Docsoft:AV Appliance. User Guide. Version: 3.0 Copyright 2005,2009 Docsoft, Inc.

Transcription

1 Docsoft:AV Appliance User Guide Version: 3.0 Copyright 2005,2009 Docsoft, Inc. 1

2 Table of Contents Introduction 3 Understanding Terminology 3 User Accounts 4 User Interface 4 General Tasks 4 Login/Logout 4 Speaker Profiles 5 Create a Speaker Profile 5 Edit a Speaker Profile 5 Delete a Speaker Profile 5 Export/Import a Speaker Profile 6 Training With a Media File and Exact Transcript 6 Add Vocabulary to a Speaker Profile 6 Delete Vocabulary to a Speaker Profile 6 Populate a Vocabulary 7 File Repositories 7 Create a File Repository 8 Edit a File Repository 8 Delete a File Repository 8 Upload Files 8 View Files 9 Manage Uploaded Files 9 Export Transcripts 9 Re-process Files 10 Re-upload a Transcript 10 Protect Files 10 Transcript Styles 10 Create a Transcript Style 11 Edit a Transcript Style 11 Delete a Transcript Style 11 Monitor Events 11 Profile 11 Change and Notifications preferences 11 Change Password 11 Administrative Tasks 12 User Management 12 Add a User 12 Activate a Registered User 12 Edit a User 12 Delete a User 13 Impersonate a User 13 Monitor the System State 13 System Events 13 System State 14 Hardware Management 14 Network Settings 14 Settings 15 Time Settings 15 SSL Settings 15 Upgrade System 16 Backup 16 Restore 17 Power Control 17 Appendix A. Supported Media File Formats 18 Appendix B. Supported Network Protocols 18 Appendix C. Word List File Format 18 Appendix D. Transcript and Captions Output Formats 18 Appendix E. Docsoft Contact Information 18 Autographs & Notes 19 2

3 Introduction Docsoft:AVS is a powerful software solution designed to audio mine (capture) the spoken content in digital audio and video (AV) files. This online service can be used to automatically generate text transcripts and closed captioning formats and can be configured to output virtually any text based format. The result can automatically be transformed to output formats such as Quicktime Text, RealText, SAMI or plain text. Understanding Terminology The Docsoft:AV Appliance is an automated system that monitors locations specified by users that contain media files and automatically creates timed text transcript that can be converted to a closed caption format. The core of the system is an Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) engine. The ASR will recognize sound waves and convert them to text. ASR engine accuracy can be improved by specifying speaker parameters including voice characteristics and topic/vocabulary. The system helps to build a speaker profile for a specific user and automatically trains it using media files and their exact transcript. The appliance also allows the creation of separate vocabularies for each speaker profile. The user may provide media files via an upload process or create a file repository on a server that is located on their network. A File Repository location can be protected by credentials (user name and password). 3

4 User Accounts To perform any task on the appliance, users must be authenticated by entering a user name and password on the login screen. There are two kinds of users: regular users and administrators. Every user can either register themselves or be registered by the appliance administrator. Every user will have limited amount of disk space on the appliance. The amount of space is specified by the appliance administrator. This disk space will be used to store uploaded files, speaker profiles, and temporary files (such as files from remote server and transcripts). The appliance will NOT store media files from your media server and result caption files. NOTE: Docsoft recommends backing up the appliance via the administration menu to another file server. User Interface The appliance is controlled using the web interface. Contact the appliance administrator about the web address to access it. Most of the appliance screens will have five components: header, navigation toolbar, page title, page content, and footer. The header has a Docsoft:AV logo, click on it will open the start page with menu. The footer has links that point to online help and support web sites, and the Docsoft:AV Appliance version information. The navigation toolbar contains a list of all operations that can be performed by the user according to his role. The navigation toolbars for a regular user and an appliance administrator are different. The administrator s toolbar is in addition to the user s toolbar and has administrative operations such as backup, network settings, user management, and appliance state control. General Tasks This section gives an overview of basic tasks that can be performed with the Docsoft:AV application. The installation and initial configuration is out of the scope of this manual. See the Appliance Installation and Configuration Guide for more information. Login/Logout To access appliance functionality you have to be authenticated. Usually, the first screen that you see, is the Login Screen (see Figure 1). You must provide a correct user name and password to access the home and other screens. The appliance will lock you out after 5 unsuccessful attempts. If this happens, please contact the appliance administrator to unlock your account. If you don t have an account on the appliance, ask the appliance administrator to register you or use the registration screen to self register. Click the Register account link and fill in your information: user name, address, password, and secret question/ answer. The password must be greater than seven characters and have at least one non-alphanumeric character. If you forget or lose your password, it be can reset via the reset password screen. Click the Reset Password link. The reset pass- 4

