Cobolt Speechmaster Voicemate Instructions Basic Operation Hold the Voice Mate with the curved edge to the top. You will feel a smooth screen below this edge on the front face. Below the screen is a rubber button called the "function selector". This cycles through the available functions of phone book, memo recorder, appointment book, calendar alarm clock, calculator, dialing assistant and control panel. To the right of the selector is the microphone. On the front face, to the sides and below the selector and microphone, are two recesses. These are used to enable you to fold down the cover which protects the front panel controls. Between these recesses you will feel two raised bumps with a grill for the speaker between them. To the left of the screen, on the edge of the case, is a click button. When using the Voice Mate you will press this button briefly to wake up the unit, press and hold it to record or press it quickly twice to send dialling tones, play back messages, results, speak the time etc. Just beneath the "click" button is a socket into which you can plug the optional data cable which allows you to back up your data to a PC under Windows or upgrade your software from the internet. On the opposite edge of the case is the socket for the supplied earphone. Also included is an adaptor to allow you to use a standard earphone if you wish. If you turn the unit over so the back is facing you and the curved edge is still to the top you will feel a small pinhole with a reset marking to the upper right. If the unit ever locks up inserting a paper clip in here will unlock it without losing your data. At the lower edge on both sides are the battery compartments. You will feel the clips on the inner edge of the covers which hinge outwards. Each compartment holds two AAA batteries which should all be fitted with their positive ends downwards. A message will advise you when the batteries require replacement. All data is stored in flash memory so you will not lose information even if the batteries go flat. Keypad Open the lid. At the top of the panel you will feel four keys arranged in a circle. Upper Left The "MENU" key. This allows you to access the options available for each of the functions selected using the "function selector" button. These options will be described later. Upper Right The "DELETE" key. Used to erase messages, numbers etc. Lower Left The "YES" key. Used to confirm actions and to play back an item, such as an appointment. Lower Right The "NO" key. Used to cancel an action. Below these four keys are two "LEFT" and "RIGHT" keys. Used to step backwards and forwards through your entries. The lower part of the keypad has twelve keys arranged as a telephone keypad. "STAR" is at the bottom left with "HASH" bottom right. Features The Voice Mate performs seven functions which are accessed in turn by pressing the "function selector". With accessibility "ON" the functions are spoken as they are selected in turn. 1. Phone Book, 2. Memo, 3. Appointment book, 4. Calendar alarm clock, 5. Calculator, 6. Dialing Assistant, 7. Control panel Starting the Unit Voice Mate has no "ON/OFF" switch. Any action will turn the unit on in the last function used. Pressing the click button with the lid closed will display text appropriate to the function selected with no speech. If you wake it up by pressing the function selector it will also speak the name of the function i.e. "Memo". If you wake it up by opening the lid it will say the name of the function and display appropriate text. Please note that there is a "Keyboard Lock" function which, if selected, will prevent the click button or function selector from turning the unit on. This is described under "Control Panel". The Voice Mate will switch itself off after a pre-set time if it is not being used. This time can be adjusted to between 20 seconds and 60 seconds from the control panel. Click Button A little practice may be required to obtain the correct speed for double clicking. Step through the functions to the control panel. Double clicking will report the percentage of free memory available. Double clicking is very useful. In the phone book it will dial and speak the selected number. In the memo and appointment book it will speak the selected memo or appointment. In the clock it will speak the date and time and in the calculator it will speak the number being displayed. Hold the click button down while recording names and addresses in the phone book and while recording keywords and appointments in the appointment book. Release the button once you have finished speaking. Password It is possible to protect your data with a password. If you use this feature do not forget your password as there is no way to recover your information without it. To select this feature go to the control panel, press the "MENU" key then the "RIGHT" arrow key until you hear "Pin code mode off". Press "YES" and enter a PIN number as requested. After pressing "YES" the unit will say "Pin code mode on". Once the unit powers down it will protect your data and the next time you wake it up it will ask for your PIN code before allowing you to continue. To disable this facility return to the control panel and turn PIN code mode off. Speech Recognition For best results speak normally about ten inches from the microphone. By default you will be asked to speak names and keywords twice although this can be changed to once only by going to the control panel and changing training session from two to one. Optimum results will be obtained by leaving the training session option at two, ensuring that there is no background noise when recording and using long names up to a maximum of three seconds. Keyboard Lock With this selected on from the control panel accidentally pressing either the "function selector" or "click" button will not turn the unit on. You must either open the cover or, if the cover is already open, press any of the number keys. Phone Book Pressing the "MENU" key enables you to step through the following with the "RIGHT" and "LEFT" arrow keys: 1. Modify the current number. You can use the arrow keys to step through the digits in the number and the delete key to erase them or the number keys to change them. 2. Re-record the current address. 3. Re-record the current name. 4. Activate/Deactivate home number. Default is off. 5. Activate/Deactivate fax number. Default is off. 6. Activate/Deactivate office number. Default is off. 7. Activate/Deactivate mobile number. Default is off. 8. Activate/Deactivate other number. Default is off. 9. Activate/Deactivate address. Default is off. 10. Touch tone volume 0 to 8. Default is 2. 