<s>
VoiceXML	B-Application
(	O
VXML	B-Application
)	O
is	O
a	O
digital	O
document	O
standard	O
for	O
specifying	O
interactive	O
media	O
and	O
voice	O
dialogs	O
between	O
humans	O
and	O
computers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
VoiceXML	B-Application
applications	O
are	O
developed	O
and	O
deployed	O
in	O
a	O
manner	O
analogous	O
to	O
how	O
a	O
web	B-Application
browser	I-Application
interprets	O
and	O
visually	O
renders	O
the	O
Hypertext	B-Language
Markup	I-Language
Language	I-Language
(	O
HTML	B-Language
)	O
it	O
receives	O
from	O
a	O
web	B-Application
server	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
VoiceXML	B-Application
documents	O
are	O
interpreted	O
by	O
a	O
voice	B-Protocol
browser	I-Protocol
and	O
in	O
common	O
deployment	O
architectures	O
,	O
users	O
interact	O
with	O
voice	B-Protocol
browsers	I-Protocol
via	O
the	O
public	O
switched	O
telephone	O
network	O
(	O
PSTN	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
VoiceXML	B-Application
document	O
format	O
is	O
based	O
on	O
Extensible	B-Protocol
Markup	I-Protocol
Language	I-Protocol
(	O
XML	B-Protocol
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
VoiceXML	B-Application
applications	O
are	O
commonly	O
used	O
in	O
many	O
industries	O
and	O
segments	O
of	O
commerce	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
applications	O
include	O
order	O
inquiry	O
,	O
package	O
tracking	O
,	O
driving	O
directions	O
,	O
emergency	O
notification	O
,	O
wake-up	O
,	O
flight	O
tracking	O
,	O
voice	O
access	O
to	O
email	O
,	O
customer	O
relationship	O
management	O
,	O
prescription	O
refilling	O
,	O
audio	O
news	O
magazines	O
,	O
voice	B-Application
dialing	I-Application
,	O
real-estate	O
information	O
and	O
national	O
directory	O
assistance	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
VoiceXML	B-Application
has	O
tags	O
that	O
instruct	O
the	O
voice	B-Protocol
browser	I-Protocol
to	O
provide	O
speech	B-Application
synthesis	I-Application
,	O
automatic	B-Application
speech	I-Application
recognition	I-Application
,	O
dialog	O
management	O
,	O
and	O
audio	O
playback	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
following	O
is	O
an	O
example	O
of	O
a	O
VoiceXML	B-Application
document	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
interpreted	O
by	O
a	O
VoiceXML	B-Application
interpreter	O
this	O
will	O
output	O
"	O
Hello	O
world	O
"	O
with	O
synthesized	B-Application
speech	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Typically	O
,	O
HTTP	B-Protocol
is	O
used	O
as	O
the	O
transport	O
protocol	O
for	O
fetching	O
VoiceXML	B-Application
pages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
applications	O
may	O
use	O
static	O
VoiceXML	B-Application
pages	O
,	O
while	O
others	O
rely	O
on	O
dynamic	O
VoiceXML	B-Application
page	O
generation	O
using	O
an	O
application	B-Application
server	I-Application
like	O
Tomcat	B-Language
,	O
Weblogic	B-Language
,	O
IIS	B-Application
,	O
or	O
WebSphere	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Historically	O
,	O
VoiceXML	B-Application
platform	O
vendors	O
have	O
implemented	O
the	O
standard	O
in	O
different	O
ways	O
,	O
and	O
added	O
proprietary	O
features	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
But	O
the	O
VoiceXML	B-Application
2.0	O
standard	O
,	O
adopted	O
as	O
a	O
W3C	O
Recommendation	O
on	O
16	O
March	O
2004	O
,	O
clarified	O
most	O
areas	O
of	O
difference	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
VoiceXML	B-Application
Forum	O
,	O
an	O
industry	O
group	O
promoting	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
the	O
standard	O
,	O
provides	O
a	O
conformance	O
testing	O
process	O
that	O
certifies	O
vendors	O
 '	O
implementations	O
as	O
conformant	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
AT&T	O
Corporation	O
,	O
IBM	O
,	O
Lucent	O
,	O
and	O
Motorola	O
formed	O
the	O
VoiceXML	B-Application
Forum	O
in	O
March	O
1999	O
,	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
develop	O
a	O
standard	O
markup	O
language	O
for	O
specifying	O
voice	O
dialogs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
September	O
1999	O
the	O
Forum	O
released	O
VoiceXML	B-Application
0.9	O
for	O
member	O
comment	O
,	O
and	O
in	O
March	O
2000	O
they	O
published	O
VoiceXML	B-Application
1.0	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
W3C	O
produced	O
several	O
intermediate	O
versions	O
of	O
VoiceXML	B-Application
2.0	O
,	O
which	O
reached	O
the	O
final	O
"	O
Recommendation	O
"	O
stage	O
in	O
March	O
2004	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
VoiceXML	B-Application
2.1	O
added	O
a	O
relatively	O
small	O
set	O
of	O
additional	O
features	O
