The Speech Application Language Tags (SALT) Forum released a working draft of its 0.9 specification for adding speech tags to other Web application development languages on Wednesday.
Applications created by that combination would combine speech recognition with text and graphics.
The draft, published by the founding members of the SALT Forum—Cisco Systems Inc., Comverse Inc., Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., Philips Electronics N.V. and Speechworks International—lays out the XML elements that make up SALT, the typical application scenarios in which it will be used, the principles which underline its design and resources related to the specification.
Elements the draft focuses on include speech input, speech output, Dual Tone Multi-Frequency (DMTF—generic form of Touch-Tone) input, platform messaging (using Simple Messaging Extension—SMEX), telephony call control and logging.
The SALT Forum is an alternative to a plan pushed by IBM, Motorola Inc. and Opera Software ASA to combine VoiceXML with XHTML to integrate speech and Web application development, and form so-called multi-modal applications. That group has already submitted specifications to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
The SALT Forum has indicated that it too will submit to an international standards body but hasnt said which one yet. Though officials of the forum did indicate that they expect the W3Cs multimodal committee will review the draft at its meeting in Cannes, France next week.
The SALT 0.9 draft can be downloaded at saltforum.org.
