Re: Idea for project

[Patrick Lidstone]

--- In <a
href="/group/xap_automation/post?postID=2Z9Is7-8SENdxEEB-j8F_luRu-6wnirwKzn-wE7K-i38ZHgq0optYmDEmCFjLEJRUBq5np2L0i2q-CiaUuQFMRvpdFMb">xap_automation@xxxxxxx</a>,
"Alex Monaghan" <xap@m...>
wrote:
> I've been thinking about this idea for a while, but am simply
running out of
> time with all my other commitments, so let's see what you guys
think.
>
> The SWMBO wanted an intercom between garage, study, her office,
&amp;
kitchen,
> at a similar time someone posted a link to a VOIP system. This got
me
> thinking...
>
> What about a xAP device with LCD, keypad, mic &amp; speaker that
could
> communicate with a soft phone on a PC, using Cat5 you could get
power, RX/TX
> and mic / speaker, plug these into the soundcard &amp; serial port
and
hack the
> soft phone to accept an xAP input for dialling and an xAP output
for caller
> display / ring etc....
> Pop in a couple of sound cards and run several soft phones and a
PSTN bridge
> on your existing HA PC (as it's on 24*7) and you've got your own
local PABX
> with access to VOIP &amp; PSTN.
>
> Am I barking mad or could something like this actually work ?

I use something similar for voice recognition, and I can't see why it
wouldn't work. The only difficulty I could forsee is arranging for
full-duplex communications - and that is ok if you have a handset,
rather than handsfree arrangement, so long as the audio hardware
itself is FD capable.

A bit about my setup: I use a VoIP client running on a wireless iPaq,
connected to a remote speech recognition server &amp; text-to-speech
engine and integrated with a Web/WAP browser to control my house -
via xAP. Anyone can pick up and talk to the iPaq using free
form "commands", and the controller "speaks" an
acknowledgement. The
browser pages are simultaneously updated to provide the end user with
some context from the UI/interaction point of view.

(I did the xAP integration myself. The rest is a commercial product
from a company I work with: www.vida-software.com).

Patick