11. Touch tone speed 1 to 9. Default is 5. Change the value or status by either pressing "YES" or "1" to activate, "2" to deactivate. Press "NO" to abort changes. Activating/Deactivating the various number options can be done before recording new numbers. This means that the additional numbers will only be requested and spoken as appropriate for each name. Making and retrieving entries Open the cover then press and hold the click button while speaking the name, "John" for instance. You will be asked if you want to memorise "John". Press "YES". You will be asked to repeat "John". Hold the click button and say "John" again. You will be asked to enter the phone number. This is done using the keypad. If you make a mistake use the "DELETE" key to erase the last digit. Press "YES" and the unit will say "John has been recorded". You can also make an entry by recording the number first. To do this first enter the number then hold the click button and speak the name. You will be asked whether you want to memorise "John. Press "YES" and you will be asked to repeat the name as before. You will then be asked to enter the telephone number and the first digit will be spoken. You can use the arrow keys to check each digit in turn before pressing "YES" to confirm the entry. Pause and Stop Characters Special characters can be entered to enable you to dial sequences of tones in order to access special services such as banking. These services often require that you dial a number then enter a PIN number followed by a code. Entering a "PAUSE" character in the number causes a pause of 0.5 seconds. To do this press and hold the "STAR" key for at least one second until the unit says "STAR" then "PAUSE". Entering a "STOP" character causes the number being dialled to stop at this point until you double click on the side button again, whereupon it will continue dialling from this point. To retrieve an entry hold the click button down while speaking the name. If the cover is closed the nearest matching name will be spoken. Briefly pressing the click button will step through the fax, cellular phone etc information for the person. With the cover open press "NO" when asked if you wish to memorize the name. The nearest match will then be spoken and the arrow keys can be used to step through the phone book. To dial a selected number hold the unit's speaker against the mouthpiece of the phone and double click. After the tones have been sent a single click will prevent the number from being spoken. Memo Pressing the "MENU" key enables you to step through the following options with the "RIGHT" and "LEFT" arrow keys: 1. Long/Short edit type. Long causes memos to report the time and date at which they were recorded. Short causes only the memo to be spoken. Default is short. 2. Normal/Continuous recording. Normal requires that the click button is held down while recording. Continuous means that recording will start with one click of the side button and a second click is required to stop recording. The default is normal. 3. Delete all memos. If you press "YES" you will be asked to confirm your choice. Use the arrow keys to step through your memos and double click on the side button to play them again. Editing The "STAR" key rewinds through a memo, the "HASH" key fast forwards and the "0" key pauses and restarts. In order to edit a memo fast forward/rewind to the point at which you wish to edit then:- Press "8" in order to begin cutting. Press "8" again to end cutting. This action deletes everything between the start and end points. Press "7" to toggle between Insert and Replace modes - select as required then hold the click button while recording new information. This will then either overwrite part of the existing memo or will be inserted into it. This returns to insert mode when the unit powers down. If you make a mistake using Cut, Insert or Replace you can press "9" to cancel the last action. i.e. to insert something into a memo:- Select the correct memo using the arrow keys. Press "0" to start the memo playing. Press "0" at the position at which you wish to insert something. Hold the click button and record the new information. Appointment Book Pressing the "MENU" key enables you to step through the following options with the "RIGHT" and "LEFT" arrow keys: 1. Daily Planning. Selecting "YES" enables you to use the arrow keys step through the days from today to check whether you have any appointments. 2. Planning. Selecting "YES" enables you to enter a date and go straight to it to check whether you have any appointments. 3. Modify the appointment date allows you to change the time and date of the current appointment. 4. Re-record the appointment text allows you to change the text for the current appointment. 5. Re-record the appointment keyword allows you to change the search keyword used to find the current appointment. 6. Modify the appointment reminder. This allows you to alter how often the appointment will repeat. This can be never or a certain number of minutes, hours, days, weeks, months or years. 7. Modify the appointment beep. This allows you to turn the alarm on or off for the current appointment. 8. Appointment with keyword/Simple. With keyword enables you to search for appointments by voice recognition of a keyword i.e. saying "Dentist" would find your dental appointment. Simple disables this feature. Default is with keyword. 