User Manual

52
Operator Overview
Operator Overview Operator Overview
Operator Overview
• The Talkman® system
• Talkman® terminals and accessories
• Using the Talkman® terminal
The Talkman® System
The Talkman® system is a verbal computing system that can be used for a variety of labor-
intensive tasks including warehouse order picking, factory floor inspection, and mobile data
collection.
The Talkman system consists of Talkman terminals and a host computer, both running Talkman
software. The host computer and terminals communicate using radio transmit-and-receive
devices called access points.
• Talkman terminals are small, portable computers that operators use to communicate
with the computer system that monitors and controls information at your site, such as
inventory and distribution. Operators wear Talkman terminals on their waists
(connected to a specially designed Talkman belt) and hear terminal voice prompts
through a headset. Operators speak to terminals using a microphone attached to the
headset.
• The host computer is the computer on which the Talkman Management Software is
installed. Usually, the host application software is also installed on the host computer.
The host application is the software that manages information at your site, such as
tracking inventory or managing picking assignments. Talkman terminals communicate
with the host computer using a radio network.
• Access points are connected via a wired network to the host computer, and they
receive information from and send information to Talkman terminals via a radio
network. A terminal must be within radio range of an access point in order for it to
exchange information with the host computer .
The Talkman system receives information from your site's host application and directs
operators on what actions to take with spoken prompts (rather than with lists and labels).
Operators speak their responses to the system, and the information contained in the responses
is sent to the host application.
An Example of How the The System Works
Using warehouse order picking as an example, this is basically how the Talkman system
works:
1. The host application sends picking assignment data from the host computer to the
radio network. In this example, the host application is warehouse management
system (WMS) software.
2. The access points on the radio network transmit the data to the intended Talkman
terminal.
3. When the terminal receives the data, it translates the data into normal speech
instructions and speaks the instructions to the operator wearing the terminal. In
this example, the terminal instructs the operator to go to a particular product
location in the warehouse.
4. The operator responds to the terminal. In this example, when the operator
reaches the location, he reads check digits to the terminal to verify that he is at
the correct product location.
5. The terminal then translates the operator's speech into digital data and transmits
the data to the access points on the radio network.