5 word screen will prompt you to enter your user name and then answer the secret question (the one used during registration or specified by the administrator). To close the current session from anywhere in the appliance, click the Logout button. Speaker Profiles To increase the accuracy of the ASR engine, the appliance can be trained for a specific speaker voice. To do this, a speaker profile has to be created and trained first. There are two kinds of profiles: public and private. The public profiles will be visible and can be used by all users of the appliance. The Private speaker profiles will only be visible to the person who created it. To navigate to the speaker profiles screen, select either: Main->Speaker Profiles link from toolbar; OR Profiles icon on the main screen Create a Speaker Profile To create a new speaker profile: 1. Navigate to the Speaker Profiles screen; 2. Click the Create New button; 3. Enter the speaker profile information: a. Name b. Short description c. Select language based acoustic model d. Specify whether profile is public (all users of the appliance can use it) e. Click the Next button 4. Enter first vocabulary information: a. Name b. Select base vocabulary c. Click the Finish button The new speaker profile can now be trained and its vocabularies extended. Edit a Speaker Profile MODIFY A SPEAKER PROFILE DESCRIPTION OR MAKE IT PUBLIC/PRIVATE: 1. Navigate to the Speaker Profiles screen 2. Click the Manage link for the speaker profile 3. Change the speaker profile information 4. Click the Submit button Delete a Speaker Profile 1. Navigate to the Speaker Profiles screen 2. Click the Delete link for the speaker profile 3. Confirm the deletion 5

6 Export/Import a Speaker Profile The speaker profiles can be moved/duplicated between different users or different Docsoft:AV appliances. To do that the speaker profile has to be exported and then imported to the desired location. TO EXPORT A SPEAKER PROFILE: 1. Navigate to the Speaker Profiles screen 2. Click the Export link for the speaker profile 3. The web browser will download and save the speaker profile TO IMPORT A SPEAKER PROFILE: 1. Navigate to the Speaker Profiles screen; 2. Click the Import button; 3. Enter the speaker profile information: a. Name b. Short description c. Specify whether profile is public (all users of the appliance can use it) d. Select the saved speaker profile you wish to import e. Click the Finish button. Training With a Media File and Exact Transcript To increase the accuracy of the ASR engine, the speaker profile can be automatically trained using a media file and its exact transcript. Media files have to be in one of the support file formats. The transcript is a plain text file that contains an exact text transcript of the media file. (See Appendix A for a list). TO TRAIN THE SPEAKER PROFILE USING THESE FILES 1. Navigate to the Speaker Profiles screen 2. Click the Train link for the speaker profile 3. Specify media file/text transcript pair(s): a. Browse and select the exact transcript text file b. Browse and select the media files c. Click the Add Files button; 4. Click the Finish button to start training Add Vocabulary to a Speaker Profile TO ADD A NEW VOCABULARY TO AN EXISTING SPEAKER PROFILE 1. Navigate to the Speaker Profiles screen 2. Click the Vocabularies link for the speaker profile 3. Click the Create New button 4. Specify the vocabulary name 5. Specify a base vocabulary 6. Click the Submit button Delete Vocabulary to a Speaker Profile TO DELETE A VOCABULARY FROM A SPEAKER PROFILE 6

