Vocera Server release 5.1 introduces the following new features:
Vocera Voice Server 5.0.x also provides the following additional enhancements:
64-bit software. The VS 5.0.x software allows access to the extended memory of a 64-bit operating system.
Support for Windows Server 2012 R2. Vocera also continues to support Windows Server 2008 R2. Windows Server 2003 (a 32-bit operating system) is no longer supported.
Standard RTP. The proprietary VRTP transport used in earlier versions of the VS has been replaced by standard RTP.
Enhanced predictive search on the Add, Edit, and Delete Users page of the Administration Console. You can now search for first name, last name, the combination of first and last name, or User ID.
New license key architecture. The Vocera Voice Server license key is now a file instead of an environment variable. This file is provided to you in a separate email.
Third-party software upgrades. The following third-party software upgrades provide 64-bit compatibility or security enhancements:
The 5.0.x release provides the following speech recognition and speech processing enhancements:
Nuance Recognizer 10.2. The Nuance speech recognition engine has been upgraded from version 8.5 to version 10.2, improving Vocera's overall speech recognition performance.
Improved tolerance for side speech. The VS 5.0.x release has improved the capability to distinguish a command in a stream of conversation; for example, when the person initiating a call is completing a conversation with another person at the same time.
Homonym recognition. In previous releases, the VS prompts a caller to disambiguate between multiple users whose names are spelled the same way; for example, when two users are named Chris Jenkins, the system uses an identifying phrase (when available) to prompt the caller: "Do you mean Chris Jenkins in 4 West Nursing? Do you mean Chris Jenkins in Imaging?"
In the 5.0.x release, the VS additionally prompts callers to disambiguate between multiple users whose names are pronounced the same way but spelled differently; for example, users named Chris Jenkins and Kris Jenkins.
Faster recognition results. The Genie will return your recognition result ("Finding Carlos Sandoval") more quickly than it did in the past.
Utterance collection is enabled by default. The system maintains a maximum of 14 days of utterances in the \vocera\nuance\callLogs\MyApp directory. The directory tree within "MyApp\" is [Year]\[Month]\[Day]\[Hour]. For example, the directory \vocera\nuance\callLogs\MyApp\2014\07July\17\20 contains utterances recorded on 17 July 2014, between 8:00 and 9:00 pm.
The Nuance Vocalizer 6.0 text-to-speech engine. Vocalizer is used when the system does not have a recorded name, and it pronounces many words better than the previous engine; however, it does not pronounce all words properly. If you notice medical terms or common hospital nomenclature that are pronounced incorrectly, please report them. If you notice personal names that are pronounced incorrectly, please record the names, as recommended in previous releases.
Nuance Vocalizer also provides a new persona with a softer, faster, and more natural sound.
Starting with VS 5.x, the following features and components are no longer supported unless noted otherwise below:
Windows Server 2003
Vocera Telephony Server: Vocera SIP Telephony Gateway completely replaces the legacy Vocera Telephony Server.
Voice Prints (May be replaced by another form of verification in a later release)
Care Transition / Voice Integration
Vocera Connect for Smartphone
Vocera Connect - Cellular
Multiple recognition servers
B1000a devices
Dictation
TCP Genie
Client Redirect Utility
Frequently Called Departments (may be supported in a later release)
Vocera Connect for Cisco (A component of the Vocera Voice Server which provided Vocera services to CUCM via Cisco JTAPI, a Java telephony interface that exposes full call control of Cisco Unified Wireless IP Phones.)
Vocera Motorola Smart Phone
SysRecParms and SysFreqDeptRecParms (These custom settings are ignored if they are specified in properties.txt, and they are not necessary in the 5.0 release)
The latest version of Vocera Voice Server and its related servers (the VRS, VSTG, and VCG) require a 64-bit operating system (Windows 2012 R2 or Windows 2008 R2).
If you're upgrading from an earlier version of Vocera, make sure one of the following Vocera products is installed:
If you require a telephony connection to Vocera Voice Server 5.0 and you have an analog or digital PBX, you must connect to the Vocera SIP Telephony Gateway through a hardware gateway such as the Dialogic Media Gateway. If you have a SIP PBX, you can connect to the Vocera SIP Telephony Gateway directly.
To upgrade from Vocera Server 4.3.x, 4.4.x, or 5.0.1:
The server updates your database and removes any settings for deprecated features.
