Broadcast text of speech in real time?

[spg]

I have been asked by my church if I would have any ideas on how to do this. Now, I know that it could be devloped easily enough, but what I don't know is if there is anything out there already that could do this.

"Here is the scenario. A court reporter type person would be used to transcribe the sermon using a computer of some sort. That transcription would be transmitted using the wireless. The text being entered on the PC would show up on the screen of the portable device so the hearing impaired person could read the sermon."

That is a quote from an e-mail they sent me. Any ideas? Thanks!

[mike6024]

So all you need is a program that transmits text real-time? I think it would take less time to write the app than to find the exact one you're looking for. :D I don't know of anything that specifically does that, but even something like an AIM chat room would work for that. As long as nobody is polite enough to respond :lol:

[spg]

So all you need is a program that transmits text real-time? I think it would take less time to write the app than to find the exact one you're looking for. :D I don't know of anything that specifically does that, but even something like an AIM chat room would work for that. As long as nobody is polite enough to respond :lol:
Yeah, we had thought about that, but our need is something that transmits as soon as a new word is typed. This would become wierd in a chat room setting -

Me: I
Me: don't
Me: think
Me: this
Me: works
Me: well.

I imagine it will come to developing it, but I'm just trying to see if there are other options out there first. No telling what features and things they will want me to add if they know I developed it, I would be coding from now till Christmas. :) Well, maybe not for a simple app like this, but I still prefer a pre-developed thing with all the bugs already worked out.

[Pony99CA]

So all you need is a program that transmits text real-time? I think it would take less time to write the app than to find the exact one you're looking for. :D I don't know of anything that specifically does that, but even something like an AIM chat room would work for that. As long as nobody is polite enough to respond :lol:
Yeah, we had thought about that, but our need is something that transmits as soon as a new word is typed. This would become wierd in a chat room setting -

Me: I
Me: don't
Me: think
Me: this
Me: works
Me: well.

I assume the preacher has his sermon printed out ahead of time, right? If so, why not give someone a soft-copy version, and, as the sermon proceeds, they can select each sentence of the sermon and send it via IM to the hearing-impaired users?

If the preacher improvises, they won't get an exact copy, but it may be good enough. It also wouldn't be as choppy as sending each word, and wouldn't require typing so much.

Steve

[Kirkaiya]

Hmm...

The following would be a bit clunky, but.. assuming that Pocket IE handles Meta refresh (or a javascript setTimeOut function that reloads the page every other second), you could:

1. have a simple web-based app that allows the person taking the dictation to type into a web-form (on a PC) - set the OnKeyPress event to call a small Javascript that looks to see if the key was a "space" character.

2. If it's a space character, the script can set the value of a hidden field in another frame (to avoid disrupting the page you're typing in) to the value of the textarea field you're typing in, and then submit that other frame's form to a server page (ASP/JSP/Perl, whatever you like).

3. The server-script takes the form-post, stores it in an application-level variable (in ASP, literally an Application("sermon") or something). The script returns nothing (ie., response.end without sending any response).

4. The hearing-disabled person in the pew has a Pocket PC, with wireless card, and just puts the appropriate URL of the asp/jsp/pl file that reads the Application variable, and displays say, the last 1000 characters or so. It refreshes every 2 seconds, and since it's independent of the typing-person's script, there aren't any snyc issues to worry about.

So anyway - just one sorta-low-tech idea that you could throw together pretty fast. I guess if you were going to do all that, you might just want to code a real app (could even use the .NET CE to consume a web-service... lol.. oh my!!)

OR - have your typist person's laptop hooked up to a projector, that displays the "subtitles" (ha ha) on a screen, and the hearing impaired can sit up front ;-)

[Wiggin]

I recall that ICQ used an UI that sent text as it was typed, not merely after the [Return] key was hit. Truth be told, I haven't used ICQ since 1998 (my number was a five digit no... was an early user! :lol: ), and I now use MS IM for chat functions. I imagine ICQ has gone through many many version upgrades, but if the UI form factor hasn't changed, that would allow all of the HI people to watch the sermon "live" as it was typed by someone.
Just a thought...