7 1. Navigate to the Speaker Profiles screen 2. Click the Vocabularies link for the speaker profile 3. Click the Delete link for the vocabulary Populate a Vocabulary To increase the accuracy of the ASR engine for a specific topic or subject matter, you can add new words or acronyms. A speaker profile vocabulary can be extended many times. You can populate the vocabulary by using a word list and related documents. The word list allows you to specify new acronyms and specify how they are pronounced (See Appendix C for file format details). Related documents not only adds new words, but also shows the ASR engine how those words are used. TO TRAIN A SPEAKER PROFILE VOCABULARY: 1. Navigate to the Speaker Profiles screen 2. Click the Vocabularies link for the speaker profile 3. Click the Populate link for the vocabulary 4. Select the type of training document(s) (word list or related documents) 5. Specify the training document(s): a. Browse and select the text file b. Click the Add button 6. Click the Finish button File Repositories A File Repository is an external location that contains media files to be processed. The appliance will monitor the location for changes in the file structure. If the appliance finds a new or changed file(s), it will schedule the file for processing. Once the file is processed it will create the appropriate caption files in the specified location. The file repository maintains a list of the media files that were found in the repository. They can be viewed using the View Files screen. You may protect file from processing by selecting protected options for specific file. If you have an untimed exact transcript for the media files, you may specifically look for them in the repository. The exact transcript has to in the same location and have a.txt extension. The rest of the filename must match the media file name (e.g. if speech.mp3 is the name of the media file, the exact transcript file name will be speech.mp3.txt ). The appliance supports widely accepted protocols such as file share, FTP, and web-dev via HTTP. See Appendix B for the full list. Consult your network administrator for which protocol and credential is needed to access the required media files. To monitor files, you only need read access, but for creating files, (transcript and close caption) you need write access. TO NAVIGATE TO THE FILE REPOSITORIES SCREEN THERE ARE TWO OPTIONS Main->File Repositories link from the toolbar OR Repositories icon on main screen 7

8 Create a File Repository Before creation of the file reposition, make sure you have all the required information: The path where media files are located, and the user credential to access them (if protected) The path where result files will be placed, and the user credential to access it (if protected) A speaker profile (optional, but recommended) To create a new file repository: 1. Navigate to the File Repositories screen 2. Specify media filesource location and repository information: a. Repository name b. Source URL and credentials c. Files filter (can be empty) d. Virtual URL (used primarily for streaming savers, e.g. MMS); e. Specify whether exact transcript exists for media file f. Click the Next button 3. Specify output location: a. Target URL and credentials b. Click the Next button 4. Specify output result file types and speech recognition options: a. Select a speaker profile b. Select a vocabulary c. Select one or more of the output types d. Choose predefined transcript style options e. Click the Finish button Edit a File Repository TO NOTE CHANGES TO AN EXISTING FILE REPOSITORY 1. Navigate to the File Repositories screen 2. Click the Manage link for the file repository you wish to edit 3. Change repository information as necessary 4. Click the Submit button to apply changes Delete a File Repository Deletion of a file repository will not affect the media files already stored at the target location. Deleting a file repository will stop the appliance from monitoring and processing specified media files located in the source repository. TO DELETE A FILE REPOSITORY: 1. Navigate to the File Repositories screen 2. Click the Delete link for the file repository 3. Confirm the deletion Upload Files 8

9 If you deal with a small amount of media content, this method will be most appropriate. You may specify a related document (such as presentation plan, related document) or an exact transcript when you upload your media file. To upload a media file to the system: 1. Select Main->Upload AV Files link from the toolbar, or the Upload icon on the main screen 2. Specify a speaker profile and vocabulary 3. Browse to and select media file 4. If you have an additional related document: a. Specify document type: related document and exact transcript b. Browse and select text document 5. Click the Submit button. View Files Using the View Files screen, you can monitor the state of your uploaded or monitored files in different repositories. You may export a transcript for any file and plus additional options are provided here. Using the same screen you may repeat processing of the selected files. Transcripts and closed captions can be re-uploaded to the target location in the repository files. TO NAVIGATE TO THE VIEW FILES SCREEN SELECT: Main->View Files link from the toolbar View Files icon on the main screen. To change the view between upload files and the file repository files, change the value of the location to view combo box. Then click the Files link for the file repository. You can search files from the File Filter text box and then click the Search button. To view all files again, clear the text box and click the Search button again. To perform any operation on the files, you must select the check box from the grid. Actions can then be performed using the buttons located below the grid. To select/deselect all files, click the check box located in the header of the grid marked Select All. Manage Uploaded Files Uploaded files can be managed from the View Files screen. You can delete or change the processing priority for each file. To delete a file, select the file(s) and then click the Delete File(s) button. By clicking on the Send to Front or Send to Back buttons, the priority of the selected files will be increased or decreased. You will notice that the selected files move up or down in the grid. 9

