Intel develops Chinese voice-recognition
platform for future applications
Software will run on x86- and StrongARM-based
processor products
By Mark LaPedus
Semiconductor Business News
(04/13/01 12:41 p.m. EST)
BEIJING -- In an effort to optimize its
microprocessor lines for
next-generation applications, Intel
Corp.'s subsidiary in China is
developing an advanced
voice-recognition software platform
that promises to solve some major
problems in the industry.
Design to run on its x86- and
StrongARM-based microprocessor
lines, Intel's distributed
speech-recognition (DSR) software
technology supports both English and
Chinese languages--particularly the
Mandarin dialect.
The DSR technology can also be
applied to support other foreign
languages as well, according to Peter Liou, director of the
Intel China Research Center. Based in Beijing, the research
center is part of Intel's China subsidiary, Intel China Ltd.
Eventually, Intel hopes to develop more advanced
speech-recognition technologies, like universal translation
machines, Liou said. These applications will require
processors that run at speeds of 10 GHz or faster, he said.
"Speech-recognition is a CPU-intensive application," Liou told
SBN in a recent interview at the company's Beijing research
center. "What we're doing is developing technology for
tomorrow's microprocessor applications."
But Intel has an usual business model for its
voice-recognition software. Fearing that it will compete with
its microprocessor customers, Intel does not plan to sell the
DSR software platform on the open market, Liou said.
Instead, the company will license--or give away--the
technology to third-party developers, such as IBM, Lernout
& Hauspie, and others, Liou said.
IBM, Lernout & Hauspie, and others separately offer
voice-recognition software products for use in
Chinese-language applications. These software products are
typically optimized to run on a range of CISC- and
RISC-based processors, such as Intel's x86, Sun
Microsystems' Sparc, and PowerPC architectures.
For these developers, Intel licenses or gives away what it
calls "low-level software functions." As a result, the
software developer is able to optimize a product on a
particular platform, notably the x86 or StrongARM, he said.
Intel's work in speech-recognition is important for other
reasons. Speech-recognition technology promises to solve
some major problems for Chinese-language populations in
China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other regions.
At present, the Chinese language consists of over 10,000
characters. As a result, the Chinese-language keyboard on a
PC is complex and cumbersome for users. Even the fastest
typists in China can only type some 40 characters a minute
on a Chinese keyboard, analysts said.
Speech-recognition could eradicate the need for the Chinese
keyboard on a PC, but there is still some major problems with
the technology. "Speech-recognition is in its infancy," Liou
said. "The problem with speech-recognition is that it's only
90-to-95% accurate."
While the jury is still out for speech-recognition products for
the PC, the technology is taking off in non-PC applications,
like voice-portals, call-centers, and others.
"Speech-recognition is taking off in applications where you
don't need 100% accuracy," he said.
Intel hopes to solve the accuracy--and the noise-related
problems--associated with speech-recognition. Targeted for
call-centers, portals, and other applications, Intel's DSR
software is designed to reside on both the server and a
piece of end-user equipment like a cellular-phone or PC.
By using a proprietary speech-engine technology, voice
patterns can be digitized and distributed through the
network. "The technology builds a model of your voice," Liou
said.
Intel's technology is compliant with an industry specification
for voice-recognition. Dubbed Aurora, the specification is still
in the state of flux, however. "There is a standard, but there
is really no implementation for the standard," he added. |
