu
choices.
Below the arrow keys is a standard touch tone telephone
keypad. The buttons are arranged exactly as those of any push
button telephone. From left to right they are:
Top Row = 1 2 3
Second Row = 4 5 6
Third Row = 7 8 9
Fourth Row = Star Zero Pound
The four keys around the speaker and the two arrow keys
become mathematical function keys when the calculator is being
used. The numbered keys are likewise used for telephone number
entries besides being used for the calculator numerical entries.
Chapter 2.4 Earphone Jack And Computer Port.
The earphone jack is located on the front panel near the
microphone grill. It is on the outer right hand edge of the
unit.
The computer port for backing up data and for upgrading the
software of the Voice Mate is on the opposite outer edge just
below the side key; the larger button on the upper left outer
edge of the unit.
Chapter 2.5 Back Panel Description.
Once you have determined which is the front of the unit, and
with the unit being held in its normal operating position, turn
the unit over; leaving the display part of the Voice Mate in the
upward position. There are two main features on the back panel
worth noting.
Chapter 2.6 Reset Button.
The reset memory dump button is a hidden switch so there is
no danger of accidentally dumping your memory core and losing all
recorded data. This reset button can be located by feeling for a
ridged line near the top of the back of the unit and closer to
the right edge of the unit. It is on the opposite side of the
front panel display. The rough line is engraving and indicates
the location of the hidden recessed button. The button itself is
beneath the panel surface and can only be depressed by inserting
a small pointed object into the tiny opening such as a stylus.
The tiny hole is on the right hand edge of the ridged line of
engraving. Just depressing this button, however, will still not
dump all your data in the main memory core but does return some
settings to their defaults. The clock and calendar will, for
example, need to be reset if this button is depressed. Later, I
will discuss how this reset button can be used to perform a
complete memory dump and reset.
Chapter 2.7 Location Of Battery Compartments.
Near the bottom of the back of the Voice Mate you will feel
two vertical ridges. They are near the outer edges of the unit
and feel as rough lines. They appear about 1 half inch in from
either side of the unit and they are the access openings to the
battery compartments. Battery installation will be discussed in
the next section.
CHAPTER 3 BATTERIES
In this section, we will discuss battery installation and
replacement, battery substitution, and tips on making batteries
last longer in the Voice Mate.
Chapter 3.1 Battery Compartments.
Once you have properly located the vertical grooves near the
bottom of the Voice Mate, you can insert a fingernail or the edge
of a thin coin into either of these vertical grooves and while
gently pressing downward, pry outward. If you are opening the
left side compartment, you pry to the left and if you are opening
the right side compartment, you pry to the right. I personally
just use my finger to gently pry open the battery doors. Triple
A batteries are used and if one compartment at a time is
replaced, you will not have to reset your clock and calendar
settings.
Chapter 3.2 Battery Installation.
Once you have located the battery compartments and
opened the small doors, you can insert the batteries by placing
them in the compartments with the pointed ends of the batteries
pointing downward. Be absolutely certain that the batteries are
inserted so that the points of the batteries are pointed downward
and the flat ends are pointing upward. Inserting the batteries
improperly could result in damage to the unit. The doors can be
closed by pressing firmly with your thumbs or fingers until a
click is heard which indicates the battery compartment doors have
locked in place.
Chapter 3.3 Battery Replacement.
When replacing batteries, it is best to replace one
compartment at a time. This saves the data and clock settings.
Removing all four batteries at one time, however, will not delete
your data from the main memory core.
Chapter 3.4 Battery Life.
Battery life is always based upon usage. If you use the
Voice Mate a few times each day to do nothing more than to
retrieve a telephone number, your batteries can last for several
weeks. If you use the Voice Mate hourly and record lots of memos
and appointments, your battery life is going to be considerably
reduced. Even ten days is not an unreasonable life span for
batteries with heavy usage. In the case of heavy usage by a
professional person who simply needs to use their Voice Mate a
great deal, replacement of batteries two or three times a month
would not be unusual. If, on the other hand, your batteries are
only lasting two or three days, check with the dealer from whom
you made your Voice Mate purchase for a replacement because such
battery drain is excessive and is an indication of a defective
unit. Additionally, battery life is also determined by volume
settings. If you set all your volume settings to their highest
levels, batteries will dissipate more quickly than medium or low
volume settings.
Another tip for expanding battery life is setting the Voice
Mate to the KEYBOARD LOCK mode. This will be described in detail
later in this Users Guide. The Keyboard Lock mode keeps the unit
from being accidentally bumped on when being carried in a pocket,
purse or when in its leather carrying case that is being worn on
a belt.
Chapter 3.5 Alternate Batteries.
Removable nickel cadmium rechargeable batteries can most
certainly be used in the Voice Mate but they do not have near the
life span of alkaline batteries. Nickel metal hydride batteries
can also be employed. Of course, rechargeables can be charged
many times and thus a savings can be appreciated. Keep in mind,
however, that you may not get an indication by the voice
synthesizer that your batteries are low when using rechargeables
of any kind. There are also alkaline battery rechargeables which
can be purchase from electronic stores. These batteries can be
reenergized several times before they must be discarded and are a
viable alternative.
I personally have tried different battery types and found
that the Radio Shack line of batteries seem to last the longest.
Chapter 3.6 Low Battery Announcement.
The voice synthesizer of the Voice Mate will say, "Change
the batteries," when they begin to register a low voltage
reading. This does not mean, however, that you need to
immediately change batteries. Again, this is based upon your
specific usage of the unit. If you are a heavy user, it is
recommended you change the batteries soon after you begin hearing
the low battery announcement. If you are a light to medium user,
you can go for many days before the batteries need replacement.
The lower your batteries become, the more the voice synthesizer
will prompt you to "Change the batteries." The more you hear the
warning, the sooner you should consider changing batteries. Let
me remind you again that the use of rechargeables may not always
alert you when batteries are low.
CHAPTER 4 A BRIEF VOICE MATE TOUR
Holding your Voice Mate in the palm of your right hand,
press the rubber button to the left of the microphone grill on
the front of the unit. This is the Function Selector Button. If
the Voice Mate has been allowed to turn itself off, and if you
have not touched the side switch, which is the large button in
the upper and outer left edge of the unit, or if you have not
opened the front door panel, the first press of the Function
Selector should announce, "Phone Book." A second press of the
Function Selector will say, "memo." Next you will hear,
"Appointment." Following that, the Voice Mate will say, "Clock."
Next comes, "Calculator." Another press of the function button
will announce, "Dialing Assistant." The last category to be
announced is, "Control Panel." If you press the function button
one more time, "Phone book" will be repeated and you will have
successfully cycled through all available choices.
The Function Selector button is the key you will always use
to access all the various categories available in the Voice Mate.
The Side Key is only used to retrieve and play back data and to
make recordings for addresses, memos, and appointments.
CHAPTER 5 CONTROL PANEL - CUSTOMIZING THE VOICE MATE
The Voice Mate has the capability of being programmed to
operate in ways that best fit your personal needs. Other
customization changes will be made in other menus in the various
categories but for now, let's visit the Control Panel.
Chapter 5.1 Accessing The Control Panel.
Begin pressing the Function Selector button on the front of
the Voice Mate. This is the rubber button to the left of the
microphone. If the Voice Mate has gone to sleep, the first time
you press the Function Selector button, it will say, "Phone
Book." Otherwise, you will hear any of the various categories
spoken. If you hear anything other than "Phone Book," simply
continue pressing the Function Selector button until you hear,
"Control Panel."
Chapter 5.2 Control Panel Overview.
Before going into detail, let's take a quick run through all
the menu choices which are available in the Control Panel.
To access the menu choices, once you have heard your Voice
Mate say, "Control Panel," open the door. Locate the MENU key
which is the upper left hand rubber button around the speaker
grill. Press the MENU key once and you will hear, "Volume 4."
Locate the left and right arrow keys. They appear just
below the four keys that surround the speaker. For now, we are
going to just use the right arrow key but later, once you are
familiar with the Control Panel menu choices, you can use either
arrow key to cycle to the category of your choice.
If you begin pressing the right arrow key at this point, you
are going to hear several categories spoken by the voice
synthesizer. In some cases, you will hear numbers also spoken
with words so I am going to list them exactly as they will be
spoken to you originally. In a moment, we will return to each of
these menu settings and explain them in detail. The first one,
"Volume 4," is announced the moment you press the MENU key. The
other subsequent categories are spoken as you press the right
arrow key. Here are the categories you will hear spoken.
Volume 4
Normal Help
Accessibility Mode On
Sound 1
Shut Down After 30 Seconds
Encode Mode Off
2 Training Session
Keyboard Lock Off
Send Data
Receive Data
If you press the right arrow key one more time, you will be
back to "Volume 4." Now, let me explain each of these
categories.
Chapter 5.3 Volume Setting.
If you have followed along by pressing the right arrow key,
you should have heard the voice synthesizer say, "Volume 4." To
raise the volume level, press the YES key. The YES key is the
lower left hand button around the speaker. You will hear,
"Volume 5." If you continue pressing the YES key, it will cycle
through eight levels of volume. Select the volume level you
prefer. You make your selection by doing nothing more than
pressing the right arrow key to move to the next category. So,
if you hear it say, "Volume 6," and you press the right arrow key
to move to the next category, your volume level will be set at 6.
Note. High volume settings may become distorted through the tiny
Voice Mate speaker.
Chapter 5.4 Help Mode.
Once you have selected the volume setting, press the right
arrow key. You will hear, "Normal help." If left in this mode,
all prompts will be spoken. If you press the YES key at this
point, it will toggle the Voice Mate into a less speech friendly
mode and not all prompts will be spoken by the voice synthesizer.
As a blind user, I prefer all prompts to be spoken. If you
decide to go ahead and to press the YES key, you will hear
"Discreet help." To switch it back to normal help, press the YES
key once again and the Voice Mate will confirm the change.
Chapter 5.5 Accessibility Mode.
To move to the next menu choice, press the right arrow key.
You will hear, "Accessibility mode on." Again, as a blind user,
I leave this Accessibility Mode on. If you press the YES key,
you will hear, "Accessibility mode off." This means the voice
synthesizer is turned off and the Voice Mate can then be used by
a sighted person without any voice prompts because the
information is now only available on the display screen. If you
accidentally switch this mode to off, you will most likely need a
sighted person to read the display screen to assist you in
getting back into the Control Panel to get the speech turned back
on. I have deliberately switched this Accessibility Mode to off
and allowed my Voice Mate to go to sleep in order to test my
ability to get back to where the voice synthesizer can be
switched back on. I found it nearly impossible to navigate the
Voice Mate silently and thus asked for sighted assistance.
Chapter 5.6 Voice Mate Sounds.
Pressing the right arrow key once again following the
Accessibility Mode, you will hear, "Sound 1." The Voice Mate
provides four levels of different sounds to help you hear when
keys are being pressed. Press the YES key and you will cycle
through all four sounds. The four sounds are a water drop, a
click, a hollow sound as though striking a small empty wooden
box, and a high pitched beep. Continuing to press the YES key
will allow you to not only cycle through all four sounds but the
final level of sound will say, "No sound." Of course, if left in
this mode, all key entries will be silent. Make your selection
by simply listening for the sound you prefer and leave this menu
by pressing the right arrow key to cycle to the next menu
category.
Chapter 5.7 Shut Down Mode.
The Voice Mate has no off and on switch. Touching any key
or opening the door activates the unit. Likewise, the Voice Mate
will automatically shut itself off due to inactivity after a
specified time has elapsed.
Once you have pressed the right arrow key to leave the menu
of sounds, you will hear, "Shut down after Thirty seconds." This
is the default setting. It means, if you do nothing with your
Voice Mate for 30 seconds, it will automatically shut itself off.
Repeatedly pressing the YES key allows you to cycle to 40, 60,
20, or the default setting of 30 seconds. The Voice Mate will
also fall asleep even with the door left opened. Regardless, you
pick the length of time by selecting one of these levels.
Chapter 5.8 Encode Mode.
Note. Be certain you read, and fully understand, this entire
section before attempting to activate the encode Mode.
Following the Shut Down mode, press the right arrow key once
again and you will then hear, "Encode mode off." Although it is
true that this security level of Voice Mate operation can be
turned off and on, I want to offer a strong warning. If you
decide to use a four digit PIN number, Personal Identification
Number, to lock your Voice Mate, make certain you do not forget
it. If you forget it for any reason, the Voice Mate will be
permanently locked and the only way you can get the unit back
into operation is by conducting a total memory dump. This means,
you lose absolutely everything you have recorded in your Voice
Mate.
With this in mind, pressing the YES key in the Encode Mode,
gives you two choices. The first time you press YES, you will
hear, "enter the new code and press YES." This means you can now
enter a four digit number which will serve as a password which
will in turn lock your Voice Mate. This menu also allows you to
return to this category in the Control Panel and change your
encode password (PIN number) at any time you wish.
Once you have made your four digit PIN number entry, press
the YES key and you will hear, "Encode mode on." If you press
the YES key a second time, you will hear, "Encode mode off." In
short, you can turn this Encode Mode off and on. This makes it
convenient to use the Voice Mate at home without having to enter
your password every time you pick it up because you can
deactivate the Encode Mode at any time. On the other hand, once
your PIN number is entered, you can return to this Control Panel
setting, turn the Encode Mode to on, and take your Voice Mate
anywhere with the confidence that no one can pick up your digital
organizer and gain access to your personal and private data.
Unless, of course, they know your PIN number.
When you enter the four digits, and if you have not set your
Voice Mate sounds to No Sounds, the numbers will beep each time
the numeric keys are pressed. If you think you've made a
mistake, just press the YES key until it prompts you to enter a
new PIN number. The reason the numbers do not speak as you enter
them is to provide another level of security that allows you to
make PIN number changes without anyone in the room hearing your
password.
If you leave the Encode Mode set to off, you will have to
return to this menu to turn it on. You turn it on by pressing
the YES key. You will hear, "Enter the new code and press YES."
You will have to enter your current PIN number, or a new PIN
number at this point. Press the YES key and you will hear,
"Encode mode on" which is what you heard the first time. This
action of entering your current PIN number, or a new PIN number,
each time you access the Encode Mode menu, automatically switches
the Encode Mode on once the YES key is pressed. A second press
of the YES key turns the Encode Mode off.
When you have encoded the four digital password, or PIN
number, into your Voice Mate, and the unit is allowed to turn
itself off, that is, allowed to go to sleep, the unit will be
locked with your PIN number. When you pick up the unit and touch
either the record Side Key, or the Function Selector button on
the front of the unit, or when you open the door, the voice
synthesizer will prompt you for your password. You will hear,
"Enter your PIN code and press YES." Then, open the door and
enter your four digit PIN number and press YES. The unit will
then be fully functional. Once the Voice Mate goes to sleep
again, however, you will need to reenter your PIN number each and
every time to unlock the unit.
Chapter 5.9 Training Sessions.
Following the Encode Mode, press the right arrow to move to
the next menu category. You will hear, "Two training session."
There are two Training sessions available. You toggle between
the two training sessions by pressing the YES key. You will
hear, "Two training session," or you will hear, "One training
session."
The Training Sessions are used in voice recognition. When
we enter a phone number, for example, under a person's name, you
will see how this works. If you switch this Training Session
setting to level 1, you will not be prompted to repeat a person's
name a second time upon making a Phone Book entry. For now, I
would recommend you leave this setting on level 2. Later, once
you become familiar with voice recognition techniques, you may
prefer to return to this Control Panel setting to change it.
Chapter 5.10 Keyboard Lock.
Keyboard Lock mode is the next category following the Encode
Mode. You get there by simply pressing the right arrow key once
again. You will hear, "Keyboard lock off." Pressing the YES key
toggles this feature off and on. If you turn it on by pressing
the YES key, you must first allow the Voice Mate to fall asleep
before the Keyboard Lock feature is enabled. Once the unit has
turned itself off, it cannot be accidentally turned on by bumping
the large Side Key button or the front panel Function Selector.
The Keyboard Lock feature keeps the Voice Mate from being
accidentally turned on when these buttons are touched and thus it
saves on battery life. This feature is especially useful if you
carry your Voice Mate in it's leather carrying case on your belt,
in a purse or a pocket.
When using the Keyboard Lock feature, all you need to do to
switch the Voice Mate on is to open the door. Then all functions
are available again.
Chapter 5.11 Sending And Receiving Data.
Following the Keyboard Lock category, we have two remaining
categories. By pressing the right arrow key, you will first
hear, "Send data," and then a final press of the right arrow key
announces, "Receive data." These settings are used when the
Windows based backup and flashrom software is in use.
Chapter 5.12 Additional Notes On The Control Panel.
If you press the right arrow key one more time, following
the data send and receive modes, you will be back to the volume
settings category.
Note.
In this section, I have been telling you to press the right
arrow key each time. However, now that you are familiar with
these categories, you can use either the left or right arrow keys
to cycle through the menu choices.
Note.
Keep in mind the YES key is generally used to toggle off and
on different features or to advance through additional settings
in a given menu choice.
Note.
Closing the Voice Mate door at any time, while in the
Control Panel, will save any changes you have made.
Chapter 5.13 Checking For Available Memory.
When your Voice Mate door is closed, you can move over to
the Control Panel by pressing the front panel Function Selector
button to the left of the microphone. Rapidly clicking the Side
Key twice announces the available memory still for use. You will
hear, "99 percent of free memory," spoken by the voice
synthesizer. This percentage figure will decrease as you use
more of your memory.
CHAPTER 6 THE CLOCK AND CALENDAR
Holding the Voice Mate in the palm of your hand, press the
Function Selector button to the left of the microphone on the
front of the unit until you hear it say "Clock." Open the door
and you will hear, "To change the time, press 1. To change the
alarm press 2. To turn the alarm on, press 3." If you leave the
door open, this prompt will continue to repeat until you make a
choice or until the Voice Mate goes to sleep.
Chapter 6.1 Setting The Time And Date.
To set the time, press 1. The first time you do this, you
will hear, "To use the twelve hour clock press 1. If you want to
use the 24 hour clock, press 2." Make your choice. Pressing 1,
for example, prompts you to enter the date. You will hear,
"Enter the date and press YES." The date entry should be two
digits for the month, two digits for the day and four digits for
the year. For example, the date of January 18, 2000 should be
entered, using the numeric keypad, as 01182000.
Following the entry of the date, press YES. You will then
hear, "Enter the time and press YES." For example, 8:00 o'clock
in the morning would be entered as 0800 and pressing the zero key
once again will announce "A.M." A second press of the zero key
will announced "P.M." Make your choice and conclude the entry by
pressing the YES key. If your sounds are still turned on, you
will hear a beep when the YES key is pressed which confirms the
setting of the date and time is complete.
Chapter 6.2 Setting The Alarm.
When the Voice Mate has been advanced to where it says,
"Clock," you can open the door and press 2 on the numeric keypad
and enter the time you wish the alarm to sound. For example, if
you want the alarm to sound at 08:15 in the morning, enter 0815
and press the zero key until it says A.M. and then conclude by
pressing the YES key. The alarm is not only set, at this point,
but it is in the ON mode and will sound at that time every 24
hours unless you enter the clock mode and turn the alarm off.
Chapter 6.3 Checking Current Time And Date.
Clicking twice rapidly on the large Side Key when the Voice
Mate is on the clock category, announces current time and date.
This is true when the door is closed or opened. Once the alarm
has been set, or switched to the on mode, when clicking twice
rapidly on the Side Key, you will hear announced, the current
time, the current date, the day of the week, and the time of the
alarm setting. If the alarm is off, clicking the side key twice
in the clock mode will only announce current time and date.
Chapter 6.4 Turning The Alarm Off.
Turning the alarm off is as easy as going to the clock mode
by pressing the front panel Function Selector, opening the door,
and pressing 3 on the numeric keypad.
Chapter 6.5 Alarm Application.
The alarm plays a song for about forty seconds. If you
click the Side Key while the song is playing, it silences the
music. If, on the other hand, you allow the music to play
through without clicking the side switch to silence the music,
the alarm song will play again in another five minutes and again
five minutes beyond that before shutting off. For example, set
the alarm for 8 o'clock in the morning. When the alarm sounds,
do not silence it by touching the side switch but allow the music
to conclude playing. At 8:05 the alarm will play the song again
and then at 08:10 it will play one final time. Keep in mind,
however, the alarm is still set for that time and 24 hours later
will play again at that same alarm time you have set. As
previously stated, to completely turn the alarm off, you will
have to press 3 on the numeric keypad. You will hear, "Alarm
off."
Chapter 6.6 Changing The Time And Date.
The next time you open the door on the clock, you will
hear the same prompts you heard the first time you set the date
and time. However, this time, when you press 1 to set the clock,
you will not be asked to press 1 for a 12 hour clock or 2 for a
24 hour clock. This is because you have previously made your
choice.
When you press 1, you will be prompted to set the date. If
you wish to maintain the current date which you have previously
set, simply press the YES key. If you need to change the date,
you may do so at this point. Once your entry is made, or once
you have pressed the YES key, You will then be prompted to enter
the new time. You can either change the time at this point, by
entering four digits, or if you wish to maintain the current
time, simply press the YES key.
Chapter 6.7 Date Formats.
When opening the door to make clock changes, you can press
the MENU key and you will hear, "A.M. P.M. hour format." This is
true if you are currently in the 12 hour clock mode. If, on the
other hand, you originally chose the 24 hour clock mode, and you
press the clock MENU key, you will hear, "24 hour format. To
change to either format, simply press the YES key and the change
will be announced.
Once the MENU key has been pressed, you can then press the
right arrow key for additional clock features. You will first
hear, either "U S date format" or "International date format."
This is based upon which mode you originally picked while
configuring the clock. You can then press the YES key and toggle
between the U S date format and the International date format
modes. The U S Date Format mode displays the date as month, day,
and year. The International Date Format displays the date as
day, month and year. This date format only appears on the
display. The voice synthesizer, on the other hand, always speaks
the date as day, month and year.
Chapter 6.8 Clock Volume Settings.
Pressing the right arrow key following the date format
announcement, you will hear, "Volume 4." 4 is the default volume
setting for the alarm. To increase the volume, press the YES
key. The music of the alarm immediately begins to play which
allows you to sample the desired volume level. Continue to press
the YES key and the music will replay from the beginning with
more volume. You can cycle through all eight levels of alarm
volume settings by continuing to press the YES key until you
reach the volume level you prefer.
Note. Closing the door of the Voice Mate at any time finalizes
any changes you have made.
CHAPTER 7 THE PHONE BOOK
The Voice Mate Phone Book provides the user with a wide
variety of application. For example, you can save multiple
telephone numbers under a single name, you can have your Voice
Mate dial any of these phone numbers for you by holding the unit
up to the telephone mouthpiece and allowing the touch tones to be
played into the telephone, you can have the telephone numbers
announced so you can hear the number itself, and you can even
record address information relative to the person associated with
the telephone numbers. The most powerful aspect of the Voice
Mate Phone Book is the retrieval of the data using voice
recognition. You simply speak the person's name, and their phone
number and address is quickly retrieved.
Chapter 7.1 Customizing The Phone Book.
The first thing we need to do is to configure the Phone Book
so we can record as many phone numbers under one name as
possible. We do this by using the Phone Book MENU key.
Begin by pressing the front panel Function Selector button,
the rubber button just to the left of the microphone, until you
hear, "Phone Book." Then open the door and press the MENU key.
This is the upper left hand button around the speaker.
The first thing you will hear when pressing the MENU key is
"Modify the phone numbers." This will be explained in detail
later. For now, use the right arrow key and cycle through all
the menu changes which are available in this menu mode. Here is
a list of all you will hear spoken.
Modify The Phone Numbers
Re-record The Address
Re-record The Name
Home Number Off
Fax Number Off
Work Number Off
Cellular Phone Number Off
Other Number Off
Address On
DTMF Volume 4
Dialing Speed 5
A final press of the right arrow key returns you to the
first heading and you will hear, "Modify the phone numbers."
Once you are familiar with these selections, you can use either
the right or left arrow keys to cycle through the list of
categories.
Chapter 7.11 Phone Numbers And The Address Field.
As you heard, all the additional phone numbers available to
us in the Phone Book Menu were turned off. We need to turn them
on, in case we wish to record numbers in these categories, and we
do this by using the YES key. The default telephone entry,
however, the first phone number recorded under any person's name,
is always switched on. We are simply going to turn on all other
available phone number categories in case we need them in the
future.
In case your Voice Mate has gone to sleep, let's review.
With the door opened on the Phone Book, begin by first pressing
the MENU key. You will hear, "Modify the phone numbers." Begin
pressing the right arrow key. The first two presses of the right
arrow key will announce, "Re-record the address," and "Re-record
the name." The next press of the arrow key will announce, "Home
number off." Press the YES key and you will hear, "Home number
on." Press the right arrow key and you will hear, "Fax number
off." Press the YES key and you will hear, "Fax number on."
Repeat this process through all the additional phone number
categories; turning them on with the YES key.
After each phone number has been turned on, another press of
the right arrow key will announce, "Address on." I am assuming
you will want to leave this set to ON. If, however, you later
wish to turn the address field off, simply return to this part of
the Phone Book Menu, and press the YES key to toggle it off.
"You will hear, "Address off."
Chapter 7.12 Setting The DTMF Volume.
The DTMF Volume is related to the touch tones and how loud
they will be played through the speaker. Pressing the right
arrow key following the address field, you will hear, "DTMF
volume 4." Now, press the YES key and you will hear a sample of
the touch tones at the volume level of 4. Continue pressing the
YES button and the tones will be repeated but with increasing
volume levels. Eventually you will hear, "Dialing volume off."
If you prefer the touch tones not to be played each time you
retrieve a phone number when you click twice on the Side Key, you
would leave this setting to the off mode. However, if you want
the tones to play so you can dial numbers, continue to press the
YES key and the sample tones will continue to play but at this
point they will be at a lower volume setting. Continue to press
the YES key until you find the volume you prefer. Louder volume
settings work the best for dialing phone numbers. Settings too
high, however, will result in some distortion of the tones which
may cause false readings by the telephone system.
Chapter 7.13 The Dialing Speed.
Once you have decided on a DTMF volume setting, simply press
the right arrow key and you will hear, "Dialing speed 5." The
Voice Mate can be set to dial the touch tones at speeds on eight
different levels. Pressing the YES key will offer a sample of
the tones and if you continue pressing the YES key, you will be
able to advance through all eight speed levels. Higher speed
settings are sometimes difficult to be heard by the telephone so
lower and mid-range settings are suggested.
Once you have made your selection of a dialing speed, simply
close the door and your changes will be saved and you will be
ready to begin making phone entries.
Chapter 7.2 Recording Phone Book Entries.
You can record hundreds of telephone numbers in your Voice
Mate and retrieve them by simply speaking the name you used to
record an entry. For example, hold the unit three or four inches
away from your lips and hold down the Side Key, which is the
large button on the upper left hand outer edge of the unit, and
speak "John Anderson" into the microphone. If this is the first
time you have ever recorded a Phone Book entry, or if the Voice
Mate does not think you are trying to match "John Anderson" with
a previous entry in the Phone Book, it will prompt you by saying,
"I don't know John Anderson." Even if this prompt is not spoken
for some reason, you can open the door. When the door is opened,
You will hear, "Would you like to record John Anderson?" Press
the YES key which is the button in the lower left hand corner
around the speaker. The Voice Mate then says, "Repeat John
Anderson." Hold down the Side Key and repeat "John Anderson."
You then will hear, "Enter the telephone number and press YES."
At this point, you enter the phone number by using the numeric
keypad and press YES just as you are prompted. If you are
recording a long distance number, you would, of course, start
with the 1. The numbers will be spoken as you enter them. If
you make a mistake while entering a single digit, you can press
the ERASE key which will delete the digit you have just pressed
incorrectly. The ERASE key is the button in the upper right hand
corner around the speaker. Then re-enter the correct digit and
continue. If you later discover you have made other errors while
entering the phone number, you can edit the entire phone number
at any time. This procedure will be discussed later in detail.
Remember to press the YES key when finished entering the phone
number. Overseas phone numbers are entered in the same manner.
The first phone number you enter becomes the default entry.
That is, each time the person's name is used to retrieve any of
their phone numbers, this number is the first to be displayed and
made available for immediate access. So, the first number you
record, should be the one you plan on using the most when dialing
this person.
Once you have finished entering this first phone number and
the YES button has been pressed, you will hear, "Enter the fax
number and press YES." If they have a fax number, you may enter
it at this time. If not, press the YES key and you will hear,
"Enter the home number and press YES." Again, if you have a home
number to enter, do so at this time. If not, press the YES key
and you will hear, "Enter the work number and press YES." Make
your entry or, if you have no number to enter, press the YES key.
The next available phone entry will say, "Enter the cellular
phone number and press YES." Follow the same procedure as before
and press YES. You will hear, "Enter the other number and press
YES." This field, for example, could be used to enter a pager
number.
When you've finished entering phone numbers and press the
YES key once again, you will hear, "Press the side key and record
the address for John Anderson." The last part, "John Anderson,"
is a playback of your own voice which is the entry you began with
originally. At this point, press the Side Key, the large button
on the upper and outer left edge of the Voice Mate and while
holding the switch down, speak the address you wish to record for
John Anderson. Upon releasing the record button, you will hear,
"John Anderson has been recorded." Again, the first part of
this, that is, "John Anderson," is a playback of your own voice
as you originally recorded it. You now have successfully
concluded a Phone Book entry. This same procedure is used any
time you wish to add a new person to your phone book.
Chapter 7.3 Phone Book Data Retrieval.
If your Voice Mate has gone to sleep, press the front panel
Function Selector button until you hear, "Phone Book." Hold down
the Side Key and speak, "John Anderson," into the microphone.
Your first entry should automatically be retrieved and you will
hear your own voice repeating the original entry. This means the
Voice Mate has matched the entry using voice recognition. The
phone number of John Anderson will also be automatically spoken
to you by the voice synthesizer at this time. To stop the voice
synthesizer from speaking the entire number, just quickly click
the Side Key once and the voice will be silenced. You are,
however, still on "John Anderson."
If you wish to now dial this number, click the side key
twice quickly and the touch tones will play through the speaker.
Before clicking the Side Key to play the touch tones into the
phone, I recommend you first hold the Voice Mate up to the
telephone mouth piece as the voice synthesizer is reciting the
phone number. If you keep your ear to the earpiece of the
telephone while the Voice Mate is speaking the digits, you can
easily hear when the speaker is positioned properly, with the
loudest volume, over the mouthpiece. When the voice synthesizer
is playing its loudest into the telephone mouthpiece, quickly
click the side key twice and the touch tones will begin to play
and the number will be dialed for you.
If you wish to retrieve other phone numbers, such as the fax
number or cellular phone number of this person, open the door and
press the left and right arrow keys and you will move back and
forth in the various Phone Book fields for this person including
the address you may have recorded for them. Each press of the
arrow key will identify the type of phone number and the voice
synthesizer will likewise speak that number. When you have
located the phone number you desire, click the Side Key twice and
it will play the touch tones of that number.
Chapter 7.4 Modifying Phone Numbers.
To make any modifications or additions to a Phone Book
entry, retrieve that entry by speaking the person's name as
described above.
Let's say you have a couple of dozen names already recorded
but you want to retrieve and change something under the name
"John Anderson." Cycle to the Phone Book and hold down the Side
Key and speak "John Anderson" into the microphone. Open the door
and you will likely hear, "Would you like to memorize John
Anderson?" This occurs because the Voice Mate thinks you may be
attempting to record a new entry. Of course, in this case, you
are not, so press the NO key which is the lower right hand key
around the speaker. If your sounds are turned on, you will hear
a beep when the NO key has been pressed. You are now ready to
make changes to this entry.
Chapter 7.41 Erasing And Correcting Phone Numbers.
Press the MENU key which is the upper left hand key around
the speaker and you will hear, "Modify the phone numbers." This
is the menu choice you use if you wish to change a phone number
under this person's name or when you wish to add a new number.
Once you have pressed the MENU key and heard it say, "Modify
the phone numbers," press the YES key and you will hear, "Enter
the telephone number and press YES." Immediately after the word
"YES," you will hear spoken the first digit of the telephone
number you recorded as the default phone number for this person.
You can use the right and left arrow keys to move through this
number and each number will be spoken as the arrow keys are
pressed when moving backwards and forwards. The left arrow moves
back one digit at a time and the right arrow key moves forward
one digit at a time. When you have passed beyond the first digit
or the last, and if your sounds are still turned on, you will
hear it beep; indicating the beginning, or end of that telephone
number.
At this point, and in my opinion, the best way of changing
an incorrect phone number is by pressing the ERASE Key which is
the upper right hand key around the speaker. If, for example,
you have entered a seven digit telephone number, you can press
the ERASE key seven times which removes all the numbers in that
field. You do not need to be at the beginning of the phone
number to begin erasing numbers. If it is a seven digit number,
regardless of where you are in the number, seven presses of the
ERASE key will remove all seven digits. To check to see if all
numbers have been removed, press the left and right arrow keys.
If you have your sounds turned on, you will hear nothing but
beeps from the arrow keys and no digits will be spoken. If you
hear a digit spoken, you will know that not all the numbers have
been erased. Continue this process of cycling between the ERASE
key and the right and left arrow keys until all numbers are
erased. Then simply enter the new number and press the YES key
to complete the entry. As I said, I believe this is the best
way, although not the only way, of modifying a telephone number
you have entered previously but now want to change.
Chapter 7.42 Entering A New Phone Number.
Pressing the YES key following the example above, you will
hear, "Enter the fax number and press YES." If you have not
recorded any number in this field, no digit will be spoken. If
you have already recorded a fax number in this field, the first
digit will be spoken just as it was for the original telephone
entry just described. If you wish to enter a fax number for the
first time at this point, you can do so and conclude the entry by
pressing the YES key. The YES key saves any changes made and
allows you to proceed to each of the available Phone Book fields.
When you've reached the end of the available Phone Book
entry fields, you will hear, "John Anderson has been recorded."
This means, any changes or additions you have made are now
complete. If you made no changes, it still says the same thing
just to let you know the procedures are now concluded.
Note. You can close the door at any time during these procedures
and nothing will have been changed to any Phone Book entries. In
short, closing the door is a way of canceling any actions you may
have taken at any given moment. If, however, you pressed the YES
key at any time on any Phone Book entry field, closing the door
will not cancel that change. It will, in fact, be an entry that
has been saved.
Note. If you left any phone number entry fields turned off
during the configuration of the Voice Mate, those will not be
available to change or modify in this section. You can always go
back to that section of the phone book, however, and turn those
phone entries on at any time.
Chapter 7.5 Modifying The Address Field.
When you have retrieved the Phone Book entry you desire,
open the door and press the MENU key which is the upper left hand
key around the speaker. You will hear, "Modify the phone
numbers." This is the section we just discussed. Now press the
right arrow key once and you will hear, "Re-record the address."
Now, press the YES key and you will hear, "Press the side key,
and re-record the address of John Anderson." The "John Anderson"
will be your own voice as you have spoken it originally for this
given entry. If you press the Side Key and hold it down, you
then can record a new address entry for this person." When you
release the Side Key, you will hear, "John Anderson has been
recorded." This indicates the change you have just made is
complete.
Chapter 7.6 Modifying The Name.
As you enter additional names, phone numbers, and addresses
in your Voice Mate, you may discover similar names or you may
discover that the voice recognition software is matching the
wrong entry. When this occurs, you can go back into the Phone
Book and press the MENU key. As you have already seen, the first
menu choice you hear after pressing the MENU key in the Phone
Book is, "Modify the phone numbers." If you press the right
arrow key a second time, you will hear, "Re-record the address."
This is what we just discussed in the above example. A third
touch of the right arrow key announces, "Re-record the name." If
you now press the YES key, you will hear, "Press the side key and
repeat John Anderson." The "John Anderson" you hear is your own
voice because it is playing back the original recording you made
when initially recording this entry. The next step is to do
exactly as prompted. Hold down the Side Key and record this
person's name again. You then are prompted a second time to
repeat your entry recording. This is because you have left the
training sessions in the Control Panel to level 2. If you change
this later to level 1, you will not hear this second prompt to
re-enter the person's name as a Phone Book entry.
When it comes to re-entering names, you may, for example,
elect to change John Anderson to Jonathan Anderson, Jack
Anderson, or Anderson, John. You could even include a middle
name or initial. The key is to make each entry somewhat unique
to afford the voice recognition software the best opportunity to
make a match during the recognition process. Keep in mind, your
Voice Mate listens for a total of three seconds when you are
making the initial recording. Using first and last names,
therefore, helps a great deal to match entries in the Phone Book.
To expand on this idea, let's say you happen to have three
entries with the last name of "Anderson." You might use any
number of different recorded entries, at this point, to
differentiate this "Anderson" from the others in your Phone Book.
This would especially be true if you had a Jim, John, and Joe
Anderson listed in your Phone Book. Attempting to make these
first names sound differently is a key to making voice
recognition work to your advantage. Specific tips on exactly how
to use voice recognition more efficiently will be discussed
later.
Chapter 7.7 Turning Phone Numbers Off And On.
If you return to the MENU key and arrow past the point just
discussed, you will return to the section of the Phone Book where
you can turn phone numbers off and on. This means if you elect
to now turn some numbers off (a fax number for example), the fax
field will no longer be available in any new entries you try to
record for a new person in your Phone Book. However, anyone you
have recorded using the fax field before this point will still be
available. I recommend that you turn on all the phone numbers
and leave them on in case at some time in the future that field
is needed. If you simply press the YES key on each phone number
field without entering phone numbers, they are not announced when
looking up phone numbers later. So it is better, in my opinion,
to leave each phone number field turned on for the reasons
already stated.
