Thought you might like this. This was from the icon discuss list, and I am posting it here, because it might be useful.
----Forwarded message---- ----- Original Message ----- From: ROPARD.org To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, June 02, 2008 5:17 PM Subject: ROPARD.org - General Mailing List The RoboBraille email service - www.robobraille.org The RoboBraille service is an email-based translation service capable of translating documents to and from contracted Braille and to synthetic speech. Users submit documents (e.g., text files, Word documents, HTML pages) as email attachments. The translated results are returned to the user via email, typically within a matter of minutes. The service is available free of charge to all non-commercial users. Braille Translation The user sends an email with a document attachment to one of several email accounts used to manage the translation process (e.g., [EMAIL PROTECTED] for eight-dot Braille translation, [EMAIL PROTECTED] for six-dot Braille translation). Similar, localised versions of the email accounts will be used to control the language-specific translations as well as the language of any responses to the user. As an example, mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] will result in Danish eight-dot Braille translation and a user response in Danish whereas mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] will result in English six-dot Braille translation and a user response in English. Once received by the RoboBraille service, the attached file is processed. The RoboBraille service is capable of handling a number of different document types, including Word and Rich Text Format (RTF) documents, HTML pages and text documents. Text files in the older ASCII .asc format are automatically converted to the standard ISO 8859-1 character set prior to translation. Likewise, Word and RTF documents are converted into text files prior to translation. Since few standards exist for representing Braille character sets, it may be required to convert the translated result into the Braille character set of a particular Braille device before the result is mailed back to the user. By allowing the user to specify an export filter for a Braille device in the subject of the email, the RoboBraille is capable of automatically converting the translated text into the correct Braille character set. To support a particular Braille device, such as a Braille note taker or Braille embosser, it may be necessary to develop a new export filter. Text To Speech Similar to the Braille translation processes, the user emails a document attachment to an email account. As part of the eTEN RoboBraille project, these email accounts will be moved from the Danish punktskrift.dk domain to the international robobraille.org domain. Furthermore, In localised versions of the email accounts will be used in the eTEN RoboBraille project to select the correct text-to-speech synthesiser as well as the language of the user response. The text-to-speech translation process is controlled by a separate email account: * [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Translates the attached document into synthetic speech using a Danish Text-to-Speech engine. * [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Translates the attached document into synthetic speech using an British English Text-to-Speech engine. * [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Translates the attached document into synthetic speech using an American English Text-to-Speech engine. * [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Translates the attached document into synthetic speech using an Italian Text-to-Speech engine. * [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Translates the attached document into synthetic speech using a Portuguese Text-to-Speech engine. * [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Translates the attached document into synthetic speech using a Greek Text-to-Speech engine. * [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Translates the attached document into synthetic speech using a French Text-to-Speech engine. To control the speech rate (e .g., the speed of the speech), write one or more plusses or minusses in the subject of the email as follows: * Three minusses (---) will result in the slowest speech rate * Three plusses (+++) will result in the fastest speech rate * One or two plusses or minusses will result in a speech rate between these two extremes Attachments are processed as described above regarding Braille translation. Subsequently, the document is converted into an audio file in WAVE format. This file is then compressed into an MP3 file which is then copied to a web server. Finally, a link to the MP3 file is return ed to the user by email.
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