To perform a new install:
For Vocera Report Server:
Vocera speech recognition has been enhanced to more accurately process what users are saying. By providing more accurate responses to recognition attempts the user experience is enhanced to react in less confusing manner. For example, the Genie replies “I didn’t understand” instead of “I think you said…” in response to the user attempting to call someone who is not configured in the database.
As a result of this enhancement some customers may experience a larger number of voice recognition rejections in the Vocera Report Server speech recognition reports. The increase is due to the recognition engine more accurately reacting to what the user has said and provides an opportunity to target user training for those users who are having trouble with recognition.
The following list contains fixes and improvements made to the Vocera 5.1.0 platform.
For Vocera Voice Server:
Fixed: Incorrectly formatted signals from VCS clients can cause the Vocera server to restart. – The server now correctly ignores these signals. (US13302)
Fixed: A race-condition in the recognition process can result in recognition services becoming unavailable. – When this occurs users will begin to hear “I’m busy at the moment, please wait” when they try to summon the genie. This problem has been resolved. (DE6661)
Fixed: The Vocera server is restarted because the system fails to properly store the audio when a user is performing the “Record a Name” sequence. – With this fix and when the scenario is encountered, instead of restarting the server, the system retries the operation and in the event of a failure reports the error and continues to run normally. (DE6056)
Fixed: The system restarts in certain instances if a user attempts to answer a Yes/No question via a voice command and also presses the call or DND button on the badge at the same time. – If this situation occurs the system now ignores the extra response and does not fail. (DE6054)
Fixed: In some cases when a “Learn a Name” enrollment is created the system does not immediately begin to reference the new enrollment. – This has been fixed so that the system now immediately will be begin using newly created enrollments. (DE6186)
Fixed: Certain situations involving “Learn a Name” can result in corrupted data being returned from the recognition system. – This corrupted data causes the server to fail. This situation has been fixed so that the server now properly handles the bad data. (DE6239)
Fixed: A problem exists when a user in the “Learn commands” sequence skips the last recognition attempt on a command. – This issue can cause the server to fail. The situation is now properly handled by the server. (DE6267)
Fixed: Certain conditions exist which can cause the disk cache used by the recognition engine fail to clean up old content. – The disk cache is now properly emptied every time the server is restarted. (DE6356)
Fixed: Genie does not play the "Urgent Message" prompt when the recipient is in a call. The badge still plays the alert tone, enunciates the text of the message, and offers any response options; however, the "Urgent Message" prompt is not played. (DE23252)
Fixed: In a clustered environment, installing the Vocera Server on drives that are mapped to different letters may cause the system to fail in certain situations. Workaround: Make sure the VS is installed on the same drive letter on each cluster node. (DE22465)
Fixed: 5.1 BCU install doesn't include B3000n firmware - The Badge Configuration Utility failed to provide B3000n firmware. (DE4414)
Fixed: Custom low-disk warning threshold not displaying properly in alert email - Changes to the properties.txt parameter SysFreeDiskSpaceWarningThreshold were not showing properly in the alert email. This problem has been resolved. (DE3657)
Fixed: Cluster “External IP” field is no longer in use - The External IP field in the Administration Console cluster settings was previously used to configure Vocera Connect clients. Vocera Connect has been deprecated and the “External IP” field has been removed. (DE959)
Fixed: Vocera QoS Manager displays an error when the Windows QoS Packet Scheduler is either not installed or disabled. - In this situation, you see the message "Error 1920. Service Vocera QoS Manager (vQoSManager) failed to start." (DE2096)
Fixed: High priority message played as urgent - When two users are in a call, a high priority message is played in error as an urgent message. (DE4801)
For Vocera Report Server:
Fixed: Integration group report does not display message activity for users whose home site differs from the group's site. Workaround: Move the users into the same home site as the group. (23183)
Fixed: User filter does not work when using a standard VRS license. A VRS servers configured with a standard license did not run certain reports when a user filter was applied. This has been corrected so that the user filter can now be applied. (DE3109)
Fixed: Cannot filter reports by user after changing the name of a site on the Voice Server. If you change the name of a site on the Voice Server, you cannot select a user when you filter report data by site. Workaround: Use the Voice Server to rename the site with its original name and then perform a data-load on the Report Server. (20071)
Fixed: Vocera Report Server unauthenticated SMTP email fails - When the email server authentication option was disabled on the VRS the server was incorrectly attempting to authenticate to the mail server. The server no longer tries to authenticate to the mail server when not configured to do so. (DE2523)
The following list contains the available firmware that ships with the Vocera Voice version 5.1.0:
B2000 Build : 604
B3000 Build : 3.1.1.11
B3000n Build : 4.0.2.9
For more information, see the Release Notes for B3000n 4.0.2.9 and B3000 3.1.1.11.