Chapter 7.8 Locating Phone Numbers.
Eventually, you will have dozens of names recorded in your
Phone Book with dozens, perhaps hundreds, of telephone numbers.
Although, as mentioned, voice recognition techniques will be
discussed in detail later in this Users Guide, you should be
aware that voice recognition isn't perfect and there is no
guarantee you will obtain a perfect match each and every time you
speak someone's name into the Voice Mate. Fortunately, as you
become familiar with voice recognition techniques, you will find
the Voice Mate making more and more matches the first time you
speak. Until that time, however, the Voice Mate provides an
additional method of locating entries in your Phone Book in the
event you are unable to retrieve an entry by voice command.
Once your Voice Mate announces you are in the Phone Book,
open the door and using the left and right arrow keys, you can
move rapidly through Phone Book entries. This will include, of
course, all Phone Book entries including recorded addresses and
all telephone numbers recorded under each person's name. If your
Phone Book is large, this may take time, but you will be able to
locate the data you want using this method.
Chapter 7.9 Deleting Phone Book Entries.
Either recall the entry by voice recognition or open the
door when on the Phone Book and use the arrow keys to locate the
entries. Press the ERASE key on each entry you wish to delete
and follow the voice prompts.
When you press the ERASE key, it will prompt you by
announcing which phone number type you are on. For example, if
it is the default, or original phone number you entered, it will
say, "To delete John Anderson telephone number, press YES." If
you are on the home number, the fax number, or any of the other
phone number types, it will inform you of which you are about to
delete.
Deleting the address field works the same way as a phone
number. For example, if you press the ERASE key on the address
field of an entry of Jim Smith, you will hear, "To delete the
address of Jim Smith, press YES." If you change your mind and
wish to cancel the deletion process, simply press the NO key.
You must delete entries one at a time, including the address
field, because there is no method to date whereby you can erase a
complete entry all at one time. Each individual deletion,
however, is confirmed by the voice synthesizer following the
press of the YES key.
CHAPTER 8 Memo Pad
The Voice Mate provides a simple-to-use electronic Memo Pad
for recording notes quickly and easily. The memo features of the
Voice Mate make it possible to modify, edit, insert text, delete
text, and append to preexisting memos. Even the date and time is
stamped on each memo to make it possible to be reminded of such
things as when you last took a medication or paid a bill.
Maintaining a shopping or grocery list for a blind person has
never been easier than with the Voice Mate Memo Pad. Each memo
is numbered so you can cycle through entries effortlessly and you
can just as quickly delete individual memos. There is even a
provision whereby all memos can be deleted with a single
keystroke.
Chapter 8.1 Recording A Memo.
Press the Function Selector button to the left of the
microphone on the front panel of the Voice Mate until you hear,
"Memo" spoken by the voice synthesizer. Hold down the Side Key
and while holding the record button down, speak the following
three to four inches away from the microphone: "This is memo
test number one." Release the Side Key and you will hear, "Your
memo has been recorded." Hold down the Side Key a second time
and speak the following into the microphone: "This is memo test
number two." You will be told once again that your memo has
been recorded. Now, press the Side Key a third time and speak
the following: "This is memo test number three."
Chapter 8.2 Replaying Memos.
If you use the front panel selector button to the left of
the microphone to move to the Memo Pad, you can click twice
rapidly on the side key and your last memo will play. You will
hear, in this case the voice synthesizer say, "Last Memo,
recorded at..." and the time and date of the memo will be spoken.
Immediately following the date and time of the memo, the actual
memo you recorded will play. If you are following the example
given in this section, you will hear yourself say, "This is memo
test number three."
Chapter 8.3 Reviewing All Memos.
Once you hear your Voice Mate announce you are on the Memo
Pad, open the door. The left and right arrow keys allow you to
cycle through all recorded memos. If you begin using the right
arrow key, the Voice Mate will announce, "Memo number 1.
Recorded at..." and the date and time will then be spoken
relative to the time the memo was recorded. Of course, the memo
itself immediately plays. Pressing the right arrow key a second
time takes you to the second memo recorded and so on. The left
arrow key takes you backwards in the numerical sequence of
recorded memos. Memo numbers are, of course, announced in
reverse order when using the left arrow key.
Chapter 8.4 Deleting A Memo.
Using the arrow keys, locate any memo. Press the ERASE key
which is the upper right hand key around the speaker. You will
hear, "to delete your memo, press YES." If you press the YES
key, you will hear, "Your memo has been deleted." If you have
changed your mind and do not want to delete the memo, press the
NO key, the lower right hand key around the speaker, and the
function will be canceled and your memo will not be deleted.
The method used to delete all memos will be discussed later
in this section.
Chapter 8.5 Memo Menu Features.
There are three basic memo features. They deal with edit
types, recording modes, and deleting all memos collectively.
Chapter 8.51 Edit Types.
Open the door on the Memo Pad, and press the MENU key. You
will hear, "Edit type, long." This means that the date and time
is being spoken for each memo. It also means that each memo is
assigned a sequential number: 1, 2, 3, and so on. Sometimes, if
you have several memos to sort, you may not wish to be bothered
listening to the date and time announced for each and every memo
you have recorded. If you press the YES key again, you will
hear, "Edit type, short." This simply means no date and time
will be spoken with any memos. Likewise, the numbers of each
memo are no longer spoken.
Again, as with many other menu functions, the YES key is a
toggle and allows you to turn the LONG and SHORT editing types
off and on. The voice synthesizer, as with all Voice Mate
functions, speaks the changes when the keys are pressed.
Chapter 8.52 Recording Modes.
Once you have opened the door on the Memo Pad and pressed
the MENU key, the Voice Mate announces which edit type you are
currently using. If you made no changes at this point, it first
will say, "Edit type, long." Otherwise, it announces the short
method is being used. Press the right arrow key once and you
will hear, "Normal recording."
The Voice Mate provides two types of recording modes. The
default is NORMAL. This means, when you depress the Side Key to
record, it will only record as long as you keep the button
depressed. The moment you release the Side Key, the recording
stops.
If you press the YES key when you hear "Normal recording,"
you will hear the Voice Mate say, "Continuous recording." This
means, when the Side Key is clicked once, the Voice Mate will
record continuously until you click the Side Key a second time.
This mode is useful when wishing to do a HANDS FREE recording
that may last for an extended period of time. Again, the YES key
is a toggle which allows you to switch this mode to the desired
recording mode. Generally, most people find it better to use
their Voice Mate in the NORMAL RECORDING mode in case they
accidentally bump the side key and discover an hour later that
their entire memory base has been depleted by recording one very
long memo.
Chapter 8.53 Deleting All Memos.
In the Memo Pad, if the MENU key is pressed, as was already
stated, the Voice Mate speaks the current editing type you have
chosen. Pressing the right arrow key announces the recording
mode you have selected. A final press of the right arrow key
says, "Delete all memos." If you now press the YES key, you will
hear, "To delete your memo, press YES." Although this is the
same prompt you hear when deleting a single memo, in this case,
since you have already selected "Delete all memos," by arrowing
to it, now pressing YES will in fact delete all recorded memos
regardless of how many there may be.
If you press the YES key when prompted to delete all memos,
you will hear, "Memory cleaning. Please wait." Be absolutely
certain that you do not press any keys during the memory cleaning
process regardless of how long it takes. If you only have two or
three memos recorded, it will take only a second or two to purge
the memo memory bank. If, on the other hand, you have several
dozen memos recorded, the memory cleaning may take several
seconds. Again, do not touch any other key on the Voice Mate
during this time. An accidental key press during the memory
cleaning process could result in a memory lock and thus disabling
the unit. When the memory cleaning is concluded, you will hear,
"End of memory cleaning. Please press a key to continue." At
this point, you may press any key on the keypad and the Voice
Mate will be ready to be used again for any function.
Note. Accidentally pressing a key during the time your Voice
Mate is performing a memory clean, causes an invalid command to
be sent to the processor and can cause false data to be executed.
This could result in a total system shut down and a loss of all
recorded data.
Chapter 8.6 Memo Pad Editing Features And Keys.
The Voice Mate functions as an enhanced tape recorder but
with all the ease of digital editing. You can delete and
undelete, append, and insert text to any memo. You can pause,
rewind or fast forward just as though you were using a tape
recorder and all with minimal keystrokes.
When the Voice Mate door is opened on the Memo Pad, the
bottom two rows of keys on the keypad become function keys for
recording and editing. Here is the assignment of each key.
7 = Replace And Insert
8 = Delete
9 = Undelete
Star = Rewind
0 = Pause And Play
Pound = Fast Forward
Chapter 8.61 Memo Pause.
Record a memo by holding down the Side Key and saying the
following: "This is a test of the Voice Mate." I suggest you
get used to holding the Side Key down a little longer whenever
recording anything with the Voice Mate. It helps make for a
better recording, especially when trying to edit memos, but it
also provides a better sounding entry when recording names for
Phone Book entries.
When you have made your test memo recording, click the Side
Key twice rapidly to play it back. Now, open the door and press
the zero key. What you have recorded for a memo is then played
back again but without the date and time stamp. This is
assuming, of course, you have left the Memo Pad in the LONG memo
type setting. If, on the other hand, you leave your Voice Mate
in the SHORT memo type mode, it never speaks the date and time
stamp of the memo regardless of keys you press.
If you press the zero key at any time during playback, the
recording will pause. Pressing the PAUSE again, that is, the
zero key, will allow the memo recording to continue.
Chapter 8.62 Memo Rewind.
Play the memo again by pressing the zero key and when it
concludes, press the star "*" key. You will hear the memo being
played backwards.
Chapter 8.63 Memo Fast Forward.
Now, press the POUND key which is in the lower right hand
corner of the keypad; just under the 9 key. This key is
sometimes also called the HASH or the NUMBER key. When pressed,
you will hear your memo played in the fast forward mode.
Chapter 8.64 Deleting Text.
Press the zero key to hear the recorded memo play. Keep
your finger on the zero key and be ready to press it a second
time to pause the memo playback. Press the pause button after
you hear, "This is a test..." At this point, the memo is halted
and the Voice Mate is waiting for a new command, so let's delete
the remainder of the text.
Press the 8 key, which is the Voice Mate's delete key in the
Memo Pad, and you will hear played the remainder of the memo we
have already recorded. In this case, you will hear, following
the press of the 8 key, "of the Voice Mate." Now, without
touching any other key, press the YES button. This will cause
the memo to replay from the beginning but this time you will
notice that the phrase, "of the Voice Mate" is no longer a part
of our memo because it has been deleted.
Chapter 8.65 Undelete Or Abort.
If, when you pressed the 8 key to delete a part of the memo
and suddenly realize it was not what you wanted to do, simply
press the 9 key and it will undelete or literally the action will
be aborted and no changes will have been made.
Chapter 8.66 Text Replace.
Press the zero key to allow the memo to play but keep your
finger on the zero key to pause the memo before it concludes
playing. If you are still following along in the example offered
in this section, you will hear, "This is a test..." and press the
zero key immediately following the word TEST in order to pause
the memo. The Voice Mate is now waiting for a new command.
Press the 7 key. You will hear, "Replace." Now, hold down the
Side Key and speak the following into the microphone: "of the
Voice Mate." You can either click the Side Key twice to replay
the edited memo or the zero key. You now will hear that we have
restored what we recorded originally, that is, "This is a test of
the Voice Mate."
Chapter 8.67 Text Insert.
Let's now use what we have already recorded as a memo and
insert some additional text. Our memo reads as, "this is a test
of the Voice Mate." We are going to insert new text between
"This is a test" and "of the Voice Mate."
Press the zero key to begin playing the memo. Keep your
finger on the zero key and press it again following the word
TEST. The Voice Mate is now on hold and is waiting for a new
command. Press the 7 key. If you hear, "Replace," press it once
again until you hear it say, "Insert." Then, hold down the Side
Key and speak the following into the microphone: "Using the
insert feature." When you release the Side Key, the text will be
recorded and inserted. Now, to see if it worked, click the Side
Key twice rapidly and listen to the memo. You will hear, "This
is a test using the memo insert feature of the Voice Mate."
Chapter 8.68 Appending Text.
The append feature isn't any different than the replace
feature described earlier. Simply play any memo using the zero
key and hit the zero again to pause at the end of the recorded
memo. Press the Side Key and speak into the microphone. What
you speak will be appended to the end of that memo using this
method.
Chapter 8.69 Cutting Text.
Using our example, press the zero key and allow the message
to play. The new memo says, "this is a test using the memo
feature of the Voice Mate." We are now going to cut one word
from this memo.
Replay the memo by pressing zero and press the zero again
immediately after the word INSERT. The word we are going to cut
from the memo is the word FEATURE. If you pressed the zero key
immediately after the word INSERT, the Voice Mate is now waiting
for a new command. To delete a block of text, the 8 key is used.
Yes, that is the delete key which was demonstrated earlier. In
this example, once you have press the zero key to pause the memo
immediately following the word INSERT, you then press the 8 key
and the memo will begin to play. Keep your finger on the 8 and
once the word FEATURE has been spoken, immediately press the 8
key again. Now, click the Side Key twice to replay the memo.
You will notice the word FEATURE has been removed from the memo.
Chapter 8.610 Final Editing Notes.
The editing features take some practice. I suggest you make
up memos of your own and practice these various editing features
until you become used to their application for your individual
needs. Some you may never use while others may prove helpful for
various applications.
CHAPTER 9 APPOINTMENT BOOK
One of the most practical aspects of the Voice Mate is the
Appointment Book. Because of its nature, it can also be the most
complicated.
The Parrot Voice Mate software design team has enhanced the
Appointment Book to include a wide range of features to make it
flexible enough to cover nearly any form of appointment reminders
required. This includes appointments which can be retrieved
using voice recognition keywords, appointments which can be
repeated by the minute, hour, day, week, month or year,
appointments which can be set to remind you in advance of the
actual appointment time, and an appointment beep alarm which can
be set in order to alert you of any given appointment.
Appointments can also be retrieved and reviewed by voice
commands, by the day or week, or by arrowing through them just as
we have seen demonstrated in the Phone Book.
Chapter 9.1 The Appointment Menu.
The Appointment Book allows you to make many configuration
changes and modifications to the appointment features. Although
we will be examining each of the Appointment Book features in
this chapter, let's first do an overview of all the menu features
available so you will have an idea of what is available.
Press the Function Selector on the front panel, the button
to the left of the microphone, and cycle until you hear the Voice
Mate say, "Appointment." Open the door and press the MENU key.
You will hear, "Daily planning." If you have an earlier version
of the Voice Mate, you may hear, "Weekly planning." This
software change was made after a few Voice Mates were originally
released. Regardless of what you hear, however, the programming
of appointments will be the same.
At this point, press the right arrow key and you will begin
cycling through all the menu choices available in the Appointment
Book. If you begin pressing the right arrow key as suggested,
Here is a list of all the configuration and modification features
you will hear announced.
Daily Planning
Planning
Modify The Appointment Date
Re-record The Appointment Text
Re-record The Appointment Keyword
Modify The Appointment Reminder
Modify The Appointment Beep
Appointment With Keyword
Automatic Delete Off
A final press of the arrow key will return you to "Daily
planning" and the cycle of menu choices will be complete.
Chapter 9.2 Recording And Playing Appointments.
Example 1
Now, let's begin by recording a simple appointment using a
keyword. First, be sure you are on the Appointment category by
pressing the front panel Function Selector until you hear,
"Appointment," spoken by the voice synthesizer. Hold down the
Side Key and speak the following into the microphone: "Doctor's
appointment." You will hear, "There is no appointment with
doctor's appointment." The "Doctor's appointment" part of this
playback is your own voice as you have spoken it into the Voice
Mate. "There is no appointment" part of the playback is the
voice synthesizer.
Now, open the door and you will automatically hear the Voice
Mate say, "Would you like to record an appointment with doctor's
appointment?" Press the YES key and you will hear, "Repeat,
Doctor's appointment." The word "Repeat" will be the voice of
the synthesizer while the words, "Doctor's appointment," will be
your own as you spoke them originally. Hold down the Side Key
and speak "Doctor's appointment" once again into the microphone.
This second prompt to record the keyword, which identifies
the appointment, occurs because the Voice Mate is confirming your
keyword entry due to the fact your Voice Mate is still set to a
training level session of 2. If you do not wish to be prompted,
either in the Phone Book or the Appointment Book, for a
confirmation recording, you can later go to the Control Panel,
press the MENU key, and cycle to the Training Session category
and press the YES key to cycle to Training Session level 1. Then
you will never be prompted twice for a confirmation.
In this example, however, once you have repeated "Doctor's
appointment," a second time, you will hear, "Enter the date of
the appointment and press YES." You will also hear the current
day and date announced by the voice synthesizer following this
prompt. This is in case you wish to use the current day's date
for your entry. If you do not wish to use the current date
announced by the voice synthesizer, simply enter the one you
prefer. The correct method of date entry is the same used to
enter the date when setting the clock and calendar, that is, two
digits for the month, two digits for the day, and four digits for
the year. For example, enter 02192001 for February 19, 2001.
Press the YES key following the entry of the date of the
appointment. You will immediately hear, "No appointment. Enter
the time of the appointment and press YES." The announcement of,
"No appointment" is the Voice Mate telling you that you have no
appointments scheduled on any date at any given time. Later, as
we record additional appointments, this "No appointment" prompt
will change.
When prompted by the voice synthesizer for the time of the
appointment, the entry method is the same used when setting the
clock. For 9:00 o'clock in the morning, press 0900 using the
numerical keypad and use the zero key to switch from A.M. to P.M.
Once you've entered the time of the appointment, press the
YES key and you will hear, "Would you like a reminder?" Since we
are going to discuss this in detail later, we are going to press
the NO key at this point and move to The next prompt. The NO key
is the lower right hand key around the speaker grill.
Once you've pressed the NO key, you will hear, "Would you
like a notification beep?" Press the YES key and you will hear,
"Press the Side Key and record the appointment." This prompt is
asking you to record the information which will remind you of
exactly the type of appointment you have on that date. For
example, hold down the Side Key and record the following: "This
is my appointment with my physical therapy doctor." When you
release the Side Key, you will hear, "Your appointment has been
recorded."
Example 2
Let's record a second appointment.
Even with the door opened, you can record additional
appointments. Hold down the Side Key and say the following:
"Dentist appointment," and release the Side Key. If you
performed this function with the door closed, it is very likely,
when you released the Side Key, you heard the Voice Mate say,
"Doctor's appointment." This same type of thing occurs when
recording new Phone Book entries because the Voice Mate thinks
you may be trying to retrieve a similar sounding entry. If this
happens, simply open the door and you will hear, "Would you like
to record an appointment with Dentist appointment?" If you made
your "Dentist appointment" recording by pressing the Side Key but
with the Voice Mate door opened, the prompt you will hear will be
the same, that is, "Would you like to record an appointment with
Dentist appointment?" To confirm that you in fact do want to
make this appointment recording, press the YES key. You will
hear, "Repeat dentist appointment." Hold down the Side Key and
repeat, "Dentist appointment."
The next prompt you will hear says, "Enter the date of the
appointment and press YES." The current date is then announced
by the voice synthesizer. In this example, let's use a different
date than the first example. Enter the digits 02202001 for
February 22, 2001 and press the YES key. You will hear, "No
appointment. Enter the time of the appointment and press YES."
Enter the digits 1000 for 10 o'clock and using the zero key,
cycle to the A.M. Choice and press YES. You then will hear,
"Would you like a reminder?" Press the NO key and you will hear,
"Would you like a notification beep?" Press YES. You then will
hear, "Press the Side Key and record the appointment." Hold down
the Side Key and say the following: "This is my dentist
appointment." When you release the Side Key, the voice
synthesizer will say, "Your appointment has been recorded. You
now have successfully recorded two appointments on two different
days.
Example 3
Before demonstrating actual Appointment Book Features, let's
record a third example. This time, we will use a time and date
which has already been used so you can get a feel for what
happens if duplicate times or dates are employed in the
Appointment Book.
Hold down the Side Key on the Appointment Book, with or
without the door opened, and speak the following into the
microphone: "Newspaper." Again, if you made this recording with
the door closed, the Voice Mate will likely repeat one of the
previous appointment keywords. This is due to the fact it thinks
you are trying to retrieve a previously recorded entry instead of
trying to record a new appointment. If this occurs, simply open
the door and you will hear, "Would you like to make an
appointment with newspaper?" If, on the other hand, you first
open the door, on the Appointment Book and then record by holding
down the Side Key and speaking "Newspaper" into the microphone,
you will be immediately prompted with, "Would you like to record
an appointment with newspaper?" At this prompt, press the YES
key and you will hear, "Repeat, newspaper." Hold down the Side
Key and repeat, "Newspaper." Then the next prompt will be spoken
which says, "enter the date of the appointment and press YES."
The current date will also be spoken. Enter 02202001 for
February 20, 2001 and press the YES key. Of course, this is a
date we have already used. Notice what happens when you press
the YES key. You will hear, "You have some appointments at 10
A.M. Enter the time of the appointment and press YES." At this
point, go ahead and enter 1000 for 10:00 A.M. and listen to the
prompt. You will hear, "You already have an appointment at that
time." The Voice Mate will not allow duplicate times to be used
regardless of the dates. So, at this point, reenter a new time
and if it just so happens that you need that same 10 o'clock time
for your new appointment, simply enter a slightly different time.
In this example, enter 1005 for 10:05 and press the zero key
until you hear A.M. and press the YES key. You will hear, "Would
you like a reminder?" Press the NO key and you will hear, "Would
you like a notification beep?" Press the YES key and you will
hear, "Press the Side Key and record the appointment." Now, hold
down the Side Key, as instructed, and say the following: "Call
and cancel the newspaper." When you release the Side Key, you
will hear, "Your appointment has been recorded." You have now
successfully recorded a third appointment.
Chapter 9.21 Playing Back Appointments With The Side Key.
You can play back appointments in several ways. Cycle to
the Appointment Book by using the front panel Function Selector
button until you hear, "Appointment." Click twice on the Side
Key and you will hear one of the three appointments we recorded.
If you allowed your Voice Mate to first go to sleep, and then
cycled to the Appointment Book and clicked twice on the Side Key,
you should then hear the first appointment we made. In this
case, if you have no appointments already made before the date we
used as an example, you will hear the following spoken by the
Voice Mate: "Doctor's appointment. Appointment at 9 A.M. on
Monday, February 19th, 2001." If, on the other hand, you
recorded an additional appointment prior to the dates used in any
of the three examples used in this section, the first appointment
to be spoken will be the earliest date.
You can play back any appointment by clicking the Side Key
twice if you are on an appointment. If you have more than one
appointment recorded, the following method can also be used to
hear the appointment information you have recorded.
Chapter 9.22 Playing Back Appointments With Voice Recognition.
By far, the easiest and quickest way of finding an
appointment is to use the powerful voice recognition technology
of the Voice Mate.
When you are on the Appointment Book, hold down the Side
Key, and speak any of the keywords you have used to record your
appointments. This works exactly in the same way as retrieving a
Phone Book entry. In the case of the three appointments we have
recorded in this lesson, hold down the Side Key and speak any of
the three appointment keywords we used of: "doctor's
appointment, dentist appointment," or "Newspaper." Your Voice
Mate will retrieve these entries just as phone numbers are
retrieved using voice recognition.
When the correct entry is retrieved using the keyword, you
will hear the keyword spoken. This means, for example, if you
speak the keyword of "Doctor's appointment," if the correct
appointment is retrieved, you will hear "Doctor's appointment"
spoken. This confirms you have retrieved the correct entry you
desired. Click twice on the Side Key and you will hear the date
and time stamp spoken by the voice synthesizer and then the
appointment information associated with that appointment keyword
will also be played back.
Note. If you do not retrieved the correct entry, simply hold
down the Side Key once again and repeat the keyword. You might
even change the inflection of your voice slightly to give the
Voice Mate the opportunity to make the correct match. If need
be, you can continue to repeat your entry until the correct match
is made.
Chapter 9.23 Playing Back Appointments Using Arrow Keys.
Since the Appointment Book becomes so valuable to Voice Mate
users, it is not unusual to have a large number of appointments
recorded. By far, the easiest, and quickest, way of retrieving
appointment information is by the manner of voice recognition
which was just described. If, however, the voice recognition
doesn't always match the keywords you are speaking, or if you
have forgotten the keywords used for a given appointment, simply
open the door of the Voice Mate on the Appointment Book and begin
using the arrow keys to cycle through the entries. Each entry
will be played back with the keyword which you used to make the
entry initially, the date and time stamp of the appointment, and
the memo attached to the appointment which you have recorded that
serves as a reminder of the appointment's nature.
Chapter 9.24 Playing Back Appointments With Daily Planning.
Another method of retrieving and reviewing appointments is
by accessing the DAILY PLANNING feature of the Appointment Book.
When you are on the Appointment Book, open the door and
press the MENU key. You will hear, "Daily Planning." If you
have an older Voice Mate, you will hear, "Weekly Planning." At
this point, press the YES key and you will hear the current day
of the week and date spoken by the voice synthesizer. If you
have no appointments recorded on that date, it will say, "No
appointment." If, on the other hand, you have appointments
recorded on that first date, which is the current date, it will
announce how many appointments you have. You can click the Side
Key twice and the first appointment will play; including the date
and time of the appointment and the memo you recorded which
describes the appointment. If you have more than one appointment
recorded for that day of the week, simply use the right arrow to
continue to the next appointment. This will allow you to cycle
through all appointments on that first day.
If you press the right arrow key following the final day's
appointment, you will advance to the next recorded appointment of
that week. If you continue pressing the right arrow key, you
will advance into future appointments regardless of when they
are.
Note. When using the DAILY PLANNING feature to locate
appointments, you start with the current calendar date by
default. So, if you are on Wednesday of that week as far as the
calendar is concerned, that's where the DAILY PLANNING method of
retrieval begins. If you are on any other day of the week, as
far as the calendar date is concerned, that is where the DAILY
PLANNING begins.
Note. If you begin, for example, on Monday of that week using
the DAILY PLANNING method, the right arrow key will cycle day-by-
day and inform you of any appointments on any day. If you
continue pressing the right arrow key in this mode of DAILY
PLANNING, it keeps advancing one day at a time into the next
week, month and so on.
Note. If you use the DAILY PLANNING to check the appointments
and when you come to the first day with recorded appointments,
which you wish to hear, you must first either click the Side Key
or press the YES key to play the appointment information before
the right arrow key allows you to advance to the next appointment
for that given day. If you do not play back the first
appointment recorded for that given day of the week, the right
arrow key will do nothing more than advance you to the very next
day of that given week, skipping the other appointments for the
date you are checking. In other words, you must be sure to click
the Side Key twice, to playback the first appointment, or the YES
key, or the right arrow key will not cycle through all the
appointments on that given day.
Chapter 9.25 Playing Back Appointments Using Planning.
This method of locating appointments uses the date. Simply
open your Voice Mate on the Appointment Book and press the MENU
key. You will hear, "Daily Planning." Again, if you are using
an older Voice Mate, you may hear, "Weekly Planning." The next
step is to press the right arrow key. You will hear, "Planning."
The PLANNING feature is designed to allow you to enter a specific
date to see what appointments may be recorded on that day. When
you hear your Voice Mate say, "Planning," press the YES key. You
will hear, "Enter the date and press YES," and the current date
will then be spoken. If this is not the date you wish, you can
enter the date you want. When that date is entered and if there
are any appointments on that given day, you will hear, "You have
some appointments at..." and the Voice Mate will speak the times
of those appointments on that date. You can then use the Side
Key or the YES key to begin playing back appointments. You may
also find it necessary to begin using the arrow keys to move
backwards and forwards to locate the exact appointments you seek.
Chapter 9.3 Appointment Reminder.
This feature of the Voice Mate is designed to enter an
individual appointment and then to program it in such a way to be
reminded automatically in recurring or repeating periods of time.
The periods of time are programmable and you can choose to be
reminded by periods of time associated in minutes, days, weeks,
months or years.
By way of example, record an appointment at 3:00 o'clock in
the afternoon. Use the same steps we used in prior examples to
make this appointment. When you arrive at the prompt which says,
"Would you like a reminder?" Press the YES key and you will
hear, "Choose the reminder period unit." At this point, you can
begin using your arrow keys. If you press the right arrow key,
for example, you will begin to cycle through all available
choices. These include Minute, Hour, Days, Weeks, Months and
Years. The Voice Mate is giving you an opportunity to be
reminded at intervals based upon these categories. That is, you
can be reminded by any number of minutes, hours, days, weeks,
months, or years.
For example, if you have picked, as suggested, 3:00 in the
afternoon as an appointment time, move the right or left arrow
key until you hear the Voice Mate say, "Minute." At this point,
press the YES key and you will hear, "Enter the reminder period
length." This prompt is asking you the question, how often do
you wish to be reminded of this appointment. Since we have
selected MINUTE by using the arrow keys before pressing the YES
key, we know that our reminder is going to occur by intervals of
minutes.
To experiment with this, now press the 2 key on the numeric
keypad and you will hear, "Would you like a notification beep?"
Press the YES key and you will hear, "Press the Side Key and
record the appointment." Now, you can hold down the Side Key and
record anything associated with this test appointment we have
scheduled to occur at 3:00 o'clock in the afternoon.
As you probably noticed, everything we did was almost
identical with the recording of prior appointments. The only
difference was the part where we told the Voice Mate to remind us
on a repetitive scheduled basis. In this case, we programmed the
Voice Mate to beep at the 3:00 P.M. appointment and to continue
reminding us, using a beeping notification alarm signal, every
two minutes.
At 3:00 P.M. of that day, the Voice Mate will sound a
beeping signal. If, at the time the beeping alarm signal is
sounding, you clicked the Side Key rapidly two times, you can
hear played back what you recorded for that appointment.
However, in two minutes, this beep will sound again and two
minutes beyond that and again, two minutes beyond that. In
short, the first alarm will sound at 3:00 P.M., the second at
3:02, the third at 3:04, and so on, until you tell the Voice Mate
to cancel the appointment by deleting it. This same example
could be repeated by the hour, day, week, month or year.
For example, if you wanted to be reminded hourly of
something to do throughout a given day, make your appointment for
the desired time. When you are prompted by the voice synthesizer
for a reminder unit (this means minute, hour, day, week, month or
year), press the YES key and using the arrow keys, cycle until
you hear the word "Hour" spoken. Press the YES key again, but
this time, when you hear the prompt, "Enter the reminder period
length," press the 1 key on the numeric keypad. This means you
are requesting to be reminded once an hour. If you would have
pressed the 2 on the keypad instead, the reminder beep would
sound every two hours. If you wanted a reminder once every three
hours, you would press 3 on the keypad and so on.
Another example of this reminder usage may be a monthly
period of time. A monthly bill is a good example of such a
monthly schedule. Simply record an appointment using the steps
we have used in the preceding examples. When you are asked for
the reminder unit, use the arrow keys to cycle until you hear the
word "Month" spoken and press the YES key. You are then prompted
for the reminder period length. If you only wish to be reminded
once a month at this same time, you would press 1 on the keypad.
From then on, your Voice Mate will beep and remind you of that
appointment scheduled at that exact time and date. In short, you
will not have to program your Voice Mate month-by-month for a
monthly reminder if you use this method of appointment
scheduling.
If you want to program reminders for birthdays, you would
record your appointment. When you were prompted for a REMINDER
UNIT, you would press the right arrow key until you heard,
"Year," announced and then you would press the YES key. Then,
when prompted for the "Reminder period length," you would
again press the 1 key on the keypad to indicate a reminder once a
year at that same time and date.
Note. This part of the Appointment Book can become confusing and
it takes some practice getting used to programming appointments
to repeat automatically. Using the MINUTE example, however, you
should be able to gain the concept employed for repetitive
automatic appointments that announce themselves. I suggest you
begin with the minute, or hour modes, repeating appointments
until you see how the auto appointment reminder feature works.
Chapter 9.4 Appointment Book Modification Features.
As we saw when first introducing the Appointment Book, there
are a number of items listed under the Appointment Book's MENU
key. By pressing the MENU key when on the Appointment Book, and
using the right arrow key, you hear the following categories
announced:
Daily Planning
Planning
Modify The Appointment Date
Re-record The Appointment Text
Re-record The Appointment Keyword
Modify The Appointment Reminder
Modify The Appointment Beep
Appointment With Keyword
Automatic Delete Off
Since we have already demonstrated the usage of DAILY
PLANNING and the PLANNING features, let's move on to explain the
usage of the other Appointment Book MENU categories.
Chapter 9.41 Modifying The Appointment Date.
If you have an appointment date which needs to be changed,
simply go to the Appointment Book and either retrieve the
appointment you desire to change by speaking the keyword used to
identify the appointment or open the door and using the arrow
keys, locate the desired appointment. If you use voice
recognition to locate the appointment (even if it matches the
entry correctly and repeats it by echoing the confirmation
keyword), when you open the door you are going to hear the
prompt, "Would you like to record an appointment with..." and
then it will play back what you have spoken. Press the NO key
because, in this case, we do not wish to record an entry but are
just trying to locate an entry which was already recorded.
When you have located the correct appointment for which you
wish to change the date, press the MENU key. You will hear,
"Daily Planning." Now, using the right arrow key, cycle until
you hear, "Modify the appointment date." Then press the YES key.
You will hear, "Enter the date of the appointment and press
YES..." Then you will hear the date of the appointment you are
attempting to change spoken by the voice synthesizer. If this is
in fact the appointment you wish to change, go ahead and enter
the new date and press the YES key. If you have no appointments
already scheduled on the new date you just entered, you will hear
the following: "No appointment." You are then prompted to enter
the time. Enter the time of the appointment and press YES. At
this point, you may just wish to keep the same appointment time.
If so, simply press the YES key and it will be recorded with the
same, or original, time. If, however, you want to change the
time, you can do so at this moment. Simply enter the new time
and press the YES key. When this final entry is made, you will
hear, "Your appointment has been recorded."
Note. If you have appointments already scheduled on the date of
this appointment you are attempting to change, you will be
notified by the voice synthesizer of the times which have been
previously scheduled. This procedure, however, gives you the
option of changing the date and time.
Example 1 Modifying The Appointment Date.
Record an appointment with the keyword of "John's birthday,"
on November 23, 2001 and when prompted for the time of the
appointment, enter 7:00 P.M. When prompted to record the
appointment reminder, hold down the Side Key and say the
following: "John's birthday party."
Note. If there are no appointments already scheduled at that
time on November 23, 2001, you will hear, "No appointment,"
spoken after entering the date and just prior to the prompt
asking you to enter the time. If you have the time of 7:00 P.M.
already in use for some other appointment, regardless of the
date, you will be told you already have some appointments and the
exact times will be announced. If this happens, and if the time
you want is already represented as a previously entered time,
simply choose a different time and enter it. If you once again
enter a duplicate time, you will hear a notification beep and you
simply need to reenter a new time. Duplicate times are not
permitted by the Voice Mate Appointment Book regardless of the
date.
To test your appointment, either speak the keyword of
"John's birthday" into the microphone and retrieve that entry or
simply open the door and using the arrow keys, move around until
you hear spoken, "John's birthday." If you now have heard
"John's Birthday," spoken by the Voice Mate, along with the date
and time and reminder memo, you are ready to change the date of
this appointment.
Press the MENU key. You will hear, "Daily Planning." Press
the right arrow key once and you will hear, "Planning." Press
the right arrow key a third time and you will hear, "Modify the
appointment date." Now, to change the date, begin by pressing
the YES key and you will hear, "Enter the date of the appointment
and press YES. Friday, November 23, 2001." Of course, the date
which is spoken is the date you have already recorded for this
appointment but now you are going to change it. Go ahead and
enter the date of November 24, 2001 by typing 11242001 and press
the YES key when finished. You will hear, "No appointment.
Enter the time of the appointment and press YES." If, as
previously stated, you do happen to have times already scheduled
which conflict with this date, they will then be spoken so that
you do not duplicate that same time on this same date. If you
wish to maintain the same time, in our case the time of 7:00
o'clock in the evening, simply press the YES key. If you wish to
change the time, you may do so at this stage of the procedure.
Either way, when you have accepted the default time or when you
have changed the time, press the YES key and you will hear, "Your
appointment has been recorded." You have now successfully
changed the date of this appointment.
To test your change, either click the Side Key twice at this
moment, or arrow to the appointment of JOHN'S BIRTHDAY, and click
the Side Key twice and the appointment will play.
Note. When modifying the time of any appointment, it does not
announce the time of the appointment you are modifying. However,
if you press the left and right arrow keys, it will speak the
individual digits and even include the A.M. or P.M. setting so
you can determine the exact time of the appointment you are
attempting to modify.
Note. When modifying the date of any given appointment, you can
also use the arrow keys when prompted for the date. If the date
to be changed, is close to the original date of the appointment,
the arrow keys can be used to cycle backwards and forwards one
day at a time. This means the left arrow key goes backwards one
day at a time and the right arrow key advances one day for each
press of the arrow key. You may want to experiment with this
method to get a feel for how easy it is to change the date by
using the arrow keys. As you press the left or right arrow key,
it announces the day of the week, the month and the year. When
you have heard the date you want, simply press the YES key and
you will then hear the prompt for the time to be entered.
Chapter 9.42 Re-recording Appointment Text.
