Introduction

Chapter 1
OBJECTIVE
The ultimate objective of this project is to develop the next generation Text to Speech software for regional Indian languages like Hindi and Bengali which is called Embedded Shruti. The keyword here is “next generation”. The desktop version of this software which was developed by MediaLab, IIT Kharagpur is called “Shruti”. This software is ported to Windows CE so that the software can be used on Embedded Devices like Handhelds, PDA, Pocket-PC and other devices which support Windows CE operating system. While porting software on Windows CE the key concern is to enhance the performance using the limited resources of Windows CE. Windows CE is an operating system with limited resources and a small Application Programming Interface compared to the Win32 operating system which has an extensive set of Application Programming Interface. There are several limitations on the embedded devices like limited main memory, slow processor and less disk space. These are the constraints that should be taken into account while porting any software for Windows CE platform. Several techniques are used to increase the performance of the software which will be explained in the thesis and the performance evaluation will show how the techniques have resulted in increase in efficiency of the software. This project is an important part of the MediaLab projects and it had extended the Text to Speech software to an evolving area of handheld computers.
Chapter 2
INTRODUCTION
In recent past the computing industry had seen a tremendous growth in the area of Handheld Systems. Handheld Systems also called as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) are gaining popularity. An important reason behind their increase in popularity is that they are mobile devices. People can carry the devices with themselves at any place and use them for their work. Another important reason is that the devices are relatively cheap compared to desktop computes or Laptops. This is because they have limited functionalities. The resources are limited. The disk space is less, processor speed is not very high and main memory is also very limited compared to the desktop computers or Laptops.
The most popular Personal Digital Assistants are the following:
1. Pocket-PC
2. Palmtop
There are two popular operating systems that were used in these Personal Digital Assistants. They are the following:
1. Windows CE (compact edition)
2. Palm OS (Palm operating system used for Palmtops)
Embedded Shruti is developed for Pocket-PC running Windows CE operating system. As the name suggests Windows CE or Windows Compact Edition is an operating system developed by Microsoft which is customized for Handheld Devices. It had a subset of Win32 Application Programming Interface and also had Microsoft Foundation Class support. Due to the MFC support it’s very easy for the programmers who are conversant with traditional windows programming to migrate to windows CE programming. There are some constraints which should be kept in mind while programming in Windows CE API but one who is familiar with Windows API can develop applications for Windows CE very fast.
With this brief introduction of underlying hardware (Pocket-PC) and the operating system (Windows CE) the rest of the chapter will introduce the technologies that were used in the design and implementation of Embedded Shruti.
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