10 Export Transcripts TO EXPORT A TRANSCRIPT OR CLOSED CAPTION FOR A FILE: 1. Navigate to the View Files screen and select location 2. Select file(s) for transcripts or closed captions 3. Click the Export Transcript(s) button 4. Choose the transcript type and style options 5. Click the Finish button 6. Click the link and you will be prompted to save the resulting transcript or closed caption file Re-process Files TO RE-PROCESS FILES: 1. Navigate to the View Files screen and select location 2. Select the file(s) to be re-processed 3. Click the Remine File(s) button The appliance will add those files to the process queue. Re-upload a Transcript The Re-upload transcript feature is applicable only for the file repository. If the file repository target location, style or transcript type has changed, you may choose to update the target URL with updated transcript and close caption files. To re-upload transcript(s): 1. Navigate to the View Files screen and select location 2. Select which file(s) and transcripts to re-upload 3. Click the Re-upload Transcripts button NOTE: The process generally takes a few minutes depending on the number of files to be updated. Protect Files A file that is marked as protected will not be monitored or mined by the appliance. Any previous transcripts are retained. This is useful if you want to upload a correct transcript back to the target URL and you don t want the appliance to over write your changes. This functionality is applicable only for repository files. To set/clear the protect flag: 1. Navigate to the View Files screen and select location 2. Select the file(s) and transcripts has to be re-uploaded 3. Click the Set Protected or Clear Protected button Transcript Styles Some of the generated transcripts and closed captions contain style information. These styles can be modified to suite your needs. To change the font, colors, etc. of the output file, you have to create a transcription style. You can manage styles of the transcript styles screen. To navigate to the transcript styles screen select Main->Transcript Styles link from the toolbar. 10

11 These styles can be applied later to any close caption file produced by the appliance. You may select the style of the export transcript screen (see Export Transcripts section) or create/edit file repository (see File Repositories section). CREATE NEW TRANSCRIPT STYLE 1. Navigate to the Transcript Styles screen 2. Click the Create New button 3. Enter the style name and its parameters; 4. Click the Add button EDIT THE TRANSCRIPT STYLE 1. Navigate to the Transcript Styles screen; 2. Click the Delete link for the style 3. Edit its parameters 4. Click the Update button. DELETE A TRANSCRIPT STYLE 1. Navigate to the Transcript Styles Screen; 2. Click the Delete link for the style 3. Confirm the deletion Monitor Events The appliance automatically processes files. To monitor what files are processed, when they will be processed, and problems with specific files, you may use the View Files screen (see View Files screen). You also may look at the history of events for your file at the Events screen. To navigate to that screen select: Main->Events link on the toolbar OR Events icon on main screen. To monitor the overall state of the appliance, you must be logged in as the administrator. Profile Every user of the appliance has a profile which retains your communication preferences. The Profile Management Screen allows you to change your address, manage event notifications, and reset your password. Change and Notifications Preferences To change and notification preferences: 1. Navigate to the Change Screen using Profile->Change link on the toolbar 2. Modify and events notification preferences 3. Click the Submit button 11