What the Voice Mate calls the Appointment Text is the memo
type recording we make following the entry of each keyword. For
example, when we recorded "John's birthday" as a keyword, we
recorded, "John's birthday party." The last part is what is
referred to as the TEXT of an appointment.
Changing the TEXT of an appointment is very easy. Once you
are on the Appointment Book, retrieve the desired appointment by
either using the keyword or open the door and arrow through the
appointments until you locate the appointment you want to modify.
Press the MENU key on that appointment and then use the right
arrow key and cycle through the different MENU choices until you
hear, "Re-record the appointment text." Then press the YES key
and you will hear, "Press the Side Key and re-record the
appointment." Once you have done this and released the Side Key,
you will hear, "Your appointment has been recorded." You have
now successfully re-recorded the text of this appointment.
Example 2 Re-recording The Appointment Text.
Using our example of JOHN's BIRTHDAY, retrieve the
appointment. Open the door and press the MENU key. You will
hear, "daily Planning." Press the right arrow key until you
hear, "Re-record the appointment text." Press the YES key and
you will hear, "Press the Side Key and re-record the
appointment." Now, hold down the Side Key and speak the
following into the microphone: "Don't forget John's birthday
party." Release the Side Key. You will then hear, "Your
appointment has been recorded."
To confirm your changes to this appointment, all you need do
is to immediately click twice on the Side Key and the
appointment, including the keyword of "John's birthday," and the
new text just recorded, will be replayed along with the date and
time of the appointment.
Chapter 9.43 Re-recording Appointment Keywords.
This is almost self explanatory. The keyword, for example,
of "John's birthday," can be changed by simply locating the
appointment by using any of the previously described methods of
retrieval, pressing the MENU key, and then pressing the right
arrow key until you hear, "Re-record the appointment keyword."
Then press the YES key and you will hear, "Press the Side Key and
repeat..." and the current keyword recording will be played. In
our example of JOHN'S BIRTHDAY, we would hear that played back.
To modify this keyword, simply hold down the Side Key and re-
record a new keyword. As a suggestion, you may, in this case,
record the person's first and last name instead of "John's
birthday."
Note. When you make your new keyword recording, you will be
prompted to repeat the entry again just as you did the first time
you recorded the keyword initially. This is because the Voice
Mate still is set to level 2 of the training sessions.
When you have finished repeating the keyword change a second
time, you will hear, "Your appointment has been recorded." Once
again, to check to see what your appointment modification sounds
like, simply click the Side Key twice and all the data will be
played back.
Chapter 9.44 Modify The Appointment Reminder.
This relates to the section already covered concerning
programming appointment reminders. These are future
notifications of subsequent appointments.
On the Appointment Book, press the MENU key and using the
right arrow key, cycle through the MENU choices until you hear,
"Modify the appointment reminder." Press the YES key and you
will hear, "Would you like a reminder?" If you press YES, you
will go through the same procedure we did in Chapter 9.3. This
includes reminders scheduled for minutes, hours, days, weeks,
months and years. They are accessed by using the left and right
arrow keys. Please review that section if you need further
information on how to program reminders. If you already have a
reminder and no longer wish it to be active, press the NO key and
it will switch the subsequent reminders off.
Chapter 9.45 Modify The Appointment Beep.
If you have decided that you no longer need to hear a beep
for any given reminder, locate that appointment by using any of
the retrieval methods previously discussed. Once you've found
that appointment, open the door and press the MENU key. Begin
pressing the right arrow key until you hear, "Modify the
appointment beep." Then press the YES key and you will hear one
of the following two messages: "Beep off," or "Beep on." In
this case, the YES key is nothing more than a toggle to turn the
beep alarm off or on for any given appointment.
Chapter 9.46 Appointments With Key Words.
Thus far, we have been using keywords to record
appointments. The purpose of using this method of appointment
scheduling is the ease of retrieval. If you have 25 or 30
appointments already recorded, it is much easier to accomplish an
appointment retrieval using voice recognition with keywords than
to open the door and arrow through all the entries. However, if
you just schedule an occasional appointment, you may find it just
as easy to do so without the need for voice recognition and
keyword application.
To turn the keyword mode off, move to the Appointment Book
by using the front panel Function Selector to the left of the
microphone until you hear, "appointment." Open the door and
press the MENU key. Then, using the right arrow key, cycle
through all the MENU choices until you hear, "Appointment with
keyword." Now, press the YES key and you will hear, "Simple
appointment." In this case, as is so often true when using the
Voice Mate, the YES key is a toggle. In other words, it turns
the KEYWORD mode off and on.
When KEYWORDS is turned to Simple Appointment, you can bring
up the Appointment Book and press the Side Key and record your
memo associated with that appointment. As soon as you release
the Side Key, you will be prompted for the date and time and all
the other things associated with any previous appointments you
have recorded. Simply follow the prompts and when you are
finished, you will hear, "Your appointment has been recorded."
When playing back these types of appointments, you will not
hear any KEYWORDS spoken because none were recorded. You will
hear, on the other hand, as you use the left and right arrow
keys, the date and time of the appointment recorded under the
Simple Appointment format, and you will also hear what you
recorded as a memo text for that appointment.
Note. If you have recorded several appointments using the
KEYWORD method, and then switch to Simple Appointment, all
previous scheduled appointments will remain as they were recorded
originally. This means they will not lose their keywords. All
subsequent appointments, however, now will be recorded without
keywords.
Note. The SIMPLE KEYWORD method of recording appointments
likewise means you cannot retrieve them using voice recognition
techniques as previously described. All other retrieval methods,
on the other hand, are still available to assist you in locating
any scheduled appointment.
Chapter 9.47 Automatic Delete.
The automatic delete mode of the Appointment Book allows for
all past appointments, those dates and times which have expired,
to automatically be removed.
While in the Appointment Book, simply press the MENU key and
using the right arrow key, cycle through the MENU choices until
you hear, "Automatic delete off." Pressing the YES key provides
several options. As you continue to press the YES key, you will
hear all of the following:
Automatic Delete After One Day
Automatic Delete After Seven Days
Automatic Delete After Fourteen Days
A final press of the YES key will announce, "Automatic delete
off," and you will have cycled through all available deletion
menu choices. The application of these choices is obvious.
If you schedule appointments which repeat, the AUTO DELETE
mode becomes very valuable. As the dates and times of those
scheduled appointments pass, they are automatically removed from
the Appointment Book, which in turn, frees up memory.
You are given the options of 1, 7, or 14 days. This gives
you the option of going back and checking old appointments in
case there is something you have forgotten about that given
appointment that you later wish to know. Of course, the default
setting is OFF which means no appointments, even repeating
appointments, are never deleted.
Chapter 9.48 Deleting Individual Appointments.
Whenever you wish to remove a single appointment, simply
retrieve the desired appointment using any of the retrieval
methods previously discussed in this chapter. Once you have the
desired appointment, open the door and press the ERASE key. The
ERASE key is the upper right hand key around the speaker. You
will hear, "To delete your appointment, press YES." Press the
YES key and you will hear, "Your appointment has been deleted."
If you wish to cancel this action, press the NO key instead and
your appointment will not be deleted.
Chapter 9.5 Important Appointment Book Notes.
If you are going to record repeating appointments (those
referred to during the programming procedure as reminders), there
is one important fact to keep in mind. At first it will seem
this is a bug in the programming of the software but when you
analyze it, you will realize it is not.
Let's say that you have a television program you enjoy
watching every night at 9:00 P.M. and you program your Voice Mate
to remind you of this by using the reminder feature when prompted
during the scheduling procedure. The Voice Mate assumes you mean
you want to be reminded every single night at 9:00 P.M. of this
same appointment. So, that is exactly what it is programmed to
do. Now, this time of 9:00 P.M. can no longer be used on any
date for other appointments at that same time because it will be
a duplicate time. If you use your arrow keys when attempting to
scan previously recorded appointments, you will see that the
Voice Mate has reserved the time of 9:00 P.M. every single night
from now on because you said you wanted an appointment reminder
at that time. Thus, that time can no longer be used.
The recommended work around for this is to simply program in
a slightly different time. Normally, in this case, you would
most likely prefer to be reminded at 8:55 P.M. that your TV show
is about to begin so that time could easily be substituted. If
the 9:00 o'clock time isn't that critical, you could use 9:01 or
something like that to be reminded of a particular appointment.
Note. The Voice Mate software is being updated all the time and
it is recommended you keep abreast of new releases through the
Parrot Voice Mate electronic mailing list on the internet or
through their website. You can also periodically check with the
dealer from whom you purchased your Voice Mate for any software
updates.
Note. For those who have not purchased the Voice Mate software
kit, your Voice Mate can also be returned to your dealer to have
your software upgraded.
CHAPTER 10 THE CALCULATOR
The Voice Mate calculator is a standard 13 digit calculator
with multiplication, division, addition and subtraction
functionality. It likewise can calculate percentages, currency
exchanges for various countries and has memory storage and
recall.
Chapter 10.1 Key Layout.
Although this has been covered in an earlier chapter of the
Users Guide, let's review before using the calculator and its
features. The key layout is simple to remember but if you
forget, simply press each key and the voice synthesizer will
announce that key's function.
With the door opened in the calculator mode, the four
buttons grouped around the speaker and the two arrow keys beneath
them, become the mathematical function keys. The MENU key, which
is the upper left hand key, is a combination of a PERCENT key and
additional calculator features. The ERASE key, which is the
upper right hand key, becomes the CLEAR key. The lower left hand
key, which is the YES key, becomes the PLUS key. The lower right
hand key, which is the NO key, becomes the MINUS key. The left
arrow key is the MULTIPLICATION key and the right arrow key is
the DIVISION key. The standard keypad buttons below the arrow
keys are the same as those used for phone number entries. The
first row is, from left to right, 1 2 3. The second row is 4 5
6. The third row is 7 8 9. The bottom row is star, 0 and pound.
The STAR key is the DECIMAL POINT key and the POUND key is the
EQUALS key. Additional functions become available when using the
MENU key as the PERCENT key but that information will be covered
later in this chapter.
Chapter 10.2 Simple Calculations.
All basic mathematical calculations are managed in the same
way. Simply press the front panel Function Selector (the button
to the left of the microphone) until you hear, "Calculator."
Open the door and you will be ready to use the Voice Mate's
calculator.
Chapter 10.21 Addition.
With the calculator activated and the door opened, press 2,
the YES key for PLUS, press 2 again, and then the POUND key for
EQUALS. The Voice Mate will say, "Equal 4."
Chapter 10.22 Subtraction.
You can press the upper right hand key, which is normally
the ERASE key, to clear the display before conducting a new
calculation, or you can simply enter a new number and the old
will be replaced with the new.
For example, although we still have 4 on the display at this
point, we can go ahead and press the 2 once again, then the MINUS
key (the lower right hand key around the speaker), and then the
POUND key which is the EQUALS key. You will hear, "Equal 2."
Chapter 10.23 Multiplication.
Press 3 followed by the left arrow key. You will hear,
"Multiplied by." Press the 4 key and then press the POUND key
for EQUALS. You will hear, "Equal 12."
Chapter 10.24 Division.
Press 6 followed by the right arrow key. You will hear,
"Divided by." Press 2 and the POUND key for EQUALS. You will
hear, "Equal 3."
Note. If you press a wrong function key, that is, if you press
the PLUS key when you really wanted the MINUS key, simply press
any of the mathematical keys until you hear the one you want and
continue with your calculation.
Chapter 10.3 Advanced Calculations.
The calculator will allow you to do advanced calculations
such as 2 plus 3 plus 5, or 50 multiplied by 25 divided by 10.
For example, do the following calculation. Press 2 and
press the PLUS key. Then press 1 and 0 for 10. Press the EQUALS
key and you will hear, "Equal 12." Now press the right arrow key
for divided by, press 3, and then press the EQUALS key. You will
hear, "Equal 4."
Note. You could have also done this calculation by pressing 2
PLUS 10 DIVIDED BY 3 EQUALS 4 without pressing the EQUALS key
until the end of the calculation.
Chapter 10.4 Using Decimals.
The star key, which is the button in the lower left hand
corner of the keypad, serves as the decimal point. The default
is two decimal places but this can be changed in the calculator
MENU features which I will discuss later in this chapter.
Example Of Decimal Application.
Try the following calculation to get a feel for how the
decimal is used in the Voice Mate.
Press 2.1 on the keypad. Then press the PLUS key, enter
3.3, and press the EQUALS key. The answer will be 5.4 and, of
course, will be spoken by the voice synthesizer. I recommend you
experiment with other decimal calculations in order to get a feel
for how easy it is to use. This is especially useful when using
dollar and cent calculations, keeping track of a grocery list, or
when balancing a checkbook.
Note. When your Voice Mate calculator is set to only two digits
to the right of the decimal point, and you perform a three
digital calculation, the answer is rounded off to the nearest two
digit answer. This can be quickly changed (as we will see
shortly) to be as many as eight digits to the right of the
decimal point.
Chapter 10.5 The Calculator Menu Features.
There are several features under the MENU key of the
calculator which can be used to expand the calculator's
capabilities.
When you have cycled to the calculator by pressing the front
panel Function Selector, open the door and press the MENU key.
You will hear, "Percent." This immediately puts you into the
PERCENT mode which enables you to perform any type of percentage
calculation. I will discuss the PERCENT feature in just a
moment. However, if you are not performing such a calculation,
you now have access to other features than just the PERCENT.
Once you have pressed the MENU key and heard the voice
synthesizer say "Percent," you can then begin pressing the right
arrow key to cycle through other available calculator features.
Here is the list as it is spoken with each press of the right
arrow key:
Percent
Memory Set
Memory Recall
French Franc
Convert From Currency To Euro
Convert From Euro To Currency
Two Digits After Comma
A final press of the right arrow key will return you to PERCENT.
If you press the MENU key (once you have cycled back to PERCENT)
you will hear a soft click through the speaker which indicates
you have switched off the MENU features and returned the
calculator to normal application.
Note. You can also use the left arrow key in the MENU mode to
cycle through MENU features in reverse order.
Chapter 10.51 Calculating Percentages.
Calculating percentages is often useful when attempting to
add sales tax to items you are purchasing. Let's say you have
added up several items and your total is now $200 and you wish to
add 6 percent sales tax to your total. Simply press the PLUS key
and then 6 on the keypad. Then press the MENU key. You will
hear, "Percent." Then press the YES key. You will hear, "12,"
spoken by the voice synthesizer. This means that 12 dollars, the
amount of sales tax (6 percent of $200) will be added to the
total. Now, to hear the total of $200 plus 6 percent, press
the EQUALS key and you will hear, "212," spoken as the grand
total. This method allows you to obtain the percentage figure
before adding it to the total. Then, of course, pressing the
EQUALS key speaks the final total of 6 percent added to the 200
dollars.
Chapter 10.52 Memory Set.
You can store a number in memory to be recalled later. This
allows you the ability to perform a calculation, save the answer
in memory, and then to perform a second calculation. The two
answers can then be used to conduct a third and final
calculation.
Example Of Memory Set.
Enter the number 200 on the keypad. Press the MENU key and
you will hear, "Percent." Press the right arrow key once and you
will hear, "Memory Set." Press the YES key and you will hear a
beep. This means the number you have entered using the keypad
has been stored in memory for later use.
Note. If you have your sound set to NO SOUNDS, you will hear no
indication that the number was stored.
Chapter 10.53 Memory Recall.
To recall the number we have stored in memory, simply press
the MENU key at any time. You will hear, "Percent." Then press
the arrow key twice to cycle to "Memory recall." The first press
of the right arrow key announces "Memory set." The next press
announces, "Memory recall." If you now press the YES key, you
will hear the number in memory spoken. In our example, the
number 200 will be spoken. This now makes it possible for you to
use the stored number as part of any calculation.
Example Of The Calculator Memory.
If you have been following along, you should have 200 stored
in memory. If not, go back and follow the instructions so that
we have the figure of 200 stored in memory for this example.
Once this is done, enter the figure 100 on the keypad and
press the PLUS key. This is the lower left hand key which is
normally called the YES key. When this key is pressed, you will
hear, "Plus." Now, press the MENU key and you will hear,
"Percent." Press the right arrow key once and you will hear,
"Memory set." Press the right arrow key once more and you will
hear, "Memory recall." Press the YES key and you will hear,
"200," spoken. Now press the EQUALS key and you will hear the
answer of "300" spoken. The 100 you entered on the keypad and
the 200 stored in memory have been added.
Note. This procedure could also be done in reverse. First,
press the MENU key and you will hear, "Percent." Then press the
right arrow key twice until you hear, "Memory recall." Press the
YES key and you will hear the figure 200 spoken. Now, press the
PLUS key and add 100 to the 200 you have just recalled from
memory. Press the EQUALS key and the total of 300 will be
spoken.
Note. As I previously stated, these memory features can be used
to do two different calculations. Make up a calculation and when
you have the answer, use the MENU key and the right arrow key to
cycle to Memory Set and the YES key to store your answer in
memory. Then do a second calculation and when you have obtained
your answer, you can now use any of the calculator's features to
multiply, divide, add, or subtract the two different totals. The
first answer is still in memory and the second answer is
displayed and spoken using the EQUALS key.
Example Of Two Calculations Using Memory.
From the calculator's keypad, enter the number 50 and press
the PLUS key. Then enter the number 25 and press the EQUALS key.
You will hear, "75," spoken as your answer.
To store this answer in memory, press the MENU key. You
will hear, "Percent." Press the right arrow key once and you
will hear, "Memory set." Press the YES key and, if the sound is
turned on, you will hear a beep. This indicates that the answer
of 75 has now been stored in memory and we are free to conduct a
new calculation.
If you press the EQUALS key, it will still announce 75 as
our answer. Although you can begin a new calculation without the
answer of 75 becoming part of that new calculation, let's press
the CLEAR key which is the upper right hand key around the
speaker. This clears the display but not what we have stored in
memory. If you now press the EQUALS key once again, zero will be
announced and we will be ready to perform a new calculation.
Now that our display is cleared, enter 100 and press the
PLUS key. Then enter 500 and press the EQUALS key and you will
hear "600" spoken as the answer.
We are now going to divide the answer of 600 that is on the
display, with the 75 stored in memory. To be sure you still have
600 on the display, press the EQUALS and it will be spoken again.
Now we know where we are and that we are ready to use Memory
Recall.
First, press the division key which is the right arrow key.
You will hear, "Divided by." Now press the MENU key and you will
hear, "Percent." Press the right arrow key twice until you hear
"Memory recall." Press the YES key and you will hear, "75,"
spoken. This is letting you know that you are recalling 75 to be
used in any calculation procedure which follows. At this point,
press the EQUALS key and you will hear "8" spoken as your answer.
Note. There are many possible combinations which can be employed
using the calculator's display and the Memory Recall. A few
simple calculations have been offered in this section to give the
user the basic format of these features.
Chapter 10.54 Foreign Currency Conversions.
The Voice Mate offers several foreign currency exchanges for
a number of countries and the conversion process is quite simple.
When the Voice Mate is in the calculator mode, press the
MENU key. You will hear, "Percent." Begin pressing the right
arrow key until you hear, "French franc." This is the default.
To hear a list of all currency countries represented, begin
pressing the YES key. You will cycle through a number of choices
including one menu choice which allows you to enter the exchange
rate you wish to use in your calculation. Other countries are
being added as new Voice Mate software updates are released so I
will not list all the countries. However, the YES key cycles
through all available countries and this is how you select the
country currency of choice.
For demonstration purposes, I am using the default setting
of the French franc. If you have pressed the YES key to cycle
through the various countries represented, simply continue
pressing the YES key until you hear, "French franc," spoken once
again and we will be ready to do a currency exchange.
Example 1 Currency Exchange.
Begin by entering a dollar amount from the keypad. If you
are still in the MENU choices, press the MENU key again. You
will hear a soft click through the speaker which indicates you
have left the MENU features and returned your Voice Mate to the
calculator mode.
Now, if you are in the calculator mode, enter 30 from the
calculator keypad. Press the MENU key and you will hear,
"Percent." This means you are now in the MENU mode and you can
begin pressing the right arrow key. The first thing you will
hear following PERCENT is "Memory reset." Another press of the
right arrow key and you will hear, "Memory recall." A third
press of the right arrow key and you should hear, "French franc."
If you hear anything other than "French franc," you will have to
press the YES key to cycle back to this currency setting.
Once you hear "French franc," or once you have selected any
of the country currencies, press the right arrow key and you will
hear, "Convert from currency to Euro." Now, at this point, press
the YES key and you will hear a number spoken. This is the
conversion from 30 French francs to the Euro currency exchange.
Example 2 Currency Exchange.
Press the CLEAR key which is the upper right hand key around
the speaker grill. You will hear "Clear," spoken by the voice
synthesizer. Now enter 30 again on the numerical keypad and
press the MENU key. You will hear, "Percent." Now begin
pressing the right arrow key. You will hear "Memory set, Memory
recall, French franc, Convert from currency to Euro," and one
additional press of the arrow key will cycle to, "Convert from
Euro to currency." Press the YES key and you will hear the Euro
currency converted to the French franc.
Note. You can experiment with the other countries and hear the
currency exchange calculated by the Voice Mate.
Note. If the currency exchange rate is different, you can press
the MENU key, and then the right arrow key until you hear,
"French franc." Then, by pressing the YES key, you can cycle
through all the countries represented in the current version of
your Voice Mate until you hear spoken, "Enter the new currency
exchange value and press YES." This is where you can enter an
exchange rate of your choosing.
Chapter 10.55 Decimal Modification.
By default, your Voice Mate is set to read two digits to the
right of the decimal point. You can change this to read up to
eight digits beyond the decimal point. To make the decimal
modification, press the MENU key and you will hear, "percent."
Begin pressing the right arrow key until you hear, "Two digits
after comma." The word, COMMA, is in reference to the decimal
point. This may have been changed to read "DECIMAL" or POINT in
your version of the Voice Mate.
When you hear this prompt, begin pressing the YES key. Your
Voice Mate will begin speaking digits of 1 to 8. Once you've
made your selection, you can then perform calculations. The
number of digits after the decimal point will change based upon
the number you selected in the MENU mode. To leave the MENU mode
of the calculator, simply press the MENU key once again and you
will hear a soft click through the speaker.
Note. If you selected up to 8 digits to be spoken after the
decimal point in any given calculation, your Voice Mate 13 digit
calculator will be reduced by that many digits to the left of the
decimal point.
note. If you enter a number larger than a given 13 digit figure,
regardless of how many digits beyond the decimal you have
selected, the Voice Mate will beep a warning sound to indicate no
more digits can be entered.
Note. When selecting the MENU key to access the MENU features in
the calculator, you can also use the left arrow key to cycle
through the menu features in reverse order.
Chapter 10.6 Other Calculator Remarks.
Although the Voice Mate is a simple standard calculator, it
provides enough extra features to make the portable pocket sized
organizer very useful in many different applications. Experiment
with each of the calculator's features to become familiar with
ways you might find it helpful in your every-day life.
CHAPTER 11 DIALING ASSISTANT
The Voice Mate provides an easy way of dialing standard
prefixes. This makes dialing long distant prefixes and
international country codes not only convenient but automatic.
The Dialing Assistant can also be used to dial prefixes of
multiple digits when accessing long distant carrier services. It
can be easily turned off and on or reprogrammed for different
prefixes or country codes.
Chapter 11.1 Accessing The Dialing Assistant Menu.
To access the Dialing Assistant menu, press the Function
Selector to the left of the microphone on the front panel of the
Voice Mate until you hear, "Dialing Assistant," spoken by the
voice synthesizer. Open the door and press the MENU key. You
will hear, "To change the prefix, press 1. For the international
dialing mode, press 2." The PREFIX is in reference to a prefix
you wish to have stored which will be played before any phone
number you dial. The COUNTRY CODE menu choice is in reference to
overseas dialing. Keep in mind (when using the Dialing Assistant
feature of the Voice Mate) that these prefixes will be played
automatically in front of every single number found in your Phone
Book. It will also be spoken by the voice synthesizer if you
review any number in your Phone Book.
Chapter 11.2 The Prefix Mode.
When you are on the Dialing Assistant and the door is
opened, you will automatically be prompted to choose 1 or 2 by
the voice synthesizer. Press 1 and you will hear the voice
synthesizer say, "Enter the prefix and press YES." As an
example, if you wished to use one of the Colorado prefixes to
dial me, you would now enter the digits 303 and press the YES
key. If you then close the door, and cycle to the Phone Book,
you can then retrieve any number of your choice and click the
Side Key twice. The 303 prefix will not only be played in front
of the phone number but it will be spoken by the voice
synthesizer as well. If you open the door on the Phone Book and
use the arrow keys to cycle through phone entries, you again will
hear the voice synthesizer speak 303 in front of all your
recorded telephone numbers.
Chapter 11.21 Turning The Prefix Mode Off.
You can quickly, and easily, turn off the prefix mode by
returning to the Dialing Assistant. Open the door and when you
are prompted to press 1 or 2, select 1 and you will hear, Enter
the prefix and press YES." At this point, you can either enter a
new prefix to replace an old one or you can simply press the YES
key without entering any numbers. If you press YES instead of
entering a new prefix to be dialed, it will cancel the old prefix
you have previously entered and all your phone numbers will
return to their original state. In short, pressing YES, instead
of entering a new prefix to be automatically dialed, turns the
PREFIX MODE off.
Chapter 11.3 The International Dialing Mode.
When you are on the Dialing Assistant, open the door. You
will hear, "To change the prefix press 1. For the international
dialing mode, press 2." If you press 2, you will hear, "Enter
the country code and press YES." This is where you enter the
prefix associated with dialing long distance to the country of
your choice. Once you have made this country code entry, press
the YES key and you will hear, "Enter the area code and press
YES." This is where you make your area code entry associated
with that country. Once you have done this, press the YES key
and you will hear, "Enter the international access code and press
YES." The Voice Mate actually knows some international access
codes. You can use the left and right arrow keys to hear what
international code is already being displayed. If you press the
YES key, it accepts that displayed number. If you wish to change
what is displayed, simply overwrite what is displayed by making a
new entry. Once you have made your entry, press the YES key and
you will hear, "Enter the international long distance code and
press YES." Again, you can either accept the default by pressing
the YES key or make a new entry of your choice. When you have
made your entry, press the YES key and you will hear, "The
international dialing mode is now active."
If you now return to the Phone Book and retrieve a number,
you will hear all these prefix numbers we have just entered in
the Dialing Assistant announced before all your Phone Book
entries. This means, of course, if you dial any of the numbers
stored in your Phone Book, it will first predial the country code
numbers before your Phone book numbers. Likewise, if you arrow
through your Phone Book entries, you will hear these prefix
numbers for international long distance dialing spoken before all
your original Phone book entries.
Chapter 11.31 Turning International Mode Off.
To turn the International dialing Mode off, simply return to
the Dialing Assistant and open the door. When you are prompted
by the voice synthesizer to select 1 or 2, press 2 and you will
hear, "To return to normal mode press 1. To change the country
code, press 2." If you press 1 at this point, you will hear,
"The national mode is now active." This means you are returning
your Voice Mate to the way you normally use it and now no special
prefix numbers will be dialed. If, on the other hand, you wish
to change country code entries, you can press 2 and follow the
steps previously discussed.
Note. The international dialing entries made in the Dialing
Assistant can also be heard and changed from the Phone Book MENU.
Go to the Phone Book and open the door and press the MENU
key. Then press the YES key when prompted to modify the phone
numbers. You will first be asked to modify the country code and
then the area code of that country before being prompted to
modify the telephone number itself.
Note. The Dialing Assistant is especially useful to those
traveling abroad and when long distance dialing requires multiple
prefix numbers. Additionally, for those in the United States who
have multiple prefixes to be dialed, the Dialing Assistant can be
used to eliminate a few numbers when dialing across area code
zones.
CHAPTER 12 HINTS AND TIPS
This section covers tips, hints, suggestions, answers to
frequently asked questions and trouble shooting solutions to
assist the Voice Mate user. It will be updated from time to time
and thus may not be current in audio and Braille formats of the
Users Guide. Check the voice-assistant.com website often for
current releases of this chapter.
Chapter 12.1 Losing Speech And Restoring It.
An easy mistake to make with your Voice Mate, especially
when its new, is accidentally turning the speech off. This
happens due to an incorrect setting in the Control Panel under
ACCESSIBILITY MODE.
Pressing the front panel Function Selector button to the
left of the microphone, cycle over until you hear "Control panel"
spoken by the voice synthesizer and then open the door. Press
the MENU key, which is the upper left hand key around the
speaker, and you will hear the volume setting spoken. It will
say, "Volume," and a number from 1 to 8 will be announced. If
you then press the right arrow key, the setting for the HELP MODE
is spoken. Based upon any changes you may have already made, you
may hear spoken either "Normal help," or "Discrete help." The
default setting is NORMAL HELP and this is most likely the
setting you will use when operating the Voice Mate because NORMAL
HELP is when the Voice Mate will speak the most. If you switch
to DISCRETE HELP, some prompts will not be spoken by the voice
synthesizer. For example, when recording a telephone entry, if
you are using DISCRETE HELP, you will not be prompted to enter
the phone number following the person's name you have recorded.
Although you are not prompted for the phone number to be entered,
you are in fact at the very location where you normally would be
prompted for the phone number. The voice synthesizer simply is
no longer speaking that prompt. It is best, therefore, for the
blind user to leave the setting on NORMAL HELP to insure all
prompts are spoken.
Following DISCRETE HELP, pressing the right arrow key once
again takes you to the ACCESSIBILITY MODE. The setting is either
OFF or ON. Again, you will most likely leave this in the default
setting which is "Accessibility mode on." If you switch this
setting to OFF, you are going to discover you have lost nearly
all voice synthesizer control, making it almost impossible for a
blind person to access Voice Mate functions. This setting may be
convenient for a sighted user but it renders the Voice Mate
useless for a blind user. However, the display still functions
normally. Thus, a sighted user would most likely turn the
ACCESSIBILITY MODE to OFF so they would not have to hear the
voice synthesizer.
Many people, when experimenting with their Voice Mate, will
accidentally switch either the HELP MODE to DISCRETE or the
ACCESSIBILITY MODE to OFF. In the case of the HELP MODE, as
previously discussed, some prompts are still spoken by the voice
synthesizer but not all. If you suddenly realize you are not
hearing all the prompts spoken, use the front panel button to the
left of the microphone to tab back over to the Control Panel and
once you have opened the door, press the MENU key and the right
arrow key once. You will hear, "Discrete help," spoken by the
voice synthesizer. Press the YES key (the lower left hand key
around the speaker) and you will hear, "Normal help." This means
you have reset the Voice Mate to speak all prompts.
The ACCESSIBILITY MODE, on the other hand, if switched to
OFF, literally turns the voice synthesizer off, leaving the blind
user with the problem of determining where they are with their
Voice Mate. There is, however, at least two ways of getting
around this problem without sighted assistance.
Example 1.
If you begin pressing the Function Selector (the button to
the left of the microphone) and discover you have no speech,
don't panic. Before changing batteries, simply begin pressing
the Function Selector button and each time you do, click the Side
Key twice rapidly. Somewhere along the line, as you are pressing
the Function Selector button and clicking the Side Key twice each
time, you are going to get a response. If you are on the Phone
Book, you will not hear anything. If you are on the Memo Pad,
when you click the Side Key twice, you are going to hear your
last recorded memo played back. Now you know where you are.
Let's say, however, you have no memos recorded. In that case,
you will hear nothing.
Continue to press the Function Selector until you do get a
response of some kind in order to determine where you are. The
best way is to keep pressing the Function Selector and double
clicking the Side Key until you hear the time and date spoken.
Then you know that you are only three presses of the Function
Selector away from the Control Panel. If you hear the time and
date spoken, therefore, press the Function Selector three more
times and open the door because you will be in the Control Panel.
If you have SOUNDS turned on, you will hear those sounds as you
now press the MENU KEY, the upper left hand key around the
speaker, and the right arrow key twice. This puts you on
ACCESSIBILITY MODE. Then press the YES key, the lower left hand
key around the speaker, and you will hear a very soft click
through the speaker. Close the door and press the Function
Selector. If you have followed these steps carefully, speech
will be restored to normal operation and the Function Selector
will speak each Voice Mate function.
Example 2.
If you have lost speech and cannot get the voice synthesizer
to work, simply open the Voice Mate door. Then begin pressing
the Function Selector (the button to the left of the microphone
on the top of the front panel) until you hear the voice
synthesizer suddenly begin to speak a prompt. The categories
which will speak, even if you have accidentally turned the
ACCESSIBILITY mode off, are the Clock and the Dialing Assistant.
You will hear, once you have moved on to the Clock field, the
voice synthesizer say, "To change the time, press one. To set
the alarm, press two. To turn the alarm off, press three." Of
course, if your alarm is already set to ON, it will announce the
opposite, but at least you now know exactly where you are and can
tab over (using the Function Selector button) three more times to
get to the Control Panel.
To make it even easier, you can restore speech by opening
the door and begin pressing the Function Selector until you hear
the voice synthesizer say, "to change the prefix, press one. For
the international dialing mode, press two." Now you know that
you are on the DIALING ASSISTANT and you only need to press the
Function Selector one final time to be on the Control Panel. If
your Voice Mate as gone to sleep before you begin this method of
restoring the voice synthesizer, you will hear the Clock prompts
spoken before the Dialing Assistant prompts. If this occurs,
simply continue pressing the Function Selector until you hear the
Dialing Assistant prompts.
If you have pressed the Function Selector one additional
time, you are on the Control Panel and since the door is already
opened, all you need to do now is press the MENU key once, the
right arrow key twice, and the YES key once. Close the door and
press the Function Selector button and you will hear that the
speech has been restored.
Note. As previously mentioned, the best setting is for the HELP
MODE to be set to NORMAL HELP and the ACCESSIBILITY MODE to be
set to ON. This insures all prompts are spoken by the voice
synthesizer.
Chapter 12.2 Resetting The Date And Calendar.
A common problem occurs when resetting the current calendar
date. This normally happens when people have accidentally
changed date formats.
If you attempt to change the date and find it will not allow
you to do so, you generally get a rapid double beep. This
indicates your entry is invalid. to correct this problem, make
certain you are on the clock and calendar. Then, open the door,
and instead of selecting 1, 2 or 3 as prompted by the voice
synthesizer, press the MENU key. You will hear spoken by the
voice synthesizer either "A.M. P.M. hour format," or "24 hour
format." Which format you hear will be based upon any changes
you have made to this format. The A.M. P.M. hour format is the
standard 12 hour format and the 24 hour format is the standard
military style of time. Pressing the YES key toggles this hour
format to one or the other. If you wish to change from one to
the other, press the YES key and the new format will be
announced. To change it back, press the MENU key and you will
hear the current hour format announced. Press the YES key once
again, and it will revert to the former setting.
Since we are discussing the problem of the standard date
format not being accepted when you attempt to make a calendar
change, begin by pressing the MENU key which announces the
current hour format. Press the right arrow key and you will
hear, "International date format," spoken by the voice
synthesizer. To change this back to the U.S. date format, simply
press the YES key. The YES key serves as a toggle key and allows
you to switch back and forth between date formats.
Note. The reason you cannot set the correct date format is due
to the fact that the international date format wants the day of
the month entered first while the U.S. date format wants the
month entered first.
Note. The day and the month should always be entered with two
digits which represent the correct day and month and the year
should always be entered as a four digit entry. For example,
June 1, 2000 should be entered as 06012000 for the U.S. date
format. The correct entry for the international date format
would be 01062000. Many users in the United States accidentally
get their Voice Mate switched to the international date format
and then when they try and set the date of the calendar, they get
the rapid double beeping signal which is an indication an
incorrect number has been entered. Following the steps just
discussed will allow this problem to be solved.
Chapter 12.3 Voice Recognition Techniques.
Voice recognition technology, although it has been around
for a few years, is relatively new when electronic technology is
considered overall. Many new users of the Voice Mate at first
find voice recognition somewhat awkward. With a little practice,
however, it doesn't take long to gain a feel for how best to use
the voice recognition technology of the Voice Mate.
The Voice Mate listens for three seconds as you record. It
is best, therefore, to use a first and last name in the Phone
Book when making an entry. This is also true when using the
Appointment Book. Use at least two words when recording an
appointment because it will be easier to make a match when
recalling phone numbers or appointments.
Another tip to consider when using voice recognition is
similarities in sounds. Keep in mind, the Voice Mate is
attempting to electronically match sounds digitally. This means
that similar sounds are going to match. For example, if you have
phone book entries with the same first names, you may have to
repeat what you are saying into the microphone more than once
before the Voice Mate achieves a match. This is especially true
as you continue adding dozens of names to your Phone Book.
changing the inflection of your voice also makes a big
difference when trying to achieve a match. Sometimes, if you are
trying to retrieve the phone numbers you have for Jim Smith, you
can accomplish a match by speaking the name as a question. "Jim
Smith?" Again, keep in mind that your Voice Mate is listening
for up to three seconds so the longer the names, or the more
syllables in the names, the greater the chance of achieving a
match the first time.
Chapter 12.4 Memory Reset.
Your Voice Mate is a miniature computer and computer
software occasionally locks up. If your Voice Mate stops working
normally, the first thing you can try to restore normal operation
is a memory reset.
The memory reset button is found on the back panel of the
Voice Mate. Simply turn the unit over, and feel for a small hole
in the back panel of the Voice Mate near the top. You will feel
some engraving and just to the right edge of that engraving, you
will feel a tiny hole. It is about 1-half an inch in from the
right side and about an inch down from the top. It is directly
on the opposite side of the display panel located on the front of
the Voice Mate.