9. Automatic deletion. Can be set to off which means past appointments will not be deleted or one, seven or fourteen days which causes appointments to be deleted at the set time after the selected number of days. Making an Appointment Open the cover and record a keyword using the "click" button i.e. "Dentist". You will be asked if you would like to make an appointment with "Dentist". Press "YES". You will be asked to repeat "Dentist" then to enter a date followed by "YES". Use the keypad to enter the date. You will be advised of any existing appointments for the date and asked to enter the time. You will then be asked if you would like a reminder. This refers to whether you would like this appointment to be repeated automatically i.e. every year if it is an anniversary or every three hours for medication. Selecting "NO" means that this is a single appointment. Selecting "YES" will result in a request for the reminder period unit - minutes, hours, days, weeks, months or years. Use the arrow keys to step through the options. You will then be asked for the reminder period length. Enter a number on the keypad up to 999 followed by "YES" i.e. to have the appointment repeated every three days you would select days then enter "3". You will then be asked whether you would like a notification beep. If you select "YES" the Voice Mate will alert you with an alarm tone at the appointed time. Finally you will be asked to record the message i.e. "Remember to go to the dentist at five thirty". Entering dates/times You can enter dates either by using the arrow keys to move backwards and forwards one day at a time or by using the keypad to enter two digits for the day, two digits for the month and four digits for the year. This format of DD/MM/YYYY is European. If you prefer the American MM/DD/YYYY form then this can be changed from the clock menu. Times are entered as two digits for the hours followed by two digits for the minutes. If you are using the twelve hour clock format the right arrow key is used to change between a.m. and p.m. You can change between twelve and twenty four hour format from the clock menu. Checking Appointments Appointments recorded with keywords are selected by holding down the click button and speaking the keyword. When you are asked if you would like to record an appointment press "NO" and the found appointment will be spoken. You can also step through your appointments using the arrow keys or, by selecting either weekly planning or planning from the menu, you can step through the days or check a specific date. Appointments can be altered via the menu and can be deleted simply by pressing the "DELETE" key. It is a good idea to delete any unnecessary appointments periodically in order to recover the memory they occupy. Calendar Alarm Clock Pressing the "MENU" key enables you to step through the following options with the "RIGHT" and "LEFT" arrow keys: 1. AM/PM hour format. 2. International/U.S. date format - DD/MM/YYYY or MM/DD/YYYY To set the time select the clock function then press "1". Enter the date and time when requested To set the alarm select "2" then enter the alarm time when requested. To set the alarm on or off select "3". When the alarm sounds pressing any key will stop it. Calculator Pressing the "MENU" key enables you to step through the following options with the "RIGHT" and "LEFT" arrow keys: 1. Convert from euro to currency. 2. Convert from currency to euro. 3. Other currency - use the "YES" key to select various currencies. 4. No of digits to use after decimal point. Default is two. 5. Memory recall. 6. Memory set. 7. Percent. The keys have the following functions in the calculator:- "DELETE" erases a number "YES" to add "NO" to subtract "LEFT" arrow to multiply "RIGHT" arrow to divide "STAR" is decimal point "HASH" is equals Percentages You can use the percentage function with the plus and minus operators, e.g. Enter a number i.e. 200 Press "PLUS" Enter the percentage rate i.e. 10 Press "MENU". Voice Mate says "Percent" Press "YES". Voice Mate speaks and displays the value i.e. "Twenty" Press "EQUALS". The result is spoken and displayed i.e. "two hundred and twenty" Memory To enter the current number into memory press "MENU" then the "RIGHT" arrow key until you hear "Memory Set" then press "YES". To recall a number from memory press "MENU" then the "RIGHT" arrow key until you hear "Memory Recall then press "YES" To add a the current number to memory press "PLUS", recall the memory as above then press "EQUALS" Currency Conversion Press "MENU" and the "RIGHT" arrow key until you hear the default currency spoken i.e. "French Frank". Press "YES" to step through the available currencies with a fixed exchange rate to the Euro. You also have the option of entering a new exchange rate for other currencies. Press "MENU" again to return to the calculator. You can now enter the currency amount, press "MENU" and use the arrow keys to select either currency to Euro or Euro to currency. Pressing "YES" will produce the result. e.g. assuming there are 1.6 dollars to the pound and you wish to convert 100 pounds to dollars you would enter 1.6 as the exchange rate then enter 100, select Euro to currency then press "YES" to obtain 160. Dialing Assistant The "MENU" key has no function. You must press "1" to change the prefix or "2" to enter the international dialing mode. A prefix is used if you have several numbers stored and you find yourself in a situation where you have to dial a number in front of them, e.g. if you are in an office which requires "9" to obtain an outside line. To activate this select "1" then enter the prefix number when requested. To deactivate the prefix do the same again but press "YES" without entering a prefix. The international mode causes your Voice Mate to put the correct international dialing codes in front of your numbers if you are using it abroad to call another country. This mode may be useful if you travel a great deal but will create unnecessary complications when entering numbers if not. With this active you will have to enter the country code and area code of the location from which you are calling. From the dialing assistant press "2". Enter your country, area, international access and long distance codes when requested. When you move to a new country you must again press "2" from the dialing assistant then enter the new codes as requested. These will then be placed in front of your numbers. If you enter new numbers while in international dialing mode you will be asked for these codes for each new number. Control Panel Pressing the "MENU" key enables you to step through the following options with the "RIGHT" and "LEFT" arrow keys: 1. Volume 2. Help Normal/Discrete. Normal provides more spoken help 3. Accessibility on/off. On provides more speech 4. Sound. Tones to indicate key presses 5. Shutdown. Auto power off 20 to 60 seconds 6. Pin code mode on/off. Password protection facility 7. Training session 1/2. When set to 2 asks for names and keywords to be repeated in order to improve voice recognition rate. 8. Keyboard lock on/off. Prevents accidental pressing of click or function buttons waking the unit up when being carried in a bag or pocket. 9. Send data. Used with optional data link to save data to a P.C. 10. Receive data. Used with optional data link to restore data from a P.C.