¶ 1 Overview
This guide describes how to obtain and install binary packages for the Microsoft Azure Speech Recognition (SR) plugin to the UniMRCP server on Debian-based Linux distributions. The document is intended for system administrators and developers.
¶ 1.1 Applicable Versions
Instructions provided in this guide are applicable to the following versions.
UniMRCP 1.5.0 and above
UniMRCP Azure SR Plugin 1.0.0 and above
¶ 1.2 Supported Endpoints
The plugin supports the following Speech Service endpoints.
| Service Endpoint | Availability |
|---|---|
| Speech Service (regional) | Azure SR 1.6.0 and above |
| Custom Speech Service (regional) | Azure SR 1.9.0 and above |
| Speech Service (containerized) | Azure SR 1.14.0 and above |
| Custom Speech Service (containerized) | Azure SR 1.14.0 and above |
| Speech Service (private) | Azure SR 1.19.0 and above |
| Custom Speech Service (private) | Azure SR 1.19.0 and above |
¶ 1.3 Supported Distributions
UniMRCP deb packages are currently available for x86_64 (64-bit) architecture only.
| Operating System | Released | End of Support |
|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (xenial) | October 2017 | March 2021 |
| Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (bionic) | May 2019 | June 2023 |
| Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (focal) | March 2021 | TBA |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (jammy) | April 2023 | TBA |
Packages for other distributions can be developed and made available in the scope of an annual maintenance agreement.
Contact Form Submit an inquiry¶ 1.4 Authentication
UniMRCP binary packages are available to authenticated users only. In order to register a free account, please visit the following page.
Profile Registration Open an account at unispeech.ioA newly registered account needs to be verified by the user and then activated by the administrator prior further proceeding.
Account verification and activation.
The account credentials can be used to log in to the following websites.
¶ 2 Installing Deb Packages Using Apt-Get
Using the APT package handling utility (apt-get) is recommended for installation of UniMRCP binary packages.
¶ 2.1 Repository Configuration
Supply login information by creating a file /etc/apt/auth.conf.d/unimrcp.conf containing the following entry.
machine unimrcp.org
login username
password password
The username and password fields must be replaced with the corresponding account credentials.
Account credentials.
Configure a repository by creating a file /etc/apt/sources.list.d/unimrcp.list containing the following entry.
deb [arch=amd64] https://unimrcp.org/repo/apt/ distr main
The distr field must be replaced with the corresponding distribution code name such as xenial, bionic, focal, etc. To determine the distribution code, use lsb_release -cs.
Distribution code name.
¶ 2.2 GnuPG Key
For verification of binary packages, UniMRCP provides a public GnuPG key, which can be retrieved and installed as follows.
wget -O - https://unimrcp.org/keys/unimrcp-gpg-key.public | sudo apt-key add -
¶ 2.3 Repository Update
In order to check for updates and apply the changes in the APT configuration, use the following command.
sudo apt-get update
¶ 2.4 Azure SR Plugin Installation
In order to install the Azure SR plugin, including all the dependencies, use the following command.
sudo apt-get install unimrcp-azure-sr
As a result, apt-get will check and prompt to download all the required packages by installing them in the directory /opt/unimrcp.
In order to install the additional data files for the sample client application umc, the following command can be used.
sudo apt-get install umc-addons
This package is optional and provides additional data to be used for validation of basic setup.
¶ 3 Installing Deb Packages Manually
UniMRCP deb packages can be installed manually using the dpkg utility. Note, however, that the system administrator should take care of package dependencies and install all the packages in appropriate order.
The deb packages have the following naming convention:
$packagename_$universion-$distr_$arch.deb
where
-
packagename is the name of a package
-
universion is the UniMRCP version
-
distr is the distribution code name (trusty, xenial, …)
-
arch is the architecture (amd64, i386, all, …)
¶ 3.1 Package List
The following is a list of UniMRCP deb packages required for the installation of the Azure SR plugin.
| Package Name | Description |
|---|---|
| unimrcp-azure-sr | Azure SR plugin to the server. |
| unilibevent | UniMRCP edition of the libevent library. |
| umc-addons | Sample en-US data files used with umc. [Optional] |
| unilicnodegen | Node information retrieval tool, required for license deployment. |
| unimrcp-server | Shared library and application of the server. |
| unimrcp-client | Shared libraries and sample applications of the client. [Optional] |
| unimrcp-demo-plugins | Set of demo plugins to the server. [Optional] |
| unimrcp-common | Data common for the client and the server. |
| uniapr | UniMRCP edition of the Apache Portable Runtime (APR) library. |
| uniapr-util | UniMRCP edition of the Apache Portable Runtime Utility (APR-Util) library. |
| unisofia-sip | UniMRCP edition of the Sofia SIP library. |
¶ 3.2 Package Installation Order
Packages for APR, APR-Util and Sofia-SIP libraries must be installed first.
