Administering Text-To-Speech (TTS ) E-mail

The Text-to-Speech (TTS ) E-mail feature provides the ability for a subscriber to hear e-mail messages through the telephone interface. You can enable the TTS E-mail feature for subscribers through a Class of Service attribute that you can administer through the Unified Messaging System Administration (UMSA).

Note The tasks presented in this section are required only if you implement E-mail/TTS Services.

How TTS E-mail Services Work

The UM application treats messages in the following way:

Messages with a multipart/voice-message content type are considered voice messages
Messages with a multipart/Fax-message content type are considered fax messages
Messages with a multipart/report content type are considered report messages
All other content types are considered e-mail messages.

For every e-mail message, UM goes through every section of the message to look for a text/plain or audio/wav content type/content sub-type, if any. For a text/plain content type/content sub-type, UM uses Text-to-Speech to play it. For an audio/wav content type/content sub-type, UM plays it as an audio file. E-mail messages can be forwarded with a voice attachment. The messages have a multipart/mixed content type/content sub-type.

Before sending a request to TNT to allocate the appropriate TTS resource, UM tries to determine the language to speak the e-mail from "Content-Language" information in the e-mail header. If UM cannot determine the e-mail language from the header, then UM will try to determine the language from the following attributes in the following priority:

Subscriber's LIP entry, "preferredLanguage"
UM.ini default
Code default

Text-to-Speech resources are allocated to play a file. After the file is done playing (either by reaching the end of the data or by DTMF digit interrupt), the TTS resource is free. If TTS resources are not available to read an e-mail message, the system plays an informational message and provides several options for handling the e-mail message.

The header of the Text-to-Speech e-mail includes the following information:

Play Header

The message type (urgent, confidential, forwarded, broadcast, and undeliverable)

From whom (spoken name of a Subscriber or TTS )
Message date and time
Subject (TTS )
Number of attachments (TTS)
Type of attachments (TTS)
Approximate length of the text message (TTS)

Administrators can configure the subscriber's time zone, and the date and time in US or European format.

Prerequisites

The GateServer on which Text-to-Speech resources resides must have L&H Host-Based TTS software installed.
The GateServer on which Text-to-Speech resources resides must have a CMA and APP agent administered.
The GateServer on which Text-to-Speech resources resides must have the ability to accept calls from the Public Switch Telephone network.

Administering Attachment Table

The EmailAttachmentType.tab file allows Administrators to customize which attachments are recognized by the system. The following attachment types are the defaults for that file:

Microsoft Word
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft Access
Microsoft Project
.txt files (text files)
.tif files (faxes)
.wav files (voice messages)
Other

To customize the EmailAttachmentType.tab file :

Step 1 Go to the GateServer where you are administering Text-to-Speech . Type:

cd $PARMLIB/apps/UM

Step 2 Edit the EmailAttachmentType.tab file . The content of this file is case insensitive and uses the following format (Table 11-1).

Attachment Content Type | Attachment Content Sub Type | Description
Table 11-1: EmailAttachmentType.tab File Attributes

Attribute Description Valid Values

Attachment Content Type

The first column contains the information for the attachment content types.

Text

Message

Application

Audio

Image

Video

Model

Other

Attachment Content Sub Type

The second column contains information for the attachment content sub type. This is how UM recognizes the specific attachment type. Multiple variations should be separated by commas.

Any ASCII text

Descriptions

Used to play the attachment types.

Any ASCII text

Attribute	Description	Valid Values
Attachment Content Type	The first column contains the information for the attachment content types.	Text Message Application Audio Image Video Model Other
Attachment Content Sub Type	The second column contains information for the attachment content sub type. This is how UM recognizes the specific attachment type. Multiple variations should be separated by commas.	Any ASCII text
Descriptions	Used to play the attachment types.	Any ASCII text

Figure 11-1: EmailAttachmentType.tab File

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