12 Change Password 1. Navigate to the Change Password Screen using Profile->Change Password link on the toolbar 2. Type your old and new passwords 3. Click the Change Password button Administrative Tasks Administrative tasks can be performed only by the appliance administrators. The administrators can manage users, monitor the appliance, and manage appliance hardware. By default, the appliance has only one System user account. You cannot login under this account using a user name and password (see Login/Logout section). You may only login under the System account when you are physically connected to the internal network via the appliance port. See Appliance Installation and Configuration Guide for more information. User Management One of the administrative tasks is user management. As administrator, you can create, delete, and modify users. You can also assist users in setting up their accounts. To navigate to the Manage User screen select: Administration->Users link on the toolbar OR Users icon on the main screen or the administration screen Add a User 1. Navigate to the Manage Users screen; 2. Provide user information a. User/account name b. Password c. d. Security Question/Answer e. Amount of space available for user f. Specify if user can perform administrative tasks 3. Click the Create User button. Activate a Registered User If a user chooses to self-register using the Registration Screen (see Login/Logout section), the administrator has the ability to activate the user. 1. Navigate to the Manage Users screen 2. Click the Approve User screen 3. Select the user to be approved 4. Click the Next button 5. Provide additional user information a. Amount of space available for user b. Specify if user can perform administrative tasks. 6. Click the Finish button. 12

13 Edit a User Some user information can be changed such as space available, password, and administrative rights. This feature is also used if a user account is locked due to typing the wrong password multiple times. 1. Navigate to the Manage Users screen 2. Click the Manage link for the user 3. Change user information 4. Click the Submit button Delete a User 1. Navigate to the Manage Users screen 2. Click the Delete link for the user 3. Confirm deletion Impersonate a User When you navigate (as the appliance administrator) to the following screens: Speaker Profiles File Repositories Upload AV Files View Files Transcript Styles Events You may view the same screen as other users would see them. At the bottom, just above the footer of the screen, you may notice the box that allows you to change current viewed user data. To view the users data or a operation performed by the user: 1. Navigate to the screen for general tasks you want to perform 2. Switch to user you want to impersonate 3. Perform the task 4. Switch to your original account (it is marked with * symbol) Monitor the System State As the appliance administrator, you may monitor the system state. There are two ways to monitor the system state: check system events or see overall operation state and statistics. System Events You also may look at the history of system events and events from every user of the appliance at the Events screen. To navigate to that screen select: Administration->System Events link on the toolbar OR System Events icon on main screen 13

14 System State To view the overall appliance state and statistics you may use one of the system state screens (graphical or text). Text presentation will allow you to terminate currently processed files. Hardware Management The administrator of the appliance can manage hardware settings such as network configuration, notifications, and time zones. Hardware management also includes backup and restoration of the appliance data. Network Settings The network settings of the appliance can be configured only when the administrator is connected to the internal appliance port. If you are not connected to internal appliance port, the network settings screen will show current settings and will not allow changes to the settings. TO NAVIGATE TO THE NETWORK SETTINGS SCREEN SELECT: Hardware->Network Settings link on the toolbar OR Network icon on the main screen To change network settings: 1. Connect your computer (e.g. laptop) to the internal port of the appliance 2. Navigate to the Network Settings screen 3. Click the Next button 4. Specify the new computer name and DNS prefix 5. Click the Next button 6. Specify how the IP address will be obtained 7. Click the Next button 8. Specify the DNS servers settings 9. Click the Finish button If the computer name was changed, you will be required to restart the appliance. 14

15 Settings communication is essential for password reset and event notifications. 1. Navigate to the Settings screen 2. Specify SMTP server 3. Specify From address 4. Specify administrator s address (if necessary) 5. Click the Submit button By specifying the administrator s address, you allow the appliance to send hardware related events to a specified person (or distribution list). Time Settings If you want to maintain the proper time for your events, you have to setup the proper time zone and time server (NTP) settings. You may use your internal time server or choose a public one. 1. Navigate to the Time Settings screen 2. Specify time zone 3. Specify time server 4. Click the Submit button SSL Settings To protect communication between the appliance users computers and the appliance, SSL/TLS protocol can be used. Two kinds of certificates can be used: self-signed and certification agency (CA) issued. The latter is the recommended choice. To navigate to the SSL settings screen select the Hardware->SSL Settings link on the toolbar. CERTIFICATE INSTALLATION To setup CA SSL certification, there are two stages: generate request and install certificate. To generate the SSL certificate request: 1. Navigate to the SSL Settings screen 2. Select the Generate request box 3. Click the Next button 4. Fill out the necessary information: a. Common name (or full computer name) b. Organization c. Organization Unit d. City e. State f. Two letter country code 5. Click the Create Request button 6. Paste and copy request to your certification agency 7. Wait for the approved certificate. 15