If you press the end of a paper clip, a stylus or any other
pointed object into this hole, it will reset many of your Voice
Mate settings to their defaults. It does not delete your memory
database. The clock and calendar, for example, will have to be
reset if you press the reset button in the back of the unit.
Note. This reset should only be done if you are having trouble
with your Voice Mate operating normally.
Chapter 12.5 Performing A Total Memory Dump.
The only time you will ever execute a total memory dump with
your Voice Mate, is when the software as locked up and you have
lost all ability to enter or retrieve data. A total memory dump
will reset your Voice Mate to the factory default settings and
your total memory database will be completely lost. Yes, this
means everything you have recorded will be erased! Fortunately,
this total memory dump is rarely required. The PC software kit
is useful, therefore, because all your Voice Mate data can be
backed up on your computer's hard drive for safe keeping. Your
Voice Mate database can then be restored in the event a total
memory dump is required.
The total memory dump requires two steps. First, open the
Voice Mate door. Depress all three bottom row keys on the
numpad. These are the star, zero, and pound keys. While holding
down all three of these keys at the same time, press the end of a
pointed object, such as a paper clip or the point of a stylus,
into the reset button on the back panel. You only need to hold
the reset button in for a second or two before releasing it.
When you release all three keys and the reset button, your Voice
Mate will be reset and speech should likewise be restored.
Note. You will need to reenter all your previously stored data
again if you have performed a total memory dump. If, on the
other hand, you used the PC software kit to previously back up
your data, you can now use this same software to restore your
data.
Note. The total memory dump must be conducted with the Voice
Mate batteries installed.
CHAPTER 13 USING THE VOICE MATE SOFTWARE KIT
This chapter will walk you step-by-step through the software
applications available with the PC Kit. This includes backing up
the Voice Mate, restoring data, and the flash rom software. An
explanation of how the PC cable is connected is also explained.
Chapter 13.1 The Contents Of The PC Kit.
The PC Kit is available through most Voice Mate distributors
and contains two items. The Voice Mate CDROM contains the
backup, restore, and Voice Mate flashrom programs. The other
item is a computer cable. This cable is specifically designed
for the Voice Mate and no other computer cable will work due to
its unique wiring. If, on the other hand, you have a cable you
purchased with the Parrot Plus model of the hand held organizer,
it will work with the Voice Mate software. The cable is used to
connect the Voice Mate directly to the computer to perform
backups, restorations of previous backups, and also gives you the
ability to upgrade your Voice Mate to a newer version whenever
new software is made available through the internet. The
software is currently only available for Windows application.
Note. If you do not own a computer or have not purchased the PC
Kit, contact the dealer from whom you purchased your Voice Mate.
Many dealers have the capability of updating the Voice Mate.
Chapter 13.2 Installing The CDROM Software.
The easiest way of setting up the Voice Mate CDROM software
on your hard drive is to copy the entire CDROM contents at one
time. If, on the other hand, you are familiar with copying files
and creating folders, you may prefer doing it your own way.
About 12 to 14 megabytes of space will be needed on your hard
drive.
Step 1
Begin at your Desktop. Press the letter M until you hear
"My Computer" spoken by your voice synthesizer. You may have
other things on your Desktop which begin with the letter M and
each press of the letter M will move the focus to a new item on
your Desktop. When you hear, "My Computer" spoken, press enter.
Step 2
Press the down arrow key until you hear the drive letter of
your CDROM drive spoken. In my case, I look for drive letter D.
If you have multiple partitions on your hard drive, or if you
have more than one hard drive, you may hear multiple drive
letters as you continue to press the down arrow key. Normally a
CDROM drive will be the last drive letter but if you are
uncertain about this, find out the drive letter assignment of
your CDROM before attempting this software installation. As I
said, my CDROM is D but if your CDROM drive is something
different, Press enter on the CDROM drive letter instead of D.
Step 3
This places you on the root directory of the CDROM. You
most likely will hear the word PARROT spoken as the main folder
directory on your CDROM which you have purchased from a Voice
Mate dealer. Press your down arrow key once to insure this main
folder name is highlighted. You will hear it say, "Parrot."
Step 4
With the focus on the folder of PARROT, simply press the 2-
key combination of Control C and you will hear "copied to clip
board." This may take a few seconds based upon how fast your
computer is because we are copying over 12 megabytes of files and
folders to RAM.
Step 5
Now, press the backspace key one time. This will take you
out of the CDROM drive and place you back into the My Computer
window where we started. You may hear the drive letter of the
CDROM drive spoken or you may be back at the top of the items
listed in My Computer. For example, I land on my floppy drive
which is drive letter A.
Step 6
If you are going to copy the CDROm software on to your C
drive, navigate to the letter C by using your up or down arrow
keys until you hear the drive letter C spoken. If you have
elected to install the software on another drive, navigate to
that letter.
Step 7
Press enter on C and you will drop into the root directory
of your C drive. this is where we are going to copy the folder
PARROT and all of its sub-directories and files.
Step 8
If you press enter on the drive letter C, you will hear a
total number of files and folders available on your C drive. It
makes no difference how many files and folders you hear announced
at this point, as long as you pressed the enter key on drive
letter C, you are in the root directory and ready to copy the
contents of the CDROM.
Since the C drive root directory is actually where we intend
to install the software, the only thing we now need to do is to
press the Control V 2-key combination. This is the command to
copy the entire CDROM contents to your C drive exactly as it
appears on the CDROM. This may take a few seconds because of the
speed of your hard drive. You may hear, "Copying files," spoken
by your voice synthesizer. You will know when it is finished
because your voice synthesizer will most likely speak the word
"Parrot" which is the indication that all files and folders were
copied successfully. This means you are on the folder called
PARROT. If you plan on continuing with the backup, restore, and
eventually the flashrom procedure, this is where you want to be.
You can exit the My Computer window, however, and return to the
Desktop by pressing Alt F4 until you hear "Desktop" spoken. Be
certain to wait until the file transfer has finished before
taking any action.
Note. Once you have copied the CDROM folders to the hard drive,
you can access the software by simply pressing enter on My
Computer from your Desktop, pressing the down arrow key until you
hear the drive letter "C" spoken by your voice synthesizer,
opening the C drive by pressing enter, and pressing the letter P
until you hear the word "Parrot" spoken and then pressing enter
one more time. You then use your up and down arrow keys to
access the PARROT PLUS BACKUP, UPDATE SOFTWARE, and the VOICE
MATE BACKUP folders.
Chapter 13.3 Backing Up And Restoring Data.
If you use your Voice Mate to store a great deal of
information, it is a good idea to occasionally back up your
database to your hard drive in case of a software lockup. The
Voice Mate is a miniature state of the art computer driven by
sophisticated voice recognition software. Like a computer,
therefore, the Voice Mate software can sometimes lock up;
rendering your Voice Mate inoperative. It doesn't occur often
and some people never experience it. The Voice Mate software
package offers, however, one more level of data protection in the
event of a lockup. If you have a current backup of your Voice
Mate's database, you can go to your computer and quickly restore
the data and your Voice Mate will be back to normal.
This section details exactly how to backup your Voice Mate.
Before beginning, however, we need to install your PC cable which
comes with the Voice Mate CDROM.
Chapter 13.31 Installing The PC Cable.
When you purchase the PC Kit, you receive a special designed
cable which connects your Voice Mate to your computer. This
cable has a small pointed plug on one end which connects to the
Voice Mate itself and the other end is a 9 pin connecter used on
many computers as a standard. This 9 pin connecter plugs into a
computer port on the back of your computer. It currently works
on either comm1 or comm2. Many printers and external modems
connect to these same two comm ports so it is simply a matter of
unplugging one of these cables from the back of your computer and
pressing the 9 pin connecter on to the comm port. If you
discover that the 9 pin connecter does not fit, either because
they are not matching 9 pin connections, or if your comm port
happens to be a 25 pin connection, you can purchase a gender
changer (an adapter) which will allow your cable to match the
comm port on the back of your computer to the Voice Mate cable.
If you need an adapter, take your Voice Mate cable into a local
computer store and they can sell you the adapter which matches
your cable.
The small pointed end of the PC cable plugs in to the small
hole just below the Side Key located on the upper left hand outer
edge of your Voice Mate. This is the same Side Key you use to
record and play back recorded data.
Once you have this PC cable connected to your Voice Mate and
your computer, you will be ready to transfer data.
Chapter 13.32 The Backup Procedure.
Step 1
Navigate to your Desktop and press the letter M until you
hear "My Computer" spoken by your voice synthesizer. You may
hear other items spoken such as My Briefcase or Microsoft
programs which have been installed and placed on your Desktop.
Regardless of what you hear, continue pressing the letter M until
"My Computer" is heard. When you have located it, press enter.
Step 2
Press the down arrow key until you hear the drive letter
spoken where you installed the Voice Mate software and press
enter. In my case, i installed the software on drive C. If you
have chosen a different drive letter, locate that drive letter
and press enter.
Step 3
When you press the enter key on the drive letter where your
Voice Mate software has been installed, you will hear a certain
number of files and folders listed on the root directory of that
drive. Begin pressing the letter P on your keyboard until you
hear the word "Parrot" spoken. this will be the main folder.
Press enter to open this folder.
Step 4
When you press the enter key on the PARROT folder, you will
be on a list of three folders which are:
PARROT PLUS BACKUP
UPDATE SOFTWARE
VOICE MATE BACKUP.
You navigate to these individual folders using your up and down
arrow keys or by pressing the first letter of the folder.
Note. The PARROT PLUS BACKUP folder is for earlier versions of
the product. the UPDATE SOFTWARE folder contains a more current
version of the flashrom software for Voice Mate users. The VOICE
MATE BACKUP folder is used when you want to perform a backup of
your Voice Mate.
Press the letter V until you hear, "Voice Mate backup,"
spoken or press the down arrow key until you hear this folder
spoken. Press enter and the folder will open.
Step 5
You will now be in the VOICE MATE BACKUP folder and there
are a number of files in this folder. You can press your down
arrow key to find the executable file we need to use or you can
simply press the letter V until you hear "Voice Mate Backup"
spoken. This is the backup executable file. Press enter to
launch this program.
Step 6
When you press enter on the Voice Mate backup executable
(EXE) file, the program will open. You most likely will hear the
word "Exit" spoken by your voice synthesizer, however, there are
four menu choices available in this window. You move to these
menu choices by pressing your up and down arrow keys. The four
menu choices are:
CONFIGURATION
EXIT
GET FROM ORGANIZER
SEND TO ORGANIZER
We first need to configure the program to recognize the comm
port to which you have your PC cable connected. This will be
either comm1 or comm2. If you do not know which comm port your
cable is connected to in the back of your computer, you can try
either one in the configuration menu. If the backup does not
work, simply go back to the configuration menu and change it to
the other comm port selection.
As previously mentioned, you normally land on the menu
choice of EXIT when you first open the Voice Mate Backup program.
Pressing your up arrow key once takes you to the menu choice of
CONFIGURATION. do not press the enter key but instead, activate
this menu choice by pressing the space bar. You will hear,
"Select the communication port." This selection is made by
simply pressing your down arrow key once for comm1 and a second
press of the down arrow key if you are going to use comm2. In
either case, you will hear comm1 or comm2 spoken. Which ever
comm port you are going to use, press the tab key once and you
will hear, "Ok." Press enter and the comm port will have been
selected.
Step 7
Press your down arrow key once and you will hear, "Exit,"
spoken by your voice synthesizer. Press the down arrow key one
more time and you will hear, "Get from organizer." Press the
space bar. Do not press the enter key!
Step 8
When you press the space bar on GET DATA FROM ORGANIZER, an
edit box opens. You will hear, "File name. Edit." This is
prompting you to assign a file name to your Voice Mate data you
wish to save to your hard drive for safe keeping.
Step 9
Since this is an edit box, you simply need to type in a file
name of your choice. For example, I name my backup files:
phil0109, phil0211, phil0915, and so on. I use my name because I
sometimes backup a customer's Voice Mate to flashrom it to a
newer software version and I like to keep track of whose data I
am storing. The numbers I use are the month and day. You can,
however, use any filename of your choice. For example, you could
use a file name of bk0210 to indicate your last backup was on
February 10th. Eventually, once you have more than one or two
backup file names, you will most likely want to delete the older
ones.
At this point of the procedure, type in a file name which
works best for you. You do not need to add a period and a 3-
letter extension to your file because the backup utility program
adds .PAR to whatever file name you have chosen.
Before pressing the enter key to create this file name, we
first need to prepare the Voice Mate to send data to the
computer. This assumes, of course, you have already connected
the PC cable to your computer and to your Voice Mate as
previously described.
Step 10
Pressing the Function Selector, (the rubber button to the
left of the microphone on the front of the Voice Mate) cycle
through the menu choices till you hear your Voice Mate say,
"Control Panel." Open the door and press the MENU key. This is
the button in the upper left hand corner around the speaker. You
will hear "Volume #..." The word, "volume," is spoken and
followed by a number from 1 to 8.
Step 11
Press the left arrow key just below the four rubber buttons
around the Voice Mate speaker. You will hear, "Receive data."
Press the left arrow key a second time and you will hear, "Send
data." This is the selection we want.
Step 12
To activate the Send Data menu choice, you simply need to
press the YES key. This is the lower left hand key around the
speaker. When you press the YES key, you will probably hear a
soft click in the speaker and then in about three or four
seconds, the Voice Mate will say, "Data transferring in progress.
Please wait." This activates the Voice Mate and commands it to
begin transferring your Voice Mate database to the computer.
However, data cannot be transferred until you go back to your
computer keyboard and press the enter key. This is why I had you
fill in a file name in the edit box before going to the Voice
Mate to select the Send Data menu choice in the Control Panel.
Note. You have about 30 seconds to press the enter key on your
computer keyboard before the Voice Mate times out and cancels the
transfer process. If you fail to press the computer keyboard's
enter key within this time limit, your Voice Mate will say,
"Error during data transferring. Please press a key to
continue." If you receive this error message, pressing any key
cancels the transfer procedure. If the sound feature is turned
on in your Voice Mate, you will hear that sound you have selected
when any key is depressed.
Step 13
The data file copied on to your hard drive by the Voice Mate
data transfer software does not create a very large file. Even
if your entire memory was used up on your Voice mate, the data
file would likely be less than three megabytes. For example, if
your Voice Mate says that you have 80 percent of your memory
available, your backup file will not be more than about 300K in
total size.
The nice thing about the backup software is that the Voice
Mate talks to you at the beginning and end of the data transfer.
When it concludes, the Voice Mate says, "End of data
transferring." You can then disconnect the PC cable from the
Voice Mate and closed the front panel door and your Voice Mate is
ready for use.
Note. Leaving the PC cable plugged into the Voice Mate may keep
the Voice Mate from shutting off and thus could deplete all the
remaining power of the batteries. Be sure and disconnect your PC
cable from the unit when the data backup is complete.
Chapter 13.33 Restoring Data.
You will want to restore your Voice Mate if you experience
data corruption, software lockup, or once you have flashrommed
your Voice Mate to a newer software version.
Step 1
If you begin from your Desktop, press M until you hear, "My
Computer," spoken by your voice synthesizer. Press enter.
Step 2
Press your down arrow key until you hear the drive letter
spoken where you copied the Voice Mate CDROM software. Press
enter. In this example, I have been using drive letter C, so you
would press enter on C. This will open this drive and a number
of files and folders will likely be announced.
Step 3
Press the letter P until you hear, "Parrot" spoken. Press
enter to open the PARROT main folder.
Step 4
Press the letter V until you hear, "Voice Mate Backup."
This is the Voice Mate Backup folder. You can also use your down
arrow key until you hear the VOICE MATE BACKUP folder announced.
Press enter to open this folder.
Step 5
Once you have opened this folder, you will hear a list of
files announced. Again, you can either use your down arrow key
to move down the list of files or press the letter V until you
hear "Voice Mate Backup" spoken. Press the enter key to launch
the Voice Mate backup program.
Step 6
Once you have pressed the enter key on the Voice Mate Backup
file name, you will find the same menu choices we talked about
during the backup procedure. This includes:
CONFIGURATION
EXIT
GET FROM ORGANIZER
SEND TO ORGANIZER
GET FROM ORGANIZER refers to backing up data which has already
been described. SEND TO ORGANIZER refers to restoring data and
this is what we will be doing. However, we must first make sure
we have selected the correct comm port once again.
You will likely land on the EXIT menu choice when entering
the Voice Mate backup utility program. Regardless of what you
hear, pressing your up arrow key allows you to move to the
CONFIGURATION menu choice. Press your space bar to select this
menu choice. You will be prompted to choose a comm port.
Pressing your down arrow key once allows you to hear "Comm1" or a
second press of the down arrow key allows you to select "Comm2."
You do not need to press any keys to select one of the comm
ports. If, for example, you are using comm1, once you hear that
spoken, press your tab key and you will hear, "Ok." Now press
enter and you will be returned to the backup menu.
Step 7
Once you have selected the correct comm port as just
described, continue to press your down arrow key until you hear,
"Send to organizer." Press the space bar and you will be in the
edit box.
Step 8
The file name you want to use is the backup file name you
previously used when doing your last backup. Type in that file
name but do not press enter yet.
Step 9
Once you have supplied the correct backup file name, take
your Voice Mate and cycle over to the Control Panel by pressing
the front panel Function Selector until you hear the voice
synthesizer say, "Control Panel." Open the door and press the
MENU key. This activates the Control Panel menu. The first menu
choice is automatically spoken and that will be your current
volume control setting.
Step 10
Press the left arrow key once and you will hear, "Receive
data." Press the YES key to accept this menu choice. The YES
key is the lower left hand key around the speaker. In three or
four seconds, you will hear your Voice Mate say, "To clear memory
before transferring data, press yes." When you press the YES key
at this point, your entire Voice Mate database will be erased in
order to prepare the Voice Mate to receive the backup data you
previously saved. When you press the YES key, you will hear,
"Data transferring in progress. Please wait."
Step 11
Once your Voice Mate has announced, "Data transfer in
progress. Please wait," reach over to your computer keyboard and
press the enter key. This action tells the backup and restore
software to begin sending the backup data to your Voice Mate.
Step 12
The data transfer may take a few seconds, or even two or
three minutes, or even longer. The transfer time is based upon
how large of backup file is being restored to your Voice Mate.
When the restoration is complete, you will hear a low
electronic buzz from your Voice Mate and it will announce, "Data
transfer complete." You can then remove the cable, close the
door, and your Voice Mate will be ready for use.
Note. Since your memory was cleared before the restore process
began, you will have to reset your clock and calendar when the
restore procedure is complete.
Chapter 13.4 The Flashrom Software.
Flashromming your Voice Mate may be done for two reasons.
When new software is released and placed on the Voice Mate
website and other supporting Voice Mate websites, you can
download this new software and update your Voice Mate to a newer
version free of charge. You must have previously purchased the
Voice Mate PC Kit, however, because the software on the website
cannot be installed in any Voice Mate without first purchasing
the PC cable. The cable is uniquely wired for the Voice Mate
interface and a standard cable purchased from a computer store
will not work.
Another reason for flashromming the Voice Mate is when you
experience a software lockup and other related problems in
executing Voice Mate commands. For example, I once had a Voice
Mate returned to me because the customer said the Side Key was
not working properly. I tested the unit in every way and
everything seemed to work normally. However, when I attempted to
retrieve a phone number in the Phone Book, the voice recognition
would not always respond properly. I was beginning to consider
the possibility that it needed a new Side Key but decided to
flashrom the unit to a new version of the software first. The
Side Key problem vanished following the flashrom procedure.
Having the PC Kit is an advantage, therefore, when trying to
solve Voice Mate problems. Additionally, later versions of the
Voice Mate software, beginning with version 3.2, also have
special software formatting to extend the battery life of the
Voice Mate. So updating to newer software versions is a definite
advantage.
Note. If you do not own a computer or if you have elected not to
purchase the software, most dealers can update your Voice Mate
for you. Your dealer, however, may invoke a minimal charge to
cover the cost of time involved as well as shipping charges.
Note. Additional software modifications have been developed to
make the flashrom software even more speech friendly for various
screen readers. Check the Voice Mate website and other
supporting websites for details and additional updated files
which are available for more speech friendly access.
Chapter 13.41 The Flashrom Procedure.
The flashrom procedure is not much different than the backup
and restore procedures previously described. This part of the
chapter assumes you have already become familiar with the backup
and restore procedures because you do not want to flashrom your
Voice Mate to a newer version of the software until you have
backed up your data.
Note. Flashromming the Voice Mate destroys any previously stored
data.
Step 1 The Update Folder.
Navigate to your Desktop. Press M until you hear, "My
Computer." Press enter.
Step 2 Opening The Parrot Folder.
Press the letter P until you hear, "Parrot," and press
enter. The Parrot main folder will open.
Step 3 The Voice Mate Update Folder.
Either use your down arrow key or press the letter U until
you hear, "Update Software." Press enter. The Update Software
folder will open.
Step 4 Executing The Flashrom Program.
Upon entering this folder, press T to jump to the file
called TESTMMI which is the file name needed to execute the
flashrom program. You can also press the down arrow key until
you hear the file name spoken. Press enter and the program will
open.
Note. This file name may change at any time to a slightly
different file name so search for a file which begins with the
word TEST and has a suffix of EXE and that will be the executable
file you need to open to configure the flashrom software.
Note. A new EXE file has also been made available for speech
users which makes the flashrom software more speech friendly.
Again, look for a file name which begins with the letters TEST.
For more information about the speech friendly executable Voice
Mate flashrom program, check the voice-assistant.com website or
any of the other supporting websites. You can also check on the
Parrot internet mailing list or call a Voice Mate dealer.
Step 5 The Configuration Window.
Though you will find a number of things that can be
configured in the main window of the program, we only need to
change one or two items. Before making any changes, however, I
recommend you take time, once you have initialized the flashrom
program, to press the tab key and cycle through all the menu
choices. You will hear all of the following:
FLASH PARAMETERS BUTTON
START BUTTON
STOP BUTTON
CLEAR BUTTON
RESULTS LANGUAGE LIST BOX ZERO ITEMS
LANGUAGE COMBO BOX
COMM 2 RADIO BUTTON CHECKED 2 OF 4
36 MHZ RADIO BUTTON CHECKED FOUR OF FOUR
BINARY FILE EDIT
Note. If this is your first time accessing the flashrom
software, some of the items will contain default settings while
other choices will be blank until we make configuration changes
to program the flashrom software to transfer data. Besides using
the tab key to move through the choices, you can also go back one
item at a time by pressing Shift Tab.
Note. Your voice synthesizer and screen reading software may
speak more than the items just listed but those I have listed
will be the main menu choices.
Step 6 Selecting A Language.
Once you are familiar with the choices, tab until you find
the LANGUAGE COMBO BOX. The first reference to language you will
hear as you tab through the main menu choices is the LANGUAGE
LIST BOX. It will also say, "Zero items" because you have not
yet selected the language you want to be flashrommed into your
Voice Mate. Once you have heard it say, "Language list box,"
press your tab key one more time and you will hear, "Language
combo box," spoken by your voice synthesizer. Now we can select
the language we want to use.
To select the desired language, simply begin pressing the
down arrow key and the choices will be spoken. If, for example,
you are going to use English as your desired language, pressing
the down arrow key will take you through Chinese, Danish, and
Dutch, before "English" is spoken by your voice synthesizer.
Once you hear, "English," spoken, press the tab key and that
language will be selected. This action also takes you away from
the LANGUAGE COMBO BOX and moves you to the next menu choice.
Step 7 Selecting The Comm Port.
As just stated, once you hear the language you wish to use,
pressing the tab key not only automatically selects that language
but it immediately takes you away from that language combo box
and moves you to the next menu choice. This is exactly where we
need to be to make a comm port selection.
If you hear "Comm2," spoken, and if you have connected your
Voice Mate PC cable to comm2 of your computer, you need not make
any change. If, on the other hand, you are using comm1, press
the up arrow key one time and you will hear, "Comm1," spoken.
You do not need to press the enter key or the space bar to make
your selection because pressing the tab key moves you away from
the current focus and automatically selects the item you last
heard spoken by your voice synthesizer.
Note. If you wish to check to make sure your selections were
correct, tab through all the choices and when you get to the
LANGUAGE COMBO BOX, you will hear, "English," spoken as the
choice you selected. Likewise, pressing the tab key again will
announce that either comm1 or comm2 was selected.
Note. If at any time you feel you have made a mistake and wish
to clear everything, you can either exit the program by pressing
Alt F4 and then reenter the program or you can simply tab over to
the word, "Clear," and press the space bar once. All settings
will then be returned to the defaults and you can cycle through
each menu choice and reconfigure.
Step 8 The Start Button.
Since all the other fields are automatically filled in for
you once the language and comm port have been selected, the only
thing left to do is to press the tab key until we hear, "Start,"
spoken by the voice synthesizer. Before actually launching the
flashrom program, however, we need to do one very important
thing.
Step 9 Disconnecting The Batteries.
If you fail to take this step, the Voice Mate flashrom
program will return an error message and the flashrom transfer
will fail.
Though the batteries need to be disconnected, it is only for
the first part of the flashrom procedure. Because the batteries
must be reconnected the moment the flashrom software transfer
begins, we need to disconnect the batteries in such a way that
they can be quickly reconnected.
Turn the Voice Mate over and open both battery compartments.
Disconnect the batteries but leave them laying in the battery
trays so that the tips of the batteries are protruding just
outside the bottom of the Voice Mate. This will allow you to
quickly press the batteries down simultaneously and thus make a
quick reconnection when needed. Once you have disconnected the
batteries and prepared for them to be quickly reconnected, you
will be ready to proceed.
Note. At this point, make sure your PC cable is firmly seated in
the socket (computer port) on the side of the Voice Mate. The
cable is easily loosened and though it appears to be plugged in,
be sure and check it before continuing.
Step 10 Launching The Program.
If you have tabbed over to the START BUTTON, simply press
the space bar and the program will launch. If you are using an
earlier version of the software, you will not hear anything
spoken during the software transfer. If you are using a newer
version of the executable program, it will immediately begin
speaking. You will hear, "XPROM downloading." Regardless if you
hear any speech or not, immediately press the batteries back down
into their compartments. You do not need to close the battery
compartment doors but be certain the batteries are immediately
pressed down after the space bar has been pressed. Be careful
not to move the Voice Mate or bump the PC cable or the transfer
will fail.
Note. If your screen reader does not speak once you have started
the software and pressed the batteries back down into their
compartments as described, simply wait for about four or five
minutes for the process to finish.
Step 11 The Flashrom Process.
If your screen reader has a mode in which you can read the
screen without interrupting a program in process, you can read
around the window to discover if the program is actually running.
Once the download part of the flashrom software begins, it only
takes a minute or so before the screen changes and begins the
flashrom transfer data process. Again, your screen reader may
not speak anything on the screen at this time unless you are
using a newer version of the software. If you are using one of
the newer updated executable files, your voice synthesizer will
begin by speaking that the XPROM is downloading and then it will
shortly begin speaking that it is flashromming. it will then
report the percentage of the program as it is flashing. You will
hear, for example, "flashing 5 percent. Flashing 12 percent.
Flashing 31 percent." This will continue for perhaps two or
three minutes until the transfer is complete. If your screen
reader is announcing the screen, it will conclude with, "Flash
ok." This means the transfer was successful.
Step 12 Initializing The Voice Mate.
When the flashrom transfer is completed, you will need to
reinitialize the Voice Mate. You can do this one of two ways.
The batteries can be removed and reinserted or you can press the
RESET button in the back of the unit.
When the Voice Mate is reinitialized, you will know if the
transfer process was successful the first time you press the
Selector Function button to the left of the microphone. Instead
of saying, "Phone book," it will speak the version number of the
software. This only is announced the very first time the
Selector Button is pressed following battery removal and
reinstallation.
Note. If the Voice Mate does not speak at all, the flashrom
transfer did not work and you will need to try again. You might
first remove the batteries and install them again to make certain
solid battery connection has been made. If you still are unable
to get the Voice Mate to speak, you will need to execute the
flashrom process again.
Chapter 13.42 Flashrom Troubleshooting.
USERS GUIDE
Version 1.3
February 20, 2001
By
Phil Scovell
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
CONTACT INFORMATION
CHAPTER 0 ABOUT THE VOICE MATE USERS GUIDE
CHAPTER 1 VOICE MATE FEATURES
Chapter 1.1 Optional Accessories.
CHAPTER 2 GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Chapter 2.1 Voice Mate Dimensions.
Chapter 2.2 Front Panel Description.
Chapter 2.3 Keyboard Layout.
Chapter 2.4 Earphone Jack And Computer Port.
Chapter 2.5 Back Panel Description.
Chapter 2.6 Reset Button.
Chapter 2.7 Location Of Battery Compartments.
CHAPTER 3 BATTERIES
Chapter 3.1 Battery Compartments.
Chapter 3.2 Battery Installation.
Chapter 3.3 Battery Replacement.
Chapter 3.4 Battery Life.
Chapter 3.5 Alternate Batteries.
Chapter 3.6 Low Battery Announcement.
CHAPTER 4 A BRIEF VOICE MATE TOUR
CHAPTER 5 CONTROL PANEL - CUSTOMIZING THE VOICE MATE
Chapter 5.1 Accessing The Control Panel.
Chapter 5.2 Control Panel Overview.
Chapter 5.3 Volume Setting.
Chapter 5.4 Help Mode.
Chapter 5.5 Accessibility Mode.
Chapter 5.6 Voice Mate Sounds.
Chapter 5.7 Shut Down Mode.
Chapter 5.8 Encode Mode.
Chapter 5.9 Training Sessions.
Chapter 5.10 Keyboard Lock.
Chapter 5.11 Sending And Receiving Data.
Chapter 5.12 Additional Notes On The Control Panel.
Chapter 5.13 Checking For Available Memory.
CHAPTER 6 THE CLOCK AND CALENDAR
Chapter 6.1 Setting The Time And Date.
Chapter 6.2 Setting The Alarm.
Chapter 6.3 Checking Current Time And Date.
Chapter 6.4 Turning The Alarm Off.
Chapter 6.5 Alarm Application.
Chapter 6.6 Changing The Time And Date.
Chapter 6.7 Date Formats.
Chapter 6.8 Clock Volume Settings.
CHAPTER 7 THE PHONE BOOK
Chapter 7.1 Customizing The Phone Book.
Chapter 7.11 Phone Numbers And The Address Field
Chapter 7.12 Setting The DTMF Volume.
Chapter 7.13 The Dialing Speed.
Chapter 7.2 Recording Phone Book Entries.
Chapter 7.3 Phone Book Data Retrieval.
Chapter 7.4 Modifying Phone Numbers.
Chapter 7.41 Erasing And Correcting Phone Numbers.
Chapter 7.42 Entering A New
Phone Number.
Chapter 7.5 Modifying The Address Field.
Chapter 7.6 Modifying The Name.
Chapter 7.7 Turning Phone Numbers Off And On.
Chapter 7.8 Locating Phone Numbers.
Chapter 7.9 Deleting Phone Book Entries.
CHAPTER 8 Memo Pad
Chapter 8.1 Recording A Memo.
Chapter 8.2 Replaying Memos.
Chapter 8.3 Reviewing All Memos.
Chapter 8.4 Deleting A Memo.
Chapter 8.5 Memo Menu Features.
Chapter 8.51 Edit Types.
Chapter 8.52 Recording Modes.
Chapter 8.53 Deleting All Memos.
Chapter 8.6 Memo Pad Editing Features And Keys.
Chapter 8.61 Memo Pause.
Chapter 8.62 Memo Rewind.
Chapter 8.63 Memo Fast Forward.
Chapter 8.64 Deleting Text.
Chapter 8.65 Undelete Or Abort.
Chapter 8.66 Text Replace.
Chapter 8.67 Text Insert.
Chapter 8.68 Appending Text.
Chapter 8.69 Cutting Text.
Chapter 8.610 Final Editing Notes.
CHAPTER 9 APPOINTMENT BOOK
Chapter 9.1 The Appointment Menu.
Chapter 9.2 Recording And Playing Appointments.
Chapter 9.21 Playing Back Appointments With The
Side Key.
Chapter 9.22 Playing Back Appointments With Voice
Recognition.
Chapter 9.23 Playing Back Appointments Using Arrow
Keys.
Chapter 9.24 Playing Back Appointments With Daily
Planning.
Chapter 9.25 Playing Back Appointments Using
Planning.
Chapter 9.3 Appointment Reminder.
Chapter 9.4 Appointment Book Modification Features.
Chapter 9.41 Modifying The Appointment Date.
Chapter 9.42 Re-recording Appointment Text.
Chapter 9.43 Re-recording Appointment Keywords.
Chapter 9.44 Modify The Appointment Reminder.
Chapter 9.45 Modify The Appointment Beep.
Chapter 9.46 Appointments With Key Words.
Chapter 9.47 Automatic Delete.
Chapter 9.48 Deleting Individual Appointments.
Chapter 9.5 Important Appointment Book Notes.
CHAPTER 10 THE CALCULATOR
Chapter 10.1 Key Layout.
Chapter 10.2 Simple Calculations.
Chapter 10.21 Addition.
Chapter 10.22 Subtraction.
Chapter 10.23 Multiplication.
Chapter 10.24 Division.
Chapter 10.3 Advanced Calculations.
Chapter 10.4 Using Decimals.
Chapter 10.5 The Calculator Menu Features.
Chapter 10.51 Calculating Percentages.
Chapter 10.52 Memory Set.
Chapter 10.53 Memory Recall.
Chapter 10.54 Foreign Currency Conversions.
Chapter 10.55 Decimal Modification.
Chapter 10.6 Other Calculator Remarks.
CHAPTER 11 DIALING ASSISTANT
Chapter 11.1 Accessing The Dialing Assistant Menu.
chapter 11.2 The Prefix Mode.
Chapter 11.21 Turning The Prefix Mode Off.
Chapter 11.3 The International Dialing Mode.
Chapter 11.31 Turning International Mode Off.
CHAPTER 12 HINTS AND TIPS
Chapter 12.1 Losing Speech And Restoring It.
Chapter 12.2 Resetting The Date And Calendar.
Chapter 12.3 Voice Recognition Techniques.
Chapter 12.4 Memory Reset.
Chapter 12.5 Performing A Total Memory Dump.
CHAPTER 13 USING THE VOICE MATE SOFTWARE KIT
Chapter 13.1 The Contents Of The PC Kit.
Chapter 13.2 Installing The CDROM Software.
Chapter 13.3 Backing Up And Restoring Data.
Chapter 13.31 Installing The PC Cable.
Chapter 13.32 The Backup Procedure.
Chapter 13.33 Restoring Data.
Chapter 13.4 The Flashrom Software.
Chapter 13.41 The Flashrom Procedure.
Chapter 13.42 Flashrom Troubleshooting.
End Of Table
INTRODUCTION
I began, as a blind user, using the Parrot Plus hand held
voice recognition digital organizer made by Parrot S.A. in Paris,
France in late 1998. Because of its simplistic operation, ease
of data entry, quick retrieval of data using voice recognition
commands, its small portable size, and its built in voice
synthesizer, I became a distributor. I later began maintaining
their website for the Parrot Voice Mate product and then decided
to come out with a Users Guide to assist customers in learning
how to use their Voice Mate in detail. A set of instructional
audio cassettes is also available for those not wishing to read
the Users Guide in Braille.
When the Parrot Plus was first marketed in the United
states, we set up an electronic mailing list to exchange
information and ideas, not only among ourselves as product users,
but to correspond directly with the company in order to suggest
product changes. In less than a year, Parrot S.A. released their
Parrot Voice Mate. I am happy to say that nearly every
suggestion made by blind consumers was incorporated into the new
Voice Mate product. Parrot S.A. is one company that listens to
their blind consumers.
Because I am the list owner of the Parrot electronic mailing
list, many people just assume I am the spokesman for the Parrot
company. Although this is not true, I end up getting many phone
calls and many emails with questions on Voice Mate application.
the Users Guide is a result of many hours of conversing with
other Voice Mate users in problem solving and general
instruction. thank you to everyone who has helped develop this
Users Guide in some way.
Phil Scovell
840 South Sheridan Boulevard
Denver, Colorado 80226 USA
Toll Free: 1-888-936-0001
Local: 1-303-934-7493
Email: phil@redwhiteandblue.org
http://www.redwhiteandblue.org The Zenith tube Website
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Besides help from the Parrot S.A. company in France and
their print manual, I want to thank all those who have offered
assistance through the Parrot electronic mailing list on the
internet. Additionally, a big thanks goes to Arianna Calesso and
Mathew J. Mirabella who proof read original drafts and found a
number of things which needed to be changed. If you, as a Users
Guide reader, find additional corrections, be sure and email me
or contact me in some way.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Parrot S.A
174 QUAI DE JEMMAPES
75010 PARIS, France
Phone: + 33 1 48 03 60 60
Fax: + 33 1 48 03 06 66
Direct Number: + 33 1 48 03 60 64
Website: http://www.voice-assistant.com
CHAPTER 0 ABOUT THE VOICE MATE USERS GUIDE
This Users Guide is written by a blind user of the Parrot
Voice Mate hand held voice recognition digital organizer. Many
other blind users have assisted in its contents and construction.
