ScanSoft Inc. announced a suite of software support for developing and deploying “multimodal” applications on smart handsets, tablet PCs, and other wireless devices. Multimodal applications make use of speech recognition and synthesis to overcome the user interface limitations imposed by the small screens and keypads of mobile devices, thereby providing mobile users with a more efficient way to interact… with remote applications and services, the company said.

The support works with Linux-based client devices if a J2ME JVM is present. If a JVM is not available, a native X|mode client could easily be custom built, since the client is “a very thin piece of software,” a company spokesperson said.

According to ScanSoft, its “X|mode” multimodal technology is based on a thin-client/server model that combines speech and mobile Internet technologies, including key standards such as VoiceXML and SALT. The support consists of the following components . . .

• X|mode Multimodal server — a scalable multimodal application server that can operate in existing and next-generation wireless network infrastructures (e.g. GPRS, CDMA 1xRTT, EDGE and W-CDMA), and that is based on a state and modality management architecture that can seamlessly integrate voice and data infrastructures at the application server level.
• X|mode Multimodal client — a small-footprint software plug-in that manages multimodal interactions between devices and the X|mode Server; it can be downloaded into the handset by the end user or pre-installed by the device manufacturer. The client supports: Symbian 6.1/7.0; Nokia Series 60; UIQ; Microsoft Pocket PC 2000/2002; Microsoft Pocket PC Phone Edition; Microsoft Smartphone 2002; J2ME; MIDP 1.0/2.0; and BREW 1.0/2.0.
• X|mode Multimodal SDK — an XML-based authoring suite for developing multimodal applications.

 
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