Page Numbers: Yes X: 527 Y: 10.5"
Inter-Office Memorandum
To File Date September 13, 1981
From S. M. Ornstein, L. Stewart,
D. Swinehart Location Palo Alto
Subject Voice Project Proposal Organization CSL
XEROX
Filed on: <Audio>Doc>VPOutline.bravo
ABSTRACT
This memo presents what we think is an appropriate voice project for CSL, discusses visions of new functionality that might come into our lives as a result of the endeavor, describes the enabling architecture as we see it, and then discusses a plan for setting out.
Attached are documents describing our present view of the three major system components and several appendices describing alternative architectures, voice transmission issues, and some voice hardware proposed by SDD.
INTRODUCTION
Why voice? We see two domains. First, in the real-time world, our information management skills can give us improved control over voice communications (taming the telephone). Second, when we can integrate voice with our other endeavors (voice as data), we can add an additional dimension to all those activities. By ``voice'', we do not mean ``audio'', as in music, and we do not mean ``speech'', as in speech synthesis or speech recognition. We do mean the integration of telephone service and the recording and retrieval of stored voice.
We have concluded that the most useful way to begin adding voice to our systems is to provide a new and better, Ethernet-based, form of telephone service. It seems likely that we can make genuine improvements in our own lives; and, in the process, we will build those fundamental tools for handling voice from which other extensions will grow naturally.
Our eventual goal is to build fully integrated systems that include voice as naturally as our systems now include text. Within about two years, we plan to provide every member of CSL with an Ethernet telephone, or Etherphone.
The Etherphone system will transmit voice and control information over the Ethernet rather than over conventional phone wires. The Etherphones themselves will serve as simple terminals (ethernet peripherals), without much intelligence of their own. Users' workstations will provide enhanced user interfaces. A Voice File Server will enable storage and retrieval of voice. An Etherphone server will control the collection of Etherphones and generally manage the system. A gateway function will connect the Etherphone system to the public switched telephone network.
In addition to those mentioned above, Susan Owicki, John Ousterhout, and Bill Nowicki have been involved in the preparation of the voice project proposal.
OUTLINE
The remainder of this document consists of eight sections:
Visions: Describing six visions for the future -- ways we think that an integrated environment including the telephone system can improve our lives.
Architecture and Plans: Describing with a broad brush our proposed system architecture and its major components. A rough schedule and plan of action is attached, as are a partial list of unresolved issues.
Etherphone: Describing our present design and implementation ideas for a microprocessor based Ethernet telephone.
Etherphone Server: Describing our present design and implementation ideas for a Cedar based controller for the telephone system.
Voice File Server: Describing our present ideas for an Ethernet file server for voice messages.
Alternatives: Describing some of the alternative system designs and system components we have considered.
Etherphone Protocol: Describing in some detail the issues of Ethernet transmission of interactive voice. Descriptions of the operational Etherphone 0 and Voice File Server 0 are attached.
Voice vs. Data: Some thoughts on the relationship between data communications and real-time communications and a proposal for incorporation of class-of-service into our internet protocols.
Voice Peripheral: Describing a voice and telephone management box for workstations. We propose to copy the design as part of the CSL Etherphone.