16, January 2004 Lakshman One School of Engineering Science Simon Fraser University Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6 Re: ENSC 440 Project Proposal Voice Recognition System in an MP3 Player Dear Mr. One: The attached document is a Proposal for a voice recognition system in MP3 player. We are currently working with Start Labs Inc., whose product, an MP3 player, is to be controlled by the voice of the user. Our design is the voice recognition module of the product. We will ensure that the design meets Start Labs Inc.'s expectation and needs in most effective ways. This proposal includes a system overview, a tentative budget and funding. We have found a few viable solutions or designs and they are discussed and compared in the system overview. A tentative schedule of the project progress is also added in this document nK Logic consists of two experienced senior engineering students: Won Kang and Garet Kim. We are looking forward to your feedback and suggestions. Please feel free to contact me by phone at [phone] or by e-mail at [e-mail]. Thank you for you attention. Sincerely,
Garet Kim nK Logic Enclosure: Proposal for a voice recognition system in a MP3 player
Proposal for a Voice Recognition System in MP3 Players
Project Team: Won Kang Garet Kim Contact Person: Garet Kim [e-mail] Submitted to: Lakshman One ENSC 440 Nakul Verma ENSC 440 Mike Sjoerdsma ENSC 305 School of Engineering Science Simon Fraser University Issued date: January 16, 2004 Revision: 1.1
Executive Summary
nK Logic is a student team in ENSC 440 working with Start Labs Inc. to develop the voice recognition and processing module, later to be integrated with other modules to create a wireless MP3 player. To enter and thrive in today's MP3 player market as a startup company, not only design with advanced technology matters, but also competitive price of the product is vital to survive in the market. Customers in the consumer electronics market are exceptionally cost-sensitive. For MP3 players, whose price typically ranges from $100 to $400, even $10 difference in the unit price can significantly impact a customer's perception of the product. However, when a company is exceedingly concerned with lowering the unit price and not caring about the product's design and functionality enough, the reputation of the company suffers. Then, it is often costly to recover the lost reputation. At nK Logic, two senior engineering students bring their excellent working-ethics combined with experiences in engineering companies to guarantee that the voice recognition and processing module for Start Labs Inc. gets realized in a cost-efficient manner and functions in fully expected ways.
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary ........................................................................................ ii Introduction..................................................................................................... 1 System Overview ............................................................................................ 1 Comparison Chart ........................................................................................... 3 Budget and Funding........................................................................................ 4 Schedule.......................................................................................................... 4 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 5 Reference ........................................................................................................ 6
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1. Introduction
Start Lab Inc. is a company specializing in wireless MP3 player with a voice activated remote controller. Their MP3 player utilizes Bluetooth for connection between the main unit and the remote controller. The remote controller features a voice activated commands so as to give the users some degree of autonomy. The key characteristics which distinguish an MP3 player among many competitors include price, quality, size, battery lifetime, and unique features like voice activated controller. nK Logic participates in this project as a group which is responsible for the research and development of this voice activated controller unit. Our specific duties are research and comparison of the possible solutions, detailed implementation plans, and development of the working prototypes. Software components will be evaluated in terms of the efficiency, quality, reliability, and portability of the implementation. Hardware components will be evaluated by memory space for data and RAM, processing power required, and the interface with the main units. The ultimate solution of this project will yield voice activated controller units which will have a debugging tool in connection with a PC; an easy to implement interface with the main units utilizing one of I2C, UART, and SPI; and an expandable demonstrating circuit for the future enhancement. This document is a proposal of such a device by nK Logic including a system overview, the budget plan, and the project schedule. Throughout the project, we hope to improve various engineering entrepreneurial and skills as well as team dynamics. The members of nK Logic are proud to be involved in this project and we expect to contribute to the successful completion of the project.
2. System Overview
Start Labs Inc. is currently building an MP3 player integrated in a headphone. This device can be controlled through either the user's command via the microphone attached to it or a watch that the user wears on his/her wrist. Our goal is to design the voice activated controller, which is an integral part of the MP3 player. The basic functions of the controller are as follows: Receive voice command from the user through the microphone Recognize the command Send the corresponding signal to the MP3 main unit (or PC debugger) Figure 1 illustrates the high-level design of the system. 1
Voice Recognition IC
External Memory
Peripheral
DSP Core
Audio Codec
Mic. Analog circuit
IO port
MP3 Main Unit
PC Debugger
Figure 1: System Overview
Start Labs Inc. has also suggested a certain set of constraints that the design should demonstrates: Acknowledges about 200 command lines Operate in Speaker Dependent mode. In other words, the user must be able to "train" the system to achieve high voice recognition ratio. Low Power Small Package Inexpensive cost I/O interface We should make sure that we put these constraints under consideration when choosing a particular voice recognition chip.
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3. Comparison Chart
So far, we have found 3 chips specialized in voice recognition as shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Comparison of Voice Recognition Chips Manufacturer Product Core Additional Memory Reqd External Memory Bus Maskable ROM Internal ROM Speech Duration (Max.) RAM I/O Key Technologies SI words on chip SD/SV words on chip Packages 100k die price Power dissipation Sensory Inc. Voice Direct II 8-bit CPU 2MB Flash Flash 0 N/A 40 sec. 2.5 KB 0 SD, CL 0 60 (ext. flash) TQFP-64 <$1.50 3.0V, 10mA Sensory Inc. Voice Extreme 8-bit CPU 2MB Flash Flash 64KB N/A 100 sec. (ext. flash) 2.5 KB 14 SI, SD, SV, CL 350 (ext. flash) 1900 (ext. flash) TQFP-64 <$1.50 3.0V, 10mA Voiceware
ZVSR 600/620 16-bit Fixed Point 100MIPS DSP
N/A N/A N/A
Internal 64KB ROM
N/A 8KB 16 SI, SD unlimited N/A TQFP-80 N/A 3.0V, 10mA
Our recommendation is to use Voice Extreme. Voice Direct may not be adequate in a system that needs to deal with 200 commands. On the other hand, ZVST 600 would be too powerful for our need. The optimal choice is Voice Extreme for our applications to handle 200 words in a power-efficient, small-packaged chip.
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4. Budget and Funding
Table 2 indicates our tentative budget for the voice recognition and processing module. Acoustic accessories refer to equipments such as microphones and speaker. Fifteen percent of contingency fund has been put into account.
Table 2: Tentative Budget
Item Voice Recognition Tookit Development Software Acoustic accessories Cables Case Contingencies (15%) Total
Cost (in CAN $) 170.00 50.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 40.00 320.00
Start Labs Inc. may purchase these items for us. Alternately, we may apply to the Engineering ...