It may be updated and changed at any time. Check often on my
website, or on the Voice Assistant Parrot website, or on the
Parrot Voice Mate electronic mailing list for information on
current releases of this Users Guide.
This document is much more than a Users Guide. It is also a
reference manual. Many phrases and descriptions of functionality
are repetitive. This means many basic terms and descriptions are
repeated throughout the chapters. In this way, therefore, the
user of this reference guide can jump to the desired part of the
document and not be dependant upon knowing everything up to that
point in order to gain an understanding of that specific
function.
A free instructional audio cassette tape comes with the
purchase of every Voice Mate but it is also available as a free
demonstration tape to anyone requesting it. An expanded audio
recording is also available for purchase which goes into as much
detail as this Users Guide. Braille copies of this Users Guide
are also available for purchase and this complete text is
available on the voice-assistant-com website to read online or to
download.
Phil Scovell
Email: phil@redwhiteandblue.org
http://www.redwhiteandblue.org The Zenith tube Website
http://www.voice-assistant.com The Parrot Voice Mate Website
Parrot Mailing List: parrot-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
CHAPTER 1 VOICE MATE FEATURES
* The Voice Mate uses state of the art voice recognition
technology. This means the data is located by your own voice
commands and it then can be played back as you wish.
* Because the Voice Mate uses digitized recording, there are
no tapes, cassettes, or data cards to remove.
* The Voice Mate comes with its own built in voice synthesizer
and all prompts are spoken.
* The powerful Voice Mate phone book allows you to store
hundreds of telephone numbers. These phone numbers can be
recalled by speaking the person's name into the unit and the
number will not only be spoken but if you hold the Voice Mate up
to the telephone mouthpiece, the tones needed to dial that phone
number will be played directly into the telephone for you. In
other words, you do not even need to dial the telephone because
the Voice Mate will do it for you. The phone book also allows
you to record a person's address with the phone number entries.
Multiple phone numbers can be recorded under one person's name.
* Recording your own personal memos and notes with the Voice
Mate is simple. Each memo is stamped with the current date and
time you made the memo which is announced when you play back each
memo. You can also edit memos at any time by adding or
subtracting or inserting recorded modifications to your memos.
In short, the Voice Mate is a pocketsized digital recorder.
* Perhaps one of the most valuable features of the Voice
Mate is its ability to record appointments. You can store these
appointments with key words which allows you to retrieve any
appointment by simply speaking the key word into the unit. Then
you can play back the notation you have made concerning that
appointment as a reminder. You can program an alarm to sound at
the appointment date and time as well. Appointments can be
programmed to repeat automatically at the same time.
Appointments recorded in this fashion can be repeated every
minute, hour, day, week, month or year. For example, if you have
medication to take every day at certain times, the Voice Mate can
be programmed to remind you of these daily scheduled times. You
can likewise program in monthly reminders for paying bills on
certain days. You can even enter birthdays of which you wish to
be reminded by simply programming your Voice Mate with such
information in the appointment section. The Voice Mate can also
be instructed to delete old appointments when they have expired.
* The Voice Mate comes with a talking clock complete with
date, and time, and programmable alarm.
* Non-volatile memory is used to store your recorded data.
This means, if you remove all the batteries, you will not lose
any of your recorded data.
* The Voice Mate has a talking calculator which allows
standard mathematical calculations to be performed. This
includes multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction.
Percentage calculations are likewise available in the calculator
and currency conversions for those traveling abroad are made
possible using the Voice Mate calculator. It also has memory
store and memory recall features.
* The Voice Mate stores up to 40 minutes of data.
* You can check available remaining database memory at any time.
* The unit comes with earphones for private listening and
batteries are included. The Voice Mate will also speak to you
and inform you when batteries are low.
* The Voice Mate will interface with a PC through the use of
special Windows based software written to backup data. The
software also allows the unit to be updated with future software
releases through flashrom technology.
* The Voice Mate is Y2K compliant.
* It comes with a one year warranty and a thirty day money
back guarantee.
* Technical support is available via the telephone in the
United States and via the internet through at least two websites
and via email from several sources.
* A free instruction cassette comes with each Voice Mate
purchase.
Chapter 1.1 Optional Accessories.
A leather carrying case is available for the Voice Mate which has
a belt clip on the back. Additionally, the PC flashrom and
backup kit comes with a cable for interfacing to the computer and
a CDROM with the software programs.
CHAPTER 2 GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The Voice Mate is lightweight, compact, and can fit easily
into a shirt pocket or purse.
Chapter 2.1 Voice Mate Dimensions.
The Voice Mate is 5.4 inches high, 2.7 inches wide, and 0.6
inches thick. It weighs just 5.3 ounces with the batteries
installed.
Chapter 2.2 Front Panel Description.
Holding the Voice Mate in the palm of your hand, feel for a
smooth glassy surface. This is the visual display. The back of
the unit is mostly smooth while the front of the Voice Mate has
buttons and bumps which can be easily felt. The display should
be, of course, at the top of the unit and facing you as you hold
it. The display is a little more than an inch in height and
covers the entire top of the unit from left to right. Just below
the display is a ledge and just below the ledge, are two bumps.
You will quickly feel the difference between these two bumps
because the left hand bump is actually a rubber button. This is
called the Function Selector or just the Function Button. Each
time you press the Function Selector, the Voice Mate will
announce the various categories available. They are, in this
order:
Phone Book
Memo
Appointment
Clock
Calculator
Dialing Assistant
Control Panel
Just to the right of this rubber button is another bump
which is the microphone grill.
On the left side of the Voice Mate and on the upper outer
edge, you will discover a large button which has ridges on it and
protrudes from the side of the unit. This button is the switch
used to record data and to recall information from the Voice
Mate. It is referred to as the Side Key. If you hold the Voice
Mate in the palm of your right hand, your index finger will
easily curl around the side of the unit to rest on this Side Key.
Immediately below the Function Selector and the microphone,
are two triangular holes near the outer edges of the unit. These
holes are just large enough to allow the tip of your finger to be
inserted into one of the holes to pry open the door. The door
pulls outward and toward you. It is hinged at the bottom.
The Voice Mate will speak to you in some of the various
categories when the door is opened. For example, if you are on
the Phone Book and the door is opened, it will say, "Phone Book."
When the door is closed, you will notice two raised areas on
the outside of the door near the top of the door. They are about
the size of the tip of your index finger. Between these two
raised shapes, there is a grill cut into the door which allows
the speaker to be clearly heard when the door is closed.
Chapter 2.3 Keyboard Layout.
When the door is opened, a number of additional keys will
become available. At the very top of the inside panel, you will
feel the speaker well. It is about the size of the tip of your
index finger.
Around the speaker grill are four rubber buttons. The upper
left hand button is the MENU key, the upper right hand button is
the ERASE key, the lower right hand button is the NO key, and the
lower left hand button is the YES key. The functionality of
these buttons will be described in detail in the sections to
follow.
Below these four buttons around the speaker are two keys
which serve as left and right arrow keys for most applications.
When pressed, they will allow the user to move through menu
choices.
Below the arrow keys is a standard touch tone telephone
keypad. The buttons are arranged exactly as those of any push
button telephone. From left to right they are:
Top Row = 1 2 3
Second Row = 4 5 6
Third Row = 7 8 9
Fourth Row = Star Zero Pound
The four keys around the speaker and the two arrow keys
become mathematical function keys when the calculator is being
used. The numbered keys are likewise used for telephone number
entries besides being used for the calculator numerical entries.
Chapter 2.4 Earphone Jack And Computer Port.
The earphone jack is located on the front panel near the
microphone grill. It is on the outer right hand edge of the
unit.
The computer port for backing up data and for upgrading the
software of the Voice Mate is on the opposite outer edge just
below the side key; the larger button on the upper left outer
edge of the unit.
Chapter 2.5 Back Panel Description.
Once you have determined which is the front of the unit, and
with the unit being held in its normal operating position, turn
the unit over; leaving the display part of the Voice Mate in the
upward position. There are two main features on the back panel
worth noting.
Chapter 2.6 Reset Button.
The reset memory dump button is a hidden switch so there is
no danger of accidentally dumping your memory core and losing all
recorded data. This reset button can be located by feeling for a
ridged line near the top of the back of the unit and closer to
the right edge of the unit. It is on the opposite side of the
front panel display. The rough line is engraving and indicates
the location of the hidden recessed button. The button itself is
beneath the panel surface and can only be depressed by inserting
a small pointed object into the tiny opening such as a stylus.
The tiny hole is on the right hand edge of the ridged line of
engraving. Just depressing this button, however, will still not
dump all your data in the main memory core but does return some
settings to their defaults. The clock and calendar will, for
example, need to be reset if this button is depressed. Later, I
will discuss how this reset button can be used to perform a
complete memory dump and reset.
Chapter 2.7 Location Of Battery Compartments.
Near the bottom of the back of the Voice Mate you will feel
two vertical ridges. They are near the outer edges of the unit
and feel as rough lines. They appear about 1 half inch in from
either side of the unit and they are the access openings to the
battery compartments. Battery installation will be discussed in
the next section.
CHAPTER 3 BATTERIES
In this section, we will discuss battery installation and
replacement, battery substitution, and tips on making batteries
last longer in the Voice Mate.
Chapter 3.1 Battery Compartments.
Once you have properly located the vertical grooves near the
bottom of the Voice Mate, you can insert a fingernail or the edge
of a thin coin into either of these vertical grooves and while
gently pressing downward, pry outward. If you are opening the
left side compartment, you pry to the left and if you are opening
the right side compartment, you pry to the right. I personally
just use my finger to gently pry open the battery doors. Triple
A batteries are used and if one compartment at a time is
replaced, you will not have to reset your clock and calendar
settings.
Chapter 3.2 Battery Installation.
Once you have located the battery compartments and
opened the small doors, you can insert the batteries by placing
them in the compartments with the pointed ends of the batteries
pointing downward. Be absolutely certain that the batteries are
inserted so that the points of the batteries are pointed downward
and the flat ends are pointing upward. Inserting the batteries
improperly could result in damage to the unit. The doors can be
closed by pressing firmly with your thumbs or fingers until a
click is heard which indicates the battery compartment doors have
locked in place.
Chapter 3.3 Battery Replacement.
When replacing batteries, it is best to replace one
compartment at a time. This saves the data and clock settings.
Removing all four batteries at one time, however, will not delete
your data from the main memory core.
Chapter 3.4 Battery Life.
Battery life is always based upon usage. If you use the
Voice Mate a few times each day to do nothing more than to
retrieve a telephone number, your batteries can last for several
weeks. If you use the Voice Mate hourly and record lots of memos
and appointments, your battery life is going to be considerably
reduced. Even ten days is not an unreasonable life span for
batteries with heavy usage. In the case of heavy usage by a
professional person who simply needs to use their Voice Mate a
great deal, replacement of batteries two or three times a month
would not be unusual. If, on the other hand, your batteries are
only lasting two or three days, check with the dealer from whom
you made your Voice Mate purchase for a replacement because such
battery drain is excessive and is an indication of a defective
unit. Additionally, battery life is also determined by volume
settings. If you set all your volume settings to their highest
levels, batteries will dissipate more quickly than medium or low
volume settings.
Another tip for expanding battery life is setting the Voice
Mate to the KEYBOARD LOCK mode. This will be described in detail
later in this Users Guide. The Keyboard Lock mode keeps the unit
from being accidentally bumped on when being carried in a pocket,
purse or when in its leather carrying case that is being worn on
a belt.
Chapter 3.5 Alternate Batteries.
Removable nickel cadmium rechargeable batteries can most
certainly be used in the Voice Mate but they do not have near the
life span of alkaline batteries. Nickel metal hydride batteries
can also be employed. Of course, rechargeables can be charged
many times and thus a savings can be appreciated. Keep in mind,
however, that you may not get an indication by the voice
synthesizer that your batteries are low when using rechargeables
of any kind. There are also alkaline battery rechargeables which
can be purchase from electronic stores. These batteries can be
reenergized several times before they must be discarded and are a
viable alternative.
I personally have tried different battery types and found
that the Radio Shack line of batteries seem to last the longest.
Chapter 3.6 Low Battery Announcement.
The voice synthesizer of the Voice Mate will say, "Change
the batteries," when they begin to register a low voltage
reading. This does not mean, however, that you need to
immediately change batteries. Again, this is based upon your
specific usage of the unit. If you are a heavy user, it is
recommended you change the batteries soon after you begin hearing
the low battery announcement. If you are a light to medium user,
you can go for many days before the batteries need replacement.
The lower your batteries become, the more the voice synthesizer
will prompt you to "Change the batteries." The more you hear the
warning, the sooner you should consider changing batteries. Let
me remind you again that the use of rechargeables may not always
alert you when batteries are low.
CHAPTER 4 A BRIEF VOICE MATE TOUR
Holding your Voice Mate in the palm of your right hand,
press the rubber button to the left of the microphone grill on
the front of the unit. This is the Function Selector Button. If
the Voice Mate has been allowed to turn itself off, and if you
have not touched the side switch, which is the large button in
the upper and outer left edge of the unit, or if you have not
opened the front door panel, the first press of the Function
Selector should announce, "Phone Book." A second press of the
Function Selector will say, "memo." Next you will hear,
"Appointment." Following that, the Voice Mate will say, "Clock."
Next comes, "Calculator." Another press of the function button
will announce, "Dialing Assistant." The last category to be
announced is, "Control Panel." If you press the function button
one more time, "Phone book" will be repeated and you will have
successfully cycled through all available choices.
The Function Selector button is the key you will always use
to access all the various categories available in the Voice Mate.
The Side Key is only used to retrieve and play back data and to
make recordings for addresses, memos, and appointments.
CHAPTER 5 CONTROL PANEL - CUSTOMIZING THE VOICE MATE
The Voice Mate has the capability of being programmed to
operate in ways that best fit your personal needs. Other
customization changes will be made in other menus in the various
categories but for now, let's visit the Control Panel.
Chapter 5.1 Accessing The Control Panel.
Begin pressing the Function Selector button on the front of
the Voice Mate. This is the rubber button to the left of the
microphone. If the Voice Mate has gone to sleep, the first time
you press the Function Selector button, it will say, "Phone
Book." Otherwise, you will hear any of the various categories
spoken. If you hear anything other than "Phone Book," simply
continue pressing the Function Selector button until you hear,
"Control Panel."
Chapter 5.2 Control Panel Overview.
Before going into detail, let's take a quick run through all
the menu choices which are available in the Control Panel.
To access the menu choices, once you have heard your Voice
Mate say, "Control Panel," open the door. Locate the MENU key
which is the upper left hand rubber button around the speaker
grill. Press the MENU key once and you will hear, "Volume 4."
Locate the left and right arrow keys. They appear just
below the four keys that surround the speaker. For now, we are
going to just use the right arrow key but later, once you are
familiar with the Control Panel menu choices, you can use either
arrow key to cycle to the category of your choice.
If you begin pressing the right arrow key at this point, you
are going to hear several categories spoken by the voice
synthesizer. In some cases, you will hear numbers also spoken
with words so I am going to list them exactly as they will be
spoken to you originally. In a moment, we will return to each of
these menu settings and explain them in detail. The first one,
"Volume 4," is announced the moment you press the MENU key. The
other subsequent categories are spoken as you press the right
arrow key. Here are the categories you will hear spoken.
Volume 4
Normal Help
Accessibility Mode On
Sound 1
Shut Down After 30 Seconds
Encode Mode Off
2 Training Session
Keyboard Lock Off
Send Data
Receive Data
If you press the right arrow key one more time, you will be
back to "Volume 4." Now, let me explain each of these
categories.
Chapter 5.3 Volume Setting.
If you have followed along by pressing the right arrow key,
you should have heard the voice synthesizer say, "Volume 4." To
raise the volume level, press the YES key. The YES key is the
lower left hand button around the speaker. You will hear,
"Volume 5." If you continue pressing the YES key, it will cycle
through eight levels of volume. Select the volume level you
prefer. You make your selection by doing nothing more than
pressing the right arrow key to move to the next category. So,
if you hear it say, "Volume 6," and you press the right arrow key
to move to the next category, your volume level will be set at 6.
Note. High volume settings may become distorted through the tiny
Voice Mate speaker.
Chapter 5.4 Help Mode.
Once you have selected the volume setting, press the right
arrow key. You will hear, "Normal help." If left in this mode,
all prompts will be spoken. If you press the YES key at this
point, it will toggle the Voice Mate into a less speech friendly
mode and not all prompts will be spoken by the voice synthesizer.
As a blind user, I prefer all prompts to be spoken. If you
decide to go ahead and to press the YES key, you will hear
"Discreet help." To switch it back to normal help, press the YES
key once again and the Voice Mate will confirm the change.
Chapter 5.5 Accessibility Mode.
To move to the next menu choice, press the right arrow key.
You will hear, "Accessibility mode on." Again, as a blind user,
I leave this Accessibility Mode on. If you press the YES key,
you will hear, "Accessibility mode off." This means the voice
synthesizer is turned off and the Voice Mate can then be used by
a sighted person without any voice prompts because the
information is now only available on the display screen. If you
accidentally switch this mode to off, you will most likely need a
sighted person to read the display screen to assist you in
getting back into the Control Panel to get the speech turned back
on. I have deliberately switched this Accessibility Mode to off
and allowed my Voice Mate to go to sleep in order to test my
ability to get back to where the voice synthesizer can be
switched back on. I found it nearly impossible to navigate the
Voice Mate silently and thus asked for sighted assistance.
Chapter 5.6 Voice Mate Sounds.
Pressing the right arrow key once again following the
Accessibility Mode, you will hear, "Sound 1." The Voice Mate
provides four levels of different sounds to help you hear when
keys are being pressed. Press the YES key and you will cycle
through all four sounds. The four sounds are a water drop, a
click, a hollow sound as though striking a small empty wooden
box, and a high pitched beep. Continuing to press the YES key
will allow you to not only cycle through all four sounds but the
final level of sound will say, "No sound." Of course, if left in
this mode, all key entries will be silent. Make your selection
by simply listening for the sound you prefer and leave this menu
by pressing the right arrow key to cycle to the next menu
category.
Chapter 5.7 Shut Down Mode.
The Voice Mate has no off and on switch. Touching any key
or opening the door activates the unit. Likewise, the Voice Mate
will automatically shut itself off due to inactivity after a
specified time has elapsed.
Once you have pressed the right arrow key to leave the menu
of sounds, you will hear, "Shut down after Thirty seconds." This
is the default setting. It means, if you do nothing with your
Voice Mate for 30 seconds, it will automatically shut itself off.
Repeatedly pressing the YES key allows you to cycle to 40, 60,
20, or the default setting of 30 seconds. The Voice Mate will
also fall asleep even with the door left opened. Regardless, you
pick the length of time by selecting one of these levels.
Chapter 5.8 Encode Mode.
Note. Be certain you read, and fully understand, this entire
section before attempting to activate the encode Mode.
Following the Shut Down mode, press the right arrow key once
again and you will then hear, "Encode mode off." Although it is
true that this security level of Voice Mate operation can be
turned off and on, I want to offer a strong warning. If you
decide to use a four digit PIN number, Personal Identification
Number, to lock your Voice Mate, make certain you do not forget
it. If you forget it for any reason, the Voice Mate will be
permanently locked and the only way you can get the unit back
into operation is by conducting a total memory dump. This means,
you lose absolutely everything you have recorded in your Voice
Mate.
With this in mind, pressing the YES key in the Encode Mode,
gives you two choices. The first time you press YES, you will
hear, "enter the new code and press YES." This means you can now
enter a four digit number which will serve as a password which
will in turn lock your Voice Mate. This menu also allows you to
return to this category in the Control Panel and change your
encode password (PIN number) at any time you wish.
Once you have made your four digit PIN number entry, press
the YES key and you will hear, "Encode mode on." If you press
the YES key a second time, you will hear, "Encode mode off." In
short, you can turn this Encode Mode off and on. This makes it
convenient to use the Voice Mate at home without having to enter
your password every time you pick it up because you can
deactivate the Encode Mode at any time. On the other hand, once
your PIN number is entered, you can return to this Control Panel
setting, turn the Encode Mode to on, and take your Voice Mate
anywhere with the confidence that no one can pick up your digital
organizer and gain access to your personal and private data.
Unless, of course, they know your PIN number.
When you enter the four digits, and if you have not set your
Voice Mate sounds to No Sounds, the numbers will beep each time
the numeric keys are pressed. If you think you've made a
mistake, just press the YES key until it prompts you to enter a
new PIN number. The reason the numbers do not speak as you enter
them is to provide another level of security that allows you to
make PIN number changes without anyone in the room hearing your
password.
If you leave the Encode Mode set to off, you will have to
return to this menu to turn it on. You turn it on by pressing
the YES key. You will hear, "Enter the new code and press YES."
You will have to enter your current PIN number, or a new PIN
number at this point. Press the YES key and you will hear,
"Encode mode on" which is what you heard the first time. This
action of entering your current PIN number, or a new PIN number,
each time you access the Encode Mode menu, automatically switches
the Encode Mode on once the YES key is pressed. A second press
of the YES key turns the Encode Mode off.
When you have encoded the four digital password, or PIN
number, into your Voice Mate, and the unit is allowed to turn
itself off, that is, allowed to go to sleep, the unit will be
locked with your PIN number. When you pick up the unit and touch
either the record Side Key, or the Function Selector button on
the front of the unit, or when you open the door, the voice
synthesizer will prompt you for your password. You will hear,
"Enter your PIN code and press YES." Then, open the door and
enter your four digit PIN number and press YES. The unit will
then be fully functional. Once the Voice Mate goes to sleep
again, however, you will need to reenter your PIN number each and
every time to unlock the unit.
Chapter 5.9 Training Sessions.
Following the Encode Mode, press the right arrow to move to
the next menu category. You will hear, "Two training session."
There are two Training sessions available. You toggle between
the two training sessions by pressing the YES key. You will
hear, "Two training session," or you will hear, "One training
session."
The Training Sessions are used in voice recognition. When
we enter a phone number, for example, under a person's name, you
will see how this works. If you switch this Training Session
setting to level 1, you will not be prompted to repeat a person's
name a second time upon making a Phone Book entry. For now, I
would recommend you leave this setting on level 2. Later, once
you become familiar with voice recognition techniques, you may
prefer to return to this Control Panel setting to change it.
Chapter 5.10 Keyboard Lock.
Keyboard Lock mode is the next category following the Encode
Mode. You get there by simply pressing the right arrow key once
again. You will hear, "Keyboard lock off." Pressing the YES key
toggles this feature off and on. If you turn it on by pressing
the YES key, you must first allow the Voice Mate to fall asleep
before the Keyboard Lock feature is enabled. Once the unit has
turned itself off, it cannot be accidentally turned on by bumping
the large Side Key button or the front panel Function Selector.
The Keyboard Lock feature keeps the Voice Mate from being
accidentally turned on when these buttons are touched and thus it
saves on battery life. This feature is especially useful if you
carry your Voice Mate in it's leather carrying case on your belt,
in a purse or a pocket.
When using the Keyboard Lock feature, all you need to do to
switch the Voice Mate on is to open the door. Then all functions
are available again.
Chapter 5.11 Sending And Receiving Data.
Following the Keyboard Lock category, we have two remaining
categories. By pressing the right arrow key, you will first
hear, "Send data," and then a final press of the right arrow key
announces, "Receive data." These settings are used when the
Windows based backup and flashrom software is in use.
Chapter 5.12 Additional Notes On The Control Panel.
If you press the right arrow key one more time, following
the data send and receive modes, you will be back to the volume
settings category.
Note.
In this section, I have been telling you to press the right
arrow key each time. However, now that you are familiar with
these categories, you can use either the left or right arrow keys
to cycle through the menu choices.
Note.
Keep in mind the YES key is generally used to toggle off and
on different features or to advance through additional settings
in a given menu choice.
Note.
Closing the Voice Mate door at any time, while in the
Control Panel, will save any changes you have made.
Chapter 5.13 Checking For Available Memory.
When your Voice Mate door is closed, you can move over to
the Control Panel by pressing the front panel Function Selector
button to the left of the microphone. Rapidly clicking the Side
Key twice announces the available memory still for use. You will
hear, "99 percent of free memory," spoken by the voice
synthesizer. This percentage figure will decrease as you use
more of your memory.
CHAPTER 6 THE CLOCK AND CALENDAR
Holding the Voice Mate in the palm of your hand, press the
Function Selector button to the left of the microphone on the
front of the unit until you hear it say "Clock." Open the door
and you will hear, "To change the time, press 1. To change the
alarm press 2. To turn the alarm on, press 3." If you leave the
door open, this prompt will continue to repeat until you make a
choice or until the Voice Mate goes to sleep.
Chapter 6.1 Setting The Time And Date.
To set the time, press 1. The first time you do this, you
will hear, "To use the twelve hour clock press 1. If you want to
use the 24 hour clock, press 2." Make your choice. Pressing 1,
for example, prompts you to enter the date. You will hear,
"Enter the date and press YES." The date entry should be two
digits for the month, two digits for the day and four digits for
the year. For example, the date of January 18, 2000 should be
entered, using the numeric keypad, as 01182000.
Following the entry of the date, press YES. You will then
hear, "Enter the time and press YES." For example, 8:00 o'clock
in the morning would be entered as 0800 and pressing the zero key
once again will announce "A.M." A second press of the zero key
will announced "P.M." Make your choice and conclude the entry by
pressing the YES key. If your sounds are still turned on, you
will hear a beep when the YES key is pressed which confirms the
setting of the date and time is complete.
Chapter 6.2 Setting The Alarm.
When the Voice Mate has been advanced to where it says,
"Clock," you can open the door and press 2 on the numeric keypad
and enter the time you wish the alarm to sound. For example, if
you want the alarm to sound at 08:15 in the morning, enter 0815
and press the zero key until it says A.M. and then conclude by
pressing the YES key. The alarm is not only set, at this point,
but it is in the ON mode and will sound at that time every 24
hours unless you enter the clock mode and turn the alarm off.
Chapter 6.3 Checking Current Time And Date.
Clicking twice rapidly on the large Side Key when the Voice
Mate is on the clock category, announces current time and date.
This is true when the door is closed or opened. Once the alarm
has been set, or switched to the on mode, when clicking twice
rapidly on the Side Key, you will hear announced, the current
time, the current date, the day of the week, and the time of the
alarm setting. If the alarm is off, clicking the side key twice
in the clock mode will only announce current time and date.
Chapter 6.4 Turning The Alarm Off.
Turning the alarm off is as easy as going to the clock mode
by pressing the front panel Function Selector, opening the door,
and pressing 3 on the numeric keypad.
Chapter 6.5 Alarm Application.
The alarm plays a song for about forty seconds. If you
click the Side Key while the song is playing, it silences the
music. If, on the other hand, you allow the music to play
through without clicking the side switch to silence the music,
the alarm song will play again in another five minutes and again
five minutes beyond that before shutting off. For example, set
the alarm for 8 o'clock in the morning. When the alarm sounds,
do not silence it by touching the side switch but allow the music
to conclude playing. At 8:05 the alarm will play the song again
and then at 08:10 it will play one final time. Keep in mind,
however, the alarm is still set for that time and 24 hours later
will play again at that same alarm time you have set. As
previously stated, to completely turn the alarm off, you will
have to press 3 on the numeric keypad. You will hear, "Alarm
off."
Chapter 6.6 Changing The Time And Date.
The next time you open the door on the clock, you will
hear the same prompts you heard the first time you set the date
and time. However, this time, when you press 1 to set the clock,
you will not be asked to press 1 for a 12 hour clock or 2 for a
24 hour clock. This is because you have previously made your
choice.
When you press 1, you will be prompted to set the date. If
you wish to maintain the current date which you have previously
set, simply press the YES key. If you need to change the date,
you may do so at this point. Once your entry is made, or once
you have pressed the YES key, You will then be prompted to enter
the new time. You can either change the time at this point, by
entering four digits, or if you wish to maintain the current
time, simply press the YES key.
Chapter 6.7 Date Formats.
When opening the door to make clock changes, you can press
the MENU key and you will hear, "A.M. P.M. hour format." This is
true if you are currently in the 12 hour clock mode. If, on the
other hand, you originally chose the 24 hour clock mode, and you
press the clock MENU key, you will hear, "24 hour format. To
change to either format, simply press the YES key and the change
will be announced.
Once the MENU key has been pressed, you can then press the
right arrow key for additional clock features. You will first
hear, either "U S date format" or "International date format."
This is based upon which mode you originally picked while
configuring the clock. You can then press the YES key and toggle
between the U S date format and the International date format
modes. The U S Date Format mode displays the date as month, day,
and year. The International Date Format displays the date as
day, month and year. This date format only appears on the
display. The voice synthesizer, on the other hand, always speaks
the date as day, month and year.
Chapter 6.8 Clock Volume Settings.
Pressing the right arrow key following the date format
announcement, you will hear, "Volume 4." 4 is the default volume
setting for the alarm. To increase the volume, press the YES
key. The music of the alarm immediately begins to play which
allows you to sample the desired volume level. Continue to press
the YES key and the music will replay from the beginning with
more volume. You can cycle through all eight levels of alarm
volume settings by continuing to press the YES key until you
reach the volume level you prefer.
Note. Closing the door of the Voice Mate at any time finalizes
any changes you have made.
CHAPTER 7 THE PHONE BOOK
The Voice Mate Phone Book provides the user with a wide
variety of application. For example, you can save multiple
telephone numbers under a single name, you can have your Voice
Mate dial any of these phone numbers for you by holding the unit
up to the telephone mouthpiece and allowing the touch tones to be
played into the telephone, you can have the telephone numbers
announced so you can hear the number itself, and you can even
record address information relative to the person associated with
the telephone numbers. The most powerful aspect of the Voice
Mate Phone Book is the retrieval of the data using voice
recognition. You simply speak the person's name, and their phone
number and address is quickly retrieved.
Chapter 7.1 Customizing The Phone Book.
The first thing we need to do is to configure the Phone Book
so we can record as many phone numbers under one name as
possible. We do this by using the Phone Book MENU key.
Begin by pressing the front panel Function Selector button,
the rubber button just to the left of the microphone, until you
hear, "Phone Book." Then open the door and press the MENU key.
This is the upper left hand button around the speaker.
The first thing you will hear when pressing the MENU key is
"Modify the phone numbers." This will be explained in detail
later. For now, use the right arrow key and cycle through all
the menu changes which are available in this menu mode. Here is
a list of all you will hear spoken.
Modify The Phone Numbers
Re-record The Address
Re-record The Name
Home Number Off
Fax Number Off
Work Number Off
Cellular Phone Number Off
Other Number Off
Address On
DTMF Volume 4
Dialing Speed 5
A final press of the right arrow key returns you to the
first heading and you will hear, "Modify the phone numbers."
Once you are familiar with these selections, you can use either
the right or left arrow keys to cycle through the list of
categories.
Chapter 7.11 Phone Numbers And The Address Field.
As you heard, all the additional phone numbers available to
us in the Phone Book Menu were turned off. We need to turn them
on, in case we wish to record numbers in these categories, and we
do this by using the YES key. The default telephone entry,
however, the first phone number recorded under any person's name,
is always switched on. We are simply going to turn on all other
available phone number categories in case we need them in the
future.
In case your Voice Mate has gone to sleep, let's review.
With the door opened on the Phone Book, begin by first pressing
the MENU key. You will hear, "Modify the phone numbers." Begin
pressing the right arrow key. The first two presses of the right
arrow key will announce, "Re-record the address," and "Re-record
the name." The next press of the arrow key will announce, "Home
number off." Press the YES key and you will hear, "Home number
on." Press the right arrow key and you will hear, "Fax number
off." Press the YES key and you will hear, "Fax number on."
Repeat this process through all the additional phone number
categories; turning them on with the YES key.
After each phone number has been turned on, another press of
the right arrow key will announce, "Address on." I am assuming
you will want to leave this set to ON. If, however, you later
wish to turn the address field off, simply return to this part of
the Phone Book Menu, and press the YES key to toggle it off.
"You will hear, "Address off."
Chapter 7.12 Setting The DTMF Volume.
The DTMF Volume is related to the touch tones and how loud
they will be played through the speaker. Pressing the right
arrow key following the address field, you will hear, "DTMF
volume 4." Now, press the YES key and you will hear a sample of
the touch tones at the volume level of 4. Continue pressing the
YES button and the tones will be repeated but with increasing
volume levels. Eventually you will hear, "Dialing volume off."
If you prefer the touch tones not to be played each time you
retrieve a phone number when you click twice on the Side Key, you
would leave this setting to the off mode. However, if you want
the tones to play so you can dial numbers, continue to press the
YES key and the sample tones will continue to play but at this
point they will be at a lower volume setting. Continue to press
the YES key until you find the volume you prefer. Louder volume
settings work the best for dialing phone numbers. Settings too
high, however, will result in some distortion of the tones which
may cause false readings by the telephone system.
Chapter 7.13 The Dialing Speed.
Once you have decided on a DTMF volume setting, simply press
the right arrow key and you will hear, "Dialing speed 5." The
Voice Mate can be set to dial the touch tones at speeds on eight
different levels. Pressing the YES key will offer a sample of
the tones and if you continue pressing the YES key, you will be
able to advance through all eight speed levels. Higher speed
settings are sometimes difficult to be heard by the telephone so
lower and mid-range settings are suggested.
Once you have made your selection of a dialing speed, simply
close the door and your changes will be saved and you will be
ready to begin making phone entries.
Chapter 7.2 Recording Phone Book Entries.
You can record hundreds of telephone numbers in your Voice
Mate and retrieve them by simply speaking the name you used to
record an entry. For example, hold the unit three or four inches
away from your lips and hold down the Side Key, which is the
large button on the upper left hand outer edge of the unit, and
speak "John Anderson" into the microphone. If this is the first
time you have ever recorded a Phone Book entry, or if the Voice
Mate does not think you are trying to match "John Anderson" with
a previous entry in the Phone Book, it will prompt you by saying,
"I don't know John Anderson." Even if this prompt is not spoken
for some reason, you can open the door. When the door is opened,
You will hear, "Would you like to record John Anderson?" Press
the YES key which is the button in the lower left hand corner
around the speaker. The Voice Mate then says, "Repeat John
Anderson." Hold down the Side Key and repeat "John Anderson."
You then will hear, "Enter the telephone number and press YES."
At this point, you enter the phone number by using the numeric
keypad and press YES just as you are prompted. If you are
recording a long distance number, you would, of course, start
with the 1. The numbers will be spoken as you enter them. If
you make a mistake while entering a single digit, you can press
the ERASE key which will delete the digit you have just pressed
incorrectly. The ERASE key is the button in the upper right hand
corner around the speaker. Then re-enter the correct digit and
continue. If you later discover you have made other errors while
entering the phone number, you can edit the entire phone number
at any time. This procedure will be discussed later in detail.
Remember to press the YES key when finished entering the phone
number. Overseas phone numbers are entered in the same manner.
The first phone number you enter becomes the default entry.
That is, each time the person's name is used to retrieve any of
their phone numbers, this number is the first to be displayed and
made available for immediate access. So, the first number you
record, should be the one you plan on using the most when dialing
this person.
Once you have finished entering this first phone number and
the YES button has been pressed, you will hear, "Enter the fax
number and press YES." If they have a fax number, you may enter
it at this time. If not, press the YES key and you will hear,
"Enter the home number and press YES." Again, if you have a home
number to enter, do so at this time. If not, press the YES key
and you will hear, "Enter the work number and press YES." Make
your entry or, if you have no number to enter, press the YES key.
The next available phone entry will say, "Enter the cellular
phone number and press YES." Follow the same procedure as before
and press YES. You will hear, "Enter the other number and press
YES." This field, for example, could be used to enter a pager
number.
When you've finished entering phone numbers and press the
YES key once again, you will hear, "Press the side key and record
the address for John Anderson." The last part, "John Anderson,"
is a playback of your own voice which is the entry you began with
originally. At this point, press the Side Key, the large button
on the upper and outer left edge of the Voice Mate and while
holding the switch down, speak the address you wish to record for
John Anderson. Upon releasing the record button, you will hear,
"John Anderson has been recorded." Again, the first part of
this, that is, "John Anderson," is a playback of your own voice
as you originally recorded it. You now have successfully
concluded a Phone Book entry. This same procedure is used any
time you wish to add a new person to your phone book.
Chapter 7.3 Phone Book Data Retrieval.
If your Voice Mate has gone to sleep, press the front panel
Function Selector button until you hear, "Phone Book." Hold down
the Side Key and speak, "John Anderson," into the microphone.
Your first entry should automatically be retrieved and you will
hear your own voice repeating the original entry. This means the
Voice Mate has matched the entry using voice recognition. The
phone number of John Anderson will also be automatically spoken
to you by the voice synthesizer at this time. To stop the voice
synthesizer from speaking the entire number, just quickly click
the Side Key once and the voice will be silenced. You are,
however, still on "John Anderson."
If you wish to now dial this number, click the side key
twice quickly and the touch tones will play through the speaker.
Before clicking the Side Key to play the touch tones into the
phone, I recommend you first hold the Voice Mate up to the
telephone mouth piece as the voice synthesizer is reciting the
phone number. If you keep your ear to the earpiece of the
telephone while the Voice Mate is speaking the digits, you can
easily hear when the speaker is positioned properly, with the
loudest volume, over the mouthpiece. When the voice synthesizer
is playing its loudest into the telephone mouthpiece, quickly
click the side key twice and the touch tones will begin to play
and the number will be dialed for you.
