Using VXML to Implement a Language Not Available in Cisco Unified CCX

MRCP (Media Resource Control Protocol) is an application-level protocol that enables client devices requiring audio/video stream processing to control media service resources like Speech Synthesizers (TTS), Speech Recognizers (ASR), Signal Generators, Signal Detectors, Fax Servers, and so on over a network.

To implement an MRCP ASR and TTS-enabled script for a language outside the set available with Cisco Unified CCX (but within the set available from an MRCP vendor) using VXML, you must do the following:

Procedure

Step 1

Install and configure the appropriate MRCP ASR and/or TTS language pack(s). See your MRCP vendor documentation for ASR/TTS language pack installation/configuration instructions.

Step 2

If your VXML script uses prompts, then you need to record the prompts in a suitable format G711 μ-Law or A-Law codec and store the prompts on a server that is accessible to the VXML script. Only G711 prompts are supported by MRCP.

Note

When generating a .wav prompt file specifically for Nuance, you must take into account where the prompt is to be played. If the prompt is to be played by the Nuance Speech Server, then the .wav file needs a “Sphere” (SPeech HEader REsources) header. If it is to be played by the Cisco Unified CCX server, it needs a normal “RIFF” (Resource Interchange File Format) header. Nuance provides a tool to convert .wav files from “RIFF” to “Sphere” header files. ScanSoft uses "RIFF" headers.

Step 3

Provide a VXML script, referencing the recorded prompts (if used) and using any necessary built-in grammars provided by the vendor or script-writer provided grammars which are specified either in the VXML script or a location specified by the "src" attribute of the grammar element.

Step 4

Provide localized prompts for default event handlers and system-level errors. Cisco Unified CCX does not completely implement the notion of platform-specific audio, as defined by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) (http://www.w3.org/), since system prompts are played instead. A default script is provided with Cisco Unified CCX which you can associate with the script's trigger to localize default event handlers (See When Do You Need a Language Group?, page 4-2).