Content-type: text/html Manpage of VOTER

VOTER

Section: DAISY commands (1)
Updated: 8th February 2005
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NAME

voter voting DAISY virtual HTML output display driver

SYNOPSIS

vhtl [ -nice cardinal ][ -argf argument_file ][ -growth_protection ][ -help ][ -usage ][ -version ][ -slots ][ -slotinfo ][ -noprogress ][ -sdir sensitive (unknown image) directory ][ -browser HTML browser [ -sengine search engine ][ -short file name | stdout | stderr | default ] ][ -vmax maximum number of votes to be polled ][ -pups_url url ][ -darwin_url url ][ -morpho_url url ][ -daisy_url url ]][ -html_dir HTML page directory (path)name ][ -uid client identification key ][ -in_state computational input state tag ][ -out_state computational output state tag ][ -no_browser filename | stdout | stderr | default ] >& <log file>

DESCRIPTION

voter(1) is a display engine which takes shortform matchlist files from vhtml(1) applications which are associated with multiple DAISY classifier pipelines. Typically this sort of configuration is required when DAISY is being used to determine an identity using more than one character simultaneously. The matchlist files are picked up by the voter(1) application using the same sensitive directory mechanism used by the individual DAISY classifier pipelines. voter(1) waits until vmax ( maximum number of voters to be polled ) shortform matchlist files which match its input state tag have been collected. Typically, the user runs each DAISY sub-classifier pipeline serially from the dfe(1) tool associated with a daisy(1) session and voter(1) accumulates the results and produces an identity once an appropriate number of shortform matchlist files have been accumulated. If sources other than dfe(1) (or multiple dfe(1) tools) are being used to feed the classifier pipelines, voter(1) will process the O/P from these pipelines in a quasi-parallel fashion.
The voting algorithm is simple. There is a hierarchy of possible classification outcomes with co-ord > sill > vote > fptp. The identity is assumed to be that class specified in the matchlist file which collects the most votes at the highest level in the hierarchy. Tests which have been conducted on this algorithm have shown that the voting system is significantly more robust (in the presence of noise) than a single pipeline DAISY classifier.

OPTIONS

-help invokes the on-line context help system. This "man" page is displayed. The process then exits.

-growth_protection <retrys> causes the system to retry an sbrk(3) call up to retrys times. This option permits the program to wait until the core that it requires is available rather than simply exiting if sbrk(3) fails.

-usage displays shortform usage string.

-version displays program version number.

-slots displays short form pups(7) library dependencies.

-slotinfo displays long form pups(7) library dependencies.

-argf argument_file tells the filter to take its command line arguments from the specified argument_file. The data format of the argument file is:

# ... optional comment line ...
-argflag [1]
argument_parameter [1,1]
argument_parameter [1,2]

argument_parameter [1,n]

# ... optional comment line ...
-argflag [2]
argument_parameter [1,1]
argument_parameter [1,2]

argument_parameter [1,n]

-nice cardinal determimes the niceness at which the filter is scheduled. In keeping with all UNIX user processes, nice must be a cardinal between 0 and 20. The default niceness for floret(1) is 4.

-noprogress tells ipm(1) not to output information for the progress(1)

-sdir sensitive directory is used to set the directory in which dfe(1) places images to be classified. This option may also be changed interatively via a PSRP session (dispatch binding is also sdir ). This option is mandatory and must be supplied.

-browser browser name sengine tells voter(1) which web browser it is to use to display the page of O/P HTML. If no browser is specified voter(1) simply writes the generated HTML to <VHMTL display image name>.html in the floret(1) sensitive directory. This option and the -no_browser option are mutually exclusive. If sengine is specified, that search engine is used to do a keyword search in order to find web pages which contain references to the class (or classes) specified in the (short) match list file read by voter(1).

-vmax specifies the (expected) number of votes to be polled. Once voter(1) has collected this number of votes it applies its voting algorithm in order to produce an identification. Output is sent to either a (slaved) HTML browser or to standard output depending on the settings passed via the -browser command tail switch or the browser PSRP API command.

-no_browser filename | stdout | stderr | default tells voter(1) to output the results of an identification in ASCII text format. This option and the -browser option are mutually exclusive. Output is written to either a named file, filename, or standard output or standard error. Defaults to standard output.