If you wish to retrieve other phone numbers, such as the fax
number or cellular phone number of this person, open the door and
press the left and right arrow keys and you will move back and
forth in the various Phone Book fields for this person including
the address you may have recorded for them. Each press of the
arrow key will identify the type of phone number and the voice
synthesizer will likewise speak that number. When you have
located the phone number you desire, click the Side Key twice and
it will play the touch tones of that number.
Chapter 7.4 Modifying Phone Numbers.
To make any modifications or additions to a Phone Book
entry, retrieve that entry by speaking the person's name as
described above.
Let's say you have a couple of dozen names already recorded
but you want to retrieve and change something under the name
"John Anderson." Cycle to the Phone Book and hold down the Side
Key and speak "John Anderson" into the microphone. Open the door
and you will likely hear, "Would you like to memorize John
Anderson?" This occurs because the Voice Mate thinks you may be
attempting to record a new entry. Of course, in this case, you
are not, so press the NO key which is the lower right hand key
around the speaker. If your sounds are turned on, you will hear
a beep when the NO key has been pressed. You are now ready to
make changes to this entry.
Chapter 7.41 Erasing And Correcting Phone Numbers.
Press the MENU key which is the upper left hand key around
the speaker and you will hear, "Modify the phone numbers." This
is the menu choice you use if you wish to change a phone number
under this person's name or when you wish to add a new number.
Once you have pressed the MENU key and heard it say, "Modify
the phone numbers," press the YES key and you will hear, "Enter
the telephone number and press YES." Immediately after the word
"YES," you will hear spoken the first digit of the telephone
number you recorded as the default phone number for this person.
You can use the right and left arrow keys to move through this
number and each number will be spoken as the arrow keys are
pressed when moving backwards and forwards. The left arrow moves
back one digit at a time and the right arrow key moves forward
one digit at a time. When you have passed beyond the first digit
or the last, and if your sounds are still turned on, you will
hear it beep; indicating the beginning, or end of that telephone
number.
At this point, and in my opinion, the best way of changing
an incorrect phone number is by pressing the ERASE Key which is
the upper right hand key around the speaker. If, for example,
you have entered a seven digit telephone number, you can press
the ERASE key seven times which removes all the numbers in that
field. You do not need to be at the beginning of the phone
number to begin erasing numbers. If it is a seven digit number,
regardless of where you are in the number, seven presses of the
ERASE key will remove all seven digits. To check to see if all
numbers have been removed, press the left and right arrow keys.
If you have your sounds turned on, you will hear nothing but
beeps from the arrow keys and no digits will be spoken. If you
hear a digit spoken, you will know that not all the numbers have
been erased. Continue this process of cycling between the ERASE
key and the right and left arrow keys until all numbers are
erased. Then simply enter the new number and press the YES key
to complete the entry. As I said, I believe this is the best
way, although not the only way, of modifying a telephone number
you have entered previously but now want to change.
Chapter 7.42 Entering A New Phone Number.
Pressing the YES key following the example above, you will
hear, "Enter the fax number and press YES." If you have not
recorded any number in this field, no digit will be spoken. If
you have already recorded a fax number in this field, the first
digit will be spoken just as it was for the original telephone
entry just described. If you wish to enter a fax number for the
first time at this point, you can do so and conclude the entry by
pressing the YES key. The YES key saves any changes made and
allows you to proceed to each of the available Phone Book fields.
When you've reached the end of the available Phone Book
entry fields, you will hear, "John Anderson has been recorded."
This means, any changes or additions you have made are now
complete. If you made no changes, it still says the same thing
just to let you know the procedures are now concluded.
Note. You can close the door at any time during these procedures
and nothing will have been changed to any Phone Book entries. In
short, closing the door is a way of canceling any actions you may
have taken at any given moment. If, however, you pressed the YES
key at any time on any Phone Book entry field, closing the door
will not cancel that change. It will, in fact, be an entry that
has been saved.
Note. If you left any phone number entry fields turned off
during the configuration of the Voice Mate, those will not be
available to change or modify in this section. You can always go
back to that section of the phone book, however, and turn those
phone entries on at any time.
Chapter 7.5 Modifying The Address Field.
When you have retrieved the Phone Book entry you desire,
open the door and press the MENU key which is the upper left hand
key around the speaker. You will hear, "Modify the phone
numbers." This is the section we just discussed. Now press the
right arrow key once and you will hear, "Re-record the address."
Now, press the YES key and you will hear, "Press the side key,
and re-record the address of John Anderson." The "John Anderson"
will be your own voice as you have spoken it originally for this
given entry. If you press the Side Key and hold it down, you
then can record a new address entry for this person." When you
release the Side Key, you will hear, "John Anderson has been
recorded." This indicates the change you have just made is
complete.
Chapter 7.6 Modifying The Name.
As you enter additional names, phone numbers, and addresses
in your Voice Mate, you may discover similar names or you may
discover that the voice recognition software is matching the
wrong entry. When this occurs, you can go back into the Phone
Book and press the MENU key. As you have already seen, the first
menu choice you hear after pressing the MENU key in the Phone
Book is, "Modify the phone numbers." If you press the right
arrow key a second time, you will hear, "Re-record the address."
This is what we just discussed in the above example. A third
touch of the right arrow key announces, "Re-record the name." If
you now press the YES key, you will hear, "Press the side key and
repeat John Anderson." The "John Anderson" you hear is your own
voice because it is playing back the original recording you made
when initially recording this entry. The next step is to do
exactly as prompted. Hold down the Side Key and record this
person's name again. You then are prompted a second time to
repeat your entry recording. This is because you have left the
training sessions in the Control Panel to level 2. If you change
this later to level 1, you will not hear this second prompt to
re-enter the person's name as a Phone Book entry.
When it comes to re-entering names, you may, for example,
elect to change John Anderson to Jonathan Anderson, Jack
Anderson, or Anderson, John. You could even include a middle
name or initial. The key is to make each entry somewhat unique
to afford the voice recognition software the best opportunity to
make a match during the recognition process. Keep in mind, your
Voice Mate listens for a total of three seconds when you are
making the initial recording. Using first and last names,
therefore, helps a great deal to match entries in the Phone Book.
To expand on this idea, let's say you happen to have three
entries with the last name of "Anderson." You might use any
number of different recorded entries, at this point, to
differentiate this "Anderson" from the others in your Phone Book.
This would especially be true if you had a Jim, John, and Joe
Anderson listed in your Phone Book. Attempting to make these
first names sound differently is a key to making voice
recognition work to your advantage. Specific tips on exactly how
to use voice recognition more efficiently will be discussed
later.
Chapter 7.7 Turning Phone Numbers Off And On.
If you return to the MENU key and arrow past the point just
discussed, you will return to the section of the Phone Book where
you can turn phone numbers off and on. This means if you elect
to now turn some numbers off (a fax number for example), the fax
field will no longer be available in any new entries you try to
record for a new person in your Phone Book. However, anyone you
have recorded using the fax field before this point will still be
available. I recommend that you turn on all the phone numbers
and leave them on in case at some time in the future that field
is needed. If you simply press the YES key on each phone number
field without entering phone numbers, they are not announced when
looking up phone numbers later. So it is better, in my opinion,
to leave each phone number field turned on for the reasons
already stated.
Chapter 7.8 Locating Phone Numbers.
Eventually, you will have dozens of names recorded in your
Phone Book with dozens, perhaps hundreds, of telephone numbers.
Although, as mentioned, voice recognition techniques will be
discussed in detail later in this Users Guide, you should be
aware that voice recognition isn't perfect and there is no
guarantee you will obtain a perfect match each and every time you
speak someone's name into the Voice Mate. Fortunately, as you
become familiar with voice recognition techniques, you will find
the Voice Mate making more and more matches the first time you
speak. Until that time, however, the Voice Mate provides an
additional method of locating entries in your Phone Book in the
event you are unable to retrieve an entry by voice command.
Once your Voice Mate announces you are in the Phone Book,
open the door and using the left and right arrow keys, you can
move rapidly through Phone Book entries. This will include, of
course, all Phone Book entries including recorded addresses and
all telephone numbers recorded under each person's name. If your
Phone Book is large, this may take time, but you will be able to
locate the data you want using this method.
Chapter 7.9 Deleting Phone Book Entries.
Either recall the entry by voice recognition or open the
door when on the Phone Book and use the arrow keys to locate the
entries. Press the ERASE key on each entry you wish to delete
and follow the voice prompts.
When you press the ERASE key, it will prompt you by
announcing which phone number type you are on. For example, if
it is the default, or original phone number you entered, it will
say, "To delete John Anderson telephone number, press YES." If
you are on the home number, the fax number, or any of the other
phone number types, it will inform you of which you are about to
delete.
Deleting the address field works the same way as a phone
number. For example, if you press the ERASE key on the address
field of an entry of Jim Smith, you will hear, "To delete the
address of Jim Smith, press YES." If you change your mind and
wish to cancel the deletion process, simply press the NO key.
You must delete entries one at a time, including the address
field, because there is no method to date whereby you can erase a
complete entry all at one time. Each individual deletion,
however, is confirmed by the voice synthesizer following the
press of the YES key.
CHAPTER 8 Memo Pad
The Voice Mate provides a simple-to-use electronic Memo Pad
for recording notes quickly and easily. The memo features of the
Voice Mate make it possible to modify, edit, insert text, delete
text, and append to preexisting memos. Even the date and time is
stamped on each memo to make it possible to be reminded of such
things as when you last took a medication or paid a bill.
Maintaining a shopping or grocery list for a blind person has
never been easier than with the Voice Mate Memo Pad. Each memo
is numbered so you can cycle through entries effortlessly and you
can just as quickly delete individual memos. There is even a
provision whereby all memos can be deleted with a single
keystroke.
Chapter 8.1 Recording A Memo.
Press the Function Selector button to the left of the
microphone on the front panel of the Voice Mate until you hear,
"Memo" spoken by the voice synthesizer. Hold down the Side Key
and while holding the record button down, speak the following
three to four inches away from the microphone: "This is memo
test number one." Release the Side Key and you will hear, "Your
memo has been recorded." Hold down the Side Key a second time
and speak the following into the microphone: "This is memo test
number two." You will be told once again that your memo has
been recorded. Now, press the Side Key a third time and speak
the following: "This is memo test number three."
Chapter 8.2 Replaying Memos.
If you use the front panel selector button to the left of
the microphone to move to the Memo Pad, you can click twice
rapidly on the side key and your last memo will play. You will
hear, in this case the voice synthesizer say, "Last Memo,
recorded at..." and the time and date of the memo will be spoken.
Immediately following the date and time of the memo, the actual
memo you recorded will play. If you are following the example
given in this section, you will hear yourself say, "This is memo
test number three."
Chapter 8.3 Reviewing All Memos.
Once you hear your Voice Mate announce you are on the Memo
Pad, open the door. The left and right arrow keys allow you to
cycle through all recorded memos. If you begin using the right
arrow key, the Voice Mate will announce, "Memo number 1.
Recorded at..." and the date and time will then be spoken
relative to the time the memo was recorded. Of course, the memo
itself immediately plays. Pressing the right arrow key a second
time takes you to the second memo recorded and so on. The left
arrow key takes you backwards in the numerical sequence of
recorded memos. Memo numbers are, of course, announced in
reverse order when using the left arrow key.
Chapter 8.4 Deleting A Memo.
Using the arrow keys, locate any memo. Press the ERASE key
which is the upper right hand key around the speaker. You will
hear, "to delete your memo, press YES." If you press the YES
key, you will hear, "Your memo has been deleted." If you have
changed your mind and do not want to delete the memo, press the
NO key, the lower right hand key around the speaker, and the
function will be canceled and your memo will not be deleted.
The method used to delete all memos will be discussed later
in this section.
Chapter 8.5 Memo Menu Features.
There are three basic memo features. They deal with edit
types, recording modes, and deleting all memos collectively.
Chapter 8.51 Edit Types.
Open the door on the Memo Pad, and press the MENU key. You
will hear, "Edit type, long." This means that the date and time
is being spoken for each memo. It also means that each memo is
assigned a sequential number: 1, 2, 3, and so on. Sometimes, if
you have several memos to sort, you may not wish to be bothered
listening to the date and time announced for each and every memo
you have recorded. If you press the YES key again, you will
hear, "Edit type, short." This simply means no date and time
will be spoken with any memos. Likewise, the numbers of each
memo are no longer spoken.
Again, as with many other menu functions, the YES key is a
toggle and allows you to turn the LONG and SHORT editing types
off and on. The voice synthesizer, as with all Voice Mate
functions, speaks the changes when the keys are pressed.
Chapter 8.52 Recording Modes.
Once you have opened the door on the Memo Pad and pressed
the MENU key, the Voice Mate announces which edit type you are
currently using. If you made no changes at this point, it first
will say, "Edit type, long." Otherwise, it announces the short
method is being used. Press the right arrow key once and you
will hear, "Normal recording."
The Voice Mate provides two types of recording modes. The
default is NORMAL. This means, when you depress the Side Key to
record, it will only record as long as you keep the button
depressed. The moment you release the Side Key, the recording
stops.
If you press the YES key when you hear "Normal recording,"
you will hear the Voice Mate say, "Continuous recording." This
means, when the Side Key is clicked once, the Voice Mate will
record continuously until you click the Side Key a second time.
This mode is useful when wishing to do a HANDS FREE recording
that may last for an extended period of time. Again, the YES key
is a toggle which allows you to switch this mode to the desired
recording mode. Generally, most people find it better to use
their Voice Mate in the NORMAL RECORDING mode in case they
accidentally bump the side key and discover an hour later that
their entire memory base has been depleted by recording one very
long memo.
Chapter 8.53 Deleting All Memos.
In the Memo Pad, if the MENU key is pressed, as was already
stated, the Voice Mate speaks the current editing type you have
chosen. Pressing the right arrow key announces the recording
mode you have selected. A final press of the right arrow key
says, "Delete all memos." If you now press the YES key, you will
hear, "To delete your memo, press YES." Although this is the
same prompt you hear when deleting a single memo, in this case,
since you have already selected "Delete all memos," by arrowing
to it, now pressing YES will in fact delete all recorded memos
regardless of how many there may be.
If you press the YES key when prompted to delete all memos,
you will hear, "Memory cleaning. Please wait." Be absolutely
certain that you do not press any keys during the memory cleaning
process regardless of how long it takes. If you only have two or
three memos recorded, it will take only a second or two to purge
the memo memory bank. If, on the other hand, you have several
dozen memos recorded, the memory cleaning may take several
seconds. Again, do not touch any other key on the Voice Mate
during this time. An accidental key press during the memory
cleaning process could result in a memory lock and thus disabling
the unit. When the memory cleaning is concluded, you will hear,
"End of memory cleaning. Please press a key to continue." At
this point, you may press any key on the keypad and the Voice
Mate will be ready to be used again for any function.
Note. Accidentally pressing a key during the time your Voice
Mate is performing a memory clean, causes an invalid command to
be sent to the processor and can cause false data to be executed.
This could result in a total system shut down and a loss of all
recorded data.
Chapter 8.6 Memo Pad Editing Features And Keys.
The Voice Mate functions as an enhanced tape recorder but
with all the ease of digital editing. You can delete and
undelete, append, and insert text to any memo. You can pause,
rewind or fast forward just as though you were using a tape
recorder and all with minimal keystrokes.
When the Voice Mate door is opened on the Memo Pad, the
bottom two rows of keys on the keypad become function keys for
recording and editing. Here is the assignment of each key.
7 = Replace And Insert
8 = Delete
9 = Undelete
Star = Rewind
0 = Pause And Play
Pound = Fast Forward
Chapter 8.61 Memo Pause.
Record a memo by holding down the Side Key and saying the
following: "This is a test of the Voice Mate." I suggest you
get used to holding the Side Key down a little longer whenever
recording anything with the Voice Mate. It helps make for a
better recording, especially when trying to edit memos, but it
also provides a better sounding entry when recording names for
Phone Book entries.
When you have made your test memo recording, click the Side
Key twice rapidly to play it back. Now, open the door and press
the zero key. What you have recorded for a memo is then played
back again but without the date and time stamp. This is
assuming, of course, you have left the Memo Pad in the LONG memo
type setting. If, on the other hand, you leave your Voice Mate
in the SHORT memo type mode, it never speaks the date and time
stamp of the memo regardless of keys you press.
If you press the zero key at any time during playback, the
recording will pause. Pressing the PAUSE again, that is, the
zero key, will allow the memo recording to continue.
Chapter 8.62 Memo Rewind.
Play the memo again by pressing the zero key and when it
concludes, press the star "*" key. You will hear the memo being
played backwards.
Chapter 8.63 Memo Fast Forward.
Now, press the POUND key which is in the lower right hand
corner of the keypad; just under the 9 key. This key is
sometimes also called the HASH or the NUMBER key. When pressed,
you will hear your memo played in the fast forward mode.
Chapter 8.64 Deleting Text.
Press the zero key to hear the recorded memo play. Keep
your finger on the zero key and be ready to press it a second
time to pause the memo playback. Press the pause button after
you hear, "This is a test..." At this point, the memo is halted
and the Voice Mate is waiting for a new command, so let's delete
the remainder of the text.
Press the 8 key, which is the Voice Mate's delete key in the
Memo Pad, and you will hear played the remainder of the memo we
have already recorded. In this case, you will hear, following
the press of the 8 key, "of the Voice Mate." Now, without
touching any other key, press the YES button. This will cause
the memo to replay from the beginning but this time you will
notice that the phrase, "of the Voice Mate" is no longer a part
of our memo because it has been deleted.
Chapter 8.65 Undelete Or Abort.
If, when you pressed the 8 key to delete a part of the memo
and suddenly realize it was not what you wanted to do, simply
press the 9 key and it will undelete or literally the action will
be aborted and no changes will have been made.
Chapter 8.66 Text Replace.
Press the zero key to allow the memo to play but keep your
finger on the zero key to pause the memo before it concludes
playing. If you are still following along in the example offered
in this section, you will hear, "This is a test..." and press the
zero key immediately following the word TEST in order to pause
the memo. The Voice Mate is now waiting for a new command.
Press the 7 key. You will hear, "Replace." Now, hold down the
Side Key and speak the following into the microphone: "of the
Voice Mate." You can either click the Side Key twice to replay
the edited memo or the zero key. You now will hear that we have
restored what we recorded originally, that is, "This is a test of
the Voice Mate."
Chapter 8.67 Text Insert.
Let's now use what we have already recorded as a memo and
insert some additional text. Our memo reads as, "this is a test
of the Voice Mate." We are going to insert new text between
"This is a test" and "of the Voice Mate."
Press the zero key to begin playing the memo. Keep your
finger on the zero key and press it again following the word
TEST. The Voice Mate is now on hold and is waiting for a new
command. Press the 7 key. If you hear, "Replace," press it once
again until you hear it say, "Insert." Then, hold down the Side
Key and speak the following into the microphone: "Using the
insert feature." When you release the Side Key, the text will be
recorded and inserted. Now, to see if it worked, click the Side
Key twice rapidly and listen to the memo. You will hear, "This
is a test using the memo insert feature of the Voice Mate."
Chapter 8.68 Appending Text.
The append feature isn't any different than the replace
feature described earlier. Simply play any memo using the zero
key and hit the zero again to pause at the end of the recorded
memo. Press the Side Key and speak into the microphone. What
you speak will be appended to the end of that memo using this
method.
Chapter 8.69 Cutting Text.
Using our example, press the zero key and allow the message
to play. The new memo says, "this is a test using the memo
feature of the Voice Mate." We are now going to cut one word
from this memo.
Replay the memo by pressing zero and press the zero again
immediately after the word INSERT. The word we are going to cut
from the memo is the word FEATURE. If you pressed the zero key
immediately after the word INSERT, the Voice Mate is now waiting
for a new command. To delete a block of text, the 8 key is used.
Yes, that is the delete key which was demonstrated earlier. In
this example, once you have press the zero key to pause the memo
immediately following the word INSERT, you then press the 8 key
and the memo will begin to play. Keep your finger on the 8 and
once the word FEATURE has been spoken, immediately press the 8
key again. Now, click the Side Key twice to replay the memo.
You will notice the word FEATURE has been removed from the memo.
Chapter 8.610 Final Editing Notes.
The editing features take some practice. I suggest you make
up memos of your own and practice these various editing features
until you become used to their application for your individual
needs. Some you may never use while others may prove helpful for
various applications.
CHAPTER 9 APPOINTMENT BOOK
One of the most practical aspects of the Voice Mate is the
Appointment Book. Because of its nature, it can also be the most
complicated.
The Parrot Voice Mate software design team has enhanced the
Appointment Book to include a wide range of features to make it
flexible enough to cover nearly any form of appointment reminders
required. This includes appointments which can be retrieved
using voice recognition keywords, appointments which can be
repeated by the minute, hour, day, week, month or year,
appointments which can be set to remind you in advance of the
actual appointment time, and an appointment beep alarm which can
be set in order to alert you of any given appointment.
Appointments can also be retrieved and reviewed by voice
commands, by the day or week, or by arrowing through them just as
we have seen demonstrated in the Phone Book.
Chapter 9.1 The Appointment Menu.
The Appointment Book allows you to make many configuration
changes and modifications to the appointment features. Although
we will be examining each of the Appointment Book features in
this chapter, let's first do an overview of all the menu features
available so you will have an idea of what is available.
Press the Function Selector on the front panel, the button
to the left of the microphone, and cycle until you hear the Voice
Mate say, "Appointment." Open the door and press the MENU key.
You will hear, "Daily planning." If you have an earlier version
of the Voice Mate, you may hear, "Weekly planning." This
software change was made after a few Voice Mates were originally
released. Regardless of what you hear, however, the programming
of appointments will be the same.
At this point, press the right arrow key and you will begin
cycling through all the menu choices available in the Appointment
Book. If you begin pressing the right arrow key as suggested,
Here is a list of all the configuration and modification features
you will hear announced.
Daily Planning
Planning
Modify The Appointment Date
Re-record The Appointment Text
Re-record The Appointment Keyword
Modify The Appointment Reminder
Modify The Appointment Beep
Appointment With Keyword
Automatic Delete Off
A final press of the arrow key will return you to "Daily
planning" and the cycle of menu choices will be complete.
Chapter 9.2 Recording And Playing Appointments.
Example 1
Now, let's begin by recording a simple appointment using a
keyword. First, be sure you are on the Appointment category by
pressing the front panel Function Selector until you hear,
"Appointment," spoken by the voice synthesizer. Hold down the
Side Key and speak the following into the microphone: "Doctor's
appointment." You will hear, "There is no appointment with
doctor's appointment." The "Doctor's appointment" part of this
playback is your own voice as you have spoken it into the Voice
Mate. "There is no appointment" part of the playback is the
voice synthesizer.
Now, open the door and you will automatically hear the Voice
Mate say, "Would you like to record an appointment with doctor's
appointment?" Press the YES key and you will hear, "Repeat,
Doctor's appointment." The word "Repeat" will be the voice of
the synthesizer while the words, "Doctor's appointment," will be
your own as you spoke them originally. Hold down the Side Key
and speak "Doctor's appointment" once again into the microphone.
This second prompt to record the keyword, which identifies
the appointment, occurs because the Voice Mate is confirming your
keyword entry due to the fact your Voice Mate is still set to a
training level session of 2. If you do not wish to be prompted,
either in the Phone Book or the Appointment Book, for a
confirmation recording, you can later go to the Control Panel,
press the MENU key, and cycle to the Training Session category
and press the YES key to cycle to Training Session level 1. Then
you will never be prompted twice for a confirmation.
In this example, however, once you have repeated "Doctor's
appointment," a second time, you will hear, "Enter the date of
the appointment and press YES." You will also hear the current
day and date announced by the voice synthesizer following this
prompt. This is in case you wish to use the current day's date
for your entry. If you do not wish to use the current date
announced by the voice synthesizer, simply enter the one you
prefer. The correct method of date entry is the same used to
enter the date when setting the clock and calendar, that is, two
digits for the month, two digits for the day, and four digits for
the year. For example, enter 02192001 for February 19, 2001.
Press the YES key following the entry of the date of the
appointment. You will immediately hear, "No appointment. Enter
the time of the appointment and press YES." The announcement of,
"No appointment" is the Voice Mate telling you that you have no
appointments scheduled on any date at any given time. Later, as
we record additional appointments, this "No appointment" prompt
will change.
When prompted by the voice synthesizer for the time of the
appointment, the entry method is the same used when setting the
clock. For 9:00 o'clock in the morning, press 0900 using the
numerical keypad and use the zero key to switch from A.M. to P.M.
Once you've entered the time of the appointment, press the
YES key and you will hear, "Would you like a reminder?" Since we
are going to discuss this in detail later, we are going to press
the NO key at this point and move to The next prompt. The NO key
is the lower right hand key around the speaker grill.
Once you've pressed the NO key, you will hear, "Would you
like a notification beep?" Press the YES key and you will hear,
"Press the Side Key and record the appointment." This prompt is
asking you to record the information which will remind you of
exactly the type of appointment you have on that date. For
example, hold down the Side Key and record the following: "This
is my appointment with my physical therapy doctor." When you
release the Side Key, you will hear, "Your appointment has been
recorded."
Example 2
Let's record a second appointment.
Even with the door opened, you can record additional
appointments. Hold down the Side Key and say the following:
"Dentist appointment," and release the Side Key. If you
performed this function with the door closed, it is very likely,
when you released the Side Key, you heard the Voice Mate say,
"Doctor's appointment." This same type of thing occurs when
recording new Phone Book entries because the Voice Mate thinks
you may be trying to retrieve a similar sounding entry. If this
happens, simply open the door and you will hear, "Would you like
to record an appointment with Dentist appointment?" If you made
your "Dentist appointment" recording by pressing the Side Key but
with the Voice Mate door opened, the prompt you will hear will be
the same, that is, "Would you like to record an appointment with
Dentist appointment?" To confirm that you in fact do want to
make this appointment recording, press the YES key. You will
hear, "Repeat dentist appointment." Hold down the Side Key and
repeat, "Dentist appointment."
The next prompt you will hear says, "Enter the date of the
appointment and press YES." The current date is then announced
by the voice synthesizer. In this example, let's use a different
date than the first example. Enter the digits 02202001 for
February 22, 2001 and press the YES key. You will hear, "No
appointment. Enter the time of the appointment and press YES."
Enter the digits 1000 for 10 o'clock and using the zero key,
cycle to the A.M. Choice and press YES. You then will hear,
"Would you like a reminder?" Press the NO key and you will hear,
"Would you like a notification beep?" Press YES. You then will
hear, "Press the Side Key and record the appointment." Hold down
the Side Key and say the following: "This is my dentist
appointment." When you release the Side Key, the voice
synthesizer will say, "Your appointment has been recorded. You
now have successfully recorded two appointments on two different
days.
Example 3
Before demonstrating actual Appointment Book Features, let's
record a third example. This time, we will use a time and date
which has already been used so you can get a feel for what
happens if duplicate times or dates are employed in the
Appointment Book.
Hold down the Side Key on the Appointment Book, with or
without the door opened, and speak the following into the
microphone: "Newspaper." Again, if you made this recording with
the door closed, the Voice Mate will likely repeat one of the
previous appointment keywords. This is due to the fact it thinks
you are trying to retrieve a previously recorded entry instead of
trying to record a new appointment. If this occurs, simply open
the door and you will hear, "Would you like to make an
appointment with newspaper?" If, on the other hand, you first
open the door, on the Appointment Book and then record by holding
down the Side Key and speaking "Newspaper" into the microphone,
you will be immediately prompted with, "Would you like to record
an appointment with newspaper?" At this prompt, press the YES
key and you will hear, "Repeat, newspaper." Hold down the Side
Key and repeat, "Newspaper." Then the next prompt will be spoken
which says, "enter the date of the appointment and press YES."
The current date will also be spoken. Enter 02202001 for
February 20, 2001 and press the YES key. Of course, this is a
date we have already used. Notice what happens when you press
the YES key. You will hear, "You have some appointments at 10
A.M. Enter the time of the appointment and press YES." At this
point, go ahead and enter 1000 for 10:00 A.M. and listen to the
prompt. You will hear, "You already have an appointment at that
time." The Voice Mate will not allow duplicate times to be used
regardless of the dates. So, at this point, reenter a new time
and if it just so happens that you need that same 10 o'clock time
for your new appointment, simply enter a slightly different time.
In this example, enter 1005 for 10:05 and press the zero key
until you hear A.M. and press the YES key. You will hear, "Would
you like a reminder?" Press the NO key and you will hear, "Would
you like a notification beep?" Press the YES key and you will
hear, "Press the Side Key and record the appointment." Now, hold
down the Side Key, as instructed, and say the following: "Call
and cancel the newspaper." When you release the Side Key, you
will hear, "Your appointment has been recorded." You have now
successfully recorded a third appointment.
Chapter 9.21 Playing Back Appointments With The Side Key.
You can play back appointments in several ways. Cycle to
the Appointment Book by using the front panel Function Selector
button until you hear, "Appointment." Click twice on the Side
Key and you will hear one of the three appointments we recorded.
If you allowed your Voice Mate to first go to sleep, and then
cycled to the Appointment Book and clicked twice on the Side Key,
you should then hear the first appointment we made. In this
case, if you have no appointments already made before the date we
used as an example, you will hear the following spoken by the
Voice Mate: "Doctor's appointment. Appointment at 9 A.M. on
Monday, February 19th, 2001." If, on the other hand, you
recorded an additional appointment prior to the dates used in any
of the three examples used in this section, the first appointment
to be spoken will be the earliest date.
You can play back any appointment by clicking the Side Key
twice if you are on an appointment. If you have more than one
appointment recorded, the following method can also be used to
hear the appointment information you have recorded.
Chapter 9.22 Playing Back Appointments With Voice Recognition.
By far, the easiest and quickest way of finding an
appointment is to use the powerful voice recognition technology
of the Voice Mate.
When you are on the Appointment Book, hold down the Side
Key, and speak any of the keywords you have used to record your
appointments. This works exactly in the same way as retrieving a
Phone Book entry. In the case of the three appointments we have
recorded in this lesson, hold down the Side Key and speak any of
the three appointment keywords we used of: "doctor's
appointment, dentist appointment," or "Newspaper." Your Voice
Mate will retrieve these entries just as phone numbers are
retrieved using voice recognition.
When the correct entry is retrieved using the keyword, you
will hear the keyword spoken. This means, for example, if you
speak the keyword of "Doctor's appointment," if the correct
appointment is retrieved, you will hear "Doctor's appointment"
spoken. This confirms you have retrieved the correct entry you
desired. Click twice on the Side Key and you will hear the date
and time stamp spoken by the voice synthesizer and then the
appointment information associated with that appointment keyword
will also be played back.
Note. If you do not retrieved the correct entry, simply hold
down the Side Key once again and repeat the keyword. You might
even change the inflection of your voice slightly to give the
Voice Mate the opportunity to make the correct match. If need
be, you can continue to repeat your entry until the correct match
is made.
Chapter 9.23 Playing Back Appointments Using Arrow Keys.
Since the Appointment Book becomes so valuable to Voice Mate
users, it is not unusual to have a large number of appointments
recorded. By far, the easiest, and quickest, way of retrieving
appointment information is by the manner of voice recognition
which was just described. If, however, the voice recognition
doesn't always match the keywords you are speaking, or if you
have forgotten the keywords used for a given appointment, simply
open the door of the Voice Mate on the Appointment Book and begin
using the arrow keys to cycle through the entries. Each entry
will be played back with the keyword which you used to make the
entry initially, the date and time stamp of the appointment, and
the memo attached to the appointment which you have recorded that
serves as a reminder of the appointment's nature.
Chapter 9.24 Playing Back Appointments With Daily Planning.
Another method of retrieving and reviewing appointments is
by accessing the DAILY PLANNING feature of the Appointment Book.
When you are on the Appointment Book, open the door and
press the MENU key. You will hear, "Daily Planning." If you
have an older Voice Mate, you will hear, "Weekly Planning." At
this point, press the YES key and you will hear the current day
of the week and date spoken by the voice synthesizer. If you
have no appointments recorded on that date, it will say, "No
appointment." If, on the other hand, you have appointments
recorded on that first date, which is the current date, it will
announce how many appointments you have. You can click the Side
Key twice and the first appointment will play; including the date
and time of the appointment and the memo you recorded which
describes the appointment. If you have more than one appointment
recorded for that day of the week, simply use the right arrow to
continue to the next appointment. This will allow you to cycle
through all appointments on that first day.
If you press the right arrow key following the final day's
appointment, you will advance to the next recorded appointment of
that week. If you continue pressing the right arrow key, you
will advance into future appointments regardless of when they
are.
Note. When using the DAILY PLANNING feature to locate
appointments, you start with the current calendar date by
default. So, if you are on Wednesday of that week as far as the
calendar is concerned, that's where the DAILY PLANNING method of
retrieval begins. If you are on any other day of the week, as
far as the calendar date is concerned, that is where the DAILY
PLANNING begins.
Note. If you begin, for example, on Monday of that week using
the DAILY PLANNING method, the right arrow key will cycle day-by-
day and inform you of any appointments on any day. If you
continue pressing the right arrow key in this mode of DAILY
PLANNING, it keeps advancing one day at a time into the next
week, month and so on.
Note. If you use the DAILY PLANNING to check the appointments
and when you come to the first day with recorded appointments,
which you wish to hear, you must first either click the Side Key
or press the YES key to play the appointment information before
the right arrow key allows you to advance to the next appointment
for that given day. If you do not play back the first
appointment recorded for that given day of the week, the right
arrow key will do nothing more than advance you to the very next
day of that given week, skipping the other appointments for the
date you are checking. In other words, you must be sure to click
the Side Key twice, to playback the first appointment, or the YES
key, or the right arrow key will not cycle through all the
appointments on that given day.
Chapter 9.25 Playing Back Appointments Using Planning.
This method of locating appointments uses the date. Simply
open your Voice Mate on the Appointment Book and press the MENU
key. You will hear, "Daily Planning." Again, if you are using
an older Voice Mate, you may hear, "Weekly Planning." The next
step is to press the right arrow key. You will hear, "Planning."
The PLANNING feature is designed to allow you to enter a specific
date to see what appointments may be recorded on that day. When
you hear your Voice Mate say, "Planning," press the YES key. You
will hear, "Enter the date and press YES," and the current date
will then be spoken. If this is not the date you wish, you can
enter the date you want. When that date is entered and if there
are any appointments on that given day, you will hear, "You have
some appointments at..." and the Voice Mate will speak the times
of those appointments on that date. You can then use the Side
Key or the YES key to begin playing back appointments. You may
also find it necessary to begin using the arrow keys to move
backwards and forwards to locate the exact appointments you seek.
Chapter 9.3 Appointment Reminder.
This feature of the Voice Mate is designed to enter an
individual appointment and then to program it in such a way to be
reminded automatically in recurring or repeating periods of time.
The periods of time are programmable and you can choose to be
reminded by periods of time associated in minutes, days, weeks,
months or years.
By way of example, record an appointment at 3:00 o'clock in
the afternoon. Use the same steps we used in prior examples to
make this appointment. When you arrive at the prompt which says,
"Would you like a reminder?" Press the YES key and you will
hear, "Choose the reminder period unit." At this point, you can
begin using your arrow keys. If you press the right arrow key,
for example, you will begin to cycle through all available
choices. These include Minute, Hour, Days, Weeks, Months and
Years. The Voice Mate is giving you an opportunity to be
reminded at intervals based upon these categories. That is, you
can be reminded by any number of minutes, hours, days, weeks,
months, or years.
For example, if you have picked, as suggested, 3:00 in the
afternoon as an appointment time, move the right or left arrow
key until you hear the Voice Mate say, "Minute." At this point,
press the YES key and you will hear, "Enter the reminder period
length." This prompt is asking you the question, how often do
you wish to be reminded of this appointment. Since we have
selected MINUTE by using the arrow keys before pressing the YES
key, we know that our reminder is going to occur by intervals of
minutes.
To experiment with this, now press the 2 key on the numeric
keypad and you will hear, "Would you like a notification beep?"
Press the YES key and you will hear, "Press the Side Key and
record the appointment." Now, you can hold down the Side Key and
record anything associated with this test appointment we have
scheduled to occur at 3:00 o'clock in the afternoon.
As you probably noticed, everything we did was almost
identical with the recording of prior appointments. The only
difference was the part where we told the Voice Mate to remind us
on a repetitive scheduled basis. In this case, we programmed the
Voice Mate to beep at the 3:00 P.M. appointment and to continue
reminding us, using a beeping notification alarm signal, every
two minutes.
At 3:00 P.M. of that day, the Voice Mate will sound a
beeping signal. If, at the time the beeping alarm signal is
sounding, you clicked the Side Key rapidly two times, you can
hear played back what you recorded for that appointment.
However, in two minutes, this beep will sound again and two
minutes beyond that and again, two minutes beyond that. In
short, the first alarm will sound at 3:00 P.M., the second at
3:02, the third at 3:04, and so on, until you tell the Voice Mate
to cancel the appointment by deleting it. This same example
could be repeated by the hour, day, week, month or year.
For example, if you wanted to be reminded hourly of
something to do throughout a given day, make your appointment for
the desired time. When you are prompted by the voice synthesizer
for a reminder unit (this means minute, hour, day, week, month or
year), press the YES key and using the arrow keys, cycle until
you hear the word "Hour" spoken. Press the YES key again, but
this time, when you hear the prompt, "Enter the reminder period
length," press the 1 key on the numeric keypad. This means you
are requesting to be reminded once an hour. If you would have
pressed the 2 on the keypad instead, the reminder beep would
sound every two hours. If you wanted a reminder once every three
hours, you would press 3 on the keypad and so on.