to	O
VoiceXML	B-Application
2.0	O
,	O
based	O
on	O
feedback	O
from	O
implementations	O
of	O
the	O
2.0	O
standard	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
backward	O
compatible	O
with	O
VoiceXML	B-Application
2.0	O
and	O
reached	O
W3C	O
Recommendation	O
status	O
in	O
June	O
2007	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
VoiceXML	B-Application
3.0	O
will	O
be	O
the	O
next	O
major	O
release	O
of	O
VoiceXML	B-Application
,	O
with	O
new	O
major	O
features	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
includes	O
a	O
new	O
XML	B-Protocol
statechart	O
description	O
language	O
called	O
SCXML	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
W3C	O
's	O
Speech	O
Interface	O
Framework	O
also	O
defines	O
these	O
other	O
standards	O
closely	O
associated	O
with	O
VoiceXML	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Speech	B-Application
Recognition	I-Application
Grammar	O
Specification	O
(	O
SRGS	O
)	O
is	O
used	O
to	O
tell	O
the	O
speech	B-Application
recognizer	I-Application
what	O
sentence	O
patterns	O
it	O
should	O
expect	O
to	O
hear	O
:	O
these	O
patterns	O
are	O
called	O
grammars	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Once	O
the	O
speech	B-Application
recognizer	I-Application
determines	O
the	O
most	O
likely	O
sentence	O
it	O
heard	O
,	O
it	O
needs	O
to	O
extract	O
the	O
semantic	O
meaning	O
from	O
that	O
sentence	O
and	O
return	O
it	O
to	O
the	O
VoiceXML	B-Application
interpreter	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
semantic	O
interpretation	O
is	O
specified	O
via	O
the	O
Semantic	O
Interpretation	O
for	O
Speech	B-Application
Recognition	I-Application
(	O
SISR	O
)	O
standard	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SISR	O
is	O
used	O
inside	O
SRGS	O
to	O
specify	O
the	O
semantic	O
results	O
associated	O
with	O
the	O
grammars	O
,	O
i.e.	O
,	O
the	O
set	O
of	O
ECMAScript	B-Language
assignments	O
that	O
create	O
the	O
semantic	O
structure	O
returned	O
by	O
the	O
speech	B-Application
recognizer	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Speech	B-Application
Synthesis	I-Application
Markup	I-Application
Language	I-Application
(	O
SSML	O
)	O
is	O
used	O
to	O
decorate	O
textual	O
prompts	O
with	O
information	O
on	O
how	O
best	O
to	O
render	O
them	O
in	O
synthetic	O
speech	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
which	O
speech	B-Application
synthesizer	I-Application
voice	O
to	O
use	O
or	O
when	O
to	O
speak	O
louder	O
or	O
softer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
generated	O
pronunciation	O
information	O
is	O
meant	O
to	O
be	O
used	O
by	O
both	O
speech	B-Application
recognizers	I-Application
and	O
speech	B-Application
synthesizers	I-Application
in	O
voice	O
browsing	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Call	O
Control	O
eXtensible	B-Protocol
Markup	I-Protocol
Language	I-Protocol
(	O
CCXML	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
complementary	O
W3C	O
standard	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
CCXML	O
interpreter	O
is	O
used	O
on	O
some	O
VoiceXML	B-Application
platforms	O
to	O
handle	O
the	O
initial	O
call	O
setup	O
between	O
the	O
caller	O
and	O
the	O
voice	B-Protocol
browser	I-Protocol
,	O
and	O
to	O
provide	O
telephony	O
services	O
like	O
call	O
transfer	O
and	O
disconnect	O
to	O
the	O
voice	B-Protocol
browser	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
CCXML	O
can	O
also	O
be	O
used	O
in	O
non-VoiceXML	O
contexts	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
media	B-Application
server	I-Application
applications	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
often	O
necessary	O
for	O
several	O
call	O
legs	O
to	O
interact	O
with	O
each	O
other	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
in	O
a	O
multi-party	O
conference	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
deficiencies	O
were	O
identified	O
in	O
VoiceXML	B-Application
for	O
this	O
application	O
and	O
so	O
companies	O
designed	O
specific	O
scripting	O
languages	O
to	O
deal	O
with	O
this	O
environment	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Media	B-Language
Server	I-Language
Markup	I-Language
Language	I-Language
(	O
MSML	B-Language
)	O
was	O
Convedia	O
's	O
solution	O
,	O
and	O
Media	B-Language
Server	I-Language
Control	I-Language
Markup	I-Language
Language	I-Language
(	O
MSCML	B-Language
)	O
was	O
Snowshore	O
's	O
solution	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
languages	O
also	O
contain	O
'	O
hooks	O
 '	O
so	O
that	O
external	O
scripts	O
(	O
like	O
VoiceXML	B-Application
)	O
can	O
run	O
on	O
call	O
legs	O
where	O
IVR	O
functionality	O
is	O
required	O
.	O
</s>
