IBM System Is a Virtual Sign-Language Interpreter
UK-based IBM scientists have developed a prototype system incorporating avatars that translate speech into sign language.
The SiSi (say it, sign it) system uses speech-recognition technology to convert a conversation into text and then translation technology to generate commands that animate an avatar so that it makes the correct sign-language gestures.
The system—developed with assistance from sign-language users and the UK's Royal National Institute for Deaf People—is not designed to replace human interpreters. Instead, it could be used when no human interpreter is available or when confidentiality is important.
Possible applications include the teaching of sign language, as well as services that translate TV shows, voice mail, or public announcements into sign language, said Helen Bowyer, an IBM emerging-technology software engineer.
The SiSi prototype uses IBM's ViaVoice speech-to-text technology, noted Bowyer. The text input is then passed through a translation software module, which conducts syntactic parsing, lexical analysis, and other processes to convert the content into grammatically correct British Sign Language.
SiSi tags sentences with grammar markers and restructures them into BSL grammar. The system then sends commands—written in the Sign Gesture Markup Language, a format the UK's University of East Anglia developed for working with avatars—to the user's PC.
To animate a customizable, IBM-developed avatar, the system converts the commands into BSL gestures retrieved from a dictionary of signs and into the facial expressions that would be used to speak the translated words, Bowyer explained.
"The avatar has a built-in mechanism for smoothly transitioning from the end of one gesture to the start of the next one, to give fluidity to the movement on screen," she noted.
SiSi can't translate sign language into speech, which is a different problem than converting speech into gestures. Computer audio processing is difficult, but visual processing is harder and more expensive, requiring techniques such as motion capture and model-based analysis, she explained.
"IBM is not currently working in this area, although we recognize that it would be another important step in aiding two-way communication," she said.
SiSi works with Sign Supported English as well as BSL. IBM designed the system to be adaptable—via multiple translation modules that would include the appropriate signs, grammar, and syntax—for use with other languages, Bowyer noted.
Future improvements could enable SiSi to work with complex sentence structures or use an avatar that functions on a greater variety of devices such as digital TVs, said Bowyer. The researchers have already developed a prototype for viewing the avatars on cellular phones via streaming video.
The SiSi team will try to improve the accuracy of their system by gaining a deeper understanding of BSL syntax and grammar and improving the translation module to address more nuances, Bowyer noted.
IBM sees SiSi functioning commercially as either a stand-alone application or technology included in other products.
Currently, though, Bowyer added, "There are no plans to license or sell SiSi as it is still very much a prototype requiring further development."
News Briefs written by
Linda Dailey Paulson, a freelance technology writer based in Ventura, California. Contact her at ldpaulson@yahoo.com.
IBM researchers have developed a prototype system, called SiSi (say it, sign it), that uses avatars to translate speech into sign language. (Source: IBM) Consumer Groups Advocate Do Not Track Program
US consumer and privacy groups have called for the creation of a Do Not Track program—similar to the Do Not Call program for telemarketers—that would let users avoid having companies track their Web surfing via cookies and other means.
Nine groups—the Center for Democracy and Technology, Consumer Action, the Consumer Federation of America, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Privacy Activism, Public Information Research, the Privacy Journal, the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, and the World Privacy Forum—have submitted this proposal to the US Federal Trade Commission.
Proponents say the plan is designed to protect people's privacy by allowing them to avoid having advertisers track their online activities without their permission.
"The main goal of the proposal is for advertisers to disclose whether they are engaged in behavioral tracking of any kind, not simply whether they are using cookies," said EFF senior staff attorney Lee Tein. "This is an attempt at an approach that is not intrusive, not heavily regulatory."
The FTC will accept public comments on the Do Not Track proposal until 22 February and then decide what to do next about the plan, noted Jessica Rich, assistant director of the commission's Division of Privacy and Identity Protection.
Advertisers frequently place cookies on PCs to identify users on future visits and track the websites they view. They often do this so that they can send ads related to visitors' interests as reflected by their online activities.
In response to this, Do Not Track proponents say they want to address cookies and other types of persistent identifiers.
"The FTC or someone else would maintain a list of who is engaged in behavioral tracking," Tein said. "Consumers would know by looking at that list who is and who is not engaged in these practices. It would allow you or me to see that a company is doing this, so we wouldn't visit their site [if we didn't want to be tracked]."
There might even be technology that would automate the avoidance of these sites, he added. Currently, the Do Not Track proponents don't specify the technology that would make their plan work.
"I suspect they understand that it is technologically difficult, if not impossible, to implement, and they just want the public exposure versus a real solution to benefit consumers," said Mike Zaneis, vice president of public policy for the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), which represents about 300 online advertisers.
"The challenge of creating a universal software platform that would serve as judge and jury for which websites Americans are allowed to view is very daunting," he added.
Tein said the Do Not Track proposal was deliberately unspecific in many ways because this would let the concerned parties develop the best technical approaches for doing the job.
Online advertisers oppose the Do Not Track proposal. The IAB favors self-regulation and is reviewing best practices to disseminate to members.
"I couldn't begin to divine how they see such a system working effectively," stated Zaneis. "Cookies make e-commerce sites work, make customized websites possible, and often are used by publishers to deliver more relevant advertising."
Group Chooses to Run Fast Bluetooth over Wi-Fi and UWB
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group has changed its mind and has decided to base a fast version of its short-range wireless-connectivity technology—which would enable the streaming or transferring of video, audio, or other content to and from mobile devices—on both Wi-Fi and ultrawideband technology.
Bluetooth currently uses a radio approach designed specifically for the technology. However, proponents want to increase Bluetooth's speed by having it run over a faster Wi-Fi or UWB radio.
During their initial considerations in 2006, the SIG board of directors selected only UWB for fast Bluetooth because, at the time, it consumed less power and had a higher theoretical-maximum throughput than Wi-Fi—480 megabits per second compared to 54 Mbps, said Charles Golvin, an analyst with Forrester Research.
However, Golvin noted that ultrawideband's performance in practice has not met the Bluetooth SIG's expectations, perhaps because many UWB radios aren't using a sufficiently wide spectrum band for transmission. The technology is supposed to transmit signals over wide frequency bands, thereby enabling high data rates.
Also, Golvin said, UWB radios cost more than the Bluetooth SIG expected, perhaps because the technology hasn't been implemented as widely as Wi-Fi and thus hasn't achieved the same economies of scale.
Now, the SIG is working on a protocol adaptation layer that will let a Bluetooth radio run over either Wi-Fi or ultrawideband, said Stephen Wood, Intel technology strategist and president of the WiMedia Alliance, a UWB industry organization. This would eliminate the need for the generally small Bluetooth devices to have both a UWB and a Wi-Fi radio, he explained.
Currently, Bluetooth typically offers transmission ranges up to 10 meters and speeds up to 3 Mbps.
UWB's next generation promises speeds of 960 Mbps and a transmission range of up to 10 meters.
Bluetooth SIG executive director Mike Foley said his organization is exploring the use of the IEEE 802.11n version of Wi-Fi, which offers a theoretical maximum data rate of 540 Mbps and a transmission range of up to 70 meters. However, this would force vendors to take into account Wi-Fi's higher energy usage during the design process.
Once the SIG develops the new fast Bluetooth specifications, Foley said, it will build prototypes, probably late this year, and then test them. The SIG expects its board to adopt the specification in the first half of 2009.
Because Wi-Fi has been so widely adopted, it might become Bluetooth's mainstream radio technology, while UWB might be used for niche applications such as linking devices like digital cameras with a PC, according to Golvin.
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