Another example of this reminder usage may be a monthly
period of time. A monthly bill is a good example of such a
monthly schedule. Simply record an appointment using the steps
we have used in the preceding examples. When you are asked for
the reminder unit, use the arrow keys to cycle until you hear the
word "Month" spoken and press the YES key. You are then prompted
for the reminder period length. If you only wish to be reminded
once a month at this same time, you would press 1 on the keypad.
From then on, your Voice Mate will beep and remind you of that
appointment scheduled at that exact time and date. In short, you
will not have to program your Voice Mate month-by-month for a
monthly reminder if you use this method of appointment
scheduling.
If you want to program reminders for birthdays, you would
record your appointment. When you were prompted for a REMINDER
UNIT, you would press the right arrow key until you heard,
"Year," announced and then you would press the YES key. Then,
when prompted for the "Reminder period length," you would
again press the 1 key on the keypad to indicate a reminder once a
year at that same time and date.
Note. This part of the Appointment Book can become confusing and
it takes some practice getting used to programming appointments
to repeat automatically. Using the MINUTE example, however, you
should be able to gain the concept employed for repetitive
automatic appointments that announce themselves. I suggest you
begin with the minute, or hour modes, repeating appointments
until you see how the auto appointment reminder feature works.
Chapter 9.4 Appointment Book Modification Features.
As we saw when first introducing the Appointment Book, there
are a number of items listed under the Appointment Book's MENU
key. By pressing the MENU key when on the Appointment Book, and
using the right arrow key, you hear the following categories
announced:
Daily Planning
Planning
Modify The Appointment Date
Re-record The Appointment Text
Re-record The Appointment Keyword
Modify The Appointment Reminder
Modify The Appointment Beep
Appointment With Keyword
Automatic Delete Off
Since we have already demonstrated the usage of DAILY
PLANNING and the PLANNING features, let's move on to explain the
usage of the other Appointment Book MENU categories.
Chapter 9.41 Modifying The Appointment Date.
If you have an appointment date which needs to be changed,
simply go to the Appointment Book and either retrieve the
appointment you desire to change by speaking the keyword used to
identify the appointment or open the door and using the arrow
keys, locate the desired appointment. If you use voice
recognition to locate the appointment (even if it matches the
entry correctly and repeats it by echoing the confirmation
keyword), when you open the door you are going to hear the
prompt, "Would you like to record an appointment with..." and
then it will play back what you have spoken. Press the NO key
because, in this case, we do not wish to record an entry but are
just trying to locate an entry which was already recorded.
When you have located the correct appointment for which you
wish to change the date, press the MENU key. You will hear,
"Daily Planning." Now, using the right arrow key, cycle until
you hear, "Modify the appointment date." Then press the YES key.
You will hear, "Enter the date of the appointment and press
YES..." Then you will hear the date of the appointment you are
attempting to change spoken by the voice synthesizer. If this is
in fact the appointment you wish to change, go ahead and enter
the new date and press the YES key. If you have no appointments
already scheduled on the new date you just entered, you will hear
the following: "No appointment." You are then prompted to enter
the time. Enter the time of the appointment and press YES. At
this point, you may just wish to keep the same appointment time.
If so, simply press the YES key and it will be recorded with the
same, or original, time. If, however, you want to change the
time, you can do so at this moment. Simply enter the new time
and press the YES key. When this final entry is made, you will
hear, "Your appointment has been recorded."
Note. If you have appointments already scheduled on the date of
this appointment you are attempting to change, you will be
notified by the voice synthesizer of the times which have been
previously scheduled. This procedure, however, gives you the
option of changing the date and time.
Example 1 Modifying The Appointment Date.
Record an appointment with the keyword of "John's birthday,"
on November 23, 2001 and when prompted for the time of the
appointment, enter 7:00 P.M. When prompted to record the
appointment reminder, hold down the Side Key and say the
following: "John's birthday party."
Note. If there are no appointments already scheduled at that
time on November 23, 2001, you will hear, "No appointment,"
spoken after entering the date and just prior to the prompt
asking you to enter the time. If you have the time of 7:00 P.M.
already in use for some other appointment, regardless of the
date, you will be told you already have some appointments and the
exact times will be announced. If this happens, and if the time
you want is already represented as a previously entered time,
simply choose a different time and enter it. If you once again
enter a duplicate time, you will hear a notification beep and you
simply need to reenter a new time. Duplicate times are not
permitted by the Voice Mate Appointment Book regardless of the
date.
To test your appointment, either speak the keyword of
"John's birthday" into the microphone and retrieve that entry or
simply open the door and using the arrow keys, move around until
you hear spoken, "John's birthday." If you now have heard
"John's Birthday," spoken by the Voice Mate, along with the date
and time and reminder memo, you are ready to change the date of
this appointment.
Press the MENU key. You will hear, "Daily Planning." Press
the right arrow key once and you will hear, "Planning." Press
the right arrow key a third time and you will hear, "Modify the
appointment date." Now, to change the date, begin by pressing
the YES key and you will hear, "Enter the date of the appointment
and press YES. Friday, November 23, 2001." Of course, the date
which is spoken is the date you have already recorded for this
appointment but now you are going to change it. Go ahead and
enter the date of November 24, 2001 by typing 11242001 and press
the YES key when finished. You will hear, "No appointment.
Enter the time of the appointment and press YES." If, as
previously stated, you do happen to have times already scheduled
which conflict with this date, they will then be spoken so that
you do not duplicate that same time on this same date. If you
wish to maintain the same time, in our case the time of 7:00
o'clock in the evening, simply press the YES key. If you wish to
change the time, you may do so at this stage of the procedure.
Either way, when you have accepted the default time or when you
have changed the time, press the YES key and you will hear, "Your
appointment has been recorded." You have now successfully
changed the date of this appointment.
To test your change, either click the Side Key twice at this
moment, or arrow to the appointment of JOHN'S BIRTHDAY, and click
the Side Key twice and the appointment will play.
Note. When modifying the time of any appointment, it does not
announce the time of the appointment you are modifying. However,
if you press the left and right arrow keys, it will speak the
individual digits and even include the A.M. or P.M. setting so
you can determine the exact time of the appointment you are
attempting to modify.
Note. When modifying the date of any given appointment, you can
also use the arrow keys when prompted for the date. If the date
to be changed, is close to the original date of the appointment,
the arrow keys can be used to cycle backwards and forwards one
day at a time. This means the left arrow key goes backwards one
day at a time and the right arrow key advances one day for each
press of the arrow key. You may want to experiment with this
method to get a feel for how easy it is to change the date by
using the arrow keys. As you press the left or right arrow key,
it announces the day of the week, the month and the year. When
you have heard the date you want, simply press the YES key and
you will then hear the prompt for the time to be entered.
Chapter 9.42 Re-recording Appointment Text.
What the Voice Mate calls the Appointment Text is the memo
type recording we make following the entry of each keyword. For
example, when we recorded "John's birthday" as a keyword, we
recorded, "John's birthday party." The last part is what is
referred to as the TEXT of an appointment.
Changing the TEXT of an appointment is very easy. Once you
are on the Appointment Book, retrieve the desired appointment by
either using the keyword or open the door and arrow through the
appointments until you locate the appointment you want to modify.
Press the MENU key on that appointment and then use the right
arrow key and cycle through the different MENU choices until you
hear, "Re-record the appointment text." Then press the YES key
and you will hear, "Press the Side Key and re-record the
appointment." Once you have done this and released the Side Key,
you will hear, "Your appointment has been recorded." You have
now successfully re-recorded the text of this appointment.
Example 2 Re-recording The Appointment Text.
Using our example of JOHN's BIRTHDAY, retrieve the
appointment. Open the door and press the MENU key. You will
hear, "daily Planning." Press the right arrow key until you
hear, "Re-record the appointment text." Press the YES key and
you will hear, "Press the Side Key and re-record the
appointment." Now, hold down the Side Key and speak the
following into the microphone: "Don't forget John's birthday
party." Release the Side Key. You will then hear, "Your
appointment has been recorded."
To confirm your changes to this appointment, all you need do
is to immediately click twice on the Side Key and the
appointment, including the keyword of "John's birthday," and the
new text just recorded, will be replayed along with the date and
time of the appointment.
Chapter 9.43 Re-recording Appointment Keywords.
This is almost self explanatory. The keyword, for example,
of "John's birthday," can be changed by simply locating the
appointment by using any of the previously described methods of
retrieval, pressing the MENU key, and then pressing the right
arrow key until you hear, "Re-record the appointment keyword."
Then press the YES key and you will hear, "Press the Side Key and
repeat..." and the current keyword recording will be played. In
our example of JOHN'S BIRTHDAY, we would hear that played back.
To modify this keyword, simply hold down the Side Key and re-
record a new keyword. As a suggestion, you may, in this case,
record the person's first and last name instead of "John's
birthday."
Note. When you make your new keyword recording, you will be
prompted to repeat the entry again just as you did the first time
you recorded the keyword initially. This is because the Voice
Mate still is set to level 2 of the training sessions.
When you have finished repeating the keyword change a second
time, you will hear, "Your appointment has been recorded." Once
again, to check to see what your appointment modification sounds
like, simply click the Side Key twice and all the data will be
played back.
Chapter 9.44 Modify The Appointment Reminder.
This relates to the section already covered concerning
programming appointment reminders. These are future
notifications of subsequent appointments.
On the Appointment Book, press the MENU key and using the
right arrow key, cycle through the MENU choices until you hear,
"Modify the appointment reminder." Press the YES key and you
will hear, "Would you like a reminder?" If you press YES, you
will go through the same procedure we did in Chapter 9.3. This
includes reminders scheduled for minutes, hours, days, weeks,
months and years. They are accessed by using the left and right
arrow keys. Please review that section if you need further
information on how to program reminders. If you already have a
reminder and no longer wish it to be active, press the NO key and
it will switch the subsequent reminders off.
Chapter 9.45 Modify The Appointment Beep.
If you have decided that you no longer need to hear a beep
for any given reminder, locate that appointment by using any of
the retrieval methods previously discussed. Once you've found
that appointment, open the door and press the MENU key. Begin
pressing the right arrow key until you hear, "Modify the
appointment beep." Then press the YES key and you will hear one
of the following two messages: "Beep off," or "Beep on." In
this case, the YES key is nothing more than a toggle to turn the
beep alarm off or on for any given appointment.
Chapter 9.46 Appointments With Key Words.
Thus far, we have been using keywords to record
appointments. The purpose of using this method of appointment
scheduling is the ease of retrieval. If you have 25 or 30
appointments already recorded, it is much easier to accomplish an
appointment retrieval using voice recognition with keywords than
to open the door and arrow through all the entries. However, if
you just schedule an occasional appointment, you may find it just
as easy to do so without the need for voice recognition and
keyword application.
To turn the keyword mode off, move to the Appointment Book
by using the front panel Function Selector to the left of the
microphone until you hear, "appointment." Open the door and
press the MENU key. Then, using the right arrow key, cycle
through all the MENU choices until you hear, "Appointment with
keyword." Now, press the YES key and you will hear, "Simple
appointment." In this case, as is so often true when using the
Voice Mate, the YES key is a toggle. In other words, it turns
the KEYWORD mode off and on.
When KEYWORDS is turned to Simple Appointment, you can bring
up the Appointment Book and press the Side Key and record your
memo associated with that appointment. As soon as you release
the Side Key, you will be prompted for the date and time and all
the other things associated with any previous appointments you
have recorded. Simply follow the prompts and when you are
finished, you will hear, "Your appointment has been recorded."
When playing back these types of appointments, you will not
hear any KEYWORDS spoken because none were recorded. You will
hear, on the other hand, as you use the left and right arrow
keys, the date and time of the appointment recorded under the
Simple Appointment format, and you will also hear what you
recorded as a memo text for that appointment.
Note. If you have recorded several appointments using the
KEYWORD method, and then switch to Simple Appointment, all
previous scheduled appointments will remain as they were recorded
originally. This means they will not lose their keywords. All
subsequent appointments, however, now will be recorded without
keywords.
Note. The SIMPLE KEYWORD method of recording appointments
likewise means you cannot retrieve them using voice recognition
techniques as previously described. All other retrieval methods,
on the other hand, are still available to assist you in locating
any scheduled appointment.
Chapter 9.47 Automatic Delete.
The automatic delete mode of the Appointment Book allows for
all past appointments, those dates and times which have expired,
to automatically be removed.
While in the Appointment Book, simply press the MENU key and
using the right arrow key, cycle through the MENU choices until
you hear, "Automatic delete off." Pressing the YES key provides
several options. As you continue to press the YES key, you will
hear all of the following:
Automatic Delete After One Day
Automatic Delete After Seven Days
Automatic Delete After Fourteen Days
A final press of the YES key will announce, "Automatic delete
off," and you will have cycled through all available deletion
menu choices. The application of these choices is obvious.
If you schedule appointments which repeat, the AUTO DELETE
mode becomes very valuable. As the dates and times of those
scheduled appointments pass, they are automatically removed from
the Appointment Book, which in turn, frees up memory.
You are given the options of 1, 7, or 14 days. This gives
you the option of going back and checking old appointments in
case there is something you have forgotten about that given
appointment that you later wish to know. Of course, the default
setting is OFF which means no appointments, even repeating
appointments, are never deleted.
Chapter 9.48 Deleting Individual Appointments.
Whenever you wish to remove a single appointment, simply
retrieve the desired appointment using any of the retrieval
methods previously discussed in this chapter. Once you have the
desired appointment, open the door and press the ERASE key. The
ERASE key is the upper right hand key around the speaker. You
will hear, "To delete your appointment, press YES." Press the
YES key and you will hear, "Your appointment has been deleted."
If you wish to cancel this action, press the NO key instead and
your appointment will not be deleted.
Chapter 9.5 Important Appointment Book Notes.
If you are going to record repeating appointments (those
referred to during the programming procedure as reminders), there
is one important fact to keep in mind. At first it will seem
this is a bug in the programming of the software but when you
analyze it, you will realize it is not.
Let's say that you have a television program you enjoy
watching every night at 9:00 P.M. and you program your Voice Mate
to remind you of this by using the reminder feature when prompted
during the scheduling procedure. The Voice Mate assumes you mean
you want to be reminded every single night at 9:00 P.M. of this
same appointment. So, that is exactly what it is programmed to
do. Now, this time of 9:00 P.M. can no longer be used on any
date for other appointments at that same time because it will be
a duplicate time. If you use your arrow keys when attempting to
scan previously recorded appointments, you will see that the
Voice Mate has reserved the time of 9:00 P.M. every single night
from now on because you said you wanted an appointment reminder
at that time. Thus, that time can no longer be used.
The recommended work around for this is to simply program in
a slightly different time. Normally, in this case, you would
most likely prefer to be reminded at 8:55 P.M. that your TV show
is about to begin so that time could easily be substituted. If
the 9:00 o'clock time isn't that critical, you could use 9:01 or
something like that to be reminded of a particular appointment.
Note. The Voice Mate software is being updated all the time and
it is recommended you keep abreast of new releases through the
Parrot Voice Mate electronic mailing list on the internet or
through their website. You can also periodically check with the
dealer from whom you purchased your Voice Mate for any software
updates.
Note. For those who have not purchased the Voice Mate software
kit, your Voice Mate can also be returned to your dealer to have
your software upgraded.
CHAPTER 10 THE CALCULATOR
The Voice Mate calculator is a standard 13 digit calculator
with multiplication, division, addition and subtraction
functionality. It likewise can calculate percentages, currency
exchanges for various countries and has memory storage and
recall.
Chapter 10.1 Key Layout.
Although this has been covered in an earlier chapter of the
Users Guide, let's review before using the calculator and its
features. The key layout is simple to remember but if you
forget, simply press each key and the voice synthesizer will
announce that key's function.
With the door opened in the calculator mode, the four
buttons grouped around the speaker and the two arrow keys beneath
them, become the mathematical function keys. The MENU key, which
is the upper left hand key, is a combination of a PERCENT key and
additional calculator features. The ERASE key, which is the
upper right hand key, becomes the CLEAR key. The lower left hand
key, which is the YES key, becomes the PLUS key. The lower right
hand key, which is the NO key, becomes the MINUS key. The left
arrow key is the MULTIPLICATION key and the right arrow key is
the DIVISION key. The standard keypad buttons below the arrow
keys are the same as those used for phone number entries. The
first row is, from left to right, 1 2 3. The second row is 4 5
6. The third row is 7 8 9. The bottom row is star, 0 and pound.
The STAR key is the DECIMAL POINT key and the POUND key is the
EQUALS key. Additional functions become available when using the
MENU key as the PERCENT key but that information will be covered
later in this chapter.
Chapter 10.2 Simple Calculations.
All basic mathematical calculations are managed in the same
way. Simply press the front panel Function Selector (the button
to the left of the microphone) until you hear, "Calculator."
Open the door and you will be ready to use the Voice Mate's
calculator.
Chapter 10.21 Addition.
With the calculator activated and the door opened, press 2,
the YES key for PLUS, press 2 again, and then the POUND key for
EQUALS. The Voice Mate will say, "Equal 4."
Chapter 10.22 Subtraction.
You can press the upper right hand key, which is normally
the ERASE key, to clear the display before conducting a new
calculation, or you can simply enter a new number and the old
will be replaced with the new.
For example, although we still have 4 on the display at this
point, we can go ahead and press the 2 once again, then the MINUS
key (the lower right hand key around the speaker), and then the
POUND key which is the EQUALS key. You will hear, "Equal 2."
Chapter 10.23 Multiplication.
Press 3 followed by the left arrow key. You will hear,
"Multiplied by." Press the 4 key and then press the POUND key
for EQUALS. You will hear, "Equal 12."
Chapter 10.24 Division.
Press 6 followed by the right arrow key. You will hear,
"Divided by." Press 2 and the POUND key for EQUALS. You will
hear, "Equal 3."
Note. If you press a wrong function key, that is, if you press
the PLUS key when you really wanted the MINUS key, simply press
any of the mathematical keys until you hear the one you want and
continue with your calculation.
Chapter 10.3 Advanced Calculations.
The calculator will allow you to do advanced calculations
such as 2 plus 3 plus 5, or 50 multiplied by 25 divided by 10.
For example, do the following calculation. Press 2 and
press the PLUS key. Then press 1 and 0 for 10. Press the EQUALS
key and you will hear, "Equal 12." Now press the right arrow key
for divided by, press 3, and then press the EQUALS key. You will
hear, "Equal 4."
Note. You could have also done this calculation by pressing 2
PLUS 10 DIVIDED BY 3 EQUALS 4 without pressing the EQUALS key
until the end of the calculation.
Chapter 10.4 Using Decimals.
The star key, which is the button in the lower left hand
corner of the keypad, serves as the decimal point. The default
is two decimal places but this can be changed in the calculator
MENU features which I will discuss later in this chapter.
Example Of Decimal Application.
Try the following calculation to get a feel for how the
decimal is used in the Voice Mate.
Press 2.1 on the keypad. Then press the PLUS key, enter
3.3, and press the EQUALS key. The answer will be 5.4 and, of
course, will be spoken by the voice synthesizer. I recommend you
experiment with other decimal calculations in order to get a feel
for how easy it is to use. This is especially useful when using
dollar and cent calculations, keeping track of a grocery list, or
when balancing a checkbook.
Note. When your Voice Mate calculator is set to only two digits
to the right of the decimal point, and you perform a three
digital calculation, the answer is rounded off to the nearest two
digit answer. This can be quickly changed (as we will see
shortly) to be as many as eight digits to the right of the
decimal point.
Chapter 10.5 The Calculator Menu Features.
There are several features under the MENU key of the
calculator which can be used to expand the calculator's
capabilities.
When you have cycled to the calculator by pressing the front
panel Function Selector, open the door and press the MENU key.
You will hear, "Percent." This immediately puts you into the
PERCENT mode which enables you to perform any type of percentage
calculation. I will discuss the PERCENT feature in just a
moment. However, if you are not performing such a calculation,
you now have access to other features than just the PERCENT.
Once you have pressed the MENU key and heard the voice
synthesizer say "Percent," you can then begin pressing the right
arrow key to cycle through other available calculator features.
Here is the list as it is spoken with each press of the right
arrow key:
Percent
Memory Set
Memory Recall
French Franc
Convert From Currency To Euro
Convert From Euro To Currency
Two Digits After Comma
A final press of the right arrow key will return you to PERCENT.
If you press the MENU key (once you have cycled back to PERCENT)
you will hear a soft click through the speaker which indicates
you have switched off the MENU features and returned the
calculator to normal application.
Note. You can also use the left arrow key in the MENU mode to
cycle through MENU features in reverse order.
Chapter 10.51 Calculating Percentages.
Calculating percentages is often useful when attempting to
add sales tax to items you are purchasing. Let's say you have
added up several items and your total is now $200 and you wish to
add 6 percent sales tax to your total. Simply press the PLUS key
and then 6 on the keypad. Then press the MENU key. You will
hear, "Percent." Then press the YES key. You will hear, "12,"
spoken by the voice synthesizer. This means that 12 dollars, the
amount of sales tax (6 percent of $200) will be added to the
total. Now, to hear the total of $200 plus 6 percent, press
the EQUALS key and you will hear, "212," spoken as the grand
total. This method allows you to obtain the percentage figure
before adding it to the total. Then, of course, pressing the
EQUALS key speaks the final total of 6 percent added to the 200
dollars.
Chapter 10.52 Memory Set.
You can store a number in memory to be recalled later. This
allows you the ability to perform a calculation, save the answer
in memory, and then to perform a second calculation. The two
answers can then be used to conduct a third and final
calculation.
Example Of Memory Set.
Enter the number 200 on the keypad. Press the MENU key and
you will hear, "Percent." Press the right arrow key once and you
will hear, "Memory Set." Press the YES key and you will hear a
beep. This means the number you have entered using the keypad
has been stored in memory for later use.
Note. If you have your sound set to NO SOUNDS, you will hear no
indication that the number was stored.
Chapter 10.53 Memory Recall.
To recall the number we have stored in memory, simply press
the MENU key at any time. You will hear, "Percent." Then press
the arrow key twice to cycle to "Memory recall." The first press
of the right arrow key announces "Memory set." The next press
announces, "Memory recall." If you now press the YES key, you
will hear the number in memory spoken. In our example, the
number 200 will be spoken. This now makes it possible for you to
use the stored number as part of any calculation.
Example Of The Calculator Memory.
If you have been following along, you should have 200 stored
in memory. If not, go back and follow the instructions so that
we have the figure of 200 stored in memory for this example.
Once this is done, enter the figure 100 on the keypad and
press the PLUS key. This is the lower left hand key which is
normally called the YES key. When this key is pressed, you will
hear, "Plus." Now, press the MENU key and you will hear,
"Percent." Press the right arrow key once and you will hear,
"Memory set." Press the right arrow key once more and you will
hear, "Memory recall." Press the YES key and you will hear,
"200," spoken. Now press the EQUALS key and you will hear the
answer of "300" spoken. The 100 you entered on the keypad and
the 200 stored in memory have been added.
Note. This procedure could also be done in reverse. First,
press the MENU key and you will hear, "Percent." Then press the
right arrow key twice until you hear, "Memory recall." Press the
YES key and you will hear the figure 200 spoken. Now, press the
PLUS key and add 100 to the 200 you have just recalled from
memory. Press the EQUALS key and the total of 300 will be
spoken.
Note. As I previously stated, these memory features can be used
to do two different calculations. Make up a calculation and when
you have the answer, use the MENU key and the right arrow key to
cycle to Memory Set and the YES key to store your answer in
memory. Then do a second calculation and when you have obtained
your answer, you can now use any of the calculator's features to
multiply, divide, add, or subtract the two different totals. The
first answer is still in memory and the second answer is
displayed and spoken using the EQUALS key.
Example Of Two Calculations Using Memory.
From the calculator's keypad, enter the number 50 and press
the PLUS key. Then enter the number 25 and press the EQUALS key.
You will hear, "75," spoken as your answer.
To store this answer in memory, press the MENU key. You
will hear, "Percent." Press the right arrow key once and you
will hear, "Memory set." Press the YES key and, if the sound is
turned on, you will hear a beep. This indicates that the answer
of 75 has now been stored in memory and we are free to conduct a
new calculation.
If you press the EQUALS key, it will still announce 75 as
our answer. Although you can begin a new calculation without the
answer of 75 becoming part of that new calculation, let's press
the CLEAR key which is the upper right hand key around the
speaker. This clears the display but not what we have stored in
memory. If you now press the EQUALS key once again, zero will be
announced and we will be ready to perform a new calculation.
Now that our display is cleared, enter 100 and press the
PLUS key. Then enter 500 and press the EQUALS key and you will
hear "600" spoken as the answer.
We are now going to divide the answer of 600 that is on the
display, with the 75 stored in memory. To be sure you still have
600 on the display, press the EQUALS and it will be spoken again.
Now we know where we are and that we are ready to use Memory
Recall.
First, press the division key which is the right arrow key.
You will hear, "Divided by." Now press the MENU key and you will
hear, "Percent." Press the right arrow key twice until you hear
"Memory recall." Press the YES key and you will hear, "75,"
spoken. This is letting you know that you are recalling 75 to be
used in any calculation procedure which follows. At this point,
press the EQUALS key and you will hear "8" spoken as your answer.
Note. There are many possible combinations which can be employed
using the calculator's display and the Memory Recall. A few
simple calculations have been offered in this section to give the
user the basic format of these features.
Chapter 10.54 Foreign Currency Conversions.
The Voice Mate offers several foreign currency exchanges for
a number of countries and the conversion process is quite simple.
When the Voice Mate is in the calculator mode, press the
MENU key. You will hear, "Percent." Begin pressing the right
arrow key until you hear, "French franc." This is the default.
To hear a list of all currency countries represented, begin
pressing the YES key. You will cycle through a number of choices
including one menu choice which allows you to enter the exchange
rate you wish to use in your calculation. Other countries are
being added as new Voice Mate software updates are released so I
will not list all the countries. However, the YES key cycles
through all available countries and this is how you select the
country currency of choice.
For demonstration purposes, I am using the default setting
of the French franc. If you have pressed the YES key to cycle
through the various countries represented, simply continue
pressing the YES key until you hear, "French franc," spoken once
again and we will be ready to do a currency exchange.
Example 1 Currency Exchange.
Begin by entering a dollar amount from the keypad. If you
are still in the MENU choices, press the MENU key again. You
will hear a soft click through the speaker which indicates you
have left the MENU features and returned your Voice Mate to the
calculator mode.
Now, if you are in the calculator mode, enter 30 from the
calculator keypad. Press the MENU key and you will hear,
"Percent." This means you are now in the MENU mode and you can
begin pressing the right arrow key. The first thing you will
hear following PERCENT is "Memory reset." Another press of the
right arrow key and you will hear, "Memory recall." A third
press of the right arrow key and you should hear, "French franc."
If you hear anything other than "French franc," you will have to
press the YES key to cycle back to this currency setting.
Once you hear "French franc," or once you have selected any
of the country currencies, press the right arrow key and you will
hear, "Convert from currency to Euro." Now, at this point, press
the YES key and you will hear a number spoken. This is the
conversion from 30 French francs to the Euro currency exchange.
Example 2 Currency Exchange.
Press the CLEAR key which is the upper right hand key around
the speaker grill. You will hear "Clear," spoken by the voice
synthesizer. Now enter 30 again on the numerical keypad and
press the MENU key. You will hear, "Percent." Now begin
pressing the right arrow key. You will hear "Memory set, Memory
recall, French franc, Convert from currency to Euro," and one
additional press of the arrow key will cycle to, "Convert from
Euro to currency." Press the YES key and you will hear the Euro
currency converted to the French franc.
Note. You can experiment with the other countries and hear the
currency exchange calculated by the Voice Mate.
Note. If the currency exchange rate is different, you can press
the MENU key, and then the right arrow key until you hear,
"French franc." Then, by pressing the YES key, you can cycle
through all the countries represented in the current version of
your Voice Mate until you hear spoken, "Enter the new currency
exchange value and press YES." This is where you can enter an
exchange rate of your choosing.
Chapter 10.55 Decimal Modification.
By default, your Voice Mate is set to read two digits to the
right of the decimal point. You can change this to read up to
eight digits beyond the decimal point. To make the decimal
modification, press the MENU key and you will hear, "percent."
Begin pressing the right arrow key until you hear, "Two digits
after comma." The word, COMMA, is in reference to the decimal
point. This may have been changed to read "DECIMAL" or POINT in
your version of the Voice Mate.
When you hear this prompt, begin pressing the YES key. Your
Voice Mate will begin speaking digits of 1 to 8. Once you've
made your selection, you can then perform calculations. The
number of digits after the decimal point will change based upon
the number you selected in the MENU mode. To leave the MENU mode
of the calculator, simply press the MENU key once again and you
will hear a soft click through the speaker.
Note. If you selected up to 8 digits to be spoken after the
decimal point in any given calculation, your Voice Mate 13 digit
calculator will be reduced by that many digits to the left of the
decimal point.
note. If you enter a number larger than a given 13 digit figure,
regardless of how many digits beyond the decimal you have
selected, the Voice Mate will beep a warning sound to indicate no
more digits can be entered.
Note. When selecting the MENU key to access the MENU features in
the calculator, you can also use the left arrow key to cycle
through the menu features in reverse order.
Chapter 10.6 Other Calculator Remarks.
Although the Voice Mate is a simple standard calculator, it
provides enough extra features to make the portable pocket sized
organizer very useful in many different applications. Experiment
with each of the calculator's features to become familiar with
ways you might find it helpful in your every-day life.
CHAPTER 11 DIALING ASSISTANT
The Voice Mate provides an easy way of dialing standard
prefixes. This makes dialing long distant prefixes and
international country codes not only convenient but automatic.
The Dialing Assistant can also be used to dial prefixes of
multiple digits when accessing long distant carrier services. It
can be easily turned off and on or reprogrammed for different
prefixes or country codes.
Chapter 11.1 Accessing The Dialing Assistant Menu.
To access the Dialing Assistant menu, press the Function
Selector to the left of the microphone on the front panel of the
Voice Mate until you hear, "Dialing Assistant," spoken by the
voice synthesizer. Open the door and press the MENU key. You
will hear, "To change the prefix, press 1. For the international
dialing mode, press 2." The PREFIX is in reference to a prefix
you wish to have stored which will be played before any phone
number you dial. The COUNTRY CODE menu choice is in reference to
overseas dialing. Keep in mind (when using the Dialing Assistant
feature of the Voice Mate) that these prefixes will be played
automatically in front of every single number found in your Phone
Book. It will also be spoken by the voice synthesizer if you
review any number in your Phone Book.
Chapter 11.2 The Prefix Mode.
When you are on the Dialing Assistant and the door is
opened, you will automatically be prompted to choose 1 or 2 by
the voice synthesizer. Press 1 and you will hear the voice
synthesizer say, "Enter the prefix and press YES." As an
example, if you wished to use one of the Colorado prefixes to
dial me, you would now enter the digits 303 and press the YES
key. If you then close the door, and cycle to the Phone Book,
you can then retrieve any number of your choice and click the
Side Key twice. The 303 prefix will not only be played in front
of the phone number but it will be spoken by the voice
synthesizer as well. If you open the door on the Phone Book and
use the arrow keys to cycle through phone entries, you again will
hear the voice synthesizer speak 303 in front of all your
recorded telephone numbers.
Chapter 11.21 Turning The Prefix Mode Off.
You can quickly, and easily, turn off the prefix mode by
returning to the Dialing Assistant. Open the door and when you
are prompted to press 1 or 2, select 1 and you will hear, Enter
the prefix and press YES." At this point, you can either enter a
new prefix to replace an old one or you can simply press the YES
key without entering any numbers. If you press YES instead of
entering a new prefix to be dialed, it will cancel the old prefix
you have previously entered and all your phone numbers will
return to their original state. In short, pressing YES, instead
of entering a new prefix to be automatically dialed, turns the
PREFIX MODE off.
Chapter 11.3 The International Dialing Mode.
When you are on the Dialing Assistant, open the door. You
will hear, "To change the prefix press 1. For the international
dialing mode, press 2." If you press 2, you will hear, "Enter
the country code and press YES." This is where you enter the
prefix associated with dialing long distance to the country of
your choice. Once you have made this country code entry, press
the YES key and you will hear, "Enter the area code and press
YES." This is where you make your area code entry associated
with that country. Once you have done this, press the YES key
and you will hear, "Enter the international access code and press
YES." The Voice Mate actually knows some international access
codes. You can use the left and right arrow keys to hear what
international code is already being displayed. If you press the
YES key, it accepts that displayed number. If you wish to change
what is displayed, simply overwrite what is displayed by making a
new entry. Once you have made your entry, press the YES key and
you will hear, "Enter the international long distance code and
press YES." Again, you can either accept the default by pressing
the YES key or make a new entry of your choice. When you have
made your entry, press the YES key and you will hear, "The
international dialing mode is now active."
If you now return to the Phone Book and retrieve a number,
you will hear all these prefix numbers we have just entered in
the Dialing Assistant announced before all your Phone Book
entries. This means, of course, if you dial any of the numbers
stored in your Phone Book, it will first predial the country code
numbers before your Phone book numbers. Likewise, if you arrow
through your Phone Book entries, you will hear these prefix
numbers for international long distance dialing spoken before all
your original Phone book entries.
Chapter 11.31 Turning International Mode Off.
To turn the International dialing Mode off, simply return to
the Dialing Assistant and open the door. When you are prompted
by the voice synthesizer to select 1 or 2, press 2 and you will
hear, "To return to normal mode press 1. To change the country
code, press 2." If you press 1 at this point, you will hear,
"The national mode is now active." This means you are returning
your Voice Mate to the way you normally use it and now no special
prefix numbers will be dialed. If, on the other hand, you wish
to change country code entries, you can press 2 and follow the
steps previously discussed.
Note. The international dialing entries made in the Dialing
Assistant can also be heard and changed from the Phone Book MENU.
Go to the Phone Book and open the door and press the MENU
key. Then press the YES key when prompted to modify the phone
numbers. You will first be asked to modify the country code and
then the area code of that country before being prompted to
modify the telephone number itself.
Note. The Dialing Assistant is especially useful to those
traveling abroad and when long distance dialing requires multiple
prefix numbers. Additionally, for those in the United States who
have multiple prefixes to be dialed, the Dialing Assistant can be
used to eliminate a few numbers when dialing across area code
zones.
CHAPTER 12 HINTS AND TIPS
This section covers tips, hints, suggestions, answers to
frequently asked questions and trouble shooting solutions to
assist the Voice Mate user. It will be updated from time to time
and thus may not be current in audio and Braille formats of the
Users Guide. Check the voice-assistant.com website often for
current releases of this chapter.
Chapter 12.1 Losing Speech And Restoring It.
An easy mistake to make with your Voice Mate, especially
when its new, is accidentally turning the speech off. This
happens due to an incorrect setting in the Control Panel under
ACCESSIBILITY MODE.
Pressing the front panel Function Selector button to the
left of the microphone, cycle over until you hear "Control panel"
spoken by the voice synthesizer and then open the door. Press
the MENU key, which is the upper left hand key around the
speaker, and you will hear the volume setting spoken. It will
say, "Volume," and a number from 1 to 8 will be announced. If
you then press the right arrow key, the setting for the HELP MODE
is spoken. Based upon any changes you may have already made, you
may hear spoken either "Normal help," or "Discrete help." The
default setting is NORMAL HELP and this is most likely the
setting you will use when operating the Voice Mate because NORMAL
HELP is when the Voice Mate will speak the most. If you switch
to DISCRETE HELP, some prompts will not be spoken by the voice
synthesizer. For example, when recording a telephone entry, if
you are using DISCRETE HELP, you will not be prompted to enter
the phone number following the person's name you have recorded.
Although you are not prompted for the phone number to be entered,
you are in fact at the very location where you normally would be
prompted for the phone number. The voice synthesizer simply is
no longer speaking that prompt. It is best, therefore, for the
blind user to leave the setting on NORMAL HELP to insure all
prompts are spoken.
Following DISCRETE HELP, pressing the right arrow key once
again takes you to the ACCESSIBILITY MODE. The setting is either
OFF or ON. Again, you will most likely leave this in the default
setting which is "Accessibility mode on." If you switch this
setting to OFF, you are going to discover you have lost nearly
all voice synthesizer control, making it almost impossible for a
blind person to access Voice Mate functions. This setting may be
convenient for a sighted user but it renders the Voice Mate
useless for a blind user. However, the display still functions
normally. Thus, a sighted user would most likely turn the
ACCESSIBILITY MODE to OFF so they would not have to hear the
voice synthesizer.
Many people, when experimenting with their Voice Mate, will
accidentally switch either the HELP MODE to DISCRETE or the
ACCESSIBILITY MODE to OFF. In the case of the HELP MODE, as
previously discussed, some prompts are still spoken by the voice
synthesizer but not all. If you suddenly realize you are not
hearing all the prompts spoken, use the front panel button to the
left of the microphone to tab back over to the Control Panel and
once you have opened the door, press the MENU key and the right
arrow key once. You will hear, "Discrete help," spoken by the
voice synthesizer. Press the YES key (the lower left hand key
around the speaker) and you will hear, "Normal help." This means
you have reset the Voice Mate to speak all prompts.
