Daniel,
Thank you for your comments and you
generous offer of help. I am new to the group and am not sure that I am
conforming to the appropriate protocol for its use. If I am not using it
correctly by sending this email to the group and cc’ing you, the author,
then I apologize and would appreciate some suggestions on my etiquette.
I would also like to express my
appreciation in a public forum to Bob Andreasen for his earlier comments.
To answer questions, I
am developing the software using MS Visual Studio 2005 Pro and .Net 2.0 (I miss
spoke in my original posting when I said VS 5). I am intending the application
to run initially on a desktop running Windows XP. I have been working with a
mechanical engineer here in my area (St. Louis) to design and prototype a monitor
mount which will position the monitor appropriately. I can’t say too
much about it for now because we are applying for a patent on the idea.
The touch screen
plastic overlay I am intending to use is an array of 3/4” holes on a 1”
grid. I have found that even people with very limited use of their hands can
do OK with this because they are able to steady their hand on the plastic
bridging across the holes. If the holes get too large then the side of their
hand will touch or activate the area under the hole adjacent to the one they
are trying to put their finger into.
My direct reply to Bob Andreasen
a day or two ago seems worth repeating here. It posses several questions I
have that I would really appreciate yours and other’s opinions on.
---------------begin
email excerpt-----------------
Bob,
Thank you very much for your
thoughts. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed right now in trying to decide the
right direction to go with this VoIP stuff. I don't want to invest a lot of
time in researching the alternatives because once I get this current project
done I don't see using my new found VoIP related knowledge again (at least for
a while.) On the other hand, I am paranoid about choosing a software library
that "almost works" and getting sucked into a drawn out process of
development/debugging. I have been burned several times in my career in trying
to apply a software tool and get to the point where things work 80-90% reliably
but the last 10% takes forever.
I have a few high level
questions I would appreciate your thoughts on if you have the time. They
include:
1) do you know anything
about what Microsoft has done with SIP in Windows Messenger? Have they
documented the API's required to allow me to use my GUI? I have spent a little
time investigating the answer to this question but haven't found any discussion
of an SDK that would expose the functionality I need.
2) How stable/reliable is
sipXtapi?
3) How well documented is
the API?
4) If you were starting from
scratch (as I am) with sipXtapi (and tapi in general for that matter), do you
have any feel for how long it would take you to dig through documentation (and
source code?) to figure out how to implement a reliable SIP communication
environment?
5) Is Broadvoice a reasonable choice for access to
POTS? Would you recommend something different?
------------------------end email
excerpt----------------
Again Daniel thanks for taking the time to
share you thoughts with me.
Best regards,
Tim Perry
314-576-9794
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, August 21, 2006
11:20 AM
To:
[email protected]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [sipxtapi-dev] SIP
softphone UI for physically disabled (TimPerry)
Tim,
Some things you need to figure out before going forward:
- What operating system will you be
using?
- Will this just be a touchscreen
monitor at a stationary location (using a pc box) or will you be using a
laptop or other mobile computer?
If it is stationary, Windows XP will work
nicely. If it is mobile, you could either use Windows XP, Windows XP
with Tablet Extension, Windows XP Tablet. With a big enough screen,
the ability to create buttons large enough for calling could be easily
done. I rented a room from a man who had limited use of his fingers
and was bound to a wheelchair. Although he managed to be able to use
a standard phone, I could see he struggled with it much of the time.
I would say a 2 inch wide by 1½ inch tall button would be
sufficient. Allow about 3/4 of an inch between the buttons as a
safety buffer.
The guys who worked on the SipXTapiDotNet
project did a really great job. I can help you out with the basics
of connectivity if you go down that path, as that is what I used. In
case you haven't seen it yet, the link to it is here:
http://sipx-wiki.calivia.com/index.php/SipXtapi_User_Agent_Projects
It is listed under ".NET
bindings:".
For a truly mobile situation, such as
someone who is bound to a wheelchair, I would use a laptop configuration.
Set up the laptop to allow you to close the cover, but do not turn
off the power or hibernate. You should then hook up a custom
touchscreen monitor to the external VGA port. This should allow you
full access to sleep, so you conserve battery when you are not making
calls. Since you mention difficulty to dial calls every time, be
sure to include a method of storing and dialing from a contact list.
This would allow them to push one button to access the list, select
a contact, then hit Dial.
The project intrigues me greatly and I would
be happy to help you with any questions you have and will help you where I
can, from design to implementation.
Best of luck to you and I look forward to
hearing more about your progress.
>Objective: develop touch screen based UI
to assist physically disabled in using a telephone
>
>Approach: SIP softphone with specially
designed GUI for use with a touch screen monitor
>
>Request: I need some
suggestions/recommendations for a stable, SIP softphone library with an
API I can interface to using VisualStudio 5.0 and either c++ or c#
>-----------------------
>Details:
>
>I am trying to help people who have very
limited use of their hands. Typical capabilities/limitations
include:
>- cannot grasp a telephone handset
>- cannot handle a phone book or use a
computer keyboard affectively
>- often will have poor eye-site and
therefore need large characters displayed
>- Can use a speaker phone except they
have significant difficulty dialing a phone even if the phone has large
buttons. The problem is that they find it very difficult to touch
only the dial buttons of >interest and not accidentally touch an
adjacent one while dialing.
>
>There is a proven technique for using a
touch screen monitor (like a Point-Of-Sale terminal in a restaurant).
The trick is to take a clear piece of 1/8" plexi-glass the size
and shape of the touch screen
>and drill an array of nickel sized holes
in the plastic. When this plastic is overlaid on top of the touch
screen it allows the user to steady the side of his/her hand on the
plastic and then twist their
>wrist to cause their finger to rotate
into the desired hole in the plastic.
>
>To utilize a modified touch screen in
this way the user interface must be designed so that all the active areas
on the screen (buttons, etc.) are centered under one of the holes in the
plastic. I am
>actively working on a UI now and have
attached a few prototype screen shots. The program I am working on
takes into consideration the screen resolution and physical size and
automatically adjusts >the position of the active controls so they are
centered under a hole in the plastic.
>
>A little about me:
>- masters degrees in both electrical
engineering and computer science
>- many years experience as a system
integrator and embedded system developer
>
>An help/suggestions would be most
appreciated.
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>Tim
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