sudo dpkg --install uniapr_$aprversion-$distr_$arch.deb
sudo dpkg --install uniapr-util_$apuversion-$distr_$arch.deb
sudo dpkg --install unisofia-sip_$sofiaversion-$distr_$arch.deb
Then, a package containing common data for the client and the server, and a package for the server should follow.
sudo dpkg --install unimrcp-common_$universion-$distr_$arch.deb
sudo dpkg --install unimrcp-server_$universion-$distr_$arch.deb
Next, a package containing the utility tool unilicnodegen, required for license deployment.
sudo dpkg --install unilicnodegen_$toolversion-$distr_$arch.deb
Next, a package containing the libevent library.
sudo dpkg --install unilibevent_$libeventversion-$distr_$arch.deb
Finally, a package containing the Azure SR plugin should follow.
sudo dpkg --install unimrcp-azure-sr_$universion-$distr_$arch.deb
¶ 4 Obtaining License
The Azure SR plugin to the UniMRCP server is a licensed software.
Licensing Model Check out the licensing termsIn order to obtain a trial license, node information must be retrieved and submitted for license generation.
¶ 4.1 Node Information Retrieval
Use the installed tool unilicnodegen to retrieve the node information.
sudo /opt/unimrcp/bin/unilicnodegen
As a result, a text file uninode.info will be saved in the current directory.
¶ 4.2 Order Placement
Consider the following procedure to place an order.
- Navigate to https://unispeech.io/azsr.
- Under the section Obtain License, select
- License Variation: Trial
- License Term: 30-day
- License Type: Node-bound
- License Quantity: 2
- Click Add to cart and then View cart.
- Click Proceed to checkout and then Place order.
- Attach the retrieved uninode.info file to the placed order.
Ther orders are normally processed within one business day. A license file will be provided as a result.
¶ 4.3 License Installation
The license file needs to be placed into the directory /opt/unimrcp/data.
sudo cp umsazuresr_*.lic /opt/unimrcp/data
¶ 5 Obtaining Service Credentials
Instructions provided in this section are applicable to Azure SR 1.6.0 and above. Support for the old format remains in-tact, but is no longer documented.
In order to utilize either the deprecated Bing Speech API or the new Speech Service API, a corresponding service subscription key and an authentication endpoint need to be retrieved from the Microsoft Azure portal and further installed to the UniMRCP server.
¶ 5.1 Service Subscription
Navigate to the Microsoft Azure dashboard and create a new resource.
- Navigate to the Dashboard.
- Create a new resource (+).
- Type ‘Speech’ in the text box. (Note: for the deprecated Bing service, type ‘Bing Speech’)
- Select and create the resource by filling out all the required parameters based on your needs.
- Go to the created resource.
- Collect one of the two keys (1) and the region-based authentication endpoint (2).
¶ 5.2 Installation of Credentials
Create a text file cognitive.subscription.key in the directory /opt/unimrcp/data.
sudo nano /opt/unimrcp/data/cognitive.subscription.key
Proceed with the instructions for one of:
- Speech Service (default)
- Custom Speech Service
- Speech Service Container
- Private Speech Service
Speech Service
Place the collected key and the authentication endpoint in the following JSON format. Leave the service endpoint empty by default.
{
"auth-endpoint": "*******************************",
"auth-key": "*******************************",
"service-endpoint": ""
}
The field auth-endpoint is composed based on the following pattern.
| Authentication Endpoint | URI |
|---|---|
| Speech Service (regional) | https://$region.api.cognitive.microsoft.com/sts/v1.0/issuetoken |
The field service-endpoint is implicitly composed based on the following pattern.
| Service Endpoint | URI |
|---|---|
| Speech Service (regional) | https://$region.stt.speech.microsoft.com/speech/recognition/interactive/cognitiveservices/v1 |
Where $region is one of westus, eastus, westeurope and others. See Speech Service Regions.
Custom Speech Service
Place the collected key and the authentication endpoint in the following JSON format. Note that the field service-endpoint is supported since Azure SR 1.9.0 and must be explicitly specified when a custom speech endpoint is used.
{
"auth-endpoint": "*******************************",
"auth-key": "*******************************",
"service-endpoint": "*******************************"
}
Speech Service Container
Speech Service containers are supported since Azure SR 1.14.0.
Install and run a container per instructions available in this guide. Collect and place the container service endpoint in the following JSON format. Leave the auth endpoint and key empty.
