The Oki Semiconductor division of Oki America Inc has designed a speech recognition chip for which it claims a recognition rate of over 97%. The single-chip MSM6679 Voice Recognition Processor is designed to be used in personal computers as a replacement for a mouse so that users can for example open files and edit documents using spoken commands. Personal computers can also be activated and put to sleep as the processor is in CMOS customised for low power portable applications. The company also sees the processor being used in cellular phones where a call can be made using spoken commands only, so drivers can keep their eyes on the road. Oki also says its use in Personal Digital Assistants is likely to take off as a replacement to a pen pad. The company sees speech recognition software as being a more reliable alternative to handwriting recognition software. Users can either create their own dictionary or use pre-programmed dictionaries in Microsoft’s Windows, Excel and Word package. The chips also provide feedback, so the user will hear a spoken prompt or beep to verify that their request has been understood. The Voice Recognition Processor can be interfaced a personal computer package via a built-in parallel port or through a Motorola Inc 68300 microcontroller serial interface. It comes in an 84-pin PLCC package, and will be $23.50 in 10,000-up quantities later this quarter.
