You need one or more Personal Computers (PC) on which GNU/Linux is installed and network connection is available. For a small speech application with up to four ports, one PC would be enough. You should download VASRE packages and purchase licenses to start the system installed.

2. What are the computer specifications required for VASRE SE?

To launch the Resource Manager (RM) with four recognition servers, VASRE should be installed on a computer with:

• Intel 1 GHz Pentium 4 or higher processor
• 512MB or higher RAM
• 100MB of free hard disk space for installation and verification
• a network connection

The speed of the speech recognition engine would be roughly proportional to CPU power, and inversely proportional to the number of busy servers on the same computer. Each server will require approximately 60MB of RAM.

3. Which GNU/Linux distributions does VASRE SE support?

VASRE supports Debian, Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, SUSE Linux Enterprise, Fedora Core, CentOS, RedHat Enterprise. Other distributions will be covered soon.

4. What is in the installation package?

The installation package comprises two files. One is the installation file of VASRE SE itself, and the other is the installation file of VASRE plug-in for Asterisk integration, which is a popular software PBX. If you don't use Asterisk, you don't need to install the latter.

5. In which formats is the installation package available?

The installation package of VASRE SE is provided in two formats: .deb and .rpm.

6. What do the names of installation files represent?

The name of the VASRE installation file is:

vasre-se-version-arch

where version and arch represent the version and supporting architecture of VASRE. For example, the installation file of VASRE SE 1.0.0 for Centos 5 and i386 architecture would be:

vasre-se-1.0.0~Centos_5-i386

The name of the Asterisk plug-in installation file is:

vasre-se-ast_astver-plugin-version-arch

where astver represents the version of Asterisk. For example, the installation file of the plug-in for Asterisk 1.4 would be:

vasre-se-ast_1.4-plugin-1.0.0~Centos_5-i386

7. Is there any prerequisite software that should be installed before VASRE installation?

If you intend to install Vestec Speech Engine plug-in for Asterisk, you should install Asterisk first.

8. Can I install the VASRE plug-in for Asterisk without installing VASRE?

If you are going to install VASRE plug-in for Asterisk, you should install Asterisk first.

9. Is there any way to check if VASRE SE was correctly installed?

You can check if the following directories were created after installation:

• /opt/VestecASRE/bin/
• /opt/VestecASRE/Samples/
• /opt/VestecASRE/License/
• /etc/VestecASRE/
• /usr/share/doc/VestecASRE/
• /usr/share/doc/VestecASRE/Api_reference/
• /usr/include/VestecASRE/
• /var/log/VestecASRE/

Or you can try to start Resource Manager (RM) if you have already obtained license files.

10. Where should I put the license files?

You should put the license files under /opt/VestecASRE/License/. They will be loaded when the RM is started.

11. What is the difference between the RM and servers? How do they work together?

The RM is the control tower of your Vestec Speech Engine system. It manages license information, oversees servers, and coordinates communication sessions between servers and clients. A server is a program unit dedicated to speech recognition. Since a server can handle one client, the number of necessary servers will be decided by the scale of your speech recognition system.

12. I started RM, but got an output message saying “Failed: Check log file (/var/log/VestecASRE/RM-yyyy-mm-dd.log)”. What should I do?

The RM couldn't start for some reason. To track the reason, check the contents of the RM log file /var/log/VestecASRE/RM-yyyy-mm-dd.log, where yyyy-mm-dd represents the current date in year, month, and day format.

Most errors of the RM are related to the license files. Make sure valid license files exist under /opt/VestecASRE/License/.

13. I started RM and the output message says “Starting resource manager: Done”. Is there any way to check if the RM is actually running?

To check the status of the RM, you can enter the following command in the shell terminal:

/etc/init.d/vasreRM status

Or you can check the last part of the RM log file. If it ends with a line saying “Waiting for connection ...,” the RM is running and waiting for server connection. If servers are running, you will see the list of servers connected to the RM.

14. I started servers. How can I check if the servers are actually running?

To check the status of the servers, you can enter the following command in the shell terminal:

/etc/init.d/vasreSRVs status

The output will show you how many servers are running. You can also check the server log files under Go to /var/log/VestecASRE/. The name of server log file is:

Port-PORT_YYYY-MM-DD.log

where PORT represents the server port number and YYYY-MM-DD represents the date when the log file was created.

15. How can I find the log file of a specific server?

The server is identified by the port number it occupies. Go to /var/log/VestecASRE/ and you will find log files whose names are:

Port-PORT_YYYY-MM-DD.log

where PORT represents the server port number and YYYY-MM-DD represents the date when the log file was created. Don't be confused by log files whose names start with SRVs. They are log files for /etc/init.d/vasreSRVs, not for the server itself.

16. I started servers using /etc/init.d/vasreSRVs command, but got the output message saying “Failed: Check log file (/var/log/VestecASRE/SRVs-yyyy-mm-dd.log)”. What should I do?

The servers couldn't start for some reason. To track the reason, check the contents of /var/log/VestecASRE/SRVs-yyyy-mm-dd.log, where yyyy-mm-dd represents the current date in year-month-day format.

17. How can I control server parameters when using /etc/init.d/vasreSRVs command?

When you start servers using /etc/init.d/vasreSRVs command, it loads the parameter specified in /etc/VestecASRE/vasre.conf. Modify this file to make changes to the server parameters, then restart the servers to apply the changes.

18. I ran ConsoleApp, but the output is different from that shown in the manual.

The output of ConsoleApp is composed of four parts: opening port, adding grammar, processing audio, and closing port. If it fails at the first step, check if RM and servers are running and their log files reported something. ConsoleApp won't fail at the other three steps if the grammar file and the audio file have not been removed from the ConsoleApp directory.

19. How can I check if the VASRE plug-in for Asterisk is correctly installed?

You can check if the following file and directories were created after installation:

• /usr/lib/asterisk/modules/res_speech_vasre.so
• /opt/VestecASRE/Samples/Dialplan/
• /etc/VestecASRE/

20. I modified modules.conf to add the VASRE plug-in to the Asterisk module list. How can I check if it is actually added?

Run module show command from Asterisk Command Line Interface (CLI) to see if res_speech.so and res_speech_vasre.so are listed. If they are not in the list, run module reload and retry.

21. I modified extensions.conf and made a call to Asterisk to test the VASRE sample dialplan, but it doesn't respond.

Double check whether extensions.conf is correctly modified as described in the manual. Run dialplan reload from Asterisk CLI to apply the changes.

22. I made a call to the VASRE sample dialplan, but it never recognizes that I’ve spoken, and keeps prompting for response.

This may happen if background noise or the prompt message are recognized as speech. Open /opt/VestecASRE/Samples/Dialplan/vasre-demo.conf and search for the line setting the value of VadAmpThres. Increase the value by 1000 and retry. Repeat this procedure until the dialplan responds appropriately.

23. Is there any way to choose a good value of VadAmpThres easily?

By default, Asterisk CLI outputs the maximum amplitude of the just-detected speech. If noise or echo was falsely detected, make VadAmpThres slightly higher than the maximum amplitude output.