A Vision for Relay Services and Interoperability

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A Vision for Relay Services and Interoperability

• Christian Vogler, PhD
• Director, Technology Access Program
• Gallaudet University

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Purpose of this talk

• What this talk is about
• A vision for extending the principle of
  functional equivalence to global
  telecommunications and new forms of
  telecommunications
• Technologies and standards issues
• What this talk is not about
• Policies needed to make this vision happen
• Legal frameworks
• Funding

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Functional Equivalence

• An attempt at a definition
• Can deaf people use telecommunication services
  in the same unrestricted manner and at the same
  costs as hearing people?
• deaf is meant to include deaf-blind, hard of
  hearing, and people with speech disabilities, as
  well here

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Call Scenarios

• What do hearing people take for granted in
  telecommunications?

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Call Scenario Same Country
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Call Scenario International
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Call Scenario Roaming/Travel
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Call Scenarios

• Lets see what deaf people can do
• Need to consider both relay and point-to-point
• Why principle of familiarity should be able to
  use common equipment for everyday and emergency
  communications
• Remember this is about technology
• Some countries have additional policy restrictions

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Deaf Call Scenario Same Country
TRS

TRS Telecommunications Relay System here all
forms of relay Assumes integration of deaf
users equipment into telephone numbering system,
a.k.a Ten-Digit-Numbering. (currently only US,
and partially UK)
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Deaf Call Scenario Same Country
Point-to-point Works mostly, but not uniformly
(and some countries better than others)
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Deaf Call Scenario International (I)

TRS
Call is routed through relay in Dans country, in
Dans language Assumes integration of deaf
users equipment into telephone numbering system
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Deaf Call Scenario International (II)

TRS
Call is routed through relay in Carls country,
in Carls language Does not work with
integration into telephone numbering system
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Deaf Call Scenario International (III)
Point-to-point Does not work with same equipment
as used for relay calls
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Call Scenario Roaming/Travel
TRS
Call is routed through relay in Emilys country,
in Emilys language Works only if Emily can use
her own equipment (and connection is not impeded
or impaired). Does not work if Emily borrows
equipment in Carls country.
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What is Missing?

• Voice calls (hearing side) are interoperable
• Global standards for landline, mobile, and
  interconnected VoIP
• Relay calls (deaf side) are not interoperable
• Codecs and protocols (H.263, H.264, H.323, SIP,
  proprietary, )
• Call setup (i.e. how do I dial the call?)
• Lack of interoperability with mainstream VoIP
  equipment (here also includes video and text
  over IP)

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Codecs and protocols

• Need standards for codecs and protocols
• Video, audio, text, images
• Must meet functional performance requirements for
  communication
• E.g. sign language communication requires minimal
  frame rate, resolution
• Recovery from network problems may be different
  from current practice in mainstream VoIP
• Must work across environments (e.g. Internet,
  IMS, and next-generation emergency)
• Should be compatible with mainstream equipment
  (may I borrow your videophone?)

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Call Setup

• Need standards for call setup
• Connecting to relay provider and point to point
• Integration into the mainstream
  telecommunications network (i.e., 10-digit
  numbering or equivalent)
• Related policy question who assigns relay or
  telecommunications carrier?
• Passing hearing partys number to relay service
  (i.e. I can dial and dont have to fingerspell
  it)
• All this must work when roaming

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Supplemental Services

• Standards for interacting with supplemental
  services
• Voicemail, Videomail (i.e., can deaf caller leave
  a message, can hearing caller leave a message,
  point-to-point messages?)
• Call alerting (i.e. how are deaf people notified
  of an incoming call?)
• Others?

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Looking Ahead Teleconferencing

• This is what currently works

Audio bridge
TRS A
Alice (h)
Dan (d)
TRS B
Bob (h)
Emily (d)
TRS C
Carl (h)
Frank (d)
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Looking Ahead Teleconferencing

• Not functionally equivalent
• Hearing parties can hear one another
• Deaf parties cannot see one another
• Double translation from Dan to TRS A, and from
  TRS B/C to Emily/Frank
• Degrades accuracy and quality
• Introduces additional unacceptable lag
• Wasteful
• Availability of relay operators already cannot
  meet demand
• Separate interpreters need to be paid, even if
  they use the same language and communication
  modality

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Looking Ahead Teleconferencing

• This is what we need

Dan (d)
Multimedia bridge
Alice (h)
Emily (d)
Bob (h)
Frank (d)
Carl (h)
TRS
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Looking ahead Teleconferencing

• Relay services need to track emerging standards
  for interoperable teleconferencing systems
• Note In the US, interoperable teleconferencing
  systems are required by law and recent FCC rules
  to be accessible under the Advanced
  Communication Services provision of the 21st
  Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act

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Areas that Need Attention

• Next-generation emergency services
• E.g. REACH 112, NG-9-1-1
• The switch to mobile telephony
• On LTE calls will be IP-based
• Unclear yet how relay services will interact with
  the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)

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NENA motto Any device, anytime,
anywhere Lets make this happen for relay
services, too!
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Acknowledgments

• The contents of this presentation were developed
  with funding from the National Institute on
  Disability and Rehabilitation Research, U.S.
  Department of Education, grant number H133E090001
  (RERC on Telecommunications Access). However,
  those contents do not necessarily represent the
  policy of the Department of Education, and you
  should not assume endorsement by the Federal
  Government.

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Questions?

• Email christian.vogler_at_gallaudet.edu Web
  http//tap.gallaudet.edu/
• Related work
• Vogler et al. Video Relay Service Practices and
  Policies around the World. To appear in AEGIS
  workshop, Nov 28-30, 2011.
• Functional performance characteristics
• ITU-T H-series Recommendations Supplement 1,
  05/99
• FCC filing in CG Docket 10-51. Online
  http//fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/comment/view?id6016
  375091