-short file name | stdout | stderr | default tells voter(1) to output shortform ASCII identification information. Typically this is used when voter(1) is being running as part of a slaved pipeline by jack(1) in order to examine the jacknife (leave one out) statisitics of a training set. If filename is specified the output is sent to this named file. If stdout is specified, output is sent to standard output or default If stderr is specified, output is sent to standard error. This option may be specified with either the -browser or -no_browser options. If it is specified with -browser ASCII shortform output is sent to the specified location in addition to the page of (virtual) HTML, so that processing downstream of voter(1), for example by voter(1) the voting VHMTL generator is possible.

-full tells voter(1) to write full ASCII indentification information to standard ouput. This option is used when an I.D. is required without the overhead of running a web browser. This option is only useable if -no_browser has also been specified. If stdout is specified, output is sent to standard output or default If stderr is specified, output is sent to standard error. This option is only valid if -no_browser has been specified.

-immediate matchlist file name tells voter(1) to produce immediate O/P (e.g. not passed via a sensitive directory) using the file matchlist file name. This option is used when voter(1) is called in slaved mode by applications such as the training set statistics generator jack(1)

-sengine search engine tells voter(1) which search engine it is to use if there is no information available about classified objects on the local host. The search engine may be any Internet search engine, for example, google or yahoo. If the local system has an active Internet connection, the nominated search engine is queried in order to see whether it can supply any information about the classified object. If voter(1) is running on a standalone host, the query is aborted.

-pups_url url sets PUPS website URL. Defaults to http://chassuer.usc.edu/pups which is the primary PUPS website.

-darwin_url url sets Darwin Initiative website URL. Defaults to http://www.research.detr.gov.uk/rep9496/darwin.htm

-morpho_url set Morpho website URL. Defaults to www.morpho-inc.com

-daisy_url sets DAISY website URL. Defaults to http://chassuer.usc.edu/pups/projects/daisy.html

-uid client identification key sets a unique i.d. which tells voter(1) which terminal to display VOTER data on. Defaults to users i.d.

-in_state sets computational input state tag (only matchlists associated with unknowns carrying this tag will be processed). Defaults to voter.in

-out_state sets computational output state tag. Defaults to voter.out

SIGNALS

voter(1) supports PUPS/PSRP process status request protocol which uses the following signals:
SIGINIT SIGCHAN SIGPSRP: Process status [PSRP] request (protocol 6.01F)
SICLIENT: tell client server is about to segment
SIGALIVE: check for existence of client on signal dispatch host
Additional signals may be required if the process is CKPT enabled.

ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES

Note environmental variables are ignored if the corresponding command line option is provided.

VOTER_NOPROGRESS do not generate status information for progresstool(1)

VOTER_SDIR: sensitive directory set voter(1) sensitive directory.

VOTER_BROWSER: browser set the browser for interactive VOTER page display for this instance of voter(1).

VOTER_SENGINE: search engine set the search engine for interactive VOTER page display for this instance of voter(1).

VOTER_HDIR set HTML (output) directory.

VOTER_VMAX set (maximum) number of votes polled (collected) before (voting) i.d. is made.

VOTER_INSTATE set input computational state tag.

VOTER_OUTSTATE set output computational state tag.

PUP_URL set URL for information about PUPS libraries.

DARWIN_URL set URL for information about UK Govt. Darwin Initiative.

MORPHO_URL set URL for information about Morpho (the developer of the DAISY software suite).

DAISY_URL set URL for information about the DAISY system.

PSRP INTERACTIVITY

Supports interactive querying and goal setting while running using Process Status Request Protocol [ PSRP ], see psrp(1).

The following commands may be sent to the running voter(1) process from a psrp(1) client:

status display status information for attached voter(1) PSRP server process.

deactivate deactivates application. br

reactivate reactivates application

url sets any URL which can be specified via the command line.

uid sets browser display i.d.

browser sets VOTER diplay browser type.

sengine set Internet search engine/agent.

instate sets input state tag.

outstate sets output state tag.

hdir sets HTML directory. sets sensitive directory.

vmax votes to be cast specify the number of votes to be cast (by individual DAISY classifier subsystems) and collected by (this invocation of) voter(1) before an identification is made.

voter generate VOTER from PSRP API supplied (short) matchlist.

LIBRARIES

voter(1) uses the PUPS libraries, see pups(7)

COPYRIGHT

PROGRAMMER

M.A. O'Neill.

This document was created by man2html using the manual pages.
Time: 17:02:35 GMT, February 08, 2005