Mobilizing for Conference Calls. January 2011 David Frankel, CEO, ZipDX LLC

Transcription

1 Mobilizing for Conference Calls January 2011 David Frankel, CEO, ZipDX LLC

2 Conferencing Past & Present 2 In the olden days: Conference calls were primarily between conference rooms Some people would connect from remote offices Host: Participant: Now, most participants are on their own for conference calls: In their cubes or at home offices Frequently on a mobile phone, in a car, train, or at the airport Conference calls drive more mobile minutes than any other application

3 Conferencing is Broken 3 Technology is stuck in the 1980 s Convening a conference is frustrating for all Codes are challenging, especially from mobile phones while driving! Calls rarely start on time Don t know who s on the call; Security is being compromised Unauthorized participants have access to calls Corporate data and sensitive information is at risk Impact ranges from embarrassment to legal liability Conferencing time and energy is wasted Participants struggle with poor audio quality, forcing repetition and misunderstanding Content isn t captured, so action items and ideas get lost Executives and power conferencers not satisfied with current solutions

4 Fixing Conferencing 4

5 Joining a Conference 5 Legacy conferencing designed for an older paradigm Occasional conference calls, usually from a conference room Today s world: Numerous conference calls throughout the day; back-to-back calls Joining from desk, mobile, or home office Standard routine: At the designated time, dial the conference bridge access number Depending on who s hosting the meeting and your role, enter the appropriate code If necessary, enter additional security code(s) Say your name and press # If your connection gets dropped Repeat the above drill Could you design a more annoying scheme if you tried?

6 No-Codes Conferencing 6 Almost all business conferences are scheduled via an electronic calendar (Outlook, Notes, Google Calendar) At Meeting Time ZipDX calls each attendee Meeting is Announced Placed into Meeting Participants can accept the call on any of their phones. Or dial in and be auto-id d. Include ZipDX in your meeting notice, and it learns you are hosting a meeting at this date & time with these participants. joe.schmoe@acme.com Mobile: Office: Home: sip:joe@schmoe.com Preferences: Recorded Name Self-Selected Persistent PIN Call-Me Choices User Identities are linked to addresses and contain connection info.

7 Ideal Solution for Mobiles 7 No hassle for the Organizer just include ZipDX in meeting notice No fumbling for codes at 70 MPH No losing track of time conferences start as planned No worry about where I ll be all my phones ring No matter if I am host or participant; I m always me If your connection gets dropped Just hit Re-Dial ZipDX recognizes you and puts you back No need to re-record your name; that s stored in your profile Significant security enhancements Only those INVITED to the call get access to it Alert played if the same identity is duplicated on the call More secure AND more convenient Perfect for recurring meetings CODES

8 8 Importance of Quality Audio Most people are aware that mobile audio quality is impaired We ve been trained to expect lower fidelity in telephony This is a tremendous compromise that we should not accept MOST PEOPLE ARE AWARE OF IMPAIRMENTS THAT MAKE IT DIFFICULT TO READ AUDIO IMPAIRMENTS CAN BE JUST AS DEBILITATING BUT ARE NOT COMMONLY RECOGNIZED AT LEAST CONSCIOUSLY Most people are aware of impairments that make it difficult to read. Audio impairments can be just as debilitating, but are not commonly recognized (at least consciously).

9 Reference: Jeff Rodman, Polycom, 2003 from French & Steinberg, Bell Labs, Intelligibility Challenges Standard Definition Audio (3.3KHz): 40 ambiguities per minute Fatiguing and tedious for humans Tremendously challenging for automatic speech recognition High Definition Audio (7KHz): 4 ambiguities per minute

10 Better Audio Is Coming 10 Business phone systems already support HD Voice: IP PBX Vendors: Shoretel, Cisco, Avaya, Digium/Asterisk, Mitel Phone vendors: Polycom, Gigaset, Aastra, Snom, Grandstream Standards are in place (SIP, G.722) Coming to mobile networks Orange has deployed in Europe; WIND Mobile in Canada Handsets today from Nokia, HTC, Sony Ericsson & Samsung AMR-WB/G722.2 & EVRC-WB Wideband conference participants hear each other in wideband; concurrent narrowband connections are also supported Wideband benefits are most pronounced in conferences: Recognize voices & understand accented speakers Make out conversation over noise & double-talk Less listening fatigue for all participants Improved transcription accuracy

11 Conference Call Transcription 11 Then: Record the conference call Send it to be transcribed Wait two days to get the transcription back Pay hundreds of dollars Now: Activate transcription for the call View the transcription on the web as the call takes place Access the transcription anytime afterwards Click-to-play selected portions in the speaker s own voice

12 12 Access Control Transcription Viewer/Player A more powerful way to access a conference recording Speaker ID Transcribed Text Timestamp Scroll thru Conference Highlight: Now Playing Click-to-Play Continuous Playback Play One Speaker No worry about taking notes while driving! ZipDX Scribble : Automated speech-to-text ZipDX Scribe : Human transcriptionists Both: Near-real-time; complete when conference ends Speaker Identification; Click-to-Play Review

13 Scribble & Scribe Demo 13 Dial into our conference call XXXX You ll be connected directly to the bridge Transcription will lag slightly behind our conversation

14 Fixing Conferencing 14 Transcription takes notes so you don t have to. Wideband audio means meetings sound great and eliminates fatigue. Calendar integration starts meetings on time. No-Codes Conferencing addresses distracted driving and keeps conferences secure.

15 15 Contact Information ZipDX, LLC David Frankel, CEO Los Gatos, CA USA FRANKEL

16 Transcription Viewer/Player ZipDX Update Scribble: A more powerful way to access a conference recording $9.90 / hour Access Control Speaker ID Transcribed Text Timestamp Scroll thru Conference Highlight: Now Playing Click-to-Play Continuous Playback Play One Speaker Scribe: Business-Grade transcription ready when the meeting ends $99 / hour

17 How It Works 17 ZipDX monitors the audio from each participant Voice Activity Detector determines when participant is speaking Audio snippet (sentence or phrase) is captured & tagged Conference & Speaker ID, language Timing parameters optimize length, completeness, & latency Audio Connection Channel #1 Voice Activity Detector / Audio Snippet Capture Audio Connection Channel #2 Voice Activity Detector / Audio Snippet Capture Audio Connection Channel #3 Voice Activity Detector / Audio Snippet Capture Conference Bridge Audio Mixer Audio Connection Channel N Voice Activity Detector / Audio Snippet Capture

18 18 How It Works (2) Snippets are sent to PhoneTag Scribe: Professional Transcriptionists Scribble: Machine-based Speech Recognition Snippet Dispatcher Four score and seven years ago, ConnectionID : 2 ConferenceID : 283 Sequence: 374 Audio Snippets Text Text - to - to - - Speech Speech Instance Instance Howard: I d like to introduce my good friend Abe. Abe: Thank you, Howard. Four score and seven years ago, Ralph: Go for it, Abe! Abe: our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation Assembled Text