Alphanumeric Entries

[asrp]

Hi,

 

I need to develop a module that accepts License plate numbers/codes.

 

The length is 6 apha/numeric and the ordering of numbers and alpha characters varies from province to province.

 

a basic way of doing this would be to press # after each number entered and press * after each sequence of numbers entered which would represent a letter.

 

ie. QUX7T7

 

enter the following:

 

77*88*99*7#8*7#

 

Does anyone have a script or module that does this.

 

Perhaps there is a more efficient way to do this. I welcome any suggestions.

 

With TTS or prerecorded .wav files I will be able to play the entry back

also. keeping in mind that the order of the numbers and letters will vary from plate number to plate number.

 

Is there a way to adapt/modify or create a "Capture AlphaNumeric entries" module in the script designer.?

 

any suggestions welcomed..

[SupportTeam]

You can write a simple pattern matching VB Script which would take a string like this and convert it over to the alphanumeric string.

 

Is this method commonly used in your country by other automated telephone systems to enter alphanumeric codes over the telephone? (are you in US or another country?)

[asrp]

Canada

 

I don't know.

 

Is there an easier way to do this.?

 

How would you do this in Australia.

[Guest Guest]

Hello,

I have the same problem, where I need to enter alpha strings, and I haven't found an easy solution. I've kicked around several ideas, but have put nothing to fruition. I would be interested in investigating this further, as I had put off creating my own solution in hopes that the ASR (Speech Recognition) VG is supposed to come out with would solve the problem for me....

[SupportTeam]

Don't count on ASR to provide a solution for spelling out characters - it is actually very hard to reliably detect a difference between "p"/"t" and "m"/"n" etc. and many ASR apps which needed to rely on spelling never got of the ground because of this. And most people do not know the "Alpha", "Bravo" etc way of spelling.

 

Your best bet is figure out how you want your callers to spell out characters using their phone keypad. There is really no standard way of doing this, although spelling them out just like you would spell out and SMS message on the mobile phone is most common - but then you need to make sure you take into account that some phones have different characters on some of the keys.

If you have a favorite way of spelling out characters this then describe it (fully) here and we can then even start you off with the conversion script which would follow this approach to covert DTMF strings into characters.

[Guest Guest]

For my scenario I would either "MAKE" my callers use phonetics (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie)...yeah right let's get back to reality.

 

I assume I would have them use SMS/ serial alpha input using the following scheme

 

A=2 B= 22 C=222

D=3 E=33 F=333

G=4 H=44 I=444

J=5 K=55 L=555

M=6 N=66 O= 666

P=7 Q=77 R=777 S=7777

T=8 U=88 V=888

W=9 X=99 Y=999 Z=9999

Special Character(Dash) =1

 

My problem now becomes having duplicate entries

 

e.g. Suppose my database has these entries in it:

E33, DD33, x213, D-709,D1709

 

So...

D1709=31709

D-709=31709

X213=99213

E33= 3333

DD33=3333

....Here's where I give up... How do I differentiate E33/DD33 & D1709/D-709

 

The earlier post suggested using * between letters making this short example become:

 

D1709=3*1709

D-709=3*1*709

X213=99*213

E33= 33*33

DD33=3*3*33

 

It looks like this solves the immideate problem, but will I continue to have duplication problems? Or is this now an imposibility unless I have exact duplicate entries in my DB.

 

If you could help with this script it would be greatly appreciated!

[Guest Guest]

grrrrr....

See just when it was making sense.... Then I started to think what If I have numbers preceeding the letters...

 

I had worked this much out...

 

D1709=3*1709

D-709=3*1*709

X213=99*213

E33= 33*33

DD33=3*3*33

 

But what if I had

 

33DD=333*3* which would be interpreted FD

33E=3333* which would probably come back unknown or 3F or something...

 

...I'm remembering why I gave this up before....I would really like not to give up, but figure this out, as I am sure there are others whom this could help.

[SupportTeam]

If you do not know whether the caller should be entering a number or a letter next then the only way is to ask the caller before each character if they want to specify a number or a letter.

 

eg: "press 1 for number 2 for letter."

 

Then after that just get them to press key once for a digit and one or more times for a letter (pressing * or # at end if specifying a letter).

 

Yes it's cumbersome. Let us know if you find a better way...

 

 

If you know for each position in the expected string which should be a number and which should be a letter then things get a lot easier, otherwise you would not even know if a keypress of 3 means "3" or "D".

[Guest Beebop]

I've been working on the same type of thing, can you post what you have here? Maybe 2 minds will be better than one.

[SupportTeam]

What approach did you use to get callers to enter alphanumeric data?

[Guest Beebop]

Well, I have it receive its information from an access db,

The customer will press 1 for one and 0 for Zero, 2 will return "If you would like the Number 2 press 1" "for Letter A Press 2 for B Press 3 For C press 4 To enter a space press 5". So On. * to end Address Information. I am thinking of using this for an address change. Its the best way I could think of because addresses vary so much! Brain Pain! I am trying to think of how I could encorporate this into a VB script now just to streamline it a bit.

 

I have also tried the 2 for A 22 for B and 222 for C skeam but, then if they would like a number its another snaphooo. I would have to keep asking if the next variable is a number press 1 for a letter press 2. I think their equally a bitc* but, I think the first way is the lesser of two evils.

 

What do you think?

[SupportTeam]

Approach depends on what data needs to be entered.

 

If you do not know whether the caller should be entering a number or a letter next then the only way is to ask the caller before each character if they want to specify a number or a letter.

 

eg: "press 1 for number 2 for letter."

 

Then after that just get them to press key once for a digit and one or more times for a letter (pressing * or # at end if specifying a letter).

 

Spelling out a street name etc is probably much too time consuming...

[Guest Beebop]

Have you seen anyone who has posted a VB script which does this? Do you think it is just as good/easy to loop through an access query? Does speed come into play with either?

[SupportTeam]

If you use the approach just outlined the matching script is very straightforward. Something like this:

 

select case "$RV[GetLetter]"

case "2"

sCh = "A"

case "22"

sCh = "B"

case "222"

sCh = "C"

case "3"

sCh = "D"

case "33"

sCh = "E"

 

and so on...