Re: Some additional accessibility comments on the CCXML WD

Jim,

Thanks for sending these comments out. The CCXML working group will look
over these comments and get a reply back to you on your questions and
comments in the next few weeks.

    RJ

---
RJ Auburn
CTO, Voxeo Corporation
tel:+1-407-418-1800


On 02/14/2005 07:06, "Jim Tobias" <tobias@inclusive.com> wrote:

> 
> Hi All,
> 
> Here are some comments regarding the CCXML WD.  Almost all of them concern
> the needs of deaf telecom users.  I apologize in advance for any questions
> or comments I raise that are not technically sophisticated or fully aware of
> CCXML's role, and for the lateness of these comments.
> 
> BACKGROUND
> Many deaf people use text telephones (or "TTYs") that send and receive FSK
> or other audible characters with no carrier.  Thus TTY calls are similar to
> voice telephone calls: no special signalling, no handshaking.  However, many
> TTY users have migrated to other mainstream text media such as email, chat,
> IM, and SMS that are not similar to voice calls.  As TTYs will be with us
> for a while longer, it is important to be able to communicate across these
> incompatible media.
> 
> Furthermore, TTY users need to communicate with the majority of the
> population that does not have TTYs.  This is accomplished by
> telecommunications relay services ("TRS" or "relay").  The TTY user
> communicates with a relay operator by text, and the relay operator
> communicates with the other party by voice.  There are several "flavors" of
> TRS: voice carryover (VCO), in which the TTY user speaks during his or her
> turn in the conversation, and hearing carryover (HCO), used by non-deaf
> non-speaking people who type during their turn (the relay operator speaks
> the typed message) but listen to the reply of the speaking person.  There
> are other services that are connected to TRS service provision.  (Privacy
> and confidentiality of relay communications is an important goal, so
> implementations of relay via CCXML would benefit from its ability to provide
> audio path control.)
> 
> Finally, there is video relay service (VRS), in which the deaf person
> communicates by sign language with a sign language interpreter.  The
> interpreter speaks the signed message to the hearing person, and relays that
> person's replies back in sign language.
> 
> SPECIFIC COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS
> 
> 1. I did not see any reference to any calls other than voice.  Is CCXML
> capable of managing video calls as "media streams"?  If not, is it conceived
> that there is such a need, or that CCXML must interoperate with other
> standards that do manage video calls?  This question relates to both
> point-to-point and multipoint.
> 
> 2. In 10.5.4.2 <createcall>, it is possible to indicate whether the audio
> path is bi-directional or not via the 'joindirection' attribute.  However,
> there does not seem to be any ability to change this attribute during the
> call.  This may be a useful feature for some relay calls.
> 
> 3. In 10.5.7.2 <join>, the same audio path attribute is called 'duplex' and
> has different values.  Is this difference necessary?
> 
> 4. Also in 10.5.7.2, there is an ability to control gain.  Gain and
> frequency response are 2 problematic areas for hard of hearing users.  For
> end-to-end VoIP calls, is it possible to request, as part of call setup,
> that wideband audio be used?  Is this implemented in SIP?  (I realize that
> <join> is not used for establshing point-to-point calls, but there was no
> gain attribute in <createcall>.  In <createcall>, could this feature be
> implemented in the 'aai' attribute?).
> 
> 5. 10.5.10.1 <merge> offers another way to engineer relay calls so that the
> operator (User A in the Figures) could be disconnected from the other
> parties during the turns that those two are able to communicate directly
> (VCO or HCO).  However, there is no <unmerge> that would restore the calls
> as they were before <merge>, allowing the relay operator to translate when
> the two parties could not communicate directly.
> 
> 6. I assume that CCXML will accept external messages regarding calls.  For
> example, if a deaf person is using IM to communicate with a relay service
> instead of a TTY, a CCXML platform could accept a message that directs it to
> create a TRS call with a certain telephone or SIP URI.  Is this correct?
> 
> 
> Thanks for the opportunity to comment on the document.
> 
> 
> ***********
> Jim Tobias
> Inclusive Technologies
> tobias@inclusive.com
> +732.441.0831 v/tty
> www.inclusive.com
> 
> 
>

Received on Monday, 14 February 2005 17:23:56 UTC