16 TO INSTALL APPROVED BY CA REQUEST 1. Navigate to the SSL Settings screen 2. There will be the upload file box to the certificate file. Browse and select the certificate file 3. Click the Install Certificate button. SELF-SIGNED CERTIFICATE 1. Navigate to the SSL Settings screen 2. Select the Self-Signed certificate box 3. Click the Next button 4. Fill out the necessary information: a. Common name (or full computer name) b. Organization c. Organization Unit d. City e. State f. Two letter country code g. Validity period 5. Click the Create Certificate button DELETE CERTIFICATE To remove an installed certificate: 1. Navigate to the SSL Settings screen 2. Click the Remove Certificate button 3. Confirm deletion Upgrade System The manufacturer (Docsoft, Inc.) provides updates for the appliance. The updates can be installed using the upgrade system screen. To upgrade the system using updates provided by the manufacturer: 1. Navigate to the Upgrade System screen 2. Browse and select upgrade file. (The file will have the extension.update ) 3. Click the Submit button; 4. Close the browser The system will be updated. The upgrade process may take up to 5 minutes. Backup The administrator may backup user data and account settings. This can be done manually or using the scheduler. 16

17 Manual Backup To manually backup the appliance: 1. Navigate to the Backup/Restore screen 2. Click the Backup link 3. Enter backup location: a. URL b. User name and password (if applicable) 4. Click the Start Backup button 5. Close the browser window During backup operation the appliance will not be available. After backup is performed the appliance will resume its regular operation. Scheduled Backup You may schedule the appliance backup for certain days of the week and specific times. To schedule a backup operation: 1. Navigate to the Backup/Restore screen; 2. Click the Schedule Backup link; 3. Enter backup location and time: a. Specify days of the week b. Time c. URL d. User name and password (if applicable) 4. Click the Submit button Restore To restore a previously backed-up data (see Backup section): 1. Navigate to the Backup/Restore screen 2. Click the Restore link 3. Enter backup location: a. URL b. User name and password (if applicable) 4. Click the Start Restore button 5. Close the browser window During the restore operation, the appliance will not be available. After the restore is performed, the appliance will resume its regular operation. The following data will not be restored: Network settings User events and system Events Power Control As the appliance administrator, you may control hardware power. To navigate to the Manage Appliance Power screen click the Hardware->Power link on the toolbar. Then choose Reboot System or Shutdown System to perform the corresponding action. 17

18 Appendix A. Supported Media File Formats Format Family Raw audio (PCM) MPEG-2 MP3 MPEG-4 Windows Media AVI QuickTime Media RealPlayer Media Ogg Media Flash Video File name extensions.wav.mpg,.mpeg,.mp2,.m2v,.m2a.mp3.mp4,.m4a,.m4v,.aac.asf,.wma,.wmv.avi.mov.ra,.rm,.ram.ogv,.oga,.ogg.flv Appendix B. Supported Network Protocols Protocol Name File share (Windows Network, SAMBA) FTP WebDAV over HTTP Apache HTTP Index Page Podcast over HTTP Examples file://server/share/ \\server\share\ ftp://server/folder/ webdav://server/folder/ pcast://server/feed.xml Appendix C. Word List File Format The speaker profile vocabulary can be trained using word list. The word list file is a plain text file that contains words or acronym definitions. There must be exactly one word or acronym definition per text file line. The acronym definition consists of two parts: written form and spoken form. For Example: Docsoft 007\double O seven & Co,\and Company Appendix D. Transcript and Captions Output Formats Format Editable Transcript (Docsoft:TE) Searchable Transcript (Docsoft:SA) Windows Media QuickTime Media QuickTime RealMedia RealPlayer Plain Text Flash Captions / DXFP Misc Caption Format Native Transcript ESX SAMI QuickTime Text, SMIL RealText SMIL Text Timed Text (DXFP) SubRip Appendix E. Docsoft Contact Information Toll Free: +1 (877) support@docsoft.com Online: User Group: 18

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