{
"auth-endpoint": "",
"auth-key": "",
"service-endpoint": "*******************************"
}
The field service-endpoint is composed based on the following pattern.
| Service Endpoint | URI |
|---|---|
| Speech Service (containerized) | ws://$host:5000/speech/recognition/interactive/cognitiveservices/v1 |
Private Speech Service
The Private Speech Service endpoints are supported since Azure SR 1.19.0.
Place the collected key and the private service endpoint in the following JSON format. Leave the authentication endpoint empty.
{
"auth-endpoint": "",
"auth-key": "*******************************",
"service-endpoint": "*******************************"
}
¶ 6 Configuring Server and Plugin
¶ 6.1 Plugin Factory Configuration
In order to load the Azure SR plugin into the UniMRCP server, open the file unimrcpserver.xml, located in the directory /opt/unimrcp/conf, and add the following entry under the XML element <plugin-factory>. Disable other recognition plugins, if available. The demo plugins for other resources can also be disabled.
<!-- Factory of plugins (MRCP engines) -->
<plugin-factory>
<engine id="Demo-Recog-1" name="demorecog" enable="false"/>
<engine id="Azure-SR-1" name="umsazuresr" enable="true"/>
</plugin-factory>
¶ 6.2 RTP Configuration
Since the Azure Speech API supports PCM audio sampled at 16 kHz only, the corresponding codecs needs to be specified in the configuration file unimrcpserver.xml under the XML element <rtp-settings> as follows.
<rtp-settings id="RTP-Settings-1">
<codecs own-preference="false">PCMU/97/16000 PCMA/98/16000 L16/99/16000
telephone-event/102/16000</codecs>
</rtp-settings>
Note that, starting from Azure SR 1.3.0, the plugin supports resampling of audio data from 8 kHz to 16 kHz. In order to support both 8 and 16 kHz audio in the incoming RTP stream, the corresponding 8 kHz codecs needs to be specified as well.
<rtp-settings id="RTP-Settings-1">
<codecs own-preference="false"> PCMU PCMA L16/96/8000 telephone-event/101/8000
PCMU/97/16000 PCMA/98/16000 L16/99/16000 telephone-event/102/16000</codecs>
</rtp-settings>
For the basic verification test to work, similar settings should be specified in the client configuration file unimrcpclient.xml as well.
<rtp-settings id="RTP-Settings-1">
<codecs>PCMU PCMA L16/96/8000 telephone-event/101/8000 PCMU/97/16000
PCMA/98/16000 L16/99/16000 telephone-event/102/16000</codecs>
</rtp-settings>
¶ 6.3 Logger Configuration
In order to enable log output from the plugin and set filtering rules, open the configuration file logger.xml, located in the directory /opt/unimrcp/conf, and add the following entry under the element <sources>.
<source name="AZURESR-PLUGIN" priority="INFO" masking="NONE"/>
¶ 6.4 Azure SR Plugin Configuration
The configuration file of the plugin is located in /opt/unimrcp/conf/umsazuresr.xml. Default settings should be sufficient for the general use.
Usage Guide Refer to the Usage Guide for more information¶ 7 Validating Setup
Validate your setup by using the sample UniMRCP client and server applications on the same host. The default configuration and data files should be sufficient for a basic test.
¶ 7.1 Launching Server
Launch the UniMRCP server application.
cd /opt/unimrcp/bin
sudo ./unimrcpserver
In the server log output, check whether the plugin is normally loaded.
[INFO] Load Plugin [Azure-SR-1] [opt/unimrcp/plugin/umsazuresr.so]
Next, check for the license information.
[NOTICE] UniMRCP AZURESR License
-product name: umsazuresr
-product version: 1.0.0
-license owner: -
-license type: trial
-issue date: 2017-10-26
-exp date: 2017-11-25
-channel count: 2
-feature set: 0
¶ 7.2 Launching Client
The optional package umc-addons must be installed for this test to work.
Launch the sample UniMRCP client application umc.
cd /opt/unimrcp/bin
./umc
Run a typical speech recognition scenario by issuing the command run bsr1 from the console of the umc client application.
run bsr1
This command sends a RECOGNIZE request to the server and then starts streaming a sample audio input file whatstheweatherlike.pcm to recognize.
Check for the NLSML results to be returned as expected.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<result>
<interpretation grammar="builtin:speech/transcribe" confidence="0.95">
<instance>what's the weather like</instance>
<input mode="speech">what's the weather like</input>
</interpretation>
</result>>
Visually inspect the log output for any possible warnings or errors.
Note that utterances are stored in the var directory, if the corresponding parameter is enabled in the configuration file umsazuresr.xml and/or requested by the client.