The ACCESSIBILITY MODE, on the other hand, if switched to
OFF, literally turns the voice synthesizer off, leaving the blind
user with the problem of determining where they are with their
Voice Mate. There is, however, at least two ways of getting
around this problem without sighted assistance.
Example 1.
If you begin pressing the Function Selector (the button to
the left of the microphone) and discover you have no speech,
don't panic. Before changing batteries, simply begin pressing
the Function Selector button and each time you do, click the Side
Key twice rapidly. Somewhere along the line, as you are pressing
the Function Selector button and clicking the Side Key twice each
time, you are going to get a response. If you are on the Phone
Book, you will not hear anything. If you are on the Memo Pad,
when you click the Side Key twice, you are going to hear your
last recorded memo played back. Now you know where you are.
Let's say, however, you have no memos recorded. In that case,
you will hear nothing.
Continue to press the Function Selector until you do get a
response of some kind in order to determine where you are. The
best way is to keep pressing the Function Selector and double
clicking the Side Key until you hear the time and date spoken.
Then you know that you are only three presses of the Function
Selector away from the Control Panel. If you hear the time and
date spoken, therefore, press the Function Selector three more
times and open the door because you will be in the Control Panel.
If you have SOUNDS turned on, you will hear those sounds as you
now press the MENU KEY, the upper left hand key around the
speaker, and the right arrow key twice. This puts you on
ACCESSIBILITY MODE. Then press the YES key, the lower left hand
key around the speaker, and you will hear a very soft click
through the speaker. Close the door and press the Function
Selector. If you have followed these steps carefully, speech
will be restored to normal operation and the Function Selector
will speak each Voice Mate function.
Example 2.
If you have lost speech and cannot get the voice synthesizer
to work, simply open the Voice Mate door. Then begin pressing
the Function Selector (the button to the left of the microphone
on the top of the front panel) until you hear the voice
synthesizer suddenly begin to speak a prompt. The categories
which will speak, even if you have accidentally turned the
ACCESSIBILITY mode off, are the Clock and the Dialing Assistant.
You will hear, once you have moved on to the Clock field, the
voice synthesizer say, "To change the time, press one. To set
the alarm, press two. To turn the alarm off, press three." Of
course, if your alarm is already set to ON, it will announce the
opposite, but at least you now know exactly where you are and can
tab over (using the Function Selector button) three more times to
get to the Control Panel.
To make it even easier, you can restore speech by opening
the door and begin pressing the Function Selector until you hear
the voice synthesizer say, "to change the prefix, press one. For
the international dialing mode, press two." Now you know that
you are on the DIALING ASSISTANT and you only need to press the
Function Selector one final time to be on the Control Panel. If
your Voice Mate as gone to sleep before you begin this method of
restoring the voice synthesizer, you will hear the Clock prompts
spoken before the Dialing Assistant prompts. If this occurs,
simply continue pressing the Function Selector until you hear the
Dialing Assistant prompts.
If you have pressed the Function Selector one additional
time, you are on the Control Panel and since the door is already
opened, all you need to do now is press the MENU key once, the
right arrow key twice, and the YES key once. Close the door and
press the Function Selector button and you will hear that the
speech has been restored.
Note. As previously mentioned, the best setting is for the HELP
MODE to be set to NORMAL HELP and the ACCESSIBILITY MODE to be
set to ON. This insures all prompts are spoken by the voice
synthesizer.
Chapter 12.2 Resetting The Date And Calendar.
A common problem occurs when resetting the current calendar
date. This normally happens when people have accidentally
changed date formats.
If you attempt to change the date and find it will not allow
you to do so, you generally get a rapid double beep. This
indicates your entry is invalid. to correct this problem, make
certain you are on the clock and calendar. Then, open the door,
and instead of selecting 1, 2 or 3 as prompted by the voice
synthesizer, press the MENU key. You will hear spoken by the
voice synthesizer either "A.M. P.M. hour format," or "24 hour
format." Which format you hear will be based upon any changes
you have made to this format. The A.M. P.M. hour format is the
standard 12 hour format and the 24 hour format is the standard
military style of time. Pressing the YES key toggles this hour
format to one or the other. If you wish to change from one to
the other, press the YES key and the new format will be
announced. To change it back, press the MENU key and you will
hear the current hour format announced. Press the YES key once
again, and it will revert to the former setting.
Since we are discussing the problem of the standard date
format not being accepted when you attempt to make a calendar
change, begin by pressing the MENU key which announces the
current hour format. Press the right arrow key and you will
hear, "International date format," spoken by the voice
synthesizer. To change this back to the U.S. date format, simply
press the YES key. The YES key serves as a toggle key and allows
you to switch back and forth between date formats.
Note. The reason you cannot set the correct date format is due
to the fact that the international date format wants the day of
the month entered first while the U.S. date format wants the
month entered first.
Note. The day and the month should always be entered with two
digits which represent the correct day and month and the year
should always be entered as a four digit entry. For example,
June 1, 2000 should be entered as 06012000 for the U.S. date
format. The correct entry for the international date format
would be 01062000. Many users in the United States accidentally
get their Voice Mate switched to the international date format
and then when they try and set the date of the calendar, they get
the rapid double beeping signal which is an indication an
incorrect number has been entered. Following the steps just
discussed will allow this problem to be solved.
Chapter 12.3 Voice Recognition Techniques.
Voice recognition technology, although it has been around
for a few years, is relatively new when electronic technology is
considered overall. Many new users of the Voice Mate at first
find voice recognition somewhat awkward. With a little practice,
however, it doesn't take long to gain a feel for how best to use
the voice recognition technology of the Voice Mate.
The Voice Mate listens for three seconds as you record. It
is best, therefore, to use a first and last name in the Phone
Book when making an entry. This is also true when using the
Appointment Book. Use at least two words when recording an
appointment because it will be easier to make a match when
recalling phone numbers or appointments.
Another tip to consider when using voice recognition is
similarities in sounds. Keep in mind, the Voice Mate is
attempting to electronically match sounds digitally. This means
that similar sounds are going to match. For example, if you have
phone book entries with the same first names, you may have to
repeat what you are saying into the microphone more than once
before the Voice Mate achieves a match. This is especially true
as you continue adding dozens of names to your Phone Book.
changing the inflection of your voice also makes a big
difference when trying to achieve a match. Sometimes, if you are
trying to retrieve the phone numbers you have for Jim Smith, you
can accomplish a match by speaking the name as a question. "Jim
Smith?" Again, keep in mind that your Voice Mate is listening
for up to three seconds so the longer the names, or the more
syllables in the names, the greater the chance of achieving a
match the first time.
Chapter 12.4 Memory Reset.
Your Voice Mate is a miniature computer and computer
software occasionally locks up. If your Voice Mate stops working
normally, the first thing you can try to restore normal operation
is a memory reset.
The memory reset button is found on the back panel of the
Voice Mate. Simply turn the unit over, and feel for a small hole
in the back panel of the Voice Mate near the top. You will feel
some engraving and just to the right edge of that engraving, you
will feel a tiny hole. It is about 1-half an inch in from the
right side and about an inch down from the top. It is directly
on the opposite side of the display panel located on the front of
the Voice Mate.
If you press the end of a paper clip, a stylus or any other
pointed object into this hole, it will reset many of your Voice
Mate settings to their defaults. It does not delete your memory
database. The clock and calendar, for example, will have to be
reset if you press the reset button in the back of the unit.
Note. This reset should only be done if you are having trouble
with your Voice Mate operating normally.
Chapter 12.5 Performing A Total Memory Dump.
The only time you will ever execute a total memory dump with
your Voice Mate, is when the software as locked up and you have
lost all ability to enter or retrieve data. A total memory dump
will reset your Voice Mate to the factory default settings and
your total memory database will be completely lost. Yes, this
means everything you have recorded will be erased! Fortunately,
this total memory dump is rarely required. The PC software kit
is useful, therefore, because all your Voice Mate data can be
backed up on your computer's hard drive for safe keeping. Your
Voice Mate database can then be restored in the event a total
memory dump is required.
The total memory dump requires two steps. First, open the
Voice Mate door. Depress all three bottom row keys on the
numpad. These are the star, zero, and pound keys. While holding
down all three of these keys at the same time, press the end of a
pointed object, such as a paper clip or the point of a stylus,
into the reset button on the back panel. You only need to hold
the reset button in for a second or two before releasing it.
When you release all three keys and the reset button, your Voice
Mate will be reset and speech should likewise be restored.
Note. You will need to reenter all your previously stored data
again if you have performed a total memory dump. If, on the
other hand, you used the PC software kit to previously back up
your data, you can now use this same software to restore your
data.
Note. The total memory dump must be conducted with the Voice
Mate batteries installed.
CHAPTER 13 USING THE VOICE MATE SOFTWARE KIT
This chapter will walk you step-by-step through the software
applications available with the PC Kit. This includes backing up
the Voice Mate, restoring data, and the flash rom software. An
explanation of how the PC cable is connected is also explained.
Chapter 13.1 The Contents Of The PC Kit.
The PC Kit is available through most Voice Mate distributors
and contains two items. The Voice Mate CDROM contains the
backup, restore, and Voice Mate flashrom programs. The other
item is a computer cable. This cable is specifically designed
for the Voice Mate and no other computer cable will work due to
its unique wiring. If, on the other hand, you have a cable you
purchased with the Parrot Plus model of the hand held organizer,
it will work with the Voice Mate software. The cable is used to
connect the Voice Mate directly to the computer to perform
backups, restorations of previous backups, and also gives you the
ability to upgrade your Voice Mate to a newer version whenever
new software is made available through the internet. The
software is currently only available for Windows application.
Note. If you do not own a computer or have not purchased the PC
Kit, contact the dealer from whom you purchased your Voice Mate.
Many dealers have the capability of updating the Voice Mate.
Chapter 13.2 Installing The CDROM Software.
The easiest way of setting up the Voice Mate CDROM software
on your hard drive is to copy the entire CDROM contents at one
time. If, on the other hand, you are familiar with copying files
and creating folders, you may prefer doing it your own way.
About 12 to 14 megabytes of space will be needed on your hard
drive.
Step 1
Begin at your Desktop. Press the letter M until you hear
"My Computer" spoken by your voice synthesizer. You may have
other things on your Desktop which begin with the letter M and
each press of the letter M will move the focus to a new item on
your Desktop. When you hear, "My Computer" spoken, press enter.
Step 2
Press the down arrow key until you hear the drive letter of
your CDROM drive spoken. In my case, I look for drive letter D.
If you have multiple partitions on your hard drive, or if you
have more than one hard drive, you may hear multiple drive
letters as you continue to press the down arrow key. Normally a
CDROM drive will be the last drive letter but if you are
uncertain about this, find out the drive letter assignment of
your CDROM before attempting this software installation. As I
said, my CDROM is D but if your CDROM drive is something
different, Press enter on the CDROM drive letter instead of D.
Step 3
This places you on the root directory of the CDROM. You
most likely will hear the word PARROT spoken as the main folder
directory on your CDROM which you have purchased from a Voice
Mate dealer. Press your down arrow key once to insure this main
folder name is highlighted. You will hear it say, "Parrot."
Step 4
With the focus on the folder of PARROT, simply press the 2-
key combination of Control C and you will hear "copied to clip
board." This may take a few seconds based upon how fast your
computer is because we are copying over 12 megabytes of files and
folders to RAM.
Step 5
Now, press the backspace key one time. This will take you
out of the CDROM drive and place you back into the My Computer
window where we started. You may hear the drive letter of the
CDROM drive spoken or you may be back at the top of the items
listed in My Computer. For example, I land on my floppy drive
which is drive letter A.
Step 6
If you are going to copy the CDROm software on to your C
drive, navigate to the letter C by using your up or down arrow
keys until you hear the drive letter C spoken. If you have
elected to install the software on another drive, navigate to
that letter.
Step 7
Press enter on C and you will drop into the root directory
of your C drive. this is where we are going to copy the folder
PARROT and all of its sub-directories and files.
Step 8
If you press enter on the drive letter C, you will hear a
total number of files and folders available on your C drive. It
makes no difference how many files and folders you hear announced
at this point, as long as you pressed the enter key on drive
letter C, you are in the root directory and ready to copy the
contents of the CDROM.
Since the C drive root directory is actually where we intend
to install the software, the only thing we now need to do is to
press the Control V 2-key combination. This is the command to
copy the entire CDROM contents to your C drive exactly as it
appears on the CDROM. This may take a few seconds because of the
speed of your hard drive. You may hear, "Copying files," spoken
by your voice synthesizer. You will know when it is finished
because your voice synthesizer will most likely speak the word
"Parrot" which is the indication that all files and folders were
copied successfully. This means you are on the folder called
PARROT. If you plan on continuing with the backup, restore, and
eventually the flashrom procedure, this is where you want to be.
You can exit the My Computer window, however, and return to the
Desktop by pressing Alt F4 until you hear "Desktop" spoken. Be
certain to wait until the file transfer has finished before
taking any action.
Note. Once you have copied the CDROM folders to the hard drive,
you can access the software by simply pressing enter on My
Computer from your Desktop, pressing the down arrow key until you
hear the drive letter "C" spoken by your voice synthesizer,
opening the C drive by pressing enter, and pressing the letter P
until you hear the word "Parrot" spoken and then pressing enter
one more time. You then use your up and down arrow keys to
access the PARROT PLUS BACKUP, UPDATE SOFTWARE, and the VOICE
MATE BACKUP folders.
Chapter 13.3 Backing Up And Restoring Data.
If you use your Voice Mate to store a great deal of
information, it is a good idea to occasionally back up your
database to your hard drive in case of a software lockup. The
Voice Mate is a miniature state of the art computer driven by
sophisticated voice recognition software. Like a computer,
therefore, the Voice Mate software can sometimes lock up;
rendering your Voice Mate inoperative. It doesn't occur often
and some people never experience it. The Voice Mate software
package offers, however, one more level of data protection in the
event of a lockup. If you have a current backup of your Voice
Mate's database, you can go to your computer and quickly restore
the data and your Voice Mate will be back to normal.
This section details exactly how to backup your Voice Mate.
Before beginning, however, we need to install your PC cable which
comes with the Voice Mate CDROM.
Chapter 13.31 Installing The PC Cable.
When you purchase the PC Kit, you receive a special designed
cable which connects your Voice Mate to your computer. This
cable has a small pointed plug on one end which connects to the
Voice Mate itself and the other end is a 9 pin connecter used on
many computers as a standard. This 9 pin connecter plugs into a
computer port on the back of your computer. It currently works
on either comm1 or comm2. Many printers and external modems
connect to these same two comm ports so it is simply a matter of
unplugging one of these cables from the back of your computer and
pressing the 9 pin connecter on to the comm port. If you
discover that the 9 pin connecter does not fit, either because
they are not matching 9 pin connections, or if your comm port
happens to be a 25 pin connection, you can purchase a gender
changer (an adapter) which will allow your cable to match the
comm port on the back of your computer to the Voice Mate cable.
If you need an adapter, take your Voice Mate cable into a local
computer store and they can sell you the adapter which matches
your cable.
The small pointed end of the PC cable plugs in to the small
hole just below the Side Key located on the upper left hand outer
edge of your Voice Mate. This is the same Side Key you use to
record and play back recorded data.
Once you have this PC cable connected to your Voice Mate and
your computer, you will be ready to transfer data.
Chapter 13.32 The Backup Procedure.
Step 1
Navigate to your Desktop and press the letter M until you
hear "My Computer" spoken by your voice synthesizer. You may
hear other items spoken such as My Briefcase or Microsoft
programs which have been installed and placed on your Desktop.
Regardless of what you hear, continue pressing the letter M until
"My Computer" is heard. When you have located it, press enter.
Step 2
Press the down arrow key until you hear the drive letter
spoken where you installed the Voice Mate software and press
enter. In my case, i installed the software on drive C. If you
have chosen a different drive letter, locate that drive letter
and press enter.
Step 3
When you press the enter key on the drive letter where your
Voice Mate software has been installed, you will hear a certain
number of files and folders listed on the root directory of that
drive. Begin pressing the letter P on your keyboard until you
hear the word "Parrot" spoken. this will be the main folder.
Press enter to open this folder.
Step 4
When you press the enter key on the PARROT folder, you will
be on a list of three folders which are:
PARROT PLUS BACKUP
UPDATE SOFTWARE
VOICE MATE BACKUP.
You navigate to these individual folders using your up and down
arrow keys or by pressing the first letter of the folder.
Note. The PARROT PLUS BACKUP folder is for earlier versions of
the product. the UPDATE SOFTWARE folder contains a more current
version of the flashrom software for Voice Mate users. The VOICE
MATE BACKUP folder is used when you want to perform a backup of
your Voice Mate.
Press the letter V until you hear, "Voice Mate backup,"
spoken or press the down arrow key until you hear this folder
spoken. Press enter and the folder will open.
Step 5
You will now be in the VOICE MATE BACKUP folder and there
are a number of files in this folder. You can press your down
arrow key to find the executable file we need to use or you can
simply press the letter V until you hear "Voice Mate Backup"
spoken. This is the backup executable file. Press enter to
launch this program.
Step 6
When you press enter on the Voice Mate backup executable
(EXE) file, the program will open. You most likely will hear the
word "Exit" spoken by your voice synthesizer, however, there are
four menu choices available in this window. You move to these
menu choices by pressing your up and down arrow keys. The four
menu choices are:
CONFIGURATION
EXIT
GET FROM ORGANIZER
SEND TO ORGANIZER
We first need to configure the program to recognize the comm
port to which you have your PC cable connected. This will be
either comm1 or comm2. If you do not know which comm port your
cable is connected to in the back of your computer, you can try
either one in the configuration menu. If the backup does not
work, simply go back to the configuration menu and change it to
the other comm port selection.
As previously mentioned, you normally land on the menu
choice of EXIT when you first open the Voice Mate Backup program.
Pressing your up arrow key once takes you to the menu choice of
CONFIGURATION. do not press the enter key but instead, activate
this menu choice by pressing the space bar. You will hear,
"Select the communication port." This selection is made by
simply pressing your down arrow key once for comm1 and a second
press of the down arrow key if you are going to use comm2. In
either case, you will hear comm1 or comm2 spoken. Which ever
comm port you are going to use, press the tab key once and you
will hear, "Ok." Press enter and the comm port will have been
selected.
Step 7
Press your down arrow key once and you will hear, "Exit,"
spoken by your voice synthesizer. Press the down arrow key one
more time and you will hear, "Get from organizer." Press the
space bar. Do not press the enter key!
Step 8
When you press the space bar on GET DATA FROM ORGANIZER, an
edit box opens. You will hear, "File name. Edit." This is
prompting you to assign a file name to your Voice Mate data you
wish to save to your hard drive for safe keeping.
Step 9
Since this is an edit box, you simply need to type in a file
name of your choice. For example, I name my backup files:
phil0109, phil0211, phil0915, and so on. I use my name because I
sometimes backup a customer's Voice Mate to flashrom it to a
newer software version and I like to keep track of whose data I
am storing. The numbers I use are the month and day. You can,
however, use any filename of your choice. For example, you could
use a file name of bk0210 to indicate your last backup was on
February 10th. Eventually, once you have more than one or two
backup file names, you will most likely want to delete the older
ones.
At this point of the procedure, type in a file name which
works best for you. You do not need to add a period and a 3-
letter extension to your file because the backup utility program
adds .PAR to whatever file name you have chosen.
Before pressing the enter key to create this file name, we
first need to prepare the Voice Mate to send data to the
computer. This assumes, of course, you have already connected
the PC cable to your computer and to your Voice Mate as
previously described.
Step 10
Pressing the Function Selector, (the rubber button to the
left of the microphone on the front of the Voice Mate) cycle
through the menu choices till you hear your Voice Mate say,
"Control Panel." Open the door and press the MENU key. This is
the button in the upper left hand corner around the speaker. You
will hear "Volume #..." The word, "volume," is spoken and
followed by a number from 1 to 8.
Step 11
Press the left arrow key just below the four rubber buttons
around the Voice Mate speaker. You will hear, "Receive data."
Press the left arrow key a second time and you will hear, "Send
data." This is the selection we want.
Step 12
To activate the Send Data menu choice, you simply need to
press the YES key. This is the lower left hand key around the
speaker. When you press the YES key, you will probably hear a
soft click in the speaker and then in about three or four
seconds, the Voice Mate will say, "Data transferring in progress.
Please wait." This activates the Voice Mate and commands it to
begin transferring your Voice Mate database to the computer.
However, data cannot be transferred until you go back to your
computer keyboard and press the enter key. This is why I had you
fill in a file name in the edit box before going to the Voice
Mate to select the Send Data menu choice in the Control Panel.
Note. You have about 30 seconds to press the enter key on your
computer keyboard before the Voice Mate times out and cancels the
transfer process. If you fail to press the computer keyboard's
enter key within this time limit, your Voice Mate will say,
"Error during data transferring. Please press a key to
continue." If you receive this error message, pressing any key
cancels the transfer procedure. If the sound feature is turned
on in your Voice Mate, you will hear that sound you have selected
when any key is depressed.
Step 13
The data file copied on to your hard drive by the Voice Mate
data transfer software does not create a very large file. Even
if your entire memory was used up on your Voice mate, the data
file would likely be less than three megabytes. For example, if
your Voice Mate says that you have 80 percent of your memory
available, your backup file will not be more than about 300K in
total size.
The nice thing about the backup software is that the Voice
Mate talks to you at the beginning and end of the data transfer.
When it concludes, the Voice Mate says, "End of data
transferring." You can then disconnect the PC cable from the
Voice Mate and closed the front panel door and your Voice Mate is
ready for use.
Note. Leaving the PC cable plugged into the Voice Mate may keep
the Voice Mate from shutting off and thus could deplete all the
remaining power of the batteries. Be sure and disconnect your PC
cable from the unit when the data backup is complete.
Chapter 13.33 Restoring Data.
You will want to restore your Voice Mate if you experience
data corruption, software lockup, or once you have flashrommed
your Voice Mate to a newer software version.
Step 1
If you begin from your Desktop, press M until you hear, "My
Computer," spoken by your voice synthesizer. Press enter.
Step 2
Press your down arrow key until you hear the drive letter
spoken where you copied the Voice Mate CDROM software. Press
enter. In this example, I have been using drive letter C, so you
would press enter on C. This will open this drive and a number
of files and folders will likely be announced.
Step 3
Press the letter P until you hear, "Parrot" spoken. Press
enter to open the PARROT main folder.
Step 4
Press the letter V until you hear, "Voice Mate Backup."
This is the Voice Mate Backup folder. You can also use your down
arrow key until you hear the VOICE MATE BACKUP folder announced.
Press enter to open this folder.
Step 5
Once you have opened this folder, you will hear a list of
files announced. Again, you can either use your down arrow key
to move down the list of files or press the letter V until you
hear "Voice Mate Backup" spoken. Press the enter key to launch
the Voice Mate backup program.
Step 6
Once you have pressed the enter key on the Voice Mate Backup
file name, you will find the same menu choices we talked about
during the backup procedure. This includes:
CONFIGURATION
EXIT
GET FROM ORGANIZER
SEND TO ORGANIZER
GET FROM ORGANIZER refers to backing up data which has already
been described. SEND TO ORGANIZER refers to restoring data and
this is what we will be doing. However, we must first make sure
we have selected the correct comm port once again.
You will likely land on the EXIT menu choice when entering
the Voice Mate backup utility program. Regardless of what you
hear, pressing your up arrow key allows you to move to the
CONFIGURATION menu choice. Press your space bar to select this
menu choice. You will be prompted to choose a comm port.
Pressing your down arrow key once allows you to hear "Comm1" or a
second press of the down arrow key allows you to select "Comm2."
You do not need to press any keys to select one of the comm
ports. If, for example, you are using comm1, once you hear that
spoken, press your tab key and you will hear, "Ok." Now press
enter and you will be returned to the backup menu.
Step 7
Once you have selected the correct comm port as just
described, continue to press your down arrow key until you hear,
"Send to organizer." Press the space bar and you will be in the
edit box.
Step 8
The file name you want to use is the backup file name you
previously used when doing your last backup. Type in that file
name but do not press enter yet.
Step 9
Once you have supplied the correct backup file name, take
your Voice Mate and cycle over to the Control Panel by pressing
the front panel Function Selector until you hear the voice
synthesizer say, "Control Panel." Open the door and press the
MENU key. This activates the Control Panel menu. The first menu
choice is automatically spoken and that will be your current
volume control setting.
Step 10
Press the left arrow key once and you will hear, "Receive
data." Press the YES key to accept this menu choice. The YES
key is the lower left hand key around the speaker. In three or
four seconds, you will hear your Voice Mate say, "To clear memory
before transferring data, press yes." When you press the YES key
at this point, your entire Voice Mate database will be erased in
order to prepare the Voice Mate to receive the backup data you
previously saved. When you press the YES key, you will hear,
"Data transferring in progress. Please wait."
Step 11
Once your Voice Mate has announced, "Data transfer in
progress. Please wait," reach over to your computer keyboard and
press the enter key. This action tells the backup and restore
software to begin sending the backup data to your Voice Mate.
Step 12
The data transfer may take a few seconds, or even two or
three minutes, or even longer. The transfer time is based upon
how large of backup file is being restored to your Voice Mate.
When the restoration is complete, you will hear a low
electronic buzz from your Voice Mate and it will announce, "Data
transfer complete." You can then remove the cable, close the
door, and your Voice Mate will be ready for use.
Note. Since your memory was cleared before the restore process
began, you will have to reset your clock and calendar when the
restore procedure is complete.
Chapter 13.4 The Flashrom Software.
Flashromming your Voice Mate may be done for two reasons.
When new software is released and placed on the Voice Mate
website and other supporting Voice Mate websites, you can
download this new software and update your Voice Mate to a newer
version free of charge. You must have previously purchased the
Voice Mate PC Kit, however, because the software on the website
cannot be installed in any Voice Mate without first purchasing
the PC cable. The cable is uniquely wired for the Voice Mate
interface and a standard cable purchased from a computer store
will not work.
Another reason for flashromming the Voice Mate is when you
experience a software lockup and other related problems in
executing Voice Mate commands. For example, I once had a Voice
Mate returned to me because the customer said the Side Key was
not working properly. I tested the unit in every way and
everything seemed to work normally. However, when I attempted to
retrieve a phone number in the Phone Book, the voice recognition
would not always respond properly. I was beginning to consider
the possibility that it needed a new Side Key but decided to
flashrom the unit to a new version of the software first. The
Side Key problem vanished following the flashrom procedure.
Having the PC Kit is an advantage, therefore, when trying to
solve Voice Mate problems. Additionally, later versions of the
Voice Mate software, beginning with version 3.2, also have
special software formatting to extend the battery life of the
Voice Mate. So updating to newer software versions is a definite
advantage.
Note. If you do not own a computer or if you have elected not to
purchase the software, most dealers can update your Voice Mate
for you. Your dealer, however, may invoke a minimal charge to
cover the cost of time involved as well as shipping charges.
Note. Additional software modifications have been developed to
make the flashrom software even more speech friendly for various
screen readers. Check the Voice Mate website and other
supporting websites for details and additional updated files
which are available for more speech friendly access.
Chapter 13.41 The Flashrom Procedure.
The flashrom procedure is not much different than the backup
and restore procedures previously described. This part of the
chapter assumes you have already become familiar with the backup
and restore procedures because you do not want to flashrom your
Voice Mate to a newer version of the software until you have
backed up your data.
Note. Flashromming the Voice Mate destroys any previously stored
data.
Step 1 The Update Folder.
Navigate to your Desktop. Press M until you hear, "My
Computer." Press enter.
Step 2 Opening The Parrot Folder.
Press the letter P until you hear, "Parrot," and press
enter. The Parrot main folder will open.
Step 3 The Voice Mate Update Folder.
Either use your down arrow key or press the letter U until
you hear, "Update Software." Press enter. The Update Software
folder will open.
Step 4 Executing The Flashrom Program.
Upon entering this folder, press T to jump to the file
called TESTMMI which is the file name needed to execute the
flashrom program. You can also press the down arrow key until
you hear the file name spoken. Press enter and the program will
open.
Note. This file name may change at any time to a slightly
different file name so search for a file which begins with the
word TEST and has a suffix of EXE and that will be the executable
file you need to open to configure the flashrom software.
Note. A new EXE file has also been made available for speech
users which makes the flashrom software more speech friendly.
Again, look for a file name which begins with the letters TEST.
For more information about the speech friendly executable Voice
Mate flashrom program, check the voice-assistant.com website or
any of the other supporting websites. You can also check on the
Parrot internet mailing list or call a Voice Mate dealer.
Step 5 The Configuration Window.
Though you will find a number of things that can be
configured in the main window of the program, we only need to
change one or two items. Before making any changes, however, I
recommend you take time, once you have initialized the flashrom
program, to press the tab key and cycle through all the menu
choices. You will hear all of the following:
FLASH PARAMETERS BUTTON
START BUTTON
STOP BUTTON
CLEAR BUTTON
RESULTS LANGUAGE LIST BOX ZERO ITEMS
LANGUAGE COMBO BOX
COMM 2 RADIO BUTTON CHECKED 2 OF 4
36 MHZ RADIO BUTTON CHECKED FOUR OF FOUR
BINARY FILE EDIT
Note. If this is your first time accessing the flashrom
software, some of the items will contain default settings while
other choices will be blank until we make configuration changes
to program the flashrom software to transfer data. Besides using
the tab key to move through the choices, you can also go back one
item at a time by pressing Shift Tab.
Note. Your voice synthesizer and screen reading software may
speak more than the items just listed but those I have listed
will be the main menu choices.
Step 6 Selecting A Language.
Once you are familiar with the choices, tab until you find
the LANGUAGE COMBO BOX. The first reference to language you will
hear as you tab through the main menu choices is the LANGUAGE
LIST BOX. It will also say, "Zero items" because you have not
yet selected the language you want to be flashrommed into your
Voice Mate. Once you have heard it say, "Language list box,"
press your tab key one more time and you will hear, "Language
combo box," spoken by your voice synthesizer. Now we can select
the language we want to use.
To select the desired language, simply begin pressing the
down arrow key and the choices will be spoken. If, for example,
you are going to use English as your desired language, pressing
the down arrow key will take you through Chinese, Danish, and
Dutch, before "English" is spoken by your voice synthesizer.
Once you hear, "English," spoken, press the tab key and that
language will be selected. This action also takes you away from
the LANGUAGE COMBO BOX and moves you to the next menu choice.
Step 7 Selecting The Comm Port.
As just stated, once you hear the language you wish to use,
pressing the tab key not only automatically selects that language
but it immediately takes you away from that language combo box
and moves you to the next menu choice. This is exactly where we
need to be to make a comm port selection.
If you hear "Comm2," spoken, and if you have connected your
Voice Mate PC cable to comm2 of your computer, you need not make
any change. If, on the other hand, you are using comm1, press
the up arrow key one time and you will hear, "Comm1," spoken.
You do not need to press the enter key or the space bar to make
your selection because pressing the tab key moves you away from
the current focus and automatically selects the item you last
heard spoken by your voice synthesizer.
Note. If you wish to check to make sure your selections were
correct, tab through all the choices and when you get to the
LANGUAGE COMBO BOX, you will hear, "English," spoken as the
choice you selected. Likewise, pressing the tab key again will
announce that either comm1 or comm2 was selected.
Note. If at any time you feel you have made a mistake and wish
to clear everything, you can either exit the program by pressing
Alt F4 and then reenter the program or you can simply tab over to
the word, "Clear," and press the space bar once. All settings
will then be returned to the defaults and you can cycle through
each menu choice and reconfigure.
Step 8 The Start Button.
Since all the other fields are automatically filled in for
you once the language and comm port have been selected, the only
thing left to do is to press the tab key until we hear, "Start,"
spoken by the voice synthesizer. Before actually launching the
flashrom program, however, we need to do one very important
thing.
Step 9 Disconnecting The Batteries.
If you fail to take this step, the Voice Mate flashrom
program will return an error message and the flashrom transfer
will fail.
Though the batteries need to be disconnected, it is only for
the first part of the flashrom procedure. Because the batteries
must be reconnected the moment the flashrom software transfer
begins, we need to disconnect the batteries in such a way that
they can be quickly reconnected.
Turn the Voice Mate over and open both battery compartments.
Disconnect the batteries but leave them laying in the battery
trays so that the tips of the batteries are protruding just
outside the bottom of the Voice Mate. This will allow you to
quickly press the batteries down simultaneously and thus make a
quick reconnection when needed. Once you have disconnected the
batteries and prepared for them to be quickly reconnected, you
will be ready to proceed.
Note. At this point, make sure your PC cable is firmly seated in
the socket (computer port) on the side of the Voice Mate. The
cable is easily loosened and though it appears to be plugged in,
be sure and check it before continuing.
Step 10 Launching The Program.
If you have tabbed over to the START BUTTON, simply press
the space bar and the program will launch. If you are using an
earlier version of the software, you will not hear anything
spoken during the software transfer. If you are using a newer
version of the executable program, it will immediately begin
speaking. You will hear, "XPROM downloading." Regardless if you
hear any speech or not, immediately press the batteries back down
into their compartments. You do not need to close the battery
compartment doors but be certain the batteries are immediately
pressed down after the space bar has been pressed. Be careful
not to move the Voice Mate or bump the PC cable or the transfer
will fail.
Note. If your screen reader does not speak once you have started
the software and pressed the batteries back down into their
compartments as described, simply wait for about four or five
minutes for the process to finish.
Step 11 The Flashrom Process.
If your screen reader has a mode in which you can read the
screen without interrupting a program in process, you can read
around the window to discover if the program is actually running.
Once the download part of the flashrom software begins, it only
takes a minute or so before the screen changes and begins the
flashrom transfer data process. Again, your screen reader may
not speak anything on the screen at this time unless you are
using a newer version of the software. If you are using one of
the newer updated executable files, your voice synthesizer will
begin by speaking that the XPROM is downloading and then it will
shortly begin speaking that it is flashromming. it will then
report the percentage of the program as it is flashing. You will
hear, for example, "flashing 5 percent. Flashing 12 percent.
Flashing 31 percent." This will continue for perhaps two or
three minutes until the transfer is complete. If your screen
reader is announcing the screen, it will conclude with, "Flash
ok." This means the transfer was successful.
Step 12 Initializing The Voice Mate.
When the flashrom transfer is completed, you will need to
reinitialize the Voice Mate. You can do this one of two ways.
The batteries can be removed and reinserted or you can press the
RESET button in the back of the unit.
When the Voice Mate is reinitialized, you will know if the
transfer process was successful the first time you press the
Selector Function button to the left of the microphone. Instead
of saying, "Phone book," it will speak the version number of the
software. This only is announced the very first time the
Selector Button is pressed following battery removal and
reinstallation.
Note. If the Voice Mate does not speak at all, the flashrom
transfer did not work and you will need to try again. You might
first remove the batteries and install them again to make certain
solid battery connection has been made. If you still are unable
to get the Voice Mate to speak, you will need to execute the
flashrom process again.
Chapter 13.42 Flashrom Troubleshooting.
1. Older models of the Voice Mate sometimes have cables that do
not seat firmly into the jack on the Voice Mate. Pressing firmly
on the plug as it is inserted into the Voice Mate will help but
if you are getting continual error messages from the flashrom
software, the first thing to check is this plug. In some cases,
trimming a small amount of plastic off the barrel of the plug
will allow the plug toseat firmly into the jack of theVoice Mate.
2. Be absolutely certain which comm port you are using. Many
modems, printers, and other devices are often sharing comm1 and
comm2 ports and this may cause a conflict when running the
flashrom program. If you configure the flashrom software to work
on comm1 and it fails, reconfigure the software and try comm2.
If you still receive a transfer failure message on the screen,
check the plug which fits into the side of the Voice Mate and
make sure it is firmly seated.
3. Another common problem occurs when people forget to perform
the removal of the batteries before they launch the flashrom
software. If you forget and leave the batteries connected and
press the enter key to start the program, you will have to cancel
the program and remove the batteries and prepare them to be
pressed back into place before launching the program once again.
Note. For additional tips and hints to the flashrom, backup, and
restore software, refer to the supporting websites or join the
Parrot mailing list on the internet or contact the dealer from
whom you made your purchase.
End Of The Voice Mate Users Guide
1. Older models of the Voice Mate sometimes have cables that do
not seat firmly into the jack on the Voice Mate. Pressing firmly
on the plug as it is inserted into the Voice Mate will help but
if you are getting continual error messages from the flashrom
software, the first thing to check is this plug. In some cases,
trimming a small amount of plastic off the barrel of the plug
will allow the plug toseat firmly into the jack of theVoice Mate.
2. Be absolutely certain which comm port you are using. Many
modems, printers, and other devices are often sharing comm1 and
comm2 ports and this may cause a conflict when running the
flashrom program. If you configure the flashrom software to work
on comm1 and it fails, reconfigure the software and try comm2.
If you still receive a transfer failure message on the screen,
check the plug which fits into the side of the Voice Mate and
make sure it is firmly seated.
3. Another common problem occurs when people forget to perform
the removal of the batteries before they launch the flashrom
software. If you forget and leave the batteries connected and
press the enter key to start the program, you will have to cancel
the program and remove the batteries and prepare them to be
pressed back into place before launching the program once again.
Note. For additional tips and hints to the flashrom, backup, and
restore software, refer to the supporting websites or join the
Parrot mailing list on the internet or contact the dealer from
whom you made your purchase.
End Of The Voice Mate Users Guide