This section provides information about known product defects and limitations in the current release.
The following list provides information about known product issues in the browser:
You must run Internet Explorer 10 and 11 in compatibility mode to access any of the consoles. If you do not use compatibility mode, certain console features will not work, and you will see inconsistent behavior.
To run Internet Explorer 10 or 11 in compatibility mode:
Open Internet Explorer and use the menus to choose Tools > Compatibility View Settings.
The Compatibility View Settings dialog box appears.
Enter the IP address of your standalone Vocera Server or each node in your Vocera cluster in the Add this website field and click Add.
Each IP address appears in the Websites you've added to Compatibility View list.
Click Close to return to Internet Explorer.
The following list provides information about known product issues in the Voice Server:
Support for the Vocera Clinical Workflow Engine. The Vocera Clinical Workflow Engine requires an update to the Vocera Voice Server. Contact Technical Support for more details. (DE8727)
The installation program fails without displaying an error message. In rare situations, the installation program does not actually install all the required components, but still appears to succeed. Workaround: Uninstall all Vocera components manually from Windows Programs and Features, reboot the server, and attempt the install again. (24276)
Some user enrollments may be lost during an upgrade from 4.x. In some cases the enrollment conversion script will be unable to convert a 4.x enrollment to the 5.x format. Users who encounter an enrollment which no longer works after the upgrade to 5.x should re-learn the name. (DE8043)
The Nuance Recognizer component may not uninstall properly during an uninstall of the 5.0 Voice Server. If this occurs, the uninstall program displays a message stating "Package Nuance Recognizer 10.2 x86_64 Error: Error 1316. The specified account already exists." Workaround: Run the repair option on the Nuance Recognizer install from the Windows Programs and Features then attempt to re-run the uninstall. (24289)
The JRE component may not uninstall properly during an uninstall of the 5.0 Voice Server. If this occurs, the uninstall program displays a message stating "Package jre1.7_64 error" and warning that you must restart the system to complete changes to Java 7. Workaround: Restart the system and the uninstall proceeds properly. (24292)
Callers to Direct Access number may hear partial prompts. Callers dialing the guest access or the direct access number may hear the beginning of prompts cut off. This can occur when VRTPJitterTolerance is set to False on the VCG. Workaround: set VRTPJitterTolerance to True in the vgwproperties.txt file. (23390)
Voice Server fails if a user attempts to log in to a site other than Global that contains no users. This is a rare situation that requires a combination of events; it occurs when a location has been assigned to new site (other than Global) without any users. If a badge associates with the AP assigned to the location, and the badge user then attempts to log in, the server will fail. (23363)
In some situations, restoring a very large backup (greater than 30,000 users) may not succeed. As a workaround, increase the Java heap size from 1.3GB to 1.8GB.
Learned names and learned commands (enrollments) recorded in previous versions of Vocera may not upgrade successfully. In certain situations, the failed enrollment upgrade may prevent the user who recorded the name or command from calling the enrolled name. If this occurs, you must remove the enrollment. Contact Vocera Technical Support for additional information.
Locales other than US English are not yet available.
When a user’s Buddy list includes a group but no individual users, the server does not update the voice grammar, and the user will be unable to place calls. The workaround is to add at least one individual user to the Buddy list or remove the group from the Buddy list. (23279)
The following list provides information about known product issues in the Vocera Telephony Gateway:
Callers to Direct Access number may hear partial prompts. Callers dialing the guest access or the direct access number may hear the beginning of prompts cut off. This can occur when VRTPJitterTolerance is set to False on the VSTG. Workaround: set VRTPJitterTolerance to True in the vgwproperties.txt file. (23390)
The following list provides information about known product issues in the Report Server:
The following list provides information about known product issues in the Web Services interface:
The initiator of a web service message receives an XML fault if the priority field is included in the message but left blank. The workaround is to exclude the Priority field if you do not specify a priority; the message will default to low priority. (23421)