NEWS - Wednesday, March 13, 2002
Microsoft Is Hooked On Fonix
Microsoft Picks Fonix Speech Recognition Tech For Xbox SALT LAKE CITY—(March 13, 2002)—Fonix® Corporation (OTC BB: FONX), the leading provider of natural-user interface technology and voice solutions for wireless and mobile devices, announced today it has signed a licensing agreement with Microsoft® (Nasdaq NM: MSFT) to provide the Fonix proprietary Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) engine for the immensely popular XboxTM video game system from Microsoft. Beginning in the second half of 2002, the highly-accurate Fonix U.S. English ASR for game developers will begin shipping to all Xbox game developers via the official Xbox Development Kit (XDK), Microsoft’s primary game authoring tool. During the remainder of 2002, Fonix will provide ASR for Xbox in the following languages: U.K. English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. The Fonix-enabled XDK will allow developers to create games that recognize the user’s voice, permitting the user to direct on-screen action, input information, and otherwise interact verbally with the game environment. “With the powerful technology behind Xbox, artists are able to attain their creative goals and realize their creative visions,” said J Allard, General Manager, Xbox Platform, Microsoft. “Fonix voice recognition will play a significant role in future Xbox game development, making the games more interactive and user friendly.” “This announcement further demonstrates the expanding commercialization of Fonix ASR,” said Kurt Flygare, vice president of sales for Fonix. “Xbox is clearly one of the most prominent and influential entertainment technology platforms in the world today. Potentially, millions of users will have the opportunity to experience the power of Fonix as a result of this agreement. “By becoming the speech recognition provider for Xbox, Fonix has once again proven it is on the cutting edge of natural-user interface technology,” Flygare noted. Fonix ASR powerfully discerns speech in multiple languages at normal speeds and intonations. The solution is speaker-independent and does not require training to the user’s voice. It also accommodates finite-state grammar, which allows for complex speech input, and can detect speech in high background-noise environments. Among the key benefits of Fonix ASR technology for Xbox developers is a remarkably small footprint command-and-control engine that drives all onboard speech recognition functions. Fonix is also offering game developers two additional upgrades to the Microsoft XDK components: natural-sounding Text-To-Speech (TTS) technology, which enables game characters to read on-the-fly text in a variety of languages and dialects, and Fonix Professional Services to provide help with speech integration and support. These upgrades are available to game developers immediately. Entry of voice commands into the Xbox video game system will take place via a microphone/headphone combo set such as the Xbox Communicator, which is unique among video game consoles in that it plugs right into a slot on the controller, and will be available as an optional peripheral for Xbox. Fonix ASR and TTS technologies are used by a number of major manufacturers and technology providers around the world including Compaq, Mitsubishi, Motorola, Samsung, Seiko Epson, and Unisys. For a full explanation of Fonix and its voice interface technologies, visit www.fonix.com. For more information about Xbox, visit www.xbox.com. Company Web site: http://www.fonix.comSource: http://www.fonix.com/
