![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/volksswitch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/sticky-tags.png?ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/td>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/volksswitch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/fob.png?ssl=1\")
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<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\nThese tags are inexpensive, normally costing about 30 cents per tag.\u00a0 Like anything else, they’re even less expensive when purchased in bulk.\u00a0 We recommend the sticky tags for use in our Bliss Tactile Symbols and RFID fobs for language changes with the Voice It.<\/p>\n
Tag Data<\/h2>\n
There are two types of data that you can put on the RFID tag.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The first is the name of the WAV file that you’d like the Voice It to play.\u00a0 For example, if you put the text, “hello”, on the RFID tag, the Voice It will look for a file on the SD card called “hello.wav” and attempt to play it.\u00a0 You can tell the Voice It to play several files by stringing together several filenames, separated with a comma.\u00a0 For example, if you put the text, “hello, goodbye” on the RFID tag, the Voice It will first look for and attempt to play the file “hello.wav” and then look for and attempt to play the file “goodbye.wav” one-half second later.\u00a0 You can string together as many filenames as necessary – up to a maximum of 37 characters.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The second is an instruction to the Voice It to start speaking in an alternative language.\u00a0 By default, and after a restart, the Voice It looks for files in the English (en) folder on the SD card.\u00a0 You can tell the Voice It to start looking in an alternative folder for files by using a special RFID card containing the text “*xx”. As a convention, you replace the two x’s with the two-character standard code<\/a> for the language.<\/em><\/p>\n The Voice It WAV files are organized into two folders: “en” and “es”.\u00a0 The “en” folder contains English recordings for 259 words associated with the Bliss Tactile Symbols core vocabulary.\u00a0 The “es” folder contains recordings in Spanish for the same 259 words.\u00a0 Fob-style RFID tags<\/a> work well for creating these “language change” tags.\u00a0 To create a tag that changes the Voice It language to Spanish, put the text, “*es” on the tag.\u00a0 To then get the Voice It to speak English again, you can either prepare a tag with the text, “*en”, or you can simply reset the Voice It using the reset button.<\/p>\n Note that, in the WAV files folder, there are three files that sit outside of the “en” and “es” sub-folders.\u00a0 They are called: “error.wav”, “set volume.wav”, and “startup.wav”.\u00a0 “startup.wav” is played automatically when the Voice It successfully starts up.\u00a0 “error.wav” is played whenever the Voice It is instructed to play a file (by reading an RFID tag) but it can’t find a file with that name followed by “.wav”.<\/p>\n “set volume.wav” is a special recording that is about a minute in length.\u00a0 That should give you enough time to set the volume level of the Voice It by inserting a screwdriver into the volume control channel on the side of the box.\u00a0 You will need to create an RFID tag with the text “set volume” encoded on it.\u00a0 This is another perfect use for a fob-style RFID tag.<\/p>\n To write text to an RFID tag, you’ll need an RFID tag reader\/writer.\u00a0 If you have a modern smartphone, you are probably holding an RFID tag reader\/writer in your hand.\u00a0 Check if your phone supports NFC (Near Field Communication).\u00a0 Often this is referred to as “contactless payments” or “a digital wallet”.\u00a0 If your phone has this feature and you’ve enabled it, go to your app store and download an app called “NFC Tools”:<\/p>\n When you launch the app, you’ll be asked to bring your phone close to an RFID tag, and then you’ll see a screen like this:<\/p>\n The most important piece of information on this form is the last one:<\/p>\n In this instance, the tag beneath your phone already has text encoded on it, and the value of that text is “Yes”.<\/p>\n You can change the value or add a text value to the tag by tapping on the “write” tab:<\/p>\n Tap on the “Add a record” option.\u00a0 You’ll see a list of all the record types that you can add:<\/p>\n Tap on the “Text” option and type the text value that you’d like to encode into the tag.<\/p>\n Type in the text that you’d like to encode on the tag and tap the “OK” button.\u00a0 The app is now ready to write your text (in this case, “help”) to the tag:<\/p>\n Tap on the “Write” option.\u00a0 You’ll be instructed to hold your phone near the tag, and then the app will automatically write to the tag.\u00a0 \u00a0You’ll see a “success” message:<\/p>\n You can verify that you’ve successfully written to the tag by changing to the “read” tab and placing your phone near the tag.<\/p>\n If your phone doesn’t support NFC, you can purchase a dedicated RFID tag reader\/writer. We’ve had success with this device<\/a>. Set aside any software that comes with the device.\u00a0 You only need to plug it into your PC.\u00a0 It’s a plug-and-play device.<\/p>\n You’ll also need software to control the device.\u00a0 The NFC Tools for Desktop software<\/a> from Wak Dev is free and very easy to use.\u00a0 The images shown below are taken from that software.\u00a0 Note: Your RFID tag reader\/writer hardware may come with software.\u00a0 Set that software aside for now.\u00a0 The program from Wak Dev will probably be sufficient.<\/em><\/p>\n Connect the RFID tag reader\/writer to your computer using the USB interface and start-up the NFC Tools software.\u00a0 You’ll see a window like this:<\/p>\n Place a new RFID tag on the surface of the reader\/writer.\u00a0 Note that the reader\/writer has a significant read\/write distance, so it will easily read from and write to a tag which is already embedded in another object – like a Bliss Tactile Symbol or a fob-style RFID tag.<\/p>\n The reader\/writer will read the tag and the screen will change to look like this:<\/p>\n Note the entry under the “TECH: ISO 14443-3A” heading.\u00a0 It says “NXP Mifare Classic 1k”.<\/p>\n The Voice It can only read RFID tags that adhere to the Mifare standard.\u00a0 If you put a rigid tag<\/a> on the reader\/writer you’ll see “NXP Mifare Ultralight”.\u00a0 This tag adheres to the Mifare standard, and so can be read by the Voice It.<\/p>\n Click on the “Write” tab and the window will change to look like this:<\/p>\n Click on the “Add a record” button and choose “text” from the pop-up list:<\/p>\n A smaller window will appear:<\/p>\n Type your text into the “Enter your text:” box.\u00a0 Don’t press the Enter key to close the box.<\/strong><\/p>\n Instead, click on the “OK” button.\u00a0 You’ll now see the screen change to show the text record option you’ve created.\u00a0 The text hasn’t yet been written to the RFID tag.<\/strong><\/p>\n Note that you can have the Voice It speak multiple words by putting the text of those words on the RFID tag – separated by commas (e.g., “not, don’t”).\u00a0 The amount of text that you can put on a single tag will vary with the type of tag.\u00a0 \u00a0In the above example, the Voice It will first say “not” and then, one-half second later, it will say “don’t”.\u00a0 If the text you put on the tag doesn’t match the name of the audio recording – or if the text you type is truncated because there’s not enough memory on the tag – you’ll hear the error sound (a “thunk” sound).<\/em><\/p>\n Now click on the “Write” button and the reader\/writer will write that text to the RFID tag:<\/p>\nWriting Data to an RFID Tag<\/h2>\n
Use Your Smartphone<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nUse a Dedicated RFID Tag Reader\/Writer Device<\/h3>\n
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