Release History

Components & their availability

Below table lists the components/code used with the RDK Alexa solution and the origin/owner for distribution. components hosted in CMF or github can be accessed part of the release but operators/vendors should contact amazon to get artifacts that are mentioned as "Distributed by Amazon". 

Platform status

Feature List & Custom Skill

Video Skill

Please refer to below page on integrating the Video Skill Kit APIs with RDK

Integrating Alexa Video Skill Kit with RDK

Build instructions

Alexa related recipes are bundled inside meta-rdk-voice/recipes-avs and contains below build targets

Build instructions for RaspberryPI

1. Initialize and download the code base
 - Example for RaspberryPi:
 $ repo init -u https://code.rdkcentral.com/r/manifests -m rdkv-nosrc.xml -b thunder-next
 $ repo sync

2. Download the meta-rdk-voice layer in project root
 $ git clone https://code.rdkcentral.com/r/components/generic/rdk-oe/meta-rdk-voice

3. Add to BBLAYERS
 $ vi meta-rdk/conf/bblayers.conf.sample
 BBLAYERS += "${@'${RDKROOT}/meta-rdk-voice' if os.path.isfile('${RDKROOT}/meta-rdk-voice/conf/layer.conf') else ''}"

4. Optionally if wanted to use MIC based implementation (Ignore if using BLE voice remote)
 $ vi meta-rdk-voice/conf/layer.conf
 - enable the below commented line
 #DISTRO_FEATURES_append = " alexa_ffv"

 # Please follow the steps mentioned in section #3.2 to enable USB audio kernel parameters (Not required for RaspberryPI).

5. Optionally For the external source builds (such as some Broadcom platforms) add below line in manifest/auto.conf
 - In <Manifest>.xml
   <project name="components/generic/avs/alexa_skill_mapper" revision="rdk-next"/>
 - In auto.conf (where brcmexternalsrc is enabled)
   BRCMEXTERNALSRC_pn-wpe-alexa += "components/generic/avs/alexa_skill_mapper:git/VoiceToApps"
   SRCPV_pn-wpe-alexa = "${BRCMEXTERNAL-SRCPV-CMF}"
 $ repo sync
6 .Build the image target
 - Example for RaspberryPi
 $ source meta-cmf-raspberrypi/setup-environment
 ### select meta-cmf-raspberrypi/conf/machine/raspberrypi-rdk-hybrid-thunder.conf ###
 $ bitbake rdk-generic-hybrid-thunder-image

Kernel configurations to simulate FFV with an USB microphone

Note: This configuration is not required for RaspberryPi platforms
# If FFV profile is enabled (DISTRO_FEATURES_append = " alexa_ffv") & we want to simulate audio input using a USB mic the below kernel configuration need to be enabled for non RPI platforms:

CONFIG_SND_HWDEP=m
CONFIG_SND_RAWMIDI=m
CONFIG_SND_USB_AUDIO=m

# After enabling the above kernel configs, recompile the kernel so that the support for USB audio will be enabled

Customization

Mapping to amazon developer account

Please refer the wiki link AVS Developer Account and Skill Creation Guidelines for RDK for creating a developer account.

Modify below section to map with relevant developer account.

1. Login to the device
 $ ssh root@<RDKV-Client-IP>

2. Edit the Configuration file
 $ cd /home/root
 $ vi Alexa_SDK/Integration/AlexaClientSDKConfig.json
     "deviceInfo":{
        // Unique device serial number. e.g. 123456
        "deviceSerialNumber":"<SERIAL_NO>",
        // The Client ID of the Product from developer.amazon.com
        "clientId":"<CLIENT_ID>",
        // Product ID from developer.amazon.com
        "productId":"<PRODUCT_ID>",
        // The name of the device manufacturer.
        "manufacturerName": "<MANUFACTURER_NAME>",
        // The description of the device which should contain the manufacturer name or how the device is connected.
        "description": "<DESCRIPTION"
    },

LED Support

Prerequisite : Alexa Client uses IOConnector plugin to set different LED notifications, so IOConnector need to be enabled for the platform

https://github.com/rdkcentral/ThunderNanoServices/tree/master/IOConnector

$ cd /home/root
$ vi Alexa_SDK/Integration/AlexaCurl.json
Set below GPIO to appropriate value
   "PinOne":"9",
   "PinTwo":"10",
   "PinThree":"11"

Example: For RaspberryPi we can use the Traffic light LED where GPIO PIN 9, 10, 11 represents the Red, Yellow & Green LEDS 

Alexa user guide

Introduction

This Feature consists two mode "General Mode" and "Skill Mode",

• in the General Mode you ask general quires (ex: time , weather ,news)
• in the Skill Mode you can launch applications ,navigate and other functionality.

One can switch from the "General Mode" to "Skill Mode" by using steps mentioned in the section "skill invocation enable" and you can switch back to "General Mode" following the steps in the section "skill invocation disable".

Note: By default when device is booted it will be in the general mode

Note :click on the mic button on the RDK Tech4Home remote and give voice command and release the button

First time authorization

On first time launch, we need to authorize the device with a amazon account. This steps will not be required for subsequent application launch.

We can check the authorization code using below command:

$ systemctl status alexa

We will be able to see a message similar to below format. Note the code that appears in console window, this will be required while authorizing with developer account.

##################################
#       NOT YET AUTHORIZED       #
##################################
#       To authorize, browse to: 'https://amazon.com/us/code' and enter the code: EXEA99
###############################################################
#       Checking for authorization (1)...       #
################################################# 

1. Open "https://amazon.com/us/code" in a browser
2. Login with the amazon developer account credential and provide the code that was displayed on the device console (one time only)

Note: If there is a prompt for OTP at this stage, Get it from linked phone number.

1. After the authorization below log is displayed on the console

########################################
#       Alexa is currently idle!       #
########################################

At this stage, we can provide voice commands to alexa.

Example Usage

a) General Usage
ex:  1) User: what is the the time?
          Alexa: respond with current time
      2) User : what is the weather outside ?
          Alexa: it will ask for you location
          User: if give the Location
          Alexa: respond with the climate in the current location.

b) Skill Invocation Enable

       User: My Device
       Alexa: respond with "how can i help you"
       User : invocation enable
       Alexa : respond with "invocation enabled"

c) Skill Invocation Disable

       (note :It is done when "skill mode" is already enabled & we want to switch back to "general mode" )

       User: invocation disable
       Alexa: respond with "invocation disabled"

d) Launching Metro Applications

ex :  1) launching RadioLine Application

          User: radioline
          Alexa : respond with "radioline" by launching the application

          User : "metro" or "main UI"
          Alexa: speaks back "main UI" & navigation moves back to metro UI main screen

       2) launching Wall Street Journal Application

          User: WallStreetJournal
          Alexa : respond with "WallStreetJournal" by launching the application

         User : "metro" or "main UI"
         Alexa: speaks back "main UI" & navigation moves back to metro UI main screen

Architecture & Flow diagram

AVS Integration with VSK

AVS Integration with custom skills

Advantages

• Configurable to support different device profiles (FFV, Push-to-talk).
• Most of the new skills can be dynamically added without modifying the client code.

Scope of improvement