Cisco Cisco Customer Voice Portal 8.0(1) Design Guide
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Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal (CVP) 8.x Solution Reference Network Design (SRND)
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Chapter 1 Unified CVP Architecture Overview
Unified CVP Product and Solution Components
The Media Server can be installed co-resident with the Unified CVP Call Server or Unified CVP
VXML Server.
VXML Server.
For the most current information on media servers, refer to the latest version of the Hardware and System
Software Specification for Cisco Unified CVP (formerly called the Bill of Materials), available at:
Software Specification for Cisco Unified CVP (formerly called the Bill of Materials), available at:
Third-Party Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and Text-to-Speech (TTS) Servers
This component provides speech recognition services and text-to-speech services for the VoiceXML
Gateway. Communication between the ASR/TTS server(s) and the VoiceXML Gateway uses Media
Resource Control Protocol (MRCP). MRCP v1 can be used on the VoiceXML Gateway when the
application is based on either Micro-Apps or the Unified CVP VXML Server (VXML Server). MRCP v2
can be used on the VoiceXML Gateway only with applications that are based on the VXML Server.
Gateway. Communication between the ASR/TTS server(s) and the VoiceXML Gateway uses Media
Resource Control Protocol (MRCP). MRCP v1 can be used on the VoiceXML Gateway when the
application is based on either Micro-Apps or the Unified CVP VXML Server (VXML Server). MRCP v2
can be used on the VoiceXML Gateway only with applications that are based on the VXML Server.
For capacity and redundancy reasons, a Content Services Switch (CSS) is usually used to mediate
between a VoiceXML Gateway and a farm of ASR/TTS servers. If CSS is not used, then a VoiceXML
Gateway can support a maximum of two ASR/TTS Servers.
between a VoiceXML Gateway and a farm of ASR/TTS servers. If CSS is not used, then a VoiceXML
Gateway can support a maximum of two ASR/TTS Servers.
Cisco does not sell, OEM, or support any ASR/TTS software or servers. Cisco does, however, test
Unified CVP with ScanSoft, Nuance, and IBM offerings. A certification process is currently being
developed to allow additional vendors to qualify their products against Unified CVP VoiceXML, and the
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) provides a rich feature set to support the ASR grammars. The
simplest to implement and support is inline grammars, by which the set of acceptable customer responses
is passed to the gateway. Another form is external grammars, by which Unified ICM passes a pointer to
an external grammar source. The VXML Server adds this pointer to the VoiceXML document that it
sends to the VoiceXML Gateway, which then loads the grammar and uses it to check ASR input from the
caller. In this case, the customer is responsible for creating the grammar file. A third type of grammar is
the built-in grammar. For a complete explanation of grammar formats, consult the W3C website at:
Unified CVP with ScanSoft, Nuance, and IBM offerings. A certification process is currently being
developed to allow additional vendors to qualify their products against Unified CVP VoiceXML, and the
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) provides a rich feature set to support the ASR grammars. The
simplest to implement and support is inline grammars, by which the set of acceptable customer responses
is passed to the gateway. Another form is external grammars, by which Unified ICM passes a pointer to
an external grammar source. The VXML Server adds this pointer to the VoiceXML document that it
sends to the VoiceXML Gateway, which then loads the grammar and uses it to check ASR input from the
caller. In this case, the customer is responsible for creating the grammar file. A third type of grammar is
the built-in grammar. For a complete explanation of grammar formats, consult the W3C website at:
The text for TTS is passed directly from the Unified CVP VXML Server to the gateway. This action is
referred to as inline TTS in this document.
referred to as inline TTS in this document.
The actual speech recognition and speech synthesis are performed by a separate server that interfaces
directly to the VoiceXML gateway via Media Resource Control Protocol (MRCP). Currently, ScanSoft,
Nuance, and IBM are the supported ASR/TTS engines. These ASR/TTS engines also support (with
limitations) voice recognition and synthesis for multiple languages.
directly to the VoiceXML gateway via Media Resource Control Protocol (MRCP). Currently, ScanSoft,
Nuance, and IBM are the supported ASR/TTS engines. These ASR/TTS engines also support (with
limitations) voice recognition and synthesis for multiple languages.
For the latest information on supported languages and limitations of these ASR/TTS engines, refer to
the following websites:
the following websites:
•
Nuance and ScanSoft
•
IBM
These are third-party products, which the customer or partner must purchase directly from the vendor.
The customer also receives technical support directly from the vendor. That does not, however, mean that
the vendor's latest software version can be used. Unified CVP is carefully tested with specific versions
of each vendor's product, and Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) will not support Unified CVP
customers who use different ASR/TTS versions than those which have been tested with Cisco Unified
The customer also receives technical support directly from the vendor. That does not, however, mean that
the vendor's latest software version can be used. Unified CVP is carefully tested with specific versions
of each vendor's product, and Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) will not support Unified CVP
customers who use different ASR/TTS versions than those which have been tested with Cisco Unified