Receiver doesn't know what hit him..

So the software development continues. I finished writing the service that let's any other software module in the system to command the Pioneer VSX9120 receiver. This model includes a serial interface and the Pioneer engineers were nice enough to document the command protocol and place it on their website. The module that I wrote will allow the control of volume, listening mode settings and radio tuner. The receiver provides audio output to the home theatre set up but also the whole house audio installation for listening to music, radio or for the central computer system to notify me of anything, like incoming phone calls, emails, or whatever.... When listening to music or radio, I can control the volume from any touchscreen in the house. The automation system can have control of the receiver as well. I can have the communication module lower the volume of music playback so I can answer a phone call, for example.

Voice recognition update

I haven't posted in awhile. With the drill battery charger still on backorder, I've been busy working on the software side of this project.

I found a bunch of wall-mountable microphones which are specifically designed to be sensitive to vocal frequencies. Their primary application is for conference rooms but are ideal for voice recognition applications. I was also able to find a microphone mixer that automatically switches on the microphone receiving a vocal input. Today, I ran some tests to see how well the setup would work for voice recognition with a PC. I was able to get about 70% accuracy which is not the greatest but I spent only a little time training. These results are still not entirely conclusive to know if this will work fully installed in the house but I figure I'll give it a try. I wanted to see if at least some recognition would work so I'll go ahead and run the microphone wires throughout the house. The microphones themselves install in single-gang electric device boxes and look just like light switches. Worse case, if voice recognition doesn't work, I can pull the microphones out and patch the holes. Drywall is easy to fix.

So, if the voice recognition does work, it will provide another level of input alongside the various touchscreens to be installed throughout the house. The goal here isn't to replace everything with a voice command and tie myself to that. Everything can still be manually controlled so I wouldn't have to change the way I live my life. The voice command just fills in for those moments where it's more convenient to. After coming home after work and telling the system to playback any telephone messages is a simple example of an application for voice recognition.